Sunset Beach Condos

It was 2:45am. He came early in hopes to be here the moment Sadie arrived. He had on a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He also wore a pair of khaki shorts that he didn't care if they got ruined. He stood ankle deep in the water just waiting.

The waves swirled around his ankles, pulling the loose sand over his feet burying them a little more with each wave. The sound of the waves and the salt breeze brought a smile to his lips. He checked his time piece, counting down the seconds until he expected her.

Sadie had deliberated going to the beach for the longest time after the bar was closed for the evening. She felt the intense need to go, course through her veins, and the pull was only getting stronger. Somehow, she started to long for the man that she had barely met and one that had caused an annoyance earlier that evening. She had felt her bonds towards Jasper and Red, but what she felt for Fitzpatrick was even more intense. Something natural.

When she closed up the bar, Sadie went home to change into a pair of jean shorts, a purple tank top, and some sandals. She had made sure to grab Fitzpatrick's satchel from her office as she left that evening. So, here she was, walking to the beach at three in the morning with a million questions on her mind. Yet, internally debating if she should turn around because she wasn't sure if this had been even real. She soon let her heart guide her since it seemed to be doing that anyway and was at the beach. She walked it a bit until she came upon someone standing in the water. Who seemed to be looking at the time. She instantly knew it was Fitzpatrick as her heart started to race again, which brought out a smile, even if her head was a mess.

She slowed her pace as her gaze took him in again, and walked closer to him. She sat his satchel down against a nearby log that the tides wouldn't be able to reach as she kicked off her sandals. She started to walk closer towards him, where he was in the water. "It's beautiful tonight. This is what usually calms or relaxes me." She spoke of the bright moon over the open water as she stood beside him. As she turned her blueish purple gaze on him, she continued. "I am sorry if I am late. I was having an internal debate with myself. I have been with only two men my entire life, and although with them, we are magically bonded. This pull for you is more intense and yet feels natural, like it's supposed to be." She spoke honestly and up front as she waited for him to say something before she spoke again. Thinking he would have questions for her as she did him.

Fitzpatrick felt her get closer with each step she took from the bar to the beach. He knew she was near, though he didn't turn when she was just behind him. He waited for her to approach him. He didn't know she was battling with herself. He didn't understand what held her to her other lovers. All he knew was that he felt something missing within himself until that moment when she was standing next to him. As naturally as if they had been doing it since childhood, he reached his hand out to take hers the moment she was beside him. "The moon was beautiful, until you arrived. Now it pales to a fairer face which draws my eyes from the heavens and back down to Earth." He reached his other hand up to stroke over her cheek. "I'm glad you chose to come."

Sadie started talking about two other men. He, of course, knew of these other men, but he didn't know about the magic. His grip on Sadie's hand tightened a little as he turned to face her. "Explain this to me, please. Explain this...magic spell that binds my mate."

She felt his hand take hers when she stood beside him. It felt so natural, so pure that she squeezed his hand a bit to assure she wasn't dreaming. Sadie then heard him compare her to the moon and felt her cheeks set a flame and looked down briefly as his free hand caressed her cheek. Same as she did in the office, she leaned into his hand with her cheek, closing her eyes and relishing his touch.

As soon as she said her piece, he asked about the magical spell that connected her to Jasper and Red. She looked down at their intertwined hands as his grip tightened and took a deep breath. She looked at him again and decided to continue being honest with him. "Not long after my dragon awakened, I was given a potion unknowingly to bond me to one of the men I had fallen for. It was supposed to mimic a bond like that of a mate bond. I didn't realize I had taken it. But like with all magic and told from a close friend, it comes with a price." She paused for a moment before continuing. She didn't realize she looked off to the side, out at the moonlit ocean. She soon tore her gaze away and looked back into his dark eyes. "I was supposed to stay by the one that gave me the potion side for a minimum of a full day, but gave him the slip to meet the other man that I had also fallen for. And since the potion was never meant to be split, it kind of had us all bonded. Enhancing the feelings we had for each other. Mine was love for them equally, and theirs towards each other was hate."

She waited to see if he wanted to ask her anything more about the situation. She continued to look at him as she did, trying to read his thoughts. She was unsure of what he would say or ask but would be ready to answer when he did.

Fitzpatrick listened to the story of misplaced magic meant to bond her to one and how it has gone wrong. He laughed softly at the situation, not because it was funny but because a flawed spell would be easier to break. "It seems the price of the magic was your inability to choose." He leaned in, their lips almost touching, "Magic can't stop the bond we share, Miss Reign. Only we can stop it." His lips parted as the desire to taste her breath was nearly uncontrollable. But he couldn't, not yet.

