You Broke Me First Phoenix Mountain Series Book 3

We all are lead through the tower to the very top.

“My brother is waiting for you. You may have to make it quick though. He’s very busy.” Lana instructs.

“We'll try to be brief.” Zander says.

She nods.

The elevator moves fast up its windowed tube. You can see the whole ocean from where we were.

Sawyer, Hunter, Bear, Owen and Graham joined us last night.

The car stopped and we walked off to a large, white marble room. The balcony I saw was only half of what it was. It wrapped around the whole room.

The walls are decorated in nets, hooks and fish. A large hammerhead with its mouth open hangs from a huge skylight in the center of the room.

In a corner is a desk, some sitting chairs and a couch, but not much else.

We all file out and spread out among the space.

All the doors to the balcony are open and the breeze blows through them.

“My brother will be with you in just a minute.” Lana smiles and gets on the elevator. The door closes and we all start looking around.

“Not a real big decorator.” Graham says.

“Kind of reminds me of my office back in London.” Zander says, looking around.

Zane crosses his arms. “Ok. Where is this guy?” He scowls.

“Here.” A loud, deep voice boomed from the balcony.

We turned.

On the balcony was a pool.

We watch as Titus rises out of it. His black hair, dripping and stuck to his head.

His blue eyes were dark. Water cascaded down his shirtless chest.

His thick muscles flexed as he slowly took a step out of the water. His eyes never leaving ours.

He stared us down. His face was threatening.

His head slowly moved from one face to another. He stood in tight black shorts.

From out of nowhere, two extremely muscular woman appeared and held out a sheer robe for him and he slipped his arms into it. They placed it on his shoulders and then reached behind the walls, pulling out gold tridents with silver forks.

He walks in slowly. His face unchanging and scanning us from top to bottom.

He stops. One woman was holding a very large, decorated gold and silver trident.

She handed it to Titus who held it in both hands in front of him.

He ticked his jaw.

“You have five minutes to start talking or these ladies…” He banged the end of his trident hard on the floor. Ten Amazonian type women came from the balcony and lined up behind him. “…will tie your asses to the coral for the sharks.” He arches a brow and eyes us all.

The women are almost as built as most Alphas. Wearing two piece white outfits which look like some sort of uniform. A tight bra type top and a short skirt. The skirts have bronze plates between the pleats. They all have either braids or dreads in their hair, pulled back in ponytails and Greek style shoes. They all wear holsters with daggers and some form of mini harpoon guns. They’re also decorated in gold and seashells.

I've never been so scared and so turned on in my life.

I lean over to Zander and point to a lady. “Zan. That one could snap me in half.”

He looks at me and glares.

I point to another lady and swallow. “That one could snap you in half.”

He clenches his teeth. “Shut up.”

I lean back and swallow again. My eyes wide.

Zander steps forward. “Do you know who you’re talking to, wolf?” He hisses his words. He’s dripping in Royal authority.

Titus ticks his head quick and walks up to Zander. They’re both the same height and size.

Titus looks directly into Zanders eyes and pushes his chin out.

He grinds his teeth. “Yes, I do.” He says low. He crosses his arms. His face challenging Zander’s authority. “I'll make sure you’re tied to the bottom of the sea first.”

Titus' eyes never leave Zanders. My eyes flick between the two. I’m shocked at the balls on this guy to challenge the High King.

“I’m your King. You will stand down.” Zander growls.

“You’re not my King. In this city and in the sea, I’m King.” Titus growls back, raising his trident between them.

The two stare at each other for what feels like minutes.

Titus tilts his head as his jaw muscles quiver. “Don’t even bother. It won’t work.” He says in a stern, but quiet voice.

“Why can’t I read you?” Zander eyes him curiously.

Titus leans closer to Zanders face. “Because a Zeta can't read another Zeta.”

Zanders eyes go wide. “Zeta?”

“Zeta.” Titus hisses.

“Eternity.” Zander growls.

Titus arches a brow. “Destiny.”

“What?” Zanders face changes to shock. Titus' face still remains in challenge mode.

Jake jumped between them and placed a hand on Zanders chest. “Zan. I don’t think we have time for this right now.”

Zander eyes Titus with confusion.

Titus smirks and turns back to his guard.

He turns around and holds his trident in front of him.

“You have three minutes to tell me why I shouldn’t spread your remains all over the south seas.”

I have so many questions, but I feel like this guy just wants to get to the point.

“Listen man. We need your help. Sterling Black took my girl and I need to get her back, but we don’t know where they are.” I take a half step forward.

