Island of Temptations
1426 Words
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Island of Temptations
The Atlantic was black glass under moonlight.
Bosco’s private jet cut through the clouds like a blade, engines screaming toward the emergency coordinates blinking far off the eastern seaboard.
Inside the cabin, no one slept.
No one relaxed.
Because Lucien Varik was alive.
And because every man aboard knew the same dangerous truth...that if the prince returned, nothing between them would remain polite.
*****
Cassandra
She stood by the jet window, arms folded, staring into darkness below.
The ocean calmed her.
Tonight it did nothing.
Too many hands still seemed to linger on her life.
Jason’s protectiveness.
Maxwell’s patience.
Lucien’s audacity.
Bosco’s fierce devotion.
Even now, each man watched her in different ways.
She could feel it.
And hated how aware of them she had become.
A warm jacket settled over her shoulders.
Jason.
“You’re freezing.”
“I’m thinking.”
“You do both attractively.”
She almost smiled.
Then Maxwell appeared with tea.
“You haven’t eaten.”
Jason glared. “Did you bring a picnic to compete?”
“I brought competence,” Maxwell replied.
Lucien would have applauded, she thought bitterly.
Bosco from across the cabin muttered, “If either of you postures again, I’m opening the door mid-flight.”
*****
Jason
He was tired of restraint.
Every crisis put them beside Cassandra.
Every quiet moment separated them.
Maxwell always slid in with calm care.
Lucien, damn him, had managed heroism and charm in one night.
Jason needed one honest moment with her.
He took the tea from Maxwell’s hand and gave it to Cassandra himself.
“She needs warmth.”
Maxwell looked amused.
“She needs peace.”
“She needs honesty.”
“She needs less growling.”
Cassandra sipped the tea.
“You both need hobbies.”
Bosco laughed loudly.
*****
Maxwell
Jason burned hot.
Lucien dazzled.
Bosco dominated.
Maxwell intended to outlast them all.
He moved to Cassandra’s side quietly.
“When this is over,” he said softly, “take one weekend with me. No politics. No wolves. No rescues.”
Jason scoffed. “That’s a date ambush.”
“It’s an invitation.”
Cassandra looked between them.
“You schedule romance during recovery missions?”
Maxwell shrugged. “Efficiency.”
She shook her head, but her cheeks warmed.
Jason noticed.
And hated noticing.
*****
The Locator Changes
Seraphine entered the cabin from the cockpit, expression sharp.
“Signal moved.”
Bosco rose instantly.
“Moving how?”
“Not drifting. Walking.”
Silence.
Julie gasped theatrically.
“He’s alive and mobile?”
No one asked why Julie was there. She had simply refused to leave.
Cicilia sat quietly with Jay asleep across her lap, watching the men circle Cassandra like badly trained predators.
She leaned toward Bosco.
“She gets that attention from me.”
Bosco grunted.
“She gets stubbornness from you.”
*****
Arrival
The island appeared at dawn.
A crescent of volcanic rock and dense jungle rising from mist.
No maps marked it.
No lights shone from it.
And yet ancient stone ruins crowned the cliffs above.
Lucien’s style, Cassandra thought.
Dramatic even unconscious.
The jet landed on a rough strip of black sand.
The moment the door opened, warm wind rushed in carrying salt, flowers, and something older.
Power.
Lucien was near.
She felt him like static under skin.
Jason noticed her reaction.
So did Maxwell.
Neither enjoyed it.
*****
Into the Jungle
Bosco led armed guards.
Jason walked on Cassandra’s left.
Maxwell on her right.
Seraphine behind.
Julie complained about humidity.
Cicilia stayed with Jay at camp.
The path narrowed.
Jason brushed branches away before they touched Cassandra.
Maxwell offered his hand crossing a stream.
She ignored both and stepped across alone.
Bosco smirked.
“Good girl.”
Jason and Maxwell glared at him now too.
*****
The Temple
They found him at the summit.
Lucien stood shirtless in the center of a ruined stone courtyard, sunlight pouring over carved pillars and ivy walls.
Alive.
Barely bruised.
Infuriatingly magnificent.
A group of island women in ceremonial white robes attended him with fruits, water, and frankly unnecessary admiration.
