Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

Bowen

I WISH I COULD SAY IT HAPPENED TOO FAST FOR ME TO avoid. It’s a lie. The truth is that I let Evelyn pull me down and take my mouth. I didn’t even hesitate. I wanted to kiss her more than I wanted to do the right thing.

So much for honor.

She tastes like freedom. Like the air against my face and the sea beneath the rolling deck of my ship. I’m no poet, but the first stroke of her tongue against mine makes me want to be.

I don’t make a conscious decision to move, but she lets out a tiny little whimper and then my hands are in her hair and stroking down her back, urging her to press more tightly against me. She’s so fucking soft, it drives me wild. I cup her full hips and make a sound that’s damn near a growl.

I need to stop.

A mere minute ago, I was threatening her in the most violent way possible. I have no business grabbing two fistfuls of her ass and lifting her so she can wrap her legs around my waist. I sure as fuck shouldn’t turn and take several staggering steps so I can press her against the nearest tree.

I do it anyway.

All the while, she kisses me as if she might never get another chance, as if she wants to imprint every sensation on her very soul. I feel exactly the same way. I want more. I want everything. And yet I would be satisfied merely kissing this woman for the rest of my days.

Her tongue is just as quick as her words. She teases me, advancing and retreating in turn, almost seeming to taunt me. What am I saying? Of course she’s taunting me. Her hands are in my hair, tugging until she has my mouth exactly at the angle she prefers. There’s no hesitation. If there was, maybe I could stop myself from thrusting against her.

She makes that intoxicating whimpering sound again. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. I thrust against her a second time. I’d like nothing more than to rip the pants from her body so that I can have complete access to her, but I have enough of myself still present to not give in to that animalistic urge.

She digs her heels into the small of my back, urging me closer even as she rolls her body against the hard length of my cock. I want to tell her to stop. I want to tell her never to stop. I don’t have the breath to do either.

Her movements become more desperate. Instinct has me matching them even as I fight against the pleasure shooting down my spine and gathering in my balls. I have already made a fool of myself for this woman too many times in our short acquaintance. I won’t do it again. Not here. Not like this.

Evelyn tears her mouth from mine and her whole body goes tense. I have to move fast to cup the back of her head to prevent her from smashing it on the tree behind her. “Oh fuck, Bowen.” She shudders, clasping me to her.

Did she just …

Her fingers clench rhythmically in my hair and the tension eases out of her body. Surely not. Surely I’m misreading things. “Did you just—”

“Not another word.”

That all but confirms it. She orgasmed. “But I didn’t even—”

Evelyn covers my mouth with her hand. “Not. Another. Word.” Her skin is warm against my lips. I almost kiss her palm, but think better of it at the last moment. “Let me down.”

I don’t want to. It’s not only the desire surging through my body in time with my racing heart. I like how soft she is, how good her legs feel clamped around my waist. “We should talk about this,” I speak against her palm. I don’t know what I’m saying. I just need to prolong the moment until I have to step away and reality will come rushing into the new space between us.

“Suffice to say we are never going to talk about this.” She shivers and her thighs tighten around me. “This is complicated and the last thing either of us need is complicated. This is a terrible idea, and I am at my allotment of terrible ideas for an entire lifetime. Let me down, Bowen.”

I let her down. My cock is a painful length against the front of my breeches, but just as I feared, reality splashes me in the face with what I’ve just done.

Evelyn is a traitor. I might have stopped her this time, but she’ll try to escape again. I already felt sick at the thought of hurting her before I knew what she tasted like. I can’t afford to hesitate if it comes to that. If I do … that will make me a traitor just like her.

It would mean that all the terrible things I’ve done since Ezra pulled me out of the water were for nothing. That they meant nothing.

That, more than anything else, snaps me out of the haze of desire. I’d accuse her of casting a spell on me, but lust doesn’t need magic to spark to life. I wanted her from the moment I saw her. I never would have made the first move, but when she kissed me? Yeah, that wasn’t magic propelling me forward.

It was need.

I carefully set her on her feet and step back. Even in the darkness, I can see the flush in her cheeks and the way her lips are plumped from kissing. It makes me want to kiss her again. It makes me want to howl at the fucking moon at how unfair this whole situation is.

“You can’t run again, Evelyn.” I hardly sound like myself, my voice low and ragged. “Don’t make me kill you. Please.”

She looks away and then finally faces me fully. “I can’t make that promise.”

Even saying that is breaking her vows. Or it would be enough to qualify for some captains. Miles would argue for it. “Evelyn.”

“Don’t say my name like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like I’m infuriating you and you want to kiss me again.”

That startles a ragged laugh out of me. “You are infuriating, and I do want to kiss you again.”

“Bowen! Don’t be charming. It’s upsetting and confusing.”

She’s the charming one, especially now that she’s flustered. It makes my chest feel strange to know that I’m the one who flustered her. This woman is dangerous in a way I’m not prepared to deal with. I’ve had lovers over the years, but none have come close to what Evelyn has accomplished in two short days.

She makes me … crave.

“Come back to the ship.”

“I don’t have much choice, do I?” She casts a look filled with longing toward the darkness of the trees. “I don’t think I was made for the sea. I miss the earth beneath my feet.”

