by S Cinders
His cheeks puffed out, “You are only a woman, what do you know about war?”
I had to take a deep breath, and then several more.
“Did you even notice that I was gone all these months? Or were you too busy smoking your pipe and having visions?”
He raised his hand for the first time ever in my presence.
“Are you going to hit me?” my tone was deceptively quiet. “Go ahead, if that is how you believe I should be treated. I won’t stop you.”
He stepped back, surprised at his own actions, “I would never hit you.”
My brow furrowed, “You aren’t the man that raised me. He was brave and knew how to lead his people. He would never have allowed Hook to take over the camp.”
There was a moment of heavy silence. I saw the fine lines on my father’s face and the stoop to his shoulders. Most people didn’t age past twenty-five in Neverland. But there were some that the aging process only slowed but didn’t stop.
I have no idea what the difference is and how to stop myself from being the latter. A niggling of doubt crept into my thoughts. It did seem as though the individuals that aged; Hook, Smeed, and my father were all men that at times walked the wrong side of good and evil.
I had a strong hunch that there was a correlation.
Someone cleared their throat, and then asked permission to enter the tent.
Alex.
I felt my heart gallop at the mere sight of the handsome pirate who resembled a Latin Lothario. His black curly hair touched his shoulders, and my fingers ached to touch those springy locks.
His chiseled jaw looked to be made of granite; and his eyes, almost black in color, were warm on my face.
Alex was much taller than I was and must have had another hundred pounds on his frame of sheer muscle. I loved his tan skin and shockingly white teeth. Everything about him sent shivers up and down my spine.
But I couldn’t let him know it. Life was complicated enough as it was.
“What do you want, boy?”
My father could be such a charmer.
“Alex, please come inside,” my smile widened, when I caught his shy crooked one.
Damn, that boy was positively lickable.
Alex turned to my father, “I beg your pardon, Chief. But Captain Hook wishes to know if he can count on the tribe as support?”
“Bastard,” my father spat on the ground, and I saw Alex’s jaw tighten.
I glared at my father. This was his moment of truth. Was he still the honorable man and chief of the tribe, that he had once been?
“Ask Tiger Lilly,” my father mocked, “She will be leading this lunacy.”
A sigh of relief escaped my lips, but at the same time, an arrow of sorrow pierced my heart.
I turned to Alex, “You make take me to Captain Hook, Mr. Smeed. I will speak with him about the tribe’s involvement.”
Alex nodded and offered a short bow to my father that was borderline disrespectful. It was sadly more than he deserved.
“WAIT,” I STARED IN disbelief, “You don’t know where the treasure or the Never Stone is located?”
Hook sneered at me, “Do you honestly believe that I would still be on the island if I had found that treasure?”
“So, you are no better than Captain Silver? Why would we help you?”
Alex took a step closer to me at the same time Hook raised his arm with the severed hand. The sharp hook glistened in the light from the fire. It was menacing as well as oddly magnificent.
“I have no desire to steal the Never Stone, Princess,” Hook twirled his mustache with the silver instrument. “But I would like that treasure. I am still a pirate, Milady.”
“What is your plan, Captain?” I was willing to hear what he had to say, but there was no way that I was letting him walk off with any treasure. For all we knew, the gold and the Never Stone wouldn’t work without each other.
“I need you and Alexander to approach the Mermaids in Mermaid Lagoon. They despise the pirates, but I know they have a fondness for his pretty face.”
Alex flushed, as a scowl broke out.
I stifled a grin, “Very well. What is the goal of this mission?”
“Their lagoon is rife with buried treasure,” Alex muttered, “But as far as we know it is nothing compared to Silver’s treasure.”
Hook nodded, “Just as the boy says. However, you are looking for something.” He leaned in close, “The leader, Atlantia was entrusted with the map to the treasure. We need that map.”
