The Siren's Code (Siren Legacy Book 3)
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Epilogue
Siren's Code
The Siren Legacy Book Three
Helen Scott
Contents
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
The Siren’s Code
Book Two of The Siren Legacy Series
Copyright © 2017 by Helen Scott
Cover Design © Natasha Snow
Editing by Courtney Umpress
All rights reserved.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author, except for the brief use of quotations in a book review.
This book is intended for adults only. The sexual activities represented in this book are a work of fiction intended for adults. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are used fictitiously by the author. Any resemblance to actual places, events, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
To my family. Thank you for supporting me through this wild and crazy journey!
Chapter 1
“She slipped through our fingers!” Mr. Fields was livid. Robin had never seen him so angry. It practically shimmered in the air around him, like heat coming off tarmac. “You were supposed to get her and your brother and get out of there. Why the hell did you join the fight?” He poked his finger at The Scout’s chest.
“You seemed to be in trouble,” The Scout muttered.
“Me? In trouble? Ha! No, all that happened was you letting our most valuable asset go. Where are we going to find another seer, huh?”
The Scout looked at her, his eyes begging Robin to intervene, but she couldn’t.
The memory of what she had done made her feel physically ill. She had exchanged herself for the life of an oracle and her rescuers. She didn’t—no, couldn’t—draw any more attention to herself.
“I’m waiting for an answer, Norman!” Mr. Fields yelled, making Robin’s ears ring.
Even through everything going on, the fact that The Scout’s name was Norman surprised Robin. It seemed so old school and ordinary. Surely a professional kidnapper should have a name that sounded as dangerous as he was.
“I don’t know, sir. I can—”
“Damn right you don’t know! You and your sadistic brother are more trouble than you’re worth sometimes.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “Don’t just stand there—go find your brother and find me another damn seer!”
“Yes, sir!” Norman muttered before he made a hasty retreat toward the elevators.
Robin stood plastered against the wall, praying Mr. Fields didn’t notice her. She watched as he sat at his desk and pulled a bottle of scotch and two glasses out of the bottom drawer.
“Come have a drink, and we can discuss the change in the terms of our agreement.” He didn’t even look at Robin when he spoke, but she knew that if she didn’t comply immediately, there would be hell to pay.
“Yes, sir,” she breathed, her heart kicking like a mule as she approached the desk.
When she sat opposite him, he shoved a glass toward her, the dark amber liquid sloshing to the point of almost spilling. She wrapped her hand around it as if it was her safety net. Mr. Fields’ eyes were on her; she could practically feel them skating over her skin, taking in her disheveled appearance. If she didn’t look up, he might just let her sit for a moment before she discovered the hell that her life was going to become.
“Ms. Murphy, you have been under contract for me for how long now?”
“Nine years, sir.” Her eyes flashed up and took in his face, briefly showing her the swath of jet-black hair that resided above equally dark eyes. A self-satisfied smirk momentarily resided below them before he raised the glass to his lips, sipping the aromatic liquid.
“Is it nine now? Well, time certainly has flown by. Your original term was set to be over in another eleven years. Is that correct?”
Robin nodded.
“So you were contracted to me for twenty years.” He tapped the edge of the glass against his mouth. “And now you’ve offered to take Katerina’s place for a year so you could save the lives of two worthless hybrids?”
She nodded again.
“Why?”
“You seemed so much more powerful than them. It didn’t look like a fair fight. I couldn’t just watch you kill them.” The surety in her voice surprised her.
“So you root for the underdog. Interesting.”
Robin got the distinct feeling that everything she said was going to be used against her later.
“Are you rooting for yourself? You are clearly the underdog in this situation.”
“No, sir. I know what I have to do, and I don’t need anyone stepping in to take care of it for me.” She didn’t know where this courage was coming from, but she knew she had to put up a strong front now. Otherwise, his threat of breaking her would be accomplished all too easily.
“And what do you have to do?” He quirked an eyebrow at her.
“Whatever it was Katerina did for you.”
“Do you know what that was?”
“I have a pretty good idea.”
“Well, then. Are you expecting me to use you for sex? Is that what you think she did for me?”
“Among other things.”
“Occasionally, but only if she wanted to.” He stared her down. “I’m not a rapist, Ms. Murphy, and I certainly don’t have to pay for sex. If you want to take it to that level, that is something we can talk about, but for now, I just need you to follow orders.”