He turned from her, putting some distance between them as he looked back out over the water. "Do you have any aversion to going for a midnight swim?"

"Definitely wasn't a decision I could or would make." She chuckled along with him because she knew how absurd it was. She saw him lean in and felt that if either of them leaned in any further, their lips would meet. But again, he pulled away from her and spoke. "Are you wanting to stop it?" She asked curiously, even though her heart dropped, thinking he could possibly say yes. Now that she thought about it, he said he came here to get married. He never said to her.

She was waiting for a reply, as he put some distance between them and asked if she had anything against night swimming. This made her smile as she looked up at him and pushed what she was thinking aside. "I prefer it, actually."

"Do I want to stop our bond?" His eyebrows pulled together in a look of confusion at her question. He wondered what he had done to make her assume he was trying to get out their mating. He turned to her and took the hand he was holding in both of his. In a tender voice he said, "No, I don't want to deny our bond." He lifted her hand and placed it on the soft cotton shirt that covered his heart. "Do you feel it? Do you feel the pull with each beat?" He loosened the grip on her hand, letting her pull away if she wished. "I came here, leaving my royal duties in the hands of my brother, to find you." If she allowed, he would try to place the palm of his hand over her heart to feel it's beat.

The moment was getting very intense. When she agreed to go for a night swim with him, he smiled widely and said, "Glorious!" He stepped away from her and back onto the sand. He walked over to where she placed his satchel and glanced down at it. "I was going to use that as a reason to visit your office again tomorrow. Now," he said playfully, "you will have to invite me." He began unbuttoning his shirt, revealing a better than average body. He had a fair amount of muscle tone and looked like he took care of himself without looking like he lived in a gym and relied on steroids. The shirt was pulled off and dropped on his bag. His shorts were dropped next. But, before anything could be seen, he modestly cupped both his hands over his groin and hid it from view.

Now naked, he walked proudly into the warm surf; his white ass nearly glowed in the moonlight. He waded out until his waist was submerged in the salty water. He then turned around to see if she was going to come with him.

When he answered the question about the mate bond, Sadie felt relieved. He grabbed her hand with both of his and then placed it over his heart. She soon felt his heartbeat that seemed to be in rhythm with her own. She kept her palm covering his heart, and as she looked back into his eyes, she saw him raise his hand towards her but hesitantly. She grabbed his hand and placed it over her heart as well so he could feel it too. "Then you must thank your brother for covering for you shirking your duties, Duke." She said this playfully and with a smile on her face.

Soon, she saw him get excited about going for a night swim and started chuckling when he walked towards his satchel. "Great plan backfire there, your highness? Because I am off tomorrow...well, technically today. But, very cheeky of you for that one." She winked and started laughing her ass off. She soon quieted when she saw him strip down to nothing as her heart started to race and her stomach tightened. She probably should have looked away, but she couldn't, and her gaze took in his physique. Even though he covered up his groin area, she started blushing profusely and looked away, knowing she had been ogling him. She soon walked back onto the sand and waited until he was in the water before she took off her tank top and shorts. She had a very scantily clad lavender colored lingerie set on, so deliberated if she should take it all off. With her back towards him, she took off her bra but chose to keep the bottoms on. If he was looking, he would see her mark that covered her back. She had covered her breast with her arms before anyone could see and turned around walking towards the water.

She didn't cover them because she was ashamed of her body, but because with him, she felt shy yet excited. She was a curvaceous woman who was toned and fit from regularly working out. She liked having meat on her instead of looking sickly. As she got into the water, she went deep enough for the water to cover her chest, which had been past him. She turned towards him with a cheshire smile on her face. "You coming in further, or are you just going to stand there like a statue?"

As much as the ringing device irritated Red, he wound up answering it when it rang incessantly at him. “What? I hate you, I’m hanging up. I don’t wanna talk to you. I-Wait, what? She’s….Okay, where’s…okay.” The call ended as abruptly as it started, and it left him both confused and irritated, the combination a very dangerous mixture. He waited a while, not believing it at first, but the longer he sat there, the more his chest strained and started to burn, like something was burning him from the inside out. With each breath, it was like glass in his heart, threatening to shatter with each beat it took.

This made him work his way into a nearly pure rage that carried him straight out of the police station, and first, he made his way towards the bar. One short, even more fucking irritating conversation with Neriah later, he discovered Sadie had been with another man, and with the scent of another man in her office, a scent that revealed more to him than he wished, he left in a pure rage, and the Leviathan was churning in its cage.

