Chapter 4

Natasha

Finding out Hayden is married is a bummer. But what did I seriously expect? That the hot, tall, and insanely broad-shouldered man wasn't already taken?

Ugh—don't be foolish, Natasha. Besides, lusting over a merman isn't wise either, considering my deep fear of them. Hayden seems nice now, but that might change.

I stand up, brushing my dirty, black hair to one side of my neck. I'm skinny and malnourished from sailing the seas without food for days, but although I might look like a weakling, I'm brimming with confidence.

Although, I feel way tinier than usual around Hayden. His fancy suit is eating up my shoulders as I wear it, and his delicious scent is doing weird things to the chemicals inside my brain. My insides are fluttering, and I hand the guy a smile.

"So, is there a town on this island?"

Hayden studies me. "There is... Why?"

My fingers rake through my dirty hair. "Well, since you destroyed my beloved ship, I think we should find me a new one, and you're paying for it, Mr. Moneybags."

"Ship?" The man looks amused. "I'm sorry, but the thing you're calling a ship was the tiniest motorboat I've ever seen."

I take a step closer, not afraid of challenging the taller man. I've ordered around pirates—I can handle the pretty boy.

"You. Will. Buy. Me. A. Ship."

With one finger, I prod his with a finger chest to gain his attention, hating how those ocean-blue eyes light up with entertainment. I poked him to make sure my words got through to him, but the arrogant merman instead seems vastly satisfied that I'm touching him.

"Can't keep your hands away from me, can you, princess?" Hayden teases with his intense eyes locked on mine. He has to bend his neck to keep eye contact with me.

"Oh, shut up—I'm not flirting with you."

He quirks up an eyebrow and resists the urge to laugh. "Then what do you want?"

"Isn't it obvious?!"

His lifting lips tell me he is messing with me, yet he says. "Nope."

My frustration comes out in words. "I'm still stuck on this island until I find a new one, and I don't have any money, which is kinda your fault. You thrashed my stolen items into the ocean with that gigantic fin of yours!"

Hayden seems to relax. His shoulders lower slightly, and his carved bicep bulge as he scratches the back of his head. I stare at him until his arm flattens out, and the man grins.

"Fine. I will buy you a new boat. I have some business I have to take care of in Turtle town, anyway."

***

I spend over thirty minutes talking about my adventures at sea with Hayden. I quite like the quiet guy—other people usually yawn when they hear my stories because they don't believe them to be true. But not my new friend Hayden.

He laughs here and there and asks me questions until he knows the entire story of Captain Roger and the horrifying mermaid, Scylla, who we had to escape from a month ago.

Our entire crew died by her hands, and Roger and I were the sole survivors. Still, that won't scare us away from our mission of ending Scylla's tyranny.

I won't ever let the mermaid rest.

Scylla murdered my parents, my biological ones, and my sole reason for breathing is taking her down.

"So, you need money to gather a crew willing to chase down Scylla?" Hayden asks in a curious tone. "How will you even find her?"

"With this," I search my neck and fish up the pearl hanging around it. My father gave me the necklace on the day he died. "This used to belong to Scylla, and it points in her direction."

Hayden stares at the pearl, then lowers his eyes to the grass. He appears concerned. "You ever thought about just giving the pearl back to Scylla so she will leave you guys alone?"

"Give back the pearl to the mermaid who murdered my parents and annihilated my entire town just because her pearl was missing?" I snort an entertained laugh. "Never."

Hayden gives me a crooked smile, and we stay quiet until we approach what appears to be a pirate town. Tiny houses with lanterns and parrots fill the narrow street, and cobblestones make up the ground.

Hayden opens the door to a bar. "Ladies first."

I enter the wooden building and take in the dim lighting. As expected, men with tattoos and beards are drinking rum and eyeing us with ill intention written over their features.

I stop dead in my tracks, whispering at Hayden. "I don't think these people will sell us one of their boats."

Hayden peers down at me, then lifts his eyes to the bartender—an older, round lady with her red hair caught in a ponytail. She is drying a wine glass with some cloth, and her unbothered expression tells me she has been through hell and back.

