The Mercenary Pirate (The Heart of a Hero Book 10) by Katherine Bone & The Heart of a Hero Series

Author:Katherine Bone & The Heart of a Hero Series [Bone, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780998207407
Publisher: Seas the Day Publishing
Published: 2017-09-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Wolf braced his feet shoulder width apart at the Sea Wolf’s starboard quarter. “Thank you for coming through for me again, love,” he said, caressing her oaken rail.

Always! the hissing wake rising and falling along the hull whispered back.

He inhaled a lungful of sea air, allowing the spray to rejuvenate him. Wolf drew power from the sea. That had been one advantage to accepting Captain Charve’s generous offer to join his crew twenty years ago in Bristol. Charve had been a brilliant commander. He’d taught Wolf the complexities of battle and given him the means to always think one step ahead of the enemy. Even so, nearer misses than this failed attack had sailed in and out of his path, both at sea and on dry land.

Wolf sighed. King George had given him permission to raid French ships. It didn’t sit well with him—or his crew, he imagined—that they’d been forced to outrun the frogs. They could have easily used the gun chasers in the Sea Wolf’s stern to defeat them or heaved to and faced them head-on, if not for the girl and the need to get to London.

He started as laughter met his ears. He raised his gaze aloft, witnessing Selina scaling the shrouds. She was easy to spot in the embroidered vest he’d given her, and he admired her athletic body as she stepped in and out of the ratlines. She was nimble and quick, not once looking down at the deck, which was the crucial mistake many a topman made before falling to his death. She was a natural. Why, then, did it bother him?

“Let the boy enjoy his newfound freedom,” Cyrus said, having abandoned his post at the helm to stand beside Wolf. “We could use another swab on deck.” Cyrus tilted his head, inhaling deeply as sunlight glinted off the Sea Wolf’s pristine white sails.

Wolf groaned inwardly. Selina’s true identity was on the tip of his tongue. “He’s not accustomed to the heights. It’s dangerous for anyone to be up there.”

He trusted Ike and Hawk, but the only way to ensure Selina’s safety was to climb the rigging himself and bring her down. Doing so, however, would only draw attention to her. And it might possibly devalue her attempts to prove herself to the crew.

“The boy strikes me as capable of far more than ye can imagine, Cap’n,” Cyrus said. “In all my years at sea, I’ve learned to spot these things. Only takes a boy a few goes to believe it.”

Wolf clasped his hands behind his back and squeezed his fingers. A sense of urgency took hold of him, grappling with his innards. He cringed, hoping his decision not to order Selina to come down from the shrouds was the right choice. His instincts told him Selina would be all right, but the beast inside him struggled against a deep-seated fear that harm would come to this woman before he could fulfill his promise to return her safely home.

Yet, a part of him knew what motivated Selina.

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