I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated! I thank all of you who have stuck with me this long. I hope this chapter will make up for all of the time you've had to wait.
She woke to the tiniest shred of sunlight beaming against her closed eyelid and a slow, low ache between her legs to remind her of the night before. Yawning, she shifted in bed and realized she was alone. Her heart fell with worry that she'd been wrong and all he'd wanted was sex. After everything they'd been through, everything she'd been through to get to this point, and he had betrayed her after all.
Her chest clenched with doubt as her eyes examined the captain's cabin and she pushed herself up to sit in the bed. The doubts slowly began to fade as she noticed the torn fabric of her ruined dress had been gathered and disposed of, and although she remained dressed in the shredded outfit, she was covered with a soft, downy blanket which kept her warm against the chill of the nighttime ocean. Her slender fingers gripped at the fabric and dug in to it as she twisted it nervously in her hand.
Before she could question where he was, the door to the chamber opened and emitted a familiar black-garbed figure, his hook glinting in the shards of sunlight coming through the boards on the walls. Her heart leapt in to her throat, suffocating her, and she felt her cheeks grow hot at his presence. She shouldn't feel so awkward, but she did. Would the light of day change the significance of the night before?
Killian turned and smiled comfortably at her, swiftly settling himself beside her in the bed, his good hand wrapping around her waist and pulling her in against him. He kissed her, taking her breath away until she sighed, relieved, against his mouth. His hook brushed back her unruly black hair, trailing gently behind her ear and beneath her chin as his tongue ventured between her teeth and greeted hers. She smiled against his lips, her fingers releasing the blanket to dig in to his black, silk shirt.
When he finally released her, her eyelids fluttered slowly open and she looked deeply into his eyes. There were no lies there, no ulterior motives, and she blinked trustingly up at him as he shifted and handed her what he'd carried into the chamber with him. Her eyes tore away from him to settle on the brilliant crimson fabric in his hand, draping over her lap. Her jaw dropped open slightly, and she glanced from the dress into his face.
Red. Ruby. He knew red was her favorite color, and she'd never been allowed to wear it onboard the ship, but now it was different. She imagined he had actively gone into town before dawn to find her the perfect dress in the perfect color. She was both Red and Ruby, Ruby only for him, in their world, but this dress would allow her to be both. The crimson caught the sunlight and deepened it, making it rich and full the way she felt when she was with Killian. She felt as if she never had to eat another meal again, as if she was filled to the brim with so much emotion that even food couldn't quench her. Only he could. He was all she wanted, and she knew he wanted the same.
"Do you like it?" he asked, a hint of trepidation in his tone that he covered well by his roguish smile. Looking down at the satiny fabric in her hands, she bit her bottom lip and smiled involuntarily. The fabric was crisscrossed by flourishing flowery marks, a shade darker than the red of the dress so it looked like it shimmered with its own magic when it caught the light. Innately, she knew it would fit her perfectly. He knew her measurements perfectly for he'd explored every inch of her body, and he knew her better than anyone ever had. They understood one another like no one she'd ever met before.
This was what love was like. This was what Snow and Charming had: what she'd always wanted. Now it was hers, and it was accidental, unintentional. She hadn't been trying to fall in love with Killian, and if anything, she'd been trying her best not to. But that was the way things worked sometimes. You got what you were asking for, but in the least expected way.
"I love it, and I love you," Red murmured thickly, looking back up at him with her deep green eyes. His smile turned into a genuine one and she met him halfway as he leaned to kiss her again. He held her face in his hand as he kissed her before his fingers naturally made their way down her neck to the torn gap in her dress. His fingers were hot in the crest of her breasts as they gently drew a warm line down her bare belly. A soft, wanting sigh involuntarily escaped her lips and her eyes flitted open to look at him. A smirk ghosted across the corners of his mouth and he lowered his eyes to his fingers against her skin as goosebumps raised up her belly and a warmth stirred deep down below her waist.
