Siren's Surrender Read Online Free PDF

presently carried was a billion times more valuable and volatile than any other contraband they’d ever dealt in.
    Mermaids.
    And not just any mermaid, mind you, but a queen.
    At $700,000, the yacht was a steal. Small enough not to arouse suspicion yet well-appointed enough to accommodate Magaera and the eight Mer who’d crossed through the sea-gate with her.
    It had taken time to get the operation into motion. But Jake had done as he’d promised, securing a way for the Mer to get around safely without arousing suspicion. Like Magaera, his main objective was to get back to Maine.
    A smirk lifted his lips. I’ve still got a little score to settle with Tessa .
    Oh, yeah. He’d get even.
    Tessa might think she held all the good cards, but she held a losing hand and could only bluff so long. In opening the sea-gate, she’d unleashed a race hungry for the taste of freedom. There was no going back now. Soon, very soon, people all around the globe would know about the Mer. He imagined the coverage would be massive, a media frenzy. And he, Jake Massey, would be the man at the center of the rediscovery and return of the mermaid.
    Now that he had the proof, Jake savored the notion of payback. The fees he’d charge on the lecture circuit would be enormous. That is, if he had any time. A new age was about to dawn. And with a little cunning and determination, he would be able to reap the rewards of being the first human ambassador between mankind and the reemerging Mer. It was bound to be a lucrative gig, and he was determined to take every advantage.
    Even if he had to lie, cheat, and steal to do so.
    After all, it wasn’t like he hadn’t done it all before.
    “I have waited long enough,” Magaera warned, her voice gravelly with impatience. “Every day the girl is out of my reach is one more day my people must wait for their freedom.”
    Jake fingered his binoculars as he eyed the distant island. Located about a mile off the mainland, Little Mer was almost completely cut off from the outside world. The only communication system lay in the two-way radio located in the lighthouse. The isolation Tessa treasured would be her downfall.
    “I don’t see why we shouldn’t do it right now,” he decided. “Send your best soldiers.”
    Lips thinning, Magaera nodded. “I will send Arta Raisa and Doma Chiara. They are fierce in spirit and will not fail me.”
    Jake knew that for a fact. Just like mermaids of legend and lore, the Mer were a bloodthirsty race. They bore no love for humans, considering them less than animals. If they found a human inferior, they enslaved or slaughtered them. Only a very few did they find acceptable enough for breeding.
    Thank heavens he’d been one of the chosen.
    “Send two more, just in case,” he stressed. “And remember we just want Tessa. She’s the only one we need.”
    Queen Magaera’s blue eyes sparked with interest. She easily picked up the direction the conversation was heading in. “And her mate?”
    Oh, yeah. Here was the chance he couldn’t miss. It was time for a little payback. In spades. He had disliked Kenneth Randall on sight. The man who’d taken his place in Tessa’s bed was tall and plain, a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal. That she’d rebuffed his attempt to get back together and chosen Kenneth over him burned him up into tiny cinders.
    Kenneth wasn’t good enough for Tessa.
    Jake’s eyes narrowed. I want her again . And he’d have Tessa, damn it. As a slave. To serve his every desire and decadent whim.
    Desire trickled through his veins, warm and liquid. He liked that idea. A lot. The things a Mer could do in bed were wondrous.
    And the tail. Oh, man. The tail . . .
    He couldn’t suppress the chuckle bubbling up in the back of his throat. “Get rid of Kenneth.” He bit through each word as though each were a deliciously tasty morsel. “I want him gone.”

Chapter 3
    7 a.m. sharp
     
    B lake Whittaker stood in the lobby. At this point in the morning, sleepy-eyed