The Silkie's Call

by Laura Browning

  She could not survive in their world. She would never be one of them. Always on the sideline, always partially paralyzed, that’s what awaited her. Ciaran’s attack had made one thing more than plain. She must end this relationship for Cayden’s sake as much as her own. He would always be thrust into the role of protecting her because she couldn’t protect herself. She grasped the edge of the bed with her hand and used it to help her roll onto her side.

  That was when she saw Cayden. He smiled at her, his velvety brown eyes warm and tender. There was so much love shining there that she began to have second thoughts about what she would do. So much love radiated from him that it started to fill her with the idea that together they could do anything, overcome any obstacle.

  She would give them both the gift of today, and she would do her best to make sure it was the best day that it could be. But then she hardened her heart. Tomorrow she would put her plan into action and ensure Cayden’s future, but for that she would need help. And she knew exactly where she would go.

  “Good morning, sleepyhead,” he said softly.

  Her eyes darted to the windows, and she saw that the sun was just beginning to rise above the water.

  “How long have we been here?”

  “It’s the third day.”

  Her eyes took in the fading bruise on his forehead. “How are you?”

  “Almost healed. Still a bit of a limp, but that should be gone. We heal quickly.”

  Could she use their differences as a way to drive a wedge between them? Part of her even felt a twinge of jealousy at his ability to heal. What would have become of her seven years ago had she been a Silkie? Would she be able to walk now? Annabel didn’t want to go down that road. It was pointless. She was human. A very limited human. And the only thing she would do by continuing to hang onto him was to drag Cayden down.

  “Do you think you can get up today?”

  Honestly? No. Still, she would do it. She had to. She had to make this day seem like it was normal, that everything was all right, just as it had been. She would do it for herself as much as for him, a gift she could remember when she was gone. And the time to do that had to be soon. She was here with his family. More importantly, he was here with his family. Now was the time for her to disappear, while he was back with them.

  She nodded. “I’d like that.”

  “Taylor brought your chair. The Skerry is big enough you can use it to get around most places. We even have an elevator so you can get to different decks.”

  Annabel smiled at his enthusiasm. It was obvious, no matter the problems with his family right now, that he regarded the ship as his home.

  “I’d like to go up, out in the sunshine, and feel the breeze.”

  “Do you need help getting dressed?” He paused and smiled slowly, sensuously. “I’d be happy to assist.”

  Her nipples hardened and she felt the instant surge of wetness between her thighs. One more time. Even as battered as she still felt, she needed to feel him make love to her one more time. She glanced meaningfully at the door. He chuckled and then crossed over to shut it and lock it. Cayden lost no time stretching out beside her on the bed. His hands roamed everywhere, touching, caressing, exploring, and teasing her sensitive skin. As his fingers slipped along her slick pink pussy, she looked up into his dark gaze with alarm.

  “What about your parents?” she whispered.

  “They went ashore for supplies, and they dropped Taylor off at the house. Other than crew, we’re alone.”

  She snuggled into his embrace, reveling in the feel of his strong arms holding her body and his breath ruffling her hair. She closed her eyes momentarily in pain, but this time it was a pain of the heart, not her battered body. Leaving him would be like killing half of herself. He turned her so she faced him. She dropped her gaze to hide her expression and instead ran her fingers lightly over his pecs and their covering of crisp, springy hair.

  She teased the hard, flat nipples. With her mouth, she traced the line of his collar bone and touched her lips to the strong muscles of his throat. As much as he wanted to touch her, she wanted to memorize every line and bulge of his taut muscles.

  “I’ve missed you,” he told her. “And right now, all I can think of is sliding my cock into the tight, hot core of you. Touch me there, Bell. Feel how I want you!”

