“I will worry about you the entire time,” he told her.
She swallowed against a knot in her throat and finally looked at him. His gold-green eyes were sincere and troubled, his expression tight with frustration. He wore, she saw now, a wreath of leaves and baubles not unlike the one the man Chaiya wore. But Reza made it look regal, she thought. She reached out, touching one of the strange animal teeth strung along its length, one of the smaller, sharper-looking ones.
“Viper,” Reza said. “Please. Be careful.”
She let her hand fall from the wreath and nodded. “I will.”
“I’ll be married tomorrow,” he went on. “At sunset.”
She grimaced. “Well, congratulations.”
“Cressida…”
She folded her arms and just shook her head, walking away from him. “I can’t, I’m sorry. Be well. Perhaps we’ll meet again.”
And that was the last thing she said to him.
She glanced back once, saw his silhouette was still, with the sprawl of the village behind him, and then focused forward again.
Ahead of her, the pirates had fallen in line behind Kelly, and as they walked past the village perimeter and under the wide canopy of the jungle, Cressida watched as Harry, Fat Tom and Esterbrook unceremoniously began to shed their clothes, stuffing them into the cloth sacks. With some consternation, she saw them grin at each other as they shucked off their trousers and hopped out of their boots, and then she felt herself blush when Harry turned about and cast her a grin.
“What the devil?” she asked aloud, staring at them.
Kelly glanced back at her, arching an eyebrow.
And then she understood. The men bent down, and a gust of wind rustled the trees around them as each one of them transformed before her eyes from man to beast. Harry shook himself, a great black bear now. Esterbrook had turned to a bear with ruddy ginger fur, and Fat Tom was, naturally, now a gigantic brown grizzly. The bears bumped at each other, grunting delightedly, and then each picked up a cloth sack in his great jaws and carried on, trudging deeper into the jungle behind their alpha captain.
It was so easy to forget, Cressida thought, that none of them were just men. That none of the people around her now were just people. That they carried inside them an animal as well. She watched Kelly’s back and thought of their encounter the night before. And she thought of Reza, of his lips on hers, and then of the tiger in the ship’s brig, baring great fangs at her in a hiss. These men that she was falling in love with, they were so much more than simply men. They were these wild things, and here she’d been trying to understand them, trying even to tame them. And she realized she’d never had a hope of having either one of them. Nothing so wild could be constrained, even by love.
And what tiger or bear could love her? She was just a woman, a human woman, with no other half to meet and marry his own, either of them. She had no beast within her, no animal to satisfy the animals roaring in their hearts. She’d lost before she’d even realized she wanted to fight for them.
So she followed the bears into the jungle, towards the mountain peak, and tried to put aside her heart and her desire, choosing instead to lay the lot of her life on this treasure instead, and what fortune it might bring her.
Stripes and Claws
(Alphas of Black Fortune: Part 3)
By Scarlett Rhone
Copyright 2015 Enamored Ink
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 1
The jungle, Cressida realized quickly, was a living green labyrinth. The map that Reza had given to James Kelly was not in a language any of them spoke but, as he’d said, there were unmistakable landmarks. They came upon the first of them a few hours into their hike, but it was hard to be certain because the jungle canopy obscured the sun and its telling turn across the sky. The landmark was a tall, gnarled tree with a trunk as wide as two men, whose exposed roots formed a kind of sculpture. The longer one stood and stared at it, the more the tangled limbs took shape and became the image of a woman being dragged screaming into the ground. One thick root in particular had a gradient of color from green to brown that looked, Cressida thought, particularly like a gaping mouth. Reza had marked these landmarks on the map in English, and the tree was called the Wailing Mother.
From the Mother, they were meant to go east to a rock bridge built between two high cliffs, which Reza had marked as the Stone Leap. That did not sit well with Cressida at all. Any kind of a bridge that one described as a leap could not be good. North from the bridge, they would find a small river, the island’s only source of fresh water aside from rain. It was the same river that spilled into the waterfall by the tribe’s village, and Reza had said that it snaked all around the island. The tribe called it simply the Way, and Reza said that they could follow it to the top of the mountain.
