Fifth a Fury (Goddess Isles 5)

“Don’t hurt the girl!” I yelled.

Two heavy thuds of corpses.

No returning fire.

Another few bullet volleys from my eager men.

“Enough!” The click of my cane on the grey flagstones echoed as I limped into the lounge, stepping over carcasses as if they were nothing more than roadkill.

And there.

In the centre of the room, tied to a couch and deep in the grips of Euphoria was Eleanor.

Eleanor.

Her hands were bound, the yellow shirt I’d dressed her in from a guest villa dangling off her elbows. Her skin glistened from oil and her eyes were wide, seeing things I couldn’t.

Fuck.

My hand curled around my cane. My teeth clenched. And my heart managed a painful thrum before Tritec took control again.

I allowed the iciness to drag me back.

Cricking my neck, I peered at Drake.

Equally as naked as Eleanor, they were both no longer in Geneva but whatever fantasy he’d shoved them into.

Which one?

What hallucination would become my brother’s casket?

Everything seemed to slow. I stayed cold and unscrupulous.

I limped toward them, taking in the scene, noticing the fatigue shadowing Eleanor and the whiteness of her skin.

A small moan escaped her parted lips as Drake reached for her. Tethered to the couch, she had nowhere to go. She fought him off with bound hands even as her skin flushed and lust made her shudder.

I shoved him away.

He crashed over the coffee table, an empty vial rolling from where he stepped on it. He grunted in pain but even flipping over a piece of furniture couldn’t stop his attention from locking entirely on Eleanor, his eyes glazed with a different reality, his mind somewhere I couldn’t touch.

The vial crashed against my shoe.

I swallowed a growl, unable to control the flush of raw fury.

Fucking bastard.

He’d given her elixir.

Again.

She’ll die.

How ill-fated our love story had turned out to be. We both might die today. We might be buried side by side before we’d even lived.

I’m ending this.

Now.

A mercenary on my payroll sidled up to me as I snatched my cell phone lying on the floor. The same phone Drake had stolen.

“Want me to shoot him?” He raised his gun, aiming it at Drake’s head.

It would be so easy.

So fucking tempting.

But they shared the same fantasy.

Kill Drake and kill Eleanor.

I can’t.

“He’s mine to deal with,” I growled. “Sweep the house. Kill any other intruders. I wish to be alone with my brother.”

The man nodded without question. “Call if you need us. We’ll station ourselves by the door.”

A helicopter screech cut off outside, signalling the other team had arrived. “Go collect the package.”

“Sure thing.” He nodded and jogged from the room.

Drake scrambled over the coffee table, doing his best to return to Eleanor.

Urgency tried to undermine my precision. I wanted nothing more than to rip his fucking throat out, but they were linked. Their minds were threaded with hallucinations that were so real, so tangible, it became real.

I need her free from the fantasy.

Eleanor’s moans, as she continued to fight elixir, did their best to distract me.

Fire blazed in my blood for instant and brutal retribution.

The old Sully—the one impassioned and ruled by his love for this girl—would’ve carried her from the room and punched a hole in his fucking brother’s chest. He would’ve tried to skirt the very rules he’d coded for Euphoria and lost Eleanor in the process.

That man kept losing because he kept being controlled by his mistakes.

I wasn’t that man anymore.

Thanks to Tritec, I was clearheaded and methodical. It gave me the willpower to stand before my goddess and my brother all while he made his way back to her and reached to grab her.

I swallowed down my hatred. I quaked with my fury. And I permitted him to paw at her because I needed to do this right. I needed to not only kill him but fucking obliterate him.

And I know just how to do it.

Eleanor cried out, her tone full of disgust but also rapidly building need.

Elixir was winning.

Hold on, Jinx…hold on.

I couldn’t help her overcome elixir’s insidious consummation the same way I had on my island. She needed to be fucked so her overstimulated system didn’t kill her. It wasn’t about pleasure anymore, but survival. She needed orgasm after orgasm, and…I couldn’t give her that.

I’d put her through enough.

I’d hurt her past forgivable.

I had another plan.

A better plan.

One that I didn’t know for certain would work, but I had to try because nothing else was possible. I had no stamina to fuck her to the levels she needed, and I wouldn’t lay a hand on her while my motherfucking brother still breathed.

This is the only way.

A man ran into the room, holding out a medic bag complete with the travel defib and syringe in sterile packaging.

I accepted it.

He left immediately, leaving me alone with the woman I loved and the brother I cursed.

Placing the defib on the couch, I shoved Drake away again and untied Eleanor’s hands and ankle from the curtain tiebacks holding her prisoner.