MERMEN (The Mermen Trilogy #1) (15 page)

She mentally straightened her spine. It was time to play the game. Only this wasn’t a game. “I’m glad you’re still alive. I thought something happened to you.”

“Never felt better.” His gaze was unwavering, penetrating.

“The food smells amazing. Are you going to sit and eat with me?”

His intense green eyes remained stuck to her face. “No. But you go right ahead. You’ll need your strength for tonight.”

Liv did everything in her power to ignore that comment and not show how terrified it made her feel. She sat down at the place setting near the corner. “You can’t just stand there staring while I eat.”

Roen gave her a slow nod and sat at the head of the table, just an arm’s length away. Yes, he still stared.

She looked down at her empty plate, thinking carefully about her words. She needed to probe the situation so she could assess her possible moves, which included getting Roen home, too. One of the men, with long brown hair tied back into a ponytail, began serving brown rice, followed by steamed vegetables mixed with chunks of white fish. The smell of butter and garlic permeated her nose. She waited for the men to finish serving and leave the room.

“You’re really not going to eat?” Liv asked.

“I’m not hungry. And I detest fish.” He reached for her glass and filled it with red wine, then his own. “But eat, please.”

Liv was starving, but she took only a small bite and chewed carefully. Aside from a few pieces of fruit and some juice, she hadn’t eaten in twelve days.
That’s your out if he tries anything.
She could very convincingly dissuade him from making any sexual moves if she was hurling on herself. No, it wasn’t pleasant, but neither was this situation.

“So,” she sipped the wine to help her swallow the food, “I missed you at the beach today.”

His sharp gaze continued to threaten her calm façade. “I was busy.”

“Oh, I see.” She took another small bite.

“There are five thousand years of recorded history, and I must learn it all, including our traditions and secrets, if I am to serve the island well.”

He’s serious. Ohmygod. He’s really serious.
“And what did you learn today?”

“That our laws demand you fuck me before the sun rises.”

Liv’s eyes darted up, and there was no use trying to hide her fear of him any longer. Point being, she felt a very strong attraction for the Roen she just met yesterday, but this wasn’t the same person.

He remained still in his chair, leaning back as if they were having a casual conversation about the weather. “I know what you’re thinking.”

She remained silent while her mind assessed which items on the table could be used as a weapon.
Fork, glass bottle, butter knife…

“I won’t force you, Liv.”

“No?” It sure sounded like that.

“Once I explain your options, you’ll realize it’s what you want. Just like it’s what you wanted last night.” He leaned in closer. “You want to please the island, too.”

Yes, last night a part of her had wanted him. Pretty badly, actually. And yes, the rapid manner in which her insatiable lust for him came on was a little strange. But it was all her, not the island.

She shrugged.

Roen’s thick lips curled into a sensual smile. “Ah, you already know what I’m talking about. Don’t you, Liv? You heard the island, didn’t you?”

No. I’m not crazy
. “I had thoughts I couldn’t explain, so I’m not sure.”

“Then you’re lying to yourself. Not that it changes a simple fact: the island gets what the island wants.”

“I still have free will,” she said flatly. “I’m in control. And so are you.”

“Fair enough.” He sipped his wine and set down the glass in front of him, the firelight dancing in his eyes. “But when you listen to her, it feels…” He looked up at the ceiling and waved his hand through the air, gesturing while he searched for the words. “It feels like a drug. It feels right.”

He spoke as if it truly was a living creature. Very disturbing. “I guess the island and I aren’t that close yet.”

He tilted his head. “No need to be. That’s why there are rules. And approximately two hundred men who will enforce them, which leads me to my point: Everyone must accept their place on this island, and you will be no different.”

“What are you going to do to me?”

“I’ve already done it.” He smugly sipped his wine, not breaking eye contact.

Liv’s heart pounded in her chest. “What did you do to me?”

“I bit you. And now that you have my mark, the rest is simple. I sleep with you and then we find out what the island has decided.”

