Storms of Paine (Pirate Romance Duology #2)

Chapter 1

Captain Alister Paine of the Howling Death steered his ship towards the closest port, Vinil City, knowing they needed to resupply.

The violent storm, the one that battered his ship and forced him to lie low for a few days until it passed, showed no sign of returning.

It was clear skies and calm ocean waves as far as the eye could see.

There was barely even a cloud to be found, providing a bright cerulean backdrop for his faded and worn sails.

They hadn’t long left the rocky crescent cape of Glutten Valley they’d used to protect themselves from the storm, and the strong winds were now pushing them steadily towards their destination

The port isn’t too far.

Maybe a two-day trip if they were lucky.

Their dwindling supplies weren’t even the worst of their problems, however. Even if they made it before they ran out of food, they were knowingly heading towards a port unsafe for pirates like themselves to dock at.

No one better try to arrest us. He was already in a foul mood. Getting into a fight with guards was surely going to send him into a fit of bloodthirsty rage.

He had no other option but to take them there, as they wouldn’t make it to any other port in time before they starved. Getting supplies without being noticed was their main goal; otherwise, there would be bloodshed as they stole in their haste to flee.

Currently, they were sailing past a relatively small island covered in tall palm trees laden with coconuts. It was mostly sandy, except for the very centre that had managed to sprout a bit of grass. Life always found a way, despite being hundreds of miles from any mainland.

He’d set sail not long before sunup, and in a few hours, the sun would be setting over the horizon.

Considering he’d only come to the realisation this morning that Rosetta Silver, captain of the Laughing Siren – who had been sailing next to his ship for the past three months – wasn’t going to meet them, he was still rightfully furious.

She’d stolen their supplies that were supposed to be shared. Bitch.

They had little food, little water, and barely any booze with which he could drink his anger away.

If I ever see her again, I might wring her pretty neck for this.

Then again, he probably should have seen this coming.

She was a liar. A cheat. A no-good, rotten little trickster who had deceived him time and time again.

The idea of having to go to land when he’d much rather not, and the knowledge that he wouldn’t have had to for at least another month if they didn’t raid another ship, was enough to make him feel spiteful. He hated making port, refused to unless absolutely necessary.

He also didn’t like the way it felt, like he’d been emotionally punched in the gut. No woman was allowed to make him feel this way.

I was supposed to be the one to toss her to the side, not the other way around!

Alister was intending to find himself a nice whore to help ease his frustration when he got to land. That should make him feel better and help him forget about her.

Still, it was because of Rosetta he’d gotten the map that led to his most recent spoils. He glowered, his upper lip twisting. Spoils he’d had to share with her.

If only she’d pissed off before we found it.

“You alright?” Pierre asked as he came up the quarterdeck stairs and walked to the helm. The distressed timber slats creaked under his weight. Alister didn’t like the expression cast in his direction from Pierre’s green eyes behind his tanned face.

It was the first time someone had really come to talk with him since he’d set sail.

With the waves of agitation rolling off him like they were something tangible, it was probably a wise move that everyone had left him alone until now.

The likelihood that he might have shot someone had been rather high.

He’d at least calmed down a little, after a few hours.

“Oh aye,” Alister answered, his nose crinkling tight. “Pissed off we have to make port, but that’s my fault.”

Pierre shook his head, his long blond hair tied back in a haphazard ponytail flicking from side to side behind him.

“That’s not what I meant.” He placed his hand on Alister’s shoulder like he needed some sort of comfort, giving it a small squeeze. “She disappeared without a word.”

He shrugged the hand away with a grunt. “Couldn’t give a damn about that. Woman can do what she wants. She just could have left our supplies.”

“You’re being rather gracious about this,” he commented, making Alister’s eyes narrow. “Thought you might have liked her.”

The snort of laughter that came from him was instant. “Nay lad. Liked what she could give me, but nothing more.”

The spark of passion between them had been addictive.

Alister had been blissfully drowning in it.

So, as much as he wanted to tell Pierre he could get sex like that elsewhere, not even he thought that was true, or believable.

He’d asked her to sail with him; it was hard to hide how much he’d obviously enjoyed nailing her.

