“I’m not fucking leaving,” I growled.
The stricken look in her gaze made me add a soften snarl, “Drake won’t touch me, Jinx. He’s the one who will be dying tonight. Not me.”
“All guests and goddesses have been evacuated, by the way. Arbi and a few guards will contain the girls.” Cal narrowed his eyes.
“Good.”
“I wish we had trained sharks,” he muttered. “A few obedient crocodile or two. Maybe a rabid baboon.”
I rolled my eyes. Not for the first time, Cal had tried to persuade me to come up with a pharmaceutical compound that could control any animal who drank it. To have access to powerful swimmers and jaws of death.
I’d half-heartedly given the request to Peter Beck—to see what he and his scientists could cook—but without the ability to test on animals, we’d reached a dead end. Besides, I wouldn’t enslave a race just for my own gain.
Humans were my only hunting ground in that respect.
Shifting Eleanor so she stood right by the helicopter door, I grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her into the luxurious cabin.
“Wait. No—”
“You’re going home, Eleanor.”
“I’m staying.” Tiki torches around the helipad flickered, bouncing golden flame off her glossy long hair as she leaned over me, refusing to go deeper into the cabin. She looked as if she’d embraced the fire itself, glowing from within with explosive temper.
“Sully—”
“Don’t make me bind you,” I snapped. “Because I will.”
She attempted to push me away from blocking the door. “Let me off.”
I nodded at the pilots, gritting my teeth as fresh torment ignited at the sound of engines firing on. Pika and Skittles took off with an agonising screech, fleeing from the noise.
Eleanor’s gaze tracked them until they vanished into the undergrowth, rapidly filling with tears.
It broke my useless heart to tear her away from Skittles, but I’d do it all over again if I could keep her safe.
“Sit down.” I pushed her back. “Buckle up.”
Her tears spiked with frustration. Any sign of weakness or submission disappeared beneath dangerous tenacity. “I won’t let you do this. Damn you, stop and just listen for a moment!”
“Listen?” I cupped her cheek, ignoring the splinters and daggers in my chest making it hard to breathe. “Don’t you see? I can’t listen. I can barely look at you without falling to my goddamn knees.”
“Then don’t do this!”
“It’s already done.” I gave her a grief-stricken smile. “At least you’ll be safe. I’m doing the right thing by letting you go. You’ll see. The second you’re back in a city with people and freedom, you’ll realise my enslavement of you warped your sense of—”
“My sense of love?” She bared her teeth. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not like your other goddesses.”
“Exactly. You’re not. That’s why you’re fucking leaving.”
The captain gave me a thumbs-up, hinting he had the envelope to give her, the flight path to fly her, the ending to sever us.
My knees threatened to buckle as I shoved Eleanor deeper into the cabin and attempted to step back. “I’ll look after Skittles for you, you have my word.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“It’s all I can offer.”
“Bullshit.” She flung herself from the helicopter, her hair whipping in the wind generated by the rotor blades.
Tripping backward, I grunted and caught her weight, mindful that slicing blades whisked above our heads. “Stop making this harder than it already is, Jinx.” I increased my volume over the din. “For fuck’s sake, please.”
Her body flush to mine made me achingly hard.
Her lips so close to mine made my mind swim with possession.
I’d reached the end of my control. I wanted the freedom to love her and the brutality to decapitate my brother. Two warring desires that should never live side by side.
“Cal!” I barked. “Get me some rope.”
“No!” She shook her head, her arms twining around my shoulders. “Unless the rope is to tie us together so you can’t do something moronic—”
“Cal.” I glowered at him. “Go. Get something to restrain her. We don’t have fucking time for this.”
“Sir.” Storming away, he dashed up the jetty.
His sarcastic quip sent annoyance down my back. I didn’t understand his attitude. He knew better out of anyone why I had no option.
Scooping Eleanor tighter into my arms, I marched up the helicopter steps and out of the downdraft from the blades.
The noise shredded any symbolism that this could be a romantic pledge. I was glad of the clamour. Thankful for the impatience of the pilots and the rising urgency of getting Jinx off my shores.
If I didn’t have such hostile irritability, I’d probably carry her back to Nirvana and turn my back on Drake and on my creatures. I’d once again be so fucking selfish to put my pain first and keep her.
I can’t fucking keep her.
Eleanor fought me as I wrangled her into the seat. “Why must everything be so black and white with you?”