Chapter One
“I want her alive!” Tyron Gryphon slammed his fist down on his desk, rattling the pens and disturbing the paper.
Maximus elevated an eyebrow, fighting back the surge of his vampyr fangs. Beside him, his mate, Gabriel, a tiger-shifter tensed. The multi-billionaire sitting across from them was a brat cloaked in the body of an adult. Getting his desires one too many times, led him to the erroneous conclusion Maximus and Gabriel would do his bidding out of fear or dominance. A huge miscalculation on the drama-king’s part.
Gabriel tossed the dossier on Gryphon’s desk. “What do you want with her?”
Maximus studied the woman in the black and white photo he’d retained from the file. Dark hair, petite build, and eyes an indeterminate shade in the monochrome picture.
Sameya. No surname. Not even a last known address. Scant facts in the folder, nine pages total, easy to memorize all of the material. Five-three, one hundred five pounds, she’d be itty-bity up against his six-foot-five stature. He preferred diminutive women, favored how tiny they were against him.
Sandwich her between him and Gabriel, and they’d govern her physically and literally. Sliding into her simultaneously…his balls clenched and his gut cramped at the idea. Amazing how a single photograph induced such fantasies. Even more remarkable because he wasn’t the woolgathering type. He possessed more of a proactive type of personality.
Gryphon paced behind his desk, the two huge windows at his back like judging glassy eyes. “She’s a siren.”
Maximus bit his tongue to massacre the laugh that hit the back of his throat. What a gibberish declaration.
“Bullshit,” Maximus blurted before he engaged the filter from his brain to his mouth. That quirky sieve often gave him fits.
“What Maximus means is sirens are believed to be extinct, have been for centuries.” Gabriel adjusted to the edge of his seat, back ramrod straight, while Maximus slouched and tapped the photograph against his leg, considering the agitated male. “You expect us to believe you’ve located one?” Gabriel continued, snatching Maximus from his thoughts.
“Not just located one, but spent time with her. She dated my son.” Gryphon fisted his right hand. Did he contemplate choking the little siren? Maximus wanted his hand around her throat while he held her down and drove into her body. Balls-deep, pounding into her soft flesh until her eyes crossed and they both came in an orgasm so blinding it took them hours to recover.
Gabriel flicked him a glance, a cagey expression in his golden eyes. “If this is true, how could you not sense what she is?”
Being a griffin, Tyron Gryphon was a powerful enough creature to have recognized what she was from the get-go. If he spoke true, then the woman in the photo was of countless age, and her power most likely dwarfed everyone in the mortal realm. Including the griffin.
“I have no idea.” Gryphon ran his hand down his face. “The only conclusion is that she’s a timerelic.”
Maximus notched a hank of shoulder length brown hair behind his ear. “All timerelics are deceased.” True relics that transcended the ages were a myth. Or so his great grandfather decreed and that old man had departed Atlantis when the city was hidden. However, nothing said one of the ancients couldn’t escape their notice. But why would a timerelic appear now? Leave the safety of Atlantis? “You’re mistaken. Sirens no longer exist.”
If they remained, why weren’t they eliminating the criminals as they had in the past? Instead, that’d become his and Gabriel’s job.
Gryphon slammed his fist on the table again. Weary of the theatrics, Maximus rose to his feet, as their would-be employer said, “She turned my son into a babbling fool. That is clear evidence of a siren.”
“How are we to know he wasn’t a babbling fool before she showed up?”
“Maximus.” Gabriel sent him a cautious peek.
“Gabriel, I’ve had enough of this fucker’s bullshit.” From the corner of his eye, he caught the silent gasp that froze on Gryphon’s face. Honor wasn’t typically questioned among the various paranormal breeds. “Sirens are extinct. End of story. He wants this bitch for another reason he’s not sharing. And I don’t work for liars.”
What would Gryphon do if I tossed Sameya on his desk and fucked her while he watched?
Enough with the daydreams already.
“I’ll pay you whatever you want.”
Maximus laughed. Of course Gryphon would cough up an obscene amount of cash if they agreed to bounty-hunt for him. That had never been open for discussion. He and Gabriel were the best trackers in the paranormal community. It wasn’t about the money, though. The idea of this jowly, beady-eyed motherfucker getting his claws on Sameya-possible-siren made Maximus irrational. Had him itching to beat the arrogant bastard into a pulp for simply thinking of her.