Drew didn’t think Kelia truly understood the effect her words had on him. His cock throbbed painfully, and he clutched her hips once more, needing something to hold onto. A reminder to slow down.

He knew Kelia was a virgin. Knew how it would feel for him—something he had not felt in a long time—but also how it would feel for her.

His fangs had slid out. He needed something to bite, especially since he was overwhelmed with her scent, with the thud of her heart beating, her pulse knocking against her throat.

Kelia's eyes were hazy with lust, half-mast as she stared up at him. Her lips were slightly parted, lips he longed to always be attached to. Her naked body all but trembled underneath his. He could smell her anticipation, her fear. He wanted to reassure her to trust him. She would not be here if she did not—but he still wanted to ease her turbulent thoughts.

He took in a slow breath and slid off his tunic before letting it drop in a heap on the floor, next to Kelia's clothes. He leaned back over her and kissed her neck. It still awed him that someone like her—a woman with options of where to take her life—could be with him. Hopefully she would be so enraptured by him that the thought of being with anyone else would not even cross her mind.

Her hands reached up to rest on his chest. An innocent touch, and yet, somehow, he found her hesitation endearing. Her hands were soft on his skin, as they explored his solid torso, her eyes focused and awed.

He twitched at her obvious attraction to him. He’d been aware of his appearance, and it had been important to him to ensure that he kept in shape as a pirate and as a man who enjoyed the company of women, but it was only now that he appreciated the time and effort he put into cultivating his body.

"You've gotten into a lot of scrums to get these marks on your body," Kelia murmured.

She placed soft, hesitant lips on where the scar started at his ribs before moving up along his pectoral muscles until she reached the end of it as his collarbone. Then she moved onto another scar, this one a bullet hole in his opposite shoulder, and pushed herself on her knees, sliding her arms underneath his so she could reach up and pull him down closer to her.

Her fingers glided across his shoulders and down his arms until she reached his hands. Grabbing his hand, she brought it up to her face and kissed his palm before moving to the inside of his wrist.

A small moan fell from his lips.

This was not supposed to happen. He was the one who was supposed to be doing this to her. She...she was not supposed to know what she was doing.

She caressed his right forearm, bringing him back to reality. "What is this?"

"That..." His gaze dropped to his arm, and a frown tugged at his lips. The P had been singed into his flesh before he was ever a Shadow, which was why it had not healed when he was given unending life. A brand that stated what he was and would forever be: Pirate. "That marks me for a what I am."

"I did not know P stood for good man." Her voice was quiet, but her eyes were clear.

"The fact that you would think of me as such," he began, but he didn’t know how to finish that sentence and left it there.

"I can admit when I’m wrong, Drew," she told him. "And I was completely and utterly wrong about you. You are more than I expected, and I know everyone else is wrong about yo, too."

She kissed his wrist once more before bringing his hand and placing it firmly on her breast.

"You wore your hair down," he said. He probably should have noticed it before, but he had been too consumed with everything, with possibility, with what he planned to do with her.

She nodded.

"It looks lovely." Keeping one hand on her breast, he reached out with the other and grabbed a lock of her hair, twirling it around his index finger, feeling the silky gold strands of hair coil around his skin like a bond. He cleared his throat, gently tugging on her hair so she was closer to his face. "You are so goddamn beautiful."

As he kissed her once more, his hand squeezed her breast, his thumb grazing over her nipple. When Kelia moaned, the sound shot straight to his cock, and he slid his tongue inside of her mouth, needing to feel her, needing to kiss her with fervor and insistence. He could not wait any longer. He needed to consume her.

"Kelia," he whispered. Her flesh pinched with tension, and he could not help but smirk at his power over her body. He was not lying when he said he was honored for this opportunity to prove himself to her. "Tell me to stop. Tell me to stop, and I will. But please if you are going to, tell me before I consume you."

Her eyes cracked open, and she swallowed. She shook her head. "Please," she said again. "Please don't stop."

Drew hummed. Typically, he did not have to question his partners, but he wanted to be sure Kelia was ready for this. He wanted to give her every opportunity to say no. Even if she hesitated, he would take that as she still needed more time. But each time he asked, she seemed more certain than before. And he trusted her self-assessment.

He repositioned himself, and slowly, gently, pushed a little bit inside of her. He pressed his lips together to refrain from letting out a moan. Though he was not yet fully inside of her, he could feel the heat and pressure of her walls around him. She was so tight, he wouldn’t have been able to push himself in faster if he wanted to. But he wouldn’t even if he could. He didn’t want to rush this, and he never wanted to hurt her.

He gave her light kisses, trying to ease the tension in her face as he pushed through. Kelia was strong, though, and while it was clear she was in pain, he could also see her resilience.

It was one of the reasons he loved her.

The thought struck him so quickly, so hard, he did not have time to think about it. Even now, he removed it from his mind. He would not dwell on thoughts in the heat of an intimate moment.

He pushed deeper, and she tensed, so he pulled back a little to give her time before trying again. With each effort, her body felt more and more ready. If it wasn’t such a tease to himself, he might go this way for hours with her just to watch her beg for him.