That monster was on the surface as he followed the sharp scent of them towards the beach. A wicked grin split cruelly across his lips as the waters spoke to their master. The dick was in the water. He could see them from his position, but that glass in his heart wrapped its pain, and dug it deeper into his as he watched, actually fucking watched, his lover remove her clothes and follow him into the water. That left many implications, along with the scent of him all over her office, and his temper snapped like it hadn’t in a very long time.

“Okay motherfucker, now you’ve got my attention.” He nearly snarled to himself as he slipped his glasses into his pocket. This caused the darkness that lived in him to wake up and reflect in those dangerous eyes as the water started answering his calls. Underneath the new couple, fire coral answered his command first, shooting up to wrap and entangle its sharp, cutting, burning barbs around the other mans legs, with one poised to press right down on a very specific part of him, should Red wish it. The pain would set in immediately, and on command, the coral would pull the bastard down at Red’s wishes. Not that he wished it, yet.

Red wasn’t stupid enough to let a dragon back on land, but it was easy to keep them where he had the most control. His hands shook with the rage, which may have caused the coral to dig a little bit deeper. If he squirmed or fought it in any way, it would only dig deeper. For Sadie, he had the power to control her if he needed too, and he had once before. The Leviathan didn’t think as he did so now, as rage and hurt blinded any of the little logic he usually retained, keeping her trapped in the water that simmered warm with implications, and warnings, but no actual pain. Yet.

Red kept the coral around him as he stepped slowly closer to the waters edge, everything in and around the water under his control, and bubbling with the rage that radiated from his intimidating body. Slowly, his tone barely controlled, his stomach twisted as he looked back and forth between the two. “Do you care to explain to me what the fuck you are doing in my waters?”

Fitzpatrick turned to face the shore, curious to see if Sadie would be brave enough to follow him without any of her clothes. As she waded through the first round of waves he noticed she had kept her lavender panties on. This didn't bother him as he could still get a very good look at her as she fought the currents to get to him. He grinned mischievously when she passed him and into deeper water. He reached out to her, his fingers caressing against the bare skin of her hip. Her taunting words made him smile. He was about to move deeper into the water towards her but... "I can't"

Confusion and a touch of panic gripped him as he didn't understand what was happening. "Sadie?!" was about all he was able to say before the pain began.

Pain. He felt something akin to the stings of a Portuguese man-of-war wrapping around his legs. He gritted his teeth, trying desperately not to scream as the burning only grew more intense. He felt flesh tear away from his legs as the coral wrapped so tight it broke open the skin, allowing the poison of the coral to get into the muscle and tissue of his legs, which caused a deeper burn.

When Sadie had passed him in the water, she felt his caress against her hip. To which made her smirk and a chill through her body all at once. She only knew it was him because there was something akin to tingles when she felt the touch. She smiled and had moved further out into the sea, all the while taunting him. She waded a little further deeper when she felt the atmosphere change, which made her turn around. She was deep enough that her breasts were covered but barely as she looked at Fitzpatrick when he called her name.

She saw the confusion and panic in his eyes and was confused herself until she saw his face turn to pure agony. She instantly knew what was going on and who was causing this. "Brute." She whispered to herself and was about to move, but was stopped by the water temperature that rose significantly around her. Sending a warning. Though she wasn't in pain, Sadie was terrified and pissed off because she was being controlled yet again. She looked at the water's edge, knowing he was going to show up. She felt guilty, even though, from his perspective, this could implicate many things. Though nothing had or would have happened between Fitzpatrick and her until she had talked to him and Jasper. She wasn't that kind of person, nor ever would be.

She had felt guilty when she realized that the pull was hard to resist and curiosity got the better of her, leading her to be alone with another man. And naked night swimming at that. She looked at Fitzpatrick and showed genuine concern in her eyes, but knew if she said anything, it would fall on deaf ears. Soon, her gaze was pulled away when she heard the voice she had known for centuries, one of the reasons that had her heart split in two.

"Brute! Please listen to me, love. I can see the hurt and betrayal in your eyes. But nothing has happened with him and I. I can assure you that. Atleast not in the way you're thinking. You know I wouldn't do that. Sure, there is Jasper, but you know why my heart is split in two. You know my affection for you, and you should know I would never betray you the way you are thinking right now." She looked directly into his deep ocean blue eyes, showing truth to her words. With so much turmoil in her mind and chest, a single tear fell from her eye as she continued. "You know how much I love you, for centuries at that. Though we have a bond, it was never a natural one, and we both know it was never meant to be split. None of us are whole."

