He whooped and pressed his lips to mine, lingering this time, making us both groan before pulling away and leaning his forehead on mine. Those green eyes sparkled with such happiness that it felt like I was drowning in them. This love couldn’t last, I knew that. It was like a ticking clock in my head, so easy to ignore until you concentrated on it for a split second. I would have to go back to water, back to my people, and leave Hurley and the others behind. My loves, and my heart. I had found them on land and I would lose them to the water. Poetic really.
“We should get back to the others,” I said, and disappointment clouded my words at the thought of leaving our little haven.
“Lor, you in here? Has Hurley kidnapped you?” Bay called into the cave, making me giggle. My thoughts were once again pushed aside and I promised myself I would make the most of the day.
Hurley’s eyes lit up with mischief and he dropped another kiss to my lips before miming for me to be quiet. Nodding, I covered my lips and tried to stifle the giggles that wanted to escape.
“Lor?” Bay’s voice was closer that time, and I had to push my face into Hurley’s chest to stop laughter from escaping.
“Damn it!” Bay shouted, obviously falling over something. “Hurls, come on man,” he muttered.
Our bodies shook while we laughed hard until I peered over his shoulder to see Bay stumbling into the clearing, and looking around until he spotted us. When he did, his eyes flared before he grinned at me, and I waved over Hurley’s shoulder as I giggled.
“Shhh baby, he’s going to find us,” Hurley whispered, and I bit my lip.
Bay’s lips quirked up at the side as he started to creep closer, winking at me as he went. Kissing Hurley’s shoulder I stayed quiet until he stood over us.
“Boo!” he yelled, and smacked Hurley’s ass which made him scream, all high-pitched. Leaping away from me, Hurley jumped in front of me and then relaxed once he spotted a now laughing Bay.
I sat up and brought my knees to my chest to ward of the chill, and watched as a naked Hurley chase Bay around the cave. Shaking my head, my lips pulled up into a smile so big it hurt my cheeks. Hurley whooped when Bay stumbled over a rock as he tried to catch him. Obviously giving up, Bay stopped and Hurley smacked his arm before striding back over to me.
“Loch is looking for you, man,” Bay pointed out, making Hurley groan.
Hurley looked torn and I forced myself to stand up and lean into him, kissing him softly. “Better go find out what your captain wants,” I whispered, and he nodded sadly. He dressed quickly and I shrugged my clothes on as well, and with one last look back at me, he left the cave.
“I thought he would never leave,” Bay declared, and I dragged me eyes from Hurley’s back and turned to Bay.
Before I could get a word out, he barreled into me, smashing me against his chest as he lifted me into the air and held me to him while his lips met mine. Gasping from the quick movements, I gripped onto his open shirt and let out a groan, before wrapping my legs around his waist. Bay might be quiet and reserved, unlike the other two, but he sure knows how to show you what he’s feeling through his body.
Pulling away with dazed eyes, I looked at his grinning face. “Loch didn’t want him?” I asked breathlessly.
“Nope, but now you’re all mine.” He grinned at me wickedly and I laughed before leaning in and kissing him.
“Naughty, naughty Bay. Okay, big man. What do you plan to do with me?” I teased, and the look in his eyes made my mouth dry and my pussy wet.
He wrapped me tighter before falling backwards. As he tumbled onto the floor with me on top of him, his hands wandered across my body, leaving goosebumps in their wake. I reached up and stroked his face, and my hand caught on the charm hanging down from his ever-present bandana. I laughed when I realised it was a pirate skull with two swords sticking out of the back. I reminded myself to ask him what it was from later.
“Whatever I want,” he murmured, dragging my attention back to him before his hands gripped my waist and lifted.
My arms grasped only at air and I had no choice but to trust him as he hoisted me, and dropped me above his face. Crouching there, with both knees spread so my pussy was hovering over him, I glanced down with wide eyes. I gripped my thighs for balance and peered between them to meet his hungry gaze.
“Bay, what are you—” My words were cut off as I screamed, throwing my head back as he sucked my nub into his mouth while he held me there against his lips. Unable to move, I was at his mercy.
