Focus, Nerissa. He was much more likely to eat you than fuck you.

  I blinked rapidly, wondering why I didn’t immediately find the idea appalling. Regardless, breathing was the first priority. I punched his arm. “Easy up there. I can’t breathe,” I wheezed pointing to where his arms squeezed me tightly around my chest.

  He huffed, but his grip relaxed. I took a few grateful breaths, and tried to push his hands away. He refused to budge.

  “Canavar, let me go. I have to leave now.”

  His eyes narrowed. I didn’t expect it when he grabbed my hair again and yanked on it, pulling my head back and exposing my throat to him. Fuck fuck fuck fuck—

  It tickled as his nose ghosted along my neck, my heart pounding as his fangs hovered over my jugular.

  Tits Tits Tits Tits Tits Tits—

  I stopped panicking as he made an odd sound, and my anxiety dissipated as I realized what he was doing. Canavar was … sniffing me. His nose went under my neck, my shoulders, my jaw, and then eventually the top of my head.

  It was invasive and demeaning, and yet … intriguing.

  “OK … so the raging draken man likes me,” I whispered to myself, still scared shitless but mostly sure he wasn’t about to rip my throat out and dance on my bloody corpse.

  It felt oddly flattering.

  Fangs descended on my throat to disabuse me of this notion, but he didn’t bite me; he only lightly scraped down my neck. A gasp escaped me before I could help it, and he paused. Green eyes stared straight at me as if he were trying to see through me. He bit down a bit harder on my neck, and my hips moved on their own as I instinctively pushed against him.

  Why had I done that?

  Canavar went still again, his grip on me harsh and unforgiving as he picked me up in one motion and slammed me down against what was clearly his raging erection.

  Ok, the fun was over.

  My new mission in life suddenly was to get away from the horny dragon man. I mean, it was understandable he’d be looking for a piece of ass to drive away the misery of his existence, but he wasn’t about to get my kibble and biscuits.

  I ducked down low and rolled, escaped his grip, and tried to scramble away. He was quicker though, arms snatching me back up again, but this time he slammed me down to the floor and shamelessly went to town dry humping my back. The impact took the wind out of my lungs, and it took a few moments for me to recover.

  Intrigue turned into fear fast. I flipped over and cocked back my fist, punching him in the nose for all I was worth.

  Canavar whirled away from me snarling, and I bolted for the cage door, slamming it shut behind me. He roared his displeasure at me, but I wasn’t sticking around to see how far of a lead he had on his chains. I fled down the darkness of the tunnel, desperately racing toward the light.

  Seven

  I ran down the hall even though I knew it was foolish. Most injuries around here came from not being careful enough walking through the maze of nailed together ships and planks. The island only had one healer after all; a surly, aged man whose hands tended to get frisky when I was around. He kept a special vial of ‘magick potion’ that he claimed could heal anyone no matter the injury.

  I doubted he actually had it; if it truly existed, it was something my father would keep for himself. I tried to avoid him at all costs, so I slowed my steps, not wanting to give him any excuse to come to my room later.

  I tried to calm my racing heart. I wasn’t a blushing virgin, but that didn’t mean I was ready to roll around with a seven-foot-tall dragon man. I’d gotten a wide view (and feel) for what Canavar was packing and that drove my fear of him more than anything else. He’d break me like kindling.

  Pressure built in my chest like it always did, but I gathered myself and pushed it away. Sometimes it overwhelmed me, but not today. I let out a breath as I felt it settle back into my body. I was usually manageable if I could convince it that we weren’t in any danger.

  My father insisted I was a dud of a witch; but I knew there was something inside of me.

  That’s why I feared the pressure in my chest. I was convinced it was power of some kind, except I didn’t understand it. It wasn’t water. It wasn’t air, nor earth, or fire. Father told me there were only four kinds of witches. I must have something else: something unknown.

  It terrified me.

