Chapter 13 #2
She didn’t pay him any notice. She just removed her sword and turned back to the rest of the ship to assist others. Alister couldn’t ignore the fact that she’d watched his back – twice now. I was saved by a bloody woman!
Once the men around him were dead, the only ones left to fight were stragglers. They were disposed of quickly, considering they were well and truly outnumbered. None on board could be trusted to join Alister’s crew; they’d slit his men’s throats in their sleep.
When every last hunter was dead, Alister quickly swung over to his ship once it turned back around to pick them up. The pirate hunting ship was both on fire and sinking to the bottom of the ocean. There was no point in staying on it unless they wanted to join its ugly fate.
They had been victorious, but they had lost quite a few good men. He knew the hull of his ship had suffered massive amounts of damage, and he wasn’t sure if he had the supplies to repair it properly.
It was littered with caved-in sections from impact and occasional holes from where cannonballs had hit the same area twice.
“All those not hurt, start working on repairing the holes closest to the water,” he said as he stood on the prow of the main deck. “Make sure the ship is safe to sail before going higher.”
He knew they must be taking in water.
He wiped away the blood he could feel trickling down the side of his face; he was covered in it. They would need to use some of the seawater seeping in so they could bathe.
All he knew was that he still held a lump of anger in his chest. It was nestled deep, but he couldn’t help crinkling his nose and baring his teeth as his gaze searched those of his crew staring at him.
They’d gained nothing from today. No loot. No supplies. No crewmembers. This fight had been nothing but survival.
Bloody pirate hunters. They were the last thing Alister wanted to see on the horizon.
If it weren’t for the fact that everyone was mostly silent, he wouldn’t have heard someone speak up quietly from the back.
“Are you okay, Rosetta?” Naeem asked, grabbing her arm to check her.
“Sure am.” She laughed quietly, pulling from him. “You owe me for saving your life, yet again.”
The only reason Alister had seen this interaction was because he’d started stomping his way through the crowd that parted for him. They wouldn’t dare get in his way.
“But you’re hurt.”
“It’s okay.” She brushed her tunic down to hide a cut. “I’ll fix it la–”
Before she could finish, Alister grabbed her wrist and started pulling her through the crowd.
“Hey!” She yanked on her arm, bashing her fist against his hold. “Let me go, you manhandling bastard.”
He didn’t care if he was making a scene. His men all turned their gazes away to go back to their duties. They knew he was furious. He had every right to be.
Dragging her up the stairs of the quarterdeck, he opened the door to his cabin and threw her inside.
“What’s the meaning of this?” she asked, stumbling forward before she quickly righted her footing. She spun around to him just as he slammed the door shut.
“I told you to get below deck!”
“No!” she yelled back. “I will not sit on your ship like some fragile, scared, helpless woman!”
He stalked towards her, pointing an index finger at her. His eyes were so narrowed, his eyelashes impaired his vision in his good eye, and his teeth gnashed together so tightly, he feared he’d shatter them.
“You gave me your word that you would do as you’re told!”
Her eyes widened as she backed up. She threw her hands forward beseechingly, but she didn’t seem afraid. She looked cautious, like she was ready to defend herself.
Alister didn’t like that look. It was defiant, insubordinate, and downright rebellious. He wanted her afraid. Some of his own men were more afraid of him than this silly woman.
“I saved your life!” she yelled, making him halt for a moment. “If it wasn’t for me, you’d be dead!” I bloody know! “When I noticed you couldn’t see, that’s when I swung across.”
He stepped forward once more. “So, you were still above deck when we had enemies swinging over?”
Her lips pursed together, but she stood her ground. She even had the audacity to fold her arms across her chest and turn her head to the side dismissively.
“I didn’t have to save you,” she said with a bored tone, refusing to turn her face to him when he was right in front of her. She was treating him like he was insignificant, like this conversation was pointless. “It would have been better for me if you’d died.”
“What’s that supposed to fucking mean?”
