“And you did not tell me of her because you knew I’d go seeking.”
The Jolly Roger was a special ship, it could sail wherever he commanded it to, even Earth. He’d have spent a millennia, or more, following her around like a besotted fool, attempting always to get her to remember him, to bring her back.
“She never would have come with me, would she?”
Danika lifted a plump shoulder, her briarwood vest bunched around her bosom. “The soul trapped within the body is as immortal as yours or mine. I visited the body through several incarnations, always trying to see if any memory of her truth had finally been unlocked. Always to no avail. And I thought the trauma of trying to get her to recall, or to bring her back even, would be more than she could take. The body had always been abysmally weak, the strain of disbelief would have killed it over and over and over again. So I left her alone, always waiting and watching.”
He thought of the woman in his cabin. His lips twitched recalling the tongue on her. Her clothing was less than desirable, but when the mass of golden spun hair had fallen over her shoulders, his heart had clenched in a most irritating way. His body had hardened, not because he felt anything akin to love, but because she was a beauty and his lust had responded. But that was all he felt when he looked at her. Lust.
“Is there anything of my Talia in that body now?”
She sighed, her face looking sad. “Several lifetimes worth of memories are locked deep, deep inside. But I must warn you, Hook, the maiden you loved, she is long gone. Each life left an indelible mark, but Trishelle—for that is her name now—is your mate.”
He snorted. “I do not want her. If I cannot have Talia, I’ve no need of another.”
Huffing, she flitted to his finger. Turning his hand over, she daintily stepped onto his palm. “She is a good woman who’s known terrible darkness in this life. For the sake of the maiden you loved, try to know her. It would not kill you to show you’re not the monster the world has made you out to be.”
“I’ve no desire to show that side to anyone. That is my secret to know.”
“Then she will leave in three days and you will surely die. That was the prophecy, you know, the reason why I was forced to finally bring her here. Because if the Bad Five didn’t find their mates, this would be their last year of life.”
He shrugged. The fear of death had long since lost its sting.
Looking up, she frowned. “I must leave soon, I cannot follow into the drop. But may I ask a question?”
“What?”
She flitted off his palm, and he curled his fingers back.
“Why aren’t you mad at me? Wolf was furious. I must admit, I’m flabbergasted you’re still talking with me.”
Picking at his nails, he shivered as the tingle of the drop rushed through the breeze, encasing his ship in a skintight bubble. Danika frowned, and began to draw up into the sky, her eyes flicking between him and the black void of spiraling water opening up before them.
“Because I’d have done the same,” he finally said, just as the prow skirted the edge between the upper and under world of Never.
“Thank you,” she whispered and then flicked her wrist, sailing through the thin sliver of blue a second before the ship crashed over the edge.
Chapter 7
After about thirty minutes, she decided she didn’t know what to think. Dream or not, true or not, she was here now, and that was all that mattered. Which meant, well...she wasn’t sure what. Did he plan to sleep with her? Did she want him to?
Why did he give her his room if that wasn’t his ultimate end game? Dirty old Hook. She smirked, heart beating just a tad harder when she thought about peeling the breeches and shirt off. What kind of a body did he have she wondered? Hard and ripped, or soft and wimpy?
“Bet it’s hard,” she muttered and then rolled her eyes at the turn her thoughts were taking. The man made her have ‘feels.’ Which was just a really lame way of saying he was making her tummy wiggle with a mass of butterflies. His hard black eyes and chiseled jaw…gah, he was everything she loved about men.
She had the worst taste in guys; at least she was smart enough to recognize that. And generally that wasn’t a problem because she didn’t want anything other than the temporary satisfaction their body could bring her.
But she didn’t think she could handle what Hook dished out. The man was intense, all steely eyed and growly and moody and when he laughed… She squeezed her thighs shut and moaned, flinging back onto the mattress and tossing a hand over her eyes.