“I need to get you out of the water before your cold gets worse,” he said, speaking so calmly it only fueled my anger.
“No, I’m staying in here,” I yelled. “Let the kraken get both of us for all I care.”
He chuckled. “He might get indigestion from eating you. You are one disagreeable lass.” He cradled me closer and buried his nose in my neck. What was he doing? “The sea does make your scent stronger. Maybe that was it. Have you been swimming in the sea on and off the last couple of months, lass? West coast?”
He wanted to discuss my summer now? His calmness and amused attitude was really pissing me off. I kicked and wiggled to break free. When that failed, I brought my head down and bit his shoulder hard.
He laughed.
“Go ahead and claim me, she’lahn. I should haul you over my shoulder so you can bite me on the ass instead. It would be the perfect ending to this perfect day.”
I could taste blood and knew I’d broken his skin. This was what he’d reduced me to. “You are disgusting.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Don’t tempt me.”
“But I plan to. Every second of our life together.” His laughter rang out, and the next second I was over his shoulder. I held my breath, expecting my head to hit water. Instead, we were airborne. Once again, I was upside down with hair all over my face. Was he flying?
I looked down and what I saw made me forget Storm was actually carrying me over his shoulder like a sack. We were being lifted out of the water by something black with a scaly head, horns, and shimmery blue mane. Even some of it scales glowed blue. Its neck was long and endless with transparent fins lining it. When Storm stepped onto the deck, it opened its giant mouth and bellowed, flashing a row of sharp, pearly teeth. Then it slithered back under the water, completely blending with it.
What the hell was that? It looked like a dragon. Water dragons weren’t real. This nightmare was never-ending. Storm pulled me back in his arms and smirked.
“So no bite on my ass?” he teased.
God, I really hated this man. “You bite mine.”
“I intend to. A bite for a bite, lass. You claimed me, and now I claim you.” He lifted me up, sunk his teeth into my shoulder, and bore down.
“That hurts, you asshole. Get off me.” I screeched as I pushed and punched him hard on the head, yanked his hair, and scratched at him, but he didn’t stop.
He lifted his head and grinned, blood on his teeth.
“The deed is done. Isn’t that right, lads?” he asked, his voice rising.
“Aye, Captain!” his crew responded, staring at us with serious expressions. Even the ones on Levi’s ship watched us silently. All of them shirtless, even the women, their boobs bare. They were all crazy.
“Scumbags, plunderers, pillagers,” I yelled.
Laughter followed us inside the cabin. Storm dropped me on the bed.
“They’d take that as a compliment.” He stopped smiling. “Don’t ever put your life at risk like that again, Alexandria. That was a stupid thing to do.”
“Better stupid than a willing victim.” Every chance I got, I was going to try to escape. I had no intention of making things easier for him. I started to shiver. Now that he was no longer carrying me, cold air crept over my body and replaced his warmth.
“No matter where you go, muh’Lexi, I’ll always find you.” He walked across the room to get another shirt from a peg, and I saw the scars crisscrossing his back. They looked as though someone had cut or whipped him repeatedly. They were so many that the tattoos couldn’t cover all of them. “You are my mate, lass, and I’m going to love you and make you so happy you’ll forget how we met and all this.”
It took some serious shits for brains to equate a bite with love.
“You’ll never make me love you,” I spat at him.
He chuckled. “Oh, she’lahn. You should never challenge an islander when it comes to making a lass fall in love with him. Change,” he added, dropping the white shirt on the bed.
“No.” I sneezed. “Maybe if my cold gets worse, you could feed me to the dragon. You seemed rather friendly with it.”
“Best buddies,” he said, dragging a chair closer to the bed. He sat, silver eyes twinkling. I wanted to smack the smile off his face. “That cold is getting worse. Once again, you jumped into the water for no reason.”
“To escape you,” I meant to tell him, but I sneezed instead.
“You have two choices, she’lahn,” he continued. “Either change, or I’ll do it for you.”
