Page 11 of Another Damned Darling

“Nothing to worry about.”

He studied me for another second, then nodded once. “We’ll meet you back at the skiff shortly, sir.”

“Very well.”

I waited until he joined the others beyond the border of the beach before turning back to the woman. She had a beautiful face when it wasn’t contorted with rage. I knelt beside her, tracing the lines of ink decorating her wrist. I did this in part to see if it would wake her, but also because I wanted to. Needed to.

Pulling back the sleeve of her jacket revealed even more ink, and I imagined both her arms were covered shoulder to wrist in those delicate, swirling black tattoos, without a hint of color to be seen.

Interesting.

I’d seen plenty of women with tattoos, but they were always small, discreet, and without fail, colorful. This strange woman wore her dark artwork out in the open, save for the jacket that currently kept it hidden. Based on just what I could see of it, the designs would have taken an enormous amount of time to ink, not to mention the prolonged pain she would have endured.

I traced my index finger lightly along another fine black swirl. “What do these mean to you?”

I stayed with her like that for several minutes, but she didn’t stir. So I gently hoisted her into my arms and headed back across the beach toward the skiff. We were just a hundred paces or so away when she shifted in my arms, blinking up at me with devastatingly blue eyes. I thought for a moment I could drown in those eyes, until they narrowed dangerously.

“Fucking pirate.” She hurled the words at me like a weapon then bucked violently in my arms. I fought to keep my grip on her, but the woman was wily. I had no choice but to drop her, not if I didn’t want to hurt her.

She didn’t waste a second after she hit the sand, rolling deftly and leaping to her feet before taking off up the beach.

Every calm, rational bone in my body said I should let her go.

The woman clearly didn’t desire my assistance. She also wasn’t from the island. Of that I was sure. Which meant she had no idea of the twisted evils that awaited her in the shadows of that lush forest.

I probably had at least a few hours before the demon made it back from the human realm with its new prize. That time could be spent waiting impatiently, or it could be spent in more interesting way. A smile crept across my lips as I jogged toward the tree line.

The woman might not have known where she was going, but I had a pretty good idea where she’d end up. Perhaps she’d be a bit less combative once she’d had a chance to burn off a little of that wild energy.

5

NEVER

Yep, I was lost. And not like ‘I couldn’t find my car in the parking lot’ lost. Palm leaves and reaching ferns slapped against my skin with every step that drew me deeper into the strangely dense tropical landscape.

From my shitty little apartment in that crap city to… wherever the hell I’d ended up. That was fine by me, so long as my path took me away from the wannabe pirate. I had more important things to worry about, like finding my brother.

Was I in a forest? Or was it called a rainforest when it was so close to the ocean?

No, that didn’t sound right. Not that it mattered much. Trying to figure out worthless crap like that was just how my brain worked in moments of stress.

Giant palms stretched up toward the sky, but a jumble of other trees and plants effectively blocked my view, blotting out the sun before it had a chance to shine down into the shadowed, humid world below. And holy hell was it humid.

I paused, taking in the sounds surrounding me. They seemed to grow louder the longer I stood still, as if the chirp of a million tiny birds worked to multiply the swelling buzz of insects. The place was teeming with life, activity, and movement. And it was playing hell on my senses.

Leaves rustled softly and tiny particles of something, maybe dust, glittered in the rare rays of sunlight that managed to pierce the shroud of darkness above. But how could there be dust when it was so damned humid? I stripped off my jacket and held it out in front of me, wincing at the state of the poor thing. Fighting demons was why I couldn’t have nice clothes.

It was also the reason I didn’t get attached to much; I could find a way to ruin anything eventually.

Now that was a chipper thought. Way to let that inner positivity flow, Nev.

I tied the sleeves around my waist and kept moving. There was no time for self-loathing when I was lost in the forest. Lost and thirsty. My stomach growled loudly, and I rolled my eyes. Of course, because hunger was the perfect companion to my already stellar situation.

There had to be a trail around somewhere, right? Something to show me I was on the right path.

“Who exactly do I think I’m kidding? I have no clue where I’m going.” I glanced behind me only to find myself fully ensconced in that dense green undergrowth. I couldn’t even tell where I’d come from.

Some people had an internal sense of direction.Lucky bastards.If I had a landmark to reference, I could find my way. But surrounded by a forest of trees, vines, and ferns that all started to blend together? That wasn’t really the best situation for my directionally challenged ass.

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