Page 74 of Evil Hearts

“My dreams?”

“Revenge on the naval captain who sank your father’s ship? Commanding your crew like a queen? How do you say it—dominating the sweet trade?”

“Atlas, my dreams changed…or maybe those weren’t my dreams to begin with. I wouldn’t choose anger and revenge over motherhood. Yes, my father did everything he could to raise me right, but when I needed to learn to be a woman…and handle womanly things…I was alone. What if I’m carrying a sentient daughter? I can’t abandon her.”

“But I will do my best—”

“Atlas, you must obey your fated mate, right? Instinct and all that cup-shot stuff?” She waits for me to nod. “Well, bust this boat into barnacle food, send this bastard to Davy Jones’s locker, and take me home.”

Jane

I didn’t birth eggs until seven years later, but we kept ourselves entertained in the quiet. That naval ship that sankPetunia Fairmet its end on a reef by Aruba. I saw Ellis again when he fell offQueen Anne’s Revengeand Atlas tossed him back aboard. Bastard did sail for Blackbeard after all—although they call him Chub now. I don’t want to know why—I’m a lady now…sort of.

Traveling into the Atlantic, we met a consortium of Maria and Atlas’s children. Who else could produce Kraken shifters? The red-haired beauties had the torso of a human and long tentacles like Atlas. I’m a stepmother to hundreds, maybe thousands, of shifters. When asked what they could do for me in return for taking care of their father, I pointed them in Ellis’s direction. Hopefully, one of these beastly women will domesticate him or one of his hearties. I know my life is what I always wanted thanks to Atlas.

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