Page 6 of Another Damned Storm (Another Damned #3)

NEVER

I woke in the darkness with Hook’s hard body pressed to my back and his warm breath sifting across my neck.

I’d never felt as content as I did when I was with him. Like I’d finally found a piece of myself that had been missing my entire life. Just thinking about it made me want to snuggle back into him, pull the covers up tight around us, and hide in the happiness we’d forged in the wake of everything.

But that kind of peace wasn’t what the fates had in store for me.

I peeled myself away from him, my skin still sticky with drying sweat and drenched in his scent. I sat on the edge of the bed arguing with myself for an eternity before I finally wiped the tears away and let my feet gently touch down on the floor.

It was easier to move once I was up. Easier to listen to the voice in my head that said I was doing the right thing. And I did listen, holding that truth in a death grip even as my heart railed against it.

This wasn’t what I wanted. Not the responsibility or the weight, and sure as hell not the heartbreak. All I’d ever wanted was to keep my brother safe and to find some happiness in my life.

At least I’d succeeded on the last point.

If anyone ever asked me about my happy thought, I would tell them all about my broody pirate. Not that anyone would ask where I was going.

Fresh tears stung my eyes as I replayed his final words in my head.

I love you, stubborn woman.

How could such a sweet, loving sentiment cut so damned deep?

Letting the tears fall, I dressed as quietly as I could. Hook was finally sleeping, and I wanted to keep it that way. This wasn’t going to be easy on either of us, but he’d been draining himself trying to keep me safe. He needed the rest.

And I needed a clean escape.

When I was finally ready, after moving through the room with the urgency of a sloth, I tiptoed back to the side of the bed in my socks.

The copper bracelet he’d given me was an anchor around my wrist. A heavy reminder of how much he cared about me. I twisted it, around and around, as I watched him sleep. I wanted to lean down and press a kiss to his lips. To sneak one last taste of him. But I couldn’t.

Stick to the plan.

I held my breath as I slipped the protective bangle off and set it on the nightstand. The moment he woke and saw it, he would know what it meant.

Was I tempted to take it with me? Absolutely. Even now, after living together on his ship, there were days when I still missed the weight of his pendant around my neck.

But the bracelet would shield me, and I needed to be found .

So, I grabbed my boots off the floor, gave my sleeping pirate one last look, and flashed to the island.

The ache that had been building in my chest only grew with the distance. And here I’d been secretly hoping it would fade once I was off the ship. Stupid girl. If the chasm that was opening inside me was any indication, the pain of being separated from him would eventually swallow me whole.

Sinking to the sand, I dragged on my boots—complete with the dagger I’d filched from Hook’s nightstand months earlier—and tried to imagine what my existence would be like in the Alius. Once I was situated, I pulled myself back to my feet.

It was like lifting a hundred- and forty-pound sack of potatoes off the ground.

“Why the hell am I doing this again?” I grumbled to myself.

I knew the answer. What I was doing would help protect everyone I cared about, including Hook. That explanation, however, didn’t completely shut down the whiny, selfish voice inside me that wanted to stay.

So, I did my best to ignore it.

“Boss the fuck up. We have shit to do.” Starting with figuring out how to summon a fate.

I’d been hoping showing up on the island without the bracelet would be enough, since Hook made it sound like I was being perpetually stalked.

“Where did you come from?”

Looks like he was right. I didn’t recognize the odd male voice, and rather than whipping around and letting the guy know for sure he’d gotten the drop on me, I turned slowly.

“Took you long enough,” I said, laying the snark on thick. It was a good thing the words were out of my mouth before I caught sight of the guy’s flowing black cloak.

And was that a scythe? Really?

It was still night in the Nassa, but the moon was shining bright enough that I would have been able to see his face if it wasn’t hiding in the depths of his hood.

“I have been searching this realm for you for quite some time, Miss Darling.”

“It’s Never,” I said flatly. “And what’s with the getup?” I motioned to his Halloween-esque outfit. “You look like the ghost of Christmas future.”

He chuckled, but the sound made my scalp tingle because it seemed to come from all around me. “Not a ghost, but I am here to escort you to the rest of your future.”

An escort sent to take me to hell? Fun job. “So, what, are you like the grim reaper?”

His hood moved from side to side. “In a sense. I am Tenebris.”

Okay, not quite as cool as a reaper, but I had heard of him. “The fate who is responsible for severing the thread of life, right?”

“Correct.”

“Yeah, I heard you’ve been looking for me.”

The hood dipped. “It is exceedingly rare that a soul has the power to hide from me so thoroughly.”

“I’ve been working on my hide and seek skills,” I offered with a shrug.

Tenebris was quite a bit different from his fellow fate. Nerebis had shown up on Hook’s ship looking and sounding like a fit and healthy middle-aged dad. Tenebris’s language was more old school, kind of like Hook’s, at least when my pirate was being proper.

And the clothes? I mean, I guess he was embracing his truth with that get up, but still.

An uncomfortable silence stretched between us until he finally responded.

“That may be, but hiding from a fate requires far more effort than simply finding a good hiding place. I can travel to any realm in the universe.” He motioned with his scythe to the open sea stretching out in front of us.