The rain pattered against the deck above and splattered on Drew's window. The flame flickered, fading lower and lower as time continued forward even though it felt as though it remained still.

Drew's hands over her body, his tight breathing, his grunts and moaning—she reveled in it all. His teeth played with her skin, and she was certain, in his passion, he would forget himself and leave a mark. Somehow, she trusted that while he might nibble on her, he would never actually bite her. She didn’t know how she knew this, but it was something she believed.

He was someone she believed in.

Her hands traveled across his shoulders, sinking into his strong back as he snaked a hand between their bodies and started playing with her already-swollen nob. It was sensitive, almost painful to touch, and she let out a shudder as he moved his fingers over it quickly, with purpose, continuing to keep his pace moving inside of her steady.

Still she tried her best to hold back her pleasurable moans. Not because she didn’t want Drew to hear her, but because it embarrassed her to think the rest of the crew might hear her as well.

But as Drew continued on, rocking into her harder until she could not contain herself any longer, the tension building in her pelvis started to overwhelm her. Not long after, that now-familiar feeling of her upcoming climax came over her.

"There it is," Drew said.

Kelia didn’t know how he knew she was ready to release again, but he seemed to shift his tempo just enough to ease her orgasm out of her sooner than she’d expected. Then, the moment Kelia went limp against him, he grabbed her hips and cried out, burying his face into her shoulder.

He swelled and released into her, and it brought her a surprising sense of pleasure, though slightly different from her own orgasm. The sensation of him finishing between her thighs was more a feeling of completeness than anything else, and she clutched his body against her own to hold onto that feeling a little longer.

When he was done, he all but collapsed on top of her, his strong arms wrapped possessively around her waist, but the majority of his weight positioned so it wouldn’t fall onto her.

Kelia felt...content. As she stared up at the ceiling, trying to make it out through the darkness, she could not help but smile.

As Drew rested on her body, her fingertips playing over his forearms, everything felt right.

Kelia awoke only a few hours later. Drew was still holding onto her, his breath invading her shoulder and collarbone, as he inhaled and exhaled.

She closed her eyes for a moment to listen to the storm outside. It had quieted. In fact, she wasn’t certain it was even still raining. She tried to fall back asleep but failed. She’d never been good at waking up and going back to sleep.

Perhaps some fresh air would help cool her down, especially now that her mind was starting to fill with analytical thoughts regarding what had transpired, what it meant, and what would happen next.

She removed Drew's arm from her waist, picked up her clothes, and put them on. She ran into the desk on the way to the door—the candle down to its last moments of life—and was certain she would have a bruise on her shin.

Despite all her ruckus, though, Drew somehow did not wake. Was that a good thing, or a bad thing?

As she slipped out of the room, the cool air caressed her cheeks, and goosebumps ran along her skin. There was no rain, though judging by the grey sky and the loose clouds, this could just be a break before the storm picked up. She probably wouldn’t be out here very long, so she just wrapped her hands around her arms to ward off the chill.

The surface of the moving ocean rocked the Wraith like a mother might rock her newborn to sleep, and Kelia’s soul felt content—still, but satisfied—as though no one could get to her.

When it came to Drew, she was safe. She always had been. But things hadn’t always been like this. Something in their relationship had changed. What that was, and how that affected them, she was not certain. All she knew was that she enjoyed what had happened between them and that she found herself longing to do it again.

"My God," she murmured to herself. "What would Jennifer say?"

Kelia’s heart ached. Even though Jennifer betrayed her at the very end, Kelia could not help but feel conflicted. The Society attempted to kill Jennifer. From that point, Kelia had no idea what happened with her because she was reduced to a Sightless, which separated her from other Slayers. Had Jennifer gone to the Society? Had they gone to her? Either way, Jennifer was still there, very much alive.

Kelia let out a shaky breath and forced her gaze to the ocean. She didn’t want to think about the Society or any of the Slayers at all. Not when she finally felt happy.

Something moved in the ocean. Kelia blinked and looked again. She could have sworn she had seen a fin. Did dolphins really swim this close to the shore?

It could be a siren.

Kelia took a step back, and the tail flicked to the surface again. This time, she was certain it wasn’t a dolphin. Shiny, dark green scales glimmered pink and blue under the moonlight. At just the edges of her consciousness, a familiar song played, sweeping all other thoughts and memories from her mind.

Something inside of her pressed forward, even though a small voice shouted at her to step away, to go back to Drew, to be safe.

But that voice of warning was so far away, so muffled, that the thought never fully formed in her mind. Instead, she grabbed the wooden bannister and leaned over the side to get a look at the beautiful sea creature.

At that moment, a familiar face appeared directly in front of her.

A Siren. Elise.

Panic flooded into her mind. The siren’s song cut short as she snapped out from under its spell.

But it was too late.

"There you are," Elise said, her tail still in the water, but her long, lean torso out so she could meet Kelia. "You reek of Shadow. I take it you finally gave yourself to Drew Knight then?" She tsked Kelia, though there was a glint in her eye. "What would your mother think?"

