5. Hali
CHAPTER 5
Hali
K ai acts gruff with me. His hold on my arm is firm as he leads me away from the Captain’s quarters. His movements are sharp. I feel forced, tripping over my feet as we move. He doesn’t speak once to me, and for a second, it almost feels like one of the Captain’s men is guiding me further into the belly of this ship. It’s easy to pretend that it is.
I look down, hyper-aware of the many bodies we’re squeezing past. The ship is large, but the corridors are narrow, and there are countless rooms and stations. The stench of rot is heavy in some pockets of the ship. Musk and men—so many of them—and aged wood. The only pleasant part about it is the scent of the sea hangs over us thickly, and I can endure the other smells if it means I can smell my home.
I yearn for my shift. To be at peace in the sea. Other sirens hunger for the hunt. To bring down the sinful ships that trek our ocean home. I understand it. I’m here for the same purpose. I hunger for it, too, but I don’t think that’s all there is to life.
I have a different purpose now. After my revenge, I want freedom in the form of starry skies and sandy beaches. I’m so close, I can taste it.
And yet after my personal encounter with the Captain, I’m scrambled. I’ll be spending a while processing it.
“Aye, what compartment are you putting this one in?” a sailor asks, stopping us in our tracks. I glance up briefly. The man is unkempt, his shirt half tucked in soiled looking trousers. I can smell the alcohol on his breath and fight back the bile climbing up my throat.
“What’s it to you?” Kai retorts, his tone cold.
“I wanna visit this one. Been the talk of the ship. What whore compartment is she going to be in, sailor? You can’t have her for yourself.”
“She’s to be untouched and in her own cell,” Kai says simply. “Captain’s orders.”
“She can have her own cell, then, and Cap can have her tomorrow, but right now,” —a hand gropes at my bottom, and I let out a startled gasp as the man’s breaths blow closer in my face— “we’d like to have a spin before he gets to have his fun. What do you say, poppet?”
The man’s hand instantly leaves me. I hear a sickening crack before I see what’s going on. It happens so fast, I’ve barely blinked. Kai let go of me and is holding the man against the wall of the corridor. There’s a loud bang, and the man lets out a yelp, his hand moving to the back of his head.
Kai’s tone is deadly quiet as he holds the man in place, but the warning is there. “Captain would have your head—as would I—if you so much as touch a hair on her head. An order is a fucking order.”
Letting go of the man, Kai stalks back to me and grabs my arm painfully, shoving me forward.
I let out a cry as he snaps, “Silence, whore. And move.”
My feet move quickly. I feel the eyes of the men we pass drag along my skin like slimy tentacles, and I realize the precarious situation we’re in.
I’m presumed to be a whore, surrounded by violent, drunk men. It dawns on me that in this moment, I may be safer in the Captain’s company.
Kai’s body looms over me as we walk. He’s so big—bigger than most of the men aboard. As we pass, they look at me with lustful eyes, but they give a wide berth to him, painfully aware that he could squash them like a bug should he want to.
His aura is menacing, and if I didn’t know him like the back of my hand, I might even be second-guessing his intent as he leads me sharply to another section of the ship.
It’s quieter here. The compartments are filled with prisoners who aren’t free roaming like others.
They’re captives. The prized women that were taken against their will to serve a purpose. But even from here, I can hear them beg not for food, but for gala green.
When we approach my room, I realize that we’ve made it all the way to the very end room of this section of the ship. Kai roughly places me behind him as he undoes the lock on the door. When he opens it, he grabs me and shoves me in so hard I let out a sharp yell.
His face is dark when he growls unnecessarily loud, “What did you just say to me, whore? You think because you’ve dined with the Captain that you’re somehow above us?”
What the hell is his problem?
I glare back at him, confused, but he gives me a look that I interpret as ‘play along’. Shrieking, I say, “No! I swear it?—”
“And now you’re spitting vile words at me? Why, I oughtta fucking cuff you to your bed.”
He comes barreling into the cramped room, his face full of darkness as he slams the door shut behind him. I’m supposed to play along, but he’s so convincing in his venom, I back up, my heart in my throat as a swirl of wary thoughts invade me. For a moment, I wonder if I’ve misunderstood.
But this is Kai.
My Kai.
He’d never hurt me.
Charging toward me like a tsunami, I don’t have time to form a response or even attempt to raise my hands to protect myself from his rapid advances before his mouth slams against mine.
His kiss is so intense, my head spins as his large hands wrap around my thighs in a squeezing, possessive way. Lifting me, my back slams against the wall, and a sharp pain runs down my spine. The desire I feel overwhelms the pain, as Kai works my mouth like a fucking god, his tongue lapping against my own.
When he pulls away, my breaths are hard and fast. I look at him needily, but I attempt to glare. “You almost had me,” I whisper-hiss at him.
“Good.” He bites at my bottom lip, and I quiver.
“Not good,” I retort through a half-moan. “You were so rough with me, Kai.”
“Yeah.”
“And mean.”
His green eyes meet mine now, and the edge is still present in his gaze. “I have to be. You’re a whore on this ship, Hali. To these sick drunks, you’re to be the Captain’s personal slave.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“You’ve been playing your role well, too, haven’t you?” he prods just then. “I saw the way the Captain looked at you. He was mesmerized.”
