Goosebumps tingled down my spine as I arched to give him better access to the sensitive area beneath my ear. “Can I ask what emotion smells like jasmine and night?”

A low rumbling snarl vibrated in Kaillen’s chest. “It’s a scent unique to male werewolves even though other species can also feel that particular emotion.”

“And what emotion is it?” A small gasp left me when his lips pressed against my skin. I curled a hand around the nape of his neck and was seriously contemplating the storeroom in the hull of Barnabas’s ship even though a part of me was mortified that I was mentally going there.

“It’s when a male werewolf is feeling possessive and protective about his mate. While many male species can feel that way toward their women, the way a wolf feels toward his mate is a bit different. That’s why it has its own scent.” He nipped at my skin again, his teeth grazing along that sensitive area.

I gasped and gripped his shirt to pull him closer. That undeniable urge to drag him to my bed was swimming through my veins and making my head spin. “I want you.”

“The feeling’s mutual, my love.” The evidence of his arousal pressed against my stomach. “Are you sure you don’t want to try out the room below?”

As tempting as that was, my gaze drifted toward the other ship. With each second that passed, it loomed closer. “Afterward. When Jakub’s dead, and this is over once and for all, I’m going to ride you so hard you’ll see stars.”

The possessive emotional scent off Kaillen strengthened a hundred-fold as an answering growl worked up his throat. “A fight and then a fuck? You certainly know how to please a man.”

I pulled him in for another kiss. His tongue swept in to dance with mine, and his taste, feel, and scent were nearly driving me mad. Gods, these instincts and reactions to him were beyond compelling. I felt drugged, as though I needed him in order to breathe.

Somehow, I managed to pull back, taking a shuddering breath. “I do aim to please.”

Kaillen’s hands tightened around my waist.

“Excuse me, lovebirds,” Barnabas said dryly. “I’m afraid you’ve missed your opportunity for a quickie in the hull. I think that despite the illusion spell, our nemesis has sensed our impending arrival.”

My gaze snapped to the sea, then widened when I beheld Jakub’s monstrous ship.

It was turning, its front angling to point toward us. Similar to Barnabas’s ship, a large spear protruded from the bow.

“Don’t fail me now, The Only Lady I’ve Ever Loved.” Barnabas lovingly caressed the wheel, then began snapping orders at Fallon and Kaillen.

The two whipped into action. Cold night air blew against my skin the second Kaillen stepped away from our embrace.

Barnabas’s fangs lengthened as the energy around Kaillen and Fallon soared. My own magic hummed in response, as if knowing what was coming, while my wolf began to pace in my belly, snarls rumbling in her chest as her hackles rose.

“I need to hit them before they fully turn.” An excited gleam filled the vampire’s eyes as he steered his vessel toward the oncoming ship, not looking the least perturbed about the inevitable crash. “Brace yourselves, mateys, this one might hurt.”

OceanofPDF.com

Chapter 20

Shouts and scents of casting magic came from Jakub’s vessel just as Barnabas issued another order to Kaillen and Fallon. The Only Lady I’ve Ever Loved’s sails snapped under the hauling ropes and levers, just as an explosion of magic launched from Jakub’s ship.

Our nemesis’s incoming spell crackled against the illusion shield that Kaillen had cast, and in a shower a sparks, the illusion vanished just as our ships collided.

Since Jakub’s vessel wasn’t fully facing us, Barnabas had the advantage. His bow’s deadly point rammed the larger ship’s hull in a splinter of bone and wood.

The crew aboard the vessel sneered and scowled, their movements frantic as they darted into action. My eyes widened when I took in their vast numbers. Ten, twelve, no twenty . . . there were too many to count.

A flood of magic barreled toward us, cast from someone on the ship I couldn’t see.

“Tala!” Kaillen roared over the screech of crushing wood and bone as Barnabas’s ship began to bob back. “Watch out, we’re—”

I was thrown forward as a huge wave rocked The Only Lady I’ve Ever Loved. A spray of ocean water shot across my face, salt stinging my eyes as I cast a spell at lightning speed, erecting a shield around myself before throwing it toward Kaillen and his friends. Another flare of magic fizzled over my shield, but it held and protected me, Kaillen, Fallon, and—

Barnabas was gone.

The clang of clashing swords filled the air as I blinked and my sight cleared. Barnabas was already on the other ship, sword in hand as he dodged and swayed in a dance of beauty and stealth. A deranged smile had plastered itself to his face, and I had a feeling he was reliving his pirate glory days.

I downed my shield as Kaillen gave me a fierce nod. “We all charge as one!” he bellowed.

I dashed toward Jakub’s ship, potion in hand, as Kaillen and Fallon flew past me, all three of us leaping from The Only Lady I’ve Ever Loved in one giant arc to the larger vessel.

The crew aboard Jakub’s ship all had weapons out or spells flying. My hair blew in front of my eyes when I dipped and rolled as a vampire lunged at me with a two-foot blade. I came up behind him, kneeling on the deck, and grabbed a splintered piece of wood from a pile of ruined rigging. Calling upon the speed and strength of my wolf, I swiveled around and drove it up and into the vamp’s chest.

His eyes widened in surprise just as his body turned to ash.

A ferocious growl came from behind me, then the scent of casting magic as Kaillen became of blur of fire, magic, and spells. He moved so fast that I couldn’t see him, but his scent and the tug of our bond alerted me to the location he was darting toward.

I whipped around, searching for Jakub, but amidst the chaos all I saw were fighting fairies, snarling werewolves, battling sorcerers, raging half-demons, and hissing vamps. But one thing I did notice? All of them had the constellation tattoo on their necks. Only now, their tattoos were glowing.

A sudden melody came from the sea, a beautiful song of promise and love. My body instinctively tugged toward it, my feet itching to move to the rail and throw myself overboard into the watery darkness that would envelop me in a silken paradise.

Dammit. The sirens had arrived, obviously sensing the blood and battle.

I whipped out another shield spell to protect myself from the sirens’ call, just as one of Jakub’s crew members stumbled toward the railing and flung himself overboard. A dopey-looking grin stretched across his face as he plummeted downward. Hisses and the sound of tearing flesh followed below. One sucker down, dozens to go . . .

The flash of a sword swiped toward me from a half-demon just as a fairy came at me simultaneously.

I dipped, narrowly avoiding the half-demon’s blade, as my awakening power slithered out of its cave and caressed my insides. It no longer barreled out of me, but stress apparently still provoked it.

Sweating, I cast a binding spell on the fairy as they both tried to catch me. Concentrating on my awakening power, I beckoned more of it from its black void. It’d been days since I’d last used it, but the intensive two weeks of daily training with Kaillen were paying off.

My awakening magic responded as though it were an extension of myself. It raced through my limbs as its razor jaws gnashed and flowed toward my unsuspecting victims, like a ferocious lion going in for the kill.