Page 109 of The Last Lost Girl

His hook is still in the torn v of my shirt. And when I kiss him deeply and rock against him again, he growls and rips the garment further.

I want him to cleave it. To push what’s left off my arms and fling it into the sea. I want to do the same to his.

I want to feel our bare chests touch, brush, tease.

I want… him.

A familiar shriek pierces the night and my eardrum. I pull away from Hook’s lingering mouth and twist around to look at the obsidian sea. Nyin’s moonlit scales are the only seam of warmth in it. When she sees she has my attention, she points to the shore.

“Ay-vahhh!” she yells, panic in her tone.

“The skiff!” Kingston shouts down from the crow’s nest a moment later. “It’s at the shore. Someone’s climbing in!”

Someone?

Smee and Belle burst from the captain’s quarters and the first mate is already hauling the rope over. My sister comes to stand beside me as Hudson morphs back into the captain they elected. She glowers at me.

“You should not kiss Hudson.”

I grit my teeth. “I like kissing Hudson.”

From the bottom of the mast, Hudson cups his hands and yells, “Can you tell who’s in it?”

“Not yet,” Kingston relays.

Belle is in full protective sister mode and is not to be deterred. “He’s not the boy you once knew. As soon as we return the shadows to the people in town, Hudson will set sail. He’ll ferry them home and never look back. Freedom is his only goal. He’s been tethered far too long.”

And he won’t want to be tethered to you… she doesn’t add.

I understand her concern. She thinks I’ll get hurt. But I’m no longer the scared little girl Hudson sat with in the darkness. I turn my head toward her. “I want him to sail them home and when he does, I hope he never looks back. Until then, what I do with him is none of your business.”

She narrows her eyes. “This will lead to terrible things.”

“Like?”

“Feelings!”

Oh, yes, those wretches. I roll my eyes. “We don’t know each other well enough for anything as significant as those.”

“Not all feelings are like bones that stretch and grow over time. They can strike as fast as lightning.”

I scoff. “How would you know? You’ve never even dated.”

Belle points a finger at me. “I know what it’s like to feel love, even if it isn’t romantic. You wormed your way into my heart as quickly and precisely as a lightning bolt and now you’re branded in it, never to be removed.” She sniffs primly and looks away.

“I love you, too.” I hug her to my side. “Thank you for worrying, but I’ll be fine.”

She quirks a brow. “There are other reasons I worry…”

“Like what?”

She opens her mouth, but Hudson starts shouting again. The skiff has darted past the breakers and is gathering speed. “How many?” he calls out.

Kingston squints into the distance. “Two!” he yells down. Then, “Maybe three?” he adds, quieter. I’m not sure it’s a question as much as it is a prayer.

Nyin swims next to the skiff, protecting whomever of the crew managed to escape the island and I love her for it. I watch her rise and dive with the barely swelling sea.

Suddenly, a cold serpent slithers through my ribs and begins to inch up my spine. My shadows feel him…

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