Midnight Fantasy [The Doms of Sybaris Cove 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  “Then I’ll take the girl,” said Patan. “The descendant of Faith Fontanette.”

  “The hell you will,” said Javier.

  “You cannot have her,” said Garrett. “She belongs to us.”

  “Someone has to die tonight.”

  “No one will die tonight,” said Dallas. “We have paid our dues. The current generations of Durantes and Raleighs stand before you, united, and proclaim we have paid our dues.”

  Renata put a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. What if this didn’t work? What if the demons insisted on a sacrifice, and since the men refused to hand them one, they simply chose somebody?

  This couldn’t be real, and yet there they were. She’d seen them appear. She’d watched the loa appear, disappear, and then reappear. This wasn’t a trick or a parlor game. It was real. She was sitting on top of a rock, watching the two men she loved face down five demons.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Garrett had never been so afraid in his life. Every fiber of his being told him this could not possibly be real, and yet it was. The thickening clouds, the stench of sulfur, and the horrible fleeting form the five demons had taken before appearing human to their eyes. The ridiculous pirate costumes the loa wore, and Zaire in his loincloth, with symbols Garrett didn’t recognize painted all over his chest, arms, and legs were as real as the men standing next to the stones with him.

  This wasn’t his imagination, and it wasn’t a trick. And he didn’t know how he knew this, but they were fighting for their very lives tonight. That certainty was as strong as any truth he’d ever known.

  He pictured Renata’s beautiful face and held onto that image. He could do this. He would do it, for her. He loved her so much his heart nearly burst with joy.

  And then it hit him. The answer to this puzzle hit him like someone had dropped it right out of the sky. Love. It was the ultimate weapon against evil. It always had been. The demons had no way to fight that, and they had no defense against it. And it was the one thing the men standing before them had that Garrett’s and Javier’s great-grandfathers had never had. He understood that now, in a way he never had before.

  “You can’t have her,” he said. “You can’t have Renata Fontanette because I love her. She is mine.”

  * * * *

  Renata couldn’t help the gasp that escaped her throat. She clamped a hand over her mouth again, but one of the demons glanced up at her and Celina.

  “And I love her, too,” said Javier. “She belongs to both of us. You will not touch her.”

  She and Celina exchanged a glance, and then a huge smile spread over both their faces. Renata let the tears come this time, and it was all she could do to stay on the rock and not scramble down to where they stood. Her heart beat so fast she was certain she’d pass out any second now.

  Patan seemed to falter for a second, and then Renata nodded. Of course. That was it! Love. They were going to use their love to win this fight! Such a tiny word, but more powerful than any force in nature. It had the ability to reduce a person to tears, or render them stronger than they knew they could be. It moved mountains and leveled cities. Men had fought and died in the name of it. How ingenious. It was the one thing these demons could never defeat.

  “Your love will not save your families!”

  “Yes, it will.” Javier’s voice was now so soft it was difficult to hear him. “Because you can’t fight that. You cursed our great-grandfathers, and they probably had it coming. Our grandfathers may have even deserved it. But we do not. Our fathers do not.”

  “We have proven our worth,” said Garrett. “We love our community, and we love the island women whose families were here first.”

  “Javier Durante,” said Patan, his voice coaxing, persuasive. “Great-grandson of Agapito. He was the worst one of all, you know. None of his children have the same mother. Did you know that?”

  “Your words have no power over me.”

  “Oh, but they do, for I am the one who cursed him.”

  “I am not my great-grandfather, demon. You have no power over me. I have proven myself worthy.”

  Patan sneered. “Only you and Garrett Raleigh have. Only you two love an island woman and have not used her for your own agenda.”

  “That’s not true,” said Arizona. “I love a Vallee woman.”

  “As do I,” said Dallas.

  “Your grandfathers, Emilio Durante and Daniel Raleigh, built Phoebe’s Playthings from illegally obtained money,” said Patan. “Loving Celina does not make up for that.”