Pierre wore a strange look before giving a laugh. “Maybe she ran off because she got worried she was in too deep.”

Hmm. Alister hadn’t thought about that. He cringed with disgust. Could Rosetta have been falling for me? She had tried to stop him when he went to walk away after their argument because she refused to come to his ship.

It was obvious she had been as addicted to the sex as he was, considering the way she’d been the last time they’d been intimate – right before that destructive storm.

Just thinking about it got his body hot and his blood pumping, despite also making him grip the handles of the helm tighter in spite.

“Nay, I don’t think so,” he eventually said.

She’s too smart for that.

She wouldn’t let her feelings get caught up for someone like him after what she’d been through, and Alister knew that.

“Sail ho!” someone yelled from above.

Their heads turned towards the open water to see nothing on the horizon. To his right was the beach; there was no point in looking that way.

“Where, lad?”

In which direction did Alister need to point his ship? Currently, he didn’t know what the hell they were talking about. Is it a ship we can raid? That would be ideal.

Maybe I won’t have to port!

Now that almost brought a smile to his sour face.

“Cap’n,” Derek yelled from below, pointing towards the shore. His wooden peg leg made quick tapping sounds as he ran to the railing, his long, shabby brown beard swaying over his shoulder as he ran.

When all Alister could see was trees, it took him a moment to spot the tips of sails on the other side. A beached ship?

Nay, not a beached ship. He could see it as he started rounding the island; it was just so close to the shore it appeared that way, hidden amongst the trees.

It was definitely banked, though.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Alister chuckled, his eye crinkling with humour.

Perhaps I’ll get to ring her neck after all.

As he continued to pass the island, he could see the back end of the Laughing Siren coming into view. He’d know that swirling trim and bow patterns anywhere.

“Ha!” Pierre laughed raucously. “Looks like we’ll have our supplies after all. Raid and bail like usual?”

“Oh, aye,” Alister agreed, steering the Howling Death in that direction, his muscles bulging from the slight strain. The helm wheel made clunking noises as it quickly turned. “I’m not sticking around.”

He wondered how Rosetta would feel when he climbed aboard her ship before she could pull anchor and run. He wondered what stricken face she’d give him when she realised her plan had failed, how pale she’d turn when she saw his cruel grin and lack of mercy.

That was until…

“Wait,” Pierre nearly gasped. “Look at it.”

Alister’s lips thinned, causing his short stubble to poke his lips. The Laughing Siren was damaged and missing half its mainsail.

There were rowboats on the shore behind it, lying across the pale-yellow sand. Men were already running towards them. He figured they were intending to come back to the Laughing Siren to stop them.

“Why do you reckon she banked?” Pierre asked, as though Alister would have any idea what went through her thick head. “She could have continued to use the front and back sails to reach us after the storm died if it was due to damage.”

“Who knows? She could have come to us for aid but didn’t.” Alister shrugged and shook his head, causing his long black hair to wave around his shoulders. “She should have known she wouldn’t be able to sail away from a shore once she hit sand.”

She chose not to meet us. They were half a day’s trip from where they’d organised to meet, maybe more with her damaged ship.

Perhaps, if they’d needed to go weeks to reach each other, it would have made more sense to stop, but they could have made it if they’d wanted to. She just simply chose not to.

Still, he found it peculiar.

Steering closer, Alister was able to drop anchor beside the Laughing Siren to keep them in position. His frigate warship was shallower than her deep galleon, allowing him close without becoming banked next to her. A quick escape was guaranteed.

He didn’t know what he was expecting.

Cannons to fire at him? The menacing faces of her crew when he tried to swing across to it while his men threw grappling hooks to climb up the taller hull? Yells and shouts?

He got none of those responses.

It looks abandoned.

The ship was dead quiet, not a man to be seen on the surface.

The only sounds were the creaking of rigging, the sails that remained flapping in the wind, and the clomping of their heavy footfalls as they made their way onto it.

Even the light jingle of their weapon belts sounded deafening in the silence that greeted them.

“Are they all on shore?” Pierre asked, seeming just as dumbfounded as him. He turned his frown on Alister, his brows and lips twisting. “That’s idiotic.”

Just as he was walking to the railing to see how close those rowboats were to meeting them, men started climbing over it.