She felt unstable, like her seat had one leg shorter than the others. Katerina had wanted to have sex with him? She had always just assumed it was part of what he paid her for.
Unwilling to back down from her newly discovered courage, she asked, “Then what are my orders?”
“For now, go and sleep. Rest and recover from the events of the past few days. I will send a new wardrobe for you with instructions on what to wear and when.”
A slow smile spread across Mr. Fields’ face as she downed the last of the scotch and got up to leave.
“Oh, and I am still
going to sponsor you for the Order of Talos.”
Robin’s blood ran cold. She knew that whatever magic he’d been using to fight with had come from his connection with the Order. She also knew, with complete certainty, that she wanted to stay as far away from that organization as possible.
“Very well, Mr. Fields.” There was no question. He wasn’t asking her if she wanted to join anymore. Now he was telling her.
“When we are alone, I want you to call me Randall.”
“Very well, Randall.” She wanted to spit the words out, but antagonizing the man she had just agreed to take orders from was not a good plan.
As she walked out of the office toward the elevators, she felt the flash drive she had hidden in her bra shift. There was nothing she could do other than put up with it poking her in the boob for the rest of the trip back to her room. The flash drive was the most precious thing to her right now.
During her stay at The Farm with Randall, she had copied every single file they had, unbeknownst to them. When she was back at her workstation, she was going to dive into it and try to get it into the right hands.
The image of the guy whose life she’d saved popped into her mind. He was huge and basically looked the way she had always imagined Thor—tall, with long hair and muscles. He had been there to rescue Aster, the seer or oracle or whatever, from the torture they had planned for her.
She knew she had to get the information out as clearly as she knew Randall would be dragging her down the path to the Order of Talos. But maybe she could get information out to someone like the guy she’d been calling Thor in her head. Either way, she now had a plan, at the very least. She would take them down, all of them, piece by piece if she had to, and they would never see her coming.
Chapter 2
Robin went straight into the bathroom and turned on the shower, carefully undressing so she didn’t lose the flash drive. The small chunk of plastic and metal sat in her hand as the rest of her clothing fell to the floor. She needed somewhere to hide it until she went back to her desk tomorrow.
She’d have to place a purchase order for a new laptop since Randall had forced her to leave hers at The Farm, and that was before it went up in flames. There wasn’t a chance in hell of getting it back now.
Standing on the edge of the tub, she used a nail file to unscrew the vent just enough so she could slide the flash drive inside. With that taken care of, she really did want to shower, and the water would be the perfect temperature of almost scalding hot by now. She stepped into the water and let it wash the tension from her, at least for a moment.
As she washed, more dirt and grime came off her than she’d expected, but she still didn’t feel completely clean. She hadn’t felt completely clean in nine years, though, so it wasn’t a new feeling. It was as if living and working in this place, and for that man, left a residue on her very soul. She would never be clean again.
When she came out of the bathroom with one of the few towels she had wrapped around her, a rack of clothing waited for her, along with Randall Fields sitting on her bed.
“You look lovelier than I thought you would after a shower.” His voice was low.
This was the Randall Fields who scared her. The one who invaded her privacy, let himself into her room. This was the one she knew wanted her in the most sexual way possible. It made her skin pebble with goosebumps, even though she still stood in the heat from the bathroom, with the scent of her lavender body wash lingering in the air around her.
“Come and look at your new clothes.” He waved to the rolling rack. “I need to see what I like and which designers work best on your body before I get more.”
“Yes, sir.” Her voice still didn’t tremble as she walked to the rack of clothing. It was all blacks and blues with the occasional emerald green thrown in. Skirts. Dresses. Blouses. And lots of skimpy lingerie. He claimed he wouldn’t force himself on her, but the wardrobe told a different story. Her spine stiffened. Had he just been trying to get her to lower her guard?
“Try this one on.” He handed her a black dress.
Robin started to head to the bathroom to change when she felt his hand on her arm.
“Here.” Randall looked at her expectantly.
“Sir, I—”
“It wasn’t a request.” He adjusted one of his cuff links before looking back up at her with flinty eyes.
Robin’s stomach rolled, and her skin felt slimy all over again. They’d done this song and dance before. He wasn’t about to turn, and she wasn’t allowed to leave.
