Chapter 6

6

“ H udson.” Cryoc approached Hudson as she lay face down, half-hanging over the edge of the nearby precipice. Hudson watched, her eyes straining into the darkness below as the shadows deepened, taking on tones of blackness. The ripples of her own small movements drifted slowly down, growing softer, weaker, and soon swallowed up by the darkness.

“Yes?” Hudson purred, not moving fin or fluke, as she followed the movement of her sound after it bubbled from her lips.

She had been waiting for him to approach her. None of the others would have the courage. It was a price she paid for ensuring they followed her. Fear was a marvelous motivator.

“I think it’s a mistake to let them loose.” Cryoc folded his hands behind him in a sign of respect, eyeing her warily.

“Is that so?” She rolled over slowly, knowing Cryoc had never reacted to her fingers playing over her skin. He wasn’t the kind who appreciated much about the opposite sex. Not even the duty-wife he spawned enough fools with could keep the rumors quiet about his true desires.

It had been part of the reason he had rallied beside her in the beginning. All of her men fought against the regime of the Talon for some reason. All of them found fault in the systems that were already in place.

“They’re enemies,” he hissed. “They’ll inform Talon of our plans, and we’ll lose because of your mistakes.”

“Cryoc.” Hudson swam close and placed a gentle hand on his cheek. “You continue to underestimate me.”

“I jus—” But Hudson cut off his words as she wrapped her palm over his mouth and squeezed her fingers together. The muscles in the sides of her face tightened as she clenched her jaw, as her brows drew together, as anger formed in the center of her forehead and she pushed it forward.

“What you need to do is be smarter than that shithead son of yours. And if you can’t, you’ll leave now. I have no patience for mers who can’t cut it out here with me.”

His eyes widened, and Hudson couldn’t deny the thrill of seeing the man’s fear and panic within them. They both knew what it would mean if he did leave her—death. She’d never shied away from the fact that once someone joined her ranks, they were with her permanently.

Cryoc wouldn’t leave. He wouldn’t betray her or truly defy her orders. But the questioning could not be reacted to in any other way. Their lives, all of their lives, had been steeped in traditional Talon ideology, and Hudson would never make the mistake of forgetting that. She would correct it at every turn she possibly could. And insubordination was one of those ways.

“Now.” She pushed him back and watched as he gathered himself together before continuing. “Are you with me?”

“Yes, Hudson.” He nodded. He didn’t look ashamed or embarrassed. He didn’t even look particularly cowed. He simply looked like her soldier. And for now, that would do. But one more question of her decisions and orders and she wouldn’t have a problem laying into her right hand man.

“Good.” She swam up beside him, and before he could react, she reached over and snatched the dagger from the seaweed band around his waist. “Now, I’ll be taking this. Gather the troops. We head out at first light.”

The silence she left behind held a presence that followed her to the entrance of the cave. She stopped short, the voices of her captives reaching her ears. She wanted to know what they were saying, what they were thinking. That kiss had been everything that every kiss before hadn’t been. Hudson’s entire body had been wired and ready to go in an instant, but she couldn’t let herself do anything more than what Honour had allowed.

“She’s not going to let us go.” Honour’s voice was low. But it seemed the strain of her recovery made it difficult for the mighty general to successfully whisper. That or she was so wound up from Kyree’s opposition that she was struggling to keep herself under control.

Had Honour been as affected as Hudson? As Kyree? Hudson had never seen a more stunning thing than Kyree’s openness to the sexual in that moment.

“She promised.” Kyree’s voice pulled at Hudson. She had trust where she shouldn’t, and that would be Kyree’s instant downfall. No one should trust Hudson, not even the men under her command.

“Kyree…” the pause in Honour’s words made Hudson itch to swim into the cave proper instead of listening outside. She wanted to know what they were doing. Had her little experiment finally pushed Kyree to look beyond the tribe rhetoric she had been fed her entire life? Were they touching? Was Kyree soothing Honour with her fingers, with her gaze? “I wish everyone could be as honest and as open as you are. I wish they were. But I don’t think Hudson even understands the meaning of those words.”