That strange feeling in my chest twinges hard enough that I press my hand there as if it were a physical sensation. I don’t like her sad. I have to make her sad to keep her alive. “Come on.”

A low sound stops me cold. It’s not quite a growl, more of a hiss of pure menace. Evelyn turns to peer into the darkness, but I grab her arm. “Don’t move.”

“What is—”

“Silence, woman.” I stare over her shoulder at the two glowing eyes that seem to hover in midair just over her shoulder. If I hadn’t been so distracted by her, the beast never would have gotten so close. “When I tell you to run, run back to the village like your life depends on it. Because it does.”

A fine tremor works its way through her body, but I don’t have time to worry about her fear right now. I’ll have to time this carefully. The creature will pounce and there will be one moment to get out of the way. These animals have the ability to partially shift planes of existence, which allows them to dodge attacks both physical and magical.

How do I know that?

We’ve stopped at Yaltia a handful of times over the years, but I’ve never once ventured out of the village itself. I took one look at the houses in the trees and any curiosity I felt shriveled up. Up until this moment, I would have sworn I have no idea what resides in this forest.

The eyes shift, sinking a few spare inches. The beast is about to pounce. I shove Evelyn toward the village. “Run!” I draw my magic forth even as I pull my largest knife from my boot. Not bringing my sword was a foolish thing to do, but I hadn’t expected to do more than gather up a wayward witch. Fighting for my life wasn’t on the agenda.

I get my first clear look at the creature as it stalks out of the darkness, a giant black cat with a startling patch of white on its chest. Its shoulders are massive, likely coming up to my chest if it stood still long enough, and its claws are easily as long as my hands. The glowing eyes hold an intelligence that is hardly animal. There’s menace there, hate even.

The beast launches itself at me. I throw up a shield, and it blinks out of existence. There one moment and gone the next. It reappears on the other side of my shield, far too close. The damn thing teleported. I knew it could do it, but seeing it verified is something else entirely.

Holding a shield around my body is all but impossible in a fight, and it won’t do any good against an enemy like this. Instead, I go on the offense. I strike with a concentrated blast of magic aimed directly at its head.

The damned thing dodges, leaping straight up so my magic passes harmlessly below it. “Fuck.” It obviously has experience fighting magical humans. I’m in trouble. If I can’t strike and I can’t defend … this might be it for me.

I barely have time to process that thought and the conflicting emotions it brings when a ball of violently purple fire smashes into the cat’s side. It howls in agony as the fire wraps around it, freakishly fast. The beast blinks out of existence, but when it reappears, the fire is still spreading through its fur.

With a cry that makes my skin prickle, the cat turns and flees deeper into the trees. Instantly, the fire goes out. It doesn’t stop running, though. I watch it disappear before I turn to where Evelyn crouches.

Her fingertips are filthy from carving the rough circle she occupies, and she’s breathing just as hard as I am. She looks up at me, her green eyes glowing nearly as brightly as the cat’s had. “I didn’t want to hurt it.”

I blink. “What?”

“I couldn’t let it kill you.” She weaves a little and plants her hand on the ground. Her hair falls forward to hide her face from me. “And it’s too close to the village. A child could have wandered this deep into the woods. It’s not like we walked far to get here. It’s only a matter of time before it kills someone.” Her voice is clogged as if she’s fighting back tears.

I move closer on pure instinct. “You saved me.”

“It’s not right to kill animals just because they’re dangerous. By that logic, both you and I should be killed, too.”

Gods above and below, my thieving witch has a bleeding heart.

I don’t stop to think. I scoop her into my arms. “You didn’t kill it, and it’s smart enough to move on to an easier territory to hunt. You saved my life and probably the lives of at least one villager.” I press a kiss to her temple on pure instinct. “And the villagers would have killed it after it took one of their own. You did a good thing, little witch.”

She gives a sad little laugh. “I know what you must think. It’s a silly thing to be sad about. But we humans fuck up too much shit, you know? It’s not the wild’s fault that we’re so determined to show up where we’re not wanted.”

I hug her even tighter to me. “Are you going to ask me to track down the beast and heal it?”

“What?” This time, her laugh sounds a little bit closer to the woman I’m coming to know. “Of course not. There might be others, and while I’m sad at the thought of hurting it, I don’t want to die. Or for you to die.” She tilts her head back and looks at me. Her brows draw together. “You really would do it, wouldn’t you?”

I don’t want to. The thought of venturing deeper into the trees makes my skin threaten to crawl right off my body. I don’t know that it would return to this place once it’s healed, but it’s possible. The beast being so close to the village is a recipe for disaster. If the villagers weren’t able handle it themselves, the C?n Annwn would be summoned back to this place to deal with the problem. And they … we … wouldn’t stop until it’s dead.

“It would be a bad idea to track it down and heal it,” I say finally.

“Oh, Bowen.” She rests her head on my shoulder. It feels rather nice. “I’m going to let you carry me because that was a bit of a reckless move on my part, to pull that spell with so little prep, but don’t think it’s because I like you.”

I smile against her hair. “Of course not.”

“I don’t like you.”

“Mm-hmm.”

She sighs. “Right. I don’t even sound convincing to myself. Whatever. Take me back to the ship, Captain. I’ll be a good little sailor, at least for a while.”