She looked back over at Fitzpatrick and felt his pain, knowing she couldn't do anything to help him yet. She hung her head as she thought what else she could say to make Red see reason and to hopefully be set free so she could walk towards him. "I never meant to hurt the ones I love. You know me more than anyone. You know there has to be a reason why. Especially when I have only ever been drawn to you and Jasper. Only one thing could change our bond and I think you know what that is." As the words were voiced, she fully understood why her chest ached and why her head was a mess. The spell was on the verge of breaking, and it all started when Fitzpatrick showed up.

If there was a word to describe Red at that moment, it was enraged. He couldn’t think, and he couldn’t feel anything but pain that radiated through his chest, and threatened to shred with every beat. He couldn’t see anything except the edges of black around his vision, and Sadie, naked in the water -in HIS fucking waters- with another man. He could, however, hear her words. Unfortunately, all he could hear was her trying to cover her ass, as if she had been caught and was trying to escape without consequence. “You would never, but. You would never, but sure. Do you even hear yourself? You stand here, naked with another man, after being aroused in your office by him, and expect me to believe that nothing happened?” His voice was low, dangerous, and very clear.

“You’d never betray me, yet you’re standing here doing so.” He understood that the potion was not meant to be spilt, and he had learned to, begrudgingly, accept Jasper into his life. But this? This, he couldn’t accept. The coral pulsed, asking him what to do, and for a moment, he considered letting the coral take Fitzpatrick, just for the sheer spite of it. A tilt of his head stopped this motion as he listened to her plead with him. A plead that didn’t entirely reach him, especially as she tried to walk him to the answer.

“Even now, you choose to dance around the fucking truth, and that, Sadie is the worst of it all.” Red didn’t currently realize it was the spell that was causing this level of hurt, but it was something he couldn’t describe. His eyes shimmered with the hurt and power he held as he fought to keep his breathing even. “If you won’t tell me the truth,..”

His rage-filled, ocean gaze looked towards Fitzpatrick, and for a very tense moment, it could be wondered if Red was just going to drown him or not. Instead, his words were a very clear order. “Then you will. I will release the coral just enough, and then you will tell me who you are, and what the fuck you are doing here. If you lie to me, and I will know, I will snap your bones in a thousand places that will leave you alive, but you will never walk, or fly again. You,” He said with a glance to Sadie, who he hadn’t yet released. “I will deal with afterwards. Is this clear to the both of you?”

If the answer was yes, the coral would release, and he even sent a small wave of healing through magic, though it would only be barely enough that the man may think through the rest of the horrible burning, and shredded flesh and muscle in his body, while still rendered unable to move by the rest of the waters.

Fitzpatrick was barely paying attention to the words passing between the lovers. He was in too much pain for the words themselves to be comprehended but he could understand the tone of the exchange and it was intense. He could tell Sadie was scared and Red was furious.

Agony raged through his body and he wondered for a moment if this is where his end would come. Was he about to die? As he thought about his final moment the pain started to ebb. There was enough relief that allowed him to understand the words being spoken to him by Red. Red wanted him to provide an explanation. Fitzpatrick looked over at Sadie to make sure she was safe. She looked like she was fine and not in pain. He looked to Red and spoke earnestly.

"My name is Fitzpatrick Allhallows. I'm the crowned Duke of Kent, England and a Prince of Dragons. Prince of the stars. Over two hundred years ago my mate bond awoken. I fought the pull. I behaved selfishly as I wasn't ready to be mated. About two months ago I could no longer deny my bond, the ache and pull was too demanding. I left my life behind to find my mate. My bond led me here. It led me to Sadie."

He was a proud man and an even prouder dragon, but he knew he was in the presence of someone far more powerful than him. He didn't want to appear weak, but he also didn't want to appear disrespectful. "I didn't know about you or Jasper when I arrived. I continued to fight my bond as I have lived amongst the three of you for weeks as I studied the relationships. I debated leaving you in peace. I even tried to leave, but the further away I got the more it felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest. I couldn't fight it anymore and approached her tonight." He looked beseechingly at Red, "I meant to go to you first. But Jasper annoyed me tonight and I botched my whole plan. I never meant to come here and disrespect anyone."

After being called a liar and accused of betraying Red, Sadie's chest started to ache more. She just let him say what he needed, and with every word, her heart felt like it was about to shatter. She heard him say something to Fitzpatrick, which she barely comprehended. With her head a mess, and her heart ache becoming unbearable. She clutched her chest and hoped to soothe it with her touch.