  “And we have turned it into a corporation that gives almost as much to charity as it pays our employees,” said Asa.

  “And you, Asa…three wives and countless…shall we say trysts?”

  “None of which caused harm to another. Stop twisting my words, demon. I loved my wives, and I love my company. I pour my heart and soul into it every day. Nothing you bring up from my past will change that.”

  “What about the rest of us, demon?” asked Kade Durante. He stood next to Elliot Raleigh. “You have other Durante and Raleigh men who stand before you and declare we have proven ourselves worthy of having this curse lifted. Elliot and I both love a Macey woman.”

  Patan pointed toward the crowd. “Tim Raleigh won’t even come here and face me. He tried to rape Giselle Macey’s mother, and then Asa covered it up and paid her off!”

  “The entire island already knows that,” said Laila Macey, stepping forward with Justin, Giselle’s father. “We owe no one a debt for that, and neither do Tim or Asa.”

  The crowd grew noisy for a few seconds after Laila’s speech, and then Liam Raleigh and Estevan Durante stepped forward. “We love an Augustine woman, and we have already defeated your curse. We swam into these very waters to save the life of another man.”

  “Ah, yes,” said Patan, his voice oily once more. “Estevan. The grandson of Alejandro. The two Durantes who refused to stand by their families and join the ranks at Phoebe’s Playthings.”

  “That won’t work,” said Estevan, his voice so calm that Renata thought he could easily be standing in his own backyard, shooting the breeze with a friend. “You can’t slam the company in one sentence and then use it to hurt me in another.”

  Nando stepped forward with Graham. “And what about us, demon? We love a Da Costa woman.” Nando pointed toward Graham. “And he saved my life.” Graham had helped Leta pull Nando out of one of the buildings that was near the fire when Owen and Penn set off the explosions at Palace of Eris last summer. Graham had lost his wife and infant son in a fire three years ago, so to be able to do that had taken a huge amount of courage on his part.

  “Nando. Grandson of Shona. You have her diary. The ramblings of a young, imaginative girl.” Patan waved a hand in a dismissive gesture.

  “Stories, not ramblings,” said Graham. “Stories that just happen to be true. Nice try, but it won’t work.”

  Ian Raleigh and Jagger Durante stepped forward. “We love a Thilenique woman,” said Jagger.

  “But Kai is your cousin,” said Patan.

  “By marriage only,” said Jagger. “You know that, demon.”

  “Your father and uncle own the company that killed people and maimed others for life.”

  “My cousin and his friend did that, not my father or uncle. I am not responsible for Owen or Penn, and neither is any other man here.”

  Brett, Jagger’s brother, stepped forward with Mark Raleigh and Nita. “And we love a Trudeaux woman,” said Brett.

  “Ah, yes. The voodoo priestess in training.” Patan glanced at her again. “Or have you changed your mind about that now that you’ve had a Durante and a Raleigh dick inside you?”

  “You leave her alone!” shouted Phyllis.

  “It’s all right,” said Nita, her voice so calm that Renata was amazed. “He has nothing left to use against any of us, so now he’s down to sex, as if that’s a crime on this island.”

  Several people in the crowd laughed, and it was obvious that Patan w
as flustered now. If Renata hadn’t seen this with her own eyes and heard it with her own ears, she never would have believed such a thing were possible. Everything she’d ever believed about demons was wrong.

  Tom Raleigh and Merrick Durante stepped forward. “We love a Balloux woman,” said Tom. “And we rode in a boat across the southern waters to Little Cove because we thought that woman was on the little island and in danger.”

  “And then we rode back,” said Merrick. “And we lived. We, too, have already defeated your curse because of love.”

  “And your father can’t keep it in his pants!”

  “That’s his business, not yours or mine,” said Merrick.

  Felipe Durante and Rey Raleigh stepped forward. “And we love a Cayenne woman,” said Rey.