It all seemed simple enough, but every time Cressida was tempted to think that it would be an easy journey, she realized she was walking between three giant bears, and behind one devious pirate captain, and that simple did not exist anymore. Or perhaps it never had, and she had been blinded to the true nature of the world, ignorant of its strangest corners, and safe. With an awareness now of creatures like these skin-shifters, and the promise of other kinds of magic, she found she could not construct a reality wherein she was actually safe. But there was a still a hope in her heart that she could be free, and it was that hope that motivated her now.
At the base of the Wailing Mother, they decided to rest. Harry, Esterbrook and Fat Tom lumbered a ways away from the tree in their bear skins, forming a perimeter, while Cort and Kelly and Cressida settled on the grass near the tree. Cort fished some bread and fruit from the sack he carried, divvying it up between the three of them. At the next landmark, they would take watch while the three bears had their rest.
Cressida sat herself at an even distance between the other two pirates, careful to keep her back to the Wailing Mother. She knew that Kelly had said they needed a human to acquire the treasure, but that did not make her trust them. Perhaps more to the point, however, she did not want to find herself close to, or alone with, James Kelly. She didn’t want to talk about the night before, how she’d come to him in desperation and sadness. She didn’t want to talk about how she’d used him. She’d been weak, and she knew he didn’t love her. Not the way that Reza did. But, of course, Reza was…not an option any longer.
Kelly did not press himself upon her or try to get closer, but she did occasionally catch him looking at her for long moments. He said nothing, not in front of his crew, about their encounter the night before. And if the other pirates had awoken and realized what was happening, they said nothing about it either. There were more pressing matters, thankfully, and all attending seemed focused on them.
And yet…
Cressida tried, but her thoughts betrayed her over and over again. One minute she was reliving the feel of Kelly gripping her hips as she rode atop him; the next it was Reza’s hot breath on her throat as his fingers plundered her. These memories assaulted her again and again on their journey, as persistent as the bugs that often swarmed in the jungle air above their heads. Sometimes, as she remembered a particularly powerful thrust or climax, she caught Kelly looking at her with interest sparkling through his dark eyes, and wondered if he knew somehow. But he never said a word. Though she knew that Reza was now forever beyond her reach, she still believed that these two men were going to rip her heart in half somehow if she could not find a way to protect it.
Cort got up from his seat and, after muttering to Kelly a moment, left to bring food to the bears on guard, leaving Cressida and Kelly alone b
y the Wailing Mother. There was a long moment of silence as Cressida pulled pieces of the bread apart to nibble on. Kelly took a long swallow from the wineskin, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“I’m sorry we had to leave your tiger behind,” he said eventually.
“He isn’t mine,” she replied, shrugging. “And no, you aren’t.”
“I’m sorry for anything that causes you pain, Cress. But I’m not sorry you came to me last night instead of him.”
She felt her cheeks flush with warmth and rolled her eyes. “I was nervous about the journey and you were a distraction, Kelly, nothing more.”
“I don’t think that’s all it was,” he said in a low tone.
“Think whatever you like,” she snapped. “That’s all it was.”
She was staring at the ground between her boots, and then she heard him move. Suddenly he was sinking down beside her, and before she could scoot away, he’d caught her arm in a tight grip, his face close to hers. She found she couldn’t look away from his eyes—or perhaps she didn’t want to. Her heart beat fast in her ears. She felt her color rising.
“When we have the treasure and we leave this place,” he said, his voice soft and velvety, “that doesn’t have to be all.”
“I’ll not be your galley wench,” she hissed through gritted teeth.
“Not like that,” Kelly insisted. His grip on her arm loosened, and she told herself to pull away from him completely but didn’t move fast enough before he’d gotten his arm fully around her waist and hauled her close against him. His fingers curved over her hip. “I would have you be my mate, Cressida. The captain of my heart and its sole possessor. Always.”
