I got up and paced. I should be able to do more instead of sitting and waiting and biting my nails like some heroine in a low budget movie. Cruise ships usually had lifeboats tied to the side. Surely, Storm must have some, too. Maybe I just needed to borrow one. But could I brave the dragon-infested waters?
I went to the rack of clothes and grabbed a pair of pants from one of the pegs. They might only reach Storm’s knees, but they reached my ankles, and the drawstring made it easy to adjust the waist. The sleeves of the shirt Storm had given me were long, and the neckline plunged, so I wrapped one of the scarves around my waist, looping it several times and tucking the shirt into the pants until I looked decent. I caught my reflection in the mirror and grimaced. Not decent. Barefoot and in ill-fitting clothes, I looked like a deckhand.
I was reaching for the thick socks he’d left behind when the door opened and Nerissa appeared in the doorway. She marched to the window, removed the shirt, and closed the curtains.
“You are an idiot,” she snapped. “The last person you want taking you is Tullius. Especially now that he knows about Storm’s connection to you. You think we are bad? He is a hundred times worse. He will kill you the second he lays his eyes on you.”
Everyone had a freaking opinion about what was good for me. Just once I’d like for them to shut up and see things from my point of view. Maybe ask me why I so desperately wanted to escape, other than for the obvious reason. Any woman worth her salt would want to escape her kidnapper. No matter how hot he was or how often he claimed she was his mate. And I was going to escape. No matter how long it took.
“You guys are the idiots for thinking I’d accept my fate just because you say so. I have a family and people who need me. And FYI, Tullius paid me a visit, and he didn’t kill me.”
“Killing every woman Storm bedded is obviously not enough for him anymore. He was probably hoping to use you as bait to lure Storm out into the open.”
“He came into my room before Storm showed interest in me. Maybe he decided I was an innocent and left me alone. Have you thought of that?”
Nerissa chuckled. “Just because you were busy with your charge and didn’t notice Storm doesn’t mean he didn’t notice you. He showed interest in you way before he realized the scent driving him crazy when he was at sea was yours, Lexi. Tullius’s spies probably noticed that, too. It might even explain his reaction when he sniffed you. He didn’t get any scent. Storm didn’t either until you two touched.”
“I don’t get it,” Tullius had said after smelling my hair. And Storm had said I smelled nice when he touched me. What if Nerissa was right?
I hated that doubt was starting to creep in and mess with my logic. Logic dictated I escape and not believe a damn word any of them said. They were pirates.
“You are Storm’s buddy, so of course you’d take his side against his nemesis.”
“Tullius is not Storm’s nemesis. He’s a tyrant who’d like to see all of us dead. He is our nemesis. And no matter how much you deny it, Storm is your mate, created by the gods just for you, Lexi. You’d acknowledge it if you weren’t angry about the kidnapping. Heck, the air sizzles every time you two are near each other. What are you doing?” she asked.
“Getting dressed,” I mumbled, pulling on a sock. It came past my knee.
“I can see that. Why?”
Because I don’t like what you’re saying, I wanted to snap back. Sure, he unsettled me, but that didn’t mean jack. He was a nutcase, rude, condescending, and barbaric. And he was forever invading my personal space. Yes, I might find his eyes beautiful and his face interesting, but that didn’t mean he and I were destined to be mated. Even using that word “mated” annoyed me.
“Why are you getting dressed, little Tuh’ren?” Nerissa asked, snapping her fingers in front of my eyes to get my attention.
I glared at her.
“So I can come on the deck and cheer while your crew gets slaughtered,” I said, pulling on the second sock.
Nerissa stared at me like I was the dumbest girl in the entire Atlantic. Then she laughed. No, she scoffed since she still wore an incredulous expression.
“That would be the day. By the time we’re done with them, Tully will wish he never messed directly with us. He’ll probably throw another tantrum and blame his captains. And I’m missing out on all the action because of you. Do not leave the cabin until we are done.”
Like that was going to happen. Whatever chance I got, I was signaling the other ship again. I saluted her. “Aye, Pirate Nerissa.”
