Page 4 of Another Damned Storm (Another Damned #3)

HOOK

The vision that struck me so violently in Rue’s chambers ended as abruptly as it started, leaving me with more questions than answers. I’d debated attempting to pick up the chain again, but I had a feeling it had done its job. Rue was sending me a message. I just didn’t understand it.

Despite the fruitless trip into the caves and the coming storm, some of the tension that had been weighing on me for the better part of the day lifted once we were back on my ship.

Leo looked as unconcerned as ever sprawled in one of the two leather chairs in front of my desk. The space was more like a small den or office, but since it was also where I came to plan and strategize, my men had long ago dubbed it the “war room.”

I leaned against the desk, my arms folded over my chest while I waited for Never to kick off her boots and tuck her legs beneath her in the other chair.

“How did it go with Rue?” she asked once she was situated.

I thought carefully about how to answer before offering, “Unexpected.”

“Why would you visit the sea witch?” Leo asked.

“I found a volcano,” Never answered .

Leo blinked at her. “Did they not teach you how islands are formed in the human realm?”

She huffed out a breath. “An active volcano, ass.”

“Is she messing with me?”

“Unfortunately, she is not,” I said. “The crater on the main island is filled with lava.”

“That’s not good.” His tone was casual, almost flippant, but from the set of his jaw, he was taking the development seriously.

The volcano that created Nusthena had gone cold long before I’d been cursed to patrol the Nassa. The fact that it was coming alive again, after remaining dormant for so long, meant something. I just wasn’t ready to admit what.

“Have you noticed any oddities on your island or with your people?” I asked, pinning my gaze on Leo.

“Actually, yeah.” He sat forward and propped his elbows on his knees.

“People are more agitated than usual, which has led to an uptick in fighting within the pack. I thought maybe I’d just been out of pack life for so long that I’d forgotten what it was like, but Luther and the elders discussed it at the meeting last week. ”

“What about the other packs? Have you heard anything about them?”

He raked his hand through his unruly hair. “No, but I haven’t exactly been keeping up with things.”

That didn’t sound like the Leo I knew. His pack—family and friends included—were everything to him. “Is all well between you and Luther?” That was the only thing I could think of that would keep him from being involved with his community.

“Luther told him he has to choose a mate,” Never chimed in, managing to sound amused and outraged on Leo’s behalf at the same time.

“Ah.” That would do it. Leo had never taken his responsibilities lightly, and while he would never admit it aloud, the man was a romantic at heart. I imagined the prospect of giving up on finding his one true mate would grate. “And if you refuse to choose?”

Leo ground his teeth so hard a muscle in his neck jumped. “He’ll choose for me.”

“Is there some reason in particular he feels the need to rush such a hefty commitment?” He hadn’t been back with his pack for very long.

At least, not compared to the decades he’d spent earning Petra’s trust. It would make more sense to give everyone time to get to know him again, and for him to get back into the rhythm of pack life.

He leaned back in the chair, but the tension in his shoulders remained. “Since I failed to bring Lily back, that makes me next in line for alpha if anything happens to him.”

“Is that what you want?” Never asked. “To lead the pack?”

Leo shook his head.

“Did you tell him that?” She adjusted in her chair, turning her body a little more toward him. “Do you want me to tell him? I can be very persuasive.”

A hint of a smile smoothed away some of his scowl. “He knows.”

It likely didn’t matter. Luther was alpha, and every member of the pack was obligated to follow his orders. There were maybe one or two who were strong enough to resist his command if it came down to a battle of wills, but a good leader should know better than to let a disagreement get that far.

Unless the future of the Shere line depended on it.

Leo was one with enough innate power to refuse Luther’s orders.

He’d done just that when he’d left Nidus to work for Petra.

His uncle had forgiven him for that refusal because his intention had been to find Lily, but if he kept up his rebellion for too long, Luther would be forced to banish him from the pack.

It was that or risk being seen as weak for not standing up to his own nephew.

A weakness like that would open the door for any member of the pack to challenge Luther outright.

Of course, that was assuming the world we knew didn’t implode first. “Have you noticed anything else that struck you as unusual?” I asked, bringing us all back around to the issue at hand.

He turned his attention to the ceiling, seeming to study the beams, rocking slightly with the gentle sway of the ship before shaking his head. “Nothing I can think of, other than these storms. Do you think it’s all related?”

“Possibly,” I admitted.

“I wonder if it has anything to do with why you’ve been so tired,” Never said, studying me.

“And don’t tell me you haven’t been. I don’t think I’ve seen you sleep for more than a few minutes since.

..” She looked down at herself, then back at me, masking only some of the vulnerability in her expression.

She was worried sharing my power was what was draining my energy, but she couldn’t be more wrong. Having her in my life, in my space, in my bed... that was the single best thing that had ever happened to me.

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Leo said. “It’s probably just from keeping the extra wards charged.”

That bastard. I shot him a glare, but it was already too late.

“What wards?” Never asked, her gaze bouncing between the two of us.

Leo looked genuinely surprised. “You haven’t told her?”

Tell her what? That the whole of the human realm might be in danger because I’d plucked her soul back from the hellish realm where those tainted by the blood of a demon were cursed to spend eternity, and now I was using warding magic to keep the fates from finding her ?

“I haven’t seen the need,” I said.

He let out a disbelieving huff. “You’re kidding, right?”