Kelia's heart constricted painfully. Everything that had happened to her in the past day had taken its toll if it had been so easy to forget that there was a chance her mother might still be alive.

"Would you like me to take you to her?" Elisa asked, cocking her head to the side so her long hair spilled over her shoulder and covered her breast. She played with the wet strands as her gaze remained fixed on Kelia. "I’m certain nothing would please her more than to see you."

Kelia swallowed. Her mother was still alive, and she had been intimate with a Sea Shadow. She took a breath. Did that make her selfish? Did it matter?

However, as she allowed Elise's words to sink in, she stopped her self-imposed guilt. Everything that had just happened to her flooded back into her memory.

She could no longer ignore that she was desired by this Queen of Sea Shadows. Two Shadows had kidnapped her, and a dark mage was going to do the same thing. What would stop Sirens from trying to take her to the Queen as well? Were they not created by her? Did she not breathe life into these witches, giving them means to survive in the sea? Would they not be duty-bound, then, to take her to their Queen?

Kelia leaned back, her eyes narrowed.

"You're lying," she said. Her voice was low, nothing more than a whisper. Adrenaline coursed through her system. Her fingers curled into tight fists that she made sure were down by her sides. She didn’t want this Siren to know that she was angry, nervous, and confused. "My mother died long ago. My father saw her die. Your kind ripped her to shreds."

Elise stilled. There was no telling look on her face, nothing that would indicate that Kelia was right, but there was something there, something that said perhaps the Sirens were twisting and bending the truth for a reason unknown to Kelia.

"What do you want with me?" Kelia’s voice was louder, more determined. She clenched the wooden bannister as tight as she had been holding her fists. "Why lie about my mother? What do you want?"

"Your mother is alive. That is not a lie."

“No, she’s not,” Kelia said. Tears sprang in her eyes at her foolishness for letting herself believe the lie, even temporarily. She wanted a mother, certainly. She never had that warm, supportive presence in her life, though her father had tried. Perhaps, she was clinging to the hope that she would one day receive that. But now, she knew, without a doubt, that she would not. "She is not alive, you evil witch. You cannot take me down to the depths. I will not go."

"You won't have a choice." Elise's beautiful demeanor changed in that moment. Her face contorted into a monster-like scowl, her nose scrunching, and her set of pearly-white teeth sharpened into two rows of fangs. "You won’t always be under Drew Knight's protection, you know, and when you aren’t, I will find you, I will give you to our Queen, and she will grant me the gift of life."

"The gift of..." Kelia furrowed her brow. "You are already alive."

"Am I?" Elise asked. "Do you think I want to be confined to the sea when I used to have legs? Do you think I want to feast on blood and flesh and bone in order to survive? Do you think I want to serve a Queen who wants nothing more than to turn insipid humans so she can gather her army and run the world? If she were to kill me as a human, fine, but I will not allow her to keep me chained to this watery prison for the rest of my eternal life. And if that means snatching you and giving you to her, I will."

“You sound like you enjoy such a thing,” Kelia said.

Elise tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I am forced to do this,” she said, her voice tight, controlled. “If I cannot force myself to look on the bright side of things, train myself to enjoy it, then I will live miserably. I can learn to enjoy the beast that I am. I can learn to accept her—even if I don’t want to.”

Kelia heard her words but was not afraid. "How did you know my mother?" she asked, her voice little more than a breath. "You spoke her name. You knew her."

"I did," the Siren said, glancing away toward the roll of the sea. "I ripped into her when your father fell under the allure of our song. We could not reach him, though that was our intent. But we managed to snatch her instead. I bit into her first." Elise rubbed her lips together, as though she could actually remember the taste. "She tasted sweet, like berries and milk. I was hoping to see if you tasted the same, but I doubt I will ever know. Not with the Queen so intent on keeping you for herself."

A cold calmness washed over Kelia’s body. Even her anger dissipated.

"I will kill you," she said. "You ruined everything in my life. My mother and my father are dead because of you. But I will not succumb to your tricks. Mark me, sea witch, if I had my blade on hand, I would put it through your heart and release you from this prison myself in the worst possible way. You would do best to never cross my path again."

Elise laughed, but Kelia was unmoved. There was power in her words, as though now that they were spoken out loud, Kelia believed them. And if she believed them, she knew they would come to pass. She did not know how or when, but she was certain she would make the words true.

"I look forward to it," Elise said. "The Queen will do much worse than I ever could, and I will ask if I can watch you scream."

“Why not get it over with and do it now?” Kelia asked. “Stop blabbering and do something about it.”

“You have someone in that crow’s nest, ready to slice me in half if I do,” she said. “And I find I am too pretty to die tonight.”

The Siren laughed again before turning around and diving gracefully back into the ocean.

Kelia closed her eyes, a tear sliding down her face. Her mother was gone. There was no denying it anymore. But Kelia was alive, and Drew was waiting for her.

She turned and headed back to his quarters. The thrill of being in his arms again was enough to make her forget about the Sirens—at least, for now.

But when she walked through the door, Drew did not look happy.