Page 99 of Another Damned Storm

She shrugged. “I was kind of pissed at the time.”

A chuckle rattled out of me. “I can only imagine. I take it they’ll be handling things with Lapalme?”

“Since I summoned them when he had my niece in a chokehold? Yeah. They didn’t look too happy with him.”

“Caught red-handed. That, love, is some clever timing.”

“I’m pretty sure it was my last rational decision.”

We fell into another long silence, but the connection we shared was wide open. I hid nothing from her, letting her feel how utterly and completely she owned my heart. She hid nothing from me in return, revealing how she was tormented by the power inside her, by the way it made her feel, by what it turned her into when she lost control of it. But there was plenty of good mixed in with the bad, as though she was reliving her most cherished memories in her mind too.

She tipped her head back, her blue eyes searching. “I love you, pirate.”

My heart swelled and twisted all at once. I knew a goodbye when I heard it, but before I could say it back, Iapetus reappeared.

33

NEVER

Hook let me go with another brutally gentle kiss to my lips, then he turned, shielding me with his body. I knew what he was trying to do, and I adored him for it, but I could feel the finality of it all coming from him.

If this was the end, there was nothing either of us could do to stop it.

“Has the council come to a decision?” Hook asked.

Iapetus looked at him, then beyond him to where I stood. “The vote was split down the middle.”

I let out a tired sigh. “What does that mean?”

“It falls to him to cast the tie-breaking vote,” Hook answered.

Of course it did.

I stepped around Hook. “If you send me back to the Alius, I’ll just leave again, and one of your cronies will have to drag me kicking and screaming out of the Nassa.”

“Never!” Hook hissed. “What are you doing?”

“I’ll do it over and over and over.” I could only look at my broody pirate for a second before fresh tears threatened. “And this guy… he’s going to try to sacrifice himself with me, but you can’t let him. He’s too important to trade his immortal life for me.”

I could feel his disbelieving gaze on me, boring into the side of my head, but my attention was squarely on Iapetus.

His brow lifted in surprise. “Is that so?”

I didn’t bother answering. If he didn’t know how incredible his son was, nothing I could say would convince him.

“I must admit, your frankness is infuriating. Fortunately for you, I also find it oddly refreshing.” He pulled in a deep breath. “As we are speaking openly, tell me: what would you have me do about your brother and his sweet daughter?”

A spark of alarm flared in my mind. My knee jerk reaction was to tell him to leave them the fuck alone, but I bit back the urge. “They don’t deserve to go to the Alius. They had no say in the bargain Wendy made with Lapalme. They’re good people.”

“And you?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.

“Truth?” I cast Hook an apologetic look. “The fates were right to see me as a threat. This power is… a lot. I can barely control it. I was learning with Hook—Atlas, but…” I couldn’t finish.

My throat closed up and the tears I’d been fighting to keep at bay spilled down my cheeks. So much love and pride and fear poured into me from Hook that I couldn’t handle it all, so I eased the door between us closed.

“It’s only a matter of time before I hurt someone,” I confessed.

“Don’t do this,” Hook pleaded.