The Sea Witch (Wicked Villains 5)

Ursa finishes pulling on her dress and smooths down the skirt. She catches me watching and shakes her head. “Stop that. We don’t have time for another round.”

“You sure about that?”

“Alaric.” Even after several years, I still can’t quite tell if the fondness in her voice when she says my name is feigned or truth. I kind of enjoy that I can’t tell.

I stand and give her a mocking bow. “Yes, Mistress.”

Ursa shakes her head and moves to the door. “She’ll be in the Underworld until the auction tomorrow night. Do what you need to do.” She’s gone before her words fully penetrate.

When they do, I sink back onto the bed.

She’s in the Underworld.

Zuri is here.

She’ll be here until the auction. In the same building I live in.

If I’m smart, I’ll stay away from her. One conversation, that’s all it will take to cement her motivation to go through with this. Seeing her more than that is tempting fate—tempting my self-control. No matter what Zuri thinks, I’m no Prince Charming. I want her. I’ve wanted her since I set eyes on her, wearing that cute little sundress and walking through the gardens like she’d never seen anything so beautiful as flowers. I didn’t realize then that she looks at all new experiences that way, soaking them in and memorizing them as if she’ll never get another chance.

Will she look at sex the same way?

I’m dying to find out.

And that’s the crux of the matter. If I were any less selfish, I’d get Zuri out and find a different way to enact my vengeance. But I want her, and Ursa has paved the way for me to have her. For both of us to have her.

I manage to keep my shit locked down for the rest of the night, spending most of my time in the lounge with a short reprieve to play out a scene with Hook and Tink.

As much as I want my freedom, I really do love my job. Who wouldn’t? I get to fuck and scene with the most powerful people in Carver City. It’s a dream—or it would be if I didn’t have my debt to Hades hanging over my head. The man might not ever force me to do something I don’t want to do, but knowing that I owe him is a festering wound I can’t treat until I’m free of it.

By the time the club closes and it’s time for our nightly round up, I’m weaving on my feet. I peel off my slacks in the employee locker room and take my third shower of the night. Around me, the rest of the employees on shift are doing the same. As I dry off and pull on jeans and a T-shirt, it strikes me that most of the faces are new. Aurora is the only employee who’s been here as long as me—longer, even. She’s also the only one with a deal with Hades that hasn’t wrapped up yet. The rest of them are actual employees, people who came here for a job and go home at the end of their shifts.

We gather in the room off the locker room and rattle off any interesting information we picked up while Aurora takes notes. There’s been plenty of power shifts in Carver City in the last couple years, but it seems to have stabilized a bit recently. There’s nothing of note, with the exception of the rumor of another auction coming in a few days. A virginity auction.

But then, I already knew that.

Aurora finishes her last note and looks up. “That’s everything. Good work tonight.” She beams at us. I don’t know the terms of her bargain any more than she knows mine, but I don’t have to in order to recognize that it’s different. Rumor has it that Aurora came to the Underworld seeking safety for herself and protection for her comatose mother. Regardless of what price Hades asked of her, it’s different than my situation.

My bargain isn’t driven by anything as noble as keeping someone I love safe.

No, it was pure selfish greed that drove me to be one hell of a thief in Olympus, and it was an equally selfish need to keep my skin intact that had me bargaining with Hades. Now, it will be selfish desire that drags Zuri down into the depths with me.

I’m nothing if not consistent.Chapter 5ZurielleI don’t expect to sleep once Hercules sets me up in a suite a few floors down from the club, but the next thing I know, I’m opening my eyes to a pounding on my door. I stumble out of bed and shove my hair from my eyes, still discombobulated from strange dreams. Reality hits me in the ten feet between my bed and the door.

I’m in the Underworld.

I’m going to auction off myself tomorrow night.