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Before she could question her actions, before Honour could predict and take the upper hand, Hudson leaned forward and captured Honour’s lips with her own. She had expected resistance, but Honour’s mouth moved instantly, driving her tongue between Hudson’s lips.

Hudson moaned as she slammed her body harder against Honour’s.

Honour hissed and pulled her lips away, pushed her head to the side.

“It hurts?” Hudson asked, lips curled back in her too-wide smile.

“Yes.” Honour whispered.

“Honour?” Kyree’s concern filled the space and broke the tightly wound string that connected Honour and Hudson.

Hudson snagged the small pouch of seaweed with blended herbs. She shoved it between Honour’s lips and pushed hard until Honour opened her mouth. Hudson didn’t hesitate as she pressed her thumb against the small bag and into Honour’s mouth. She moved her thumb out of the way of Honour’s teeth but kept it in her mouth.

“Chew.”

Honour’s eyes were slitted, but she complied. It was slow at first, the movement of Honour’s mouth against Hudson’s thumb, but it sped up once the initial seaweed pouch broke. Hudson kept still, pushing against Honor so she couldn’t move even if she wanted to. When she swallowed and her jaw opened slightly, Hudson stuck her thumb right back in and against Honour’s tongue.

Honour sucked her thumb. She locked their gazes together, staring directly into Hudson’s soul. What did Honour see?

The blackness?

The pain?

The desperation?

Or simply the desire.

The intensity was too much, and Hudson had to back away. She pulled her thumb out of Honour’s mouth and immediately popped it in her own. She sucked Honour’s saliva off her skin, the lingering taste of the medicine that would heal the infection. The last promise that Hudson had given them.

“I don’t linger in places for long. I suggest you consider not staying too long either. The Talon won’t be too far behind me.”

Hudson gave Kyree a wink before she swam away. The knife she had pressed against Honour’s throat now carried several smears of blood on its blade. Hudson raised them to her lips and licked them off. She could taste the infection Honour had in the blood. She’d needed the tonic more than Hudson had thought.

“Cryoc.” She called as she swam directly to the merman. “They won’t be a problem. In fact, I’ll be surprised if they last long enough to hear us leave camp.”

Cryoc’s eyes were alight with whatever thoughts he conjured up from Hudson’s words. And so they should have. Hudson had done far worse than tease and torment a few sexually frustrated mermaids. Why shouldn’t Cryoc assume she had done the same with these two?

“Time to swim out.” Hudson called out loud enough for all of her troops to turn toward her, heads bobbing in acknowledgement. As one, her troops took formation, already having broken camp. Cryoc was nothing if not efficient, and he had done exactly what she had told him to do.

She had worked hard to whip her people into shape.

As they left, she refused to look back. Refused to turn and see if either Honour or Kyree peeked out of the cave’s entrance.

If Cryoc saw them unharmed beyond what they had been, he would question her. And while she knew how to deal with those that dared to second-guess her, she didn’t want anyone examining what she had done.

She didn’t want to examine it.

Honour’s skin would recover quickly. The nicks Hudson had given her would take mere days to heal, especially with the healing herbs coursing through her system.

“Where are we headed, Hudson?” Cryoc swam beside Hudson, thankfully interrupting her thoughts and the dangerously sexy turn they had taken. Perhaps she was more frustrated with the stalemate of the battles than she’d anticipated. She needed some good bloodshed.

“We’re going to wipe out the Talons and create our own tribe in their place.” Hudson chuckled as she looked at Cryoc’s shocked expression. “Every mer with them is against us.”

“How? Taking over the tribe is one thing, but wiping them out?”

“Oh, the little pets you brought me to play with had some very interesting things to say. They told me exactly how to get rid of the Talons.”

“How?” Cryoc tried to go for a scoffing tone, but Hudson knew him too well. He was eager and keen for a battle, and hope flared around him like a tangle of seaweed.