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“Fuckfuckfuck.” My hands tore at my jacket pocket, terror capturing my lungs, feeling his wet fur against my fingers, his body unmoving. “Nononono.” I pulled Sprig out, his limp frame in a starfish position on the deck in a puddle of water. I watched his chest for movement, my pulse pounding in my ears. “Come on, gerbil…” Panic cut off my air, swallowing down the utter fear I felt.
His lips smacked, his tiny voice muttered sound asleep, curling on his side. “The honey bears want my brains.”
A huge gust of air shredded my lungs, a hitch gurgling up my throat with a laugh-cry.
“You’re safe…” I rubbed at his head, relief slumping me back into the railing. “You don’t have any brains to give them.”
Scot snorted, drawing my attention back to him. More of my men circled around me. Vane, Corb, Zidane, and shit, if I didn’t want to break down.
“Fuck, it’s good to see you all,” I croaked.
“Aye, and you.” Scot took my hand again, cupping it like a hug, his lids blinking rapidly, stuffing back his emotion.
“Kat?” I tried to turn my head, searching for her.
A grin hinted on Scot’s face. “See for yourself.”
“Croygen.” Soaking wet and wearing someone’s shirt, Katrina dove beside me, relief flooding her features. “Oh gods… you’re alive.” Her fingers slid over my wounds, making me flinch in pain, worry furrowing her brow. “What happened to you?”
Water and blood trailed down my face, my adrenaline waning, agony throbbing over my skin and bones. I was more hurt than I thought.
“My ass got tossed from that last cannon.” I gripped her hands, my mouth brushing over her palm, needing to feel she was solid and real.
“Blame him for that.” Scot thumbed over his shoulder.
“You’re the stupid ass who got in front of it.” A tall blond man strolled to the side of Scot, jerking my head to him.
“Cooper?” I stared at the Dark Dweller in surprise, not expecting to find him here with my crew. I assumed they were already out of the city, heading back for the States. “You’re here.” Another knot in my chest unwound, knowing they were safe. Alive. “Annabeth?”
“She’s below. Resting.”
“How?” I wagged my head, looking at Vane, Corb, and Zid, with Tsai up at the helm. Everything swirled in my brain, nothing computing, my body starting to shut down.
“I think you need to rest and heal before we get into that.” Scot reached under my arm, tugging me up, Zidane getting on my other side.
“Fuck, I missed you guys,” I whispered, still so confused how they were here. It was impossible to sail this far in such little time.
No matter how hard I tried to keep my lids up, they started to close. And as they deposited me on a bed down below, I swore I saw a small, familiar man standing in the doorway. Recognition almost reached me before sleep took me under.
A dull ache roused me from a deep sleep, my lids slowly blinking open to a room I didn’t recognize, daylight streaming through the small window. Confusion filled my head with panic. I peered around, not knowing where I was or what happened.
Naked, my body still red in places from burn marks, I felt bare skin brush against me. My attention jumped to the figure lying beside me. For one second, I wondered whose bed I was in, which nameless woman I had fucked last night, what trouble I had gotten into. The sensation sizzled disgust and anger through me with nausea. And then my brain finally clicked on the figure. All the chaos going on in my head was instantly anchored and soothed.
Katrina.
Exhaling, my body calmed, relieved it was her next to me, not some other woman.
I took in her beautiful sleeping face, realizing how everything had flipped since she’d come back into my life. I never cared when I woke up in the bed of a woman I barely remembered. Shame or regret were never something I experienced. But from the second she stepped onto my ship, the thought of being with anyone else made me want to squirm out of my skin. I didn’t comprehend that for a long time, but now I saw it so clearly.
When she declared to Killian I was her mate, I expected fear, claustrophobia, and the need to run. It did the exact opposite. Her declaration rooted my boots into the floor, made me feel like I could fully breathe—take on the world—and settled everything in place like the last piece of a puzzle.
It was everything I told myself I wasn’t built for. So many amazing women had come into my life over the centuries, yet I felt nothing like this for any of them. It was what I wanted to feel for Lexie, what I hoped I might fake until it made it so. She deserved that kind of love more than anything. But it wasn’t meant to be.
Little did I know it was another little badass from my past that would wreak havoc on my world.
Leaning over, I trailed my mouth over her lips, a soft purr coming from her as she stirred awake. I knew we had so much to talk about, so much to go over, but for a little while longer, I only wanted it to be us.
My lips grew hungry as I moved over her, settling between her legs, her naked body arching into me.
