“A moment,” he said to Kida and kissed her forehead. She gave him a little pout with those lovely plump lips of hers but let go. Joren popped his head out of the cabin door. Tide hauled another body crate up onto his deck. “What ye be doin’? I thought they’d all boarded last night.” It was unusual for only one body to come on board. They always came in a huge bunch.
“They missed one,” Tide said. He gave him a toothy smile, which creeped Joren out. The drow was not a handsome elf. Probably never had been attractive before the feral hit him and turned him into a drow either.
“All right, set it up next to the others. Have you logged it?” He called the bodies “it” because he couldn’t rationalize a body actually being stuck, soulless, in a box, headed for the drow king. He couldn’t allow himself to care. Instead, they were “it,” simple possessions like a home or furniture, and he didn’t need to know what any of them looked like, who they were, or the rest. He had a simple task: bring the bounty to the feral king. The rest was up to the drow. Joren was paid for transport. Nothing else, and his pay was exceptionally good for his services, and for his trap to stay shut. Not that he really wanted to say anything anyway. It was the drow king’s business.
“It’s been logged. Don’t worry about a thing. But I’ll be seeing this load back with you.”
Joren stepped all the way out of the cabin. The drow never accompanied him to the underground. The king remained suspicious of even his own kind.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Tide. The king isn’t going to like it, and he didn’t give me leave to bring a passenger drow.”
“Trust me, pirate. It will be fine. You can drop me off just inside the tunnels. I don’t need to see his majesty. I have to drop this last box off somewhere else.” Tide walked up to him, face to face. If Joren didn’t know any better, he’d have thought Tide wanted to intimidate him.
Joren set his chin and straightened his shoulders. “I won’t go down for your stupidity, drow. Get off me ship.”
“No. I’m coming with you. He won’t even know I was on board.”
Joren pushed Tide toward the bow. “Off me ship!”
Tide put his hands out. “All right, but you might want to take a look at these papers before you send me away. Perhaps a little extra coin for your trouble would help?”
Joren grabbed the rolled sheets from the drow’s hand. A note from the king to have a delivery sent to another. One body crate and one soul box. It didn’t say Tide should come, but if Tide didn’t come, then Joren would have to leave his cargo and ship behind in order to do the delivery himself. He wasn’t happy with it, but he caved. “Fine. Get settled.” He threw the papers at the drow and headed back to his cabin.
Kida lay naked across his bed when he came in and slammed the door shut. He tried to control the surge of anger coming up. Tide always thought himself better than others, entitled.
“What is it?” She sat up, and her breasts moved softly with her body, jiggling enough to stir him again, taking his mind off the ugly feral elf.
He pulled her up and into his arms. “The time has come. I’ll be ship’n off. The cargo is loaded, and I’ve a mind to ravage you again.”
She giggled and slid her hand along the front of his pants. He growled in her ear and made her laugh, then pulled himself away. The female was a temptress, but work had to be done.
“You want me to go, don’t you?”
“Aye. I be needin’ to get paid.” He leaned back against the table and watched her dress in the morning sun.
She sent him a pout, slid on her sundress, and sashayed on bare feet up to him. “I can be your stowaway.” She batted her long eyelashes at him.
He gave her a swift swat on her rear end. “Off me boat, love.”
Her face formed a surprised “oh” shape and then righted itself. “Fine, but I might not wait around for you to come back.”
“And you shouldn’t.” He gave her a wink and watched her walk out of his cabin door. When she moved out of sight, he pulled a shirt over his head.
“She’s a lovely creature, Joren,” Tide said.
“Aye. The wench is always good to me when I come to port.”
“You plan to marry her?”
Joren turned to eye the drow. “I have no such intention. Get ‘em, fuck ‘em, and leave ‘em hanging on for more. Settlin’ down won’t be in me cards any time soon.”
“Not even for the right elfess?”
“Money is the right elfess, drow, and me Lily. The rest can drop to Davey Jones’s locker for what I care.”
“I think I found me one.” Tide leaned up against the wall and gazed out the window. His eyes took on a faraway look as if he was lost in his possible future.
