Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Kieran
“Wait,” I shout, my voice scratchy and weak as I stare at the wooden door swinging on the hinges.
She’s already gone.
Out there. Where the Sea Wraiths are hunting.
I have to go help her.
There are folded brown shorts on the bedside table and I grab them, pulling them on even though every movement aches and burns. They’re too tight and too short, but I yank them up anyway and stumble to the door.
I make it two steps before I fall against the wall, letting out an involuntary scream as my shoulder smashes into the old planks of wood.
Hurry, my wolf snarls from inside. He’s been snarling since our mate left—a continuous, frantic sound in the back of my skull, all instinct and fury and desperate, clawing need. He wants out. He wants to shift and tear through that door and put himself between our mate and whatever is out there.
He can’t get out now. Not yet and not here. The wounds haven't closed enough. A shift right now would rip everything back open and possibly finish what Lucan started.
Not only that, but he’s too damn big for this ship. He’d probably end up in the water during a battle.
It’s gotta be me.
Then move, he roars. Save her!
I grit my teeth and go.
Each step is pure agony. My side burns where the spear went through. My back pulls tight across the knife wounds with every breath. My shoulder sends white-hot fire down my arm with the slightest move.
I don’t let any of it stop me. I go anyway.
I grab the door frame on the way through and use it to pull myself forward, out into the narrow corridor, toward the stairs, toward the horrifying screeching sounds.
I nearly pass out three times, but I fight through the pain and pull myself onto the deck.
It’s chaos.
At least a dozen Sea Wraiths are circling over the boat in the night sky—half creature, half shadow, all deadly. Each one is the size of a large man, swooping from above onto the crew who are all battling for their lives.
I scan the ship, looking for her.
My Calista.
There, my wolf snarls when we see her on the bow of the ship swinging that long emerald sword at the dropping monsters.
I take a step toward her and a Sea Wraith drops without warning.
It comes right at me, swooping down in a cloud of black shadow like ink spreading through water. I lean back with a wince, barely missing its sharp claws.
It’s close enough to see its horrible face.
It looks human. Almost. Maybe it used to be human with that rotting skin hanging loose, eyes like holes burned through parchment, a mouth with no lips and an extra row of sharp, crooked, jagged teeth.
Its body is cloaked in dark wispying shadows, but I see its hand—long gray bony fingers reaching out to grab me.
I know from the old stories that Sea Wraiths are trapped between worlds.
They’re the souls of evil drowned pirates that were denied entry into Ulissa.
They’re neither living nor dead, but deadly just the same.
They wrap their ice-cold fingers around you, sucking the warmth out of your chest as they drag you off your boat and drown you in the cold, dark water.
Another woman with long blonde hair like my Calista—only hers is tied into pigtails—comes rushing over with an arrow in her bow. The sharp arrowhead is made of a glowing green emerald.
“You shouldn’t be out here,” she says, aiming the cocked arrow at the Sea Wraith. It hisses at her and quickly flies away.
“Where’s Calista?”
“The Captain can take care of herself,” she shouts. “Get back inside.”
She releases the arrow at a diving Sea Wraith and it hits it right in the shadowy chest. It instantly vanishes with a scream.
“Go!” she shouts when she sees me still standing here.
I grab my aching ribs and grunt in pain. “I’m not leaving her.”
She rolls her eyes and pulls out a small emerald dagger from her belt. “Don’t get yourself killed,” she says, shoving it into my hand.
I look at the beautiful green blade and the intricate carvings on the handle, and when I look back up, she’s gone.
My frantic eyes scan the ship, searching for my mate.
It’s a chaotic battle with dozens of Sea Wraiths hunting from above. I spot a large guy—probably the biggest of the whole crew—cowering beside wooden crates, sobbing as he covers his ears.
The rest of them are fighting bravely with emerald weapons.
A thin young man is thrusting an emerald-tipped spear at a Sea Wraith who keeps diving at his head.
Valther, the muscular man who appeared in the doorway with two emerald daggers, is swinging them viciously, cutting through any Sea Wraith that comes close.
He hollers out a battle cry as he sprints into the cluster of them on the bow.
The girl with the bow and arrow is firing arrows with a speed and calm focus that would impress the best archers in my father’s guard.
She tracks a banking wraith and lets her arrow go.
She’s already onto the next one as her arrow sails through the air—ahead by a heartbeat—and lands straight through the wraith’s torso.
It lets out a bone-chilling screech as it plunges down and vanishes into nothing.
My heart races when I can’t spot her. My wolf is going absolutely berserk.
Find her, he roars. Find her now!
“I’m looking,” I hiss through gritted teeth. I’m just as desperate to find her as he is.
I force myself forward, onto the deck, into the chaos. The ship is rocking violently on the ocean, which makes it even harder to move.
A wraith sweeps low and I duck, feeling the coldness of it pass over the back of my neck—a cold that has nothing to do with temperature, that goes straight into the bone. I straighten up and keep moving.
I limp past the big guy who’s wedged between two crates, his knees pulled to his chest, his eyes squeezed shut, mouthing a prayer. He’s enormous and completely useless and my anger flares at seeing him cowering instead of protecting his captain.
I go to grab his shirt and yank him up to get into the fight when a scream from above yanks my attention away.
A tiny old man in the crow’s nest—small and white-haired, with thin arms and legs—is being lifted. A wraith has him by the shoulders, its pale hands carrying him up into the dark as his little legs kick wildly.
A second wraith banks in from the left.
It’s coming for him.
Coming to tear him apart.