  Her hand slid down over the hot rigid bulge in the front of his shorts, touching him through the cloth until she sighed impatiently and used her other hand to release the button at his waist. Inch by inch, she slowly slid the zipper down, the rasping sound it made as erotic as a caress. As her hand curled around his thick, pulsing shaft, he gasped and his eyes turned slumberous. Heat burned through her core and she thought for a moment she would climax just from knowing how much her touch affected him. Her eyes swept down to the glistening, swollen head of his penis.

  “I want to taste you, Cayden.”

  “Oh fuck yes!” He moved up to a half sitting position where she could easily reach him with her mouth. She captured the bobbing length of his hard-on and brought the tip to her mouth. “That’s it, Bell,” he groaned. ‘Yes, suck it for me.”

  Her lips slid down over him and she used her tongue to tease the ridge just behind the head of his cock. When he groaned, she shifted to take him deeper while her hand curved around the base of his shaft, caressing it and his ball sac. He teased one of her cloth-covered nipples with one hand while he used the other to hold her head in place so he could fuck her mouth.

  “That’s it,” his hoarse voice encouraged her. His own hands were busy, sliding the silky pajama shirt off her shoulders as he released the buttons. When he had her breasts bared, he eased his penis from her mouth and teasingly slapped the hard buttons of her nipples with its rigid length.

  She cried out. “Yes. Rub it between them, Cayden.”

  She loved the intensity of his expression as he pushed her back against the bed and slid down, positioning his cock between her breasts and squeezing them up and around his shaft. Slowly, teasingly, he pumped his penis back and forth. His breathing was ragged, but then so was hers as she stared unblinkingly at the head of his cock moving in and out between the creamy globes. The sight was incredibly erotic.

  “If I turn around baby,” he groaned, “can you suck me while I taste your pretty pussy?”

  The heavy throb at her core grew to an outright ache. “Yes, Cay. Taste me.”

  He straddled her face, before she felt his lips slowly kiss down to her belly and then further, taking the pajama bottoms with him until he stripped them from her and tossed them aside. Her pulse beat and she cried out again as his fingers slid over her swollen vulva, stroking her lightly and rhythmically. Their breathing accelerated. He parted her thighs with his hands and she felt the soft rasp of his cheek as he lowered his face between her legs. Palms cupped her bottom and lifted her so he had better access and then his lips and tongue explored her. The flicking back and forth over her hypersensitive flesh sent her careening upward, gasping even as she took his cock deep into her mouth.

  Her climax came upon her like a wave crashing into shore and she cried out as her hands rubbed his hot shaft. “I love you! Oh Cay! I love you so much!”

  As she lay back, limp in the afterglow, the aches and pains she still felt receded into nothingness. He stood next to the bed and smiled down at her. She watched him, love swelling her heart.

  How was it possible for anyone to be so beautiful and intimidating at the same time? He was all gorgeous, hard, and fully aroused masculinity. Annabel pushed herself into a sitting position with her legs hanging off the side of the bed, and stretched out her hand to him. He needed no other invitation as he stepped toward her.

  She circled her hand around his cock and began sliding it slowly up and down his shaft, her eyes watching the blissful expression on his face as he tilted his head back. Thinking of how he had touched her, she bent her head forward and once more took him into her mouth. When he shuddered and groaned, she grew bolder knead
ing his muscular ass with her fingers. His hands trembled as he stroked her hair back from her face. She continued until he was nearly incoherent.

  “Let me love you, Bell,” he moaned, pushing her back. Still standing next to the bed, he raised her legs high and guided himself into her tight, slick opening. “That’s it baby. That’s it.”

  He thrust in and out of her in a slow, sensuous rhythm, stroking until he was balls deep in her and then slowly almost all the way out. The sensations he created sent her desire rocketing upwards until she gasped and whimpered with pleasure, begging him to finish. At last, he shifted her so that he knelt over her, his weight braced on his forearms as he drove into her.

  He cradled her in his arms afterward, smoothing her hair from her face and pressing kisses against the top of her head where she rested against him. She rested her cheek against the hard plane of his chest, not wanting him to see what her face might reveal about her thoughts.

