Jane Davey's Locket Read online

  But first, we napped, entwined on the deck until the first rays of dawn kissed our skin. Yes, skin. I’d shifted in my sleep and now lay under a splayed Jane.

  A nice place to be. Someone had draped a blanket over us, the staff not being new to people camping out on deck.

  I stroked my hand down her back, feeling at peace with the world and ignoring the intercom going off with a warning. I had more important things to do, like nuzzle Jane’s soft, springy hair.

  “Attention all passengers, this is Captain Adexios with a last warning to male guests to please remain indoors or chain yourselves. We’re approaching Siren Isle.” The island of women who could spell men into being their slaves.

  As if their song would affect me. I was the moon’s disciple and much too strong-willed to fall for silly mind tricks.

  Jane, however, worried. She rose from me, taking the blanket with her. She tucked it around her sarong-style, the loose ends hanging. Being a cat, I batted at them.

  “Oz, you need to get inside before the singing starts.”

  “What I need is for you to come back here.” I patted my chest and grinned.

  “Oz, this is serious. The cruise was informed last night that one of the sirens is looking for some new men.”

  “Their magic won’t work on me.”

  “Are you sure?” Such doubt clouded her expression.

  As if anything could draw me from my sweet Jane.

  I opened my mouth to reply, only the singing started. Soft and haunting, it filled the air, the notes distinct. Such a beautiful song. It called to me.

  Me specifically. It told me to come, and I had to answer. I rolled to my feet and began to walk.

  “Oz, what are you doing?”

  Answering the song, of course. It demanded my presence, and yet my progress was impeded. A glance down showed a scowling countenance.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” asked the witch.

  My witch.

  Yet the song compelled me to ignore her. “I must go. My mistress calls.” Which sounded wrong. My mistress was in front of me. Yet the music insisted.

  “You idiot,” she grumbled. “I told you to go inside. We need to restrain you.”

  “I am not a dog to be leashed.” I tried to move around Jane, and she sidestepped to keep blocking my path.

  “You’re not thinking straight. A siren has bespelled you.”

  “I cannot be bewitched. I must go.” The song demanded I stop dallying. I could hear the splash of others answering the call. I had to join them.

  “No. I won’t let you do this.” Jane threw herself at me, wrapping arms and legs around my body. As if she could stop me. I continued to stride for the rail.

  I placed my hand on the railing, ready to vault when soft lips pressed against mine and a voice whispered, “Don’t go. Stay with me.”

  12

  Jane: Okay, so I kissed him on purpose this time.

  I don’t know what possessed me to save Oz from the sirens. Why should I care what happened to him? Let him go to those greedy wenches.

  Except, I couldn’t let him go. This man was mine. Which made no sense, and yet my mind persisted in the belief that I’d claimed him during that surreal wedding ceremony. A conviction reinforced during the bonfire.

  I no longer cared what reasons existed to keep us apart. Screw history and all the taboos. I didn’t want to lose Oz, so I pressed my lips against his, willing him to snap out of the spell the siren wove. Offered myself instead.

  Then had the agony of waiting to see if I was enough.

  He paused, balancing on the rail. One strong shove of a breeze, a lean too far forward, and we’d plummet.

  I whispered again, “Please, Oz. Don’t leave me.”

  A shudder went through him. “Never.” His arms came around me, wrapping me tight. His lips parted, and I felt the erotic thrust of his tongue. It was electrifying. Arousing. The most intense thing I’d ever experienced. And I wanted more. I’d wasted enough time denying what I needed. No more.

  The kiss deepened as we teetered on the rail, and I gasped when we swayed too far. Oz didn’t let us fall. He managed to keep us upright, his hands cupping my ass. He started kissing my ear.

  A weak spot. I groaned and squirmed.

  He groaned right back. “This isn’t exactly the spot to be doing that.”

  No kidding. “We need a bed,” I whispered into Oz’s mouth. And not the puny one in my cabin. I doubted he’d fit.

  “Okay,” was his murmured reply before he stepped off the rail.

