“Or should it beourbed now?” His lips twitched into a playful smirk.
“Our?” She raised up on the tips of her toes and caressed his cheek in return, those soft fingers sliding through the few days of scruff clinging to his face. “Yes. Our bed.” Her gaze turned sultry. “I think I like that.”
Tink closed the distance between them and pressed her lips against his. He’d never tire of the feel of her against him, the sweet taste of her mouth, or the way a soft sigh always slipped past her lips at the start of a lingering kiss. Her arms wound around his neck as she leaned into him. He tugged her close until her soft body pressed against the firm desire making itself known between his legs. No amount of time with her would ever be enough, but at least now they had more of it, so much more than he’d ever let himself hope for.
Her sharp little teeth gave a tug at his bottom lip as she broke their kiss and slid back on her heels. She didn’t make to pull away, though, if anything, she leaned further against him, herdeft fingers toying with his shirt. It was enough to drive him mad. Hell, she did that just by existing.
“So…” She trailed a palm down his chest. “What is Smee’s name anyway? His real one.”
“Ah, trying to get me in trouble now, are you, love?” He slid his hand down to cup her backside.
Tink ground against his cock, and he nearly groaned. Then, she gave a carefree shrug, so at odds with her teasing action. “Everyone else knows.”
Leave it to her to act like they were just having a casual conversation and she wasn’t trying to drive him wild right there on the beach. If it were fully dark, and there weren’t a number of people milling about outside the nearby homes, he’d have half a mind to lay her on the sand and let her grind against him…without their clothes.
“Well…” He drawled, trying to regain some shred of composure. “Most here do. Though he’s always been a bit sore about his birth name. Might be furious with me if he found out I told you.”
Tink’s lips pulled higher at the corners. “So, you’ll tell me later? Inourbed?”
Now how could he say no to that? In one sure move, he scooped her up into his arms. Tink squealed, throwing her arms around him and clinging to his neck as her wings beat at the air. “Why wait til later?” he asked, voice thick with desire.
The heated look she gave him in return nearly brought him to his knees. “Why indeed.”
As the sun set over the cove, Captain Hook carried his pixie home totheirbed.
Epilogue
Part 2
Lily
Lily floated in a shallow pool within her favorite glade in the Sylvanna Vale. Her wings drifted below her in the cool water, a pleasant contrast to the sun beating down from above. Birds chirped. Floral notes filled the air.
Everything was perfect. As it should be.
Then suddenly, she was underwater—an icy, dark sea that tried to force its way down her throat.
An incessant throbbing pounded her body like she lay on the head of a drum someone banged on at an increasingly aggressive tempo. Then there was the light. Brighter than the sun had ever been, burning away all traces of the world around her until everything was searing white. But the pain that stung and scorched her very soul wasn’t from the light. It slid down the membranes in her wings, radiating through her back and twisting around her ribs like a thorny vine.
Lily gasped and jerked upright. The world spun, a nauseating blur of blinding light, and she swayed, nearly tumbling back onto her injured wings.
Her wings. Sharp teeth bit into her bottom lip as she held back a sob, then sucked in one greedy breath after another. Lily tried to flutter her wings, the smallest movement to test their strength. A deep ache greeted her in response. It was less painful than the horrible nightmare she’d just woken from, but something wasn’t right. She cupped her forehead, massaging it with her fingers in a poor attempt to rub away the pounding headache. They shouldn’t hurt so just from sleeping, no matter how much she’d…
Memories flooded her in a rush, stealing her breath in a sharp gasp. TheKrakenburning. Tink with a torch in her hand. Tink attacking her. A boom. Searing pain. Wet darkness. Tink…saving her?
Lily shivered despite the thick humidity wrapping her in its warmth and the blazing sun filtering through the trees above her. Finally, her vision had begun to clear. Palm fronds loomed above. Crystalline water lapped at the shore nearby. Her fingers dug into the gritty soil. Sand? A gull cried overhead.
Where in all of Neverland—
A form leaped in front of her. Lily screeched and kicked her boots against the ground in a failed attempt to stumble away.
“You’re finally awake.”
The familiar voice stalled her efforts. Peter’s slight form took shape against the ocean at his back. With his hands on his hips, messy hair, and thinly pressed lips, he looked the same as the last time she’d seen him on theKraken.
Except the other kids had been with him then.
An unexpected tightness gripped her chest.