The conversation made no sense.

“What does it decide?” she asked.

“Whether or not you will carry my child.”

She didn’t even know how to respond to that other than saying, “That’s insane, Roen. Are you listening to yourself talk?”

“Every word.”

“I’m not sleeping with you,” she said with unwavering conviction.

“If you do not, I will lose my claim on you.”

“Uh-uh. I’m not being put up for grabs again.” She’d rather die.

He slowly shook his head, a sinister gaze in his green and hazel eyes. “No. You will not be put up for claiming again. I won’t allow it.”

Now she understood the ugly truth of the ugly conversation: her desire to die instead would be granted. “You’ll kill me.”

“What will happen is much worse than death.”

Liv’s eyes involuntarily filled with tears of fear. The only thing worse than death would be torture.
Or being fed alive to those…things.

“So you see”—he scratched the thick growth of rich brown stubble along his jaw—“why when I say that giving yourself to me—willingly—is your best choice, I speak the truth.”

How was that a choice? No, no one had a gun to her head, but what the hell was the difference?

Liv looked away at the flickering fire.
This is crazy. These men are crazy. I’m not doing this.
She looked at Roen and was about to tell him to go stick his “choice” up his unsunny-hole when he winked at her. Yes, a wink. A friendly, playful wink.

Wait.
Was he putting on an act? Or was he just being a cocky, brainwashed bastard? Liv felt a tiny burst of relief. She wanted to believe he could never hurt her.

Roen pushed away from the long table and adjusted the suede around his waist. He looked less savage than the other men with his short hair and tattoo-free body, but he carried himself with every ounce of caged ferocity as the rest of them.

“After you’re done eating,” Roen said, “my men will show you to your room upstairs. You will bathe, dress, and do as they say.”

Not in a million years
. She bobbed her head yes.

“Enjoy your meal.”

“Where are you going?” she asked so she could gauge how much time she had to run like hell.
Or stay. If he’s putting on an act, then he doesn’t mean a word he just said.

His eyes narrowed on her face, and his skin flushed. He was angry. Enraged even. “I think you’re forgetting your place, woman. Now eat and do what I’ve asked before I get angry.”

He left the room with wide heavy strides while Liv’s mouth gaped open.

What the hell is going on?
Clearly, there were eyes and ears all over the goddamned place, so it would make absolute sense that he wouldn’t jeopardize their chances of escaping by breaking character. On the other hand, Roen had told her that he was infected. He’d felt himself losing control.

Take a breath, Liv, and weigh your options
. She was out in the middle of the goddamned ocean on an island no one knew existed. She had no means of escape without Roen. Running and hiding wasn’t a long-term option either. Not only was the island far too small, but these men seemed to have the hunting instincts of wolves.

Okay, sharks.

In any case, roaming around in that forest at night was not a smart move either. Whatever those…those things were on the beach, they scared the crap out of her.

So that leaves you one choice: roll the dice with Roen, and hope he’s still in control.
If he showed any signs of having completely lost it, she would be ready to knock him hard with a vase or chair or… She looked around the room.
Some really, really strange art?

She quickly gulped down her wine and finished her rice. Minutes later, the same two men appeared and removed her empty plate.
The red-skirts
were
watching you.
They’d probably been listening to her entire conversation with Roen, too.

“Thank you,” she said. “By the way, why do some of you wear red?”

The one with sandy blond hair shot her a look.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to offend your merman senses,” she said.

“Your question isn’t offensive. But a landlover female should know her place.”

What he really meant to say was that
she
was offensive and had no right asking questions.

“I know my place—it’s called home—and I’m more than happy to go there. Care to help me?”

They ignored her snide comment and showed her upstairs to a spacious room with bright white carpets and walls and more dramatic sea creature art of intertwining eels. There was an inviting king-sized bed—God, how she missed beds—covered in soft white linens and a large bathroom tiled in natural stone with a large sunken tub and walk-in shower. The room was pristine, modern, and impersonal and a complete contradiction to the uncivilized men on the island.