“Try to touch me. I dare you.”
He grinned, silver eyes darkening. “I guess you’re changing then. Too bad. I would have loved to remove the rest of your clothes and warm you up.”
My entire body flushed at the heated look in his eyes. “Pervert. Turn around.”
He leaned back and crossed his arms. “No. You might bolt for the door again.”
Asshole. I looked at the curtains around the bed and realized I had the perfect solution. I yanked the two sides together and shut out his smug face. I peeled off the wet bra and shorts and yanked on his shirt. It was so huge it covered me like a dress.
“Do you need pants?”
I ignored him.
“If you give me your things, I could dry them.”
He probably could with the heat from his body.
“Who are you people, and where are you taking me?” My voice shook, which only pissed me off.
“Not far from here is our island, Vaarda. You may call us pirates, but we prefer the name islanders. We really are the good guys. We fight to defend our homes and our way of life. Occasionally, we pillage and plunder to teach those who would oppress us a lesson.”
“Don’t forget me, your cargo,” I retorted and hoped he heard the loathing in my voice. I pushed the curtains aside. “How many more did you kidnap? And how does that fit with your good-guy image?”
“It doesn’t, but we can’t all be perfect. From time to time, we need fresh blood on the island, and that’s where Tuh’rens come in. Instead of doing things the old way, sinking ships and taking as many of you lasses as we can, we visit ports and clubs, places where we can find young, unmarried lasses, and we take them. That’s the Harvest. Very civil, don’t you think?”
I gawked at him. “There’s nothing civil about you. You are barbaric.”
“I know.” There was no apology in his words or voice. “But we’re not talking about me. We’re discussing my people and their survival. You help us do that.” He pried my wet sports bra and shorts from my hand and went to hang them on a peg.
He came back and sat. His hair was already dry, and even his pants had large dry patches. How could he release so much heat? And his back, how did that happen? Not that it was any of my business.
“Now I need a few answers before I go destroy those who’d steal you from me. What were you doing in Cocoa Beach?”
“You already know the answer to that,” I snapped.
“And along the California coast? Because I caught your scent in various places. Malibu then San Diego. A few days ago, you were in Miami. Every time I landed—”
“Oh God, Sienna.” How could I have forgotten about her? I scooted closer to the edge of the bed. “Please, Storm, take me back. I have to go back. My family needs me.”
He studied me with narrowed eyes. Then he said, “Tell me about your family. Is your mother alive?”
“No. She died when I was young. I have a stepmother and a half brother, Tommy, and he needs me. I have to go back and watch Sienna. It’s the only way I can help Tommy. Please. I’m all he’s got.”
“How old were you when your mother died?” Storm asked, obviously unmoved by my pleas.
“What does it matter?” I snapped, hating that I had to beg him.
“Answer the question, Alexandria,” he said, his voice calm, eyes watchful.
“Six? Seven? I don’t know. Please, I have to go back. I’ll do anything. Just take me back.”
; “I can’t, Lexi. Your place is with me. How did your mother die?”
“I don’t know. I was a child,” I yelled. “One day she was there. Then she was gone. And no, my place is with my family back at home, you jackass.” There had to be a way to get out of this place. The other ships were my way out. I had to get to them.
“Calm down, lass,” Storm said, his voice dropping an octave. “And your father buried her?”
“I guess so. I can’t remember much about her, except she used to smile a lot and she had eyes like mine.” How the hell did he do that? I was a lot calmer. I couldn’t afford to be calm. I had to find a way to signal the other ships.
“And your father?”
“He’s dead, too. What does my family have to do with anything?” My voice rose, and surprise flickered in his eyes. “Why are you asking me when you can get inside my head and read my thoughts?”
“I can’t read your thoughts. I was just messing with you when I said that. Did you see your father’s body? Did you bury him?”
I wanted to hurt Storm and watch him bleed. My nails hadn’t done enough damage, and my bite mark might have broken his skin, but it was nothing compared to the pain I planned to bring down on his arrogant head. “I’m not answering any more of your questions.”