“You knew that already.”
“It still bothers me greatly.”
I can hear the barely contained anger in his voice. He doesn’t like that the Captain had eyes just for me. Maybe he was hoping I’d come onboard without capturing his attention, despite it being our plan. It’s personal.
I wrap my arms around him and press my lips against his, hoping to bring his focus back to me. To us . He instantly returns the kiss, his muscled body pressing further into me. His scent clouds around me, reminding me of the deep ocean water.
Kai is menacing when he wants to be, but I bring him to his knees. He yields to me, his rage contained, gentling at my touch. I love that about him. How fiercely devoted he is. From the moment we met all those years ago when he noticed me alone in that tavern, he was obsessed with me. I was running from my past, the anguish still present to this very day, and he was determined to get me to face it.
And now I am.
I feel his hardness press against me, and I let out a soft moan. My fingers dig into his shoulders.
“Kai,” I whisper, barely aware of anything beyond his touch.
He eases back from my lips, exploring my body with his hands. My eyes are shut tight, but I feel his gaze on me. As he tugs my dress up, I quake when his fingers brush along my core.
“Wet already, Hali?” he murmurs, licking at my bottom lip. “Or were you already dripping for him ?”
My eyes flash open. Glaring at him, though, I feel my cheeks grow hot.
Was I affected by the Captain? Yes, maybe I was.
I hesitate for a beat of a second—the truth stunning me. The delay of my denial has Kai gripping me even tighter.
He kisses me again, but it’s bruising this time. He is barely holding onto his rage as he growls, “Answer me, Hals.”
But I don’t. I can’t . I don’t even understand what I’m feeling, myself.
Captain Erickson was supposed to be grotesque. Revolting.
That’s what I’m supposed to feel about him. Nothing but disgust.
Yet, there’s such an edge to him I’ve never encountered in a man before, not even Kai.
The Captain is ruthless, but not in an off-putting way. He’s the type of villain you want to dig beneath the layers of simply because their darkness intrigues you.
What makes him the way he is? Has he always been a horribly cruel man? And why hasn’t he directed that cruelty to me? He didn’t have to let me go to my room. He could have easily held me captive in his quarters. Does it even matter?
I feel self-loathing at these thoughts. I’m betraying not only Kai, but myself and our mission.
“I want you,” I fervently tell Kai, this time nothing hard in my voice. “Just you, Kai. Right here, right now, I’m not his prisoner or a whore on this doomed ship. I’m yours .”
“Then make me believe it,” he retorts, and I can hear his desperation. He is coming apart at the seams. We may be away from Captain Erickson, but he still dominates this space and our thoughts.
“Take me,” I urge. “Let me show you it’s only you I want.”
I barely finish speaking when Kai acts on those words. We’re a quick mess of harsh kisses. He pulls down his trousers, and I pull down the front of my dress, exposing my breasts to him. He groans low in his throat and thrusts into me, his mouth locked around my nipple. Shutting my eyes, my head hangs back as he fucks me fast and hard.
“Hali,” he whispers harshly, demanding for my mouth again.
I open my eyes and accept his kiss, but it’s all tongue and fierce desire. Sucking at it, I feel his cock grow harder inside me. The strings of his tunic are loose, and as he fucks me, I can see his muscled torso strain with the quickness of his movements.
It takes everything to be quiet. I want to cry out. I want to moan and scream his name. Instead, I bury my nails into his shoulders and bite at his skin, sinking my teeth into his shoulder to drown out my sounds.
I explode around him quickly. The orgasm is so sudden, I quake, gushing around his length as he follows after me. His cock stills, pulsating as he comes.
Burying his mouth into my hair, he muffles a long groan.
Not giving me time to come down from my high, he immediately withdraws from me, setting me down on wobbly feet. He’s sweet enough to tidy my hair, but there’s a tormented look in his eyes as he peers down at me.
“It’s okay,” I assure him, heart still beating strong in my chest. “You can go.”
“Hali, we can just leave,” he says, his voice breaking as the words rush out of him. “I can bring down one of the little boats and we can be out of here?—”
I cover his mouth with my hand, silencing him. Staring into his eyes, conviction is strong in my voice when I say, “In two days' time, we’ll be off this bastard ship and Captain Erickson will be dead. He’ll be paying for his sins against our kind in the afterlife, and we’ll be free, Kai.”
He nods, and I see his fight return to him. He looks more centered now, though there’s still a hint of conflict in him as he looks at me one last time.
Kai is hesitant to go—he doesn’t want to. He knows what it means. That I’ll be in this room, my purpose strictly determined by Erickson.
A nearby bang sounds, coming from down the corridor. My eyes widen, and Kai’s face returns to the cool look from before. He doesn’t say a word.
Our time is over.
He leaves immediately, slamming the door shut behind him, and I’m trapped. Alone again.
A captive.
The Captain’s captive.
I ignore the strange current I feel at the thought of him.
Erickson’s going to call for me. Maybe sometime later in the night. Maybe in the morning. And I’ll have to dazzle him. Put on the show and play the part.
I’ll mesmerize him right before I watch him drown in his own blood.