Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

Callum

I tighten my fist around the hilt of my sword and battle the fear coursing through me.

My fear is not for myself, but that I have failed Ada in letting her be taken.

I don't know how this is going to end… probably fucking badly. I only know that I am prepared to lay my life down for the woman I love. We're on a ship that is already far out in the ocean. The sky is darkening rapidly with the onset of night. There is no way out of this that I can see.

Yet I cannot back down.

"Gods, Callum, please don't." Urgent fingers tug at the back of my wet jacket.

I am fucking soaked. I managed to stow away on one of the supply boats before it left shore. An opportunity came while supplies were being loaded onto the ship, when one of the barrels was dropped, and rum spilled all over the deck. No one noticed when I slipped out of the longboat into the water. Then I hid out of sight beneath where the captain's quarters jut out at the stern… which was fine until the ship set sail and then the sea commenced lashing me.

As I stare at the shifter bastard, I reassess my options, which are desperately short in supply. It is a big ship. I had some notion of spiriting Ada away and hiding her somewhere in the hold until we reached land. Or maybe lying low until we next anchored in port, when I would make a move to rescue her.

Except, as I clung to the rail, watching them talk, I saw the determination in the shifter's eyes. By the time they put to shore again, it would have been too late. He would have rutted her and taken what was mine.

"What kind of shifter scum snatches a lass?" I demand.

Gray flinches. Maybe he will let us go after all? Ada is mine; she could be with child, and so although this moment feels hopeless, I'm ready and committed to making my stand for the woman I love.

"He won't hurt us, Callum," Ada says. "I know he won't."

I shift to keep her behind me as best as I can. Deckhands surround us, brandishing cutlasses, and nowhere is fucking safe. I turn, keeping my eyes on the dangers from every side. My heart feels like it's pounding out of my chest. My imminent failure is a bitter taste on my tongue.

"Even though he is a bastard as snatches lasses from the street," Ada adds, stepping boldly forward like she is about to march up to the big shifter and confront him then and there.

I snag an arm around her waist lest she do exactly that.

Gray's eyes narrow, and he growls, reminding me he has an inner beast.

"Ada, let me handle this." I adjust my grip on the sword. I am not well practiced with such a weapon, but I reason it is better than my fists. "Give us a boat, and I shall row us ashore myself."

Gray raises both brows. Then he chuckles, which soon turns into a deeper guffaw that pisses me right off.

Next, he holds his fucking belly, he is laughing that hard.

"It's miles t' the nearest shore, lad," a man says, stepping forward. He looks like a pirate with his weather-worn blue jacket and the cutlass at his hip. "A strong crew o' seamen at the oars wouldna make it."

"Well, I'll fucking row all night then," I say, feeling like a damn idiot.

"Ye two be acquainted?" the pirate continues, looking between Gray and me.

"Aye," Gray says.

At least he is no longer fucking laughing at me.

"Ada is mine," I say, not caring that this statement is likely inflammatory. "She could be carrying my child. No man shall be putting his fucking hands on her without going through me."

"Callum, please!" Ada says, tugging at me yet again. "He's not going to hurt me. And he won't hurt you either, will you, Gray?"

"I'm not going to hurt you, lass," Gray admits. "The jury is out on whether or not I hurt Callum. Well, perhaps it is more about the degree to which I will beat some respect into him. For sure, he will be hurting a lot more if he does not move the fuck away from you with that fucking massive sword, which, I'll hazard a guess, he doesn't know how the fuck to use."

The bastard is right about the sword. I know only the basics and how to fucking skewer a man… or a shifter.

"You're surrounded," Gray continues, going in for the verbal kill. "There is no chance of getting Ada off this ship unless you intend to plunge to your deaths, which I know is not your intention. So put your weapon down."

My palm is fucking sweating while the rest of me is fucking freezing as brisk winds batter my soaked clothes. I don't think I've ever been this tense in my life.

He's bluffing. I know he is.

I think he's bluffing.

I wish he were bluffing.

His eyes slide to the man at my side, and he nods.

What the fuck was that about?

I find out as the deckhands around us sheath their swords.

They don't move away, though, nor do they move to prepare one of the rowing boats.

"Put the sword down, Callum. Neither of us wants Ada to get hurt in the fray."

"There won't be any fray if you give me a fucking boat."

"That's not going to happen, lad. We both know as much. You think you're tied to her because you've rutted her. The truth is a lot more complicated than that."

"Complicated? There's nothing complicated beyond you being a bastard who snatches women from the streets!"

"That much is true," Ada pipes up, still fighting with me like she is ready to assault the shifter scum.

His face softens.

And that is telling in ways more than a thousand words. He cares for her. Perhaps in the same way that I do, for he has not attacked me yet, even though it must be burning him, for he dare not risk her being hurt.

Complicated.

I don't want it to be complicated. I wanted it to be simple.

I met a lass, fell in love, and was due to wed her in two days. There would've been a quiet ceremony with Betsy, Tim, my father, and a few other people we consider friends, and then afterward, she would've been in my bed under me every night where she belongs. I'd have worked hard in the forge all day, perfecting my skills, with a mind to one day take over and continue the business in my father's stead.

Goddess willing, whelps would have arrived along the way, little girls or boys in the image of Ada, with straight dark hair and pretty hazel eyes. I'd held a distant hope that we might one day leave Bleakness' cursed environs, maybe travel with my pa to Hydornia and the land he hailed from. Maybe this business with the Blighten would have been over by then, and Bleakness would once more be known as Port Arden.

As I glare down the shifter, feeling the woman I love tremble against me, that dream slips away.

No, it does not simply slip away. It has been ripped from my bleeding hands by the actions of the shifter who stands facing me.

My lips tremble with frustration. I toss my sword to the floor with a snarl of defeat.

Gray leaps, shifting in the air. He slams into me and snatches Ada from my grasp in a single fluid move.

I taste blood. My head rings. Through blurred eyes, I see my woman in his arms before a face swims into view—the pirate bastard. I feel a blow to the back of my head, and all the lights go out.