  ****

  For his part, Cayden had never felt so content. For the first time in a long while, he began to think that things might work out for everyone. His mate. His instincts made him want to do everything he could for her, but he forced himself to temper that with her need for independence. Still, he helped her bathe and dress and then they went up and out on the deck.

  He couldn’t take his eyes off her as she lifted her face to the sun and the wind. She was so much a part of the sea, he thought, more even than she knew, and he wondered, not for the first time, if the magic of the Silkie Lords could help her. In some ways, she was more Silkie than some of his own clan.

  “Marry me,” he said softly, his eyes warm and compelling as he leaned against the deck railing and gazed at her face. “Marry me, Bell.”

  She stared back, her brow furrowed. “How can that be, Cayden? You’re a Silkie and I’m human.”

  He smiled at her. “I’m a man now. I’m a man on land, and I don’t spend all my time in the sea. In fact, it seems I spend less and less.”

  “Because of me?” she asked in a whisper.

  “Some,” he admitted, “but our life has become more and more one that is lived out of the water. Don’t think, Bell. Say yes.”

  She stared out over the sea and for just a moment, he thought he saw a flicker of grief so profound it made his heart hurt with the pain of it, but then when he looked at her again, it was gone.

  “I must think about it, Cayden,” she said softly. “Please understand. The days when I could make impulsive decisions are over. There are so many things I have to consider.” She smiled at him. “Can you give me some time?”

  He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. “Take as much time as you need, my love.” He bent then and waved his hand across his ankle so that the leather anklet released. He wrapped it around her ankle, kissed her foot and smiled at her. “Keep it safe for me.”

  ****

  Annabel stared at the anklet until tears blurred her vision. He had given her his pelt. He couldn’t shift without it. He had given her a present seven years ago, symbolic of this very thing. A stuffed seal toy she still had. She just hadn’t realized it at the time. It was after her father sent Cayden away and told him not to come back. Had he somehow known what Cayden was? She shook her head as she remembered that night and Cayden’s gift. It was the last time they were together before the storm and the accident. A lifetime ago now, or so it seemed…

  Poppy was having the most incredible dream. She was on a sunlit beach with warm, white sand. No one else was there except Cayden. They lay together in the shade of a palm tree, their bodies pressed next to each other. She could feel every inch of his hard, muscular body as it wrapped around her, locking her in a cocoon of warmth and safety. He always made her feel safe.

  “Cay,” she murmured softly.

  “I’m here, my beautiful Bell.”

  She started to roll over to go back to her dream when she realized the arms around her were real. Her eyes snapped open and she stared into warm, laughing brown irises.

  “How? What?” He put a finger over her lips and grinned.

  “I snuck in.”

  “Oh God, Cay! Daddy will kill you…us…if he catches you in here!”

  Cayden stroked her cheek. “He’s sound asleep. Snoring. Mouth open. I could drop flies in there and he wouldn’t notice.”

  Poppy giggled. “Stop, Cayden! That is so wrong. You need to be more respectful…. He is my dad!”

  “Sorry,” he chuckled and dropped a kiss on the end of her nose. “I decided to sneak in because you looked so tired when you got home from the city.”

  “You’ve been here that long?” It warmed her, made her feel…loved.

  “Yes. I’ve thought about you all day long. I couldn’t wait. Here, I brought you this.” He reached behind him and handed her a little stuffed seal. “I figured since your boat is the Silkie you must like u…seals.”

  She framed his lean cheeks with her hands and leaned closer to press her lips against his. She was tentative at first, but as she felt his response and heard his groan, she wrapped her arms around his neck. With his free hand he skimmed his way down along her arm to the curve of her waist and out again along the flare of her hip. She had kicked the covers off earlier, and as his hand continued down, he encountered the smooth, bare skin of her legs.

  “What do you have on under that T-shirt, Bell?” he groaned against her mouth.

  “Underwear.”

  His whole body shuddered, but his hands were gentle as he set her away from him.

