Page 64 of The Hunted

Now.

Now this.

He was bleeding.

But from where?

Why?

The pull was impossible to ignore. His thrall was inside her.

He might not be calling for her, but spilling his blood was as good of a demand to find him as any. She twisted through the fish, uncaring that they scattered because they were frightened by her sudden movement and changed demeanor.

She couldn’t help it.

Couldn’t fight this.

Arelle was a lot of things … a princess of the sea, a daughter, and a woman.

She was also his mate.

That trumped all.

• • •

Eryx

The sting of his cut palm barely registered to Eryx as he leaned over the railing of the bow to stare over the bay. He felt like he needed a closer look. If only he could get in the water. Or that’s what his crazy thoughts kept making him think.

It wasn’t possible.

Pulling in a lungful of sea air, Eryx glanced over his shoulder, the hood of his cloak distorting part of his view, although he could still see enough. The man in the crow’s nest, the men running back and forth across the deck, and Corval in the middle of the ship watching it all unfold in his usual calm state.

Eryx imagined that he, too, appeared calm.

Inside, he was a raging storm.

At least that was just him.

His attention went back to the sky, taking in the cloudless blue and bright sun. Even the wind had died down to a bearable state for the ships to get into position inside and out of the bay. With only one entry to the bay where their ship was located on one side, and another on the other … well, there was no getting out.

Nets pulled along the seafloor promised that.

And a ship outside the mouth of the bay would do its job, too.

For now, he waited.

Watched the calm skies to search for a storm. Waiting for that split-second change that always seemed to ruin every single one of his plans, even when he couldn’t afford for that to happen. Inhaled the sea air and willed the racing beats of his heart to settle so he could feel anything but this anticipation that promised nothing.

Yet, it was still there.

Hopeful.

Or was it something else?

He wasn’t quite sure when it changed—this feeling inside that he couldn’t describe. This hopeful mess that things were right now. Because from the moment the mermaid had darted off the island, everything had seemed entirely wrong.

Did that mean she was coming?