“I can see the calculating gleam in your eyes. I like that you are a fighter. You’re going to need that spirit to survive in our world.” She smiled. “I’m actually a shieldmaiden, not a pirate. And the lads are swordsmen.”
“If it dresses like a pirate and acts like a pirate, then it must be a pirate.”
Her eyes grew hard. “Have it your way. Since I have no intention of abandoning my ship to jump into the water to save you, I’m knocking you out. Go to sleep.”
“No, no. Not again. Oh crap,” I murmured. She stepped closer and gripped my arm. The wooziness hadn’t hit yet, so I pushed her hand away and made it to the bed on my own. I hated their ability to compel me. One day…
The door closed behind her as the fog thickened in my mind and darkness closed in. Damn it. Stay awake. Fight it. You can do this.
Vibrations rocked the ship. I focused on them and fought the haze Nerissa’s command had induced until the darkness receded. The fog stayed, but I was able to sit up. The room spun. Fight it, damn it. I hung on until the spinning stopped.
Ha, Storm’s mojo was more potent than Nerissa’s. I staggered to where she’d dropped the shirt, almost falling when the ship rocked and added to my unsteady gait.
Who fought in the water? Weird pirates using magic. It was the only explanation. Then there was the dragon, a magical creature. Chances were they protected their ships using magic, too, and that was why they were not using cannons to blast each other out of the water.
I opened the door and froze. Men in surfer-like suits and daggers strapped to their thighs and chests were crawling up the side of the ship and hopping on to the deck like freaking ninjas. Maybe Storm was right about Prince What’s His Face’s people coming for me. Only a few of them were climbing on the Yemaya.
A scream came from somewhere above me, followed by a head. It rolled to the main deck and landed a few feet from where I stood. I watched it in horror. Another followed. I slammed the door.
Crap, it was raining heads.
As more bloodcurdling screams reached me, I couldn’t help cracking open the door and peeking outside again. Ignoring the heads wasn’t easy, but I managed to focus on Nerissa and the crew left behind. They fought like they were born with swords in their hands.
“You all have two choices,” she yelled. “Go back to your ship or lose a head.”
She pulled the blade from a body and looked over her shoulder. Then she whipped around, her movements sharp and precise, and released a roundhouse kick, knocking two overboard. She landed on the deck, her hands whipping up to reveal a second sword. Swinging both at the same time, she faced two men. She blocked, feinted to the left and thrust forward, maiming one on the arm. She ducked and placed a well-aimed kick at another’s knee. A snap of a broken bone filled the air. He went down.
“Jump or your heads join your captains’ down there,” she warned.
The two men gripped the rim and scrambled overboard.
“Behind you,” Nerissa yelled. “Don’t let him get to her.”
A man was racing toward my door when he arched his back and landed facedown on the deck, a dagger imbedded in his back. A pirate landed beside him, yanked the dagger out, and left him bleeding.
I fought nausea as more injured people piled up on the deck right outside the captain’s quarters. Most were beaten up or seriously injured, not dead. My gaze met a few, and I noticed how young they were. They couldn’t have been that much older than I was.
>
These were the people trying to rescue me? From their faces, they were in too much pain to do anything. Even as the thought flashed in my head, Nerissa flipped, landed on the main deck by the door, and drove a dagger through one. His screams turned into gurgles. He’d been slowly moving toward my door, and I hadn’t even noticed.
“All of you stay put, or you’ll end up like him,” she snarled.
Man, she was vicious.
“We seek sanctuary,” a skinny boy with matted pale blond hair said to my right, and several beside him nodded.
“Then talk to the captain after this. Any more attempts to reach his mate, and I’ll slaughter all of you.”
Petrified eyes stared at me. Were they really going to help Nerissa protect me to save their own skins?
“Your left!” I yelled when a dagger sailed through the air toward her. Nerissa ducked, and the dagger landed on the deck floor. Then she threw one of her swords to someone and pulled a small shield from her waist, using it to block the daggers as she ran toward an upper deck.
