The Pirate and His Siren

Chapter Twelve

CHAPTER TWELVE

KYNAN

T he crew is becoming restless, and I can’t blame them.

After weeks at sea without a bounty to loot, morale is running low.

Tempers are running high.

Even Flinders had to flog a few who started fights.

There is also another matter. Without a ship to plunder, there is no treasure to share.

Except I’m hoarding one prize for myself.

Luarna.

While most of the crew accepts Luarna as one of them nowadays, there is still a pocket of those who continue to lust after her.

Marver, their ringleader.

He’s been leering far too much at Luarna for my liking, and today, maybe he’s had enough of hearing her cries of pleasure coming from my cabin.

It’s late in the day when he approaches me, flanked by his cronies, Alarn and Dirk. His breath is foul, making me grimace as he inches nearer to me, whispering conspiringly. Unfortunately, the longer we are out at sea, the more the crew becomes unhygienic.

Even stopping at an island to bury our latest plunder allows the men a chance to bathe when we come across freshwater pools or streams.

“Now the men and I, we be thinking it’s been weeks since we’ve been at sea. We haven’t even been to a port. The men and I… well, we’re getting lonely. We miss the feel of a woman…” He steps closer to me, a sly look on his face. “If you know what I mean?”

“Aye, I do. No one touches Luarna,” I snarl.

“Aye, but can’t you see, Capt’n, ye’ve got to be under her spell. The Captain Kynan Sharpe I know would never hoard his treasure to himself. He’d share it with the crew. You won’t let any of us share her. Ye’ve got to be her under lure.”

I grip the front of his shirt and pull him close. “I warned you before not to touch her. You were even there when I made the decree that she is off-limits.”

“Aye, Capt’n, I was.” He gulps.

My voice lowers to a deathly whisper, “Then you should remember that anyone who touches her loses a hand. Anyone who looks at her with lust loses any eye. But you? You go ahead and try to convince me I’m under some siren’s spell. All for what? A quick tumble in the sheets?”

He swallows visibly.

I shake him. “Answer me,” I yell.

“Aye, Capt’n.”

I look over Marver’s shoulders at the other two. “And do you two feel the same way?”

“No, Capt’n.” Dirk and Alarn back away, their palms up in the air. Cowards. Why are they even on my ship?

“Roberts?” I shout to the side.

“Aye, Captain? ”

“Throw this git overboard.” I release him, disgusted by his behavior.

“What, no, Capt’n. I won’t touch her, I swear,” Marver screeches, hurting my ears.

“Too late.”

Roberts and Arkur grab him by the arms and haul him backward, Marver screaming his protests the entire time.

“No.” He struggles against their hold. “We’re meant to vote when it comes to meting out punishment.

“Aye, he’s right.” I hold my hand up to stop Roberts and Arkur, turning to my crew. “Who here votes that this bilge rat, who wants to cause harm to a crew member, be allowed to remain on board?”

“No, it’s not like that, Capt’n,” Marver keeps protesting. “Can’t I be begging your pardon, Capt’n?”

I ignore him and turn to my siren, who’s silently watching the entire scenario. “Luarna, do you consent to be shared with the crew?”

She steps forward. “No, I never have.”

“So, any intention this man has toward you would be against your will?”

“Yes.”

I turn back to my crew, waving my arm in a wide arc. “We can’t be fighting amongst ourselves. Otherwise, the system breaks down. We can’t have that now, can we?”

“No, Captain,” came the chorus.

“Therefore, we can’t be harboring ill intent toward each other. Can we, men?”

“No, Captain.”

“So, what say you, men? What do we do to someone who wishes ill upon one of our own?”

“Punish him!”

“Then who here votes we throw him overboard? ”

There is a resounding chorus of ayes. The crew truly accepts Luarna as one of their own, and my chest expands to its fullest at witnessing this.

Good.

The thing is, I also have my crew’s unwavering loyalty. Well, most of them.

“Aye, then throw him overboard.”

“No plank?” Marver cries, fighting to free himself from Arkur’s and Roberts’ grip on his forearms.

