Chapter 38 – Serena
The sand was warm and cozy, even though the sun set hours ago. I stretched out, tired from my run. The horizon was bare, no pirate ship bearing down on the shore.
He should be here.
I’d been searching and searching.
The castle loomed behind me, voices beckoning me in terrible whispers. They told me that was where I belonged. My voice was hoarse from screaming at them.
The sea stole my heart.
I was his princess, and I belonged in the sea.
Sweeping a glance over the water, a sob cracked in my chest. The mermaid tail he joked I had was gone. I was caged to land again. My brothers, the King and Lord of the Empire, wanted me to stay.
To be safe.
Only my sister-in-law, the Queen of the Underworld, wanted me to be happy. She understood. She tricked the old king once, but it was only a matter of time before he discovered her treachery.
I had to find him. The old god of the sea was the one who protected me. Who cared for me.
Who loves me.
And I loved him.
I opened my mouth to scream for him, but before the noise cracked across the sky, a ship appeared. Three masts held sails. The wind whipped hard, driving my pirate straight to me. The king took me away, but I never doubted my pirate would find me.
Pirate!
“I’m here, princess.”
And there he was, forged by the sea and terribly beautiful. He moved across the water, walking over the waves. I couldn’t do that, not even in this strange world of castles and missing mermaid tails.
Dropping down beside me, my pirate smiled.
I lost no time reaching for his chest, sliding my hands over the ink and scars. The patches of scales shimmered in the light of the full moon that was suddenly in the sky.
I missed you.
The voice of an animal rumbled above me. “I missed you too, little one.”
His mouth covered mine in a fierce kiss. The fire of our passion stoked bright. In a tangle of arms and limbs, our bodies merged. I moaned as he stretched and filled me. His mouth found my throat, fangs raking against my pulse. I lifted my hips, urging the monster to take me deeper.
The pirate thrust into me, his pace becoming wild and ravenous.
I gasped.
Something raw and powerful was breaking free inside me with each thrust, something that had been caged not just by the castle walls, but by my own fears.
My nails dug into his back, scoring his skin as I clung to him, desperate to anchor myself to this moment, to him.
Beneath my touch, I felt the transition between man and myth beneath my fingertips.
The voices from the castle grew louder, more insistent, but they couldn’t reach me here in his arms. Nothing could.
“You’re mine,” he growled against my ear, his voice like the crash of waves against cliffs.
I’m yours. Forever yours, pirate.
The sea responded to our passion, waves climbing higher up the shore, reaching for us, caressing my toes and ankles as if welcoming me back to where I belonged. My skin began to shimmer, tiny scales appearing along my thighs where they wrapped around his waist.
“The sea wants you back, princess,” he murmured, his pace slowing, becoming deliberate, torturous. “Your brother can’t keep what belongs to me.”
Take me away! Please. A wild sob broke in my chest.
“Hush, my beauty. Just enjoy this. Tomorrow or the next day, I’ll bring you home.”
I nodded, burying my face against the crook of his shoulder. My insides clenched tight, the pleasure tightening in my core.
“That’s it. Take all of me.”
I did.
And when I came apart, the magic of his touch shattered something inside me.
My scream echoed across the beach, up the cliffs, to the castle that tried to claim me.
His movements became erratic, desperate—consuming!
His body tensed as he growled my name into the night.
His scales glinted in the moonlight, catching silver as they spread further across his skin with each thrust. The transformation always came with his passion—the more feral he became, the more the old sea god emerged from within the pirate facade.
And when he found his own release, the sea itself seemed to respond—water rushing up to our hips, foam kissing our joined bodies.
The moment was pure ecstasy.
Our hard breathing fueled the wind, chasing away the encroaching storms.
The pirate held me close. We lay tangled together, the tide lapping at our bodies. My pirate traced patterns on my skin, connecting invisible constellations of freckles with his fingertips.
“They took you,” he said, his voice a low rumble against my ear.