“I could have gotten your ship and your crew for free!” She stomped her foot like a child having a tantrum, and even her cheeks puffed out. “I would have been the new captain. You would have been out of the picture without me having to do a thing, and they couldn’t blame me for it!”
Alister’s jaw dropped slightly. She’s right.
It would have been beneficial for her if she’d let him die.
That did nothing to settle his anger, though.
No, it worsened as she dropped her arms so she could push at his chest, her hands slipping over him due to the sticky crimson liquid covering him.
A wet, metallic smell tangled in his nose.
“I would have if I’d known you were going to yell at me for it!” She shoved him again. “I don’t need this shit from you.”
Alister needed to rein in his fury before he did something careless and stupid. Despite it, his heart was pumping blood violently through his body, in places where it shouldn’t.
He didn’t know what was coming over him. Perhaps it was because he’d never had a woman around right after he’d fought, but his anger was shifting into something else entirely.
She was injured, covered in blood, and he couldn’t help but find her so sexy because of it. She looked wild, fierce. Rosetta looked like a murderer, and he felt his stomach clench in want.
His body was thrumming with aggression.
The need to release the pent-up desire inside him had only grown. The way she looked with crimson liquid clumping in her hair, splattered across her face, reddening the white of her tunic, did strange things to him.
He nearly wanted to groan when he noticed her sodden top was so damp, it stuck to her skin, moulding around her breasts and clinging to them. It highlighted her nipples to the point that he could perfectly see their shape.
He grabbed her face and forced her head up, making sure she couldn’t face away from him.
“You’re a distraction,” he bit, letting his eye flicker between both of hers. “You may have saved my life, but you almost got me killed. I was surrounded because of you!”
She pushed against his chest in an attempt to get him away. “Then keep your eye on your enemy instead of being an idiot!”
“You will do as you’re told, Rosetta!”
“Go to hell!” She landed a particularly hard blow to his shin. “I won’t let you push me down the ranks and make me a useless woman!”
It was because she was a woman that he was concerned! It didn’t escape his notice that she’d never faced anyone head-on. She’d only assisted in fighting, and he could only imagine what would have happened if she’d been cornered.
It was because she was a woman that they were in this position, one where he was shouting when he’d much rather do something else, like kiss her.
When kicking him obviously wasn’t working, she screamed in his face, “Fuck you, Alister!”
Everything boiled over at once. Gladly.
Alister shoved her so hard against the wall, the wind knocked out of her, and she let out a tight gasp. He crushed her lips beneath his, needing to kiss her, needing to smudge the blood of different men across each other’s faces.
He lifted her leg and thrust his already hardened shaft against her.
For five days, he’d wanted this woman, who had teased him, kissed him, given him nothing but an ache rather than release. It felt like she was trying to make him desperate for it. Was it another trick? A way to control him?
He should be furious. He should be threatening her with his nine-tail whip for disobeying him, like he would have with any other crewmember. Instead, all he wanted was to punish her with his cock.
Her lips were moving underneath his, despite her slapping at his shoulders, making him grab her wrists with his hand to pin them above her head.
He thrust against her again, right against the centre of her body, her leg still held around his hip, spreading her.
She gave a sharp exhale; he let out a small groan.
She bloody wants it. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t be reciprocating, wouldn’t be kissing him back, wouldn’t be bucking her hips against him like she was seeking his dick. She was confusing him, and he had no idea how to handle the whiplash of emotions.
One minute, he was close to being inside her, the next, she was leaving him with a painful erection. One minute she was sitting on his lap with her tongue halfway down his throat, the next she was trying to get away.
She instigated it almost as much as he did, yet she was always the one to pull away. She was fucking with him. Alister didn’t appreciate being fucked with. He pulled on the ties of her tights and shoved his hand inside the tight space.
“Wait!” she gasped, managing to get her mouth free before he controlled her back into the kiss. She gave a mewl when he shoved his hand between her thighs further and touched her.