  I was delusional thinking I could talk to Canavar like a person. Like the other men said, he was a wild thing. And yet … he hadn’t bitten me. He hadn’t hurt me. If anything, he’d acted like an oversized dog, hungry and distrustful of the hand that fed it. And horny.

  Which was understandable, I supposed.

  I wandered aimlessly through the ships that made up our pirate’s den. The island itself was rocky and too hard to build on. Each mangled ship served its own function. One was for my father and me. Another was where everyone ate. The healer had his own ship. Each one was connected by the narrow gangplanks that haphazardly kept us all threaded together. Most of the men lived in the three ships in the middle, in little hanging hammocks in tight rows.

  Lightly, I stepped through, barely needing to balance myself. I’d been running over these planks my entire life. The back end of the ships jutted over a cliff, the water rough and choppy. I didn’t turn around as I watched the waves come in, even as footsteps pounded behind me.

  “Rissa! By the gods’ teeth you are hard to keep up with.” Jagger bent over, hands on his knees while he tried to catch his breath.

  Inwardly, I rolled my eyes. “That won’t help. You need to keep your head up and stretch. How are your lungs supposed to get air if they’re all crunched?”

  His eyes narrowed, but he stood up straight. “I heard you met the monster.”

  I was getting tired of everyone calling him that. “What’s it to you?” I snarled.

  Jagger simply waited, staring me down.

  I groaned. “Not now, Jagger.” I dropped my head into my hands, massaging my scalp vigorously.

  “Allow me,” he offered, flopping down next to men on the floor and pushing his thumbs against my temples. I groaned in relief, going boneless against him.

  “I think you’re the only one who didn’t know about him,” Jagger continued, amusement coloring his voice.

  I pushed him off and sat up abruptly. “And why is that? Why does everyone else know and I don’t?”

  Jagger held his hands up in surrender. “Easy Rissa. We were both young when he got here. I’ve heard the other men talk. I guess it just … never came up around you.”

  Bullshit.

  “So everyone is just fine with the fact there’s a man being held down there as a prisoner?” I fired back.

  Jagger ran his hands through his hair, his face twisting in confusion. “Compared to the other dozens of prisoners currently on the island? Yeah, I guess so. This one’s at least useful. That’s why he gets fed.”

  He had a point. My father had many prisoners on the island, not just this man. What made this one so special, then?

  He’d only been a boy. That’s the difference. Another thought occurred to me; if Canavar was innocent, there could be others here in a similar situation.

  In a way, it felt as though my entire world was imploding around me. I knew our company were blood-thirsty pirates, but I’d never really thought about what that meant. I figured the spite was towards the crown and nobles. It was fine to war with them and other pirates. I’d never thought about all the other people who got caught in our crossfire.

  Taking over for my father didn’t seem like such a grand goal after all.

  “Hey. I’d like your attention on me, if you don’t mind, and not that filthy beast.”

  Jagger’s finger stroked under my chin and guided my face back to him. His tone and eyes were laughing, but there was a small kernel of jealousy lurking underneath.

  Like a riptide.

  “Do you need any relief?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

  My eyes narrowed. “Not particularly.”

  He put his arms behind his head. “How about I get some relief then for a change?”

  It wasn’t anything he hadn’t asked for before, and it wasn’t anything I hadn’t done in the past. But for some reason, today I had no interest.

  “I’m not in the mood.”

  He scowled, but gave me a good-natured grin. “Raincheck for later then. Maybe before dinner?”

  I rubbed my eyes. “Fine,” I grumbled, just to get him off my back. Besides, I had much bigger tasks I needed to complete besides keeping his dick happy.

  Gerrick might know more about drakens, but he likely already told everything he knew. He was a good pirate, but shit at remembering details. He had said that their homeland was an island, though. That meant sea witches, maybe.

  I could have hit myself with how stupid I was. Sea witches! They probably knew all about drakens if any lived near their island.

  The only problem was I’d never seen a sea witch around here. Then again, if the rumors about my own parentage was true, I wouldn’t blame them. My father would probably try to capture and rape them if they came near.

