Blackbeard stiffened. What little emotion he had fled his features. “Farewell, son.”
“Stop!” came a sweet, familiar female voice.
Tink. Tingles raced across his skin.Wonderful, reckless woman. A flush of adrenaline swept through his body.
Blackbeard turned toward the voice. “Who tha—”
Hook yanked the sword to the side with his hook and rolled. In one quick move, he kicked out his leg and connected with the older man’s shin.
Blackbeard stumbled forward in a grunt of pain. The tip of his sword stuck into the deck.
With renewed strength, Hook leaped to his feet. The pain burning in his shoulder, his wrists, his legs—all of it fled in a surge of hope. His own sword might be gone, but he had another weapon always at his side. Literally. The croc had seen to that.
But first...He twisted to look over one shoulder. Tink perched on the railing, wet but alive. His chest swelled. “Stay there, love.”
“We have to get out of here!” she called, but he’d already turned back to his opponent.
Not before he finished this. For good.
Blackbeard yanked at the hilt of his blade, but the decking held it firm. Members of his crew raced up. One tossed him a blade, but he waved them back. “Tha’ ship, man!”
Flames had caught and licked at some of the boards. The ship canted as a boom split the air, and they returned fire on theJolly Roger.Hold strong.
No sooner had the blasts echoed than more fired in the distance.
“A second ship!” one of the crew called.
Hook stiffened as Blackbeard looked past him out to sea.Cressida?But as long as they were friendly, it didn’t matter. “Your fight is with me, croc.”
He adjusted his grip on the borrowed sword with a grunt. “Ya should have run, boy.”
Never.“Let’s end this.” His hook would be enough. It had to be.
“With pleasure,” Blackbeard smirked.
They circled each other in the flaming wreck of the ship, stepping over ropes and debris. Tink tried to join him—he wavedher off. Blackbeard did the same to two of his crew who refused to leave. This was their fight and theirs alone.
Every breath centered his focus on the other man. His father. The battle faded away. He caught the moment the old croc shifted his weight and turned the blade ever so slightly in his hand. Blackbeard lunged in a furious swipe.
Hook ducked, feeling the breeze of the blade as he slid close and slashed with his hook. It caught on Blackbeard’s jacket—dug deep. A roar bellowed overhead. Hook yanked it free, jarring his arm, but it was worth the pain. Red painted the tip and splattered onto the deck.
“Incoming!”
A cannonball zoomed just past them and crashed into the mainsail mast.Fuck. His arms flew to cover his face as wood cracked and splintered. Debris buffeted him.
“James!” Tink screeched, but pain didn’t lace her voice—panic did. Along with worry for him.
He glanced up to see Blackbeard advancing. Close—too close. He jumped back, but too slowly. The blade slid across his side. Fire bloomed, and he roared in pain. He needed space, time to think.
A deep, cracking groan sounded behind him.
“She’s coming down!”
From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the main mast breaking free and tumbling his way.
Hook lunged as the huge beam crashed right where he’d been standing. The entire ship cracked and canted. No time.Can’t—
Dainty arms slid under his, hauling him up.