At first I couldn’t see the person she’d thrown the sword to, but then someone landed on the deck above her, taking down two of her attackers. His hand shot up and caught the sword. My eyes widened when I saw his face.
Storm was back. And boy, did he look furious.
The pants he’d worn when he’d left were now shredded into shorts around his upper thighs. He mowed down several of them using every part of his body, his movements effortless despite looking like the ocean had chewed him up and spat him out. Screams echoed in his wake.
“Death or surrender?” he snarled at them.
I didn’t get their garbled responses, but they must have chosen to surrender because he knocked them to the main deck or overboard. He grabbed heads and yanked them down, crunching noses on his knee, blood spewing across his body. Not pausing, he whipped around and rammed his elbow into a neck. While the man’s head lolled like a bobblehead doll, he disarmed him and chucked him overboard.
Fighting nausea, I closed the door. Seconds later, I peeked outside again. It was like watching a train wreck. You knew what was about to happen yet you couldn’t look away.
Nerissa and the other pirates were busy on one side, adding to the injured on the main deck, and Storm was on the other side. My eyes kept returning to him. No matter how many he stopped, more kept coming after him. He flipped them over his shoulder, using their momentum and body weight against them and knocking down the others. Before they could struggle to their feet, he was straddling them, snarling the same question before driving his sword down an arm and kicking them off his ship. I didn’t understand why he chucked the ones who surrendered overboard. Probably to feed his dragon friend.
I’d called him barbaric, but seeing him in action proved it. He was both repulsive and fascinating to watch. His face was expressionless, making it hard to tell whether he enjoyed the bloodbath or not. Blood covered his chest and shorts. A few times, he got nicked, but it didn’t slow him down. Nothing did. He was always one step ahead, sidestepping attacks, whipping around at a crazy speed, and decimating his opponents.
Nerissa and two more—a man and a woman—joined him. Unlike Storm, they held small shields, which they used to block attacks. They paired up, and from their moves, they’d fought together before.
Several times, one of them yelled, “Incoming,” and slowed down a guy rushing them while the second one stopped him cold.
“Go,” Nerissa yelled to Storm. She snapped her little shield on something at her hip, slipped the sword in its scabbard, and pulled out daggers from sheaths strapped to her thighs. “We got this.”
“I can’t lose her, Nerissa,” Storm said. “Not now.”
“You won’t. They’ll have to go through me to get to her. We have deserters, too.”
Storm studied the faces of the injured boys below him. “The bastard is recruiting them young now.”
“Aye,” Nerissa responded, but she was alert. A man rushed her, and she dodged his blade then tripped him. “I’ll keep an eye on them. Just knock her out for me,” she yelled, dislocating the man’s arm and disarming him.
Storm looked straight at me.
“Step back inside the cabin, lass, and go to sleep.”
This time, I obeyed him because I knew what was coming. How would he like it if someone put a whammy on him like he kept doing to me? At least awake, I could hide if Tullius’s people made it inside the cabin. I still could.
I staggered to the first chest. It was full. My eyes were closing when I opened the second chest and found clothes. It had enough space. I entered it and shut it. A crazy thought flashed in my head as I drifted to sleep. He was going to go ballistic when he couldn’t find me.
Everything was quiet when I woke up. Too quiet. Did Storm lose? Was I even on the same ship? It was pitch black and the covers were pulled to my neck, which meant someone had found me in my hiding place and carried me to the bed. Or should I say the bane of my existence had probably sniffed me out and slipped me under the covers?
A sound came from the vicinity of his desk, but I already knew he was in the room. He was too far for my heat sensor to feel him. It was the invisible, yet potent thing that usually filled a room whenever he was in it that warned me. I couldn’t explain it or the way I was tuned in to it. I just felt it. Maybe it was the magic he wielded.
Sparks sizzled in the air, and the candelabra on the desk flickered on.
Storm was reclined in a window seat, a bottle in his hand. He chugged without speaking. I sat up, not sure what mood he was in. He had changed into a fresh shirt and pants, and his hair looked dry. Just by looking at him, one wouldn’t tell he’d slaughtered people without flinching then jumped into the water to cause more mayhem.
