Thane DrogosThe merchant vessel had surrendered. We easily overwhelmed their security team with minimal damage. These merchants knew what was best for them. My crew went to work gathering the cargo for transport. Routine.Easy. Until the warbling of a siren song started emanating from the water. I reacted a split second before merchants started diving overboard. My crew fought not to join them in the salty grave. "Safeties! Now!" I ordered, my voice cutting through the siren song haze. They blinked away the thrall temporarily. My crew always carried safeties in case of an attack. They were rare, but when a clan of sirens got their sights set on a ship, they would sink it. Ravenous and violent.With my voice, everyone had about a five-second window of clarity. Securing themselves to the main mast or support ballasts. Hold out until I could handle it. My mother left my side, immune to the song as I was. But we left our ship defenseless. Fuck. My crew was trained

Thane DrogosEvery time I looked at Evelyn was a constant reminder I couldn't protect her. The simple fact of Evie getting hurt and me not being there. It bothered me. So much I would avoid being in the same room with her. As soon as I changed Evelyn's dressings, I would leave. I haven't even slept in the same room with her for days. Instead, I bunked with Desmond and Gunner. Couldn't talk to Gunner either.I blew off any questions with wanting to give Evie some space to recover. Not a complete lie, but I didn't want to admit how guilty I felt. Thankfully, we would be pulling into Rapier Port any day now, then we can sell our cargo and go back to safehold.Fuck, what would I do when I got back to safehold? Would she stay with me? Would I continue to avoid her?I couldn't avoid Evie forever.She wasn't even angry with me when she should have been. I couldn't understand why she didn't curse me for allowing her to get hurt. Ramona would do more with less. Box me in with

Evie StantonWith a pair of familiar leather cuffs, Thane restrained me to the headboard. Fire blazed against my skin, begging to be touched. I complained, wiggling against his grip, but not actively trying to break it. My gaze devoured Thane's naked body. Black, coarse hair sprinkled along his torso, hiding pebbled rosy nipples that I liked to pinch. The ripped curves of his muscle accentuated the areas my fingers craved to touch. His cock stood long and thick against my stomach, the heat of his body pressed on top of me as he cuffed my wrists above my head."I told you if you kept pulling my hair, I'd tie you to my headboard." Thane's velvety voice washed over me, warm as summer rain. "I like pulling your hair," I teased, twisting my wrists in the bindings. He laughed, pressing a kiss against the hollow of my ear. "I noticed." Leaning back, his stark blue eyes gazed at the bindings, a deep reverberation vibrating in his chest. A smirk pulled at the side of his lips. He liked see

Evie StantonI refused to cry.Even as I thought of the horrible visual of Desmond laying in the puddle of his own blood, Bells crying and trying to hold him. Thane looked utterly helpless as everything crumbled apart around us. Crewmen shot.Rio slashed.Katarina hiding behind the half-wall. I knew Robert would recognize her. He was a friend of my father and perhaps played a part in the insurrection. I wouldn't risk it.And who knows what happened to Samara? The children living there. The old, retired sailors that liked to fish off the pier. Homes were ransacked. Farms burned. Livestock slaughtered. The rage in Thane's eyes when he watched Robert take me away. I saw the determination. Right then and there, I knew he would do anything for me. I saw how badly he wanted to shift. Absolve us of the immediate enemy. And bring up a whole slew of others.I couldn't let him.Not at the expense of everyone else in safehold. It wouldn't be over.He knew that. I knew th

Evie Stanton"Go on, my darling. Give us a spin!" My mother encouraged with excitement that didn't reach her eyes. She was as empty as I was. If I cared, I wonder when it happened. Who broke her and when. I stood there on the platform while a seamstress pinned a white gown around my hips. The cream lace flared at the waist in a ballgown silhouette. It felt too large. Too heavy.The corset pinched my ribs. I nodded, lifting the skirt and swishing it to please my mother. "Now smile! Robert will love it," my mother added.Gulping down a hard lump, I couldn't even force a smile. I fought the urge to take the seamstress's scissors and tear them across the lace. I wanted Robert to hate it. I wanted him to take one look at me and feel just as disgusted as I did. But I refrained. My mother would call me hysterical and lock me in my room like she had the first week I was back. Handmaidens and guards stayed in the room with eyes all over me while I bathed. No sign of M