He devoured my pussy, his tongue dipping inside before circling back to my nub and down again. Relentless, that’s what he was. He wrung every ounce of pleasure from me with his bruising grip on my hips and his quick masterful tongue, until I was moaning into the ocean air, pushing down onto his face while my pussy clamped down on nothing.
Tumbling forward, I caught myself on my hands just before my face made contact with the ground. My whole body felt like jelly. Bay slid from underneath me as I sucked in rapid breaths. I felt him moving behind me, and when he grabbed my hips and pulled me back until my ass met his hard cock, making wetness coat my cheeks, I groaned. My eyes shut when I pushed back against him, wanting him inside me. Even after Hurley, I needed him. Sirens were filled with lust, it was part of who we were, but this was natural and all-consuming. I just couldn’t help myself when they were around.
His cock paused at my entrance, and for a moment I thought he had stopped, before he thrust brutally inside me, burying himself to the hilt before pulling back out and hammering back in.
I writhed beneath him and dug my fingers into the flowers, hanging on as he set a punishing pace. Words tumbled from my mouth while I pushed back into him, begging with my body and words for more.
“Please, Bay, seas, please!” I shouted, rocking and pushing, trying to relieve some of the pressure building inside me.
He groaned low in his throat and pulled out, making me whimper.
“Scream for me, Lor,” he demanded, as his hands parted my ass cheeks.
Panting and shaking, I froze out of instinct when his cock lined up at my other hole, but when he pushed in slowly I closed my eyes in ecstasy. Once he was seated deep inside, he pulled out and rammed back in, stretching me. The pain and pleasure mixed together until I was a sweaty, moaning mess, only held up by his hands, but I could take it. I could take everything they threw my way.
Reaching down, he wrapped his hand around my throat and yanked me up. With my back to his front, he pushed my legs wider and continued to fuck my ass, driving into me again and again, and the pressure on my throat served as a reminded that he’s in charge.
“Fuck, I want to feel you come,” he groaned, his hand tightening as the other drops to my pussy and buried two fingers in me. Screaming like he demanded, I came so hard my vision faded and I saw stars.
He yelled behind me, stilling as he came also, and his hand tightened on my throat before he let go again. Gripping my hips, he held me against him while we both gulped air and shook with the aftershocks.
“I think I just went to heaven,” I mumbled, and he laughed before groaning and pulling out of me.
“Heaven is wherever you are, Lor,” he replied.
Smiling at his cheesy line, I leaned forward and kissed him gently. “By the way, I love the word fuck. Especially when it comes out of your mouth, it’s my new insult.”
He chuckled, bringing me down to the cave floor and holding me so close our noses touched. “You can’t go around saying fuck, darlin’. I’ll walk around with a constant hard-on,” he admitted.
“That’s good with me,” I quipped, and reached up to play with his pirate pendant again. “What is this?” I asked softly, trying to ignore the yawn creeping up on me.
“It’s a lucky charm,” he answered, playing with a lock of my hair and twisting it around his finger as he watched me.
“Lucky? Where did you get it?” I inquired quizzically, rubbing my thumb over it. It’s silver and old looking, with some tarnish l
ike it was well loved.
“My mama gave it to me when I was a kid. I was born here, with the guys, but I was taken to land when she divorced my father. Let’s just say, out here is a paradise compared to the land nations now. People starve on the streets with too many children being born and not enough food, clothes, or even places to live. The world is crumbling there, and the government is collapsing under the pressure as the rich get richer and the poor die. It was a hard life. My mama turned to sex work to feed me and my little sister.” He sucked in a breath, and I stopped playing with the pendant and cupped his face. “One day, a customer of hers, a real nice older fellow who used to share stories with me and Trish, my sister, gave me this. He told me stories of sailing the seas and his pirate ways. They were totally exaggerated of course, but it gave me hope. I knew I wanted to go back to the seas and I couldn't stop looking at the treasure he pulled from his pocket—this charm. He told me he would give it to me when I was ready. When my mama and him had finished, she didn’t realise it, but he had left it for me. Raids started the next day, the government was trying to crack down on the illegal activity, they did it now and again, but we had no proof of mine or my sister’s birth so we ran. They found us at the port, a random search. They split us up and dragged us away. I broke free and ran through the city, and I found them a couple of streets over. They had punched my little sister for crying, but the hit sent her backwards, and it broke her neck. My mama was on the floor bleeding from what they did to her. While they were distracted and trying to come up with a plan to get rid of the bodies, I snuck over to her. She pressed this charm into my hand, told me it would buy me passage. She begged me to run, instead I hid. I planned to attack them but before I could, one of the men pulled out his gun and shot her between the eyes.”
