Page 28 of Cursed By a Siren's Kiss

Her foot jutted out as she cocked her hip, her fingers gripping her hip as if she were just barely holding onto her anger. “Then you must leave and go to your room,” she demanded, flicking her head toward the door as if to tell me to get out.

Sitting up on my elbows, I gave my head a slow shake. “This is also my room and my bed.” I lifted the blanket to indicate she could lie beneath them while I’d remain atop them. “I promise to remain a perfect gentleman. However, I cannot in good conscious put my men at risk by leaving you unattended whenour agreement is still quite fragile between us.” I let the blanket drop and rolled over, giving her my back.

“I’m not sleeping next to you,” she announced stubbornly. “Even Marcus granted me my own room…”

“Suit yourself. There is always the floor.” I tossed a pillow behind me, listening to the rustle of fabric as she caught it.

“Can I at least have something to cover myself with? The air is frigid tonight.”

“And whose fault is that?” I asked, still not turning to face her. “You can use the blanket from earlier, though it may still be damp from your dip in the sea.” I stifled a yawn. “Or you can join me in bed and use the one I am choosing to lie on top of for your benefit.”

I almost laughed when her foot thumped onto the boards as if she’d just stomped, but then the bed shifted beneath me as she climbed into bed next to me. She made sure a length of space remained between us as she tugged at the blankets to cover herself. I didn’t say a word as she groaned, her back to me as we both remained silent until we fell into a tense sleep.

Chapter 18

The Pure Hatred

The Siren

Acold, salty breeze blew across my exposed skin, but warmth enveloped me, and I snuggled deeper into that warmth. I stilled, realizing it wasn’t a bed that wrapped me with its warmth. It was hard flesh, a chest that lifted and fell with breath and smelled of salt and spice beneath my cheek.

Groaning, I peeled my eyes opened, my body frozen in place as I took in my surroundings in the dim gray light filtering through the room. At some point through the night, I’d shucked the blankets off myself and tucked myself into Kipp’s hold. I’d left my pillow aside to use his bare chest instead. My leg had lifted and lay atop his waist, and his arm lay like a heavy weight across my back, the thin material of his gifted shirt letting his warmth press into my back as if it weren’t even there.

The beat of his heart thrummed beneath my ear, a steady beat that invited my hunger. My tongue dragged along the tips of my sharpened teeth, wanting the taste of another heart to coat my mouth. I felt my claws begin to loosen beneath my fingertips,the tips of them pressing lightly into his flesh. Another heart couldn’t hurt.

With a frustrated sigh, I forced my claws to retract. I couldn’t take this pirate’s heart without feeling that pain around my own. His death would be my death.

The boat rocked and I jolted fully awake, pulling myself from Kipp’s hold as a violent wind slammed into the side of the ship. The ship shuddered so violently that I slammed into the floor hard enough to wrench my breath from my lungs, and Kipp’s rousing form fell from the bed on top of me with a thump as he moaned. His weight crushed me to the floor as our limbs entangled.

Before either of us could even fathom what happened, the entire ship swung the other way as the violent waves slammed through the broken window, drenching us both as frothy sea slipped across the wooden floor. Our bodies slid across the planks toward the opposite wall, and Kipp’s arms wrapped around me, tucking my head beneath his chin and hold as his body took the brunt of the hit.

The ship continued rocking as he pulled me to my feet, his arms protectively around me as he helped me maintain my balance on this uneven flooring. I scrambled to hold myself on my own two feet, but my fingers gripped his arm like a lifeboat as he immediately took charge. He wrenched the door to our cabin open and we made our way to the ship deck.

Sailors ran everywhere, adjusting sails and lines as they attempted to keep the storm from ripping them to pieces. The large mast of the ship swayed, and I feared it would snap and buckle under the weight of the raging storm. Pure chaos was everywhere I looked as I clung to the door frame we’d just stepped through.

Kipp turned to me. “Is this your doing?” he demanded.

My eyes widened as I shook my head. The darkened sky loomed ominously above as angry waves lifted high enough to crash into the deck of the ship, sending frothy seawater across the deck making it slick and dangerous. Rain pelted the boat, slamming against my skin in wet slaps. A jolt of lightning cracked through the sky, lighting the sky and boat in a flash of daylight before everything fell dark again. The storm roared around us, deafening.

“No,” I yelled, shaking my head again. “This is the gods!”

He just stared at me for a moment, eyeing my grip on the door frame before saying, “Stay here. Don’t let go.”

One of the sails tore free, the ropes snapping and the material whipping around the deck of the ship aggressively. Kipp turned from me, jumping into action and shouting orders to his men. Kipp marched across the deck, grabbing one of the ropes flinging around the deck with a pained grunt. He tied it down to the railing before leaping onto the rope ladder. His soaked hair had torn free of the cord he’d tied it with, and it clung to his brow and whipped around his face as he climbed. He didn’t even hesitate, he made his way to the bottom of the sails and pulled out his dagger to cut through the rope, releasing the tension before the sail tore.

I stared at the furious sky above, then to the enraged sea. Poseidon and Zeus fought, and I wondered what they could be fighting over. Was it possible that Zeus didn’t support my father’s takeover of the siren kingdom? Perhaps, if I succeeded, I could gain the favor of the gods if that were the case. The favor of the king of gods himself possibly. Poseidon’s overstepping had gone on far too long.

My knees almost gave out from beneath me as another wave slammed into the hull of the ship and the men scurrying about the deck screamed, their shouts filled with worry and concern. I followed their attention and watched as Kipp’s dagger fell fromhis grip, the ropes he’d just cut through whipping into his body with such a force that it flung his body like a boneless eel into the raging sea.

I stood in place a moment, contemplating my actions as I watched his crew race across the deck to peer over the railing to the depths below. Something burned within my chest, and I coughed up salty water as I doubled over, my hands wrapping around my waist as I groaned. My feet stomped across the deck as the sea burned within my throat. His crew gave me a wide berth and ruthless glares as my fingers gripped the wooden railing, and then I dove overboard, sighing with relief as the angry waters hugged me.

My lungs continued to burn, and I couldn’t finish my transformation because the pants Kipp had given me earlier bound my limbs from fusing into my tail. The ocean rolled my body, disorienting me completely as my fingers worked furiously to untie the pants and dislodge them from my legs. As soon as I kicked them from my legs, my siren form rippled into place, my gills forming along my neck, and the first gasp of breath filling my lungs.

The air provided no relief though. Salty sea water still filled my lungs, threatening to burst while I searched the murky sea for Kipp. If I didn’t find him soon, we’d both drown in this storm, and how ironic would that be? My tail thrashed through the waters as I tried to follow the connection between us, that leash I had loathed so much yesterday now our only saving grace.

There! I cut through the sea like a knife as I closed the distance between us. His limp form hung below the surface, not dead but unconscious. Blades tore through my lungs the longer we remained in the sea. I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him flush with my body as I used the last of my strength to fling us toward the surface.

Our heads broke the surface, and I squeezed his stomach as I jostled him, trying to awaken him while the waves still worked to pull him from my hold. His men yelled down at us as they finally saw us, and they tossed the platform overboard, lowering it to the sea, even though the storm still raged around us all and the board flung violently in the wind.

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