The Sea God's Pirate Mate: M/M Gay Fantasy Romance (M/M Gay Paranormal Romance) Read online

  The Sea God’s Pirate Mate

  Gay Mpreg Fantasy Romance

  J.B. Black

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  The Sea God’s Pirate Mate by JB Black

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used.

  THE SEA GOD’S PIRATE MATE

  Copyright © 2021 J.B. Black

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

  What god makes a deal with a pirate?

  Nereus claims his territory as god of the sea, but after living in the Underworld with his many siblings, the freedom of the wide ocean leaves a hole in his heart.

  Everyone speaks about his fated mate. They talk about how this mysterious person will just fit in his life. Nereus isn't buying it.

  His parents barely had any time together, and that separation left them desperate when together and jealous when apart. Other gods shouldered the responsibilities of their territory while sharing power with their mates who did nothing. Neither option appealed to the sea god.

  Rebellious and determined to live how he wants, Nereus insults another sea god. A haven of artists and scholars, his territory has few warriors, and desperate to defend those who made their homes in his realm, Nereus must turn to less customary means.

  If only the answer to his problems wasn't the fated mate he intended to avoid!

  Bellamy is a survivor. Growing up on the street, he did whatever it took to stay alive. Stealing from a wizard and sneaking aboard a pirate ship might be a step too far, but it is all just another step in his master plan to find his missing mother.

  Fighting a cursed giant or serving a sorcerer-turned-pirate, Bellamy will do whatever it takes to get answers. Even taking up arms for a god.

  Drawn to Nereus, Bellamy wants the sea god, yearning for him. However, this is lust. Nereus was a means to an end. The final key to finding his mother and all the answers he sought. The magical cuff he stole protects him from attacks - not from fate, so it can't be anything more. No matter how beautiful or courageous or kindhearted the god proved to be.

  And no matter how much Bellamy wishes it.

  The Sea God's Pirate Mate is a gay fantasy romance with mpreg, high heat and a HEA.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter One

  Despite being the entrance into the multitude of mortal afterlifes, the Underworld was not entirely a grim place. In fact, having grown up there, Nereus considered it rather warm. All around, large hearthes held blazing fires, and thin sheets of gemstones refracted the light in multi-toned hues across the large halls. Where the fires’ light did not reach, bioluminescent moss or mushrooms grew.

  Whether the warmth of a roaring fire or the soft glow of the plants, the light highlighted the carven stone. Legend said the spirits of ancient dwarrow artisans carved their marks into the pathways on their ways to the final rest. No matter how often Nereus asked, his dam — Thanas — never said. Often, honestly, Thanas had little time for anything at all.

  Thanas had little time for much at all. The dead kept him busy. Paperwork constantly piled up, and no matter how much the skeletons and ghouls wished to help the God of Death, they could only do so much to serve Thanas in this way. What little free time Thanas had often went to his younger children, and — six months of the year — his mate and Nereus’s father, Vasant, took up what time he could. The God of Spring, Vasant had to spend the bulk of his time in the mortal realm, and though he would take some of the older children with him, he was a naturally selfish man who wished for nothing more than to dote upon his mate. This, unfortunately, left Thanas often occupied with his younger mate and heavily pregnant by the time his mate had to return to his duties once more.

  “I have planned to take a territory,” Nereus announced, standing upon the stone table before his siblings.

  Fleur — his sister closest to him in age — snorted. “Are you finally folding? I won the betting pool then.”

  “Folding?” Nereus’s nose wrinkled.

  Diana huffed, tossing her long dark hair over her pale shoulder. “To take Da’s territory.”

  “What? Death?” the young god shivered dramatically as he shook his head. “Of course not! Who wants to spend their lives doing paperwork for the dead?” He quickly stood at attention, taking on a tired disposition as his shoulders sagged. “Hmm...you need two coins upon each lid and a third upon the tongue if you wish to enter the Fielded Green,” he drawled in a fair mocking of Thanas. His sisters laughed, grinning brightly up at him. Sweeping around upon the table, he toddled about in the familiar waddle of their often pregnant parent with a hand upon his back though his own stomach was flat and well-muscled. “If the dwarrows stall in the halls, at least redirect them, Obsidian. We need to expand the western quarter, and it would be rude to have them write over —”

  “Nereus! Fleur!” a voice called, interrupting their play. Ione — the eldest of their sisters and the second born of all their full-blooded siblings — came running. All three raced to meet her, but before they could embrace her, she shook her head, panting as she caught her breath. “Father cursed Athanasius!”

  Nereus’s jaw dropped. “He did what?”

  “He couldn’t!” Fleur protested.

  Diana folded her arms, shaking her head with a sigh. “Of course, he did. He’d been jealous of our half-brother since the beginning.”

