I can’t tell him he doesn’t belong to me, or anyone else, because I can’t speak. I can’t do much more than try to form his name with garbled sounds. The table rattles against the wall, shaking it, with the force of March’s thrusts, as he lays his own claim on me.
He wrenches my head to the side suddenly, baring my neck to him, and I stare at him with wide eyes. When he grins, his teeth sharper than normal, my core clenches around him, building quickly with his still powerful thrusts. Somehow, he never nicks me with his claws, though I’m tempted to tell him to.
“My father may have been a Hare, happy to be docile, but my mother was a vastly different creature,” he grunts, keeping my head to the side, keeping my neck prone before him. My instincts scream at me not to bare my throat, my neck, to a predator, but I’m not prey. I’m not scared of the March Hare. “Chimeras bite their mates to hold them close. You won’t be able to pull away. And there’s other things. . .” His teeth clack together as he snaps towards me, but he holds himself back, waiting for me to give some sort of permission for him to give into his instincts. I do the only thing I can.
I clench my fingers in his hair at the base of his skull and press him closer, moving his teeth close to the sensitive flesh between my shoulder and neck. I hear his teeth snap again and my core clenches.
He slams his cock harder inside me, powerful thrusts that I worry will knock the wall down, almost bruising. “Mine,” he snarls savagely, and he strikes.
I shatter around him, my cry keening as loudly as the drums beating outside as his teeth lock into my muscle and hold on. His rhythm breaks, slamming inside me roughly three more times before I feel him swell inside me, forcing him to stop all movement as his warmth fills me. My body vibrates with the overload of feelings, his claws holding me still, his teeth locked both painfully and pleasantly in my flesh, his cock locked inside me by a swollen knot I didn’t expect. My breath saws in and out of my chest, my heart rate wild inside me. We’re sweat-slick, the light shining from the liquid beading on our skin.
Carefully, he pulls his teeth from my skin and drags his tongue over the wound even as it heals. When he meets my eyes, there’s vulnerability there, asking me if I’m going to run after he gave into his instincts.
With him still locked inside me, I lean up and press a kiss to his lips. “I’m not scared of the big, bad Hare,” I whisper against his lips, and he shudders, his arms wrapping a little tighter around me.
“Are you sure I’m not too much a monster?” he asks, and in his words, I hear his insecurities and the words he’s been called. I want to wipe them away, but the best I can do I reassure him.
“If you’re a monster,” I murmur, pressing a kiss over his scars. “Then I’m a monster. And we can be monsters together.”
For a moment, we hover there, me sitting on the desk and March locked between my thighs. When the knot begins to soften, he gently strokes inside me, moving again. We tumble onto the bed, and the next time, we move much slower.
Even if we’re monsters, we’re capable of care and love, of being gentle if we want to. Something inside me shatters at the love shining on March’s face. We’ve hardly spent enough time together for those thoughts, but danger can incite emotions far quicker, and I can’t deny that I’m latching onto the Hare far faster than I realized. When we both reach a wave together, I admit to myself I might be in trouble.
Because even monsters have a heart.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The next morning, we’re all sitting around a single fire as it crackles and pops. The flames today aren’t orange and red like anyone would expect; they’re green, a side effect of Tink’s pixie dust falling into the flames when she first arrived. The result is a pretty dancing show of light to dark green, flames that make me want to capture them.
Around us, members of the Tribe, the Coven, and Pirates are scattered around. Most are sleeping, passed out after a night of drinking and merriment. Those awake are focused on trying to get to their feet. The guards on the walls are wide awake though, those who knew they had to keep watch being smart about how much they drank. The rest though, they treated last night as a last celebration, just in case. I don’t blame them.
“The key,” Jupiter murmurs to herself, thinking out loud. She’s been trying to puzzle out the information we know, but the problem is, what we know is incomplete. It’s difficult to find the solution when you don’t even know the ingredients. “The key. The key.” The words repeat under her breathe over and over again. “Is there a way you have an actual key?”
