Mad Sea (8 page)

“What’s with the smile, princess?” Zee demands.

Another cold shudder ripples through me, chasing off the warm memory of my husband. “Just thinking about how much I hate you. How I’ll run away the first chance I get. Madden will find me and together we’ll hide from the likes of you people.”

Steffan laughs. “Oh, your biker asshole boyfriend? Looks like you won’t have to worry about him too much longer. We’re going to take care of him.”

“Who are you?” I demand. “Where is the guy who was my friend for two years?”

His glare becomes murderous. “I was always meant to watch you. To keep you pure and virginal for your husband.”

“Oh, what a fucking lie, Steff,” I bark out. “Did you tell Zee here you tried to fuck me every chance you got?”

Zee snaps his gaze to Steff. “What the hell is she going on about?”

Steffan has the sense to look afraid. He should be. Zee is not one to fuck around with. My father is the most powerful and revered in our family. Zee, after his father died suddenly and rather questionably, became the most powerful man in his. Steffan is nothing more than a commoner with our kind. A damn minion.

“She’s lying. I didn’t touch her.”

I shrug my shoulders. “Whatever. I want to talk to my dad.”

Zee laughs and shakes his head. “You sure you’re ready for his wrath, princess? The old man took the first flight he could, once I told him we had you. He’s ready to give you an old fashioned ass whipping. And then you’re mine.”

My eyes skim the room, and I once again wonder if I’d be quick enough to slip out the door without them catching me. “I don’t belong to any of you.”

Zee is about to argue when someone pounds on the door. My heart thunders in my chest, hoping Madden has found me. But when Steffan opens the door, my world crashes down around me.

Hayden Morgan.

All six foot seven inches and shoulders that would match any linebacker.

My father, with his dark red hair and emerald orbs, eyes me with a venomous glare.

“Your royal highness,” Steffan says in awe, before falling to one knee. “Or, uh, King. I’m not really sure what to call you.”

I want to drag him back to his feet by his hair. Apparently, Father feels the same way because he does just that.

“Dear God. You call me Hayden. What a dreadful piece of trash you are. I can’t believe you’ve been responsible for her safety this entire time. It’s a title, urchin, not a fucking order for you to bow like a goddamned peasant. This doesn’t work on dry land, Steffan Guttenberg. Don’t ever do that again, or I’ll have Zee kill you before you take your next breath.”

Dear old Dad’s here.

And he wonders why I left.

“Find my daughter some clothes, urchin,” Father barks to Steffan. “It’s time we go back to Cape Town and settle this affair by tomorrow. You exhaust me, dear daughter.”

Zee laughs, and I crave to take away any shred of happiness. So, I do just that.

“Actually, I’m already married, Father.”

The room goes silent as Zee and my father exchange a look.

“That’s nonsense. Now, you’ll dress and—” my father starts, but I interrupt him by waving my hand in the air.

“I. Am. Married. To. Madden Finn.” The light catches the sparkly band and it glimmers.

Zee’s eyes widen as he stalks over to me, snatching my hand to take a better look. “This is impossible. You can’t have married another man. Tell her this is a fraud, Hayden.”

But my father is gaping at me in horror. “A mer?”

Tears well in my eyes, and I nod. “We had a proper ceremony between two mer people. The dolphins were even fucking there!” My voice rises a few octaves. “I’m happily married too, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be leaving, motherfuckers!”

“Don’t take that tone with me, young lady,” Father thunders, his freckly face turning bright red with fury. “You’re not going anywhere until we sort out what you’ve started, goddammit!”

My laugh is crazed. “You can’t undo shit, Father. It’s done. It’s legal among our kind and binding. You know that better than anyone. Our souls are intertwined.”

Zee grabs a handful of my hair and hauls me to my knees. I flash my teary gaze to my father, who offers no help. Just an irritated scowl.

“It can be undone, princess. And Steffan will make sure of it,” Zee threatens.

“How?” I shriek. I can’t imagine the bond breaking between Mad and I. In fact, it seems to grow more and more each day. It’s impossible. “You’re lying.”

Father shrugs his shoulders. “The bond will break when either husband or wife dies.”

I start to scream and claw at Zee. But he easily wrangles me to the bed, while Steffan handcuffs my wrist. Once it’s secured to the bed frame, they both step away. I continue to thrash, spitting out every profanity in the book.

“You will all pay for this!” I screech.

“No, actually your dear fraudulent husband is about to pay,” Steffan sneers. “With his life.”

With that statement, I burst into tears.

“Little cherub of the sea, come and play with me.

Come and play with me, dearest cherub of the sea.

Please come play with me,

In the mad, mad sea.”

My dream calms me, and I try to hold on to the memory of that voice. During childbirth, while delivering me, my mother died. It was her best friend Malena who saw to it I was properly nursed. Malena employed her governess, Mrs. Finley, to do the job. Mrs. Finley was already a nursemaid who cared for Malena’s own small boy, and then her child on the way. This woman had recently lost a baby of her own and continued to produce milk of which I benefited from. I don’t have many memories of Mrs. Finley. Just the lingering song that replays in my head. She disappeared and nobody talks about what happened.