She soon felt Red glance at Sadie as he asked her a question, and all she could do was nod her head yes. She was still pissed off that he was controlling her and couldn't look at him directly. She turned her head to the side as fresh tears started to fall, and more guilt started to overwhelm her. She knew she shouldn't have come out here until she had talked to Red and Jasper, but the pull was too strong. She glanced at Fitzpatrick, who started talking and explaining himself. Something she couldn't do at the time because she still felt it was surreal. When he claimed that she was his mate, the tightness in her chest happened again. This time, it was more excruciating, like it was trying to mend itself.

All she could do was grit her teeth and endure the pain until it was her turn and Red 'dealt' with her. From his tone, that could possibly be anything, including kill her. She knew their magical bond was still there, and thought if she felt this bad, he was hurting just as much. She looked at Fitzpatrick again after he was done talking, making sure he was still alive and then back at Red. As she looked directly at him, she spoke. "I went about this very wrong, Brute. I have felt our bonds through the centuries, but I never felt this type of pull towards anyone. I do believe what he says is true. That I am his mate. Though I still haven't fully wrapped my head around it. I didn't think that it was possible. I am so sorry, Red. I know it looks bad right now, and that is because I am naked, but I swear. We haven't so much as kissed." She showed as much sincere honesty towards her lover, hoping he would see the truth. She glanced between the men and waited to see what Red would say or do next.

As promised, Red did listen. Although none of it was what he wanted to hear, he listened as Fitzpatrick gave him his story, and the fact of what he was, a prince of the stars, likely would’ve been interesting to him at any other time. Right now, it just made Red hate him further. At the same time, he could also understand the words, and the meanings behind them.

As Fitzpatrick spoke of his mate bond to Sadie, Red’s eyes gazed out beyond them to the ocean. He knew what that was, how strong it was, and more importantly, he knew what it was to lose one. As he stood there, he realized he was in the same position that God had once been with him, and his own mate. Red had the power to tear this bond apart, and the chaos in him demanded he do so. The cruel irony of it spoke to him, but something deeper than that overruled the way his fingers wanted to command his oceans.

Red continued to let him speak, and he almost felt a smirk start to form when he said that Jasper had annoyed him tonight, which was about the only thing they shared at that moment. That smirk died in its tracks when he said he hadn’t meant to disrespect anyone. He had, in almost every way that a man could disrespect another man, but there was some part of it that Red could and did understand. The mate bond was powerful, extremely so and he knew this because he was literally the first experiment of it. When he first saw his true mate, he had immediately loved her with everything he had. Equally, when she was torn away from him, he became hollow, and would have died if he could.

His head and his heart battled as he stood there, but Sadie speaking brought his focus back to them. He stared at her in a way he never had before. It wasn’t totally hatred, but it was a look filled with emotion he wasn’t sure there was words for, as if looking into an abyss. The potion he had made for them was never meant to be shared, and quite frankly, never meant to be. That was where he had been selfish, trying to force a bond that wasn’t meant for them. Asher had warned him there could be severe consequences, and he supposed this must be it.

He then heard her apology and it angered him all over again. “You couldn’t have gone about it worse. Which tells me you’re not sorry you did it. You’re just sorry that I caught you. And I know you believe in the bond. I can smell it all over you.” Despite his best efforts, that mix of rage and pain hit him and his eyes glowed then for a brief moment, which almost boiled the sea around them, and caused the sea creatures to become extremely active in the blood around before he got it under control again. “You could have, should have come to me first. Especially you.” He pinned Sadie with that look. “And you didn’t. You chose not too. And yes, that was a choice. I understand a mate’s bond, but that was a fucking choice. You had to know I’d find out the instant you stepped in that water. It makes me wonder if you wanted me too, because then it would be easier for you than admitting it to me. That’s cowardly, and it pisses me off.”

Even as he stood there though, with their lives in his hands, there was one thing he knew above all. Even if he fought Fitzpatrick, or Sadie or even killed one of them, he did not have the power to override a bond. As powerful of a being as he was, that was out of even his control. He took a breath that was like inhaling clouds of fucking Borax, and the water ceased its simmering, lying as smooth as glass, and somehow even more dangerous. He took another few moments to think as clearly as he could. “I’m done with this relationship. I will not do this again, Sadie.” And in “this”, he meant another chase, another competition with another man. Especially when it was clear to him that he had already lost. “The two of you have what I never will. What I can never give.” He then looked at Fitzpatrick, taking a breath. “I hope you are ready for a lifetime of selfishness. Of never being chosen. Of having to move your entire life on her whim, which by the way, changes as frequently as the wind does.” He paused and looked at the twinkling in the sky. “You said you’re a prince of stars, and I hope you are prepared to move those stars while listening to an excuse as to why she wouldn’t even move a pebble for you.”

