Stormfront (Undertow Book 2) (30 page)

The early morning ligh
t
that slipped through the porthole puddled in golden pools across Eila’s bare back. She slept on her stomach next to me, one delicate hand tucked against my chest. Her wild, dark hair was splayed across the pillow and over her shoulders.

She had kicked down the sheets during the night, and now the silky cotton was wrapped low on her hips and legs, leaving the rest of her exposed. She looked like a beautiful mermaid with a white tail, sleeping next to me. A beautiful mermaid, whose back was carved with the cryptic markings of her dangerous
heritage.

I
laid on my side next to her, my head propped on one hand, while the other played softly with the tips of her hair. I wanted to touch her, everywhere. Feel her satin skin under my hands and how her body moved at my touch.

I wanted to make love to her again and again, forever.

But she needed sleep, so I kept my fingers to her unfeeling hair and listened to her breathe softly. Last night, it took every ounce of strength I had to rein back my demanding need and dangerous instincts. My kind did not make love. We conquered one another during sex, taking only for ourselves, our own needs, and never thinking of the other.

But last night, all I thought of was Eila.

Of how I should physically love her, of where to touch her, and how to stay connected with her mind and her emotion. Something in me shifted last night as I slowly explored her body and listened to her breathe. My own burning demands fell away and suddenly my ability to please her was all I desired. Bringing her body into a rush of sensation felt phenomenal
to me
. Better than anything I had ever experienced in my lifetime.

At times I led her and other times, I followed. We gave and took in equal, thinking of one another, rather than
ourselves. We were unhurried as we discovered what made each other ignite. And at one point I changed her body forever. It was the hardest thing I had ever done, for I knew I caused her pain when she gasped and held me tighter. I had asked her if she was all right and she responded by kissing me slowly, and in that one moment, the fibers of my heart unraveled.

I felt her stir next to me and she stretched her body, her hand sliding easily up my chest to my jaw. Then her fingers traveled over my face, as if she were a blind man identifying a friend. Though her eyes were still
tightly shut, a beautiful smile spread on her blushing face, and she giggled.

I was cooked. Done. Permanently fil
leted.

This one unlikely girl, designed as my enemy, set my heart on fire. I leaned down next to her and kissed her soft, pink lips as my hand ventured out of her hair and trailed down her back. Her giggling turned into a soft moan as I ran my fingers along the edge of the sheet near her tailbone. She opened her wide, brown eyes and smiled at me in a way that no one ever had, and I was lost.

“Good morning Mr. Paris,” she said, her voice rough with sleep. I laid my head on her pillow so I was eye to eye with my mermaid and pulled her closer to me.

“Good morning Ms. Walker,” I replied, bringing my hand up to her cheek and softly pushing her dark hair back from her face. “How are you feeling this morning?”

She drew a sweet, soft sigh. “Adored,” she answered, letting her fingers play over my bottom lip. “Different.”

I smiled at her and she rose up and pushed me onto my back, sliding her body on
top of mine. I could feel the tingle of my markings begin to surface on my face, revealing my desire. Her finger ran along my brow, no doubt tracing the markings, and a wicked smile curled on her lips. “Hmmm, what are you thinking about, Mr. Paris?”

I didn’t beat around the bush, and I ran my hands down her ribs, “Making love to you again. Right now.” The contrast between the hard lines of my body and the softness of her curves w
as a graceful concoction of Yin and Yang. I inventoried every one of those gentle curves that pressed against me, burning them into my memory.

She ran her cool, small hand down from my face and along my side, though her hand stayed in neutral territory. She was far more timid about touching me than I was with her, and her uncertainty I found beautiful.

She rolled her hips slightly and I couldn’t help but growl. Yes, I wanted to make love to her again, instantly. But last night she gave her virginity to me, and knowing Eila, she wouldn’t admit to being sore. Using all my willpower, I gently stilled her hips and rolled her off me. “As much as I want to, I think we should wait and give your body a chance to recover.”

She huffed and crossed her arms over her breasts and her scar, “Fine. Half hour
, then?”