“Lexi—”
“Don’t you Lexi me,” I snapped, my voice shaking, fear and anger coursing through me. “You’ve kidnapped me, bitten me in some crazy ritual, which I refuse to be a part of, and claimed I was your mate. How can I be your mate when I don’t know you?” I fought tears, but I was determined not to cry in front of him. I looked up and blinked hard until I had control. When I looked at him, he wore an arrested expression as though I was some alien being he was trying to figure out.
How far were those ships? Could they see a white shirt if I waved it? Maybe I’d answer his stupid question, make him think I’d given up, and then do it.
“Yes, I buried my father. What does it matter?”
“I want to know why Tullius scented you and didn’t kill you like he did all the other women. Why I could only scent you when you were in the water and the second you were on land I couldn’t. Why he’d send four of his ships to intercept us when he knows he doesn’t stand a chance of defeating us. It has to do with who you are.”
“I’m a nobody. Just an ordinary girl. How about you let me go to his ship for answers you so desperately need? I’ll pass them on to your dragon, and we can go our separate ways.”
He chuckled. “I love your sense of humor. How old were you when your father died?”
“Twelve, and before you ask me any more stupid questions, I haven’t forgotten a damn thing about him. The way he laughed from his gut. The way his eyes crinkled whenever he saw me because he smiled with his eyes first. The way he smelled. I don’t have to close my eyes for the memories to pour in. He smoked, and the smell of tobacco clung to his clothes. I loved that scent because it came from him. Every time I caught a whiff of it, it meant he was home and not gone like my mother.”
Tears threatened to flow, and once again, I had to control them. Come hell or high water, I was never crying in this man’s presence or begging him to let me go again.
“You want to know about his laugh. It was big and hearty. His favorite food? Beef. Charbroiled. Dark on the outside and red on the inside. His drink of choice was beer, and he was a gifted artist. What else do you want to know? How he died? Car accident. He was on the road to the same lake my mother drowned in. There was nothing special about them just like there’s nothing special about me.”
Silence followed. Unreadable silver eyes studied me.
“Your mother drowned?” he asked.
I just poured out my heart to him, and he had the nerve to keep grilling me? I was done trying to placate him. He was a Neanderthal with a moral compass of a rabid dog.
“How far is Nassau from here? That’s one of the stops the cruise ship was going to make.”
He stood. “I don’t know.”
“How long was I asleep?”
“Six hours. Four before we reached the Veil and two since we reached our waters. We took a longer route to pick up a few things from the other islands.”
“The Veil?”
“The wall between my world and yours, beyond which Tuh’rens can feel us and see the effect of what we do, but they can’t see us.”
“A wall?”
“Of magic. You can’t see it or feel it, only its effect.”
“What are Tuh’rens?”
“Mainlanders. Land dwellers. You borrowed the word from us thousands of years ago and corrupted it to terrain. We are Muh’rens, sea people. Muh’rens and Tuh’rens cannot coexist without one destroying the other, so we created the Veil to keep you away, except when we Harvest.”
Someone rattled on the door, and Nerissa poked her head inside when Storm barked, “Enter.”
“It’s time, Cap’n. The crew is ready.”
Storm nodded, but he waited until the door closed before speaking. “I cannot take you back, Alexandria. Now that Tullius knows you are mine, he will not stop until he finds you. He’s taken enough from me, so this is where I draw the line. Don’t jump in the water again or try to escape, lass, because I will destroy anything and anyone who stands in my way of finding you.” Shock must have registered on my face because he added, “You think I’m bad for admitting I’d kill for you?”
He wasn’t bad. He was crazy.
In what universe was I his mate just because he declared it? Definitely not mine. There was only one problem. I was no longer in my world. I was in his, and the rules and the laws had changed.
“I think you people are crazy and barbaric.” Except his enemy, whose nose I’d broken. He had silver eyes just like Storm. “Who is Tullius?”