“And you think that she will give it to Alex and me?” I shook my head, “There is no love lost between the Indian Tribes and the merpeople. I don’t think they will hand anything over willingly.”
Hook’s eyes glinted, and for a moment he looked startlingly like Alex.
“I never said they would hand it over, Princess. Make no mistake. It will be hard fought. I am sending the boy as protection. But he is also one of the best thieves on the island. My daughter wouldn’t lie about these things.”
Alex gritted his teeth.
Ebony wasn’t his true daughter, and yet Hook still claimed her? His own son stood directly in front of his face and Hook called him the boy?
“We need that map, tomorrow, if not yesterday.”
I nodded in agreement, “I will travel with your son to the merpeople. We will return with the map.”
Hook’s eyes narrowed, “You are a brave woman, Princess Tiger Lilly.”
I didn’t know if he was referring to my use of Alex’s parentage or the fact that I had assured him of the success of our mission. I didn’t stop to ask either, and I grabbed Alex’s arm in a firm hold, as I exited the tent.
We walked in silence for a time as we passed the other tents and moved towards the forest. I heard a branch snap and turned to see who was approaching when Alex shoved me up against a tree. The movement was so quick. I let out a startled squeal of protest.
“Is there anyone there?” I heard one of the pirates from Ebony’s crew call out.
“It is only me, Alex,” he replied, his body covering mine fully. “I had to take a piss.”
My cheeks heated at the thought of his cock out in the open, even if Alex had been rather crass.
“No worries, Mate, I will see you on the morrow,” the sound of footsteps departing left Alex and I still glued to each other.
With the tree at my back, I could hardly breathe. His breath caressed my face, and I smelled a hint of rum on his breath. My lips twitched, Alex was a true pirate to the core.
“I believe we can separate now,” my voice was breathier than I had imagined it would be.
Alex grunted, “No, we can’t.”
“Why?” my brow furrowed, but his answer came in the form of a kiss. Everything I thought I knew about life was suddenly turned on its end.
Damn, the man knew how to kiss a woman.
CHAPTER 32 – Tiger Lilly
HIS LIPS WERE FIRM as they slanted over mine demanding entry.
I had been kissed before. Indeed, Peter had planted one on me when he was younger. I remember the pleasant feeling of a boy’s lips touching mine and that pit of warmth in my stomach.
Kissing Alex was nothing like kissing a boy.
My core clenched with need he plundered my mouth, possession, and danger in every swipe of his tongue. My legs trembled beneath me. I might have fallen, if Alex hadn’t pressed me harder against the bark of the tree.
My thin leather dress left nothing to the imagination as he pressed his massive cock against my belly. I didn’t have a warm, comfortable feeling there. No, this was more of an inferno that threatened to burn me alive.
“Touch me!” Alex demanded, and I realized that I was so wrapped up in the kiss that my arms were lying by my side. I gingerly lifted them up and touched the naked skin that was bared by the neck of his shirt.
We both moaned as my fingers stroked his skin. He was every bit as hot as I was, and that only served to embolden me.
I touched his muscul
ar pecks and ran the tip of my finger over his flat nipple through his shirt.
Alex growled and bit my lower lip tugging at it, “You are playing with fire, little girl.”
“I am already burning!”
His eyes widened at my admission. He kissed me again, as if he couldn’t help it, as if he would die if he couldn’t taste me one last time. The firestorm of emotion enveloped both of us. We couldn’t get enough of the other.
Tongues and teeth mashed as he tilted my head back so that he could delve further. I knew that he wanted to conquer me, and I was far from giving him a reason not to.
My fingers dug into his abs, and I wanted to touch his naked skin, but I wasn’t quite brave enough.
His hands had remained on my waist and ass, almost as if he were forcing himself to stay still.
I was about to demand that he touched me like I was doing to him when Alex wrenched his lips away.
“I will not apologize,” his warned, as his glittering eyes raked my body.
I felt naked underneath his gaze, naked and wanton.