"Time for breakfast, love," he murmured in a husky voice that made her insides clench with wanton desire.
"Is it?" she managed, feeling her mouth go dry as his eyes burned her skin where his fingers made slow, gentle circles around her belly button. Her fingers clenched the red fabric of her new dress until it whined in protest against her grip. His dark eyes looked up into her gaze and he smiled again. Bending his fingers, he ran his hand swiftly up her stomach to her chest, pushing her back on to the bed with a speed that caught her off guard.
The air whooshed out of her lungs as she fell back against the pillow. His hand and hook were instantly beneath the skirt of her ruined dress, pushing it up around her waist as her pupils dilated as she watched him. His black-haired head disappeared beneath the fabric, and suddenly, his hot mouth fell upon her, making her gasp from the sudden surprise and pleasure. Her hips rose instinctively to his mouth as his tongue traced her, sending a ripple of desire up through her. The heat of his tongue and his breath against her, so soon after waking up, drove her upward quicker than she'd expected. The red dress fell out of her limp fingers, and her hands went to his hair, curling into the black locks desperately as he drove her toward the edge. Her hips bucked against him, and she moaned out involuntarily as she crested that peak and crashed down around his tongue. Her eyes rolled back in her head as her body tightened and soared.
When she came back to her senses, her eyes opened to see him smiling victoriously down at her. Narrowing her eyes at him, she pulled him down and kissed him, tasting herself on his lips. Testily, sated but wanting to tease him as was her way, she pushed him back against the bed and pushed herself onto her feet, gathering her new dress and turning her back on him. Pulling open the ruined dress, it dropped down around her ankles and she stepped out of it, her porcelain body completely bare beneath.
She heard his sharp intake of breath and smiled to herself as she discarded the destroyed garment and stepped in to the newly tailored dress. Pulling it slowly up over her hips, turning her head so as to see him out of the corner of her eye, she smirked to herself, feeling his eyes riveted on her curvaceous form as she slipped her arms through the sleeves of the bodice. Turning slightly, she feigned an innocent stare and pouted at him. "Would you mind?" she asked, motioning with her head toward the ties up the back of the dress. Twisting her black hair in one hand, she pulled it off of her neck and over her shoulder so he would have a clear shot to lace up the dress for her.
As he rose, she heard a guttural growl deep in his chest, and she bit her bottom lip to stop from giggling at his frustration. His fingers were surprisingly adept at the ties, and soon enough he was tightening the dress and tying it off using his teeth and his good hand. Dropping the length of the ties, his hand and hook gripped her shoulders gently but firmly as he leaned over to kiss her bare shoulder. It was a simple kiss, but one that heated her, and she turned to kiss him on his temple as his scruffy chin rested against her soft skin. Killian lifted his face and kissed her on her lips, his arms wrapping around her stomach as he pulled her tightly against him.
"I don't want to hide anymore," he murmured against her ear. She smiled and leaned back in to him, grateful for his words. She hadn't wanted to hide before, but she understood his desire to remain strong in the eyes of his crew. As if sleeping with a she-wolf wasn't a sign of a real man...
Before she could respond, his arm was around her waist and he drug her to the door, a squeal of delight and surprise escaping her throat. He drug them out into the sunshine as she blinked furiously against the sudden brightness. When her eyes finally adjusted, she was met with the happy hustle and bustle on the deck. The crew paid them no mind for the most part, as if it was no surprise that their captain had taken the werewolf maiden as his lover. Many of the men had their own female companions to keep them company, or a mug of mead to nurse, or the food the cook had created from the recent restocking of the ship's supplies.
Ruby lost herself in the light air, sinking comfortably in to Killian's arm around her waist and walking with him to the plank. Her stomach rumbled hungrily, and she grimaced slightly as she glanced up at him. Her desire to be back on land overwhelmed her hunger, combining with it and churning into something powerful. As if he sensed this desire, Hook glanced behind them to assure his crew was preoccupied and happy, and he led the way down the plank, offering her his hook to keep her balance as she followed.