  I screamed into his mouth as we plummeted, not very far as it turned out. He held me tightly as he landed on a balcony below us and kept holding me as he entered someone’s room through the sliding glass door.

  “What if there’s someone here already?” Not the scariest of thoughts. My only concern right now was how long it would be before I could get Oz inside me, doing something about the raging heat consuming my body.

  “Better not be anyone here since it’s my room.”

  A peek around showed a lavish suite. Huge and expensive. “Um, are you rich or something?”

  “Or something,” he said, not quite answering, and then I didn’t care because he tossed me onto a very large bed, whereupon I bounced and almost fell off.

  He caught me. Pinned me with that deliciously heavy body of his. His lips devoured mine.

  Sucking and teasing. His tongue slid into my mouth for an erotic dance that had me moaning and squirming. Even better, no clothes were in the way.

  I could feel him against me, his skin scorching hot. Hotter than a mundane man. Digging my fingers into his biceps meant noticing the bulk of his muscles. So many dips and ridges.

  The thought of them sent moisture and a jolt of pleasure between my legs.

  “Fuck me, Jane, you are way too sexy.” The words were growled against my lips.

  Me, too sexy? Cute, pretty hot, but the way he said sexy… That caused a mini-orgasm, and I clutched him tighter. My mouth plastered to his, our tongues danced in a wet duel that ended abruptly. But only so he could plant hot kisses on my neck. Nips and licks of skin that sent shivers down my spine as he located my sensitive spots and sucked them.

  While he teased me, his hands roamed my body, tickling my skin with the rough pads of his fingers, rasping along my taut nipples before he cupped my breasts. He squeezed, and his thumbs dragged back and forth over the buds, drawing a groan from me.

  And I did a lot more groaning as he bent his head to take a tip into his mouth, latching on and sucking, the tugs of his hot lips sending quivers through me. I panted and couldn’t help but cry out as I clung to his broad shoulders. My fingers dug into the hard muscle, deeper and deeper as pleasure coiled.

  And then he moved from my breasts. I would have complained, except he slid down my body until he knelt between my legs. I couldn’t help but shudder. I knew what he planned to do next. Was it any wonder my body quivered?

  He lifted my leg high enough that he could place a kiss on the inside of my knee. A kiss he dragged up the length of my thigh, the rough bristle of his jaw rubbing along my soft skin.

  I clutched at the sheets on his bed, panting and trying not to writhe out of control.

  “Touch me. Kiss me. Do something,” I groaned as he lowered the left leg to do the same thing to the right.

  “Do what?” His warm breath brushed against the moist lips of my sex.

  “Taste me.”

  “If I start licking your cream, I won’t stop until you come.”

  “And that’s supposed to be a problem?” I writhed now because my need had reached the point of no return. “Touch me.”

  “What if I want to savor the sight and smell of your arousal?”

  A peek down at him showed him seriously staring at me, his eyes smoldering with passion.

  “Lick me.” I’d reached the point of begging.

  “With pleasure,” he growled before diving onto my flesh. The sudden anticipated latch drew
a sharp cry from me, and I arched.

  A big and heavy hand pinned me back down, leaving me at the mercy of Oz’s tongue. He swiped at my sex, lapped at my honey, spread my lips and groaned against my flesh with true enjoyment.

  He wasn’t the only one enjoying it.

  I was beyond coherent speech. Awash in pleasure. My body coiled tight as a spring ready to pop.

  His tongue flicked at my clit, and I yelled, then gasped as he slid two fingers into me. Long, hard digits, something for me to clench as he continued to caress my swollen button. Flick. Suck. Nudge. And then he thrust, in and out, increasing the intensity, making me clench until my orgasm tore through me. Still, he kept licking and thrusting with those fingers, drawing out my climax, rolling me into the start of another.

  “Fuck me,” I sobbed. I wanted him inside, filling me, claiming me.

  “With pleasure,” he murmured in a husky voice, and I was more than ready. He moved on top of me, the tip of him probing, and I dug my fingers into his flesh, urging him.

