Black Wolf

by Lori Ann Robinson

  Then again, she considered that perhaps her lack of response was due to Miles’ treatment of her both in and out of their marriage bed.

  And that was yet another reason why Adrienne was so grateful to the female captain of this vessel. Merri was giving her an opportunity to not only learn to care for herself, but to also live free of dependence from any male. While Adrienne wanted Nicolai still, the allure of the life Merri showed her was possible without a male directing it, was also powerful.

  She watched Raul from where he played on the deck several feet away. One of the crew had whittled him a toy and the boy was content to play quietly on his own, no longer forced to do men’s work at such a tender age.

  He still wouldn’t speak and this concerned Adrienne for she feared his young mind damaged by the abduction and then life at Mile’s home. He was beginning to smile again, though, which gave her some sense of hope.

  The crew treated the boy indulgently, allowing him to come and go as he pleased around the ship. Oftentimes, she would find him on the lap of the oldest member of Merri’s men, listening attentively while the man told him stories of a long life at sea. There were times when Adrienne believed these stories wholly inappropriate for a child, but then considering what the boy had been through; she’d dismiss the thought. Let him have his story time if it made him happy.

  Merri slung a friendly arm around Adrienne’s heaving shoulders.

  “Let us drink, my friend.” The captain said, laughing. “Perhaps you’ll regain your stamina after you’ve been fortified by the strength of good Jamaican rum.”

  Together they walked to Merri’s office where the woman poured the beverage generously into horned cups.

  Adrienne had grown accustomed to the burn and potency of the spirit as Merri drank it daily and insisted she did as well, claiming it kept scurvy at bay.

  Adrienne didn’t know if that were true or not, but it certainly did help to keep her disposition mellow after weeks of seeing no land. She’d always wanted a life at sea but now was beginning to think that there was such a thing as too much. Too much wind, too much water, too much heaving of the deck under her feet. She craved walking on dry land as much as Merri craved steering clear of it.

  All that accounted for, Merri did allow Adrienne to learn more than just proper sword fighting. She was also becoming skilled in navigation; something Nicolai’s Sailing Master Damon had begun teaching her. Merri had also allowed her at the helm of the ship a time or two and Adrienne found it exhilarating as she struggled to steer the vessel. She wondered what the Russian pirate would think of her newly learned skills.

  Not for the first time, did Adrienne catch herself thinking back to the time she spent on the Chameleon or in Nassau with Nicolai. It seemed almost a different world from where she now found herself. She missed the feel of his hands on her body, the heat and the passion that was so effortless between them, and the way his accent thickened when he was aroused.

  “Day dreaming about your man, again?” Merri asked, sitting on the corner of the table, watching her expectantly.

  Adrienne looked down into the near empty cup she held pensively.

  “I keep wondering if I’ll ever stop missing him. If he’s looking for Raul and I or if he assumed I left him for a better life elsewhere?”

  Merri lifter her own cup and drank deeply before adding more liquid to it.

  “Men claim that women are complex creatures but they are just as complex themselves. Who knows what he may be thinking or doing? If you lived so happily with this man for all that time in Nassau, why did he not make an honest woman of you before you left, rendering your betrothal to that cad Fletcher null? Why leave you at all for that matter?”

  All good points, Adrienne admitted silently. “Still, I find it difficult to believe that he would just allow me to abscond with Raul. He’s raised the boy, treats him as his own. Surely, he’s beside himself with worry for the child’s wellbeing if not for mine,” she pondered aloud.

  Merri simply raised a hand palm up.

  “Again, men are complex creatures. I’ve seen fathers go through less for their own flesh and blood. Your man may have raised Raul, but he is not the boy’s father. Who’s to say how truly loyal he was in the first place?”

  It was on Adrienne’s tongue to defend Nicolai, but she realized that Merri was likely playing devil’s advocate even if her opinion on men in general was less than congenial.

