Page 5 of Trapped By Claws
"Well, well," Corvin said, his bright-green eyes half shaded. "Look at you. Just as clever as you are beautiful. I'm halftempted to carry you off right now and let all the problems that may come sort themselves out."
"You stay away from me, shifter fae," I muttered, shooting him a glare. "You and your thieving otter."
"So salty." He tsked as he swam alongside me. Tagger gave a responding trill, managing to be adorable despite his reprehensible acts. "You know that glow in your cheeks from the rage is absolutely adorable. It'd be so easy for me to scoop you up."
"Try it, and I'll kill you with my spoon." I shot him another glare as I adjusted the rope and then leaped forward onto the island to the right.
"Really? With your spoon? How do you kill someone with a spoon?"
I cut my eyes back at him. "Don't push it, shifter."
He tipped his head back and laughed at this. "Oh, chilled waters preserve us, you're a feisty one, aren't you? Why aren't they sending a boat out to get you?" He swam to the other side of the stone island and peeked over the edge of the stone at me. He waggled his eyebrows. "If you were mine, I wouldn't let you out of my home. Or my sight."
Shaking my head, I crossed over the stone island. "Enough. I don't know what you're trying to charm me to do, but it isn't going to work. I'm never going to go with you to your lair. I'm not yours. And I don't think your otter is cute." I leaped onto the next stone circle.
He shot up out of the water as I sailed forward and brushed his clawed fingers over my ankle.
A sharp tingle spasmed up my leg.
I yelped as my feet struck the stone. Spinning around, I glared. "What did you do that for?"
"What did I do?" He gave me an innocent smile that did not reach his eyes. He lifted his arms in a playful shrug. Tagger splashed in the water around him, clapping his paws.
I shook my head at him and padded to the edge of the stone island. "You are—oh!" I jumped back as he zipped in front of me, his bright eyes sparking with mischief. His hand nearly caught my bare ankle again before I darted to the middle of the stone island. What was wrong with him? Was he trying to pull me in?
His voice dipped lower. "Why won't you let me carry you to safety, darling? You know, I make a far better friend than I do an enemy. And you'd fit in my arms so perfectly." He propped his chin up on his palm, his elbow braced against the stone.
I gave him a wide berth as I adjusted my grip.
"Just stay away, all right? I don't want you touching me."
His grin pulled in a crooked slash of white. "Really?"
I unhooked the spoon from the clip at my side and brandished it. "I'm not afraid to hit you in your human form."
He cut his eyes up at me, his grin broadening. "Oh, I'm terrified."
I moved as far as I could away from him, hooked the spoon back on, and prepared to jump. As I launched myself again, he swept forward and ran his hand underneath my feet.
I yelped, the tickling sensation enough to make me flail. "Stop that!" I shouted at him. My fingers clutched at the coarse stone spire, and I tugged on the rope instinctively. One foot brushed the cool waves.
He fluttered his fingers at me as he sank back in the waters, that big grin of his still there. "Aren't you having fun?"
"No." I adjusted my skirt and fixed the soft leggings underneath. As I reached the opposite side of the stone island, I peered out, searching for any threats. The cold waters below were so deep I couldn't even hope to see the bottom. But therelative stillness today meant I could see some of the depth both here and beneath the ship.
As if my thoughts had summoned it, a dark form swept beneath the ship, lithe and sinuous.
Another moved in the distance.
Salt's bane. My stomach churned. The longer I looked, the more I saw.
A side fin cut through the water as one of the sea monsters skimmed the surface and then dove down again. Waves rippled out from it.
"The creatures of the deep love that dwarven racket," Corvin said as he swam back in front of me. "If you had just jumped in, you'd have gotten snatched up like a baby sea turtle in a gull's path on hatching day. But now you've got me curious. How are you going to get from here to your ship?" He tilted his head, his expression sharp but playful. "You must be planning on tying that rope to one of the stone columns and then shimmying across. But you know…that means you're going to be suspended over open waters for a bit. If you fall in, you're dead. And if one of them gets curious about you, well—what's to keep them from snapping a little snack like you out of the air? I bet you'd taste delicious."
I glared at him. "Do you have a point?"
He grinned, eyes half shaded, his eyelashes thick and gorgeous. "I could help you. All you have to do is put your arms around my neck and let me carry you to safety. None of these monsters will cross me. They know exactly what I am."