  Only something chose that moment to rock the ship.

  We paused, my flesh throbbing, his cock pressing. The timing really bad.

  “Think it’s the sea monster?” I asked as the ship bobbed again.

  “Better not be. Fucking cock-blocker if it is.”

  Oz’s frustration brought a smile.

  The intercom speaker inside the room blared to life. “Sorry to interrupt, passengers. Please brace yourselves. We’ve entered DJ’s Locker, and there seems to be some unexpected turbulence.”

  “Uh-oh.” I shoved at Oz, who rolled off me with a puzzled frown.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I need to go. Now.” I hopped from his bed and snared a loose shirt—having left all my clothes on the top deck when I stripped the night before.

  “Where are you going?” Oz growled. His eyes glowed gold, and his cock jutted forth, still aching for its turn.

  A turn he wouldn’t get as the ship rocked again.

  “Trust me when I say it’s best if I go.” Because the thing rocking the ship and cursing with every crashing wave?

  Daddy.

  We’d arrive at the site of his grave, the seat of his power, and judging by the rough seas? He wasn’t happy that someone was fooling around with his little girl.

  13

  Oz: Why am I suddenly hearing the theme song to Jaws?

  Jane took off, practically sprinting out my suite door, wearing my shirt and nothing else. But that wasn’t the reason I roared—the first time because I really liked that shirt. The second louder because she’d left me blue-balled and frustrated. Even now, lying on my back, my cock jutted.

  Whined.

  Ached.

  Yet it wasn’t in me to beg. Although the temptation was strong with the flavor of Jane still on my tongue.

  She’d tasted so fucking sweet. Sweeter than I expected. I craved more. Of her. Her honey. Her skin. I could still feel the tremors as she came for me on my fingers and against my mouth.

  I wanted more. The need hurt almost as much as my pride. Because she’d run out of here as if she’d seen a monster. Surely not…

  I glanced down at my erection. Did she fear it? Big, but not that big. It had to be something else.

  “Fuck.”

  “You’d better not be planning to fuck my Jane.”

  The sudden voice, deep and gravelly, didn’t belong in my room. It sent me diving from the bed, landing in a crouch, my lip pulled back in a snarl. A figure, leaving a puddle of water on the floor, presented itself at my balcony door but didn’t cross the threshold. He wore an old-style waistcoat with large, brass buttons, a hat that drooped, the plume on it a soggy mess. His dark beard dripped, and his eyes flashed, a thunderstorm brewing in the glare.

  “Who are you?” I snapped. Jane had claimed that she didn’t have a boyfriend. Yet who else would dare call her “my Jane?” Was this the next holder of the locket?

  “I am Theodore Davey, the very angry father of the woman you just tried to defile.” The man held himself straight, and despite his soaked demeanor, he oozed menace.

  “Father?” I just about groaned with my shitty luck.

  “Did you think me dead just because my ship sank and I drowned with all my crew?” The man began to pace on the balcony outside, and with each step of squelching boots, the boat rocked. “I didn’t have a choice. The curse finally caught me, and now I must take my turn ruling Davey Jones’ Locker.”

  “The graveyard of sunken ships?” I didn’t know much ocean lore, but I’d seen Pirates of the Caribbean.

  The pirate flourished a hand dripping lace and seawater. “I am the master of these seas. And father of the witch you seduced.”

  Would it help my cause or ruin it to admit that Jane had initiated the kiss? “I didn’t mean any disrespect. I like your daughter…sir.” I thought it best to tack that on.

  “Do you really think that excuses your behavior?” The man snorted. “You put your depraved paws on my daughter. Don’t deny it. The ocean sees all.” Theodore ogled me.

  I could only shrug. “If it sees all, then you know she kissed me first.” I put it out there, and as expected, it didn’t work in my favor.

  Lightning crackled in the pirate’s gaze, and the ship rocked ominously. “Infidel! I’ll gut you and feed you to the fish.”

