Beretta POVDamn pirate bastard. The fool didn’t even have the sense to follow after me.Pathetic. All around pathetic. I was going to return to the ship, but I'm not in the mood to see anyone familiar at the moment. I feel anger and shame and I know in my current state that I would snap little Joe in half if he started following me around asking where the captain ran off to. I'm not up for covering for Jack as he hides somewhere pickling his liver in his own bout of self-pity.The man picked himself up by his bootstraps and built the greatest pirate fleet the seas have ever seen while recovering from his own grief. Pity is something I can not feel for that man. Yes, what his pack and mate went through was tragic and unbelievably horrid, but we all have stories such as his. He wouldn't allow any of us to drown ourselves in pity. I don't see why I should allow him to do it. I'm not going to enable his behavior. Not at the moment.The bastard told me I was crossing the damned line. Scr

“You look so alluring, Ela,” Yasmin gushes, making me spin around in a circle in front of her mirror for the hundredth time. “I knew it would look perfect on you. It never looked right on me.”“That’s because you have a fatter ass,” Cedric teased, lying across her bed with his head upside down. Yasmin smacks him with a pillow, making him grunt and laugh. I feel so uncomfortable. Yasmin forced me to bathe completely, even calling maids over to wash my hair and polish every inch of my body before lathering me in this sweet smelling body oil. My hair was dried to perfection, falling in soft waves down my back when they were through. My skin felt raw when they finished scrubbing me, but now it felt fresh and powdery soft since the oil had absorbed into my body. After that was complete, and she was completely satisfied with my appearance while I was still in the nude, she dug out a slinky outfit from her brothel days. It’s more modest than some of the others I have seen in her closet, bu

“Lira. My Lira,” Lachlan’s rough voice kept whispering against my skin. There was no fear. No hesitation. Everything that once held me back from loving this man has been replaced with this unyielding, all-consuming devotion, like my world revolves around his very being. My mark is now on full display on his thick neck, the faint light reflecting off the now scarred tissue. Pride fills me. He's mine. Val is already engrossed entirely with her mate, the two of them mirroring the elation that I feel.Lachlan lays me on the bed, his eyes intensely staring at me while stripping off the last of his clothes. His body has always been impressive to me, but now, in this context, I'm appreciating him in new, exciting ways, knowing that every single inch of him belongs to me. I feel it. The bond demands it. This man belongs to me and no one else.His hands work the delicate fabric off my body, his mouth hanging open and soft gasps leaving him as the sparks rush over his body with each touch. He

Jack POVI’m pacing in front of the damned armory, a trail forming in the dirt from the hours I have spent here, walking up and down the same few feet of shadowed walkway, waiting to hear some news about the party that left early yesterday morning to check the borders of this pack. The party that left with my crew mate. The maddening woman did not even bother to ask me if I was bothered by her leaving with the group of men or not. Mostly, if not entirely, unmated men. All of whom I'm sure would jump at the chance to keep her warm at night.Lucky is the one who found me at the bar to tell me, and I almost wrung his neck at the time. I want to wring someone out now for allowing such disrespect.Who does she think she is, just abandoning me like this? With several unmated men at that.“You were the asshole who drove her away,” Oisin grumbles, annoyed with me more than anyone else. “By doing what the woman told me to do! How was I to know she would act this way?”“She’s a woman. A woma

Elelira POV “Can I not convince you to stay here?” Lachlan asks me again, staring at me from across the stables as Cherum readies one of the spare horses for me. I smiled softly from hearing his voice in my head, but shook my head no. We’ve been over this since Cherum interrupted us and told us of what happened to Nilo, Beretta and the rest of the team being attacked at the border. I am not going to just stay home and do nothing, no matter how much he begs. “I love you,” I told him to soften the blow. “Then stay home,” he growls. “Ah, that’s not how love works.” I understand his worries. His mother was killed in battle, and he doesn’t want to be left alone again. He doesn’t want to lose me. I don’t want to lose him either. I bet that was why his mother fought. She would rather die alongside her mate than have a life without him. This sounds like a simple rescue mission, though. I'm not staying here and doing nothing. “You can take charge of the pack in my stead.” I chuckled