  Jagger grumbled, but settled down next to me in silence. I tried to quell my irritation. In less than a week, my life had turned upside down. My father didn’t view me as a successor but was more than happy to use me to do his dirty work. There had been a little boy abused and beaten below me for nine years until he’d turned into a monster: the perfect weapon.

  I hugged my knees, my leather boots squeaking in protest.

  So now what was my purpose? Would I spend the rest of my days being a pirate? What did Father mean when he said he didn’t need a successor? Surely everyone died at some point. Father had to have a plan. He was always buried in his plans and schemes; and never once had he let me in on them. Not until he’d shown me Canavar.

  I had to realize that my only value was in fighting for him or being married off. The latter made my skin crawl, but perhaps it was time to start being reasonable. A woman couldn’t fight among pirates forever. Eventually they’d take me by surprise when my father wasn’t around, and that would be it. I had a few pirates I liked better than others (Jagger, for one) but I wasn’t stupid enough to believe we were friends. I didn’t want to test whether or not he’d keep my secrets if it really came down to it.

  Was it possible there could be a life for me out there that didn’t involve pirates?

  Not likely. Besides my father, I had no one. And even that suddenly seemed conditional.

  What was the point? Father had spent his time beating me as a child to make me strong enough to survive and thrive here. Or, that’s what I had thought.

  I batted away the hand that Jagger had been sneaking up towards my breast. I wasn’t in any mood today. I knew using him to help control my power would only lead to him wanting to dip his wick more often. I had fond feelings for him, but I also had new feelings.

  Feelings that revolved around Canavar.

  “Jagger, I have to go.”

  His normally bright face darkened for a moment, a smirk curling itself along the edge of his mouth. “Sure. Yeah. I’ll look you up later. Maybe stop going down to visit that monster.”

  A cold, tingling sensation spread up from the base of my spine.

  “What do you mean?” I tried to sound indifferent; flippant, even.

  Jagger leaned in toward me, one hand hanging over the wooden post above us. “You just admitted you were with the creature. No one’s allowed down there except the captain.”

  Nerves and anxiety welled in my stomach. “Whatcha gonna do, tell on me?” I taunted him, regretting each time I’d used him. I knew I was giving him ammunition. I knew I was handing him the keys to take me down.

  “For doing what, precisely, Mr. Scott?”

  Both Jagger and I froze as my father’s shadow fell over us. Oh, fuck. I was in for it now. Jagger flinched along with me. The question was a test; who would Jagger stick up for? Me, or my father?

  The choice was laughable.

  Father crossed his arms over his chest, the thick leather of his coat squeaking. “Now. Or the boy gets sent to the brig.”

  My mouth dried out even as Jagger sputtered in fear next to me. The brig meant total isolation, locked in the darkness of the jail cells in one of our oldest ships, buried deep enough in the sand that no one would hear you scream.

  “P-please, I’m the one who snuck down to see C—the weapon,” I stammered out.

  Jagger may be getting on my nerves, but no one deserved time in the brig. I’d never been sentenced there myself, but I’d seen others who had. They always came back with a haunted look in their eyes. That is, the ones who came back. Plenty didn’t.

  Dark eyes rimmed with kohl glared at me. With a twitch of his fingers, Father dismissed Jagger, who nearly tripped in his hurry to put as much distance between himself and the captain as he could.

  That left me alone to bear the brunt of my father’s anger.

  But he didn’t strike me or threaten me. Instead, he turned to go, beckoning me to follow him back to his office with a slight curl of his fingers.

  I shut the door behind us, accustomed to it. I tried not to breathe out in relief as he gestured for me to sit, rather than bend over his desk, as was customary.

  “Are you fascinated with my weapon, Nerissa?”

  His hands were steepled under his chin, blue eyes narrowing in an assessing, critical gaze.

  I had to take a moment to school my expression, and keep my hands from shaking. “I just—”

  “Don’t. Lie.”

