The m r james megapack, p.33
Making Waves, page 33
Worth Saving
Miracle: Salvation Isle 4
Shea Balik
Description
Worth Saving Miracle: Salvation Isle 4
Hari Begum had barely begun to live when his own parents sold him to work in the human mines. Betrayed by the people who he was supposed to be able to trust, when he is finally freed forty years later, the only thing Hari wanted was to be left alone so no one could ever hurt him again.
Rus Kartal was known for always having a plan, as well as several back up plans, to get him in and out of a place safely. It was why he’d been hired by tech guru Yosi to protect him and Salvation Island. When he meets his mate, who didn’t even know what mates were, plans became a thing of the past when he had to adapt each encounter to what Hari needed instead of what he’d imagined would happen when finally meeting the one meant for him.
Will Hari be able to trust his own mate when he doesn’t even understand what that means? When humans attack the island, Rus sets out to prove he not only will protect Hari at all costs, but his mate can trust him.
Will Rus be able to show Hari he is Worth Saving?
TW: Depicts past physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.
Copyright ©2023 Shea Balik
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover by: Harris Channing
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Contents
1. CHAPTER 1
2. CHAPTER 2
3. CHAPTER 3
4. CHAPTER 4
5. CHAPTER 5
6. CHAPTER 6
7. CHAPTER 7
8. CHAPTER 8
9. CHAPTER 9
10. CHAPTER 10
11. CHAPTER 11
12. CHAPTER 12
13. CHAPTER 13
14. CHAPTER 14
15. CHAPTER 15
16. CHAPTER 16
17. CHAPTER 17
18. CHAPTER 18
19. CHAPTER 19
20. CHAPTER 20
21. CHAPTER 21
22. CHAPTER 22
23. EPILOGUE
Also By Shea Balik
About Shea Balik
CHAPTER 1
Digging his toes in the sand, Hari Begum let the gentle waves wash over his feet as he stared out at the relatively calm ocean. Luxuriating as the sun’s rays soaked into his skin, warming him. Well, his body anyway. He wasn’t sure anything could ever melt the cold that filled his heart and soul after all he’d been through. Allowing ice to form had been the only way he’d been able to cope. If it melted, even a minute amount, he feared he’d lose what little was left of the sanity he had.
Closing his eyes, he felt the breeze brush past him in hopes it would take away the memories that seemed to always live within him. If only it was that easy, then maybe he’d find some peace.
Yeah, right.
There was no such thing for him. Never had been. Never would be. Hari only wished he understood why others felt that life was a good thing. To him, it was something to endure. Why? That was an answer he’d never figured out.
All he could do was keep moving, keep breathing, keep waking up, even when he didn’t always want to. Maybe if he understood why he’d been put on this Earth, it wouldn’t hurt as much as it had. Up until a week ago, it had appeared like his only reason for being born was to suffer. Not that he wasn’t now, but instead of it being physical, mental, and emotional, that abuse had stopped, but it left him with the horrific memories to wade through.
If only he could…
Shaking his head, he pushed that thought away. There was no point in hoping. Hope didn’t exist. At least, he was no longer trapped in a cage, forced to work until he dropped, used in ways no one should ever have to be.
Now, he had his own little cabin that barely fit a bed in it but it was his. He also could walk down to the beach whenever he wanted and stare out at the water. Long forgotten images of him swimming with his siblings surfaced. Unbidden, his lips curved upward slightly. He’d loved those times.
Pushing the images away because they’d only lead to heartache, Hari opened his eyes again. He needed to only think about the here and now. If he trudged through the past, it led to tears, which too often shoved him into a depression of which he couldn’t break free .
Not that he was ever unencumbered from the shackles that stopped him from moving forward. Hell, he wasn’t positive there was such a thing. It would mean accepting the misery of his life, and that was something Hari didn’t think was possible.
Every single day for the past forty years, he’d prayed for death. Had been absolutely positive it would happen. Yet for some reason he never could explain, it hadn’t transpired. Even when he’d once swung an axe into his abdomen, which hadn’t been easy, he’d survived the injury. Another time, he’d jumped from a twenty-foot home, thinking the fall would break his neck; it hadn’t.
That was when he’d known, without a doubt, he would never get a reprieve with death. Yet it never stopped him from willing it to come. Even now when he was ‘safe.’ Like that was something that was possible.
Just like faith, safety was an illusion. One he’d learned at the young age of six that didn’t exist.
