Page 19 of Stalking Wendy Darling

I blinked and a vision formed of her writhing, naked, under me with that hat on her head as she struggled for air, my hand around her neck, her eyes rolling back. I’d make her scream and plead and cry and—

No. I was going to kill her, not fuck her.

Dammit.

“Keep up, sir,” Vea chirped. “I’d hate for you to get lost.”

I levelled a murderous glare on her back. “I will eviscerate every inch of skin on your bones.”

She threw a wry look over her shoulder. “Ah, but then you wouldn’t get your new boots, would you?”

I let every threatening thought show in my expression as I punched aside another frond. But Vea had a point, damn her. I needed new boots.

Chapter Twelve

HOOK

“What the hell,” I sighed, dragging my stump down my forehead as I grabbed the subpar wheel of the shitty little boat I’d managed to acquire, “do you think you’re doing?”

Vea didn’t pause in her act of boarding, just swung her other leg over until both feet were planted on the old wooden boards. “I’m coming with you. Honestly, sir, you’re a little dim-witted.”

I pointed the sharp edge of a dagger I’d won back from her last night directly at her throat. “Get off my fucking ship.”

“All respect, sir, this isn’t even your ship. It’s Ol’ Jimmy Campbell’s ship, and I’d hesitate to even call it that. Shanty’s a more accurate term.”

“Give me one good reason not to slit your throat,” I hissed, my hand tightening around the dagger, my knuckles whitening.

“I bribed the harbour guard to look elsewhere while we make our dashing escape,” she informed me, dropping her ass on the board that served as a seat, stretching her shapely legs in front of her and looking unlikely to move. I’d watched her distract a manwith those shapely legs last night. She slid three gold coins off his table and into her hand. Scavenger my ass.

“Those legs won’t work on me,” I informed her with a scowl, stashing the knife to resume my preparations, yanking out the ties holding up the sail until it unfurled in a snap of canvas. I gritted my teeth when it dumped rainwater on my head. I still hadn’t got a hat. I planned to take back my own, right before I plunged my sword into Wendy.

Mymetalsword. The sword I’d bought from a blacksmith on the Princess Isle. Not any other sword. Not the one in my new leather trousers that thickened at the mere thought of that vicious little villain.

“What legs?” Vea asked, tilting them until her skirts fell up to her knees. “These legs, sir?”

“I will cut them off,” I growled, yanking the sail into place, the motions familiar even if this shitty little ship was nothing compared to the Banshee.

“Ah, don’t be a misery guts, sir. I know they’re notWendy’slegs, but they can part like any other.”

I speared Vea with a look of pure, heated loathing. “You can sit there if you keep your mouthshut,or keep running it if you’re content to be thrown to the monsters that lurk out there.” I stabbed my arm at the ocean. “Anddo notspeak about Wendy.”

“Why, sir?” Vea asked, all innocence and batting lashes. “You talk about her for hours in your sleep.”

I ground my teeth and ignored her preposterous comment as I made quick work of getting us out of the harbour and into deeper waters. There were no storms due this week, but enough winds that the seas should be favourable for a small boat such as this. It didn’t even have a name, that was how pathetic my new vessel was.

But not to worry. I’d reclaim the Banshee soon enough. Wendy didn’t strike me as an experienced sailor, so she’d rely onthe crew to man the ship. And that covetous look I saw in her blue eyes told me she’d keep to our plan and sail to the Cracked Shark the second she heard of the caves of crystal and gold.

My hat, my ship, my crew—was there anything that blighted woman hadn’t stolen?

“You’re doing it again,” Vea remarked, stretching out like a cat beneath the sunlight.

“Doingwhat?”I snapped, whipping around, my body as tight as a bowstring. I was almost shaking.

“Well, you’re grinding your teeth, your back’s as stiff as a board, and you keep muttering under your breath, so my guess is you’re thinking aboutWendy.”

My eyes flashed with lethal warning. I breathed deeper, heavier, rage like a fire in my chest. “I’m going to hunt her, torture her until she breaks, and then kill her.”

“Is that why you’ve got a boner?” Vea asked very seriously.

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