Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“ L aurence?” I called out in surprise, pressing a hand over my chest where my heart was beating erratically. “What are you doing here?”

“I thought I heard something, so I came to investigate.” Laurence moved to step on the button I had neglected since Viktor left to investigate. “I wanted to check that the both of you were fine.”

“Thanks,” I smiled warmly at him. “Viktor and I were talking one moment, and then there was a loud crash the next moment. He went to investigate.”

“How long has he been gone?” Laurence frowned, concern masking his face.

“He left a few moments before you turned up.”

“I should probably go check on him,” Laurence offered, but I quickly stopped him.

“No, let me,” I insisted.

Laurence didn’t look so convinced, but he was smart enough to hold his tongue as I left the wheel to him and wandered across the top deck to the stairs that led down to the second level. Even though I knew Viktor was down there somewhere in the darkness, and no matter what, I would always be safe when he was nearby, my breath was guarded, and my steps were slow and cautious.

The whole time, I couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching me. Their eyes followed me as I walked the rest of the way down the stairs. Before I could call out for them to reveal themselves, arms snagged me around the waist and lifted me into the air.

If I didn’t recognise the familiar arms around my waist, hugging me to their hard chest, I would have screamed and woken up the entire ship.

“That wasn’t funny,” I huffed as he laughed in my ear.

“From where I’m standing, it was hilarious,” Viktor laughed and tightened his arms around me. He dropped his head to press his lips to the side of my neck in a soft kiss. “Sorry for scaring you, my siren.”

“I wasn’t scared,” I lied. “You were gone for a while, so I came to look for you. Laurence is at the wheel,” I told him, turning around in his arms.

“Laurence?”

“He said he couldn’t sleep, and when he heard a noise, he came to check on us.”

“I’m glad Laurence is handling the wheel,” Viktor sighed and reached for my hand. “I was getting anxious about you being up there alone.”

I narrowed my eyes at him playfully. “I can look after myself.”

“I know, but I can’t help but worry about you, my siren,” he murmured lowly, leaning in to graze his lips against mine in a ghost of a kiss. “Care to explore with me?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” I grinned, and my teeth sunk into my bottom lip, my eyes lingering on his before I turned around and led him down the hallway. “Find anything?” I asked, shooting him a questioning look over my shoulder.

“There’s nothing on this floor,” he answered, reaching for my hand. “I checked all the rooms, including the bathrooms. Everyone is asleep and accounted for. Except for Laurence, we know where he is.”

“How did you check the rooms?” I asked.

“The same way that person checked our room last night,” he chuckled. “I peeked into every room, and all the beds except ours and Laurence’s are accounted for. I was mostly checking for anyone hiding in the room rather than checking on the sleeping crew. I’m not that creepy, you know?”

“That’s debatable,” I snorted, giggling when he playfully tugged on a strand of my hair, pulling me closer to him. “If you’ve already checked the second deck, we only have the bottom deck left.”

“Let me go first.” Viktor brushed his lips against my temple before he rushed to get ahead of me.

The only time I had been down to the bottom deck was on the first day when Viktor gave Roscoe, Manny, and me a tour of the ship. Besides that, Gustav was the only one who regularly headed down here to fetch the supplies he needed to cook for us all.

“How chivalrous of you,” I chuckled but couldn’t bring myself to complain when he kept his hold on my hand tight.

Standing on the last step behind Viktor, I peered over his shoulder at the bottom deck. Nothing looked out of place or like it didn’t belong there. It looked like how it did on the tour…except for one tiny detail.

A familiar blanket lay in the corner, peeking out from behind three barrels that looked strategically placed to hide something… or someone .

“Viktor,” I whispered, grabbing his shoulder. “Do you see that?”

“See what?” He asked in an equally quiet whisper. When I turned his head to face the corner where the blanket lay, his breath hitched just as mine did. “Stay here,” he ordered and left me on the step to investigate.

Of course, I didn’t listen. He really shouldn’t have expected anything else.

“It stinks down here.” My nose was scrunched in distaste as I ducked under Viktor’s arm and spied some old fish in the corner. It looked like the fish Gustav had cooked yesterday. Or perhaps the day before.

“And this is Jerrik’s missing blanket,” Viktor murmured, kicking the corner of it with his foot. “You know what this means?”

I gulped and nodded. I did.

Someone was sleeping down here.

We had a stowaway.

Viktor and I quickly scrambled back up to the top deck before the stowaway returned for his old, uneaten fish. Garth would be horrified to see one of his meals in that state.

