Page 76 of Onyx Realm

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Something woke me from a fitful sleep. It wasn’t a sound so much as a feeling. I crept from the bed, rubbing my arms as thecold from the tile floor seeped into my bones. Padding to the cracked door, I peered into the silent condo.

A shadow moved noiselessly and disappeared into the opposite bedroom.

The pirate king was home.

From here, I could see the digital clock on the stove. It was barely after five in the morning. There was plenty of time for another nap so I wouldn’t waste the day snoozing in bed. But sleep was long gone.

Returning to my bed, I sat cross-legged and stared at the dark sea. I kept the blinds pulled back last night, the door to the balcony slightly ajar to hear the rush of waves. They weren’t as tender as they were back in the cottage, but their steady crash was soothing enough to lull me to sleep.

Now, they beckoned me.

No...not the waves.

I sighed and flopped back onto the mattress. There was another voice that urged me to move. Did I answer it? Giving in at this point wouldn’t help prove my case.

But the pulse between my legs screamed at me for ignoring it.

I slid my hand down my stomach, moving aside the satin sleeper set. My skin was hot.Iwas hot—and very bothered.

“What’s one little tryst?” I muttered.

The ache wasn’t something I was able to take care of, and not for lack of trying. I chewed on my lip, knowing that the relief I desperately wanted was just across the living room in the other bedroom.

A few steps and it could be mine.

“Ah, screw it,” I hissed, rolling off the bed.

My bare feet slapped against the tiles, making my intentions clear. I didn’t bother knocking but pushed the door to the master suite open.

Markos stood against the window, a drink clutched in his hand. Clothing bunched on the floor, he was a sight to behold framed against the night.

His naked back rippled with muscles as he turned, sensing my presence. Golden skin stretched over sinew, marred only by dark tattoos that slithered across his shoulders. The tight black briefs did little to conceal the shape of him.

“Serena.” My name was a gravel-rough whisper in the darkness.

I stepped inside the room, closing the door behind me. “I couldn’t sleep.”

His eyes tracked my movement, predatory and alert despite the hour. The amber liquid in his glass caught the moonlight as he took another sip. “Neither could I.”

A silence stretched between us, electric and dangerous. I was acutely aware of my thin satin shorts and camisole, how they skimmed my body in ways that left little to the imagination.

“You shouldn’t be here.” His words contradicted the heat in his gaze.

“Probably not.” I swallowed thickly.

“I’m not in a good place right now,” he insisted.

I stopped in front of him, gripped the bottom of my top, and drug it over my head. “It might not be a good place, but it’s the right place.”

With a growled curse, he tossed back the rest of his drink and set the empty tumbler on a metal table. “You should run, little mermaid.”

I rose to the balls of my feet. “You’d rather I get my tail back? I’m not sure how mermaids fuck, but that can’t be comfortable.”

My attempt at humor evoked a rough laugh from the sea monster. Markos closed the distance and took my chin in his hands. “I said, run.”

A dark idea bubbled into my mind. “Will you chase me?”

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