I want inside her. His want for it grew when two of his fingers rubbed over her entrance and found a little wet pool waiting for him.
“Nuh-uh,” she murmured against his crushing mouth, making it hard to understand her.
Then she kneed his side.
His anger spiked higher, and he quickly shoved both his hands to her arse to lift her before slamming her back against the wall. She couldn’t kick him if she was pinned, her legs spread for him in the air. She needed to hold onto him if she didn’t want to risk falling.
“You have been teasing me, lass,” Alister sneered. “I told you I don’t play games.” He kissed down her neck, shoving himself against her again, just so her body would stroke his. Anything to make himself feel better.
“S-stop,” she muttered quietly, but her voice broke on a moan when he slipped his hips over hers, right against that sensitive nub of her clit.
When he heard her moan, he made sure to press harder.
“You don’t do what you’re told. You won’t go where I tell you to. You come into my cabin and kiss me – only to deny me moments later.”
She was turning him into a tangled mess, and he didn’t like it. She almost got me killed! She also saved him. What was he supposed to do with the hate-filled lust that was clinging to him? Especially when he could feel her legs tightening around his waist.
I’m going to fuck her. He wanted to take all his anger and frustration out on her. He wanted to feel that wetness around his shaft again. Hell, Alister just wanted to hear her moan. He was going to take all of today’s anger, bloodlust, and frustration out on her.
He bit her neck simply because he wanted to hurt her, bruise her, just as she had with his ego. Thrusting against her again, his gaze narrowed at the wall.
Why does punishing her sound like a stupendous idea?
He started pulling at her tights, putting her in a position that had her knees buckling in as the fabric slipped over her arse. The only thing supporting her was one of his hands and her arms around his neck.
“Please,” she said quietly, her head falling forward to rest against his shoulder. “Stop...”
It sounded like bloody defeat. There was a shaky kind of tone to her voice, one Alister hadn’t heard from her before, one he thought he would never hear. His hand stopped.
What the hell am I doing?
Just because she wanted him – he could feel she did – and was clinging to him, didn’t necessarily mean she was willing.
Shit. She had him so messed up he’d almost thrown his morals out the window. She asked me to stop three times.
He’d almost taken someone when he shouldn’t. Alister had been moments away from slamming into her.
He felt like a monster.
Dropping her legs and setting her down, he shoved her tights back up to right her and hide her body from his sight. She gasped as she bounced on her feet from how harshly he yanked them up. He threw her to the side and watched her stumble in his peripheral.
“Get out,” he said with a dark quietness, keeping his focus on the wall in front of him. Leaning against it with both hands, he tried to take back control, tried to right his mind. Shit. I need to calm down.
“You...”
“I said get out!” He felt like a fucking bastard. “I’m pissed off and I’m not thinking straight.”
He didn’t understand why she was still here, talking to him, when he’d been touching her without her consent. He had been undressing her, thrusting up against her like a crazed madman. Most other women would have run out crying.
She came over to tentatively touch his shoulder. “What about your back? You’ve been hurt.”
Did she understand that he immediately regretted what he’d been doing and was trying to soothe him?
I don’t need her pity! It was her fault for taunting him into this state to begin with!
He reached out and grabbed her neck in his hand. Turning, he faced her. He expected her to be afraid, but instead she looked up at him with a steely glare.
“You want me to treat you like a man? The next time you don’t do as you’re told under the command of my ship, I’ll put the nine-tails to you like anyone else. Got it?”
He couldn’t use his cock to punish her just because he was horny for her. He needed to treat her like everyone else if she wouldn’t take him.
She rolled her eyes at him. “Fine, I’ll go. Take care of your own wounds for all I care.”
Good. He let her go, pushing her away. “Go be annoying elsewhere.”
She immediately turned from his cabin and left him by himself so he could vanquish his anger, lust, and regret in solitude.
With her gone, his mind didn’t feel so muddled.