  “But why?” Nereus protested, running a hand through the waves of his dark black hair. “If he had just left Athanasius in line for Da’s position, we wouldn’t have to deal with him guilting us into taking over.”

  “Guilt you, you mean,” Diana murmured with a smirk, but Fleur smacked her sister’s arm.

  Before their fighting could continue, Ione waved her hands, drawing their attention back to her. “Father cursed Athanasius, and he made it so it can’t be undone. He used all of the sacrifices made to him this season. Until Athanasius’s mate is born and breeds him, our brother will be trapped!”

  Dark brows furrowing, Nereus fumed. “That’s the line. I won’t stand for that.”

  Turning upon his heels, the young god stormed off, feeling the call of deep waters and mighty storms brewing in his chest. Though he had admired his father as a child, the revengeful self-righteousness which served as a shared piece of their nature quickly soured their relationship. More and more, Nereus stood against him, siding with his siblings, and still without a territory, Nereus had only met his half-brother a handful of times, b
ut for all the blood on the warrior demigod’s hands, he was a gentle and sweet soul who deserved happiness.

  “Where are you going?” Diana demanded, following close behind.

  Fleur also followed. “Father’s curse doesn’t even make sense! How can Athanasius meet his mate? He had no territory! He’s not a god! Half-gods like him can’t claim one on their own!”

  “That’s the trick,” Ione shared, racing with her sisters after their brother. “Father gave him a territory — fertility!”

  “A fertility god? Athanasius?” Fleur shook her head in disbelief. “Has he even had sex?”

  “Shut up!” Nereus roared. “Father knew Athanasius would not feel comfortable being a patron of such delicate life.”

  Humming, Diana danced about her brother. “I think he’ll do brilliantly. He’s cleverer than most.”

  “It doesn’t matter how well he’ll do. He doesn’t want it! He didn’t ask to be born, and Father threw him from the path he had walked for his whole life, and now, he’s cursed him!” Nereus shook his first at the ceiling as if he could see his father through the thick stone and layers of earth between them. “Athanasius did nothing to deserve Father’s ire, and it was time Da did something about it.”

  Ione nodded, taking her brother’ shand in her own. “Why do you think I came back? I’m risking my territory to tell you all this. I need to return soon, but not until Da bans Father from this realm and refuses to visit him in return until Athanasius is free.”

  “But if he used all his sacrifices...well, I suppose he could just use all the sacrifices from next year to undo it,” Fleur suggested, but as they crossed into the main hall, a sea of dead soldiers blocked their paths.

  Ghostly banners waved, and the symbols upon them caught Ione’s eye. “Oh no.” At her siblings’ curious gazes, she pointed at the soldiers. “It wasn’t a normal season of sacrifices. Athanasius had conquered all the way to Skrajav in the north.”

  Fleur’s hands covered her mouth as she whispered, “One of Father’s patron cities!”

  “His favorite one,” Diana added.

  “He can’t undo this,” Ione lamented as tears welled in her eyes.

  Blue eyes blazing, Nereus growled, storming up and through the ghosts despite growing up being told to always respect the dead, but how could he? Rather than being slaughtered on the battlefield, the nobles and priests of Skrajav had killed these men all in the name of Vasant — all in the hopes of stopping Athanasius from conquering them in the name of his mortal half-brother. Any people who would sacrifice their own in such a brutal way did not deserve to have their prayers answered. Gods weren’t meant to listen to those prayers. Pleas made in the blood of others held a corruptive power, and the surge served only to temporarily empower. Vasant would likely never achieve the power he had ever again, which meant he would be unable to undo the curse. This would not stand.

  “Nereus!” his Dam called from the dais on which his desk was. On his hip, one of the younger siblings sat, chewing on the long dark hair which tumbled in messy braids over Thanas’s shoulders. “These men have suffered enough! Be polite!”

  “These men were sacrificed!” Nereus bellowed, and the ghostly battalion flinched, muttering amongst themselves. A mix of their last words as they hadn’t had the time yet to realize what had happened to them. Drugged. Drugged and slaughtered for a prayer to a fickle god. “They were sacrificed in Skrajav to Vasant, and he used the power to curse Athanasius!”

  Behind his circular frames, the God of Death studied his son. “You have been in the Underworld. How could you know that?”

  Dodging between the ghosts, Ione joined her brother. “I told him!”

  Thanas’s dark brows rose, and he set down his normally ever-moving quill as his children approached his desk. “Your father...he accepted this sacrifice.”

  “And used it to curse Athanasius! He forced a territory upon him — a godship of fertility only obtained once his mate breeds him,” Nereus explained. “You know how nervous he feels around children.”

  Eyes drifting to the little babe at his side, Thanas sighed, bouncing his knee. “Thank you for informing me. Ione — you should return to your realm.”

  Ione nodded, but as she slowly backed away, Nereus pushed, “What are you going to do about this?”