Wendy shakes her head. “I have nothing. I didn’t even realize I was some sort of key until the Croc said so.”
“I’m the key to Wonderland,” White adds, wrinkling his brow. “My body is the key, my magic. Though I use physical keys, it’s ultimately my magic that allows me to unlock them. Could you be the key to Neverland in the same way?”
“I don’t know.” Wendy runs a hand through her hair. “I’ve never been able to leave. You know that. We tried with your door once.”
“Yes, my door. Perhaps, you’re using the wrong door.”
“We have no doors here,” I speak up. “Not that I’ve seen. Neverland is an island in the center of an ocean. All paths lead back to land, all except Peter’s.”
Everyone looks at Peter where he sits away from the circle, his eyes trained on the sky rather than us. “I can’t take anyone up. My magic allows me through, but I can only bring people inside. I can’t take them out.”
“Have you tried it?” Cheshire stares at Pan like you would prey. I don’t have the heart to tell the cat Peter is still just as dangerous broken as he was whole.
“Yes.” Peter looks down and meets Cheshire’s eyes. “Many times. Mostly so I could get rid of people and no longer have to deal with them. It worked, because the closer we got to my exit, the more they died.”
Jupiter tilts her head. “They didn’t die all at once?”
“No. It’s a slow death.”
Listening to them all go back and forth makes me anxious, my finger beginning to tap against my thigh. We’re wasting time trying to figure out something that should be simple. Keys open doors, but there’s no door we know of, not magical ones. The more I think about it, the more I’m certain we’re going around in circles. We’re working on limited knowledge, and we know nothing about what Wendy is.
“Great,” Wendy growls. “I’m the key to a door we’ve lost, and I cry crystal tears that somehow relate to that.” She crosses her arms. “This is really bloody stupid.”
March sits beside me, watching the others parry words, somehow silent. Though his ears twitch with unknown voices none of us can hear, they don’t spill from his lips for once. We’d spent the night enjoying each other, dangerously thinking happy thoughts, only to rise with the sun and try to ignore them. Not that March isn’t inserting himself into my life. Even now, his shoulder brushes mine, his fingers barely touching the side of my thigh as he rests them on his own leg. He’s purposely touching me, and I wonder if it has something to do with the madness suddenly at bay.
Tink sighs heavily, her wings a little limper than usual. I wrinkle my brows at the sight. I’ve never seen the pixie anything less than regal and put together, but as Wendy had mentioned, I can see her weariness now where I hadn’t before. The Pixie Queen is getting exhausted, and I know it has to do directly with the heart of Neverland. The closer I look at her, the more I can see black lines on her skin beneath her dress, designs I’ve never seen before. Tink doesn’t have tattoos, her skin as smooth as ever, so how does she have them now?
“Do y’all have a version of our March Hare?” Cal asks, frowning. March perks up at being mentioned, tilting his head to listen. “He’s the Keeper of Memories. Where do you go for history or information?”
Wendy grimaces and I don’t blame her. “I’m not going to Skull Rock again. We did last time.”
“And we nearly died,” Hook adds. “We only escaped because—”
/> Wendy’s hand on Hook’s thigh silences him abruptly, and I narrow my eyes. “Are you keeping secrets, Daughter?”
“It’s nothing of importance to our problem,” she hastily adds. “Just something I would like to keep to myself.”
Everyone’s silent for a moment, digesting her words. I’m not sure if it’s because they’re digesting that information or if they’re angry, but for me, I know how I feel.
“You’ll tell us if it becomes important to our survival,” I murmur to the Sea Captain and she nods in agreeance.
“When you say you almost died,” White says, “do you mean literally, or figuratively?”
“Both. We barely made it out alive. Skull Island, though it holds memories, isn’t something you walk away from. If we hadn’t been immortal and had a little help, we’d have never made it out. It’s a cycle of your memories, twisted into monsters and everything you’ve never wanted to hear. Like the magic is inside your mind.”