“Good fer ye. Will she reverse the feral?”
“Will she turn me back into an elf? Perhaps. It has yet to be seen. The feral can only be reversed if that drow finds the right thing to create a change. For some it’s the act of intercourse; for others it’s finding an object, or I’ve even come across one elf who had it reversed by facing his fear. Hasn’t been easy for most of us. Living on souls, trying to quiet the raging inside always screaming in our heads and hearts. It eats away at my essence, like something dark and heavy in my stomach, acidic. I crave death. I crave souls. But I’ve been drow long enough I can be topside, out in the world with others, mingling without consequences, most of the time. Besides, even if she isn’t the one to turn me back to my elf self, I’ll still have fun with her.” He grinned.
Joren watched the drow. He’d rarely considered the feral effects. The waters had always been his love, and the feral hadn’t attacked him yet, so he assumed himself safe. It took over male and female elves, and there wasn’t a damn thing to be done about it. “I wish ye luck then, lad. Let’s set off.”
Chapter Eight
By the time they’d sailed around the waterfall and headed for the secret passage to the underground, a storm had set in. Dark clouds rolled through the sky, and the winds howled along Joren’s sails. Only a select few knew of the secret passage that led down to the drow king, and he paid a damn good price to keep the secret to those who knew, Joren included. The tunnels were a maze to most, dark, twisting, and unforgiving if a ship was to wreck upon its banks. Rocks jutted from the sides. Brown packed earth made the tunnels’ walls, and if the drow king truly wanted, he could bring the entire tunnel system down on any ship coming in.
The winds pushed the waters into waves crashing into the side of the boat. Joren pulled the steering wheel to the right to avoid a clash with the side of the dark, rocky tunnel and headed straight into the other side before he had time to swerve. The downside to small tunnels and larger boats—not a lot of room to maneuver. The waves slapped against his ship as the storm increased, attempting to topple his boat. The rocks on the other side of the tunnel came up fast as water splashed over his deck, soaking his feet. He pulled the wheel hard trying to clear the side. It was no use as the ship didn’t turn in time and he felt the crunch when the boat met rock. It grated on his nerves worse than needles on a sleeping limb. The boat listed, and the rushing storm water shoved it harder into the side of the tunnel. As he crashed, the extra crate Tide had brought on fell over and broke open.
There, lying pale and soaked with water, was the girl he’d saved yesterday morning. Pepper. The life in her blushing cheeks was gone, her eyes closed as if she slept, her body limp and heavy-looking. With his ship stuck on the tunnel rocks, and her body heading overboard, Joren had to make a quick decision—his boat or the girl.
“Sink me!” Joren cursed into the roaring wind. Tide had taken the girl’s soul and her body, and she would drown without an option to be reunited with her essence. She was too sweet an elfess to let Tide have his way. He’d have to save her. By the Sea God, why did he want to help her? A little voice in the back of his head reminded him that, pirate or not, he had a whole lot of trouble watching a beauty die for no real reason. Women. His ultimate weakness. Joren let go of the wh
eel and ran, slip-sliding toward Pepper with her body inching overboard.
“Stop right there, pirate!” Tide hollered. Joren turned to see the drow pointing a ball of yellow magic at him. It crackled and sparked white, hovering above his palm. The black soul box was tucked underneath his other arm. “She’s mine.” The drow looked fierce and determined against the backdrop of the dark tunnels with his hair slightly askew and clothes darkened with water.
“She wasn’t for anyone but ye, was she, Tide? Ye made it all up. Stole her soul without the king’s permission even.”
“I don’t need his permission. I’m just as entitled as he is. Besides, she begged me to set her free. I rescued her from a life of dull days. I can show her everything, and her soul will be a sweet treat. She’ll even thank me in bed.” Tide had walked around Joren and dropped to his knees by Pepper’s sopping hair. He wrapped her wet strands around his fist and then pulled the lass up, the dark, wet tendrils falling to one side.
