I Will Sail With No Pirate! (mxm)

Chapter 13

Alexandre...

Dark red eyes... eyes everywhere.

Each direction he turned, they were there.

Go away!

The eyes vanished, leaving him in complete darkness.

Come back, Alexandre.

No.

The eyes returned, circling him as he tried to swat them away. His hands just kept going straight through them.

Come back to me. I will make your life so much better...

"Alexandre."

Get away from me!

"Alexandre, wake up!"

He could feel his hands finally hitting those eyes, but then a sharp sting against his cheek had him gasping and blinking against dim light.

"What...?"

His mind felt heavy with exhaustion as he panted, trying to collect what had just happened into some sort of coherence. He quickly realized that he had been dreaming, but then as he looked up at the captain now leaning over him, he realized that he must have been hitting him a moment ago.

"I am sorry, I did not mean to hit you."

The blood pirate smiled slightly at that as he looked him over for a moment, but then his lips turned downward into a small frown as he reached forward, fingers gently running across Alexandre's forehead. 

"Your face is damp and your eyes are bloodshot."

"I had a nightmare."

That actually got an impressive laugh from the man.

"You live in a nightmare, dear Alexandre, what could you think of that is worse than your reality?"

He did have a point, but those glowing red eyes... Merik. 

Wait a second...

"We're... not moving?"

"No. This port does not allow departures at night. We must wait at least another three hours before we may take our vessel safely out to sea."

"Safely?"

The captain smirked and ran his fingers through Alexandre's messy hair.

"Yes, Alexandre. This area is surrounded by a reef that becomes partially exposed during the evening. While we could try to sail around it, the port police would prefer that we wait. And, considering that I often need to stop at this port, I have no interest in upsetting them by disobeying their rules."

I never thought that he would care about his reputation towards humans.

"It makes it easier. While I could easily kill plenty of humans, more just take their place and then the royal navy gets involved and brings hunters... tsk, just not worth the hassle."

At that, Alexandre couldn't help but give out a quiet but honest laugh. 

Laughing. He was laughing. Why was he laughing?

"Why are you laughing? What is so funny?"

Alexandre began to open his mouth to respond but then another small bout of laughter escaped, making James' heart jump oddly in his chest. 

Giving a deep growl, he leaned over until their noses were almost touching, the closeness easily silencing his unwarranted chuckle.