Devourer of Men (Devourer, #1)

by Nikki St. Crowe

To all the ones who think they’re weak. You’re not.

I have no home other than my ship. Peter Pan made that clear enough.

Perhaps he’s trying to hide from me, as if a beast like myself wouldn’t know him in the dark.

As I sailed here, I plotted all of the ways I’d make Captain Hook scream. But now that I’m standing in front of him, a scream doesn’t seem quite as satisfying as a moan.

“You missed me, Captain,” I say and toss a peanut shell.

“I missed you too.”

I’m faster too. Being an ancient supernatural monster does have some perks.

“Did you expect someone else? Don’t make me jealous, Captain.”

“I can assure you, Captain, if I wanted you dead, I would just eat you. Every tasty little bite.”

We are a dichotomy, the Captain and I. He wants to forget who he is and I am afraid I might not remember who I was.

“Come, Captain. Let’s get a drink and some food while we wait for our meeting. I promise to be a good boy and only eat what’s on my plate.”

Everland has become a place of mayhem and chaos on the outskirts, where the monarchy can turn a blind eye.

The dockmaster mentioned a queen but Everland has never been a forward-thinking kingdom. Women don’t typically rule here.

He winks at me, swats me on the ass, and steps inside. I really am going to murder him. I mean it this time. More than any of the other times before.

He rolls his eyes at me. Bloody hell he has the fucking best eye roll. So sexy and rolly.

And yet some days I am aware that I am driven mostly by fear. Fear of who I am. Fear of who I’m not. Fear of what happens when I face myself in the mirror. To be bold is to be truthful and I am built of lies.

“Blow jobs are a power dichotomy,” he says and sits up straighter, dusting the shell from his hands. “Most people think that being on your knees and getting railed in the face is a position of submission. But a man is never more vulnerable than he is when his cock is in someone’s mouth. Especially a mouth with sharp teeth.”

I have to suppress a shiver, hearing him talk about me like this: a foe that should not be ignored. The Captain is sexy AF when he’s flattering me.

“I think Mamaw said something about Peter Pan? Everland sees anyone with ties to Pan as automatically an enemy of the court.”

“Please accept my apologies.” I reach across the table and pat her hand. “I plan on fucking him tonight so I must decline.”

“but you are not—” he lowers his voice “—fucking me tonight.” “Oh? Did you want to fuck me instead?”

“That can’t be right though. Wendy was mortal when she came to the Isles. There’s no way she’d survive an hour of hanging.”

“Better now?” the Crocodile asks. “You kissed me,” I blurt like a drunk idiot. He smiles. “It was a calculated distraction.” It worked.

I have spent the night with a beast, tempted by his mouth. But if giving into him was so bad, why am I buzzing? Why do I finally feel alive?

I close the distance between us, crash into him and kiss him.

“If I had known killing men for you would get you so horny, I would have slaughtered a village a long time ago.”

“Tell me, Captain, are you sober? Do you know what you’re asking for? Because once you have it, there is no turning back.” “Are you insinuating you’re a drug?” I smile showing all my sharp teeth. “I’m insinuating that once you have me, you will not be the same after.”

“When’s the last time you had a cock in your ass?” He scoffs. “Why does that matter?” “You know why.”

“It’s been a while,”

“I’ll go easy on y...

“You will be panting my name by the end ...

I’m not afraid of walking away. I’m afraid of the regret if I did.

“Show me,” he demands. “Show me the cock Wendy Darling chose over mine.”

Of course, the Crocodile would be unruffled by getting railed in the face.

“He told me, ‘Your sins will always leave a stain, boy. Can you do nothing right? Poor form. Poor form, indeed.’”

“So you bleed black when you’ve done something wrong. Is that it?”

“That’s it, yes.”

He’s never done something he would consider good. He’s never done anything he believes his father would approve of. He and I have that in common.

“That one right there? That’s the Crocodile. The Devourer of Men.”

“When I kill you,” I tell him as my chain hits the carriage floor, “I will make it violent.”

Once upon a time, I wanted all from her. I wanted to fucking drown in her. I wanted her to make me forget.

“Wendy Darling,” he says. “You’re alive.”

Did Smee make it back to the mortal realm with my daughter? Was she able to hide her? Did the tyranny of the Peter Pan curse end with me?

Wendy Darling is alive and she’s the queen of Everland?

“I would have said, ‘How dare you abandon me.’”

He thinks I married his father for money and to steal the crown from him. When really, I was never given a choice. King Hald made it clear that if I wanted to live, I would become his wife.

I think he loves people from a distance so that if they manage to break his heart, they’re too far away to notice.

Every second I am with him, I am courting darkness. His, mine, there is no longer a difference.

I will drown here with him. I am drowning.

“Go slow,” I warn him. “I know how to fuck a tight ass, Captain.”