Page 92

Vane strolled closer to me, smirking, his gaze going to the large damp spot on my shirt.

“Took care of business, I see.” His eyebrow lifted.

“Yes, we got the information we needed. We know exactly where they’re headed.”

“Not what I was talking about,bonita…” He leaned in. “I have a nose for sex… I can smell it all over you.”

“Vane,” Croygen barked, a warning to back away.

“Someone’s feeling possessive.” A full grin broke out over Vane’s face, his eyes moving over me with glee as he stepped away.

“You have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Sure.”

The shame I felt on my own seemed to crush me as I took in everyone’s perceptive looks. They all knew.

My revenge became pathetic, my core beliefs nothing but words, my fight all hiss and no claws. I was hollow, and my word was worthless.

I couldn’t stand being there one more minute, needing to wash him off me, get away from the scrutiny.

I took off for the stairs, leaving him to call after me.

“Kat?”

I didn’t stop, didn’t look back, disappearing into the crew’s quarters.

How could I hate someone so much, desire his suffering, and at the same time crave him, feel a peace with him I had only felt when I was his pupil? He had always been my home. I was safe, secure, and nothing could harm me when he was around.

Until he became the one who hurt me.

I could never trust him, never concede to what fluttered in my gut like a promise.

Croygen and Kat could have been friends.

The Silver-Tongue Devil and Puss in Boots would always be enemies.

Chapter 21

Croygen

My eyes stayed on where she had disappeared, an uncomfortable pressure resting on my chest. The entire way back, she couldn’t seem to get away from me fast enough, though at the same time I felt like she was calling to me, pulling me along the streets without even trying. I knew before she turned where she was going. I knew, by a twitch of her cheek, she was just as aware of me as I was of her.

I couldn’t even describe what happened back in the room, what possessed me to do what I did. I was out of control. Touching her, making her come, was something I needed more than air.

People fucking in the same room had me hard, but it wasn’t the first time I’ve been trapped with people having sex. Ryker and Zoey were fucking fiends, and I had lived with them. The last night before our fight against two powerful entities a few years ago, the entire castle was fucking like it was their last rites. I could hear them, feel them, and Lexie was undoubtedly hinting at it, encouraging me to cross the line with her, begging me, but I had kept it in my pants, able to restrain myself.

Where the hell was that restraint about forty minutes ago?

“Captain?” Scot’s voice yanked my head away from where she had gone. I turned to him as if I hadn’t been staring after her like a lost puppy.

He tried to hide his expression. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, fine.” I peered at the faces around me.

They all knew something had happened. We reeked of sex; the intensity from the room clung to me like a second skin.

That had to be the reason. I just ate out my old first mate’s daughter, a girl who had plagued me, bringing me bad luck since the day she left my ship.