  “I have to stop,” he choked out, and he took his hand away from her.

  “No, Cay!” She pleaded, her hand skimming the sensitive skin of his chest. He shivered at her touch, but when she would have gone farther, he eased away and stood up, putting half the distance of the room between them.

  She looked over into his passion glazed eyes. “I want you to stay.”

  He trembled, twisting away from her as he fisted his hands in the pockets of his shorts.

  “I can’t. Things would get out of hand. I won’t do it, Bell.”

  “Don’t you want to? Other people our age do it.”

  “You’re different. Special.” He raked his hands through his hair. “It wouldn’t be right.”

  “It’s me, isn’t it? You think I’m just a kid too, just like my dad does.” She bit her lip, felt tears well in her eyes. After her arguments with her father, she’d wanted Cayden to hold her, kiss her, and touch her. Instead he just kept saying he couldn’t!

  “Don’t say that! We’re both young! Neither one of us are ready for this. It doesn’t mean we can’t be together down the road from now. What if I got you pregnant just like your dad worried might happen? You’re fourteen, Bell!” He stared at her miserably. “I have to go. I want to touch you too much. This was so not a good idea.”

  Before she could say anything else, he was gone. She ran to the window and watched him fly down the dune and disappear along the beach…

  It was the last time she remembered seeing him. Two days later she had taken her boat out in a storm and paid the price for her foolishness. She stared at the anklet he’d wrapped around her leg, and her resolve hardened. She would not keep him from what he was. He needed a woman who could share every part of his life, and stand proudly next to him. Not sit in a wheelchair.

  Chapter 13

  The day was glorious. Carrick and Catriona didn’t return until close to dusk. They tried to talk Taylor into joining them, but he reluctantly begged off saying he had promised to attend a dinner at the Yacht Club. Dinner on the Skerry, although an informal affair, was still served by a quiet and efficient crew. Annabel wondered if these people were human or also Silkie like Cayden and his family. In looking at them, though, she knew it didn’t matter. They would not help her. The only one who would become her ally in this plan to leave Cayden was the man seated across from her, the Silkie Lord himself.

  She looked up and caught him watching her. She stared back at him, wishing she could fi
nd some way to let him know that she wished to speak to him. Her glance skittered to Catriona, but Annabel swiftly dropped her eyes and closed her thoughts off.

  Cayden’s mother saw far too much. As a teenager meeting Catriona for the first time, Annabel had gotten a small glimpse into just how perceptive Cayden’s mother was. She had sensed Annabel’s fears for her father…fears that ultimately became reality.

  No, that couldn’t be her source of help. Catriona would sense how much Bell truly did not want to do the very thing she was compelled to do. Instead, she focused her thoughts on Cayden’s father.

  I need to speak with you.

  Carrick looked up at Cat, but when he saw she was saying something to Cayden, he turned his gaze instead to Annabel. His eyes widened slightly and then narrowed speculatively. She stared at him. Had he heard her? She had never thought of herself as telepathic, but these Silkies seemed to hear her.

  “I see you’re finished, Bell,” Carrick said quietly. “Would you like to join me on deck for a few minutes? I’d like to speak with you, if you don’t mind.”

  She nodded and smiled faintly, ignoring the quick, suspicious looks Catriona and Cayden shot Carrick. The older man politely came around the table and pushed her wheelchair out to the bow where she knew they would still be visible to Cayden and his mother. Annabel had sensed their fears that Carrick might harm her. In fact, both of them had been very careful never to leave her alone with Carrick.

  He turned when they reached the bow and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “You wished to speak to me?”

  She looked up at him in surprise. “You heard me? I didn’t know if it would work with you like it does with your wife.”

  “You are a very surprising human, Annabel Barton, very surprising indeed.”

  “But you still don’t like me.”

  “I wouldn’t say that. I just don’t think you are a suitable mate for my son. He has a position he must fill in our clan. You cannot be a part of that.”