“Did you find anything?” Laurence asked, glancing over his shoulder as we rushed to join him at the wheel.

“There’s a stowaway on the ship,” I said, the words rushing out of my mouth before I could stop them.

“A stowaway? Really?” He sounded in surprise. “How can you be sure?”

“He’s got a blanket and some food hidden behind some barrels in the corner of the bottom deck,” Viktor answered, his voice gruff. He brushed his fingers through his hair—a nervous habit. “The stowaway has been stealing food from us. And not just the meals that Gustav cooks.”

Laurence pursed his lips, displeased. “That means he’s been sneaking around the ship under our noses this whole time.”

“And he’s been stealing from us,” I said, referring to Jerrik’s blanket.

“What are we going to do?” Laurence asked.

“We need to lure him out. Find out who they are,” I said. “Do you think they may be from Mann?”

“It’s possible,” Viktor murmured, but he didn’t look convinced.

“To steal?” Laurene asked.

“Revenge,” Viktor murmured in a low tone, and my face twisted into an expression of horror at his words.

“Revenge?” I gulped.

My husband nodded. “We need to catch him before he goes further and gets one of us. But the question is, how are we going to do that?”

“I’ve got an idea,” I murmured and turned to glance at Laurence, aware that if anyone were going to back me on this, it would be him. It certainly wouldn’t be Viktor. If anything, he would be against what I had in mind, even though it was a good idea.

“Why do I feel like I won’t like this?” Viktor groaned.

“You definitely won’t like this,” Laurence laughed, already on the same thought train as me.

Viktor’s eyes pleaded with me. “Tell me, my siren.”

“Use me as bait,” I said and rushed to explain the rest before Viktor could turn down a perfectly good plan just because it put me in a bit of danger. “I’m certain that the stowaway is from Mann. Revenge is our best bet right now, and what better way for them to get revenge than for them to get at me? I was the reason for us to leave early, after all.”

“I don’t like this,” Viktor murmured, but Laurence cut him off.

“I understand your concern, Viktor,” Laurence sighed. “And if our positions were switched right now and my wife was on the line like this, I would also be totally against it. But you have to see that this is our best option right now. We need to lure out whoever is on our ship.”

“Something bad could happen,” Viktor sighed, his face softening as he turned to face me. “You could get hurt, my siren. I don’t know what I’d do if that happened.”

“You won’t let that happen, pirate,” I whispered, moving to close the distance between us. I was grateful that Laurence had the good judgment to look away and give us this private moment because we badly needed it.

I looped my arms around Viktor’s neck and brought his face down to mine, pressing our foreheads together.

“I know you won’t let anything happen to me,” I whispered against his mouth. “I know it’s dangerous and that you’re worried about me, but we really need to find out who is hiding on our ship, and this is our best option right now.”

“I still don’t like this,” Viktor groaned, pressing another sweet kiss to my lips. “But I know you can take care of yourself, my siren.”

“And if I need you, I promise to scream as loud as I can,” I assured him, my lips curling up at the corners.

“I’ll come running before you finish screaming,” he promised me, pressing one more kiss to my lips–this one harder…rougher... needier –before he allowed Laurence to drag him away from me, off the top deck and down to their rooms on the second floor.

The stowaway wouldn’t dare reveal themself as long as I was with Viktor and Laurence. Our best chance was if I was alone. Hopefully, I hadn’t bit off more than I could chew.

My hands remained steady on the wheel as I focused on breathing evenly. This needed to be as normal and believable as I could possibly make it. It needed to look like I belonged here, like I was meant to be at the wheel, and Viktor and Laurence had merely dropped by to check on me. At the very least, it needed to look like I wasn’t expecting them to return for a while.

Seconds turned into minutes, and the more time that passed, the more I felt like my plan was going to fail.

Whoever had been hiding on the ship wasn’t going to show up. They wouldn’t fall for this trick and come seek me out.

When I was on the verge of calling for Viktor and Laurence to come back so we could come up with a Plan B, I felt a pair of eyes on me. The gaze was lingering and probing, making me squirm in a way that only a man could do.

I couldn’t deny that I was more than a little scared, but now was not the time to show it. Not when we needed to discover who this man was and what he was doing here.

My breath hitched as I heard their footsteps tap against the wooden floors as he walked along the deck toward me. The footsteps got louder as he got closer, and I did my best to make it seem like I couldn’t hear him. Like I didn’t know they were behind me, watching me, staring at me . This was the perfect opportunity for them to get revenge while I was here alone.

Finally, when I felt a hand land on my shoulder, I knew our plan had worked.