“At her core, she’s not a bad mer.” Kyree’s voice hardened a little.

A sound, more a grunt than any word followed. A muffled deep sound that could only have come from Honour. It sent Hudson into action.

How she wanted to see the two of them enthralled in each other’s limbs as they discussed her.

Hudson pushed into the cave with such unexpected force that Kyree was nudged to the side from where she had been swimming in front of Honour. As for Honour, she finally rested upright on her tail once more, though her shoulders leaned against the rock wall.

It made Hudson’s decision and movements that much easier and faster.

With Cryoc’s blade in her hand, she easily moved around Kyree and pressed it smoothly to the soft skin beneath Honour’s chin. Hudson could taste the fear in the cave, feel the tension skyrocket almost to where it had been with that damn kiss. But this tension was different. It was off-putting, when she didn’t want it to be. Hudson cocked her head to the side, staring directly into Honour’s eyes.

“Hudson.” Kyree’s voice no longer carried the same softness it had when she spoke to Honour. It had a hard edge that made Hudson’s body fill with a fluttering sensation of anticipation mixed with arousal.

“Oh, Honour.” Hudson ignored Kyree’s repeat of her name, carrying the warning once again. “I understand the words just fine.”

“Prove it.” Honour’s eyes met Hudson’s, and the spark that had caught her off guard when they had kissed sent another electrical shock through her.

“Prove that I know what open and honest means?” Hudson chuckled, the sound one she never intended to be pleasing to anyone’s ears.

“Yes.” Honour’s eyes dropped to Hudson’s lips before flicking back to meet her gaze once more.

Hudson smiled, slow and deliberate.

Honour was thinking about it.

The kiss had affected Honour just as much as it had affected Hudson and Kyree. The thought intensified that electrical current that raced through Hudson’s body, firing up and down her fluke and settling like a flicking tongue against her clit. She nearly moaned out loud at the thought.

Hudson moved closer, rolling up from her tail fins, through her fluke, and to her hips. Her slit reacted to the brush of Honour’s scales against her own. The tingling sensation was exactly what she’d been hoping for.

“This is a war, General. And I plan to come out victorious on the other side.” Hudson patted a single finger from her free hand over Honour’s lips, as if patronizing her for even considering that Hudson would lie to her.

“Victorious against who?” Honour’s words were filled with fast breath and her chest rose and fell, her nipples brushing against Hudson’s. Hudson’s slit gave another little quiver.

“I’ll lead my people into a better future. Where mermaids no longer bow down to brutes and imbeciles.” Could they kiss again? Hudson wasn’t sure if Honour would allow it without the tease and pressure of escaping. Then again, when Honour’s gaze flicked to Hudson’s lips again, maybe she had been wrong to assume Honour would spurn her at every turn.

“A war against the Talons? While the entire ocean is at war with the humans?” Honour reached up, wrapping her fingers around Hudson’s upper arms and gripping hard. Would Honour try to move Hudson out of the way? Would Honour flip them around and press Hudson hard against the cave wall?

“Don’t get in my way, and you won’t have to know.” Hudson pressed harder with her hips, rolling them farther into Honour. She was unable to bite back the little moan that escaped her lips.

“I already know.” Honour’s words hitched, but they also came out stronger, as though the play between fighting and fucking were as enticing to her as it had been to Hudson. And Hudson had been drawn to the power and rush of both, ever since she learned about life away from Talon’s misogynistic rule.

“Then I can’t wait to meet you in the waters of battle.”

Kyree gasped behind her, and Hudson chuckled. She met Honour’s eyes once more, just in time to catch them as they shifted from the darkness of arousal to the strength and desire to protect. But even Hudson could see the lingering desire that remained. It was odd, but the fact that Honour felt that brought her comfort. She wasn’t the only one who wanted to explore this side of their relationship.

Before she could question her actions, before Honour could predict and take the upper hand, Hudson leaned forward and captured Honour’s lips with her own. She had expected resistance, but Honour’s mouth moved instantly, driving her tongue between Hudson’s lips.

Hudson moaned as she slammed her body harder against Honour’s.

Honour hissed and pulled her lips away, pushed her head to the side.