Fitzpatrick was still stuck in the fire coral. Granted, it wasn’t cutting into him as sharply, though he could still feel the poison steadily seeping into his legs. His pain was less but not gone. He was still in excruciating pain, but he would not allow himself to be distracted from the moment now that he could understand the words exchanged. He couldn’t turn to look at Sadie, though he desperately wanted to.

When Red started talking to Sadie he felt every slap of his words. Though, the words were not pointed at him, only to his mate, he felt them as if he were taking the blows for her. He wanted to reach for her, go to her, comfort her. But any movement from him would only shred his legs further and cause more problems. He longed for his mate, though.

Fitzpatrick had watched the interactions between them all enough to understand how volatile a person Red was, and his reaction was not surprising. Fitzpatrick now regretted not taking the multiple opportunities he had to go and speak to Red about his intentions. What stopped him was knowing that Red might have destroyed him before he had ever gotten to say a single word to Sadie. At least now, if Red killed him, he could die knowing Sadie knew who he was.

Fitzpatrick’s eyes, wet with emotion for his mate and how she must be hurting, looked up at Red as his words were directed at him. Fitzpatrick was sure Red was speaking out of hurt and anger. The words didn’t fall on deaf ears, but he was taking the words with a grain of salt. And he told himself, standing in the water with fire coral wrapping itself around his legs, he made the conviction that all new lovers tell themselves, ‘They would be different.’

He knew not to speak in his moment. This was Sadie and Red’s conversation. He was just an abused spectator, witnessing the death of one relationship so a truer one could be birthed.

Sadie listened to the hate and anger coming from Red as he spewed all of his rage towards her. She felt the water start boiling even more from each word, and it started to weaken her. Between the excruciating pain that ran through her chest and the temperature rising in the water, she almost couldn't think. She glanced at Fitzpatrick and could feel he was in an extreme amount of pain, but nothing she could do at the moment. It would only make it worse if she tried. She brought her attention back towards Red when he started to talk to Fitzpatrick again.

Red's words towards her mate nearly shattered her heart. He never believed in you from the beginning. She thought to herself and felt her dragon get more furious inside her, to the point of almost shifting and cooling down the water. She reigned it in with one look at Fitzpatrick, knowing she would make it infinitely worse for him. She raised her head towards the sky, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She calmed herself enough as she turned her face back towards Red. Though when she opened her eyes, she knew her eyes would be glowing purple with her beast just on the surface.

"You're right. I fucked up and did this wrong. I should have came to you first. It was a selfish choice for me to decide, though my heart and mind were battling each other. I did and do feel the mate bond between him and I. I will not deny that anymore. You're wrong about me wanting you to find out this way. I followed the pull in my heart over the turmoil in my head. That's on me." She paused for a few moments and took another deep breath before she continued. "You accuse me of being selfish. I have been. When I selfishly left to meet Jasper after YOU gave me a potion that I was unaware of at almost nineteen years old. Young infatuated love that would have ran its course with Jasper, if you had given it time. But that got fucked up with the potion that was split and didn't leave us with any choices of our own. I didn't cast or make the potion that bonded us. That's on you. I was falling in love with you at the time. Jasper would have left and been on his own way and you would had me solely to yourself. I was young, careless and free spirited. I would have chosen you if I had the choice then. It was taken away though. My heart was split directly down the middle. You knew all of this about me. I take my responsibility for what happened then. I take responsibility for how I went about our current situation."

Taking a moment to regroup once more, she looked towards Fitzpatrick and her face softened. Which gave her some clarity and calmed her more, though she yearned for even a slight touch from her mate. Sadie looked him over one more time before she turned back towards Red. She looked at him and thought of everything they had been through. "You are rightfully angry. I feel the hurt in my chest just as you do. I believe it's the potion that is breaking because I found my mate. And it's getting worse until it's fully broken. You may think I wouldn't do anything for you, but that's untrue. I have always had this pull within me slowly trying to take me towards something..." She paused and looked at Fitzpatrick. "Towards someone." Her gaze lingered on her mate but soon turned to Red yet again. "This relationship is definitely over between you and I. Though, it hurts beyond belief. I love and respect you dearly, even if the love has turned into something that is not romantic any longer. I can not fight the mate bond and honestly, I wouldn't. I have owned up to my wrongs. I have sincerely apologized. I have finally found my voice and spoke earnestly to you. But my questions for you are...have you admitted to any of your wrongdoings or mistakes? Have you taken any responsibility for things you have done or caused?"