Hayden walks up to the lady, parking his thick, muscular arm on the bar desk without caring about the men glaring at him. There are a group of three pirates drinking next to the bar desk, and they don't look happy when Hayden enters their bubble.

A man touches his gun on the bar desk. "Hey, pretty boy, find another table, will you?"

"And why would I do that?" Hayden shoots back.

The man groans. "Because I have a gun, and you don't?"

I turn to a standing stone, knowing the pirate won't hesitate to shoot, but Hayden doesn't give him the time of day.

He parks his arms on the bar desk, smiling at the red-haired lady standing behind it. "I would like to speak to the person owning the boats outside of the restaurant. I'm guessing you're the owner?"

"That's right," the lady sounds like she has been smoking cigarettes from the day she was born. "But I'm not selling any boat to you—we need them ourselves, mind you."

"Do you now?" Hayden challenges.

"You heard the lady," the man says. "Get out before you regret coming here in the first place."

Hayden smirks. "Is that a challenge?"

I grab his arm when the man grumbles. The person Hayden is teasing looks about ready to kill him.

"Okay," I smile nervously and tug Hayden's arm. "We can find a motorboat somewhere else."

Hayden laughs, and I can't make him budge. The guy is giving the red-haired lady a death glare. He is so into it he doesn't even notice me, the dwarf, trying to pull him outside.

I tug again.

Nothing happens.

Seriously, it's like trying to fight a mountain. Hayden is too big, too damn heavy.

"Oh, I wasn't asking to buy a boat," Hayden raises his voice and lets his eyes roam the entire room. His irises glow unnaturally, making the crowd widen their eyes in fright. "You guys will either sell me a goddamn motorboat, or I will eat all of you for dinner!"

"The merman from the north!"

"Monster..."

"It's the monster who destroyed our cargo ship a month back…"

"We should kill him."

"Shh, he might hear you."

Hayden is glaring around the room, and I take a moment to close my mouth and recover from the initial shock of witnessing Hayden threatening everyone. A child is crying, and my heart lunges in response.

I meet Hayden's savage eyes, opening my mouth. "You wouldn't eat anyone! Take that back—you're scaring the children in the back!"

Hayden narrows his gaze, then turns his attention to the family in the back of the restaurant. The father is holding his gun with shaking hands, and the mother is rocking in her seat. Their little daughter is crying in her lap.

Hayden sighs before glaring and giving me a view of the monster lurking inside of him. He is pissed off and aiming that anger at me. "You don't get it, Natasha. I'm a monster, a fucking freak of nature, so I better act like one too—that's how you get things done in this world."

"You wouldn't eat these people!"

"Oh," he snorts in this spiteful way. "I would love to snack on these assholes, and if they don't sell us this boat, then I will because I don't give a fuck about other people!"

I gasp in shock. Hayden was so sweet toward me on the beach, but now he acts like an entirely different person. All business and no heart at all!

How can he threaten to eat people just like that? It's people's lives we are talking about here!

My lips part in concern. "No, you wouldn't—you're better than that-..."

Laughter erupts from his throat, and his eyes are blazing with inner bitterness when he gives me his full attention. "You don't know me, Natasha. Quit pretending as if we are best friends because I've only known you for a couple of hours."

I stare up at Hayden, take in his complete, intimidating six-foot-five frame, and shudder. He radiates a no-nonsense demeanor, giving him an air of authority inside the restaurant, and I realize the big man isn't as sweet as I judged him to be.

My heart falters. "Right... I don't know you..."

"I will sell you a motorboat," the red-haired lady interrupts us, causing Hayden to give me a villainous grin.

"Do you see now, princess? I get things done. End of discussion."

Hayden follows the woman outside while talking about different boats. I don't move an inch even after the door closes behind them. I'm left feeling defeated because I finally understand that Hayden's merman side is not scary—it's his human mind.

A fish wouldn't threaten people, and I doubt the merman dwelling inside of Hayden would care about human politics, meaning the one threatening the people was Hayden's human side.

I smile in sadness. "I guess the wealthy CEO has finally shown his true colors..."

In Hayden's mind, power and authority must still be necessary even after the world has fallen. And if money can't get him anywhere, the fear people have of him will get him where he wants.