“We throw out the trash, do we not, Mr. Marver? We can’t let it remain on the ship to fester and rot, can we? Therefore, we throw you overboard.”

I turn away as the splash of his body hits the water. My eyes light up when I spot Luarna standing in our cabin’s doorway, and my cock begins to rise.

She nods stiffly and moves inside.

I follow, filled with eagerness, already stripping off my coat. But when I step inside the cabin, Luarna isn’t lazing back on the bed waiting for me to ravish her. She’s standing at the end of it, her shoulders hunched and her arms around her waist.

I stop unlacing my breeches. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

She lifts her head, sadness in her dark eyes. “I heard what he said out there.”

“He was an idiot. Of course, I’m not under your spell.”

“It’s not just that.” She grabs the front of my shirt. “What if it is a spell from Velade ia cietra ? We mated together on that day. What if the magic of that day compelled us into thinking this thing between us is love?”

I groan, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Are you still going on about that shit? We’re in love because we’ve spent every fucking day and night together the past fucking seven weeks. You would’ve jumped ship long before if you didn’t love me. I’m not the easiest man to get along with.” I reach for her, but she backs away.

“No, I can’t be in love. Sirens don’t believe in love.”

“That’s some bullshit, and you know it.” I pat my chest and wave my hands at her. “What you and I have, Luarna, is real.”

“You can’t possibly believe that.”

“Aye, I do. I know what’s in my heart.”

“But it’s impossible for a siren to fall in love.”

Fuck, I can see I’m not convincing her.

I must try something else.

“Then I propose a deal to you.”

“A deal?”

“Aye, a pirate’s bet.” I know that will intrigue her. She’s been getting better at Ships and Bounty , wanting to play with anyone whenever she can.

“I bet it’s real. You bet it’s fake. We’ll give ourselves a break. Time apart. Then we’ll meet back at The Broiled Crab on this day, three months from now. If it was all but a spell, I’ll give you my captain’s hat and coat.” Ever since that day, I covered her up and she took my hat off my head, I knew she’d been eyeing them every time we were in the cabin.

I hold out my hand to shake on our deal. Luarna hesitates but eventually takes it, and I jerk her to me. “Let it be known I don’t play fair, lass.” I kiss her mouth.

I’m branding my kiss onto her so she won’t forget me.

It would be too easy to fuck her like she wants to prove it is just sex between us and not love. But I’m showing her that this kiss holds a promise of a love that’s real. And she’ll remember these lips on hers when she’s lying alone in bed at night or wherever a siren sleeps in the sea.

Or if she’s kissing another male—she better not—I’ll be hunting down each of the bastards. Their kisses will pale in comparison to mine.

I draw back, my hand still entangled in her hair, and I tilt her head, making her pupils dilate further.

“When we see each other again, this between us picks up as if we were never apart,” I growl in her ear before releasing her.

She smooths her hands over her clothes and clears her throat before locking her eyes with mine. “I agree with these terms.”

In the dark of night, we stand on the upper deck. I grab her and kiss her hard enough to make her toes curl. Once again, reminding her of who she belonged to.

She steps back, breathless but determined.

Luarna gives me one last look that nearly breaks my heart. But I know what we have, and she needs to realize it for herself. She climbs over the railing and jumps, the splash of her entering the water barely making a sound.

Footsteps sound behind me, and Roberts draws up beside me, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “You let her go?”

“See, I can’t be under her compulsion if I did.”

“It’s not just that, Captain. The men and I can tell you’ve fallen for her.”

“Aye, I don’t want to let her go. Every fiber in my being screams at me to keep her, no matter the cost. But I feel if I keep her here when she doesn’t believe our love is real, she’ll grow to resent me.”

“I’ve seen the way she looks at you. She’ll never feel that.”

“Aye, but she’s too stubborn. She’s a siren, as free as the sea, but a tough mistress to control at times. She needs to see and realize for herself that she’s meant to be mine. Luarna will be back.”

“How do you know, Captain?”

“Because I’m her mate. She’ll come to realize it too.”

“Now what?”

“We wait for her to come back to me. In the meantime, we look at renovating Deadly Destiny to be a land and water vessel.”