by Lexi Ostrow
Sirens had attacked alongside the Akkorokamui. The only ones who had been able to keep their wits had been Felicia and McKenna. McKenna. He’d been battling feelings for her for weeks, and in one moment, there had been undeniable proof of his attraction to her. A Siren was always beautiful, always alluring, even without their voice. But the way they picked their prey was something intuitive.
They could sense what a man loved most, and the Siren closest in appearance would latch onto that man. He wasn’t shocked that the creature had looked like McKenna, he had known he was physically attracted to her. What had shocked him was, in hindsight, he acknowledged she sounded like McKenna. The Siren’s voice had taken on the tone of the woman he would most likely be determined to save. Because he loved her.
Jacob squeezed his eyes shut and tried to pinpoint the moment such a disastrous emotion could have presented itself. They’d been reacquainted for almost a year, and much of it had been filled with biting remarks and physical rows. Yet, there were moments, stolen passionate moments, where he could sense how smart and eager she was. McKenna was quite possibly the most determined female he had ever met. She’d come from nothing and had risen, at least to a point, in the Alliance. She had been entrusted with his life, and at some point, he had become willing to give it up for her. For the wonderful, passionate, smart and loyal young lady that she was.
“You are well and truly screwed, you poor sod.”
He’d never been in love with a woman. He’d been close to courting one once, but without a title, most women cast him aside, even if being his wife meant a palatial residence. As a bastard, he was not good enough for the ton, and yet, too good for McKenna. His hands balled into fists, and he growled. Twice, he had told McKenna they could be nothing more than a flirtatious tryst, and now he wondered if there was any way he could give her up, not that she had agreed to anything.
He remembered that now. He had posed the grave and dangerous question just before the communicator had gone off. He remembered the singing, the terror he’d felt that the poor woman would be killed, his feet giving way as he plunged in, and finally, McKenna swimming towards him with determination on her brow. She had done her duty, but she had never answered him.
Jacob had no clue how big the submersible was, Eliza had given them measurements, but mathematics wasn’t his best practice. He pushed out of bed and thanked his lucky stars that he was not dizzy once again. Opening the door, he poked his head out and saw nothing but a passageway.
“McKenna? McKenna, please say you’re near,” he hadn’t intended for the pleading tone to enter his voice.
Seconds went by, and he finally saw her appear at the other the end of the passageway. She was dressed differently, more feminine, in a blue corset that pushed her breasts up and black pants that were a bit too big on her. She was beautiful.
“Jacob! You’re awake again.” A smile lit up her face.
He smiled back. “I am, do you think it might be possible to speak with you? Also, for a flask of water?”
“I think with what you just endured, a flask of Irish whiskey would be better,” Lucius shouted from somewhere in the ship.
Jacob laughed. “Just water for now, though I think I have taken in a fair bit too much of the salty kind, and my head is pounding from it.”
McKenna walked to him with a flask in her hand and passed it to him. “I should think your head hurts because, at some point, it caused you to delusionally chase after a Siren.” She gave him a lopsided, playful smile. “And besides, Philippe had one as well.”
Accepting the flask, he quickly unscrewed the lid and drained the contents of it. When he lowered the flask, McKenna was looking at him, studying him almost. “That wasn’t very well mannered of me was it?”
She kissed him briefly on the cheek. “I should think, after what you went through, we will excuse you of any problems. For a few moments at least.”
He nodded and stepped back into the room he had been placed in. “This might seem all sorts of improper to everyone else on board but would you come in, please? I want to finish our prior conversation and speak to you about the Sirens.”
“You remember?” she sounded torn betwixt happy and nervous.
“He ought to remember if I have to,” Philippe said, stepping out of the doorway furthest from Jacob. “Good to see you awake, your father would have likely have had our heads if we lost you,” Philippe joked and came up to clap him on the back in a strange hug.
“I am rather glad to know I am not the only one who suffered in the attack.”
Felicia walked up and stood next to McKenna. “Trust me, McKenna and I suffered. The feeling, the utter helplessness to know there is nothing you can do to save a life, is maddening. I may have forced us to leave the sailors to their death, but I swore an oath to protect people from demons. Allowing them to simply race to their end was not something I found pleasing.”
“Nor was watching the attack from below. I tell you, tentacles are a blasted scary sight. However, watching as men’s faces drifted by the window, tangled up in the Sirens’ bodies, it was utterly terrifying, whether you believe it or not. A Nightmare Demon can be just as unnerved as anyone else.”
Jacob wasn’t certain how far away Lucius was, but his voice echoed a little off the metal walls around them. He felt guilty, thinking only he had truly had a problem in the attack. He was not a hunter, he was not used to putting others before himself, and at that moment, he felt lowly and unworthy of the life they had protected.
“I’m sorry, I did not think before I spoke.”
“Don’t worry. I can’t speak for the others, but letting Lucius unleash my personal torments on me so that he could be strong enough for when we reach the entrance shortly was not my cup of tea last night either,” Philippe said, eyes lowering to the floor as if he was remembering what he had seen in the hallucination.
“It’s been a day?”