As soon as they left, Liv turned on the shower and began searching the room for a weapon, but there was little there aside from a black dress—a knit T-shirty thing—and some towels. Even the hangers in the closet were plastic, not wire.

Plastic. On an island like this
. It was utterly surreal.

If Roen got out of hand, she would have to make do with the bulbous stainless steel lamps on the nightstands.

She jumped into the shower, quickly washing away the sticky mud on her arms and the sweat from her body. Until she knew for sure where Roen’s head was at, she needed to play along.

Dammit. I can’t get the smell out.
Bits of dried shark blood had remained stuck in her hair, and she wondered if she’d ever feel clean again after these past few days. Of course, these men didn’t seem to care. They looked like they bathed every other full moon. Surprisingly, however, they didn’t stink—well, not in a bad way. Most of them smelled like a concoction of fresh sweat, cinnamon, and earth. Not offensive.

She finished scrubbing as quickly as possible, trying to ignore her pounding head from lack of sleep.

She emerged from the shower and wrapped a white towel around her body. When she opened the bathroom door, a large, shirtless male figure sat on the bed. She yelped from instinct, but it was Roen, his hard muscular frame propped against the hand-carved headboard.

“You scared the hell out of me,” she said.

He didn’t respond to that, instead staring with those deep green eyes with inner rings of hazel. “Come closer.”

She didn’t move. Not until she knew what she was dealing with.

“Did you not hear me?”

“I heard you,” she replied.

“Then why are you still standing there?”

She shrugged. If he was still trying to help her and his men were listening, she couldn’t ask him point blank if he was playing a charade. Then again, if he were faking, why couldn’t he wink again or make a gesture to indicate his true intention?

Before she uttered another word, he sprang from the bed, grabbed her wrist and threw her down on the bed. He quickly covered her mouth with his hand. “Be quiet and listen,” he whispered, “the island is watching. She knows everything—sees everything.”

Ohmygod
. Roen actually believed they were being watched by the fucking island.

He began kissing her neck, his free hand roaming over her breasts. Liv didn’t know what to do.

His lips once again journeyed back to her ear. “Just before dawn, go through the kitchen, out the back door and head to the beach east of the island. It’s one mile from here. The crew of my ship will not be able to see the island, so you have to swim out at least one hundred yards. But whatever you do, do not get into the water before the sun rises. Do you understand?”

His soft lips moved back to her neck and massaged her breast, grinding himself against her.

He
was
putting on an act. An act for the island. How crazy was that?

She nodded, and he removed his hand from her mouth.

“Don’t ever come back here,” he whispered. “Not for me, not for anything.”

Liv jerked her head back and their eyes met. He had absolutely no intention of leaving.
No, he has to come. He has to.

She mouthed the word “please,” and Roen knew exactly what she meant but shook his head.

Liv’s heart filled with a new fear: Roen might be punished or killed once the men found out he’d let her go.

He’s not stupid, Liv. He’s got to be thinking about covering his tracks somehow.

God, she hoped so, but any way the situation played out, this place would eat him alive. The worst part was she’d never see him again and she genuinely wanted to. She’d never met anyone like Roen; so goddamned crazy and damaged and fearless. On the outside, he seemed like this cold, uncaring person who only cared about money, but people like that didn’t take risks for strangers like he’d done.
Like he’s doing now.

“Roen, I don’t want you to stay here. It’s starting to change you, and I really, really like you just the way you are.”

Roen stared back with an intense gaze, somewhere between joy and sadness, but nowhere close to content.

“Please, I’m begging you,” she whispered. “Because I don’t think I can leave here witho—”

He cut her off with a kiss.

Without you
, she wanted to say. But his full, silky lips and the sensual stroke of his tongue completely melted her from head to toe, triggering that voice—the one that told her to let him slip off her towel. The one that told her she really did want to have sex with him.