I wanted to flippantly reply that I hadn’t asked for a damn apology, but then something better came to mind.
“I won’t fucking apologize either!”
Alex’s eyes widened at the curse word, and I saw him take a step forward and then mentally battling with himself.
This man wanted me, and I wanted him.
I didn’t know what internal battles he was struggling with. But I was tired of the dance that we had been doing around each other all those months of the voyage. I knew that I was innocent in comparison to Alex.
I hadn’t experiences pleasures of the flesh to the degree that he had. Being the chief’s daughter had a way of keeping one innocent. The men in my tribe liked their scalps where the gods had put them and not on my father’s belt.
“I will take what I want from you Alex Smeed,” I continued, “You are a big boy. If you don’t care for my advances, you are going to have to fight me off.”
He sputtered, dumbfounded, “You, are going to ravish me?”
I shrugged, “If I want to I will, and if you are really lucky.”
Alex stumbled back a bit, and then out of nowhere smacked his forehead rather harshly.
“Damn it, fuck!”
“What is the matter with you?” I demanded, pulling his hand away and looking at the red mark that was blossoming on his face.
“Waking myself up,” he grumbled, “Or at least trying to.”
I laughed, I couldn’t help myself.
“Come along, Sleeping Beauty,” I teased, as I began to walk in the direction of Mermaid Lagoon.
Alex stared at me for a moment or two before launching himself forward, grumbling under his breath.
My heart seemed lighter as we walked in silence. The night was coming on, but I had grown up in these forests and knew where the best places to sleep were. I could tell that Alex wasn’t used to it by the way he spooked at every sound.
“It is only the toads singing,” my lips were behaving traitorously. “You have nothing to be afraid of, Mr. Smeed.”
Alex looked indignant, “I am not afraid, Lilly!”
It warmed my heart that he called me by my nickname, and not Princess Tiger Lilly.
“I will protect you, Alex,” and I would with my dying breath.
In an instant, he had his arms around me, and I couldn’t move an inch. I felt the heat from his hard body and knew that I was in trouble.
“What are you doing?” I hissed, but he placed a hand over my mouth. I almost argued, but then I heard it, men talking.
“We need the girl for ransom, Silver,” Black Dog said gruffly, “You should never have let the bitch go.”
There was a low murmur that I couldn’t make out, and then Silver spoke, “We need them to lead us to the map. If I know Hook, he is desperate to find it before we do. Why do all the work when he will do it for us?”
A squeaky parrot squawked, and there was a rustling noise.
“I am going to kill the bastard if he gives us away,” Black Dog growled in annoyance. “He’s just a damn bird!”
“Damn bird! Damn bird!” was the parroted reply.
“Have the spies returned with information?” Silver ignored the them both.
“Not yet,” Black Dog replied, “But I expect them any second.”
I felt Alex pick me up and then throw me over his shoulder. Then to my utter shock and horror, he walked right into Silver’s camp.
“I have news and a hostage,” he set me down none too gently and began tying my wrists and feet.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I cried out, fighting him with everything I was worth.
“You were to bring my daughter,” Silver’s sword glinted in the firelight.
“She wasn’t there,” Alex pulled the ropes tight enough to bite.
“How could you betray me?” I shrieked, but anything else was muffled by the handkerchief that Alex shoved into my mouth.
“But I have the location of the map,” his eyes glanced to mine, and there was something there that I couldn’t quite understand. I hated him more than anyone else in the world at that moment. I had trusted Alex. I was halfway to falling in love with the man.
I willed the tears that threatened to fall back. I wouldn’t let him see me cry, not if the world depended on it.
Silver and Alex spoke late into the night. I was offered something to eat, but I refused. Alex did force some water down my throat, but he succeeded in making my dress soaked in the process. As the night grew later, I began to shiver. We had never made it to a cave and the night wind was cold against my wet clothing.