  She had an all male crew and worked side by side with them, but she did not become involved with them, nor did she express any desire to do so. Her men treated her with respect and in turn, she was good to them but that was as far as her interest in the crew went.

  For Adrienne it was different. Her marriage had left her confused and conflicted. On one hand, she wondered if her feelings for Nicolai were that of a naïve girl who was fortunate enough to find the right man as her first lover. On the other hand, she wondered if Miles had indeed ruined any ounce of emotion in her, leaving her an empty shell. Though she did miss Nicolai, she wondered if she would feel the same about him were they reunited and knew there was only one way to know.

  “Will we be passing by Nassau at all?” She asked.

  “Nay, not this voyage but perhaps in the future. We’ll reach Tortuga in two days and will be there long enough to sell off the booty from the last interception as well as the ship we garnered. Cargo vessels fetch a nice price as pirates can easily disguise their intentions as merchants. So you’re determined then?” Merri inquired, setting her cup aside.

  “Determined?” Adrienne countered.

  “To reunite with your man. You’re determined to do so?”

  Adrienne nodded. “At the very least, I need to see if what we shared was real. If it was not, then…” she trailed off at a loss.

  Merri grinned wolfishly as she took up her cup and raised it high. “Then it’s a pirates life for you.”

  “Aye,” Adrienne said quietly. “So it shall be.”

  Nicolai kept his eyes on the horizon as well as the ship there in the distance. It’d taken them a few days to learn the names and routes of the ships Fletcher had commissioned to search for Adrienne.

  There were two. The Anastasia and the Millicent. They’d caught up with the Millicent last week and after intercepting and boarding the vessel, they found nothing but enough food and fresh water for the journey. The crew Fletcher had hired to navigate the ship was perhaps the most inexperienced Nicolai ever encountered.

  Their captain was barely out of the womb and was all bluster and arrogance when questioned if they’d spotted any sign of Adrienne. That was until Nicolai slit the first man’s throat. The boy-captain had pissed himself in terror in front of his men and dropped to his knees begging for his life, swearing they’d had no luck nor leads in the search for the woman. His pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears.

  Nicolai allowed what few of the crew he left alive to join his ranks, assigning a few of his more trusted men to navigate the newly procured ship home to Nassau where it would be sold before setting out in search of the Anastasia.

  It was rumored to be headed toward India where the crew would search the city of Bombay in the event Adrienne had somehow managed to board a vessel bound for her father’s house.

  Somehow Nicolai doubted it was a course she’d take, but then again, throwing herself on the mercy of her father might very well be what she planned. He hoped that if it proved true, Sir William St. John would grant clemency to his only child after hearing the horrid tale of the marriage he’d arranged on her behalf.

  They stopped in the bustling pirate port of New Providence for supplies. Nicolai remained on board, charging his men with restocking the ship’s needs.

  He was going over the ship’s log when Damon entered his chambers.

  “Nicolai,” the Sailing Master said. “A word?”

  “Aye, come in and have a seat. I’m just updating inventory,” the captain said.

  Damon sat down in the chair opposite his captain and
waited while he scribbled figures into a neat column of numbers. When Nicolai finished, he put down the quill and turned his full attention to his second in command.

  “I don’t want to give you false hope,” Damon started hesitantly after taking a deep breath.

  “Yes?”

  “While we were negotiating for supplies, I ducked into one of the taverns. There were some men there. They were discussing a ship that’s been through this port. It seems it’s captained by a woman,” Damon said.

  “And this would give me false hope because…” Nicolai asked, his patience thinning.

  “Well, it seemed this female, Captain Mayweather, they called her; has a female companion on board. Some of the men even claimed this companion was in possession of a dark skinned child though the child wasn’t permitted to leave the ship. He was glimpsed playing near the gangplank.”

  Nicolai’s heart pounded hard in his chest. “How long ago were they in port and where were they bound?”