I sucked in a breath and brushed the tears from his handsome face, letting him know I was there for him.
“I made my way back to the ships in a daze. I saw a sign on one of them, stamped on a crate. It was the symbol on the charm. I snuck aboard. It was a smaller, older wooden boat and they didn’t find me until they were already on their way. The man whose boat it was, Grey, let me stay. He taught me the ropes, showed me how to be a sailor. He took a random street kid in and gave me purpose. By the time their journey led them here, it was a year later. I was older, wiser, and I knew ships and sailing better than most. I tried to pay him with my charm, but he wouldn’t have it. All he asked was that when I wanted a job, I came back to him.”
He shook his head and his eyes focused back on me. “That charm saved my life, pointed me in the direction of a new one, but it’s also the last thing my mother ever held and gave to me. It’s a reminder, both happy and sad.”
I leaned forward and kissed him, trying to erase the pain even though I knew it was pointless. “Did you go back?” I questioned softly against his lips.
“Yes. Five years later with Loch and Hurley. We all wanted to be sailors and he took us on, uncaring that we were still kids. When he died, he left us three his ship. I think he wanted me to be captain, but it was never my goal. So, I gave it to Loch. We have lived this way ever since.” He smiled down at me then.
“Don’t cry for me, darlin’. The past is the past, you can’t change it, and your pain doesn’t fix the outcome. All you can do is keep moving, keep living, and that’s what I did. I miss them so much, but their deaths allowed me to find a new family, and I know my mama would be proud of me—Trish too. Life is for the living Lorelai, the dead are for dreams and nightmares.”
I sucked in a breath, searching his eyes. Did he know what I was, that I represented death? Or was he just trying to comfort me?
He leaned in and kissed me softly before he pulled away, taking his heat with him, and sat up. I copied and watched in confusion as he reached up and unwound the black leather cord with the charm attached.
“Hold out your hand,” he requested, so I did. When he dropped it in my hand and closed it around it, I trembled.
“Bay—”
“Shh, Lor. I want you to have it. Not only did it save my life—it brought me to you. I won’t ever have another family darlin’, not apart from Hurley and Loch. I just can’t, not in this world. I’m a sailor, the ocean is my home...but you are my port. The light that we look to at the end of a long journey, the place you dream about. I want you to have it. I don’t know where our paths will lead us, but no matter what I want you to have a piece of me with you, and hopefully it will bring you luck. It might even bring you love, like it did with me,” he finished and uncurled his hand from mine.
I opened my palm and brought it to my chest protectively. Tears welled in my eyes as I watched him. “It already has—you.”
We rejoined the others and enjoyed the sun and water. Hurley smacked Bay for lying but after wrestling in the sand, which Loch eventually put a stop to, they were all good again. I tied the charm around my wrist, and when Loch saw it, he grinned knowingly, while Hurley just stared open-mouthed, glancing between it to Bay. They eventually went swimming but I bowed out. I must have fallen asleep while they were in the water, because Loch woke me up with a gentle kiss. Sitting up, I saw they had brought back food and drinks, and laid out a blanket. We had a cute little picnic where Loch insisted on feeding me, and then Hurley and Bay did as well. They passed me around their laps and I had never smiled so hard, or felt so loved. They showered me with affection and stories, and I laughed along listening to their antics.