  “Ah, yes. Reynaldo Raleigh. The great-grandson of Robert, and cousin to Billy. I believe it was he who once helped Keith Durante spread vicious lies about the voodoo priestess’s granddaughter, isn’t that right? And you dare to call yourself good?”

  “I am not responsible for my cousin’s actions. Only my own. Is that the best you can do, demon? Use what our family members did against us?”

  Once again, Patan’s expression seemed to falter.

  “What more do you need?” asked Asa, his voice just as confident as Renata had ever heard. “You know these family names, and you know these women the current generation love. They’re among the same names of the men who called you forth over sixty years ago to cast this curse. Nothing is the same on this island as it once was. You’ve heard and seen the good both our families have done with respect to the families native to this island. It is time to end this.”

  Asa broke ranks and stepped forward on his own, his head held high. Celina gasped and Renata held her breath.

  “No one will die tonight. The bloodshed is over. End this curse now. I command you…we command you. In the name of love.”

  Renata and Celina both stood as the demon lunged toward Asa. Asa fell back against the crowd, and the demon roared as his hand crossed the stones. He pulled it back as if he’d burned it on hot coals, and then he looked at it, clearly unable to believe he hadn’t been able to touch Asa. He lifted his head toward the sky and roared again. Renata covered her ears as screams erupted from the crowd.

  She glanced around, panicked, looking for Javier and Garrett, but they hadn’t moved. None of the Raleigh or Durante men had moved. Asa was back with them, and they all stood as one unit, facing the roaring demon who now took his true form. Several people fainted in the crowd, but the men stood firm, even when the stench became unbearable.

  The center of the stones was now a swirling mass of black smoke, and Patan’s voice echoed off the surrounding mountains and rocks like thunder. “The curse is lifted! But mark my words…we will be watching. And if even one Durante or Raleigh turns back toward greed or corruption as Agapito, Iago, William, or Robert did, we will cast it once more, and no one on this island, native or not, will ever leave it alive.”

  The scene below was chaos. Renata and Celina scrambled down the rock, fell twice, and got up. Renata searched frantically for Javier and Garrett, and then suddenly there they were, running toward her.

  She collapsed into their arms, crying, her heart pounding and her entire body shaking. “I thought you were dead. I thought he was going to kill everyone. Oh my God, you were both so brave. Do you really love me? Did you mean it?”

  They both stroked her face and spoke at the same time, but she didn’t even hear the words.

  “Because I love you, too. I love you both. I always have. I know that now.”

  “We love you, too,” said Garrett, holding her so close she could hardly breathe. “We always have.”

  Javier brushed a finger along her face. “We want you with us forever, Renata. Not only as our sub, but our most perfect lover. We love you so much.”

  “I can’t believe this is real.” She wanted to laugh, cry, and shout for joy all at the same time. “I thought I’d lost you there, at the end. Weren’t you afraid?”

  “Hell yeah!” said Garrett.

  “Ready to piss my pants,” said Javier.

  She laughed now, more from nervousness than anything.

  “But we knew we were right,” said Garrett. “We knew that if we all came forth together, as a team, and shoved our love for our women, for this community, and for the heritage of this island in their faces, they couldn’t fight that.”

  “No matter what they threw back at us,” said Javier, “they were powerless against love.”

  She held them each close, inhaling their scents, slowly becoming aware that the clouds overheard were gone and the night was once again clear. All around her she noticed the other subs embracing their Doms, other couples embracing, and still others simply celebrating.

  Someone built a bonfire, and bottles of tequila and rum were passed around. Zaire had put his clothes back on, and a large group was gathered around him, thanking him. “We should do that, too,” she said, pointing toward him.

  “In a bit,” said Javier. “Right now, we just want to hold you.”

  Renata glanced out over the ocean, wondering. Was it really gone? Had what she’d just witnessed been real? And who would write this down for future generations of Raleighs and Durantes to read?