She took a deep breath and dropped the towel, quickly pulling the dress on over her head. The slinky black material slid along her skin, fitting her like a glove. What she hadn’t realized when he’d handed it to her was that there were sections that were just mesh—a lot of them. Two large sections covered her breasts and butt, but the rest was all stripes of material with mesh in between.
She didn’t feel exposed, exactly, but she also knew that much more of her body was visible than she would like.
“Turn.”
His eyes raked over her. The dress was almost too tight, as if it was a size smaller than she was used to, but it fit her like a second skin. She barely felt like it was there at all; only the high neckline scratching her collarbone made her really think about what she wore.
“Good.” Randall stood and ran a hand down her arm. She had to fight not to move away from him. “Now this one.”
He handed her one of the emerald-green dresses. From the hanger, it looked like there was a lot of material there, but Robin suspected there was a surprise attached to it, just like the mesh on the dress she was wearing. She shimmied out of the black dress and pulled the green one on. There was a slightly musty smell to it, as though it had been in storage for a long time.
The satin fabric was soft and cool against her skin, sliding over it like water. The dress was elegant, definitely evening attire, which had Robin on edge. There was no reason she should need a dress like this. The long skirt hid her pale legs but clung to her hips before arriving at the lowest V-neck she’d ever seen. It went way past the bottom of her breasts, almost to her navel, and made her feel as if she couldn’t move without experiencing some slippage.
“Sir, why do I need a dress like this?” She tried to mask her fear by clearing her throat.
He paced away from her. “Walk toward me.” He brushed her question aside.
She did as she was commanded, only to be horrified to find two very high slits in the front. Every time she took a step, the dress billowed out behind her, leaving each leg out in the cold respectively.
“You are to accompany me next week to a charity gala. You will wear this dress and be charming, or you will pay for it the next day.”
The air suddenly seemed too thin. Robin was not only going to leave the high rise again within weeks of leaving it for the first time since she started working for Randall Fields, but it was to go to a charity gala. That was something she had never experienced before. She had always been the one cleaning up after the gala, if she was lucky. Usually she just read about such extravagant events online, wishing she could be a princess for a day so she could attend one, but that was the dream of a child.
“Which charity?”
“Does it matter?” He arched a thick black brow.
“No.”
The terse exchange left her feeling more on edge than she was before. She just knew the night wasn’t going to be over until he had seen her try on all the clothing he’d brought down for her.
Hal couldn’t get comfortable. Every night for the last week, he had dreamed of the red head from the farmhouse. The way she had saved him really pissed him off.
He was supposed to be the one doing the saving. That was what he and his brothers did. Well, that and track down magical objects. He hadn’t had anyone save his skin like that in centuries.
Except Ellie, but he wasn’t in mortal danger at the time.
He shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts and
get some sleep. It was impossible. Sleep had become a figment of his imagination the last few days.
He’d catch small cat naps here and there, but a full night’s sleep had eluded him for a while now. And when he did nap? She was there, waiting for him, sacrificing herself for him and Thad, giving in to that asshat of a suit, agreeing to who knows what.
It tortured him.
If it wasn’t that scene, then it was her in his house, well, his private house, the house not even his brothers knew about, and she was so happy to be there. He would wake up expecting to find her curled up against him in bed, only to be disappointed at the cold, empty sheets that surrounded him.
It was strange to sleep in the main house. He hadn’t slept here in years except for the brief fling with Hecate. If she wanted to stay over, then he slept here. Overall, though, he preferred his cabin, which was small and unassuming. The big house was built to impress. It was where he and his brothers had lived while they constructed their own houses. Some of their oldest pieces of artwork and what would be considered antiques to the rest of the world resided in the walls of that house.
When he was there, he always felt like a bull in a china shop. Terrified of ruining a family heirloom or something equally valuable by accident because he forgot his size. Again.
The cabin was small, big enough for him, but still small, and sturdy. He could run into the walls and knock himself out without endangering anything.
He couldn’t imagine anyone else being in the cabin with him, which was why he’d never told his brothers about it. They would want to see and visit and use it themselves, and that was the opposite of why he’d built the thing. It was precisely why the dreams of the redhead being there with him were so unnerving. He screwed his eyes shut, demanding that his brain turn off.