MERCILESS (The Mermen Trilogy #3) Read Online Free

Liv had to wonder… She knew Shane had been mated because men on El Corazón wore only three colors of those little man-skirts. Red meant they were single. Black meant they’d been mated. Brown suede was worn only by the leader and elders. Shane had always worn black. Of course, being mated in their world had nothing to do with monogamy, but mates were bound to each other.
    And they go crazy if they’re separated for too long . “Are you his woman?”
    The creature glanced down at the body and then back at Liv. “Not. Any. More,” it said, with a voice so scratchy and deep that it reminded Liv of those poor people who spoke with voice boxes after getting throat cancer. Then the thing smiled at her. A giant, bloody smile flashing those sharp, sharp teeth.
    Jesus. Liv backed out of the room. “He-he’s all yours, the-then.” Liv bolted outside with the device in her hand. The sunlight had almost completely faded, and if more of those creatures were around, this was the time of day they went hunting for food. On land.
    Liv headed into the forest, away from the waves, and didn’t stop running until her feet were completely numb.
    She sank down under a giant pine tree, panting hard, her body burning from the adrenaline and her lungs burning from the cold. She pressed the button on the phone, and her hopes sank.
    Password? She laughed bitterly toward the sky. Of course, Shane would have a password on his damned cell phone.
    “You fucking bastard!” He’d been such a miserable asshole that his own mate couldn’t wait to feast on his body and tear him to pieces.
    Liv stared at the phone in her hand, feeling like she was being taunted by the universe. It even had reception bars. Four of them. All the way out in the middle of the damned…
    Wait . There wouldn’t be cell service out in the middle of nowhere. And this sure as hell wasn’t a satellite phone. Those were chunky with an antenna as thick as a magic marker. Roen had had one when she’d first met him on El Corazón. This was an iPhone.
    Meaning, she wasn’t on a secluded island?
    She decided to try the Emergency button on the phone. After two rings a woman answered. “911 operator. What is your emergency?”
    Liv began to bawl. Shane had slipped up for the second time that day. First, he’d underestimated her, and second, he’d forgotten to disable the emergency feature.
    And now I’m saved. As that thought crossed her mind, however, she knew deep down inside that she wasn’t. Because if Roen was really gone, her heart would never recover.
    “Hi, my name is Liv Stratton. I need help.”
     

CHAPTER THREE
    “Brother, please drink this.” Sitting on the edge of Roen’s extra-large four-post bed, Lyle shoved a nearly empty glass bottle into his limp hand. “I found this hidden in the back of a cupboard.”
    “I don’t want it,” Roen grumbled. The agony of his wound had been so fierce that he’d been drifting in and out of consciousness for the last few hours, but part of him welcomed the pain. It was a distraction from his aching heart.
    Liv was gone.
    “Don’t be a fool,” Lyle grumbled, flipping on the lamp on the nightstand. “It’s not much, but it will heal you and keep you alive. At least for a little while longer.”
    “Turn that off. I like the dark.” Roen squinted at the bright light. “And I don’t want to heal. I want to die. Save the water for yourself or one of the men.” The sacred pools inside the Great Hall had run dry days ago. They hadn’t known they were going to get sick, so what little supplies they’d had, they’d given to some of the maids to restore them back to their human state. Sadly, they’d only had enough water on hand to help sixty or so women out of roughly two thousand. Better than nothing, but not nearly good enough.
    “The men? What good would this do them?” Lyle asked. “There are almost two hundred lying in their homes dying, praying that you will save them.”
    Roen didn’t care. He’d