“Uh, I meant a little longer,” I laughed.

“Picky, picky. Forty-five minutes?”

I was about to reply when someone banged on the door. “Eila! Are you awake?” demanded Kian from the hallway. “I think Raef may have gone ashore to hunt and we need to get under way. I need to go and track down his sorry ass. EILA! Are you in there?”

Eila started to rise from the bed, but there was no way I was letting her naked body go anywhere near
that
door. I pulled her gently back down onto the mattress and covered her with the blanket. “I’ll get it,” I whispered, kissing her lips. She gave me a sweet smile as she tousled my hair.

I pulled on my pants and padded over to the door. Kian was now demanding that he do something insidious to me because I had apparently jumped ship without notifying the captain. “Eila! Woman! Get your fine
assssss –.”

I whipped open the door before he could complete his appraisal of
Eila’s rear and his words stalled on his lips. He looked at me, stunned into silence for a second. Then a knowing smirk rose on his face, “Jeez, Eila. You need more beauty sleep. You look like crap.”

“Very funny,” I replied, not amused. “I did not jump ship.”

Kian narrowed his eyes, “This is not your room during this trip. Did you and Little Miss Lite Brite discuss politics . . . or play doctor?”

Because she never did follow directions, Eila slid up next to me, thankfully wrapped up in the blanket.
Kian’s eyes widened and all sense of humor fell from his face.  He glanced at me, darkness on his face, then back to Eila. “Are you hurt?”

“No. Of course not,” she replied, confused.

He stepped forward to me, pointing an angry finger at my chest. “You are reckless. Reckless and stupid!” While I didn’t think Kian would be high-fiving me, I was taken aback by his level of hostility. I didn’t understand where it was coming from.

“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” I growled back, defensive. I was pissed that he thought I would ever hurt Eila. “She was never in danger with me. I was in control.”

Kian stared at me for a long time before he spoke, “Control is an illusion. You, my friend, were just plain lucky.” He stepped back from the doorframe, his jaw set in a hard line. Slowly he seemed to regain his composure. “We’re leaving. Get upstairs and help out.”

I was about to ask what was going on, but Kian just strode away towards the galley. Eila looked up at me and I wrapped my arm around her.

“What was that all about?” she asked.

“I have no idea,” I replied.

Kian didn’t talk to Raef all da
y
as we sailed from Bimini to our next stop in Freeport. I hung out with Ana on the aft deck lounge, creating a few necklaces with the beautiful pieces of the ocean we had taken from the island, and a bracelet for Mae. I kept trying to figure out what happened this morning with Kian, but I couldn’t wrap my head around his reaction.

The way Raef looked at me and brushed against me, meant so much more now. A hidden understanding and deeper connection than I ever thought possible existed between us. If his eyes didn’t remind me of a few hours ago, the gentle ache throughout my body did. It was a good ache, but he was right – I need a chance to recover.

I had been so caught up in the moment last night that I completely forgot about protection, but Raef didn’t. Apparently certain things come standard in the Sail Away kits from the yacht club, including shampoo, razors, and well, safe sex items. My mind kept wandering back to last night, replaying bits and pieces of what we had done together, making me about as useful as a zombie.

“Quit zoning,” demanded
Ana, bouncing a shell off my shoulder.

I blushed. “Sorry,” I replied, focusing back on a necklace I was making for Raef. It was a simple design of braided cotton with a small shark
tooth hanging from the middle. It was an awesome find from yesterday, and I knew it belonged on my soul shark’s neck.

I pictured him wearing it, and not much else.

Crud – I was going to get NOTHING done.

Ana was faster than I was at making the pieces into necklaces, probably because she wasn’t daydreaming about Kian. She had made MJ one already with a piece of twisted beach metal she had found, and he had been wearing it all day. If either of them could tell that I was different, they hadn’t said a word.