  I believed him. He seemed very capable of slicing me to pieces with the saber hanging by his side. How confident did you have to be to show up in a lion shifter’s room, hands empty? I should tread carefully, especially since Jane probably wouldn’t appreciate me hurting her dad, even if her father tried to carve me up first. “We should discuss this like gentlemen.”

  Theodore recoiled. “You would insult me and call me weak?”

  “I didn’t mean that as an insult.” Since when was gentlemen a bad word? I tried to recover as the pirate advanced on me, his tall leather boots squelching on the floor.

  “I will start with your arm so that I might beat you with it.” The threat only missed a piratey, “Arrrr!” at the end.

  I scrambled for a way to get out of this that didn’t involve bodily harm to either of us. “Jane will be mad if you hurt me.” At least I hoped she would be.

  “She’ll get over it. It’s for her own good,” the drowned pirate huffed.

  “Keeping her single?” I dared to query.

  Theodore paused. “You’re not meant to be with her.”

  “What makes you so sure of that?”

  The expression on Theodore’s face turned sly. “Because you don’t have the locket.”

  “Maybe she doesn’t need the locket to find the right man.”

  “You can’t fight the magic, boy.” Said with a smug sneer. “The necklace will lead Jane to her true mate.”

  It better not, because then I’d have to gut the fellow.

  Huh? What?

  Distracted by myself, I missed Theodore Davey’s next words.

  “…do you understand?”

  I blinked. “I’m assuming you made some kind of threat regarding staying away from your daughter. And I’m afraid I can’t promise that.” Something existed between Jane and me. A possibility that deserved further exploration.

  The cruise ship rocked hard, teetering enough that my bare toes sank into the carpet to hold me from sliding. Hard to look tough when you were trying not to stumble.

  Jane’s dad grinned, an expression wide and full of teeth—too many of them, and some pointed. I heard the theme song from a certain shark movie playing loudly in my head. The wet, dripping beard and sagging hat did not detract from the evilness of his countenance at all. “You don’t want to mess with me while on the ocean, boy. I’ve sunk bigger ships than this.”

  “Seems kind of drastic. Why not let Jane decide what she wants?” Could be she’d choose me.

  She better. Rawr.

  The reaction of my inner feline distracted.

  Her daddy snorted. “We tried letting Jane figure things out. But she�
�s challenging. Which is why I agreed to her grandmother’s foolish plan with the locket. A locket not in your possession.”

  “So what? Apparently, I don’t need it because I’ve already got Jane. And I don’t find her challenging at all.” Which sounded bad out loud, but mostly meant that whatever traits her father worried about were a part of her. People weren’t perfect. Their very foibles made them unique. Like me and my need to lick the bowl when I had ice cream. Forgetting and leaving the toilet seat upright. Oh, and I liked to mow the lawn naked.

  “You obviously haven’t spent time with her,” Theodore muttered.

  “If you’re implying I haven’t seen her in a mood, then let me reassure you. She didn’t like me one bit when she met me.”

  “Yet you tricked her into changing her mind.”

  “No trick. We like each other.”

  The pirate stared at me. “You seriously can’t be that dense. It doesn’t matter if you think you do. Save yourself the effort. You don’t have the locket, which means you’re not the guy she’s going to end up with.”

  “You can’t be sure of that.”

  “Can’t I?” The pirate arched a brow. “My mother-in-law might be many things, but she’s an accomplished witch, and if she claims she cast a spell that will bring my daughter together with the right person, then it will. And nothing you do or say, will change that.”

  “Says you. What if the magic is wrong?”

  “Wrong?” Theodore Davey chuckled, and the ocean laughed with him, jiggling the boat. “Pity you aren’t the one. You’re kind of entertaining.”

  My mane did a bit of a flip as my inner kitty got agitated, tired of not being taken seriously. I really needed Theodore to stop claiming that Jane belonged to someone else. “I don’t care about the damn locket. I don’t need the fucking thing. I’m going to mate with Jane. Sir.” I’d said it out loud. Holy fuck. The shock didn’t negate the realization that it sounded so right.

  The claim widened Theodore’s eyes. “What did you just say?”