“The crowned prince of Hy’Brasil, our original home, and the man who was in your room last night. We’ve spent the last century fighting him and his sycophants.”
While I stared at him in confusion, he sighed and reached for a sword.
“I’ll explain everything when we get home. You’ll come to understand our world and our people, and how different everything is from what you know.” He didn’t bother with a shirt, boots, or a belt for the sword. Gripping the handle, he started for the door while unloosening the lacings on the sides of his pants. “Do you want me to compel you to go to sleep until this is over?”
“No,” I said calmly, but I knew what I had to do. Tullius was my ticket out of here.
“Then promise me you’ll stay inside my cabin and not jump into the sea again. I don’t want my crew mistaking you for an enemy. Because if anyone hurts you now, whether they are my people or Tullius’s, I’ll have to retaliate.”
“I’ll stay.” And I meant it. All I needed was one of his shirts to signal the crew from the other ships to come get me.
“Good choice. And, Lexi, you’re not an ordinary girl. You are special. You have no idea just how special you are. That’s why you are my mate, and that’s why he wants you.”
I didn’t want to hear that shit.
“He looks like you,” I added, and Storm glanced back, the silver in his eyes acquiring an eerie glow. Or maybe it was the reflection of the flickering yellow candlelight. God, I hoped Tullius wasn’t like Storm. He’d whined when I’d punched his nose. Storm would have laughed.
“I’m talking about Prince Tullius,” I explained.
“I know. Physically he and I look alike, but that’s where the resemblance ends. I’m a monster of my own creation, and I take responsibility for my actions. He was raised by one who convinced him nothing he does is his fault, and one day, I’ll stop him.”
CHAPTER 5
Storm left the cabin, and I raced to the door to peer outside. Shoeless and shirtless pirates stood on the deck, eyeing the other ships. Most only wore knee-length baggy pants, some loosened so they flapped in the breeze. Each carried a single weapon clenched between his or her teeth. I could only see part of the Yemaya fro
m my position. Its crew was shirtless, too.
When Storm joined them, he hopped onto the rim of the ship just like he’d stood on the rail of the balcony last night. He became an extension of the ship and the waves rolling underneath it. I bet his dragon friend was waiting below to catch him if he fell.
Storm raised his sword. “Let’s send a message to Tullius, lads. Crush them.”
“Crush them,” echoed the pirates, and they dove into the water.
My eyes met Nerissa’s. She and several other pirates stayed on the deck. At least they were still dressed. Annoyance flashed in her eyes.
“Storm should have compelled you to go to sleep. Stay inside and out of sight,” she ordered.
I closed the door and angled my head, listening for signs of fighting, but silence greeted me. I hurried to the other end of the room and flung aside the curtain.
The other four ships were closer and spread out to surround the pirate ships, but no one was fighting on board either. There were a few sailors left on their decks, though. I didn’t believe a word Storm had said about his nemesis Tullius. I’d rather take my chances with a prince than a pirate.
I grabbed one of Storm’s white shirts and waved it, hoping to attract the attention of someone on the other ships. A loud growl rippled through the air, and I looked down at the churning water. It seemed darker and angrier than before. They must be fighting under water. I studied the surface, expecting heads to pop out as they came up for air.
Nothing broke the surface. No dead bodies or decapitated heads. Pirate ships were supposed to have cannons, yet these didn’t. The other four ships could have easily sunk the pirates’ ships. They looked bigger and newer.
More groans and rumbling shook the ship. Then something loomed over one of the royal ships, rising taller than its mast, the body long and glistening. His mouth opened, and fire poured from its massive mouth and flooded the deck. The sailors abandoned ship and dived into the ocean.
Crap! One down. Three to go.
I pulled the curtains aside, opened a window and tied the white shirt on the latch. Someone was bound to see it. I sat and waited. Every few minutes, I checked outside. The water looked more turbulent, weird sounds coming from it.
Storm: Phantom Islanders Part I Page 7