The port city already bustled with life as the sun peeked over the horizon and cut through the night to begin a new day. Ruby's fingers slipped between his as they walked, using her free hand to munch. She'd forgotten what it was like to eat so freely, and her appetite was wild from the night and from the simple fact that she was a werewolf and ate more than a normal woman. Giggling as he reached up to wipe crumbs from her lips, she smiled as he took her in his arms and kissed her.
She was caught up in the perfection of it all. This would never be something she would have imagined for herself, but she couldn't have imagined such perfection. Everything about this was the way love should be, something grown and nurtured. Something real.
Killian released her hand when they reached the center of town, and her brow drew down in a frown as she fixed him with her green eyes. He offered her a small smile and winked at her. "Don't worry, Ruby. I have a surprise for you. Don't go too far. I'll be right back."
Raising an eyebrow at him, she nodded and smiled involuntarily. "I'll be here," she promised, taking another bite from the bread in her hand as he turned and disappeared into the crowd of people.
Leaning her head back, she closed her eyes and soaked in the sun as she chewed and swallowed the mouthful of bread. In moments like this, when she was completely alone, away from every member of the crew, she remembered that she missed her friends. Although Granny had been her closest relative and her caretaker her entire life, she couldn't say she thought the older woman wasn't better off without her. She often felt like a headache for her grandmother, someone to be bossed around instead of a potential equal. She desperately missed Snow especially, though. Out of everyone in the kingdom, Snow had always managed to be the most understanding. Granny knew who she was because they were the same, but Snow was not like her. Still, the princess had accepted her and even lived with the wolves in order to bring Red back when she inevitably was pushed too far by her own mother. Snow loved her for what she was, not in spite of it, like many of her friends did. She wasn't a beast in the princess's eyes.
Red missed her friend and her grandmother, even Snow's husband Charming who had become a true friend to her as well. She knew they would be worrying about her, knowing she would never be gone so long on her own. It had been months since she'd been picked up by the pirates, and time had flown by during her imprisonment. But now she was no longer a prisoner. She was an equal, not an outsider, for perhaps the first time in her life. Even in the court, where Snow promised her she was fully welcome, she never truly was.
The other ladies and princesses would never accept her as one of their own. She had wolf blood, she turned into a beast every full moon, and they would not accept her. No matter how much they smiled at her, they would never truly allow her into their lives the way Snow had. She knew this, and she'd grown to accept it, but she'd also grown to hate it. She wanted to be one of them - who wouldn't? - but now she had lost that desire. That want to be accepted had become replaced by a love that was untouched by what sort of blood she had.
From the beginning, Killian had accepted who and what she was. His intentions had changed from the moment she'd first been taken captive, but his feelings toward her had not. He'd always seen her as a wolf first, and he'd desired that part of her. It wasn't a sexual thing, it wasn't even a monetary thing. No, she knew it was an instinctual connection he felt toward a creature that was a 'beast'. He didn't see her as an animal, as a beast, because he was an outcast just like her. He had created his own world of outcasts and she easily fit within it because she was one. They were the same, and they accepted one another.
"Red?!" a voice interrupted her thoughts, and her eyes snapped open as her chin dropped, looking for the voice which had spoken her name. She looked around in confusion before focusing on a face about ten feet in front of her.
Snow's pale face, crowned by black hair and a pure white cowl which rested on top of her dark hair, stared incredulously at her. For a moment, Red believed she was imagining things. Surely her subconscious had conjured an image of her friend thanks to her thoughts. But as Snow recovered first and stepped toward her, her hands wrapping around Red's shoulders as she stared unbelieving up at her friend, Ruby sucked in a surprised breath.
This was real. Snow as real.
"Snow..." she began, unsure what she was thinking or how this could be happening.