“That be no way to treat her.” Joren’s anger bubbled over. Maybe he didn’t always want one elfess, but he had been man enough to treat ‘em decent. Tide would not walk off this boat with her body or her soul. His ship was lost; the tunnels would take the Lily, and no amount of asking, suffering, begging, or trying to get her free would save his beloved ship. He knew she’d sink to the murky depths below. But Pepper—he could save her.
Joren jumped as fast as his body would allow, and he tackled Tide to the deck. They both fell hard and Tide rolled out of his grasp. Tide let loose Pepper’s hair, and she slid to the rail as the boat tilted with their weight. Joren jumped up and swayed with the boat, making his way to the spiteful drow. As he reached the drow, Tide kicked his leg out, making Joren fall to his knee, and pain shot through Joren’s leg. Tide sat up and grabbed hold of Joren’s hair, slamming his face into the deck. His lip split. The wind roared through the tunnel and water stung his eyes. He had to wrestle the drow back down.
Joren waited for Tide to grab hold of his head again and then he twisted his arms around, catching the drow by surprise. He head-butted Tide, and the drow stumbled back. Joren scrambled to his feet and punched Tide in the face with his right fist and pulled the soul box free with his left. “There’s not a world, drow, where you are ever better than I. Stay down like a good pup, and I won’t kick ya.”
Tide glared at him, holding his gushing nose. Joren turned and ran for Pepper’s body. She slipped over the side at the same time he reached the rail. If the idiot drow had secured her, there wouldn’t be this problem. Hell, if the swab hadn’t stolen her soul to begin with, this wouldn’t be happening. The more he interacted with the drow, the less he liked him.
Joren dove over the boat after Pepper. Cold water hit his system, and he tried to embrace the suddenness of it all. He grabbed the soul box as hard as he could while swimming to catch her floating body.
Something tugged at his leg, and he kicked at it only to find Tide right behind him pulling him back. Tide’s face streamed with blood and water, and a scowl was engraved on his features. Joren kicked at him again, but the water made his leg a lot harder to move than he wanted. The drow caught his calf and pushed him down, using his own body as leverage, and ducked Joren under the thrashing water. He barely sucked in a breath before the water swept over his face. He tried to swim away, but the drow held him under. If he stopped thrashing around, perhaps he could trick the drow into thinking he’d passed out from lack of oxygen. Knowing full well when his hand floated up with the soul box, Tide would try to take it, Joren let himself go limp and float in the cool waves. His body bounced in the water.
Just as he thought, Tide scrambled for the box in Joren’s hand, and when he was close enough to grab it, Joren popped himself up and pushed all his weight down on the drow, sinking him under. He shoved the drow further down with his arm until his legs wrapped around Tide’s neck. Tide flopped and scrambled beneath him, making it difficult to stay afloat. But Joren had his legs wrapped around the drow, and he squeezed as hard as he could until he couldn’t feel Tide moving anymore beneath him.
Joren caught a glimpse of Pepper’s body floating deeper into the tunnel and knew he needed to reach her before some other drow laid his filthy hands on her form. Joren risked letting go of Tide and swam as hard and fast as he could to catch up to the floating elfess. It took him a few strokes before he reached her. He pulled Pepper into him and whispered, “It will be okay, love,” just in case she could hear him, and tugged her toward the rocks on the side of the tunnel.
The rocks dug into his hand as he pulled the waterlogged weight of himself and Pepper onto the flattest parts he could find. He heard a creaking sound and a splash into the waves. He peered up to see his boat split in half and sink as it rushed past, deeper into the drow tunnels. The king would kill him for losing the entire shipment. There were no excuses for it. He shook his head. He’d lost it all for a pretty lass.
He still clutched the soul box in his hand. He didn’t know how to get her soul back into her body and decided the only way to try was to let her soul free. He pried the top open and a purple essence seeped out. It hovered in front of his face, warm, inviting, and he felt himself move into it, seeking the warmth it promised. His heart flipped in his chest. The essence circled around him and then flew into Pepper’s body. She took a sharp gulp of air and sputtered back to the living. Joren let out the breath he hadn’t realized he held and reprimanded himself for caring so much whether she lived or died. After all, he would soon be in a life-or-death predicament himself when the drow king realized what he’d done.