  “A little over a week ago. The men weren’t sure where they were destined but they know Captain Mayweather has a home in Malaga, though she spends most of her time in Tortuga and they seemed to believe that was the most likely destination given the direction the ship sailed off in,” Damon answered.

  Tortuga was a known spot for buccaneers and criminals. Located in the Caribbean Island of Haiti, it was a haven for some of the worst sort of debauchery known to man. In Tortuga, there were no rules. During his earlier days at sea, Nicolai had enjoyed time in the city though now, he found it a little rough for his liking.

  He grabbed a map and began to chart the course. Tortuga was 729 kilometers from their current location. Factoring in strong winds they could reach Haiti in a weeks time. So far, the weather had held steady with the storm season coming to a close as summer took hold on the region. If they left immediately, they may make the island seven days from now, possibly five if they pushed it.

  Nicolai stood. “Have the men make haste loading the supplies. We set sail within the hour.”

  “Aye, sir,” Damon said, standing as he prepared to leave. He halted, turning back to look at Nicolai. “ So we’ll be aborting our course to intercept the Anastasia?”

  Nicolai gave a curt nod in response. “Tortuga is more quickly reached than India.”

  What if it’s not them?”

  Nicolai’s mouth thinned at the question. “Then we’ll keep searching until it is.”

  “Aye,” his Sailing Master repeated, hastily quitting the room to do as his captain instructed.

  Chapter 15

  Tortuga was an eye opening experience for Adrienne as she pulled the tri-corn cap she wore down low, shielding her features in shadow under the flickering street lamps.

  Having taken Merri’s advice, she’d wrapped a length of linen tightly around her breasts, flattening her chest as much as possible. It wouldn’t do for this crowd of sea ruffians and criminals to scent a fresh woman. She pinned part of her hair up under the cap, tying the remaining end with a leather thong in an effort to reproduce a man’s queue.

  She concentrated on her walk, careful to keep the sway out of her hips as she, Captain Mayweather, and some of the crew traversed the streets of Tortuga.

  Merri had opposed her initial request to accompany them into one of the roughest of the pirate ports. Adrienne had persisted, arguing that if she were to choose piracy over any other kind of life she might have, she would need to experience first hand what she would be getting into. Concluding her argument with the reasoning that she couldn’t very well live the rest of her days aboard the ship.

  It was plain to see that even in this rough environment of even rougher men, Captain Mayweather was well respected and treated as such. Men didn’t catcall or paw at her as she passed by like they did the whores and prostitutes who loitered at the entrances to more brothels than Adrienne ever believed existed.

  Instead, her fellow pirates cut the lady captain a wide berth and Adrienne suspected it had something to with Merri’s reputation of slitting throats before asking questions. The woman had managed a modicum of success in a wholly male occupation and her rumored appetite for men’s blood preceded her wherever she went.

  Adrienne, Merri, the Sailing Master, and a handful of others converged on a tavern. Merri called out a greeting to the wenches and they took their seats at a large oaken table. Several of the women working the establishment sauntered over with tankards of rum as coin was placed on the table. The women tolerated the groping hands of the crew and accepted offers to meet upstairs later.

  But it was one particular woman who watched from a distance that caught Adrienne’s attention. The raven-haired woman’s hands were fastened on her hips, her eyes shooting daggers at Merri from across the room. She wore the typical tavern wench clothing of a peasant blouse, cut low to reveal ivory white breasts almost to the nipple and a homespun red skirt. The wench caught Adrienne’s appraisal and stared her down angrily before stomping over in their direction.

  “Uh oh,” Merri’s Sailing Master muttered, nudging his captain.

  Merri turned, seeing the advancing servant and a look anticipation, which slowly faded to one of dread crossed her face at the tavern wench’s glower.

  Rising from her chair, she opened her mouth to say something when the woman reared back, slapping the captain hard across the face. Merri’s face turned with the force of the blow. When she turned her head back toward the woman, Adrienne felt the hair on the back of her neck rise at the expression on the female captain’s face. It chilled her as nothing else ever had; so full of murderous anger, it was.

