Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 260

Chapter 40: Tempest Tossed

Maeve

I cursed under my breath as another pan slid across the kitchen work table, slamming into the floorwith an audible thud. I reached for it, thrown off balance as another wave violently rocked the ship.Olly appeared, a large set of keys in one hand as he steadied himself on the doorframe. “No dinnertonight, Maeve. Throw some water on the fire while I lock up the cabinets.”

I moved to the water pump, gripping the sink as we rocked back and forth. I felt sick to my stomachby the motion but filled a large bucket with water nonetheless. I could hear Olly tossing randomitems in the cabinets, his keys jangling and scraping against the wood surfaces as he locked eachone.

I opened the wood stove, leaning back as I tossed the bucket of water on the embers and closedthe air filters, shutting the door to the oven tightly. “Is everything okay?” I asked, not bothering tomask my concerned expression.

“We're fine, just a bit of rough weather.” His face betrayed his words, however. His brow wasfurrowed, his mouth pursed in a tight line.

“Have you been in many storms before?” I asked, my anxiety beginning to rise as the boat wastossed violently to the side once more. hissed, rubbing my hip where I had bumped into the side ofthe worktable.

“I have, but never this far out in open water. We usually replace a port to wait out the storm but-Ollywas cut off by a wave crashing into the circular window on the far wall of the kitchen.

"How big are these waves?!" I asked, panicked.

“Pretty damn big,” he said, his face going pale as he spoke. He was gripping the counter, watchingthe window in alarm. “You'd better head back to your cabin, Maeve. I need to go fetch Meran.”

I nodded, taking off the apron and hanging it on a hook near the doorway to the galley’s diningroom. It was empty, all the chairs put away in the closets along the walls. The tables had been nailedto the floor, and now I knew why.

I climbed the stairs to the second floor, which housed the staterooms. I could hear the crew on thedeck above my head, running along the floorboards as they fought the pitch of the waves.

“Batten down the hatches!” came a voice from above, followed by the sound of thunder. I winced,suddenly remembering the storm that had marked Troy's first night in the castle. It felt like so longago now. A lifetime ago.

I walked into the room I shared with Troy, the bed still unmade from our rushed and desperatecoupling. An odd sensation gripped my chest as I shut the door behind me, sinking against theheavy wood of it as I closed my eyes and let the memory wash over me like the waves hitting theboat. I hoped he would come back again tonight, but that seemed unlikely given the circumstances.Plus, I had sworn to hate him for all eternity. Having him in my bed would defeat the purpose ofthat, I supposed.

I changed out of my clothes, standing naked in the room and holding on to the wall for support asthe ship continued to rock back and forth. I opened one of the doors along the wall and fishedthrough Troy's things, grabbing one of his shirts and a pair of loose-fitting thermal pants that weremeant for much cooler weather, but they were all that would fit around my waist. The shirt smelledlike him, and I was instantly comforted, even if I hated myself for admitting it.

“What does one do while riding out a storm on the high seas?" i said to myself, looking around. Thebed seemed like the safest place to be. I could be tossed around on the mattress by the waves andnot bruise myself like I had in the kitchen, at least.

So, I climbed into the bed, unruffling the quilt and bringing it up to my chest as ! laid back againstthe pillow, my eyes fixated on the ceiling.

I listened to the men above fighting with the storm. Had I heard Troy's voice yelling commands?Was that Pete's voice crying out in reply?

I thought of Myla, tucked up in Keaton's quarters, wondering what she was doing right at thismoment. I thought of Cleo, who was probably panicking, in the room right across the hallway frommy own.

I should go to her, I thought, but my legs didn’t move. I was tired, the boat inadvertently rocking meto sleep.

Eventually, I closed my eyes, letting shallow sleep waft over me, waking two or three times to thesound of thunder. I didn't realize I was clinging to the mattress until the door swung open andbounced off the wall, bouncing several times before the boat pitched in the opposite direction andthe door slammed shut again.

I inhaled deeply through my nose, trying to calm myself the way my mom had taught me.

Chapter 40: Tempest Tossed

Count to three, I thought, holding my breath. One. TWO...Threes,

I rolled across the bed as the boat was suddenly thrown to the side, my head cracking against thewall. My ears were ringing, and I had nearly bitten through my lip. I rolled back over, clutching theside of my head and closing my eyes, groaning in pain.

