The Siren's Curse ✓

08. Kitten

"Feisty bitch!" he spat, pulling my head up to meet his gaze. "We're going to have lots of fun with you." His eyes raked over my body and I shivered.

I tried to escape his hold, but he continued to pull and yank my head any time I made a move. Realizing that I wasn't going to stop struggling, he roughly pulled me closer to him and latched his hands around my throat. I dug my nails into his hands and tried desperately to get him to let go, feeling my lungs constrict. I gasped for air but got none.

"Let her go."

A smooth voice rang out from somewhere beside me. The man choking me loosened his grip in surprise and turned toward the voice. While his guard was down, I used all my strength to push away from him and get out of his hold. As soon as I was free, I swung my fist and punched him straight on his nose, a loud crack splitting through the air. His head flew back from the contact, blood oozing from his nostrils, then his body fell to the ground heavily.

"Get over here you—" the man I'd kneed earlier started grumbling as he tried to get up, but before he could finish, I had already elbowed him in the face, causing him to fall to the ground roughly and join his friend in unconsciousness.

"Damn Katherine, that was hot." Jimin's familiar tone met my ears. I looked to my right, noticing that he was standing there with a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk.

"It's not supposed to be. I don't like beating people up, but they were asking for it." I shook my hand and winced at the throbbing pain from the punch I threw.

"Obviously. I'm just not used to seeing a woman hold her own like that," Jimin said as he walked up closer to me. I jumped slightly in surprise when he grabbed my hand to stop me from shaking it. There was a pause as his chocolate eyes moved from our hands to meet my own gaze. "That's annoying," was all he said before letting go.

I scoffed in response. "Well excuse me. Where do you get off calling me annoying when you're the one who just disappeared and made me come looking for you?" My voice rose as I remembered how frustrated I was with him.

He started walking ahead of me and I stomped after him.

"I didn't force you to come looking for me. That was all you, love," he said as he continued walking. I caught up and matched his pace.

"Maybe you didn't force me, but I didn't really have any other choice. The crew isn't as responsible as I am and I know you're too valuable for us to just lose you. We need your help finding our treasures just like you need my help to become human." I finished speaking but he never even glanced in my direction, only looking forward as we walked.

"How do you know what everyone wants is treasure?"

His words caught me off guard. "I guess I don't, but it's a fair assumption considering we're pirates," I answered. I hadn't considered the fact that some of the crew might desire things other than treasure, same as me.

"How did you end up with them?" he asked instead of responding.

I frowned. "Huh?"

"How did you end up as part of the crew?" He finally glanced at me, and I noticed a strange emotion cross his eyes, though I couldn't place it.

"Well... Yoongi and the rest of them saved me." I hesitated, not sure where I wanted to start or how much I wanted to tell him. There was a lot about that day that I didn't like talking about. But of course, Jimin had this way of making me more vulnerable around him than I would've been with anyone else in such a short time. I had a hard time not giving him what he asked for, so I decided to tell him the short version.