McKenna nodded thoughtfully. “Yes. I’m not certain what sort of physical attack you encountered whilst I was fighting for my life, but you have slept soundly, and we are ever closer to Hell.”
He tried to process her words, but all he was hearing was that their mission was reaching its climax. He would be alone with her on board the submersible whilst the others went on the rescue patrol, and he wished to speak with her, to tell her the truth of his emotions now rather than later. Partially because he had hoped it would make her confess similar feelings, and partly because he knew a woman would not like to hear a man had feelings of love and kept them to himself.
“McKenna, might we have a word? In private?” he urged for the second time.
She twisted a finger in her hair and looked to Felicia next to her.
The other woman gave a shrug of her shoulders. “It is not my place to judge, it is only my place to see that this mission culminates in the retrieval of our missing man.” Felicia turned and walked toward where Lucius must be piloting the sub.
Philippe gave him another clap on the back and entered back into the room he had come from, leaving just Jacob and McKenna still in the passage.
“You honestly remember? Everything?” she asked.
“Yes. I fear, after waking a second time, all of my memories are intact, save for how I got to this ship, but I know I was not conscious for that.” He stepped to the side as he spoke, and slowly, she walked in. “May I close the door?”
She laughed, and it was rather bitter sounding. “I slept upon your bed for hours worrying over your life, we have no secrets from those on this mission with us. Closing the door will do no more harm than is already done.” She closed the door behind her and leaned her back on it.
Sighing, Jacob sat on his and gestured for her to sit next to him. She did not move, and he rubbed his hands over his face. The woman was quite possibly the most frustrating specimen of the female race. He chuckled. Though, I suppose all men think that about the woman they love. He didn’t panic so much over the idea that he was well and truly in love with McKenna.
Perhaps because he had made peace with it a little bit prior.
“How are you feeling? Aside from the head pains.”
“Very well, embarrassed beyond words, but not for the reason you might be thinking.”
She cocked her head to the side, and her blonde hair slid rather sensually over her shoulder and onto her pushed up breasts. Her eyes narrowed as she realized where he was gazing, and she clicked her tongue.
“I am in these clothes as mine were too soaked for safety. Me catching ill would do no good. My eyes are still very much on my face, though.”
He flushed and laughed. “Forgive me, you capture my attention, even when you are dressed in a man’s garb. Seeing you like this, well, my desire is understandable is it not?”
She fidgeted and must have pushed into the knob to harshly because she cursed. “I have no concern if you find me desirable, Jacob.” Her words lacked conviction.
Standing up he stepped to her and put his hand on the back of her head. “I know this to not be true, McKenna.” Gently, he placed his lips to hers and kissed her.
His body sparked to life as her soft lips pressed together with his. It pained him to pull back so soon into their liaison, but they had to discuss what they were before continuing. He stopped and smiled at the look of pure bliss on McKenna’s face.
“Your body says otherwise, McKenna.”
She didn’t say anything, just slowly opened her eyes and looked at him. Her hand settled on his chest, and she leaned up to kiss him. Heat scorched through his body the instant her tongue flicked across his lips. Without hesitation, he opened his mouth and lifted her off the floor. Her legs wrapped seamlessly around his waist, and her body pressed into his slowly growing prick so completely, he thought he would shoot his seed in his trousers.
His hands dug into her hair as hers came around his neck. Their teeth clacked together in the desperation of their kiss. Every moment of fear and worry seemed to be in the room with them, in the kiss with them. He could almost taste her fear, and it gave him pause. With all the strength he could muster, he stopped kissing her and pulled his head back.
Tears shone in her eyes—not lust, not desire. He untangled his hands from within her hand and gently stroked them down her head. She rested her head on his shoulder and truly began to sob. Her body heaved with great force as she cried and he patted her back.
“McKenna, it is truly alright. I am alive, and you are alive. Men are lost in war, and all we can do is honor their memory.”
She lifted her head off his shoulder, eyes shining with wetness, and frowned at him. “I am not crying over that. I am crying simply because it is within my right as a woman after what I went through.”
Her legs unwound from his waist, and he groaned as she slid down his body, tempting his cock further as her feet touched the floor once more.
“McKenna, I wanted to talk to you, I hadn’t intended for this to grow sexual, it just seems to happen.” He gave her a crooked smile. “But we do need to speak on the subject we were discussing before the attack, especially if this leads to where I am more than slightly praying that it does. But we need to address it.”
Slowly, and he thought reluctantly, McKenna sat down on the bed, and he did as well. This was going to be the defining moment, the one where he could tell her he loved her and pledge to be with her. However, it would be a lie, and he didn’t want to lie to her, not just because he loved her, but because she was a righteous person who didn’t deserve that.
Sniffling, she wiped at the tears in her eyes and offered him a smile, her lips shaking just a touch. “Your offer before, where we enjoy each other’s comfort for the span of the mission, I would like to take you up on it.”
His cock twitched with the admission, but the tone of her voice was too strange to not question her. “Is that what you would have said before the attack? When I first asked you?”
She wrung her hands together and stared into his eyes. Hers were red from crying, but the bright blue still struck him as beautiful. “No,” she admitted quietly.