  “There is nothing — ”

  “That isn’t good enough!” Nereus roared, sending the ink and quill off Thanas’s desk when the god tried to reach for them once more. Nereus slammed his hands down upon the desk, staring his dam down. “Athanasius is your son. Your eldest and firstborn, and you abandoned him when Vasant asked, but obviously, that wasn’t good enough. He’s tortured him again and again, and now he’s cursed him, so what are you going to do about it?”

  Sighing once more, Thanas removed his glasses, setting them outside the babe’s reach as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “This is between your father and myself.”

  “No. It isn’t,” Nereus insisted, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “Athanasius is my brother. Our brother,” he corrected, gesturing back to his sisters who nodded and then to his other siblings who gathered, including others who had come from the surface having heard what their father had done. “Ban him from the Underworld. Refuse him entry until Athanasius is free — happily freed.”

  “And have him give Athanasius his title,” Diana added, stepping up beside her brother. “If he so hates being parted from you, then why should you have to wait or force one of us to take a territory we don’t want. He can retire and give Athanasius the full title of Spring. You know he would make Athanasius miserable if our half-brother were to serve as a minor deity beneath him.”

  Nereus nodded along, pointing to his sister as he stared his dam down. “Athanasius deserves your loyalty too, and after what Vasant did, you can’t forgive him.”

  Ghosts muttered all around them, and surrounded by the confused spirits, their voices could easily be lost in the chaos, but Thanas bowed his head.

  Nereus leaned forward. His heart raced. So much and yet so little happened in the Underworld, and as much as he desired to leave and take on a territory of his own, this fight stood as the final mark he would leave behind. Outside the Underworld, a territory called to him, and he could feel the tide shifting even as his feet stood upon the shore.

  With a wave of his hand, Thanas summoned his quill, and pulling a piece of parchment to him, he wrote a quick letter. When he signed the bottom, he held it out to Nereus. “Give that to your father.”

  “Da…”

  “He’s banned from the Underworld until Athanasius is free, and if he does not give up his title as God of Spring to Athanasius, I will break the bond between us,” Thanas announced. It was far beyond what his children had asked, and the weight of his steady pragmatism electing to go to such an extreme both excited and terrified them.

  Though Nereus longed to cheer, he held his tongue, thanking his dam quietly before he and his siblings left, allowing Thanas to return to his never-ending world. Ione and Nereus raced through the halls, bidding their goodbyes to the siblings they left behind. Up above them, the sun shined brightly. A river ran on the edge of the cavernous entrance, and though Nereus longed to see his father’s face when the letter was delivered, a call to the sea beckoned him.

  “Send me a letter when you’re settled,” Ione said, pulling her brother into a hug.

  Nereus beamed, handing her the letter when they parted. “Maybe my sea is near your valley?”

  “A sea?” Ione shook her head. “A river runs through, but it comes down from the mountains, and it ends in a lake.”

  Clucking his tongue, Nereus tilted his head, pouting. “Pity.”

  “We have enough siblings. You’ll probably be near one of them,” Ione assured him, and with a wave, she raced back off to return to her territory before her claim could be threatened.

  Standing outside the entrance to the Underworld, Nereus set his hands upon his hips. With a simple spell, he could find th
e end of the tugging in his gut, but with the sun shining so beautifully above him, he elected to take the scenic route, diving into the river and swimming beneath the waves as he followed its pathway out toward the wide ocean beyond.

  Chapter Two

  Some sea gods held a portion of the ocean under their sway with no coast or islands within their realm, but they were fools. Large swathes of blue — whether calm or rough in a storm — hid much beneath their waves, and the salt air which came from the wind howling across the waters or a gust of warmth pushing inland could best be appreciated from the top of a cliff.

  From the warm waters of the rivers outside the Underworld to the cold waters of the north, Nereus traveled. His skin tanned beneath the sun even as it drew low and the cold of winter came, sending snow upon the waves. Cliffs lined one side of Nereus’s realm which stretched out into the gray-blue waters. Ice formed his northward boundary and out beyond in all other directions only water formed his newly found territory from the eyes which might look upon it from the cliffs.

  Beneath the waves, the sea was abuzz with activity. A castle formed first, built from magma summoned up from trenches and shaped quickly as Nereus spun spirals. His artwork attracted the attention of pods of mermaids and selkies, who he welcomed with glee. In the clean cold water, Nereus enjoyed the sun, adoring the way the sun filtered through the water. The sea stretched all around him. Freedom in its truest form.

  “Your hair is so dark!” one of the mermaids cooed, playing with god’s black locks. Her own pale skin shimmered like the scales of her tail. “Penni — you should lend me your strings of pearls!”

  Another mermaid swam over from where she had admired the glass he created to cast the light from the magma trench alongside his castle. “Oh, yes! It would be like starlight!”