Julie clutched her chest.
“He got rescued by a harem?”
Lucien turned at the sound of footsteps.
His face lit when he saw Cassandra.
“There you are.”
Then he saw Jason and Maxwell flanking her.
His smile sharpened.
“Ah. My placeholders.”
Jason lunged first.
Bosco caught him by the collar.
“No blood before breakfast.”
*****
Lucien Returns
Cassandra marched forward.
“You’re alive.”
“I make survival look aspirational.”
She slapped him.
The courtyard gasped.
Lucien touched his cheek slowly.
“That was foreplay in some regions.”
She slapped him again.
Jason almost applauded.
Maxwell actually did once.
Lucien grinned at all of them.
“I missed this family.”
*****
The Explanation
He gestured around the ruins.
“Emergency royal sanctum. Citadel collapse triggers transport sigils. Woke here six hours ago.”
One of the island women fed him a grape.
Jason’s eye twitched.
Maxwell asked calmly, “And the women?”
Lucien glanced around.
“Hospitality.”
Cassandra folded her arms.
“You seem recovered.”
“I recovered the moment you arrived.”
She hated how easily he said things like that.
*****
Rivalry Ignites
Jason stepped beside her.
“We’re leaving.”
Lucien ignored him.
“To thank me properly, Cassandra, you may kiss either cheek.”
“She owes you gratitude,” Jason snapped, “not intimacy.”
Lucien smiled lazily.
“And you owe her four years.”
The blow landed clean.
Jason went still.
Maxwell quietly stepped in.
“She owes none of us anything.”
Lucien looked him over.
“The patient wolf speaks again.”
Maxwell’s voice stayed soft.
“And still more effectively than the peacock.”
Bosco muttered to Seraphine, “I may let them kill each other.”
*****
Cassandra’s Breaking Point
“Enough!”
Every head turned.
She stood in the center of three powerful men suddenly feeling twelve feet tall.
“You are not contestants.”
Silence.
“I am not a prize.”
More silence.
“You don’t save me to earn turns.”
Jason looked ashamed.
Maxwell reflective.
Lucien only half-repentant.
She pointed at Lucien.
“You nearly died.”
Then Jason.
“You nearly control.”
Then Maxwell.
“You nearly manipulate.”
She exhaled sharply.
“And all of you nearly forget I can walk away.”
No one spoke.
Because she was right.
*****
Unexpected Tenderness
Lucien stepped forward first.
No joke now.
No performance.
He knelt.
The prince of rival lands knelt in dust before her.
“I was wrong in style,” he said quietly. “Not in feeling.”
Jason’s jaw clenched.
Maxwell looked startled.
Lucien lifted his eyes.
“I do not compete because I think you are a trophy.”
He touched his chest.
“I compete because for the first time in my life… I care whether I lose.”
That silenced even Bosco.
*****
Jason’s Turn
Jason stepped forward.
“I was wrong deeper.”
Cassandra looked at him.
Pain history lived there.
“I failed you once,” he said. “Maybe many times after. But every instinct in me points to you now.”
His voice roughened.
“I don’t know how to do this gracefully.”
Lucien muttered, “Confirmed.”
Jason ignored him.
“But I know I love you.”
The jungle itself seemed to pause.
*****
Maxwell’s Move
Maxwell approached last.
No theatrics.
No kneeling.
No declarations to impress.
“I won’t out-speech them,” he said.
That nearly made her laugh.
“I only know this: when you are near, I become the man I like best.”
He held her gaze.
“I’d like to keep being him.”
Her heart betrayed her completely.
*****
Before Cassandra could answer any of them, the temple stones beneath their feet began to glow.
Seraphine cursed.
Lucien’s face changed instantly.
“That’s not possible.”
“What?” Jason demanded.
Lucien looked at the central altar.
“My father.”
Cracks split the stone.
Black light poured upward.
And from beneath the ancient temple came Malrec’s voice:
“If my son will not bring me the woman…”
A hand burst through the floor.
“…I shall rise and take her myself.”
The entire island began to shake.
Three men moved toward Cassandra at once.
And this time, none of them intended to step aside.
- Writer
