Page 28 of Queen of Tempests and Sin

Five minutes later, I was clean, packed, and starving. I needed food and water… and maybe a bottle of whisky. Then I’d hole up in my room until it was time to leave for the airport. After changing my flight destination, I put on a pair of yoga pants, popped my dagger, secured in the sheath, into the pocket of my cropped hoodie, and slipped on a baseball cap. Time to find sustenance and stay invisible.

It was late afternoon, and the weather was strange—a fine mist hung in the air, the cold moisture clinging to my cheeks and caressing my skin. The streets were eerily quiet, maybe due to the chilly weather. After about ten minutes of walking, I found the mini mart.

‘Food,’ I grunted as my belly growled like an angry troll.

The mini mart was deserted, too. Odd, but I didn’t think much of it. I wandered inside, grabbed a basket, and started scouring the shelves. I stocked up on snacks and water—enough to survive the next twenty-four hours. All I needed now was that bottle of whisky.

I stiffened when a strange feeling washed over me, like eyes digging into the back of my head. My hardwired danger sensors roared to life. My danger sensors were sensitive and deadly accurate; if they weren’t, I’d have been a corpse at least twenty times by now.

Bands of steel squeezed my chest, but I swallowed the fear. ‘Crap,’ I hissed through clenched teeth.

The first tremor of panic shook my limbs, but I licked my lips and forced it away. I kept moving. Kept pretending. I picked up more snacks to place in the basket, all the while scanning the space for a back exit. There… the storeroom. Perfect. Casually, I nudged my basket onto a shelf, freeing my hands, and my fingers found the hilt in my hoodie pocket. I slid the blade free from its scabbard.

Turning slightly, I glanced over my shoulder, unease trickling down my spine. Dark, savage eyes stared straight at me from the entrance… Ajax.

Batshit and tiaras. I bolted.

My lungs seized as adrenaline hit like a freight train. I tore through the store, bursting into a back warehouse space, legs pumping, heart slamming against my ribs. I spotted the fire door, barrelled towards it, and slammed it open. The alarm shrieked behind me, but I ran like hell.

I sprinted like an Olympian athlete—I was super-fast, especially when a stacked beefcake with lots of working muscle was chasing me.

A huge, grinning guy stepped out from behind a wall, right into my path, and I slammed into him at full speed, almost breaking my damn face. The upside? My momentum knocked him flat. He hit the ground with a grunt, but like lightning, he sprang to his feet—still grinning. The deep breath I took didn’t calm my raging heart, and adrenaline surged within me, ready to fight.

He lunged to grab me, but I ducked under his arm, twisted, and leapt onto his back, plunging the blade into his shoulder. He cursed and shook me off hard. I hit the ground, rolled, and dove through his spread legs. As I passed underneath, I stabbed upwards into his thigh, just missing his junk. He bellowed as I emerged to see Ajax closing in fast, but Mr. Smiley dropped to one knee, cursing and clutching his manhood. I took off again like a bat out of hell.

I got to the street corner about two minutes away from the motel, and Ajax launched and grabbed me. He was fast and strong, but I was faster, graceful… and deadly. Not to mention hangry. Boy, had these two cocksuckers picked the wrong girl to mess with. I twisted, jerking an arm free, and crashed my elbow into his stomach. Solid muscle. Shit.

Plan B: I kneed him in the balls—hard—he folded forward and cursed, wallowing in his bruised manhood. I dropped into a backbend, avoiding his grabby hands, turning my arch into a slide as I scraped the ground and punched upwards as I moved between his open legs. My fist connected with his nutsack with the force of a sledgehammer.

‘Yeeeeeaaargh.’ The high-pitched squeal that escaped him? Glorious! The man was an absolute ass-wipe.

I popped up behind him, vaulted onto his back, wrapped my legs around his ribs and drove my elbow into the base of his skull—sharp, short, and brutal. He went slack, fingers loosening, a stunned groan escaping him before he slumped to his knees. I didn’t stick around to admire the effect. I rolled off, hit my feet, and ran.

Reaching my motel room, I unlocked the door and dashed inside, slamming it shut behind me. I twisted the lock, then collapsed back against the wood, eyes closed, panting.

Crap. I need to get out of here. Now.

‘Hello, Cordelia.’ His deep voice was almost excited and rolled through the room like thunder.… The predator had found its prey.

At the sound of my real name on his lips, my knife fell from my hand and clattered to the floor. Fear washed through me, and my eyes snapped open. There he was, leaning casually against the wall, and tingles of dread radiated through my chest.

Poseidon.

I’m so dead. I grieved for Guinn—I wasn’t getting out of here alive, and I knew it.

His smile made my bones vibrate—it was a hide-your-kids-and-loved-ones type of smile. My throat constricted—I couldn’t breathe; I couldn’t inflate my lungs—and panic clawed through me like noxious venom. His grim face and muscular body would give pause to the most bloodthirsty… Neither the perfectly tailored clothes he wore, nor the expensive watch strapped around his wrist, did anything to detract from the murder and brutality that raged in his stare. That look turned my spine to liquid.

Fuckety crap.

I locked eyes with him, squared my shoulders, and stood straight. I lifted my chin even as nausea gripped me. The deadly glint in his eyes bored into me full of intense fury—a squall before the storm.

‘You betrayed me, Little Red,’ he said with dangerous calm, and I clamped my lips together. He was raw, vicious, and powerful… and I was utterly screwed.

His power hit me like a wave—thick, suffocating. It felt like I was buried in the sand up to my neck—tide water lapping around my mouth, threatening to drown me. It was potent and deadly.

‘You betrayed me,’ that barrel-deep voice roared. His hard, dangerous stare set my legs to trembling, and cold enveloped my body like ice water. The limitless power of the ocean raged within those blue-green eyes like a tempest churning the air before a lightning bolt strikes the water.

I was blasted with another shockwave of power as pain flamed across my flesh. Agony seared behind my eyes. My lungs screamed for air, and I grabbed my throat. It felt as though I was being dragged into that violent tempest, where the riptides drag you out to sea and suck you underwater.