“I am not.” But I was seriously reconsidering the foolish logic that led me to sharing any of our dark secrets with the nosey tiger. “She needs to learn first. How to fight, how to flash, how to defend herself.”

“Because the fates are coming for me?” Never asked, watching us both with a mixture of irritation and resignation bleeding through our connection.

I nodded.

“Any idea when they might make their move?”

Leo tipped his head to the side with a knowing look that made me want to throw him off my ship. “Remember what I said about the wards?” Then he looked pointedly at the aged copper bracelet on Never’s left wrist.

She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. When she opened them, she was calm and collected. On the outside. Inside, she’d slammed the door on our connection. “Leo, I need a minute with Hook.”

His brow winged up, and he pressed his lips together to hide his smile. “Sure thing.” He was out of his chair and out of the room a few seconds later.

“I was trying?—”

Never held up her left hand, cutting me off even as she eyed the gift I’d given her shortly after our visit from Nerebis.

“To protect me. Yeah, I put that together.” She looked up at me, blue eyes sparking with frustration.

“What you don’t seem to understand is that I need to know what’s happening.

I need to know about the threats.” She pulled herself out of the chair and padded over to me, looking no less fierce glaring up at me in her socked feet.

“And you need to be the one to tell me.”

“What you need is to focus on learning how to use your power,” I countered .

She shook her head and held up her wrist. “What happens if I take it off?”

“It will wound my heart,” I said, putting my hand on my chest. Her lips didn’t even twitch in the ghost of a smile.

“Very well,” I conceded, taking her wrist in my hand and turning the bracelet slowly.

“I’ve been using the magic in this to shield you from the beings that have been searching for you. ”

Her eyes narrowed. “They’re already coming for me?”

I nodded.

“Can’t they just search for you? Or the ship?” she asked.

“I have wards shielding us all. You, me, the ship. Even Leo. The beings that have been trying to get to you are... persistent.”

Never tugged and I let her go. There were times when I would fight her attempts to put distance between us, but this wasn’t one of them. Not with the worry swimming in her eyes.

“That’s why you haven’t been sleeping.”

“This level of protection requires a constant flow of energy. I can’t maintain that flow alone if I’m asleep.”

She chewed on the inside of her lip for a moment, then a flood of emotion crashed through the connection.

Hurt, betrayal, understanding, anger, love.

That last one she had yet to confess with words, but I felt it.

Which made the rest of what she was feeling both easier and harder to stomach. “You should have told me.”

I caught her by the waist and pulled her against me. “I didn’t want to worry you. This power, your power, is nothing to trifle with. If it comes down to a fight with other powerful beings, you’ll need to know how to use it.”

“I get that,” she said, leaning into me with a stiffness that made it clear I was not yet forgiven. “But if I’d known they were already coming...”

“You would have what? Tried harder? Trained more? Actually listened to me more often than not? ”

That pulled a weak laugh out of her. “Probably not the last one.”

“You’ve been training every day.” I squeezed her, reveling in the feel of her body against mine. It wasn’t an erotic pleasure either. It was so much sweeter than that. “That’s the point I’m trying to make, knowing would only have worried you. Needlessly, I might add.”

“That’s not your call to make, pirate.”

“I respectfully disagree.” We were in this situation because of my actions. I was the one who held her under the water for too long, and I was the one who shoved my power into her body to drag her back from the abyss.

She leaned back and eyed me. “What happens if I take it off?”

“Please don’t remove it.”

“I didn’t say I was going to. What I asked is what will happen if I do.”

Multiple beings had been using powerful magic to find her. While I couldn’t tell who or what they were, I did know the only thing holding them at bay was the wards. “If you remove the bracelet on the ship, you will likely be fine. Anywhere else and they will find you.”

“Is that what Rue told you?”

How quickly I’d forgotten about the sea witch. I gave her a tight squeeze and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “We should bring Leo back in for this part of the conversation.”

When I loosened my hold, Never stepped back. “Bad news?”

I failed to see how Rue’s disappearance could be a positive development. “I’ll be right back.”

With that, I stepped outside and crossed the deck to Leo. He was standing with his back to me, silently scanning Nusthena in the distance.

“I’m tempted to throw you overboard,” I said, though there was no real threat in the words .

He nodded without looking at me. “But you won’t.”

“You know why I kept the wards from her.”

“Just like you know why I told her about them,” he countered.

I leaned my hip against the railing beside him and crossed my arms over my chest. “It certainly wasn’t for her safety, or her peace of mind.”

He shot me a sideways glance. “I did it because she needs to know.”

“And what do you think she’s going to do with that information?”

Her power was still very raw. If she lost hold of her emotions at the wrong moment, the repercussions could be devastating. Adding the stress of being hunted to the stress of learning how to control her power? It was a recipe for trouble.

Leo shook his head. “What she does with the knowledge is up to her, Atlas. You gave her that power, and it made her a target. Hiding that from her isn’t helping her.

” He twisted around to stare me down head on.

“You’re underestimating her, again. Never Darling is not some helpless girl.

She was killing demons long before either of us even knew she existed. ”

Maybe he was right. I did have a tendency to forget that detail about her. In my defense, however, I’d fallen for her before I shared my power with her. I felt her die in my arms. It was difficult to reconcile the reality of such a determined warrior living inside such a fragile body.

She wasn’t quite so fragile anymore, at least not in the physical sense, but that still didn’t mean I would put her at risk by letting my guard down. If I lost her now, it would break me. Of that I was certain. And a broken god was a dangerous thing.