A Pirated Heart

Her Demand and the Fallout

Katarina spent her days aboard Calypso’s Fall admiring Kaden and glaring at Arabella.

Luckily for Katarina, Arabella seemed content to ignore her existence. In fact, Arabella wasn’t the only one. Three other men ignored her wholly. It bothered Katarina. She was the prettiest thing on Calypso and these three men acted as if she were an ugly plague.

She stopped a passing crewman with a light touch on his forearm. The man snarled before he looked up and met Katarina’s eyes. Suddenly a stupid grin stretched across his face as he stared at Katarina’s eyes.

“Who are they?” She questioned as she pointed at the two men standing behind Arabella on the helm. The three of them seemed to be in deep conversation and were ignoring everything else around them.

“Oh behind Cartridge? That be Damien, her brother and Ashik, a Sortega survivor. Those two are thicker than thieves,” the man explained. Katarina frowned before she let the man return to his previous duties. He shook his head before he stomped away.

So the woman had family and had taken in a stray. How very un-pirate-like, Katarina thought to herself.

“What are you doing, my dear?” Kaden cooed as he snuck up behind the dark haired girl. Katarina let out a squeal of surprise when Kaden gripped her small waist in his large hands and pulled her tight against his chest. She easily turned in his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“I was merely curious about those men up there with your first mate,” Katarina replied honestly as Kaden smirked.

“Good men despite my initial concerns,” he remarked softly as he bent down to press his lips against her head. Katarina frowned.

“Good men? They’ve been quite rude to me,” she interjected angrily. Kaden chuckled.

“Probably because Bella told them to. They follow her every command,” Kaden explained.  Katarina put her hands across Kaden’s chest and shoved him away. Kaden looked confused as Katarina folded her arms across her chest.

“But you are the captain! Do you honestly want your men to disregard me simply because Bella demands it?” Katarina questioned furiously as Kaden frowned. He shook his head.

“No, of course not, my dear,” he answered apologetically as he let his shoulders slump and his eyebrows drooped. Katarina had to admit that even when Kaden wore the look of an abused puppy, he still looked more of a man than her own father had.

 “So you’re going to fix it?” Katarina asked. Kaden quickly nodded.

“I’ll have a talk with them. Bella can’t run my ship the way she wants to.”

***

True to his word, Kaden demanded Damien and Ashik come to his quarters so he could lecture them on where their loyalties should lie and who was in charge. Although, if he wanted to be honest, he knew neither of them would listen to a single word he said, but he needed to appease Katarina. She seemed so upset by Arabella’s attitude toward her. He couldn’t blame her. Arabella hadn’t been entirely friendly to her since she was brought aboard. Actually, Arabella was hell-bent on ignoring him and Katarina.

Kaden didn’t care at the moment. He looked between Damien and Ashik as they took in his lecture. He could see the defiance building in their eyes.

“Let me get this straight. You want us to cater to that….girl,” Damien spit out the word as if it were a disgusting piece of meat, “even if Bella tells us not to?”