In some ways, I really wanted girl-time with Ana, to discuss what I had done last night. At the same time however, she believed a soul thief would never make love to a human. A few months ago, I would have been in complete agreement, but after all that had happened to us, combined with how gentle Raef was last night, I knew we had been wrong. If she found out about Raef and me, would it make her question Kian’s excuse for not sleeping with her the summer they met?

I glanced at her as she finished off a sea
glass necklace for herself. “I can make one for Kian. All the boys should have one,” I offered, trying to deviously test her mind as it related to the boy she once loved.

She picked up another piece of sea
glass, this one slightly larger but the same color as the one that now hung on her neck. “I’ll make him one,” she replied, and I glanced up to the flybridge above us. MJ and Kian were hanging out by the ship’s wheel, but Kian glanced down at the two of us, no doubt having heard his name with his superior hearing. Why was he so angry this morning?

Kian’s
eyes connected with mine and he said something to MJ, who nodded in response, taking the wheel. Then Kian made his way down from the flybridge and into the parlor, not saying a word to Ana or me.

Screw the silent treatment. I was ticked that he had acted like a moron this morning and we needed to have a chat.

I got up, making an excuse to get us some drinks, and followed Kian into the parlor. He was by the bar and I came up behind him, giving him a small shove. “What the heck was that all about this morning?” I asked, truly aggravated. I was grateful Raef was in the shower, so I could talk to Kian alone.

He didn’t turn to me. “Nothing,” he said, rummaging around in the cabinet for something.

“You were mad. Why would you have been mad? That makes no sense to me!”

Kian yanked a pair of binoculars from the cabinet and spun on me. “He could have killed you, al
l right? What the hell is the point of protecting you if he goes and does something so stupid as that.”

“So sleeping with me is stupid?” I asked, now offended.

“Yes! No – I mean. Damn it, Eila – it’s dangerous for our kind to sleep with a human. It’s always a gamble and a lot of the time the human doesn’t fair so well, trust me.” Kian was getting angry, but it didn’t seem to be aimed at me. The way he spoke made it seem like . . . oh, hell.

“You’ve slept with a human, haven’t you? But Ana said that you wouldn’t with her. If it wasn’t Ana, then who --?”

“My fiancée.”

My eyes went wide. “You were getting married? When?”

Kian’s shoulders dropped as he let out a sigh and placed the binoculars on the counter. “When I was still human, I was engaged to a girl named Mary. But a few days after I was turned, I went to her house. She let me in, because she loved me and I was the man she was going to marry, have children with, and grow old with. God help me, she trusted me to take care of her, but I wasn’t the same man. I no longer loved her, just lusted for her, and I took what I wanted that night.”

I had stopped breathing and Kian shook his head, his eyes to the floor and his hand curling into a fist. “Her family found her body in her bedroom the next day.”

Good god. I forced away the chill that climbed over my skin as I stepped forward, covering Kian’s clenched hand with my own. “Kian, it’s not the same. You’re not the same,” I whispered, so terribly sorry for him and poor Mary.

He pulled his hand away from mine and picked up the binoculars. As he pushed past me, he looked down into my eyes, his face hard. “That’s your biggest mistake
, Eila. Raef and I are still Mortis. We survive on the lives of others. We are killers and there is no changing that.”

He started leaving the room, but I called after him. “Kian – you didn’t mean to do it,” I pleaded, trying to ease his grief.

He stopped just before the glass doors and he looked at Ana who was holding up her necklace, examining her handiwork. Finally he turned back at me. “Yeah, I did, Sparky,” he replied sadly and walked outside.

I watched as Ana said something to him and held up the necklace she had made him. He leaned down to her and she tied it around his neck, turning it so it sat perfectly against his flawless skin. She gave a proud smile and he returned it easily, saying something that earned him a jab in his side from Ana, who laughed.

He loved her fiercely, and despite her reluctance to let him in, Ana loved him as well. Ana wasn’t Mary – not even close. Kian had to know that, somewhere deep down and past all the fear. He glanced back at me as he headed for the flydeck and his smile faded.

As he disappeared above me, I realized Kian failed to understand two critical facts: Ana wasn’t afraid of him . . . and I
, too, was a killer.