"Red! We've been looking for you for months! You're still alive. I thought... I was afraid..." she trailed off, her kind eyes brimming with emotions that broke Red's heart. She'd managed to cause pain and she hadn't even been around.
Snow impetuously pulled her into her arms and hugged her tightly, crushing the air out of her lungs. She stood stiffly for a moment, still shocked, until she allowed her elbows to bend and relax, her hands resting lightly against her friend's back. Closing her eyes for a moment, she felt the conflicting emotions well up within her and she thought she might break in two.
As her eyes opened, she saw him.
Killian stood watching her from across the crowd, just another face to anyone who wouldn't expect him to be present. His dark eyes boiled like the tempestuous sea during a storm, and in his hand he held a blossoming bouquet of red flowers. Her lips parted to emit a soft, broken sigh, and the urge to go to him overpowered her. Snow interpreted this reaction as her relief to be reunited, and she patted Red's back even as a tear welled up in the taller brunette's eye.
Shifting her weight, she moved to extract herself from Snow's grasp, but the slight movement of Killian's head stopped her. His body was tense as his head shook ever so slightly, imperceptible to anyone but her. He was telling her no, not to come to him. His eyes cut to the side, and she followed his gaze to see Charming emerge from the crowd with a broad grin on his boyishly handsome face. He embraced the two women together, making Snow giggle as Red attempted a smile. In truth, her heart was disintegrating into a million pieces.
She searched through the crowd for him again as the Charmings hugged her in unison, but he was gone. Tears rolled freely down her cheeks now. What she'd thought for so long she'd wanted - to be rescued by her friends - had finally come true, only for her to realize it wasn't what she wanted at all.
When they finally released her, she wiped her face furiously and managed a weak smile through her personal misery. "Oh, Red, it's alright. We're here now. I'm so glad we found you," Snow spoke, relief obvious in her gentle voice.
"It's time to go home," Charming stated with his trademark smile. Nodding her head absently, Red excused herself and went instantly to the last place where she'd seen him. He couldn't be far, she promised herself. He loved her. She loved him. He couldn't be gone...
On the ground where he'd been standing lay the bouquet of flowers, their red petals scattered on the ground with no trace of the purchaser or any sign he'd ever existed. Choking on a sob, she scooped the flowers from the dirt and cradled them against her chest. She wouldn't be able to explain her reaction to an abandoned bouquet of roses to her friends, but she didn't care.
"Are you alright, Red?" Snow asked, arriving behind her and looking at the flowers curiously as her hand gently touched her friend's back.
"I'm...fine..." she stammered through her choking sobs. A weak smile crossed her features as she allowed the flowers to drop to her side in one hand. Her green eyes lingered on them for a moment as she composed herself. "I'm fine," she reasserted with more confidence, "Just remembering everything I've lost."
He watched her as she allowed her friends to lead her away, back to their perfect life where she belonged. He hadn't gone far, of course, only far enough not to be seen. His life hinged on if the prince saw him or not. It was easier to allow Ruby to believe he had deserted her. That was his way, after all. He was a pirate. That sort of behavior was only to be expected.
He didn't cry. In fact, his face didn't change at all as he watched her until he could no longer see even the tiniest sliver of her red dress through the crowd, and even then he stood in his place until the sun was high in the sky and burned his toughed skin. Numbness overtook him as he finally turned and retreated to his ship. Once again the fates had stripped him of a chance at happiness. He'd had it within his grasp, and he'd delivered her right back into the hands of those who believed she belonged to them.
He felt the darkness filling his chest as he climbed on to his ship. His crew seemed to sense it, noticing the absence of the wolf girl the moment he arrived. The wenches were promptly dismissed, and the mead was stowed away as the crew silently took their positions. They knew what was necessary. They knew their captain. The look was in his eyes again, and they would not disobey. The ship would depart at sunset, ignoring the warnings not to sail at dark.
Captain Hook followed no rules but his own.