“Even the ones others have long forgotten about.”

“I don’t know what to tell you. Other than, congrats? I mean, you did find me. That has to count for something right?”

More silence. It was one thing to get that kind of treatment from Hook. At least with him, I could figure out if I was getting under his skin. This guy was giving me nothing.

“I suppose,” he finally said.

I waited, but when he didn’t go on, I shook my head. “Are we going to stand around making shitty small talk like two virgins on a first date or can we get this show on the road?”

An unearthly chuckle lifted the hair on the back of my neck. “Nerebis warned me about your colorful personality. It is refreshing to see he wasn’t exaggerating.”

That pulled a bitter scoff out of me. I really should have been trying harder to play nice with him, but I wasn’t in the mood. “I’ll make you a deal: I’ll tone down my color if you let me drop by the human realm on our way out of town.”

“No detours, I’m afraid,” he said, though his voice did carry a surprising hint of compassion.

“Yeah, I figured.” I glanced out across the water, wishing I could flash back to the ship and climb back in bed with Hook even as I fought his magnetic pull. “In that case, I’d really like to get this over with.”

Maybe it would be easier once I was in a different realm. Maybe that gnawing ache inside me would subside. Except, deep down, part of me was clinging to the hope that it wouldn’t. I might be ready to settle things, but that didn’t mean I was ready to let go.

“We can, but given your situation…” He tipped his scythe my way. “I cannot take you as I would a normal human or demon.”

I nodded because I knew that bit too. Hook hadn’t been protecting me from someone dragging me off to the Alius.

According to Nerebis, thanks to the combination of my human side, my demon blood, and Hook’s godly—but decidedly cursed—power, I was something of an unholy unicorn.

The powers that be could only take me out of this realm if I wanted to go.

And wasn’t that the real bitch of it? I could stay with Hook forever if I dug my heels in. No one could stop me. But knowing I was—or might be—the reason for things going all fucking haywire? I couldn’t live with myself if I turned out to be that selfish.

I blew out a resigned sigh. “Just tell me what I need to do.”

“Place your hand on my staff,” Tenebris said.

I knew he meant the handle of his scythe, and despite the slew of inappropriate comments that skipped through my mind, I trudged over and grabbed it.

His charcoal hood tipped quizzically.

“What now?” I asked, before he could say anything. “Do I need to think of my happy thought?” Because that would take me right back to the ship. “Or maybe wish on a star?”

“Just focus your mind and power on leaving this realm,” he said.

I closed my eyes, and not just to stem the burn of tears that were threatening.

Blocking out everything else really did help me focus.

My lids had barely closed when I felt the change.

It was like the last crawling seconds on the uphill climb of a giant roller coaster, when my heart would start racing because I knew the plunge was coming.

I wasn’t that far off either. The ground fell away, and I held that staff in a freaking death grip.

When I cracked one eye open, a thousand streams of light sailed past me in a darkness that seemed to go on forever.

My stomach tried to leapfrog into my throat, and I slammed my eyes shut again before the falling sensation and the visuals made me sick .

It didn’t matter much because by the time I dragged in my next unsteady breath, the ground had returned. Hot, dry air flooded in around me, and every hair on my body stood on end.

“You may open your eyes now,” Tenebris said.

At least he wasn’t a dick about it. There was a genuine softness to his voice.

I blinked at my new surroundings. It was dusk, or maybe dawn, I couldn’t really tell, but the limited light tinted everything varying shades of red. And it was uncomfortably hot, but not like sear-the-flesh-off-my-body scorching.

“This doesn’t seem so bad,” I said.

“The landscape isn’t what makes this realm what it is, Never,” Tenebris replied.

No shit. It was the demons, but I’d been imagining dealing with them in a world of fire and brimstone. Not an unnaturally warm forest at sunset. And the energy coursing through the place had every nerve in my body on high alert.

There was a fuck ton of power floating around in the Alius. I couldn’t see it, but damn, I could feel it.

“What happens now?” I asked. “Are you going to give me the grand tour?”

The hood moved slowly from side to side, but I still couldn’t see even a flicker of life coming from the dark interior.

I folded my arms over my chest, feigning resolve as I fought to keep my real thoughts and emotions bottled up tight. “What do I owe you for the ride?” I couldn’t help letting a glimmer of my snark slip through.

Except when I blinked, he was gone. No rustle of a breeze. No whoosh. He was right there in front of me one second and the next, it was just empty space.

“I take it you’re not really one for farewells, huh?” I called out. Not that I had any room to talk. I’d snuck out in the dead of night to avoid getting into another argument with Hook about coming here.

And here was, well, all kinds of creepy.

It took me a minute to pinpoint why the dim forest seemed off. You know, aside from the steady hum of teeth-numbing power pulsing from everywhere all at once.

There were no birds. No insects. No signs of wildlife of any kind that I could tell. Enormous trees that might have been redwoods in my world stretched high into the crimson sky, but with the tinted light, they all looked like they were half dead.

“Okay.” I spun in a slow circle. “What now?”