  Fire blazed in Merri’s coal black eyes as she reached out with the speed of a striking cobra, wrapping a hand around the woman’s black locks, roughly. Dragging her forward, Adrienne watched as Merri sealed her lips over the woman’s mouth. The captain’s other hand came up to clamp roughly over one breast.

  The men at the table hooted their approval as the women kissed one another with so much passion, it bordered on violence. Adrienne shifted in her chair, her eyes shifting around the room in an attempt to look anywhere but at Merri and the woman she was now devouring with her mouth.

  She supposed this explained Merri’s aversion to men. Adrienne had once glimpsed a volume in her father’s library, which had illustrations of ladies of the Orient who satisfied themselves with women. It was only a brief glance before her father snatched the book from her hands. She’d sneaked back later on but was unable to locate it. Because of the book, she was aware that some women chose the company of other females rather than men, but she’d never seen it put to practice as it was taboo and unaccepted in polite society.

  A sharp elbow in her side distracted her as one of the crew members leaned in close. His rank breath and even ranker body singed her nose hairs but she fought the urge to recoil.

  “The captain has specific predilections, as you can see. Jealous?”

  Adrienne shot him a look of disbelief as it occurred to her that Merri’s men thought this was the nature of her own relationship with the captain.

  “Not at all, though I have to wonder if you’re not,” she returned with a smirk as the man’s beady eyes watched the captain’s hands roving over the woman who was now literally melting in Merri’s arms.

  “Aye,” he agreed wistfully. “What I’d give to take part in those boudoir games later this eve. Eh?” He swigged his rum, slamming down the tankard with such force that liquid splashed over the side as he roared with laughter. He clapped Adrienne hard on the back as he cackled. She couldn’t help share a giggle even though she knew she should be shocked with his lewd behavior.

  Taking up her tankard, she raised it high and offered up her own cheer along with the men.

  A few hours later, she was deep in her cups as her head drooped on her shoulders. The Sailing Master, which kept Adrienne company long after Merri had taken the wench up to a room for privacy, pushed a whore off his lap as he moved his chair closer to the captain’s friend.

&n
bsp; The other crewmembers were bedding their whores now while he babysat as he’d been ordered to do. Seeing the state of the woman in men’s clothing next to him, he decided it was time to end this business and see about finding his own piece of ass for the night.

  “Oy,” Michaels said, his shoulder brushing against Adrienne’s. “We need to get you to bed, lass.”

  “Aye,” Adrienne groaned, the rum in her belly swirling about dangerously. She felt the man raise her arm and place it about his neck in an attempt to help her stand, but her legs wouldn’t cooperate as they buckled. Muttering a curse, the Sailing Master swept her into his arms and against his chest.

  Her rum soaked brain took in the scent of man and she moaned, “Nicolai.”

  It was single word but it had the Sailing Master stopping in his tracks to peer down at the near unconscious face of the woman he held. A chill traveled from his head down to his heels as he considered placing her back on the chair and getting as far away as possible.

  Unable to reconcile leaving her defenseless in the tavern, Michaels hefted Adrienne more securely against him and began the walk up the stairs to the rooms Captain Mayweather had rented for the evening. Placing Adrienne on the bed, he backed out and shut the door before going in search of his captain.

  It didn’t take him long to find Merri as the loud moans from the whore she regularly visited while in Tortuga echoed down the hallway. He lifted his fist, hammering on the wood before turning the knob and entering the room.

  Captain Mayweather sat up, sheet clutched to her breasts as her companion, sweat soaked and writhing on the bed next to her made no attempt to cover her nudity.

  “This better be good, Michaels,” Captain Mayweather growled, pushing her heavy hair from her face.

  “A word, m’lady,” the Sailing Master said, his eyes shifting to the whore on the bed. “In private.”