He jumped us farther up the deck as water swirled around our ankles and the entire ship tilted upward, sinking so fast that it was a miracle he was able to retreat us at all on the heaving vessel.

The call of the sirens increased, their deadly beautiful song carrying through the night on a dark melody. Their curved claws scraped along the bottom of the tilted ship, beckoning us closer.

Shining eyes peered up at me from the darkness as their pearly skin caught the moonlight. Their luminescent scales reflected beneath the water as their powerful tails kept them moving with the ship while it heaved and groaned.

Razor-sharp teeth appeared between the sirens’ lush lips as they continued to sing their enthralling song, coaxing us toward the water.

Go. Must go to them. Touch them. Kiss them. Hold them. So beautiful.

I wanted to fall forward and plummet into the sea, to be swept up in their embrace. Another giant lurch came from the ship, and a rush of water flooded its hull.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that my magic was gone. The foreign magic that my awakening power had gathered had been detonated. My shield spell had been obliterated, and I had nothing left. Nothing but that alluring song which called to me and beckoned me closer.

“We need to get off this ship, now!” someone yelled.

An arm clamped around my waist and then I was moving upward. Kaillen’s cedar and citrus scent flooded my senses, and I tried to thrash against him, to return to the enchanting sirens as water flooded the deck below us amidst the sinking ship.

“Where is he?” Fallon asked in clipped tones while he scrambled up the near vertical deck to the railing’s edge.

I was vaguely aware that they were all climbing the deck’s tilting surface. Kaillen threw my limp, useless body over his shoulder so he could use his hands. “Don’t know,” he grunted.

“Jump now! She’ll be under within the minute!” Barnabas called sharply.

Night air caressed my cheeks as Kaillen catapulted us through the air, and then we were landing on Barnabas’s ship.

Kaillen rolled us across the deck, maneuvering me so his body took the brunt of the fall. Bone-white floorboards gleamed in the moonlight as Kaillen lay me down on the deck, my body supine as he hovered over me.

“Tala? My love?”

I blinked as the sirens’ angry hisses and thrashes grew quieter. Then came the sounds of gurgling and creaking before a steady spew of water shot into the sky from Jakub’s sinking vessel.

The ship we’d been on only a moment ago disappeared from view as it sank into a watery grave, and then all that was left was Barnabas’s ship rolling gently on the waves. Any evidence of the battle we’d just waged had disappeared beneath the silvery water.

The sirens’ song abruptly vanished as they returned to the depths of the sea.

My head cleared, and I blinked, then blinked again as Kaillen peered down at me. A golden glow and crimson fire waged in his irises as he smoothed back my hair and cupped my cheek. “Tala?”

“I’m okay,” I finally managed even though weariness flooded my limbs, and a heavy sensation cleaved my thoughts.

He growled. “Bullshit you’re fine. You just used your awakening power and depleted yourself.”

My eyelids grew heavy. I struggled to keep them open, but I wanted to know, needed to know . . . “Is Jakub dead? Did my blast kill him?”

“I don’t know.”

“Can we sail?” Fallon’s question came to me on the breeze as he and Barnabas inspected the damage done to The Only Lady I’ve Ever Loved.

“She’ll hold till we reach port,” Barnabas replied, but that cocky swagger had left his step. Part of the mast was cracked, and one of the sails had been shredded when Barnabas had rammed into Jakub’s ship.

“Get us back to land!” Kaillen barked. Prickly energy surrounded my mate, and low rumbling growls came from his chest as I lay weak and cold in his arms.

“But what about Jakub?” I persisted. “Do we know if he’s dead?” I felt inside me for the curse I’d cast, but I was too weak to activate it and see if it had indeed tethered me to Jakub.

“If your blast didn’t kill him, then the sea will,” Kaillen replied. “No supernatural can swim across an ocean if they’re not part siren.”

“What if he’s on this ship with us?” Fallon asked. “And is still hiding under his cloaking spell?”

I shook my head. “He’d have already taken me if he were. He tried to take me earlier with a portal key.”

“He did?” Heat poured from Kaillen as murder shone in his gaze.

The ship heaved beneath me, and I rolled, too weak to stop myself. Another terrifying-sounding growl came from my mate as he gathered me in his arms.

His warmth soaked into my cool flesh. I reveled in the feel of him, the scent of him, as a niggling sense of doom descended over my mind. We hadn’t heard Jakub speak again after my blast of foreign power. Surely, that explosion had killed him.

But what if it hadn’t? What if he’d escaped using his portal key?

That was the last thought I had before darkness claimed me.

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Chapter 21

A finger caressed my cheek, and emotions strummed toward me—lust, love, tenderness. My eyes fluttered open to see Kaillen hovering over me.

My wolf rumbled in contentment as she stretched and also woke.

“Hi,” he said quietly.

Bright sunlight streamed behind him, and I lay on a soft warm bed in a small room I didn’t recognize.

My hand automatically came up to cover his as he continued making lazy movements along my skin. Those emotions continued to strum into me, and I realized they were from the bond.

Love.

My breath caught at the feeling, but I squeezed my eyes closed. Kaillen loved me. Or did he? Was that his wolf talking too?

But I shoved those questions aside. I would never know.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“An inn. We’re back in Culasberee. Barnabas sailed us here after you passed out.”

I sighed as everything from last night returned to me. The battle. Our escape. My fear that Jakub was still alive. “Is Barnabas’s ship okay?”

A wry smile lifted Kaillen’s lips. “You expelled so much magic you passed out and Jakub nearly abducted you again, yet your first question is whether or not Barnabas’s ship is okay? If Barnabas knew you’d asked that, he’d swear his loyalty to you right now.”

I muffled a laugh. “Very funny, but seriously, is his ship okay?”

He stroked my cheek again. “Yes, his ship’s fine. It has some damage, but nothing that can’t be fixed.”

I stretched. “Good, I’m sure he’d have been devastated if it wasn’t.” I gave another stretch and was amazed to find that I didn’t feel sore or more tired after that epic use of my powers. “How long was I out for this time?”

He eyed the clock on the bedside table. “Eight hours.”

I followed his gaze. It was late morning. Nibbling my lip, I leaned back onto the pillow, and the lust strumming through the bond grew.

Kaillen watched as I worried my bottom lip, heat growing in his eyes.

I smiled. “Should I be disturbed about what you’re thinking right now, given that Jakub could still be out there?”

“You should always be disturbed about what I’m thinking, even if Jakub’s not in the equation.” He leaned down to kiss my neck.

My body arched, and already that incessant pulsing need began in me. Want. Want. Want. I groaned, but it did little to quell the pooling of desire in my belly.

“What is it?” He grazed his teeth across my earlobe, and I shivered.

My fingers threaded through the hair at the nape of his neck. “This pull I have toward you. I feel like a toddler, and you’re this toy that I just have to have.”