  She snuggled closer to Javier and Garrett, smiling. Whatever happened, they were here now, and they loved her. And now they knew that she loved them, too. Nothing could change that. Not the curse, or the demons, or those ridiculous loa in their pirate costumes. They were her Doms and her lovers, and they always would be. She had everything she’d ever wanted, right here in their arms.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Sunday afternoon, Javier and Garrett told Renata they needed to go downtown for a few things, and she spent the time online, researching landmarks on the mainland she’d always wanted to see.

  They’d told her they were going to take a real vacation for the first time, but since nearly everyone at work would now be asking for the same thing, they wanted to have their travel plans firm so they wouldn’t end up having to wait in line to get off this island. Asa had told them all last night he wouldn’t let more than a few people from any one department be gone for weeks at a time, or else business would suffer.

  When they returned, she showed them all the places she wanted to see, and she’d even written out a tentative itinerary, complete with airline schedules and hotel choices.

  “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” said Javier.

  “I know,” said Garrett. “It feels so weird. Should we call Asa now and request our vacation weeks? I’m betting others have already done so.”

  “Maybe you’d better,” said Renata. “Because some of these flights are non-refundable, and I’d hate to lose money.”

  “We have a lot of it,” said Javier.

  “Spend it all,” said Garrett. “I want to see the world.”

  She laughed, and then while they made a phone call to Asa, she called McMurphy Flight. The earliest they could get the three off the island and to a city where they could take another flight was over a month, so she booked a flight and then let the guys know.

  Javier told her that Asa had already had so many calls he was asking everyone in each department to simply work it out on their own, so the guys then talked to Alaina and coordinated their time off with the flight that Renata had booked.

  When they finished with that, she closed the laptop. “I’m worn out. Did you ever think you’d see something like this in your lifetimes? Having to compete with each other for vacation weeks, or coordinating flight schedules and hotel reservations?”

  “No,” said Garrett. He held out his arms, and she embraced him. He nuzzled her neck. “We have a surprise for you.”

  She rubbed her abdomen against the bulge in his pants. “I’ll bet you do, Sir.”

  He laughed, and then he kissed her. “Not that. Although I won’t say no. But first this.”

  Javier held up a box, and sh
e released the embrace to face him. “What’s that?”

  “It’s a present for you, my love.”

  “Thank you.” She opened the box. “Oh…it’s stunning.” Inside was a silver necklace adorned with tiny hearts. Each one featured a gemstone of a different color. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  Javier took it out and held it up. “It’s handmade, and Rosa said she only had one.” Rosa Santoro owned The Green Parrot gift shop, and prided herself on finding rare and unique gifts from all over the Caribbean. “We both thought it would make a perfect collar for you.”

  “A collar?”

  “Yes,” said Garrett. “As in collar like a sub wears.”

  “Oh my God. I don’t know what to say.”

  They smiled at her, and then Garrett pointed toward the floor. “I believe it’s customary to kneel when being collared.”

  Renata dropped to her knees, her heart filled with more joy than she’d felt when they’d faced down the demons the night before.

  “I know we haven’t been big on protocols,” said Garrett, “and our relationship is still evolving, but what we feel for you is no less than what Arizona and Dallas feel for Celina, or what Nando and Graham have with Leta.”

  Javier stepped behind her and put the necklace on then clasped it. “And just because we don’t use all the same words or have the same rules doesn’t mean we don’t want to be your Doms as much as Ian and Jagger are Doms to Kai, or Mark and Brett are to Nita.”

  “I know that, Sir.”

  “And this collar is proof of that,” said Garrett. He cupped her face. “Renata, will you be my lover and my sub for the rest of your life? Will you pledge your submission to me? In turn I will give you my love forever, I will give you my protection, and I will cherish every second I have with you. I lost you once. I will never let that happen again. Never.”

  “Garrett, I love you so much.” She could barely speak now, and it was impossible to keep the tears from flowing. “I never should have let you go. Yes, I will be your lover and your submissive. I would be honored to do so. I promise you my submission and my love for the rest of my life.”