He glares at me. “The witch. It was you?” His head moves to Zander. “You unleashed her and allowed Sterling to gain access.”

Zander held up his hand. “Not entirely. We didn’t know what she was.”

Titus gritted his teeth. “Years of planning. Risk to hundreds of lives. Ruined by a bunch of idiots!” He growls. His hands wring the handle of his trident.

I take another step. “That’s not fair. Sam isn’t what she is. I can save her. Now, please! Tell me where she is!” I glare at him as my fists ball.

He places his trident at his side. He shakes his head and growls under his breath.

He pushes past us all and heads to his desk. “I should kill you where you stand." He hands his trident to a guard who followed him and sits down.

Zander pushes through us and walks to the other side. “You won’t. You need us.” He says as he leans his hands on Titus' desk.

He looks at Zander. “A couple of nights ago, a town, Kings Wharf, was attacked by the Ravens. The destruction was so severe, there weren’t many left alive. Which is typical. What’s not typical is the large number of dead Ravens.” He folds his hands on his desk.

I slide up beside Zander. “Samantha.” I say.

Titus nods. “Seems your witch isn’t just fighting with Sterling. She killing his pack too.”

Zander scrubs his head. “This is worse than I thought.”

I roll my head to him. “What do you mean?”

He looks at me. “It means that Sam’s power is so great that she won’t be controlled. Sterling thinks he has her when really he has a virtually indestructible beast that won’t be told what to do.”

“I agree. My best warriors are not enough. Our weaponry is great, but not great enough.” He leans back. “Atlas is under a great threat.”

“Ok. So we get Sam back and neutralize her then Sterling won’t have a leg to stand on.” I say.

Titus looks at me. “Who even are you?” He scowls.

I lean my hands in his desk. “I’m Sam’s mate and I will be getting her back with or without your help.” I stare directly into his eyes. My face is serious.

“Mate.” He repeats.

I nod slowly not taking my eyes off him.

He turns to his guard and nods.

He looks to the Alphas. “Approach! On the carpet!” He orders.

The rest of the Alphas walk to the carpeted side of the floor where his desk is.

He nods again.

The woman is standing next to a wall. She waves her hand and a panel opens up to a blue screen inside. She places her hand on the panel.

The floor opens up in a circle and a large clear globe rises out of the floor.

It starts to glow bright blue. Atlas appears like a floating city in it. Like an outlined computer generated diagram. Atlas shrinks and several other surrounding areas appear.

A large screen appears on the side of the globe. It splits into land and sea scanners.

We all slowly walk to the globe and take spots around it.

Owen reaches out touches it. We watch as his hand passes into it and ripples form from his wrist. He pulls his hand back and it’s wet. He huffs out a laugh and smiles. “It’s water.” He holds up his dripping wet hand.

Hunter examines the table and the water. “This is so cool. How is this even possible? How can you possibly retain cohesion. This tech is centuries beyond its time!” He says wide eyed. Touching his finger to the water.

Zane touches it. “This is not possible.” He says with awe.

Brody sighs. “Great nerd talk.”

We look at him.

He crosses his arms and yawns.

Several shake their heads.

“Nano controlled plankton. Microscopic organisms fused with tech.” Titus informs.

Owen shakes his head. “Zander we could really use something like this.”

Titus glares at him. “Our tech is not for negotiation.” He crosses his arms. “What you see here will not be touched or analyzed. Am I clear?”

Zander puts up a hand. “Don’t worry. We aren’t here to negotiate for the Alliance. Now, show us.” He holds his hand out to the globe.

Titus calls up a monitor in front of him and taps the screen.

The pictures in the water change and the map expands to show even more.

The territory is huge. The Blue outlined drawing turns and stop. A dark blue area behind the mountains shows up.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“The Ravens. This is their original territory.” He taps on the screen and the picture moves to the other side of the mountain. “These towns are their latest attacks.” He points to dark spots on the map.

It shows several small towns just outside the borders of Atlas.

Zander crosses his arms. “A little close to home.”

Tutus arches a brow. “Yes, it is.”

“OK. So let’s go.” I say looking between Titus and Zander.

Titus eyes me. “It’s not that easy. The volcano that’s between us and them activated three years ago closing all the passes through the mountain. Which is why they sot out the Shaman.”

“Hold up.” Jake pushes passed Zander and me. “The shamans dead. I killed him myself.”

Titus shook his head. “What you killed was a place holder. Another has taken the title and is now the new supplier of potions and magic.”

Zander eyes him. “Another.”

Titus nods. “Yes. Another shaman.”

