Page 8 of The Deep End of Death (Twilight Lake #4)

There was only one reason Shay Mac Eoin would want a private conversation with me, and it had everything to do with the shared mark on our chests. A sigil given by the gods to secure our Mate bond.

A bond Shay had no idea existed.

I walked into his room first, giving the décor a cursory glance. It was much the same as the room across the hall. Splintered bunk beds and a port hole showing nothing but dark water.

Shay followed me, but I kept my back to him. My stomach was a heavy anchor threatening to pull me through the floorboards.

There were so many reasons why Shay Mac Eoin and I shouldn’t be together, regardless of what the mark on our chests said.

I used to believe in the gods’ wisdom. I had prayed to Belisama in times of need.

I quickly realized that the gods didn’t know shit.

Shay wanted babies .

Little Mac Eoins to continue his prestigious bloodline.

I wasn’t even sure if I wanted younglings. I was barely out of youth myself. Perhaps I would circle back to the idea in a few hundred years, but Shay wanted marriage and younglings desperately. Immediately.

The door shut with a quiet click.

I glanced over my shoulder as Shay stepped towards me. His hands reached for my shoulders, his fingers as light as a feather as the callused tips danced across my skin.

I knew I should step away, but I couldn’t. I felt my heartbeat in my temples, and my blood began to sing.

Touch me .

“How are your cuts?” Shay said, his voice husky, though I quickly realized his touch was methodical instead of sensual.

My cheeks flushed, and I knocked his hands away. “You want to heal me?” I surmised, feeling like a fool.

Shay frowned. “You looked like you were in pain.”

I shook my arms as if I’d stepped from the sea and wanted to shed the water on my skin. “I’m fine .” I hissed.

Shay’s brow puckered, and his eyes flashed a delicate green color. He pushed his fingers through his braided hair as he sighed. The sound conveyed his lack of belief in my statement—though I was Sídhe and could not lie.

“You don’t have to talk to me; in fact, I wouldn’t say we have a relationship conducive to conversations about emotions and the like,” He said heavily, “But I am a healer. Sometimes wounds aren’t of the body; sometimes they scar deeper.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “This isn’t about the High Throne.” I snapped. “This isn’t about Balor, Cruinn, or even traveling across the Night Court on some fool’s errand!”

“What is it about then?” Shay asked, his voice delicate as if he was worried he would spook me.

I sucked my lips between my teeth before I realized I didn’t know.

Something was wrong, and I couldn’t put my finger on it.

I waved my finger in his face. “I’m fine .

” I reiterated. “What about you? You were due to marry Ilaria a week ago. Desperate to save the Nymphs from their dying bloodlines or some other noble cause. Now you’re on a boat on the Dark Sea while the Nymphs are blissfully unaware of the danger under the water. ”

Shay’s nostrils flared. “The Nymphs will be fine.”

“If you’re sure.”

“Actually,” He jabbed his finger against my shoulder. “I don’t even know why I’m here. I don’t know why I’m determined to follow you to the end of the Aos Sí, but I am doomed until fate decides to free me from this torment.”

“I’m glad you find my company so scintillating.” I drawled.

Shay growled under his breath. “Just let me heal you, for feck sake!”

“No!”

He tried to grab me, but I danced out of his way.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I couldn’t help the nervous giggle that escaped my mouth as Shay lurched forward again, trying to grab me.

“I can smell the blood. ” He snapped.

“That’s not my blood!”

Shay stopped. “Huh?”

How could I explain without sounding insane?

It was insane.

“You’re not healing me,” I warned, inched against the wall to hide my back.

“Why are you so stubborn?” He said through gritted teeth.

Someone knocked on the door.

It was Rainn.

The Selkie poked his head around the side of the door. I could tell he was still angry at me. His eyes lingered on mine briefly before he turned to Shay.

“The captain wants to speak to you,” Rainn said plainly.

Shay snarled, marching forward and ripping open the door. He pushed past Rainn and strode away.

Rainn’s eyes flicked down my body. “You really don’t want him to see that mark, huh?”

My nostrils flared. “I’m still angry at you.”

Rainn’s blue eyes darkened like a thundercloud across the sky. “Oh?” He stepped into the room and closed the door. “Angry for something I didn’t do?”

My fists clenched. “No.” I bit out reluctantly. “I believe you when you say you were enchanted. I believe you would never willingly… do that… with another.” Each word was a heavy anchor, pulled from the rotting depths of my soul. “I’m so fecking angry at you for walking away from me.”

Rainn blinked.

He stood by the door one moment, and I was in his arms the next.

His hand tangled in my hair, and he jerked my head back. “Don’t do that again,” Rainn warned, his sky-blue eyes flashing. “Don’t pull away from me. I can take almost anything. Hit me. Kick me. Spit at me, but don’t let it fester.”