“Come on, love we have to break for it.” He pulled her to her feet and tugged her along after him. He knew she wouldn’t really know what was happening to her, but he had to keep them both moving, so no drow caught up with them.
“What’s happening? Where am I? Joren?” By the time her voice said his name, it had become a high-pitched shrill.
He stopped and pulled her into him. “Everythin’ will be all right, love. Calm yerself.” Her body shook in his arms and a sob broke out from her lips. “I’m here. No need for the waterworks. We’ll get out of this.” She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes and a trembling lip. The urge to kiss the tremble from her overtook him. He leaned in and placed his lips over the top of hers. Gently pulling her into the kiss, teasing her bottom lip with his teeth. She opened up to him, and he slipped his tongue in to savor her. She tasted salty sweet between the sea and honey. He groaned, and his cock sprang to attention. Danger was the best aphrodisiac.
Pepper’s arms slipped up around his neck and she tugged at his shirt. “Wait, lass.” Joren pulled back. “Let’s find a safe place first.” She nodded, and he coaxed her up with him closer to the waterfall. If they could get past the tunnel opening and to the back of the waterfall, Joren knew of a little cave they had slim chance of being found in.
“Where are we?”
“Right past the entrance to the underground. See that light up ahead?”
“Yes.”
“That’s the waterfall. Hurry and we can make it there before anyone notices us.” Joren picked up the pace, and Pepper had no trouble keeping up. They broke through the light at the end of the tunnel and he turned them to the left and another immediate left where the cave was tucked literally inside the rock, and they had to squeeze through. Covered in darkness and alone with an elfess; what would he do to pass the time?
Chapter Nine
Pepper’s heart raced. He had her pinned beside him, both listening for anyone following them. She couldn’t remember much, a pain, Tide, and then there was Joren. Disgust for Tide bubbled up in her and she made a solid decision to avoid all drows, maybe even Damina. It would take time for her to feel safe around one again, perhaps never. It didn’t matter as long as they were both safe, as long as she still lived and breathed she could handle the rest. She took a deep breath calming herself, letting everything fall around her as they listened for footsteps.
The waterfall had ligh
t barely running through it and sprinkles of the falls splashed along the walls of the cave. Not enough to really make it wet, but it was a cool mist on her hot body. After several long moments, Joren turned to her. “No one’s a common this far. I have you all to meself.” He grinned
Alone in a cave with a pirate, with Joren. The excitement bubbled up and butterflies tumbled in her stomach. It was dark in the cave. She could see the light from the outside, but the darkness shielded everything, including their bodies, from view. Joren’s warm hands were on her in seconds, pulling her into him and walking her back against the furthest cave wall.
“I wanted to do this since I spotted ye yesterday on the dock, me beauty.”
It seemed weird, but she enjoyed how he called her his beauty. No one had called her a beauty before, and the way it came off his lips... She moaned as his mouth found the crook of her neck and teeth bit lightly into the skin. She barely noticed the hard surface she’d been pressed against.
“Like that, do ye?”
“Yes.” Pepper didn’t want to talk. She wanted to fuck. Her heart was racing, she’d almost died, and she wanted to feel everything, all of him, now and she had no intention of waiting around. She didn’t know what the future would bring, but she would live it fully. She ran her hands up into his hair and clung to him. His tongue licked up the side of her neck, excruciatingly slow, and a shiver ran down her back.
“Cold, love?”
“Pirate, say another word and I’ll throw you down and have my way with you.” Her voice came out deep, seductive, and determined. She hadn’t even known she could sound that way. It empowered her and confidence beamed inside her. She stood taller and raised her chin. She wanted this elf. Wanted him no matter if he had had several females before her, no matter if he was a pirate. She’d have him regardless of any consequences, and she intended to sate her needs with the hard cock pressing against her thigh.
Steele Your Soul (The Trouble With Elves Book 3) Page 4