She looked at Red with a softened gaze that showed sincerity and a deep apologetic look in her eyes. She didn't realize how much she held back as she spoke her last words to her once lover and the tears opened like a floodgate. She knew this was the end of her romantic, toxic relationship with Red, but she still cared about him deeply. She waited to see what he would say or do, if he did anything. She wasn't leaving when things were at the final breaking point, not like she had always done before.

Red could see that hope in Fitzpatrick’s eyes, and he could feel the hopefulness and longing between them. Inside, he only churned more. He felt the water begin to cool and prepared himself for the fight if she was stupid enough to try it, but for once, it seemed she had learned. Never when it came to himself or Jasper, but for this fucking guy. When Sadie spoke, those blue eyes sparkled with temper. “You, you, you.” He repeated, with every mocking flick of his fingers pulling Fitzpatrick under the waters for a few seconds, longer each time it happened. “Not even now can you think of someone else, because it’s always been about you. This is a justification for your shitty behaviour, and nothing more. Better start doing a better job. Lover boys gonna need it.” He said as he looked over at the bubbles where the dragon had been.

However, there was one point that he could actually respond too, and he let the sea release the dragons head long enough for the man to breathe. “But. You are right in that the potion was mine. I loved you so much, so deeply, that I wanted you. Maybe even selfishly so. I wanted you to be mine, and so I had the potion made. I made the mistake of thinking you could be with me for 24 hours, after I asked you to stay with me. But I was wrong, and found out you couldn’t even do that before you went chasing off after another dick.” By then, it had been far too late. And then she once again, made it all about her. He tilted his head as he scoffed at her, listening and counting something as she spoke.

He would admit she was right on some counts, but that did not override the scene he watched before him. He stepped closer, lowering himself to the waters edge, and moved his fingers through the water that sat there. His command over the water was immense, but when he touched it, there was almost nothing he couldn’t do with it. When Fitzpatrick was let up again, sputtering, his fingers swirled lazily in it, reflecting on what she had just said, and the rampaging thoughts of his own mind. He looked up at her once again with a small, but very dangerous smile on his face. “Do you even realize you just said “I” thirty times in that little speech? Thirty. Fucking. Times.” And a mere twitch of his finger made the coral itch for more, as it continued to deposit its poison in Fitzpatrick’s flesh, gripping him tighter, and starting to pull him deeper.

But, even as he was about to drown Fitzpatrick, he realized that was about enough for him. His final straw. He realized that he could fight against this with all the holy, and unholy might he possessed, but against this, he was utterly powerless. He stared at Fitzpatrick for several seconds, the waves asking, even begging for his command, and the thought of ripping him apart out of spite was a very tempting one. But the issue laid in the fact it would bring him no satisfaction, even when he realized this wasn’t the first time Sadie had chosen another man to save. With his hand in the water, Red eyes closed for a brief moment as Leviathan and man fought in his head. The clouds above began to darken, as the water in them responded to the way his heart reacted. Without the sea changing, he withdrew his hand, and stood. He was proud man, and not a stupid one. He knew what was happening here. He was being mocked by God, shoving a bond in his face when he himself could never, would never have one. Rage simmered again for a whole other reason as he looked over the water, the storm forming in the distance that would quickly approach, and spoke in a voice that wasn’t his. “Go to your mate. Let him give you what I obviously never could.”

As the rain started, though he didn’t control the skies the way he controlled the oceans, Red looked away from them, and then walked away from them, though the coral would take another minute to release as the rage in him deepened until his vision was blackened, and his chest was in a screaming mess of agony. And right now, there was nobody around to stop him from an ultimate unleash of power.

Fitzpatrick thought Sadie's speech had made sense with valid points. Maybe that was what angered Red even further. It was clear he was a man that didn't want to take the full responsibility for the fake bond that had been forged between them. Just as Fitzpatrick was starting to feel confident things were turning in their favor, it changed.

Fitzpatrick felt the coral tighten around his legs again, cutting so deeply into his flesh that some of the coral hit the bone. His head tilted back as agonizing pain gripped him and ripped through his legs and into his body. His mouth opened to scream but the scream was silenced as a wave crashed over his head. However, the water didn't wane. He was trapped by the water and unable to breathe.

