Waking up to my sin

Chapter 11: Salt and Sin

The roar of the yacht’s engines was the only thing drowning out the frantic thudding of my heart. Newtown was nothing more than a faint, glowing orange smudge on the horizon, a tombstone for the girl I used to be.

​I stood at the stern, my fingers white-knuckled as I gripped the cold railing. My red silk dress was ruined—torn at the hem and stained with a mixture of salt spray and the blood of men who had tried to keep me in a cage. I looked down at my hands; they were shaking.

​"The wind is picking up. Get inside, Leona."

​The voice was low, vibrating through the floorboards and straight into my heels. I didn't have to turn around to know it was Malakai. I could feel the "furious" heat radiating off him, a silent storm that followed him everywhere.

​"I can't," I whispered, my voice cracking. "If I go inside, it becomes real. If I go inside, I’m not just running away... I’m yours."

​I felt him move. He didn't walk; he prowled. Suddenly, he was directly behind me, his massive frame blocking the freezing wind. He didn't touch me yet, but the air between us was thick enough to choke on.

​"You were always mine," he growled, his breath hot against the shell of my ear. "From the moment Betty signed that first paper, you were marked. I just waited for the world to try and take you so I had an excuse to kill everyone in my way."

​I finally turned to face him. He had stripped off his tactical vest, leaving him in a black t-shirt that strained against his chest. The tattoos on his arms seemed to writhe in the moonlight. He looked like a "no joke" predator who had just finished a hunt and was now deciding how to savor the prize.

​"You killed them," I said, looking at a fresh smear of red on his jaw. "For me?"

​"I’d kill God for you, Leona. Don't ever doubt that." He reached out, his thumb catching on my chin and tilting my head up. His eyes weren't cold anymore; they were burning with that carnal intensity that made my knees weak. "But right now, the only thing I want to kill is the distance between us."

​He leaned in, his shadow swallowing me. I expected him to be rough, to match the violence of the docks, but when his lips brushed mine, it was a slow, agonizing burn. It was a promise of everything I had been forbidden to want.

​I reached up, my fingers tangling in his dark, messy hair, pulling him closer. I didn't care about the High Council. I didn't care about my crazy mother or the life I left behind. There was only the salt air, the rocking of the boat, and the man who had turned my world into a beautiful, violent sin.

​He groaned into the kiss, a sound of pure possession, and lifted me off my feet. My legs instinctively wrapped around his waist, my ruined dress riding up. He began to carry me toward the master cabin, his eyes locked onto mine.

​"There's no turning back now, Princess," he muttered against my neck, his teeth grazing my skin. "Once we cross that threshold, you aren't just a girl on a boat. You’re the Queen of my empire. And I’m never letting you go."

​I leaned my head back, looking up at the endless black sky. "Then take me, Malakai. Take me to the end of the world."

​The cabin door clicked shut behind us, locking out the rest of the world and leaving us alone with the only truth that mattered: We were fugitives, we were sinners, and we were finally home.