“That sounds dangerous,” Jupiter muses. “But we need someone to go, right?” Her eyes trail around the circle, as if searching for a volunteer. When she finds none, she sighs. “I can go. Perhaps my powers as a Dreamwalker will help.”
“Absolutely not!” White growls. “They said they almost died, and they’ve had more time to settle into their immortality. We don’t even know if you’re immortal outside Wonderland.”
“I am. I chopped my finger off the other day, and it grew back before you even noticed.”
White sputters, and if not for the dire circumstances, it would be almost comical. “You chopped your fucking finger off?!”
“Accidently.” Jupiter shrugs as if it’s the most normal thing in the world to do. “I was cutting something, the blade slipped, and it’s super sharp. It sliced clean through before I could stop it. But it’s perfectly fine.” She held up one perfect, five-fingered hand. “It grew back within thirty minutes, as if nothing had happened.”
White stares at his mate, flabbergasted, as she details chopping off a digit and growing it back. This time, I can’t help the small chuckle under my breath, and Jupiter shoots me a quirky smile. “See, Tiger Lily thinks it’s funny.”
“Chopping off a finger isn’t funny!” White sighs and rubs his forehead. “Regardless, you’re not going. We can’t risk it.”
“Someone has to.”
“Yes, but not you,” White growls. “I’ll go before you do.”
“I’ll go.”
I jerk even as everyone else stops talking and looks at March. He looks at ease, without a care in the world, as he talks nonchalantly of going to a place coated in blood and memories.
“Didn’t you hear?” Atlas asks. “You could die.”
“I’ve already died more times than I can count, Berserker. What’s one more time?”
Jupiter grimaces. “Who better to find a memory than a Keeper of Memories?”
“Exactly.” March stands up. “Point me in the direction.”
“You have to take a boat—”
“You’re not going alone,” I murmur, and March looks down at me with a smile. “You can’t go in alone. Wendy and Hook went together so they could tether to each other, have someone to bring them out if they couldn’t do it themselves. I’ll go with you.”
Peter stands from his place, and for a second, he almost looks like he cares about what happens to me, but he doesn’t say anything so I look away. He stays trapped in his darkness, not even able to stop me, not able to offer help.
March offers his hand and I take it without hesitation, letting him pull me to my feet.
“We can take the Star Chaser,” Hook offers. “We’ll have to row you close with a small boat but to get out in the water, we need a big one. If we row in the small one, we’ll never make it against the waves.”
Hook immediately calls out to certain members of his crew, enough to pilot the ship with, preparing to board his ship again after being away from the Sea for too long. I wonder what it feels like to be apart from your comfort. If I was forced to be at sea or in the skies, I might have sunk into my own darkness.
My eyes flick to Peter again, his eyes already fixed on me, watching closely. Even if he doesn’t speak up, I can see the worry in his gaze, but I dismiss it. Peter Pan will offer no help in any form. He can’t even help himself right now.
I reach out to Tink as everyone makes plans, preparing to move, and the pixie stares at me with her unnaturally pink eyes. “Can you make sure Aniya is taken care of while I’m gone?” I ask. When I think better of it, I add, “please?”. I hate to do so, to owe Tink anything, but I’m surprised when Tink smiles and nods.
“I’ll watch her, and you’ll owe me nothing for it. She’ll remain protected while you’re gone.”
I bow my head in thanks, but it’s when March threads his fingers with mine that I look away and allow him to lead me towards The Star Chaser tethered just off the coast.
I don’t know what to expect as we board the ship, but the feeling of something bad happening grows as we do. Skull Rock is feared for a reason. And I’m willingly walking onto it with a Hare.
The power in my veins swirl.
Skull Rock looms in the distance, the grotesque shape of a skull calling to us. An awful scream shrieks from within and I fight the urge to cringe. I never thought I’d be walking willingly into the open maw to find answers. Hopefully, we’ll find out something at least.
“When you get inside,” Wendy murmurs, “the phantoms of Skull Rock will try to separate you. Hook and I were unprepared for that. Perhaps, you’ll be able to stop it.”