It hit me then. He wasn’t angry at me because I had placed the blame at his feet. He was angry I hadn’t let him in. That I had sat with my rage, stewing in my hurt ever since Cruinn, and had pulled away from him.

“Rainn Shallows,” I closed my eyes, laughing and shaking my head. “Just remember, the next time I kick you, it’s because you gave me permission.”

“You’ve never kicked me.” His arms tightened as he pulled me closer.

“Maybe I’ll start. I’ve got your permission—” My teasing was silenced as he pressed his lips against mine. My body relaxed as if all the tension I had carried for weeks had melted away, and Rainn was there to catch me.

He smelled like sunshine and sea salt. His lips were soft, and his tongue demanding. Every inch of my body tingled, reawakening. I realized just how much I had missed him—had missed us .

I had more than one mate, but Rainn Shallows was my first, and he always would be.

I clawed at his clothes, needing to feel his skin on mine. He let go, only to allow his tunic to be pulled over his head, returning to my lips with the hunger of a starving man.

Rainn stepped forward, forcing me against the door. He took my hand, knitting our fingers together and pinning me. I couldn’t escape, and the press of his body, which should have made me feel suffocated, made me feel safe.

Rainn Shallows was mine.

He pulled his lips from mine to pepper my throat with kisses. His hands still linked with mine as he kissed the seam of my jaw. His warm breath tickled my neck, sending shivers down my spine.

“I need you.” He growled, his words skittered against my skin, leaving gooseflesh behind.

“Rainn…” I moaned his name, my fingers digging deep into his shoulders, feeling the taut muscles under his skin. “If you don’t fuck me now, I’m going to scream.”

Rainn smirked against my throat, reaching for the waistband of my leggings and pulling them down in one swift motion. He reached between my legs, testing my wetness—but I didn’t want foreplay. I wanted him.

“Now.” I stilled his hand, pleading.

Rainn pulled away, offering me his lips as he lifted my body and pushed my back against the door. I hooked my legs around his hips, feeling his hardness through the fabric of his trousers.

It wasn’t romantic. It wasn’t soft, sweet, or full of joy, all of the things I knew Rainn to be.

As my Selkie pinned me to the door and pulled down his trousers enough to bare his cock, it was pure desperation. Clawing. Primal.

Feral.

Our kiss grew violent. No longer soft, but full of sharp, pointed teeth. Rainn scored my bottom lip, drawing blood. Our kiss tasted like copper.

He entered me in one swift strike, and the air exploded from my lungs as I stretched around him. I’d forgotten how it felt. A few weeks had felt like years, and I vowed to never wait so long to have Rainn Shallows inside me again.

His front rubbed against my clit with every thrust, my legs spread wide, exposing every part of me as he fucked me.

He reared back, entering me again, each movement like a punch to my lower belly. The sound of my wetness, my back and ass meeting the wooden door, and the keen of my moans filled the room.

Rainn cursed under his breath, and his thrusts grew jagged and uneven.

I sensed his orgasm so swiftly that it triggered my own. I felt his cum, fill me with every twitch of his cock. He continued thrusting, fucking his cum into me. My toes curled, my body rigid as my orgasm crashed over me, squeezing my body in a vice.

He didn’t stop thrusting until my body sagged, spent, and pinned to the door.

I woke to a roar.

The boat tipped to the side, and the restraints on the bed snapped as the force of the blow knocked us to the ground. I landed on my belly. Rainn rolled, extending his arm so he didn’t land on me.

The Faelight swayed overhead before extinguishing entirely, leaving us in the dark.

I’d never heard anything like it. I could only compare it to the roar of the Whispering Pass, though it sounded like a series of blows. One after the other.

The ship shuddered, the bow creaked, and the floorboards vibrated under my fingers.

I felt a presence. The ancient magic of the Dark Sea pressed against the ship's hull, desperate for any hole it could find.

Rainn cursed, grabbing my elbow as my eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness. We fumbled for the door, screaming the names of our friends. Running for the front of the ship, past the empty dining table, the heavy stove fallen flat on its belly.

The ship was bathed in moonlight, glittering off the water on the deck. The Merrow stood at the back of the vessel, turning the wheel, steering frantically to the side.

“Pirates!” The captain called out.

We turned on our heels. What was once an endless horizon of dark water had been replaced by the pale white sails of a ship. The bulbous wooden body turned to the side, hatches open, and cannons aimed at our boat.

“Into the water!” The Merrow shouted. “Dive!”

“Where at the others?” Rainn said, whipping his wet hair out of his eyes.

“Under!”

“Under where?” I shouted back. “The bunks?”

“They’re the only thing keeping this boat floating right now. Dive !” the captain screamed.

I didn’t need to be told twice.

The orange spark of the cannon fuse lit up the night sky as the pirate ship readied itself to fire on us again.

Rainn grabbed my hand, and we raced towards the ship's edge, throwing ourselves over the rail.