I felt myself being yanked from the chair I had been tied to. My feet were quickly tied again, but Alex had pulled me close to where he was lying.
“I will remove the gag if you promise not to yell. One word and it goes back inside, do you understand?”
I nodded slowly and then whimpered as he pulled out the offending cloth. True to my promise I didn’t speak a word. Not when he shared the blanket to soothe my chills, not when my eyes finally found sleep, and certainly not when my fingers found the hilt to his blade in the early morning.
CHAPTER 33 – Alex
I FELT THE TIP OF A dagger at my throat and almost smiled. Tiger Lilly never ceased to amaze me.
“Are you going to run me through?”
I hadn’t opened my eyes yet, and my voice was laced with sleep.
“Give me one good reason not to,” Tiger Lilly pressed the dagger deeper, and I felt the slightest of pinches.
“Giving me a scar will only increase my good looks,” I opened my eyes and smiled at her. “You are so damn beautiful.”
Tiger Lilly growled, “That isn’t a good reason.”
I raised a brow, lips twitching, “No, I suppose you are right. How about this? We need Silver’s scuba diving gear to find the map. Unless you have a way for us to breath underwater? If that is the case, then we shall make our escape now.”
Her eyes blazed for the briefest of moments, before she pulled the dagger away from my throat.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I glanced around camp to see if anyone was paying attention to us. It was early yet. The sun hadn’t broken across the sky.
Leaning in and whispering into her ear, “I was too busy kissing your mouth, tasting your passion, and picturing you naked and writhing beneath me.”
The dagger was back at my throat in an instant.
“Do you think this is a game, Mr. Smeed?” Tiger Lilly looked every inch of the princess that I knew her to be.
“No, my lady,” I answered solemnly. “But I do seem to get my priorities confused when my tongue is tangled with yours. I do most humbly apologize.”
She grunted, it was the most ladylike grunt I had ever heard, and a wide smile split my face. Tiger Lilly lowered the dagger, and I wrapped my fingers around hers at the hilt so that she couldn’t accidentally separate my head from my shoulders.
I had grown rather fond of its current placement.
“I don’t like being the hostage,” Tiger Lilly murmured.
I couldn’t blame her for it. I had been held captive a time or two. Your arms begin to ache after about an hour, and then another hour after that they become numb. The ropes burn into your skin, and you find yourself tugging at them, even though you know full well that they aren’t going to unravel themselves.
“I can’t untie you, Princess,” I whispered into her ear.
She snuggled up under my chin, and I felt the smooth stands of her dark hair caress my skin.
“Try and get some sleep. We have a long walk ahead of us.”
I began to stroke her back, and after a short time, her eyelids began to droop. I laid awake and watched her as the sun began to peek over the mountaintop. Her smooth tanned skin hadn’t a blemish in sight. I loved the way her pouty lips parted as she sighed.
I had wanted this woman for as long as I could remember. But I hadn’t truly gained respect for her until our journey. When you love someone from afar, you tend to gift them with attributes you wish them to have.
Often, the real person isn’t anything like the illusion you have conjured in your head. Tiger Lilly wasn’t a bit like I had thought she would be. The reality far outweighed anything I could have dreamed up.
Her kind spirit and loving nature as she took Ebony under her wing, surprised me. Her valiant heart and strength of character as we merged crews with Silvers, impressed me. But her determination to do right by her people and Neverland, endeared her to me far more than anything else.
Tiger Lilly’s eyes flickered open the moment some of the pirates began walking around camp. I pressed a fast kiss to her lips before sitting up and hauling her up beside me.
In a gruff voice, I said loud enough for the others to hear that I needed to take a piss and that she was welcome to do the same.
I saw her lip curl in disdain. I knew she didn’t like my pirate persona, but I had to keep up appearances. I cut the rope securing her feet together, and we walked away from the group. As soon as I could, I sliced the rope at her hands and rubbed the aching skin as blood flooded back into her limbs.