“How do you all know each other?” I asked, curious about them. I knew parts of Loch’s past and all of Bay’s, but not how they had met each other.
“My dad was one of the first settlers, and Bay and Hurley were his two best friends’ sons. We've known each other since we were born. We spent all of our lives together, apart from when Bay left, but when he came back we spent more time on a ship than on land so when we turned sixteen it only made sense to apply to a crew,” Loch explained around a bite of cheese.
“Yep, we were so good they even gave us our own ship,” Hurley pointed out, bouncing like an excited child.
“Only when you stopped blowing stuff up,” Bay muttered and they all laughed.
“Hurley, Loch, what about you two? Are your families still here?” I questioned around a bite of something sweet.
“My family lives on another kingdom now, they are retired. I see them every chance I can get, but I was never super close to them,” Hurley admitted, and I reached over and squeezed his hand.
“My dad died in a shipwreck about seven years ago now. My mum remarried and has a new family. I left when I was younger, so I don’t really see them,” Loch divulged, and just like that it made sense. These boys, they made their own family and never looked back.
After dinner we laid back down and just enjoyed being with each other, and their hands never strayed far. They were always stroking my skin, or running along my body, until eventually Loch grunted and pulled me on top of him. His eyes were closed as I stared at him, but his lips turned up in a grin. Settling against his chest, I let the sound of the ocean and his heart under my head soothe me.
Suddenly, a scream came followed by another. Turning my head, I scanned the town but saw nothing and my men didn’t seem to hear it, so with growing horror I looked back to the ocean.
“What are they doing?” I asked, leaning up from Loch’s chest. Fear and pain washed through me. I could feel the fish, turtles, baby sharks, and all other sea creatures caught in the nets crying out in pain as they choked to death.
“Fishing, it’s how we sustain our towns. The turtles and sharks we don’t always eat. We either throw them back or use their skins and fins,” he replied tiredly, closing his eyes. He didn’t see me staring into the water with tears dripping down my face as I felt all their lives extinguish.
I sat there for hours watching the ships work the ocean killing hundreds, even thousands, of the pure, innocent creatures who couldn’t protect themselves. Each death was like a stone dropping into my stomach, and the pain runni
ng through me was so great that a river of tears, filled with ocean salt, dropped into my human lap. My men didn’t notice, since they were fast asleep under the sun.
Holding back a sob, I watched as a baby white shark wash up onto the shore mere feet from me, its eyes open and filled with agony. Its little fin missing and just a bloody stump where it once was. They didn’t even wait for him to die before they mutilated him. I stumbled to my feet and ran to the water's edge. Dipping my hands in, scales growing along them, I scooped up the baby. I held it in my hands as I whispered a death rite, blessing its passing, and begged for forgiveness for the senseless murder. Unwilling to leave the baby to rot, I waded into the shallows as I turned back to my true form, and left it to rest at the bottom of the sea. I made my way back to land and turned into my human form, where I stood shivering from the cold with my eyes still on the ships in the water.
How could they? I understand we ate to survive, a food chain must exist, but they were killing freely and in unnecessary amounts. No town could eat that much, it would go to waste. All that death—for nothing.
Unable to handle it any longer, I turned and kissed my men goodbye as they slept and dove back into the water to cry out my sadness. It looked like father was right.
I swam farther into the water and floated away from the ships, as I protected the fish and creatures huddled together there. I thought through everything I had seen and felt among the humans. Yes, there was death and pain, but there was also beauty and love. I, myself, had found love. Maybe if I could prove that not all humans were the same, that they were capable of change and love, then I could prove we too could change?
Determination raced through my body as I dove under the keel of the ships, avoiding their rudders, heading to the harbour. My men were leaving tonight and I would follow them. I would prove their love and kindness was pure, and I would prove that not all humanity was damned.
Chapter Five
The sun had finally set by the time I saw my pirates again, and even watching from the water caused my heart to thump. I hadn’t wanted to leave them, I wished I could curl back into the safety of their arms and ignore everything, but that wasn't who I was.
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