I throw back my shoulders and let out a savage ROAR.
The deep primal sound rips out of my chest almost involuntarily. It’s raw and authoritative and pure alpha. It’s a commanding roar. The roar of a king. And it surprises even me.
For half a second, everything on the ship goes still. The wraiths hesitate.
“Up there,” I shout to Briallen, who’s staring at me in shock.
She quickly snaps out of it, pulls an arrow from her sheath and in one smooth motion, lets it loose. It slices through the cold gray arm of the wraith. It shrieks, a horrible sound like iron dragged across stone, and the old man drops.
He falls from a dangerous height and lands directly on top of the cowering man, who produces a sound I have never heard from a grown man and hope never to hear again.
I don’t stop to check on either of them. I keep going.
Where is she?
I’ve been longing for this day—the day I found my mate—for my entire life.
We just found each other and I can’t bear to lose her yet.
Not before I’ve gotten to know her sweet heart, or touched her soft lips, or seen her stunning face as she falls asleep or wakes up with a tired smile.
I can’t live without her. I don’t know how I ever did.
I push my way down the creaky wooden steps as I look everywhere for her. Is she already gone? Have the Sea Wraiths snatched her off the ship?
No. I can’t think like that. She’s fine. She has to be.
I feel the cold before I sense it. Coming from my right is an icy drop in temperature so sharp it steals my next breath.
With no sound, smell, or warning, a wraith appears in front of my face.
I recoil with a gasp. It stares at me with eyes like scorched holes, its rotting, half-transparent face more gruesome than anything I’ve encountered in my life.
Its mouth is opening and closing silently, my eyes fixated on those sharp nasty teeth.
Up close, it’s worse than a nightmare. I can almost see through it. It’s there and not there, real and not real at the same time.
It lunges at me and I throw a punch.
My fist goes straight through its face. No resistance. No impact. Like punching icy-cold smoke.
I stumble forward with the momentum, heading for the ground, but the wraith catches me. I scream as the long bony fingers close around my bicep.
It’s so cold it burns like fire, sizzling my skin as it clenches hard.
I remember the emerald dagger in my hand and I swing it at the wraith’s face. It cuts through the shadow and it lets out a vicious scream, disappearing in a puff of dark smoke.
Before the smoke even vanishes, I feel more cold hands on me, grabbing my shoulders from behind. Lifting me up.
I swing the dagger up and behind me, but my shoulder sears with pain at the awkward angle and the weapon slips from my hand. All I can do is watch in horror as it tumbles down to the deck below as my feet rise into the air.
Another hand grabs my ankle, but it’s warm. Human.
I look down and our eyes meet.
Valther.
He only has one dagger now. It’s clutched in his hand as he grits his teeth, veins throbbing at his temples with the effort of pulling me down. The wraith hisses as it struggles to carry me into the sky.
My body cracks and pops as it’s getting pulled apart. My wounds tear open. My shoulders are burning with icy fire where the wraith’s dead fingers are digging into them.
I fight back a scream. My wolf whimpers.
And that’s when I see her.
Our eyes meet across the ship.
She swings her emerald sword, cutting through the wraith that’s attacking her and leaps through the dissolving shadow, sprinting right for me.
All I can do is watch in awe.
She’s stunning. She’s magnificent. And I still can’t believe it, but she’s all mine.
Calista comes charging over at full speed, leaping onto crates with her sword out. Her long blonde hair is braided behind her, her eyes full of determination, her jaw set with a fierce focus that is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
She’s so gorgeous, I forget to fight back. All I can do is stare at her.
I’m completely and utterly mesmerized.
She leaps off the crate and bounds up the steps in a smooth graceful motion like she’s practiced it thousands of times.
She runs up Valther’s outstretched body without hesitation, without breaking stride—planting one foot on his calf, the next on his back, the next on his shoulder and then leaps with a savage beautiful roar.
The emerald sword catches the moonlight as it comes up and around in a single vicious arc.
The wraith’s head leaves its shoulders.
It doesn’t even have time to screech before it dissolves into a black cloud. It’s just gone. The cold releases. The grip on my shoulders vanish.
And I fall.
The deck comes up fast and I hit it hard. The impact shuddering through my shoulder is so excruciating I nearly pass out. My legs give out and I’m flattened on my back, breathing hard and quick as I watch the remaining Sea Wraiths retreating into the dark sky.
Emerald arrows whistle as they fly at the horrible creatures, making sure they stay gone.
They do.
The pain is unbearable. It’s all-consuming. It takes over my body and mind like a violent fever.
I touch my chest and feel wetness. I look at my hand and my fingers are coated in blood.
I close my eyes with a wince, and when I open them, she’s standing over me, flushed and bright-eyed, gripping that long emerald sword like the warrior goddess she is.
“Are you okay?” she asks, breathing hard.
I can feel my wolf radiating happiness as I stare up at her. It mixes with my own, giving me a euphoric feeling.
My wounds have reopened. My chest is bleeding. My shoulder is wrecked. My back feels like it’s been torn apart. My consciousness is beginning to loosen—the edges of my vision getting blurry and weak like it did in the river.
I’m about to fall into the darkness again, but this time, I don’t care.
My mate is here. And she’s spectacular.
“Kieran,” she says, dropping her sword as she crouches down. “Are you hurt?”
Her savory scent fills my lungs and the pain disappears. Bliss floods my veins.
“Kieran,” she says, looking worried. “Can you talk?”
It hurts, but I force out the only words that I can think to say.
“You’re incredible,” I whisper.
Her smile is the last thing I see before I pass out.