“Did you win?” I asked.
“Aye. Tullius will get his ship and gifts, and we have one new boat. Levi was too enthusiastic.”
He sounded so sad and defeated, and for some crazy reason, it bugged me. I could fight him when he was annoying, an arrogant know-it-all, smirking, or even showing off. This Storm looked like his world had ended. I’d feel like I was kicking a lost puppy. Not that he deserved my sympathy.
“What’s the name of your ship?” It was an inane question, but I was regrouping and thinking up ways to deal with him and force him to let me go.
“The Mac Lir, in honor of the sea god Manandán mac Lir.”
I’d never heard of the god. Not wanting to insult him, I asked, “Levi’s ship?”
“Yemaya is a sea goddess.”
Again, the name meant nothing to me. “Is Tullius your brother?”
“No,” he answered without hesitation. “My brothers and sisters are the men and women on my island. People who share my fate, challenges, and struggles.” He stood and staggered a bit. “Thank you for not trying to escape again. Hiding in the chest was a brilliant idea.”
“I thought so, too.”
“For one moment, I thought I’d lost you.” He sounded like that would be a fate worse than death. Now, I felt foolish for hiding. “Then I followed your scent. We’ll be home soon. Nerissa brought you more fitting clothes.” He nodded at a pile at the foot of the bed. “Put them on.”
“Are there others like me on this boat?”
“No one could ever be like you, lass.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Like I told you, we pick up women whenever we need them. And it’s summer. Harvesting season.” He headed for the door, and this time, I didn’t try to stop him.
He yanked the door open, and I caught site of the deck. It was empty. The bodies and the boys from the other ships were gone, only blood remained. The crew was no longer on the main deck, and muffled sounds came from below.
“We’re going under, so you may want to sit down and hold on to something. You don’t have sea legs yet.” The door closed behind him.
What did he mean by going under? The ship tilted. I hurried to the window and pulled aside the curtain. Lightning
speared the sky, and thunder followed. Something was happening to the ship. The water level appeared to be rising, which meant the ship was sinking. Directly ahead of us, a huge rock rose from the sea. It was high and wide with a little vegetation on the sides, waterfalls, and trees at the top. If the ships didn’t stop or change course, we were going to crash.
I nearly fell off the window seat when the ship tilted some more. The motion didn’t affect anything else inside the cabin. The chairs and desk stayed firmly in their places, though I knew they weren’t nailed to the floor. Even the candelabra and chests didn’t slide on the floor.
I grabbed on to the curtains and watched the water rise as we got closer to the rock island, until we were completely submerged. Water did not penetrate the hull of the ship or flow to the cabin, which meant magic was protecting it. Since the captain’s cabin was in the back, I could see the Yemaya right behind us, its deck empty, too, except for Levi at the helm, steering the boat. Storm must be steering this one. In the rear was the new ship. I wondered who was captaining it.
We continued through the water like submarines. The wall of rock appeared endless. As we got closer to it, I saw the crack, an upside down V extending into the dark bottom of the ocean. The lower and closer we went, the bigger and wider it became. It had what looked like a gate, an iron grid. It lifted to reveal an underwater tunnel.
Hadn’t I asked Storm under what rock they’d crawled from? They actually lived under one. Or inside, I decided when we entered the opening. It was wide enough for several ships to sail side by side, but the Mac Lir continued to lead. The water was pristine and filled with glowing fish that swam alongside the ships as though lighting the way. After what seemed like forever, the landscape changed and the floor of the tunnel gently sloped upward. The ship started to rise to escape scraping the bottom while still moving forward. I also noticed that the upper banks had rocks nicely aligned as though man-made.
The ship continued to rise until it bobbed on the surface. Again, I gripped the curtain to stop from falling. A horn blared somewhere. I couldn’t tell whether it came from the ship or outside it. I peered out the window, trying to see.
Storm: Phantom Islanders Part I Page 8