Page 118

“Found who?” I frown.

“Them,” she says, that look in her eyes intensifying so that the violet is turning bright pink. “The bastards who captured me and raped my friend.”

My jaw clenches. “How do you know it’s their ship?”

Larimar filled me in on what happened to her when she was captured by the other ship, on how she was trapped by a male Syren who made her life a living hell, along with another of her kind, how she was taken aboard and kept in a glass box and had to watch as her friend was brutally raped, so much so that she reached into her own heart and tore it out, the only way of escape she knew. The same bloody humans who then chained Larimar to the rudder—a torture known as keelhauling to my fellow pirates—and left her there to die…or meet a much worse fate in port.

“Nill saw it,” she says. “He went off in search of any ship that could be used for, well, sustenance. He recognized the name and the flag. The Gelderland. We can catch them, Priest. We can catch them and kill them all.”

I can’t help but match her vengeful grin. “To port!” I yell back at Ramsay.

But he’s already barking orders and turning the wheel, and everyone else starts running around and adjusting the sails, yelling, “Aye, aye, Captain!”

“Well, this certainly would help our depleted stock,” Abe says.

“Yes, but this time, we aren’t listening to Maren,” I tell him. “We’re taking all of them on board, torturing them to our hearts’ content, and drinking our fill. I personally will rip the fucking heads off any of the men who even looked at you,” I growl to Larimar. “Piss down their bloody throats.”

“Not if I get to them first,” she says with a raise of her chin.

My God, I could kiss her right now.

So I reach out and grab her face, and I do just that.

“Wonderful how murder makes the both of you turn into lovebirds,” Abe comments dryly. “I suppose I should go and give you both some privacy, see if someone else needs my help.”

He leaves, but I barely notice.

I kiss her deeply, hungrily, feeling both the physical need for her and the craving I have for her soul. If I could throw her down on the deck and ravage her in front of everyone, I would, but she’s still a lady, even if she’s a monster too.

She pulls away, her face flushed and breathing hard, and in this strong sunlight that hurts my eyes, she’s the most beautiful creature in this entire world.

And she is my entire world.

“We can kill them all together,” she says. “You drink their blood, I’ll eat their hearts, and maybe we can fuck on top of their bodies.”

I lean down and groan into her neck, my cock growing painfully hard. “If you’re not careful, I won’t last that long.”

She reaches down and rubs her hand over the rigid lines, pressing in until it pulls a gasp from my lips, and I rock into her hand.

“Aragon!” Thane yells. “Larimar! We need you both to focus!”

I glare at him over my shoulder from where he’s manning the sails with Cruz. “And I need you to look away from time to time and pretend we’re not here.”

But as much as I want to fuck Larimar right here, right now, there is chaos swirling around us in all directions. The entire crew is buzzing like an electrical storm, excited for a fight, their hunger for fresh blood driving them.

I straighten up and give her hand a squeeze.

I won’t let any harm come to her. I know that battles will sometimes take the life of the immortals, such as what happened to Thane’s wife, so I’m going to be extra cautious. Of course, I will let her feast and drink, but I’ll be the one to kill each and every one of those men.

All I can say is thank the Lord that I listened to her pleas and turned her into a Vampyre. Had I not, the chances of her getting hurt or killed would be much higher.

Yes, a voice whispers inside me, a voice I hadn’t heard in a very long time.

Suddenly, I go still, afraid to move.

“What is it?” Larimar asks.

I don’t want to scare her. Not now. Not now. I can’t scare her; I can’t lose her.