33. The Very Tip

Chapter 33

The Very Tip

The Pirate

H er rejection angered me more than I cared to admit. I'd contemplated it all in silence as we'd trekked through the thick forest of the island, wondering why the hell I felt this way. This need that seemed to incapacitate me at times drew me closer to her even when I sought to distance myself. I fought it. Gods, I fought it so damn hard, but it felt like a losing battle.

It was a conundrum. I'd spent so many years easily claiming anything and everything that I had wanted. I'd told her everything I'd felt, and she'd struck me down with her words as surely as if she'd held a knife. I'd clutched at my chest, feeling as if my very heart had been wounded, and yet my skin remained whole. Why could I want this creature so completely and yet have her deny my claim? That wasn't how this curse worked. She'd sunk her teeth into my heart without ever having had to pull it from my chest.

She walked ahead of me, her hair streaming down her back in waves that shimmered in the dusk as the sun dipped lower in the horizon. I longed for her to look at me as if she wanted to devour me whole, the looks I'd gotten used to over these past few weeks and did not want to go without now that I'd bared my soul to her.

I wanted to reach out and grab hold of her, craving the feel of her skin against mine, the way she would grin at me with lust within the cool depths of her aquamarine gaze, the way that she made me feel alive for the first time in centuries.

Her actions had painted her as the enemy though. A siren, a creature of the sea, feared and revered. As a pirate, I'd had to face my share of sea fiends, and I'd know there'd always been something different about her. Just as I'd known that there had been something in her heart for me in return, but she wasn't ready to admit it as I had. Instead, she despised herself for it.

We continued walking across the sharp stones along the beach, the pointed tips digging into the soles of my boots with every step. The ocean lashed at our feet as we pressed on, the wind whipping at my hair and tugging it free of the ribbon tied at the nape of my neck. Scylla's cave lay just ahead, and as we steadily approached, I could sense her presence like darkness calling to darkness.

"We are almost there." Talia turned to look at me as we'd stopped in an alcove, her aquamarine eyes glittering as the wind picked up. Strands of raven colored hair blew across her face, and I itched to brush it aside for her.

The cave was still a short distance away, but the palm trees lining the alcove provided a barrier that had me feeling emboldened. Before she could back away from me, I closed the distance between us, placing my hands on either side of her face as I held her gaze to mine. Our breaths mingled and then I kissed her with every emotion I'd felt in the past weeks, the emotions I'd never thought I'd feel again. The want, the desire, the need. Things I'd long since thought dead or found myself incapable of feeling within my wicked, black heart. Perhaps even demons could want and need.

Our lips melded together, a heat building within me that I didn't think I'd be able to cool as I stared into her wide blinking gaze. I held onto her, pulling away only just slightly as my lips moved against hers. "One more time," I begged. We had this one last night to pretend we had forever before us, before it all ended, and we were forced to let each other go.

Talia backed up, her gaze traveling every plane of my face as she bit her lower lip. I watched every emotion play over her telling face. Watched the war she fought within herself just the same as the one I'd waged within myself. I knew life for a siren beneath the ocean was a dangerous existence, and there was no place for emotions there. Yet, now as she stared at me, I understood why she had rejected me. I made her feel something that I knew she hated… vulnerable.

I watched her body relax as she said, "Fine." She stepped forward, her fingertips dragging along the line of my jaw. "But try not to get too attached." The way she had said it made it seem as though she were warning herself just as much as she was warning me.

I couldn't think about her warning now. I didn't want to think about anything other than the fact that my monster, my vicious little siren, had said yes. Closing the distance between us, I captured her lips once again, tearing my shirt over my head at the same time she tore her clothing from herself. The thin material seemed to evaporate from our bodies as we wrapped ourselves around each other, our skin colliding together as a heat burned within us both.

Her fingers trailed a slow, electrifying path down my chest, around my hips, as she traveled the hard distance of my abs with her tongue. She didn't drop my gaze as her hold danced around the base of my cock, sending me wild as she guided me to a nearby palm tree. It was as if every desire was set free between us as her hand curled around my throbbing cock, her kiss gentle along the tip before she consumed my entire length in her heated mouth.

My back slid down the roughened bark of the tree as we lowered ourselves to the ground. A groan escaped me as her tongue swirled along my shaft, drawing me into her as her fingers grazed my thighs, my abdomen, my chest. She pulled her mouth up my length, her tongue drawing a light touch along my stomach until her mouth captured mine.

My fingers fisted around her hips, and I positioned her beneath me, smiling down at her naked beauty as she stretched her arms above her head, her gaze glittering with want and invitation as I pulled the peak of her breast into my mouth. I positioned myself until the very tip of my cock played at her entrance, feeling her warmth and her desire as it coated me. Her body arched, urging me to claim her.

Our hips rocked together, a steady rhythm that built in heat and momentum as we lost ourselves in each other's embraces and kisses. Both of us pouring our need into the other, knowing our time together was limited. Her heated folds enveloped me as her muscles tightened and released around my thick length in perfect rhythm.

My desire surged, but I held back. With each breathless moan and quiver, I knew I brought her closer to that endless wave of ecstasy. I watched, my cock twitching, as she exploded with pleasure. Her hold on me clenching, driving me over the edge with her, so close to my own release that it was almost painful.

"Look at me, Talia," I demanded, and her gaze snapped to mine, her breath heaving from her with every one of my thrusts. With every collision of our hips, I felt myself closer and closer to the edge of release.

She gave me a catlike smirk as she unsheathed her claws, drawing them down my chest in a light line of red that bloomed along my skin. The mix of pain with pleasure took over, and I pounded harder into her. Her cries echoed mine until we both exploded into heated stars as the waves of pleasure cascaded around us. I remained inside of her, riding the ecstasy of her throbbing muscles around my cock as our mouths melded together in a kiss.

It wasn't a ravenous kiss, but a tender one. A soft and exploring one that spoke of feelings neither of us wanted to admit yet. As we lay within each other's embrace, I knew when she left that it would leave me broken, and the heart that I had always thought was black, would darken even more so.