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She stalked over to the door with her boots in her hand and yanked it open. “Are they here?”
William tipped his head toward the deck. “On the beach. It looks like at least half of Petra’s army is out there.”
“Did you see my brother?”
“Petra hasn’t been spotted yet, nor has your brother.”
“Can I see?” she asked, dropping onto the loveseat and yanking on her boots. “Do you have a scope or something I need to look through?” She was on her feet and facing off with William in the next instant, pelting him with questions he clearly didn’t have answers to.
I edged up behind her and laid what I hoped was a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I’ll be out in just a minute, William.”
Never tried to shrug away from my grip to follow him, but I tightened my hold enough to stop her.
“What? I’m good.” She motioned to her fully clothed body. “Good to go.”
She was antsy. I understood that, but I couldn’t have her running off half-cocked and mucking everything up. The woman seemed to run almost purely on instinct, and if I knew anything about her, it was that her instinct would be to protect her brother at all costs. “Remember what we talked about. The demon likes to play games.”
“I got it.” She tapped her temple. “I’m ready. I know what I need to do.”
“So, you know you’re not going out there yet.”
She shot me a glare so vicious it was hard not to take personally. “Never, this is the plan we discussed, remember?”
“I can’t just sit here.” This time when she pulled away, I let her go. She paced a small line back and forth between the bed and the table. “How will I get to Matty if I’m hiding in here? What’s to stop Anya from dropping those lost boys right in here with me. I can take one or two on my own, but I don’t like feeling trapped. It doesn’t usually end well.”
From the state of my room during her first night here, I hardly needed a reminder. “The pendant, you’re sure you can make it work for you again?”
She offered me a curt nod, but I could see the hesitation in her gaze. “I’ll figure it out. It worked once, right?”
I pulled her into a tight hug. “It’ll be better if she doesn’t see us together like this.”
That was part of the reason I wanted her locked in my room. The other part had to do with what the lost boys could do to her if they got their hands on her. Anya couldn’t step foot on my ship. In fact, she couldn’t hover within several yards of it, but if one of the boys managed to grab Never and pull her overboard, there was nothing I could do to stop Anya from getting at her in the water.
She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed, burying her face in my chest. “This is it then?”
I pressed my lips to the top of her head. “This is it.”
She pulled back and looked up at me. “Then kiss me like it’s your last chance, pirate.”
I didn’t need any more of an invitation than that. I took her lips in a kiss that vaulted down to my toes and back, soft and sensual, and desperate in a way I’d never felt before. She met me stroke for stroke, taking as much as she was giving as the hole in my heart bled with longing.
When I finally broke away, her eyes stayed closed, and she dropped her forehead against my chest. “That wassomegoodbye, pirate.”
“Yeah,” I said on a sigh. If I could have stayed like that for an eternity, I would have, but with every passing second, the tick of the clock grew louder.
46
NEVER
Lost boys appeared on the deck of Hook’s ship one by one, materializing into existence like something out of a science fiction movie before spreading out in a defensive semi-circle. At least, it looked like a semi-circle from my limited point of view. Hook wanted me to stay in the room with the door locked, but a girl could only take so much.
I needed to know what was happening.
Which was why I was standing at the door with it barely cracked open, just enough to get the lay of the land. How else was I going to know when to jump in and save his ass if it looked like his side was losing? And if Petra did have the proverbial cojones to show up with my brother, I didn’t want to miss my shot at getting him the hell out of this cursed realm.
Sure, I still didn’t know how the stupid necklace worked or even if it would take us both back. My hope was that if I could hold on to Matty and make the thing work, it would just, poof us back, kind of like the way Anya tossed people to different places.
Which brought me back around to the question: Was the necklace really hers?