“Get up!” Troy had suddenly appeared, his voice cutting through the sound of the sea hammeringagainst the ship. He threw the quilt from the bed, pulling me into his chest as the room abruptlypitched to the side again, sending anything that wasn't nailed to the floor flying through the air. Weslammed into the far wall, Troy's body absorbing the blow and protecting me from crashing into therows and rows of built-in shelving, the cabinets rattling from the impact.

gasped, clutching his shoulders as the ship pitched violently to the other side, flinging us back ontothe mattress.

"We have to get above deck!” he cried, wrapping his arm around my waist and getting me to myfeet. The door to the room was open, swinging and slamming into the wall as the boat continued tobe rocked by waves. I felt bile rising in my throat as we were thrown sideways once again, Troyclutching me to his chest with one arm while his free hand grasped the doorframe.

I heard yelling on the deck above our heads, the sound cutting through the violent scraping ofcrates sliding across the deck and slamming into the railing.

“I thought we beat the storm,” I said.

“We were in the eye of it! I was wrong,” A crashing sound from above us drowned out his voice.Screams of terror tore through the air as Troy pulled me into the hallway where water was nowrushing down the stairs.

It was raining harder than I had ever seen as I looked up through the open doors into the storm.The sky was blackened, angry, the clouds hanging so low you could reach out and touch them.

Troy pulled me up the stairs, his grip on my arm so tight, I could feel my skin bruising beneath histouch.

"What are we going to do?” I cried; my vision blurred by the heavy sheets of rain pounding the deckas we emerged from the dark stairwell.

But the answer was right in front of me. The skiffs. They were usually tied to the side of the boat,held in place by long cables so they could be hosted up to the railing for easy access.

One had been brought up but suddenly came loose, dropping onto the deck and sliding across thewidth of the ship right in front of us where it burst through the railing on the opposite side, thecrewmen inside clinging helplessly to the small craft as it slid from the deck as the Persephone washit with another massive wave.

"Oh, Goddess!" I screamed as the crewmen'’s faces disappeared into the inky, furious depths of thesea, boat and all. I barely noticed the rope being tied around my waist until Troy tugged on it, hard,and then took me in his arms, cradling me against the doorway to the lower levels as the boatpitched to one side, sending crates flying through the air.

The sails had come apart, shredded by the wind. They flapped incessantly, the sound loud enoughto ring in my ears more intensely as Troy began to move us forward through the ankle-deep wateron the deck. I tried to wipe the water from my eyes, but it was no use. It was pouring, every inch ofair thick with rain.

"KEATON!" Troy called out, gripping the railing as he guided me along the deck. Another skiff wassmacking against the side of the ship with each wave. He looked back at me, his eyes shining with amix of terror and grief.

“Get on the skiff!"

“Not without you!” i dug my fingernails into his arm.

Another wave crashed into the ship, turning the entire vessel in a sharp semi-circle.

"Maeve! GET ON!"

"NO!"

He reached out, cupping my cheek with one hand while gripping the railing with the other. Timeseemed to stop. The violent pitch of the Persephone faded into nothing but stillness. I laid my handover his, leaning into his touch as tears welled in my eyes. “You have to get on

“I won't, not without you.”

“I have to stay with the ship-"

“Then I'm staying too!”

He pulled me in, kissing me deeply. His tongue slid along my lower lip until I opened my mouth tohim, desperate, my chest heaving painfully

No, I thought, this is not goodbye. Not like this

Chapter 40: Tempest Tossed

He pulled away pressing his forehead against mine as a prayer escaped his lips, the words drownedout by the rain.

Then he picked me up, tossing me over the railing and I landed hard on my bottom in the skiff,water splashing over my legs from the impact. He was bent over the railing, fumbling with the otherend of the rope that was tied around my waist as he tried to tie it to the side of the skift

But then he stilled, his eyes fixed on something behind me.

I turned my head, slowly, as a cold shadow fell over me, followed by a spray of salty water. ThePersephone seemed to abruptly sink, and my stomach flipped as though I were falling. I looked up,seeing the crest of the monstrous wave, three times the height of the Persephone’ s tallest mast, justas the peak of it crashed into the sails, snapping the masts as though they were toothpicks.

I looked at Troy as the masts fell, slicing through the deck and sending a spray of debris into the skyas the wave came down as though in slow motion. His eyes were shining with tears, his mouthtwitching into a soft, somber smile.

“TROY!” I screamed, but it was too late. I saw a flash of metal as his pocket knife cut through thecables securing the skiff to the side of the Persephone,

The wave swept over the deck, taking Troy with it.

And then I was falling through the air, the skiff tumbled down into the sea below me. I plunged intothe water, the air forced from my lungs from the impact and I sank down, and down, and down intothe darkness.

Then everything was still Quiet. As though I were asleep.