In short bursts the water subsided, allowing him to take enough breath to keep him from passing out. The harsh, deep breaths were causing him to hyperventilate, which wouldn't allow him to catch a full lungful of air.

He could no longer hear the conversation between Sadie and Red. He had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that he was being slowly drowned in front of his mate and he was helpless to stop it. The longer he stayed under, the less of a breath he was able to force into his lungs. His eyes were closing as his body was overwhelmed by the pain, the poison, and the lack of air.

Red might have given up on killing him, but the damage had been done. Fitzpatrick was limp in the water as the coral still held him impossibly tight in place. He was no longer underwater, but he was floating. The strength had been stolen from his damaged body.

Sadie knew when Red started mocking. That meant he was about to do something horrible and menacing. From centuries of experience with him, it wasn't going to be pretty, and the possibility of someone dying was strong. When the waves started crashing over Fitzpatrick, she knew who his target was. Again, she still could not move. She saw each wave crash and pull him under, yet something was holding him in place. I bet it's fucking fire coral. She barely thought to herself as she saw him being held under a little longer, which made her look at Red. She was crying so heavily that she couldn't say anything, but also she knew it would have fell on deaf ears. Once Red started, he wouldn't stop until he felt satisfied with his punishment and this made her chest ache even more.

She felt the excruciating pain from the bond breaking, but also the possibility of him killing her mate that she barely got to meet. She listened to what he said to her, still accusing and blaming her for everything. He never took responsibility for his own actions, and she should had know he wouldn't. She hung her head in guilt, shame, and something else she wasn't sure of as she continued to cry. She soon heard him say 'Go to your mate' and looked up at Red. She watched him walk away as the rain started from the impending storm.

She looked at Fitzpatrick who was just floating there and looked like he was done for. She knew he was alive through their mate bond, but barely. She glanced where Red had walked away from and noticed he was gone. She went towards Fitzpatrick as fast as she could and checked to see if there was any coral holding him down. There hadn't been, but she felt where they had been that it had shredded his legs and sent a lot of poison into his system. She grabbed a hold of his arm and started pulling them both out of the water towards the shore. "I'm so fucking sorry. You don't deserve this. No one but I did." She spoke softly still crying, not sure if he was even conscious. She was still weak slightly from being controlled in the water, so it took a little more effort to get his limp body out of the water. "Shit! I forgot you were naked." She mumbled and then looked down at herself. "Make that both of us."

She soon had them both out of water and close to where their clothes had been left with his satchel. Sadie had him laying down as she quickly threw her top and shorts on then grabbed his own shorts. She was as gentle as possible with him as she pulled on his shorts for him, though it was probably painful. After she got him dressed, at least his shorts on, she took a look at his legs. "This is going to hurt like hell. But I hope it will start pushing out the toxins and speed up the healing process." She was still unsure if he could hear, but she spoke anyways. She soon found a broken shell that looked strong enough to cut a deep slit in her palm. She didn't need a lot of blood and luckily they were hidden enough on the beach that no one could see them, well not anyone that wasn't supernatural.

As she cut her palm, she quickly squeezed a few drops of her blood on each of his legs over the wounds. Not a lot knew she could heal with her blood and rarely, if ever, used it because she knew that could become dangerous. When she was done, she grabbed one of his hands and held it with both of hers."I am hoping the mate bond can speed up this process for you. I don't think I can carry you alone without looking like I'm some kind of monster." She chuckled softly through the tears and rain, though unsure which it was. Just as she said this she felt something in her pocket vibrate and looked down. Dipshit! Your phone. She reached into her pocket and grabbed the vibrating phone noticing the texts and missed calls from multiple people. She barely registered the names because she had been looking at Fitzpatrick and just called back the previous number that had called. She let the phone ring and when the person on the other line answered...."Hey. Listen. I can't really talk right now. Something bad and awkward has happened. I can't explain here. I need help with lifting someone and taking him to....No, It's not hiding a body. Just...Can you please just come to the beach and help me before it gets worse out here? Thank you." She hung up and waited for person on the other side of the call to get there. She reflected back to the voice on the call and knew who it possibly was and Sadie instantly knew this person would know what to do."Ace. I hope you can get here soon."

As she put the phone back in her pocket another thought crossed her mind. She looked back down at Fitzpatrick and mumbled. "Where the hell do you live? I can't exactly take you to my condo. That will cause a building collapse." She pondered holding his hand in both of hers as she waited for help.