AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Get yourself dressed. Something suited to travel.” As I spoke, she was already bouncing out of bed. A smile plastered on her face as she put on one of my linen shirts. She hobbled around the room in an attempt to pull on a pair of tight-fitting breeches she’d found in the storeroom. I cocked a half smile, thoroughly amused at her enthusiasm.
“I just need to pull my hair back, and I’ll be ready, Captain.”
I rolled my eyes at the exaggerated use of my title. “Meet me topside in ten. I won’t wait a moment longer.”
“Are you sure this is entirely necessary, Captain?” Starkey asked. “There’s something about these woods. They’re pure evil. I’d wager my life on it.”
We stood at the edge of the Viridianwood. I, too, felt the dark magic radiating from the forest. The ill feeling nestled into my gut, and I swallowed hard to keep my breakfast down. But it couldn’t be helped. I needed to know what Peter Pan had been up to since I’d been gone. If I could get my hands on these truly lost boys, they would be a wealth of information. Another step closer to hitting Pan where it really hurt. Besides, Kat and I had made a promise to give these forgotten boys a safe haven. I would stake my claim on the island and take Pan down with his own men by my side. It was rather poetic, really.
I shot a sideways glance at Starkey. “Did the afterlife make you soft?”
“I just got back. I’m not ready to return so soon, is all,” he said as he shouldered past me, taking the lead.
“Stay close behind me, Katherine. These woods are?—”
“The embodiment of darkness,” she finished for me. “Please tell me we won’t be staying long.”
“As long as it takes. But you don’t have to worry. I know these woods like the back of my hand.”
We pushed deep into the heart of the forest, where the thick canopy blocked out the sun, casting its crooks and crevices into deep shadows. I had been away from Neverland for too long. My footfalls were too loud. Each poorly placed step had branches cracking under my feet. A beacon for the nefarious magic that lived here. Aside from Blackbeard himself, there was very little that I had been afraid of. Now, the cautionary tales the fae had told about the Viridianwood began to haunt me. It wasn’t the rough terrain that had my heart racing.
“This forest has eyes,” Kat said, her gaze scanning in every direction. “And why are there so many bones littered about?”
“They say an old hag calls the forest home. A witch.” I raised my brow at the word. Katherine, herself, had been branded a witch. Even though she was something more than human, she wasn’t fond of the label.
I stooped down and picked up a segment of jawbone from some unlucky animal. Turning it over in my fingers, I noted the molars were still intact.
“Story has it, she’s a bone collector. She gets her power from them. Many young fae have been lured into these woods over the years, never to return again. The natives used to bring offerings and leave them at the edge of the forest to appease her. Apparently, they still do. That’s why there are so many,” I reassured her. Hoping that the alarm crawling up my spine didn’t make its way into my voice.
“And you think that a pack of outcast Lost Boys would choose to seek shelter here? Seems like they are trading one inevitable death for another,” Katherine countered as she turned to look at me. Her eyes widened in shocked horror a moment before the sharp edge of a blade bit into my neck.
“If you know these woods don’t take kindly to strangers,” a deep voice growled in my ear, “then you best be explainin’ what you’re doing here?” he demanded, a faint Irish lilt to his speech. A clear declaration that this was indeed a man from my own realm and not fae.
The cool metal of his blade against my throat was a welcomed relief in the heat of the forest. The act of aggression ignited the demon within, and the rush made me feel alive. With Pan just out of my grasp, I was eager for a chance to let off some steam.
“Don’t make me ask again?” The stranger grumbled, tightening his grip on my shirt.
Mason, Cecco, and Starkey encircled Katherine, blades drawn and eyes alert, while Kat’s eyes fixated on me. Wide and blown out with fear, like a fawn in the jaws of its prey. I found myself distracted by how pretty that fear looked on her face, and it made my cock twitch in my pants. An obscene time to be thinking of such things, but I couldn’t deny that the thrill of it all was stimulating.
I should have reassured her that everything was fine. A single man posed little threat to us, but I enjoyed that look on her face too much. Not to mention that my return to Neverland had been less than satisfying, and now I had the chance to have some fun.
“Come now, is that really how you greet strangers? Have a little more tact,” I quipped, a half-cocked smile pulling at my lips. “At least give me the decency of facing me like a man.”
“I regret to inform you, but I lost my decency long ago.” The man whistled in my ear, and four more emerged from the shadows. Now, the odds shifted to their favor, but by the looks of the ragtag bunch, we’d make quick work of them if they pressed their luck. They were young, barely more than teenagers, if that. They had to be the Lost Boys that aged out of Peter’s ridiculous gang. These were the lucky ones.
“Ah, then we are one and the same. And by the looks of it, I would venture to say we have a few things in common.”
“You’re testing my patience. Last chance before I run you through,” the man seethed, his hot breath thick against my cheek.
“Just finish him off. We can’t take any chances,” one boy called.
“Hold your tongue, Brix,” he barked before turning back to me. “Who are you, and what are you doing in the Viridianwood?”
“If you’ll allow me just one more word—Pan.”
“What about him?”
“He owes me a life.”