Her mouth fell slightly open with surprise. But as she gazed into the deep brown depths of his eyes, she could not find a flicker of deceit or any hint of manipulation. Just a fierce desire for her, which she felt swelling inside her for him as well.
But was desire love?
What about Reza? She’d sworn she would let him go, but was that truly possible?
Before she could form words of acceptance or denial, Kelly kissed her. It was a searing kiss, passion flaring, and as his hand lifted to cradle her cheek against his palm, her mouth answered his and her mind reeled. As her lips parted against his and their tongues met, his arm around her tightened and he lifted her out of her seat, spilling her instead to the grass beneath him. Her hands found their way onto the back of his neck, tightening a little, and she heard a noise escape his throat, that same desirous growl as always, but something more desperate to it now.
He tugged the collar of her chemise down to expose her shoulder, then the swell of one breast, and kissed from her lips to her jaw, then to her throat, ever downwards. She bit down on a soft moan and he settled himself between her legs, his hips rocking against hers, and even through her trousers she felt his erection press against her, sparking a twinge of pleasure between her thighs. He kissed her collarbone, the top of her breast, and took the edge of her chemise between his teeth, dragging it lower until he could lay his mouth upon the stiffened peak of one nipple, sucking urgently.
She arched her back, gasping. “I haven’t said yes, Kelly.”
He sucked harder, and it drove her nearly to another moan, but she firmed her grip on his hair and yanked his head up til their eyes met. They were both breathless, flushed. The determination she saw in his expression made her knees quiver slightly on either side of him.
“You don’t have to say yes to being my mate right now,” he managed at last to say. “But I want you right now, Cress, right here. And no denying it, you want me too.”
“We haven’t time,” she insisted. “The others…”
“We have time.”
He gripped her by the hips and rolled her over onto her belly on the grass, hooking his fingers into her trousers to yank them down, exposing her bare ass to the jungle. She thought to protest that Cort could return at any moment, but to her surprise that knowledge only made her want it more.
“Quickly,” she begged, fingers curling into the grass. She pushed down with her knees, lifting her backside as she heard him unlace the front of his trousers and shove them down on his hips. She couldn’t have said if she was begging him to finish quickly or to just hurry up and get inside her. Probably a little of both.
He took the direction either way, and she felt his hands sliding up her back as he positioned himself at her entrance and then hastily buried himself inside her. She had to press her face to the grass not to groan, the feel of him filling her thusly delicious and hot. There wasn’t any time for teasing or toying with each other. As soon as he was inside her, he began thrusting quickly. The sounds of the jungle around them faded away until all she could hear was his pleasured grunts behind her, and her own breathy panting as it stirred the grass, the slap of their bodies meeting, and the creak of her leather trousers stretching against her widened thighs. She clenched her eyes shut as he withdrew and drove into her again and again, his pace quickening, and her climax began to mount, tingling first from her sex and building up through her belly, forming in her throat, his name on her lips.
Another thrust. Another. His hips bucked rapidly into her, his fingers holding her tight as his cock slid in and out of her, and eventually she couldn’t stop herself from crying out in ecstasy.
“Kelly,” she gasped. “Oh god…”
She shoved up onto her hands and knees as she came, pressing back against him, taking him as deep inside of her as she could, and he reared up to meet her, hands landing on her shoulders as she sat back. He managed another few thrusts before his arms came around her, catching her as he climaxed as well, and they toppled, shuddering and entwined, to the ground.
He trembled, lifting his head to kiss at her throat, her jaw, and she lay breathless against him, heart pounding as the languor of the moment blanketed her. He remained inside her a little longer, and she felt her sex throbbing around him, but eventually he pulled himself from her and started tugging her trousers back up to her hips.
“I told you we had time,” he murmured, laughter riddling his voice.