It felt as if someone, perhaps a demon even, had wrapped a hand around Jacob’s heart and was squeezing it tightly. He tried to choke back a gasp of pain, and instead, grunted. He’d never truly known rejection when he’d wanted something, and, if this was a feeling McKenna had spent her life knowing, she was stronger than he’d imagined.
“Very well then. We will honor that answer. Decisions made in the wake of tragedy should not be held.”
She put her hand on his arm and shivers of want trickled through him from the gentle contact. “You don’t understand, Jacob. Yes, the events on the ship damaged my heart and soul in ways I’ll never recover from. It also opened my eyes to something that was sitting right before me, just out of my grasp.”
He raised a brow at her and covered her hand on his arm with his. “What, pray tell, is that, McKenna?”
Panic flashed in her eyes, and for a moment, she looked as if she were going to bolt from the tiny room. She did not, though. Her hand remained on his arm, and the panic drained from her eyes by the time she finally spoke.
“That I am utterly and completely besotted with you.”
A smile spread across his lips. It wasn’t an admission of love like he was about to give to her, but it was something wonderful. He took her hand off his arm and held both of her hands in his as he stared deeply into her blue eyes.
“McKenna Caffry, whether you find this truthful or not, I am beyond besotted with you. I love you, McKenna. I love you, and it frustrates me to no end that all I can offer you is here, now.”
Everything went silent the moment Jacob said the words to her. Her breath caught in her throat as she opened her mouth to articulate some sort of intelligent response, but nothing came out. She’d been falling in love with Jacob for so long, she hadn’t thought it was possible he would not only share her feelings but actually be ahead of her with them.
She tried to speak again, and an unflattering noise came from her mouth. She flushed, and Jacob laughed. She took a look at him, at the man he was, not just the way he looked. He was callous at times, pigheaded and certainly spoiled, but he was also kind, caring and risking his life for someone he hardly knew when there were possibly a hundred others who could have gone in his place. He was a Royal. He was a bastard, but he was so much more than the titles that were or were not placed upon him. Jacob was a man trying to live his life to help save others. In McKenna’s eyes, that made him brilliant.
“I think this is the point where you must say something back,” he said with a smile.
“I find I’ve lost my voice.”
He barked out a laugh, and the bed rolled with his amusement. “My, I didn’t think it possible to make a female hunter speechless. You ladies are rather opinionated, to say the least.”
She flushed and looked away from him to hide it. “Your words are far too kind,” she teased.
“I should think admitting my love for you was kind enough for the day.” He ran a hand along her back and sent chills racing through her.
“Jacob, I —”
He turned her and put a finger to her soft lips. “You have nothing you need to say, McKenna. You are rather a more likable person than I am, and that is fine. Your words were more than enough. Should you fully give your heart to me, I fear I’ll only break it when the mission is over.”
Silence passed betwixt them. A silence that seemed to stretch forever. All she wanted to do was lean her body towards him and tell him to make love to her again. She couldn’t resist, though. He loved her, but he wouldn’t ever be with her, and carrying on in this manner would indeed lead to more sorrow than joy.
“I understand,” she said affectionately, trying not to cry once more.
He ran a hand down the side of her face, and the tenderness compelled her to look at him. His eyes were a darker shade of blue, and when she looked down his body, she saw his shaft was tenting in his trousers. Her body immediately went wet as her thoughts blazed to him sli
ding in and out her.
“I wish it were different, McKenna. I wish I weren't about to ask this as well, but I am not used to being an unselfish man. With you here, sitting upon a bed, I cannot avoid it.” He leaned over and kissed her, a gentle press of lips before stopping. “Let me make love to you. Let me show you the tenderness and pleasure that comes when a man loves the woman he beds.”
His voice was husky, and it did wonders to her resolve, as did the words themselves. Good sense roared at her to stand and leave the room, to forsake him and not dally with their forbidden tryst any longer. Her heart, and admittedly her body, did not care for common sense. They only cared for the promise in Jacob’s words.
Her hands shook slightly as they went to the front clasps on the borrowed corset, a binding mechanism that only female hunters used. His eyes followed her fingers, and his breathing changed. Immediately, it went from inaudible to ragged. Lust wrapped around her so completely, she thought she could wear it as a cloak. Her own breathing was hitched, rapid compared to normal, as she undid the last clasp. With nothing left holding the corset up, it fell backwards off her body and onto the floor.
“McKenna,” there was a warning in his voice as if he no longer wanted this.
“Jacob?” she whispered as her hands went to the ridiculous slightly wet grey waistcoat he still wore.
He shrugged his shoulders and helped her get the coat off, even as her hands fumbled with the buttons on his shirt. Their eyes never left each other’s and the crackle of desire was so thick, it could almost be seen on the air. Jacob put his hands under hers and began to quickly undo the bottom buttons on his shirt until he pulled it off as well.
They sat there, both topless and both wanting for moments, before Jacob made the first move. He stood slightly and pressed his body to hers, forcing her to lie back onto the bed. Wetness pooled betwixt her legs as he did so, and she leaned up and captured his lips with her own.