  Terror squeezed my heart. “I wanted a closer look,” I admitted because that was true enough. “You hid him well all these years. I can’t help but imagine the impact he’d have during a raid.”

  My father relaxed back in his chair, and drummed the fingers of his left hand on the worn, wooden desk. “I had Gerrick check on him after he was causing a ruckus. He reported Canavar had healing paste on him, and his chains were loose.”

  I sucked in a breath involuntarily. “I—I did leave the paste for him. He was injured and hungry.”

  His eyes narrowed further. “You didn’t feed him, did you?”

  I couldn’t lie. He already knew.

  “Yes,” I breathed out. “I’m sorry.” I bowed my head to my chest, praying the punishment would at least be swift if it was going to be painful. “It’s just that I couldn’t leave him like that. Wouldn’t he be a better weapon if he had his full strength?”

  I’d likely earn a few more lashes for my impertinence, but I couldn’t help it. Treating Canavar that way my father did made no sense.

  The corner of his lips curled into an indulgent smile, throwing me off. “This is why there won’t ever be a pirate queen,” he taunted, throwing my earlier arguments back in my face. “Women have too many feelings. You can’t see the bigger picture.”

  I kept my mouth shut. A verbal lashing was preferred over a physical one.

  “That thing down there is a monster that needs to be controlled. If I feed him properly and kiss every boo-boo, where’s his anger? Where’s his motivation to fight?”

  I understood him perfectly, but that one small, desperate part of my brain didn’t want to believe that my father was purposefully starving a living, breathing creature.

  Who was I kidding? Just because he was my father didn’t mean he was a good man.

  “So, I finally deem you old enough to share in a few of my secrets, and the first thing you do is try to sabotage my weapon.”

  “It wasn’t like that,” I tried to argue, even though the words sounded weak to my own ears. “I just wanted to help him.”

  I could tell by the expression on my father’s face that it didn’t matter how many battles I won or how many men and resources I’d brought to the company. All he saw (and all he ever would see) was a small, weak-minded woman.

  And in that moment, I felt like one.

  My father stood and walked around his desk to loom over me, his hands behind his band. “Now as to the matter of his punishment.”

  “H-his punishment?” I repeated dumbly, not entirely sure I heard him right.

  A nasty smirk crawled up his mouth. “Of course. He was the one who managed to loosen his chains. He was the one who voluntarily ate the food you brought. Canavar is a warrior. He knows better. I shall help him regain his discipline. Now run along.”

  My mouth went dry. I couldn’t admit I’d been the one to loosen them. I couldn’t. He’d kill me. But Canavar didn’t deserve to take the blame for what I’d done either.

  “Canavar didn’t do anything wrong,” I tried again, attempting to keep my voice down so the others didn’t hear.

  “Get his name off your tongue, or I’ll punish that as well,” Father snapped back, clearly in a foul mood. “Did you not hear me? Get. Out.”

  Oh no. I’d really fucked up this time.

  My feet automatically took me out of his office, and my brain screamed at me to just go. Father had never let me off from a punishment so lightly before, and part of me was in shock. The other part was angry and afraid for Canavar, but what could I do?

  What you should have done to begin with, my brain chastised. Nothing.

  So I didn’t go back and argue. I kept my gaze down on the rotted, wet wooden planks that served as a walkway connecting each of the old, hollowed out ships that served as our home.

  And I tried not to think about the wounded man below my feet, alone in the dark suffering and possibly about to be beaten because of me.

  I stopped. I couldn’t let that happen.

  I bumped hard into a shoulder, not watching where I was going.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled, but Hai was watching me carefully, for once without his twin brother Kai.

  “You’re about to do something foolish,” he said sagely, eyes calm and wise.

  My hands clenched into fists at my sides and I kept walking, brushing by him. Just because something was stupid didn’t mean it was wrong.

  There had to be another way into the caves besides the one my father was likely now having watched. I would find it.

  Eight

 

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