She smiled in spite of herself, and tried simply to enjoy the moment, instead of wondering after the greater repercussions of it.
Chapter 2
Kelly felt deeply satisfied as he lay tangled on the grass with Cressida. When he’d told Cort to take his time bringing food to the others, he’d hoped to make inroads with her but had not been so arrogant as to expect a moment such as this. And it was not a yes, he had to remind himself. She had not agreed to be his mate. But perhaps she still might.
In the afterglow of their lovemaking, he considered spending the night here. But that was impractical and, despite the darkness beneath the jungle canopy, he knew it could not possibly have been night. They needed to get further through the jungle before they could make camp. It wasn’t a large island. He was hoping to be back aboard the Oso Armonia in no more than a few days.
With his thoughts spiraling thusly, he didn’t realize what was happening at first. Then suddenly Cressida sat bolt upright, and he realized she was screaming. He was too slow; he was too caught up in the postcoital haze. He sat up swiftly as well and then she was being dragged out of his arms by…by…
The tree.
He started shouting for Cort and the others even as he lunged, grabbing onto Cressida’s wrists. The tree had a thick root wrapped about her ankle and a gaping, dark maw had appeared at its base, into which it was trying to haul her. She shrieked, kicking, trying to get loose of its grip, but could not shake it off.
“Kelly!” she cried. “James, don’t let go!”
He gritted his teeth, trying to pull her back some distance, and when it didn’t work, he did let go of one of her wrists. She screamed curses at him, the words blistering the air, but he leaned sideways, trying to get his fingers on the hilt of his rapier where he had discarded it in the grass with his belt. He reached and reached and felt himself losing
inches, the vine dragging both Cressida’s weight and his own towards its mouth.
At last he got a grip on the rapier’s hilt and drew it hastily from the scabbard, shoving it into Cressida’s free hand. She took it and twisted in his grip, slashing down with the blade, hacking into the vine that held her ankle. Once, twice, and finally upon the third blow, it snapped and she was loosed, sent skidding against him. He could have sworn he heard a furious noise echo from inside the tree, and then several more vines snapped up, roiling towards them as they scrambled back across the grass, and Cressida swung and struck the air to keep them back.
Then, from behind him, he heard the familiar roar, three of them, and he cinched an arm around Cressida’s waist, hauling them to their feet as the bulky forms of Harry, Esterbrook and Fat Tom went barreling past them to attack the tree. Cort was running towards them from some distance back, and Kelly let go of Cressida to pull a knife from his boot and join the fray.
The bears were somewhat at a loss, fighting a tree. They bellowed and slashed with their claws, bit and gnawed with their fangs, but it seemed every root they tore away sprouted three more, all wild and fat and twisting, quick and lethal. The tree was huge, so tall that its branches vanished into the canopy, and if it had a heart to skewer, Kelly could not find it. He realized that the bears were beginning to tire, and that the tide of the fight had turned against them.
“Retreat!” he shouted. “Fall back! Back out of reach!”
Cort grabbed onto Cressida, pulling her back.
Kelly ducked the whip of a vine, hurrying to join them. Fat Tom wrenched his huge grizzly bear body free of a tangle, his enormous paws pounding the ground as he fled, the gingered form of Esterbrook quick behind him. It was Harry who did not retreat fast enough.
Kelly heard him howl in pain and stopped running, turning about to watch, horror tightening his chest, as the great black bear got knotted up in vines and dragged swiftly into the tree’s wide mouth, bundled down beneath the roots, and swallowed whole. Then, as if sated, the trees roots reburied themselves in the earth and its trunk and limbs went still, reforming that figure of a wailing woman, so sympathetic and beautiful. Everything went quiet, and all Kelly could hear was the sound of his own breath, though his ears strained, desperate for even the sound of Harry clawing at the tree from the inside. Nothing. It was so quickly over.
Alphas of Black Fortune (Complete Boxed Set) Page 10