I nodded, watching the moon’s reflection ripple across the water. The castle guards would notice my absence soon enough. My brother would be furious.
I sent for them to fight. They didn’t help me.
“Sshhh, hush, love. It’s almost over.”
Okay. I snuggled into his warmth.
“Your voice,” my pirate said, brushing hair from my face. “It’s still locked away.”
I touched my throat. In this place of magic and enchantments, I fought for the future I wanted. This pirate was my dream come true.
I will find you.
“Sweet princess, I’ve already found you.” His hard touch pierced the veil of slumber and reassured me of his presence.
Safe in the shelter of his body, I snuggled into the impossibly soft warmth.
They tried to make me forget you. They are trying to break the bonds of man.
A dangerous smile spread across his face, sharp teeth gleaming. “And what did you tell them, princess?”
That they don’t understand what lives in the deep. That what we have can’t be torn asunder.
“It can’t.” He cradled me close, and we drifted on the sea of mystery as the moon continued her trek across the heavens.
***
I woke late in the morning, groggy and stiff.
Groaning, I burrowed into the pillows. Those sleeping pills my brother’s late wife had were dangerous.
I nabbed them once, hording them to escape reality.
It had been years since I needed one. But with all of Sandro’s bullshit the past few days, I couldn’t sleep.
It wasn’t just his crap, though. Whatever virus I contracted was strange.
I was sick all hours of the day. Food disgusted me.
It was obvious my immune system was weakened from stress.
That was why I finally gave in to the drugs.
One good nap, and I already felt refreshed this morning.
So far, my stomach was settled. Maybe I could manage a piece of dry toast.
I moved, just to be sure, and when no bout of nausea pulsed in my gut, I sighed with relief.
The flashes of my dreams played through my mind. I focused on them, trying to recall every detail. Journaling wasn’t a habit of mine like it was with my sister-in-law. But I was going to write down what remained of the sea, the enchanted beach, and, best of all, my pirate.
Madonna mia, I miss him.
I touched my throat, momentarily worried my voice was gone. “Markos,” I whispered his name into the shelter of my pillow.
There was no response. My voice worked. It was day, and I was in freaking Chicago.
With another groan, I pushed up and padded to the bathroom. Two steps, and I stopped. My sleeper bottoms were missing. The strap of my camisole was broken.
“What the hell?” I muttered.
I must have thrashed in the tangled web of dreams. It was the only explanation. And the wetness? How embarrassing. I was so damn turned on by the dream pirate that my thighs wore the evidence of my arousal.
Taking a moment to clean myself with toilet tissue, my frown deepened. There was more on my legs and between my thighs than was normal. I had only been this messy when Markos took me.
It was almost as if he had been here.
Even realizing the ridiculousness of that statement, my heart skipped a beat. Stranger things had happened. Markos was a criminal, and a crafty, sly one at that. If anyone could slip past my brother’s guards, it would be a pirate king.
Rushing back to my bedroom, I looked wildly about.
“Give me a sign,” I breathed.
There was no evidence of a break-in. My window was locked. There was no note, no gift to tell me a dark force had stalked me in the dead of night.
“Stupid sleeping pills!” I fisted my hands at my side. I was so out of it, there was no knowing if I’d been alone and dreaming or if the impossible had happened.
In a desperate last effort, I rushed to my bed.
Reaching for the pillows, I inhaled deeply.
If the scent of cedar mixed with salt and sea lingered, it was likely a trick of the imagination.
Because if I closed my eyes, my mind remembered the sound of the sea so strongly, that I swore it was right beyond my curtains.
“It was just a dream,” I sighed. The ache in my chest pulsed in resignation.
But the determination in my mind rallied.
I was going to wear Sandro down. He came rushing down to Florida to rescue me, when all I needed was his armies to do battle on my behalf.
Now, his prisoner, I wouldn’t stop until he released me to the man who’d claimed my heart, body, and soul—and whose I stole in return.