“It hurts?” Hudson asked, lips curled back in her too-wide smile.

“Yes.” Honour whispered.

“Honour?” Kyree’s concern filled the space and broke the tightly wound string that connected Honour and Hudson.

Hudson snagged the small pouch of seaweed with blended herbs. She shoved it between Honour’s lips and pushed hard until Honour opened her mouth. Hudson didn’t hesitate as she pressed her thumb against the small bag and into Honour’s mouth. She moved her thumb out of the way of Honour’s teeth but kept it in her mouth.

“Chew.”

Honour’s eyes were slitted, but she complied. It was slow at first, the movement of Honour’s mouth against Hudson’s thumb, but it sped up once the initial seaweed pouch broke. Hudson kept still, pushing against Honor so she couldn’t move even if she wanted to. When she swallowed and her jaw opened slightly, Hudson stuck her thumb right back in and against Honour’s tongue.

Honour sucked her thumb. She locked their gazes together, staring directly into Hudson’s soul. What did Honour see?

The blackness?

The pain?

The desperation?

Or simply the desire.

The intensity was too much, and Hudson had to back away. She pulled her thumb out of Honour’s mouth and immediately popped it in her own. She sucked Honour’s saliva off her skin, the lingering taste of the medicine that would heal the infection. The last promise that Hudson had given them.

“I don’t linger in places for long. I suggest you consider not staying too long either. The Talon won’t be too far behind me.”

Hudson gave Kyree a wink before she swam away. The knife she had pressed against Honour’s throat now carried several smears of blood on its blade. Hudson raised them to her lips and licked them off. She could taste the infection Honour had in the blood. She’d needed the tonic more than Hudson had thought.

“Cryoc.” She called as she swam directly to the merman. “They won’t be a problem. In fact, I’ll be surprised if they last long enough to hear us leave camp.”

Cryoc’s eyes were alight with whatever thoughts he conjured up from Hudson’s words. And so they should have. Hudson had done far worse than tease and torment a few sexually frustrated mermaids. Why shouldn’t Cryoc assume she had done the same with these two?

“Time to swim out.” Hudson called out loud enough for all of her troops to turn toward her, heads bobbing in acknowledgement. As one, her troops took formation, already having broken camp. Cryoc was nothing if not efficient, and he had done exactly what she had told him to do.

She had worked hard to whip her people into shape.

As they left, she refused to look back. Refused to turn and see if either Honour or Kyree peeked out of the cave’s entrance.

If Cryoc saw them unharmed beyond what they had been, he would question her. And while she knew how to deal with those that dared to second-guess her, she didn’t want anyone examining what she had done.

She didn’t want to examine it.

Honour’s skin would recover quickly. The nicks Hudson had given her would take mere days to heal, especially with the healing herbs coursing through her system.

“Where are we headed, Hudson?” Cryoc swam beside Hudson, thankfully interrupting her thoughts and the dangerously sexy turn they had taken. Perhaps she was more frustrated with the stalemate of the battles than she’d anticipated. She needed some good bloodshed.

“We’re going to wipe out the Talons and create our own tribe in their place.” Hudson chuckled as she looked at Cryoc’s shocked expression. “Every mer with them is against us.”

“How? Taking over the tribe is one thing, but wiping them out?”

“Oh, the little pets you brought me to play with had some very interesting things to say. They told me exactly how to get rid of the Talons.”

“How?” Cryoc tried to go for a scoffing tone, but Hudson knew him too well. He was eager and keen for a battle, and hope flared around him like a tangle of seaweed.

“Give Talon the enemy they can’t resist. And the enemy they could never win against.”

“What enemy?”

“The humans.”

“The mechanical monsters?”

“Oh yes.” Hudson chuckled darkly.

She would rid herself of the strange mermaids she had met. She would shake herself from the questions as to how the two of them were even traveling together.

She had to focus on the real battle at hand. The one thing she had fought for since before she understood the place they had given her—the one she’d refused.

So, why did her mind keep drifting back to those two mermaids she had left in a cave? Why did she hold a tight grip onto the hopes of seeing Honour in the waters of battle?