From Tormented Tides (From Tormented Tides, #1)

by Val E. Lane

I had expected danger when I met him. After all, he was supposed to have died centuries ago.

Well that's nice. Great start.

We were two broken hearts, both fated to a dismal end, and I had accepted mine by now.

The dreams were right. I'd always known the sea would bring my downfall. But I thought it’d be different. I thought I’d drown beneath the waves, not be brutally murdered by pirates. But here I stood, betrayed with a blade at my chest as the waves battered the ship’s hull, heralding the coming maelstrom.

Never trust a pirate.

“It’s a scale. A mermaid scale.”

“I’ve been dead for 300 years, Katrina.”

Unfortunately, eternal damnation didn’t come with a wardrobe selection.”

“Great. So you’re a motorcycle riding ghost pirate.”

He was dangerous, but I had never felt safer than when I was with him. He was dead, but I’d never felt more alive than when he touched me. He was temporary, and yet nothing else had ever felt so permanent.

“But what good is the promise of a pirate?” I asked, the edges of my lips forming a smirk. “A pirate's word is everything when it involves his treasure,” he whispered, leaning closer to me. Treasure?

“In another life, I have no doubt you could have been mine, Katrina. But fate has decided against us.”

not fall in love with a pirate.

I don't think that falling in love with a 300 year old dead pirate is in anyone's plans when moving but I won't judge you for it.

“I can’t feel your heartbeat,” I

“That’s because it stopped 300 years ago.”

“Since the night I first met you on the island, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. And when I found you again, I knew I had to protect you. I’ll admit I did want the scale, but not at the cost of you. Yes, I wanted to end my curse as much as the rest of the crew, and that’s what I tried to focus on. But then it became more and more difficult each time I saw you. And now...”

Now I can’t lose you. If our curse breaks, I’ll die for good. And I can’t let you go.”

“Katrina, I’d die a thousand deaths over again if it meant I could be with you. You’re the one I’d endure hell over and over again for. You are the one that I can’t stop seeing when I look up at the night sky. You are the first thing that guides me when the tide rises. You are my North Star.”

“And I care for you, Milo. Which is why I have to save you. I can’t let you suffer this curse forever. No matter how much it hurts, I have to let you die.”

“I’ll suffer for you. I’ll give up heaven just to touch you. I’ll fight off Valdez and his crew each and every night to keep you safe. But I can’t leave you.”

I had argued all I could manage, but he called to my heart like the moon calls the tide.

we didn’t have forever. We didn’t even have tonight.

“If I could only put you in the sky where you belong, starlight,”

“I will always find my way back to you, Katrina. My North Star.”