Page 106 of Speak No Claim

Thirty-Four

Onyx: Falling in love is not a choice. To stay in love is.

Her brown eyes widened as she lay there in disbelief. The fear in her expression quickly shifted to something else entirely.

Lust.

I released her wrists and then hesitantly started moving away with my hands out in front of me in a gesture of surrender. As soon as I was sitting on the balls of my boots, she tried to punch me in the face, but I caught it mid-strike, which only further pissed her off.

I couldn’t blame her, making me hard as fuck.

If anything, I was proud of the courage she held in such a life-and-death situation.

Hennessy was a lot stronger than I ever gave her credit for, and that was saying something, considering I thought she was already pretty brave for all the shit she did out in these woods in the first place.

Alone and with no one to protect her.

Not letting up, she began fighting me again, but I was at my wits’ end with her to begin with.

“Calm down,” I ordered, blocking her attacks.

“Calm down?” She went to hit me again. “You want me to calm down?”

Again and again, she tried to assault me, and my patience snapped like a lead pipe made of string.

“That’s it,” I growled close to her mouth. “I’m over this shit.” I stood, dragging her with me.

“Onyx, don’t you⁠—”

I threw her over my shoulder, carrying her farther into the woods, to a more secluded spot where no one would find us. She kicked the whole way, putting up one hell of a fight, but I didn’t expect anything less from her at this point.

She wasn’t the only one who knew these woods like the back of her hand. I too spent a lot of time out there alone, trying to get away from all the bullshit that was supposed to be my home. It was the only place I could ever feel truly free, just another thing we had in common.

Despite being raised in two completely different environments, we understood each other in ways no one else could fathom. On paper, we didn’t make any sense. In reality, it was the only thing that did, and I loved that about us. I didn’t have to explain who I was or what I believed in…

When I believed in her.

I smacked her ass a few times, trying to get her to steady. Unaware of how much time it took to get to my location, I slammed her ass down by a fire near the river. No one came out this far, too afraid of what lurked in the water, particularly at night.

I was never scared of death. I was terrified of living. If my fate was to die at the hands of a bear or a wolf or a gator, then so be it. I’d die a warrior. Exactly like my pirate ancestors.

Nobody ever understood the importance of lineage as she did, and she read mine as if she had written it herself with only a glance at me. I never had that happen before. Calling me out on it was one of her favorite things to do.

She whipped around as soon as her ass hit the log. “No!” She tried to break free from me as I hovered above her.

“Stop, or you’re going to hurt yourself.”

She glared at me. “Not any more than you already have.”

Inhaling a deep breath, I desperately tried to keep my cool although I was on the brink of insanity when it came to her.

Right on cue, she didn’t hesitate. “What the hell is going on?”

“The less you know, the better.”

“What kind of bullshit response is that?”

“The only one I’m giving you.”