Zander scrubs his face. “Ok so how do we get in?”

Titus arches a brow. “I hope you don’t get sea sick.”

We all look at him with curiosity.

****

We all stand under the tower. Several levels down.

A huge bay holds six ships. There’s no water.

“The Atlas Hunters. Fastest submarine fleet on the planet. Quiet. Undetectable. Equipped with various torpedoes and has the ability to carry 1000 men each.

I look over the railing that lines the walkway. The submarines look like boats. Ocean liners actually. They’re fucking huge.

“How do they get out?” I look at Titus.

He smirks. “You’ll see.”

We’re lead aboard the massive ship.

“You’ll stay below the helm.” Titus directs us to a spot with seating. We all take a seat on the bench like seats.

“Remain seated and try not to panic.” He says sarcastically.

I look around and women are running around preparing the ships for launch. “Where are the men?”

Titus looks at me. “Each ship has one gunner and a team of six personal fighter sub pilots.”

“That’s it? The rest are girls?” My brows shoot up.

Titus nods. “Warriors. They can fight, sail and swim like fish. Stronger than one man and way more stamina. Plus, they’re very determined.”

“Huh.” I say as I catch the eye of one warrior woman. I smile and give a little wave.

She shoots me a look of death and walks away.

Titus looks at me. “They view flirtatious advances as an insult to their strength and will snap your spine without question.”

“Oh…” My jaw goes slack. “Ok.”

“You’re highness. We’re ready.” One warrior approaches and stops in front of us.

“Release the sea.” Titus says.

She nods and looks up. She waves to the helm.

The woman at the helm yells across the bay. “Ships! At the ready!”

Sounds of Aye comes from the other ships.

“Um…shouldn’t we like get in the ship?” I look at Titus.

He looks at us and smirks.

In front of us are gigantic metal doors.

The room shakes as the doors crack down the middle. Water bursts out the crack. As the doors separate, more water rushes into the room.

“Zan?” I grab his arm.

“Don’t panic.” He says. His voice is telling me he’s panicking.

The water starts rushing into the room like a tsunami. I look around and I see the dark water rising fast.

The other Alphas are starting to stir.

“I don’t like this!” Zane yells over the sound of the rushing ocean.

“Yeah, Zander. This isn’t right.” Peter grabs Zanders shoulder.

“Keep it together, guys. Keep it together.”

I look at Titus who’s arms are crossed and he’s smirking. Apparently our reactions amuse him

I see the water cascade over the deck.

“Zan! Come on!” I hold my hand out.

“Titus?!” Zander stands.

The water starts to go over the deck.

“Zander!” I yell. I watch the water climb my legs.

“TITUS!” Zander growls.

Titus arches a brow at him. He nods to his warrior who calls to the other ships. “DIVE!”

Panels on the walls all open and water crashes in over us.

We all scream and cover our heads. Fully expecting to be covered in water.

Titan throws his head back and laughs hysterically.

I look to the sides and the water is being held back as its level grows and consumes us. The ships are covered in a bubble.

He wipes his eyes. “You should have seen your faces.” He says trying to catch his breath.

Zander was not so impressed. “Nano plankton?”

“Yes.” He grins.

We all growl and groan.

“Take us out.” He orders.

The warrior waves.

The ships drop under the water. One by one, they enter the water filled door.

It’s dark. A single tunnel covered in barnacles and coral.

The midnight blue water surrounds us.

“Hold on.” He warns.

Once we reach a certain point, it’s like someone set off a nuke behind the ship.

“OH SHIT!” Several of us yell. Grabbing our seats tight as we fight the G force.

Owen fell out of his seat onto his ass.

Brody snickers and hits Sawyer, pointing to Owen.

Owen gets up. “Shut up.” He scowls.

More snickering came from the Alphas.

Titus seems to not be phased by it at all.

I look and the ocean is flying by us. I’m not sure how fast we’re going, but there’s no fish watching in this trip.

“Your bodies should adjust shortly.” Titus informs.

Sure enough, I stopped feeling like I was being pulled back and I was able to have full control of my body.

Titus walked in front of us. “The trip will be about an hour. Feel free to move about the ship. Do not touch anything, especially the barrier and if you value your lives, do not bother my warriors.”

I rub my neck. I'm in a weird ship with the King of Aqua women. Traveling to fight a wolf pack that’s based on birds.

After this, I’m going to hold Sam so tight. I’m going to kiss her within an inch of her life and tell her I love her more than anything on this planet.

Sam is mine and this journey alone should prove nothings going to stop me from taking her back.