Barnabas side-stepped, expelling Kaillen’s palm. “Oh, I think she would enjoy it. In fact, I think that’s why she asked.” He smiled broadly and waggled his eyebrows.

Kaillen’s eyes rolled skyward just as Fallon came lumbering over from the back of the boat.

“Feeling better?” I asked. The pea-green hue had left his face, and he stood straighter, not looking at death’s door anymore or like he was going to curl over and spew his stomach contents onto the bone-white deck.

“Much.” He joined his friends at the helm, then eyed me again. “You really made up that potion?”

“I did. I own a magic shop in Chicago, and I craft all of our spells, hexes, brews, potions, and everything else we sell. It’s kind of my specialty.” I jolted the second that comment left my lips. I’d just declared to someone I barely knew the strength of my power. And to think only a month ago I was still hiding it and would have given all of the credit to Tessa.

Fallon lifted his brows just as Barnabas hissed, “And I believe we’ve caught him at last.”

All of us straightened, our gazes cutting to the horizon where Barnabas had his eyes trained.

In the distance, something glinted off the waves, like a diamond reflecting moonlight.

“Is that really him?” My heart picked up a staccato beat as my wolf got to her feet, hackles rising.

Fire glittered in Kaillen’s irises. “That’s him.”

A stone settled in my stomach, as Barnabas launched into a new song about sex-deprived sailors and sirens who lured them to their deaths.

We grew closer to Jakub’s ship glittering on the horizon. I assumed once we were in hearing distance of Jakub and his minions, that the vamp would curb his obvious enthusiasm about being on the open sea, but I couldn’t be sure.

Kaillen lifted his hand, a spell shooting from his fingertips. His illusion magic descended over us, a veil glimmering over the ship like a dark shroud.

A deadly burn of satisfaction coursed through me that we were closing in on Jakub’s tail, and he probably had no idea. Because for the first time since my life had been thrown into upheaval, I was no longer the hunted.

Now, I was the hunter, and I was coming to collect my prey.

∞     ∞     ∞

“How are we going to play this?” Fallon asked as he sharpened a blade with a stone. His weapon was long and lean, with a curve at the end. A slight mist wafted over the blade every time it slid over the rock, making me think it was spelled.

“We do it like in the glory days,” Barnabas replied. “We slam into his vessel, jump aboard, and then battle every last one of his crew until we claim victory and the spoils of their riches.”

“What are their riches?” I asked.

Barnabas stroked his chin. “Well, that I cannot answer. Argh!”

Fallon shook his head. “Seriously, all he needs is a parrot on his shoulder and an eyepatch.”

“That could be arranged,” Kaillen replied dryly.

We were fast approaching Jakub’s ship. The vessel Jakub-Dipshit traveled on was larger than The Only Lady I’ve Ever Loved, but it was clunky, which had allowed Barnabas’s sleeker boat to catch up with him easily.

Surprisingly, Jakub’s ship wasn’t veiled under a spell, leading me to think that he knew the SF hadn’t been able to pursue him. Or perhaps he was so incredibly arrogant that he didn’t think anyone could stop him.

My blood boiled just thinking about that insufferable ass. If the man who’d tried to capture me in Philadelphia was indeed Jakub, then he had another thing coming if he thought he could escape.

“How many do you think are on board?” Fallon sheathed his blade, the slice of his knife ringing through the night.

“Valahan said that he traveled with a group of supernaturals.” Kaillen cinched down the straps on his harness, then checked his cargo pant pockets. The man was a literal walking nightmare. He had so many blades, potions, and magical devices strapped to him that I wondered if he even knew where all of them were.

“Even though there are only four of us, we have the element of surprise. I daresay that this shall be an easy capture.” Barnabas turned the wheel again, and the ship’s sails billowed in the night wind.

“When do you think we’ll reach them?” I inched closer to Kaillen, and his hand automatically went to my lower back. I melted into the feel of him, loving his warmth and the strength that radiated from him.

His strong fingers massaged my muscles, and the scent of musk and iron rose from him.

“We shall be ramming their ship within the hour,” Barnabas replied. “I still enjoy seeing The Only Lady I’ve Ever Loved utilized in the way in which she was designed.”

“Meaning what?” I asked.

Barnabas gave me a cocky smile. “Meaning me ship’s bow is designed to slice through the likes of that one.” He pointed toward the behemoth that Jakub was sailing on.

Excitement hummed through my veins, and a part of me wished that Prisha was here. She would’ve been as excited as me at the upcoming battle, because there was something about the beauty of revenge that made a fight so much sweeter.

The musky scent off Kaillen grew, and he leaned down to whisper in my ear. “You’re giving off the most delicious aroma right now.”

I shifted closer to him, my wolf practically purring at the close contact. Desire pooled between my legs, and the aroused scent off my mate skyrocketed. “What scent is that?”

“Sex and violence. I have to say, it’s quite delectable.” He nipped at my ear, causing me to shiver.

“Do you two need a room before we end that prick once and for all?” Fallon asked, a slight twitch to his lips. No one would have guessed that the fairy had been puking his guts out an hour ago. He was now the picture of lethal grace as his legs dipped with each roll of the ship while he stood steady and sure.

Kaillen arched an eyebrow at Barnabas. “Does this ship have rooms?”

I whacked my mate in the stomach, which got a chuckle from him.

“I find the storeroom below to be quite useful for that sort of activity.” Barnabas gave me a wink before turning his attention back to the sea.

Kaillen’s hand drifted lower, cupping my ass as his musky scent grew. “Should we try it out?”

I gave him a look. “You can’t be serious. You’re acting like a horny teenager who’s just snuck out of his parents’ home and will take any private space he can find to bang his girlfriend.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” His expression stayed completely deadpan.

I laughed, then pulled him down for a kiss. “No, but the next time you take me, I want to scream so loudly it will echo through this realm. But I don’t particularly want to do that with your friends so close.”

Two new musky aromas wafted from the direction in which the assassins stood. I knew they’d overheard me, which made a flush stain my cheeks.

A low growl rumbled from Kaillen as his eyes narrowed in his friends’ direction.

Fallon held up his hands in surrender. “You know I mean no disrespect, but when a woman talks like that, it’s hard not to . . .” He shrugged helplessly toward the growing bulge in his pants.

“Are you sure you’re not interested in a three-way?” Barnabas asked me with a cocked eyebrow.

Kaillen let out a terrifying growl and lunged for him.

The vampire side-stepped out of the way at the last second, but then hurried around to the opposite side of the ship when Kaillen swiped out to grab his throat. “Only kidding. You can’t blame me for trying to rile you when it’s so easy to now.”

A new aroma wafted up from Kaillen. It wasn’t one I’d detected before. It smelled of jasmine and night, and my wolf took notice.

The hunter drifted back to my side once his friends’ attention had wisely returned to Jakub’s ship which was now less than a quarter of a mile away. He locked an arm around my waist, hauling me closer, then dipped down and inhaled my scent.