“Little cherub of the sea.” The soft voice feels real this time. My heart clenches.

I flutter my eyes open and stare into the pretties blue eyes I’ve ever seen. “Is this a dream?”

The woman, with the mane of blonde hair and a kind face, smiles. “No, child. Do you remember me?”

I furrow my brows together. “I know your voice. Are you Mrs. Finley?”

Tears well in her eyes, and she nods. “So you do remember, love. That, I am. Sit tight, dear girl, I’m going to get you out of here.”

She climbs off the bed and retrieves a bag from the floor. I gape in surprise when she pulls out a hand saw. Then, she sets to cutting away at the wooden bed frame I’m attached to. When I break free, handcuff still attached to my wrist, she hugs me.

“How did you know I was here?” I question as she strokes my hair. Mrs. Finley smells like sunshine and lemonade. Her hug warms me, much like my mother’s would have if she would have lived, and I take comfort from it.

She pulls away and regards me seriously. “Long ago, I left our people. Once I saw what Malena’s husband, Zute, had done to her, I couldn’t bear to stay and witness any more corruption. Zute strangled that poor woman. They were discussing the fate of their lineage. Malena feared the community would hate her eldest son, Zadden, since he’d not had the change yet. Most mer change around their first birthday. But at six, he still hadn’t changed. The boy was to inherit their fortune and was destined to marry you. As soon as they realized he was seemingly defective, they worked hard to produce another son. When Zee was born and changed at just eight months old, Zute told Malena they must eliminate their first child. She begged him not to and that’s when he strangled her. I’d slipped out with Zadden. I stole that sweet boy and raised him as my own here in America.”

Mrs. Finley helps me out of the bed and together we slip out the sliding glass door. There’s a jeep outside waiting with the engine running. Once we’re on the road, she takes my hand and flashes me a smile.

“You saved him, Mrs. Finley,” I say. “Our people can be cruel.”

She nods, hitting the accelerator. “That, they can be. And please, call me Constance.”

Jerking my head in her direction, I gape at her. “Constance Finn? You’re…”

Her laughter is like ringing bells in a church—powerful, warm, inviting. “Yes, I’m Madden’s adopted mother.”

My belly flops as tears well in my eyes. “My Mad is, Zadden, Zee’s older brother?”

“He is, darling. And now we must get you someplace safe.”

“How did you find me?” I question again. Nothing makes any sense, but I can’t help but feel like fate’s plan was never derailed, despite anyone’s meddling.

“Let’s just say the dolphins around here are quite the gossip,” she says with a mischievous wink. “Well, that and I’ve had eyes on Zute ever since I took Madden all those years ago. My cousin, Arda, is on Zute’s payroll. She sends me everything pertaining to that family, and yours. Hotels, flight numbers, itineraries.”

I chew on my bottom lip as I attempt to digest everything. “Does Madden know?”

“Don’t you worry about my boy, Hali. He’s always been able to roll with the punches.”

“They went to kill him,” I choke out, tears spilling out over my cheeks. “How could my father do that to me?”

Constance laughs. “I can assure you, those suits and that bottom feeder have nothing. Absolutely nothing on my son. He was destined to become King. In fact, rightfully so, he
is
King after your marriage to him. And a king is not weak. Not weak at all.”

I close my eyes and think about how powerful he is, whether it be with a hog between his muscular thighs, or how his massive tail sluices through the water as he swims at breakneck speeds, or even how he looked like a giant sitting in the green plastic chair at Franny’s. There’s nothing weak about my husband at all.

My king.

Take that, dear ‘ol Dad.

“O
ne last run for old time’s sake?” Jagger questions and holds out his fist.

I nod at him, knocking his fist with mine, and then Cassius’s before roaring my engine. Then, I set off riding behind Jagger toward the factory for the meet-up. Guttenberg. Some German asshole who thinks he’s going to swoop in and steal business in the middle of a presidency change. I can smell stank from a mile away. And everything about this stinks.

“Be alert,” I bark out to Jagger, despite my position as president no longer existing. This goes beyond hierarchy, but instead is about brotherhood. Jagger and I may not always see eye to eye or talk much about our pasts. But we have history. On my sixteenth birthday, we went swimming after several beers we’d stolen from his parents’ house. It was then, I changed for the first time. Out of fucking nowhere, and completely by surprise, my legs bound together and reformed into a black tail. A fucking merman. Jagger saw. How could he not? He saw every horrifying bit of it. Neither of us spoke about it afterwards, though. Not once did he say a word about it, and our friendship carried on as if it never happened. But it
did
happen. I didn’t even tell Mama Constance. It became
my
secret. And apparently Jagger’s too, because he never once told.

“Ten ‘o clock,” Cassius growls.

It’s just the three of us on this run. Nobody else needs to see this shit go down. This is more than a business relationship changing hands. This shit is personal. My eyes flit to where he saw movement. Two well-dressed men stand beside a nondescript black vehicle, staring at us as we approach. But the one standing beside them aiming a Glock at us, is the one I want to throttle.