His eyes narrowed as something far out into the ocean caught his attention. He couldn’t explain it, but he would have sworn a swell, far larger than the currently calm ocean would create, rose at least two feet. Unable to break his gaze from the spot, which was about eight, maybe ten, feet long pushing water up and out, Hari wondered what could cause that to happen?
If he was lucky, it was some sort of tsunami or rogue wave that would wash him out to sea, killing him as he could no longer shift. Despair was all he knew when he thought about his sea turtle. It wasn’t something he could think about without breaking down. Usually, when that happened was when he’d attempted to kill himself.
Knowing death wouldn’t take him away from the anguish of being separated from his animal, Hari shook his head and did the only thing he could to push the clawing need within him to reconnect with his turtle; shoving all those emotions tied to his animal into the far recesses of darkness.
A fin broke the surface, alerting Hari to possible danger. Every cell in his body froze as he watched it head toward him. Being on land, he wasn’t exactly worried about a shark, but something about the size of that fin alarmed him. He just didn’t know why.
His stomach flipped and his hands started to sweat as it got closer. A minute or two later, he felt drops of sweat pop up on his forehead with anxiety at the thought that this gigantic shark appeared to be heading straight for him.
Then again, there was also something about the creature that stopped him from running home and locking the door. He just couldn’t quite place… The breeze washed over him, bringing with it something he didn’t recognize. Instead of salt and brine the aroma of pine, mint, and… was it possible for confidence to have a scent? He hadn’t thought so, but he smelled it just the same.
A shiver of… Not fear, which is what he’d thought he’d felt… but maybe… No. It couldn’t be. Never having felt it before, it was hard to trust anything he was experiencing. Was it possible the sweating hands weren’t from fear? No way. Couldn’t be. Hari refused to believe his queasy stomach, sweating, or even the anticipation of what was to come could be anything but anxiety and fear.
As for the unique fragrance, that could have been the wind changing direction, bringing the perfume of the trees from the island to him. Even as he thought that Hari knew it hadn’t. So how was he scenting something different?
And why in the hell was something inside of him desperate to swim to check it out? His animal was dead after years of being suppressed. Even if it wasn’t, Hari didn’t know if he ever wanted it to come out again. Nor was he about to meet that thing that pushed a huge amount of water above the surface with a fin so tall, Hari was certain it would dwarf him.
Not about to let that happen, Hari turned on his heel and headed back to the path that would eventual ly lead him to his little bungalow. He’d only taken about five steps when he turned to look back at the fin that he would swear was still heading for shore.
No. Not shore, but him.
Could that be possible? It would if it was a shifter.
Fearing it was, Hari raced up the path and into the woods. Losing himself in their fragrant depths, Hari did his best to ignore the need to return to the edge of the water. It would be easier if the clawing need to go back would go away.
Then again, when had he ever been able to trust his instincts? Never. He’d learned that even as a child.
Turning to the right, he cut through the forested area toward home. He’d make dinner and eat. Then, maybe, he would be safe to return to the beach. Not that it would help, but it would give him something to do. Assuming one considered staring aimlessly at the water an activity.
It wasn’t often that Hari made such a big meal, nor had he actually planned to, yet when he was done, he stared at the huge pot of Avial. Technically, it was a vegetarian dish, but his animal required seafood. It was one of those dishes he’d had as a child that he still loved even though he was used to nothing more than a soupy rice he’d been served since he’d arrived at the tunnels.
It would take him at least a week to eat all he’d made. Which led him to wonder what he’d been thinking? Or had he been thinking at all?
Images of that fin emerging from the water continued to plague him. Picking up the plate he’d pulled out of the cupboard, Hari couldn’t help but notice he hadn’t taken out one, but two plates. What?
A knock at the door triggered him to jump, nearly causing him to drop the plate in his hand. Closing his eyes, Hari took a breath and counted to ten. When his heart wasn’t beating a million miles a minute, he placed the plate on the counter and went to answer the door.
Not expecting anyone, he looked out the peephole. He had no clue who the man standing there in nothing but a pair of a shorts was, but he also recognized him. Did that even make any sense?
All he knew was the man was huge. Like he could smash Hari into the ground with his enormous fist. Not stupid enough to open the door to someone who could be there to bring him back to hell on Earth, he stood there, unmoving.
“I know you’re there,” the man’s deep voice rumbled through the wood of the door. “Would you please open up?”
There was an urge to do as he said. Hari found himself lifting his hand to the doorknob. But the need to keep himself safe stilled his hand.
When he heard, “Please,” once again, Hari’s hand started to turn the doorknob.
He barely managed to stop from actually pulling it open. Experience told him he should engage the lock that he’d stupidly forgotten to turn. So why didn’t he do it now?
