“You’ve done that before,” I murmur. “What is that?”
“It is how the men in my clan show love to their mates,” he explains, his voice low and tender. “Passed down through generations. It is how I say I love?—“
He stops abruptly, his body tensing. He grabs me and pulls me behind him in one fluid motion. I peer around his massive frame to see what’s happening.
Fear grips me. Kendrick is standing, wobbling on unsteady legs, a pistol clutched in his shaking hand. The barrel is pointed directly at Jabari.
I hold up my hands instinctively, but Jabari glares at me over his shoulder.
“You do not surrender to men,” he growls. “Men surrender to you. Now, I’m going to kill him in your honor.”
I groan. Is this really the time to argue about gender dynamics? “Are those bullets going to hurt you?”
A grin spreads across his face. “They make my skin itch.”
“Do what you must,” I relent.
Jabari looks at me lovingly, his green eyes softening for just a moment before hardening as he turns back to Kendrick. He immediately pulls the trigger. Once. Twice. Three times. The sound of gunshots cracks through the air like thunder, but Jabari doesn’t flinch. Each bullet hits him, but he keeps walking forward as if they’re nothing more than mosquito bites.
When he reaches Kendrick, Jabari grabs him by the neck. Panic flashes across Kendrick’s face as he fires again wildly.
A sharp, burning pain explodes in my arm. “Ah!” I cry out, grabbing at the spot where fire seems to have erupted beneath my skin. Warm liquid seeps between my fingers—blood. My blood.
Kade appears beside me, grabbing my injured arm and examining it with expert eyes. “It’s just a flesh wound,” she assesses, her voice clinical. “The bullet went right through.” She rips fabric from the bottom of her shirt and wraps it tightly around my arm. The makeshift bandage immediately starts to darken with blood.
Jabari’s head whips around at my cry, his eyes landing on my bloody arm. His face transforms into something primal, something beyond human rage.
“You shot my mate,” he roars, his voice so loud it seems to shake the very air.
“It was a mistake,” Kendrick whimpers, but it’s too late.
Jabari lifts Kendrick like he weighs nothing and slams him downward with such force that the deck splinters beneath them. Kendrick crashes through the floor, wood and metal giving way as his body plummets through one level, then another, and another. Each impact produces a sickening crunch until a final, distant crash echoes up from the depths of the ship.
Kade glares at me as if this is somehow my fault, then walks around to look down through the jagged hole in the deck. “Well, he’s definitely dead now,” she says matter-of-factly.
Her eyes widen as she takes in the full extent of the damage. “You see that? Water filling the fucking ship.” She glares at him, her face contorted with rage. “YOU’VE JUST SUNK MY FUCKING SHIP!”
Jabari ignores her, his focus entirely on me as I clutch my bleeding arm, unphased by Kade’s meltdown.
Then the alarms start to blare—high-pitched, piercing wails. The ship’s engine sputters and dies, plunging us into momentary darkness before emergency lights flicker to life. Panicked voices rise around us as passengers realize what’s happening.
“The ship is sinking!” “We need to get to the lifeboats!” “Someone call for help!”
Chaos erupts on the deck as people rush in all directions, but Jabari simply walks around a panicking Kade, who’s already mentally calculating how to save the humans. He approaches me, gently taking my injured arm.
“I’m sorry,” he says, pulling me into his arms.
I let him hold me, finding comfort in his warmth despite the madness swirling around us. The ship gives an ominous groan beneath our feet, tilting slightly as water fills its lower levels.
Our moment is shattered when a group of human passengers approaches, pointing at Jabari with fear and anger in their eyes.
“Dirty shifter!” “He just hurt a human!” “This is all his fault!”
I feel his body temperature spike, heat radiating off him in waves. He pushes me behind him, shielding me from their accusations.
Kade turns around and looks at Jabari, her eyes widening. “Oh shit,” she breathes. “He’s about to shift.”
She starts freaking out again, throwing her hands up. “This is not fucking happening right now!”