“What happens once you’re separated?”
I turn my eyes to the Sea Captain as she stares at Skull Rock. She shivers at the sight, and I know it’s bad. Wendy isn’t afraid of much, so the fact she fears the island sits heavy with me.
“For me, I saw every face that haunts me.”
“Your brothers?” Wendy’s lips thin and though she doesn’t answer me, it’s an answer in itself. “You can keep your secrets, Wendy. It’s okay to. I just hope it’s nothing that will get us, or our people, killed.”
“It’s not.” Biting her lip, she sighs. “But if I suspect it is of importance, I’ll tell you. I’m not ready to face the phantoms yet.”
As Skull Rock draws closer, Hook calls for the anchor to be dropped and the small boat is lowered into the waves that will row us to the island. March stares at the rock closely, studying it.
“It doesn’t just have memories,” he murmurs. “It had blood.”
Hook nods. “It was used for blood sacrifices before we realized Neverland was fed by bringing children to the world rather than the murdering of innocent people.”
March hummed under his breath. “Blood feeds it, too,” he reasons. “It just fed the wrong parts.”
I don’t have time to ask what he means. Wendy leads us to the small boat and lowers us down. Wendy and Hook follow so they can row the boat and come retrieve us once we’re finished.
“Remember,” Hook murmurs. “It’s not real. The phantoms will be able to touch you, harm you physically, confuse you, but you must remember they’re only wearing the faces of your memories.”
March grimaces and glances at me. “Don’t be afraid of me, Pretty Lily,” he whispers. “Whatever you see when we step onto the rock, don’t be afraid.”
I smile and take his hand. “Don’t worry,” I murmur. “I’ve seen worse things than a mad March Hare.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Wendy and Hook coax the small boat to the edge of Skull island and hover there. Neither of them will be stepping from the protection the boat offers, by our orders and Hook’s insistence. They’ve already faced the phantoms once for us. There’s no need for them to do so again. Because once on Skull Rock, you place yourself at the mercy of the phantoms and souls that live here. You don’t have to go inside to be haunted.
March moves to step off but I hold him back for a moment. Carefully, I lift the headdress from my head and hand
it to Wendy for safekeeping. She hesitates for a second before taking it carefully between her fingers.
“Are you sure?” she asks. “You might need the vesper inside.”
“I can’t transform in the limited space, and truthfully, I’ve never feared the vesper. My nightmares will come with other faces.”
Nodding, Wendy shifts the headdress to one side and offers her forearm to clasp. I do so without hesitation. “Stay wild.”
“Stay fierce,” I finish, bowing my head just barely to the other Daughter. I take comfort in the fact she and Hook survived this very thing to find out what was happening to Neverland. Now, I will need to find the right questions to figure out where a door could be, and not die in the process. “Ready?” I ask March, taking his hand. We’re going to try to stay together since Wendy and Hook warned they’ll try to separate us first. They haven’t counted on our combined strength. Besides, having the knowledge that they’ll be attempting it will help us be stronger in our hold.
“Ready.”
Together, a little unsteady with our hands linked, we step from the small boat and onto the dark stone of Skull Rock. Hook quickly pushes the boat away, paddling them further out where they’ll hover until we appear again.
If we appear again.
The moment my foot touches the stone, it feels as if someone grabs ahold and holds me to it, as if I can’t leave if I want to. A scream rips through the air from the gaping maw of the skull-shaped entrance, and though I want to cringe, I don’t. I can’t walk in with fear in my heart, or else the phantoms will latch onto it. It’s best to let them pick from the fears that sit in my heart rather than offering up new ones.
I glance over at March where he holds my hand tightly. He’s locked onto my hand almost to the point of pain, but I don’t mind. I know we’ll both be facing something we can’t be prepared for. It’ll be nice if we can face them together.
March’s form flashes when I look at him, between the Hare and the corpse—no, the chimera—before he looks down at me. “If something happens to me—”
Fierce as a Tiger Lily (Daughters of Neverland Book 2) Page 14