“Please, my heart, I am dying to meet you.”
It might have been unreasonable, but he’d been unable to stop himself from yanking open the door. The reminder of the heart-shaped shell of his Olive Ridley Sea Turtle and all that he’d lost had been too much. Hari found himself staring into the darkest brown eyes he’d ever seen. Oddly, he found himself wanting to lose himself in their depths.
But the rage at being called ‘my heart’ caused him to yell, “Don’t you ever call me that again! Got it?”
Something flared within Hari that terrified him, and the moment the words left his mouth, he slammed the door and flipped the deadbolt. Not that it would ever stop the behemoth of a man who had stood there shocked as Hari had yelled at him from breaking it down. All he could hope was he’d be able to get through the window in his room before this stranger could catch him.
Yet, even as he ran across his room to the window, Hari realized the door hadn’t crashed open. No one was actually chasing him. He should be relieved, so why was his heart broken?
CHAPTER 2
Ruslan Kartal, who preferred to go by Rus, hadn’t thought in a million years he would actually meet his mate. He had definitely prayed he would, even yearned for it with all his heart. In the beginning, he’d feared it was because he was gay and the council had been right and it was against the natural order.
Thankfully, all that had changed when his employer, Yosi, had met his mate, Kylo. The possibility that he might actually have a mate out there was only reinforced when he’d seen dozens of same sex mates, both at Miracle and Salvation Isle, which was where he lived.
There was never any real guarantee, especially when despite how many same-sex couples were meeting their mates as the new council gave them some semblance of safety to live as they wished to live, there were still groups out to kill them. It wasn’t ideal, but it was a start.
That he lived in Salvation meant he was safe from discrimination. Not that it mattered. Rus was ex-special forces for the American Marines. It was how he’d gotten recruited by Yosi, the owner of Salvation Isle. Whether he lived on this secluded, reinforced island or not, Rus damn well knew no one would ever get close enough to him to get the drop on him.
Always hopeful he would one day meet his mate, he’d heeded the aroma of roses and vanilla calling to him like a siren when he’d been out swimming in the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Unable to resist, not that he’d even consider doing so, Rus had headed for shore.
Rising up, he knew he looked menacing despite his fin not even having shown itself. As a megalodon, he was extremely large, shifting water in ways no other animal could. His animal counterpart had been extinct for centuries, yet as a shifter they still existed, making it tough for them to shift whenever they wanted.
If anyone discovered their existence, it would mean humans would hunt them down. Not that there were a lot of megalodon shifters alive. Mostly because they couldn’t just shift on a whim. Everything had to be planned. With the advance of radar, sonar, and underwater cameras, it was nearly impossible for them to allow their animals to swim free.
As a shifter, the inability to shift often caused their animals to wither and die. If that happened, so did their human half. It wasn’t immediate, but it would happen over time.
And that was the problem. There was no way to truly know until he was able to talk to his mate, but Rus sensed he had suppressed his animal half for way too long.
His fin crested over the surface of the water, giving him a perfect view from just below the waterline to see the shore where the tantalizing aroma came from. All the blood in his body went straight to his cock, causing him to ache with the need to claim whoever was standing on that beach.
What he hadn’t expected was for his mate to leave. Then again, if he’d been right and his mate had denied his animal side, he might push away those same instincts to not acknowledge his mate. Or, and he seriously prayed this wasn’t true, he didn’t want Rus.
The thought that his mate had run from him, no matter what the reason, saddened him in ways he’d never imagined possible. His gut clenched and his heart broke. Not something he’d ever thought possible when he’d finally found the one person meant for him.
The well-trained soldier in him wanted nothing more than to fix whatever was wrong. But the defeated posture of his mate was all he needed to see to know that might not work. It didn’t mean he wouldn’t try, yet somehow, he damn well knew it wasn’t going to work.
That was proven true as he knocked on his mate’s door. Even as Rus begged, he hadn’t opened up. Desperate to hold his mate, who he could scent was terrified, he tried once more. “Please, my heart, I am dying to meet you.”
The snick of the doorknob turning was enough to cause hope to flood every cell in his body. At least, until his mate yelled at him before slamming the door in his face.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have called you that.” Yet, despite saying the words, Rus had an impossible time not thinking of his mate as 'my heart'. He had no idea why, but from the moment he’d scented him in the water, it was the name that came to mind. “Just please open the door again. I want to get to know you.”
He’d heard footfalls heading to the back of the building, most likely to escape from a window, but they stopped when Rus didn’t try to break down the door.
