"When I get my son back, I want nothing else to do with you," She said.

Those words dogged his every step as he made his way above deck. Their anger went out of control.

"He is my son. You won't be going anywhere with him, " he replied.

It was the first he had ever seen her in this light after he had said those words: Savage, Feral...murderous.

He told her everything. But all that she heard was his revenge and wanting her mother to pay.

"Was I a part of your plan?" she asked. "Did you seduce me as part of your revenge?" She gazed up at him accusingly.

His eyes landed on her. He shook his head. "Never."

"You knew she wasn't my mother. But you left me with her anyways? And with Haines?" She frowned with confusion that bordered anger and pain.

He looked away. His chest tightened with her words. Guilt tore at his heart. "It was after the birth of our son that I.."

"My son!" She shouted.

His head fell. His eyes tightened shut. He couldn't bear the ire and hate in her stare. She saw him as the vile dog she claimed him to be and nothing else he said at that moment could change that.

"He is my son as well!"

"You have no son!" She trembled furiously as his eyes darkened with her words.

"You lost him the moment you handed me back over to Haines."

"I did it to protect you," He murmured, stepping closer to her.

"Well you did a damn good job of it did you not?" She giggled flatly.

He said nothing.

"Tell me, Black Scourge, while you were bouncing about on the sea, from port to port. And tavern to tavern did you think about me?"

"Every bloody day I did, " he hissed.

"Liar!" She shoved him.

He quickly caught her wrists and pulled her close.

"Were you thinking of me when my womb was hardening with your child?

"Or after I gave birth to our son when Haines took me by force?" She asked coldly.

He held her gaze. Those beautiful aquamarine eyes that once held him captivated were now turbulent, murky pools of dark, sea green. The color of the same unforgiving, dangerous waters that can sink any ship.

His jaw clenched.

"When he lay between my thighs rutting like a dog?" She added, taunted him.

"Enough!" He shook his head.

"How I gave up, and I did not fight him when he gracelessly rode between my thighs because it was my duty as his wife."

"I said enough! " he furiously cried out, pulling her even closer.

She pushed him away, but he wouldn't budge. She pounded his chest and fought him, but he still wouldn't pull away. Her words were like daggers to his heart. The image of her words burned in his mind of Haines abuse.

He wanted to erase them. He needed them to be gone.

And so did she.

Like a furious tidal wave, they clashed as he savagely took her lips and she did the same. She needed him whether she was willing to admit it or not. Because she did. Even if it were just for that moment to remove the marks and stains of what Haines left on her.

The sounds of ripping fabric echoed in the cabin as he peeled the thin scrap of her blouse from her skin and discarded it on the floor. Soon his followed then her boots and breeches.

With equal fervor, they kissed and made their way to the bunk. Tangled limbs and sheets hissed in the silence as the dip and sway of the ship followed.

It wasn't until he quickly undid his breeches, freed himself, and settled deep inside her that he felt complete.

Warmth poured over him as he settled there in her tight heat.

They stared at one another for some time before he began to move. As they moved in unison, he dared not whisper any words of love. Although his heart and mind were on the brink of exploding for not expressing it and she would not hear it otherwise.

Their lovemaking was wild, brutal, unforgiving, and yet passionate.

His fingers caressed and dug into her thighs with each thrust as her nails roughly coursed down his back, and her teeth sank into his shoulder.

"You little witch!" He hissed, grabbing her wrists and stretching them above her head.

Her chin tilted up defiantly, her eyes sparkled triumphantly with his pain. She looked stunning, flushed and aroused.

She expressed no words of love for him. Nor did he for her. It was in their actions although neither would ever admit it.

He thrust deep and held her steady as her soft pants sent shards of pleasure up his spine as he felt her tighten around him. He flexed and pressed deeper as a delicious torrential orgasm spread through them both.

He grit his teeth, trying to keep the low, guttural groan from escaping the quiet confines of the cabin.

Soon afterward they collapsed in each other's arms in exhaustion. Everything went dark and silent for a moment. Their breaths mingled as he held her gaze. There was so much he wanted to say. So much he wanted to apologize for. But when he gathered up the strength to say it, she blinked and looked away.

He lowered his head in defeat as she tried to move. He gently withdrew from her after a moment, then he rolled away and lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Tempest sidled over to the far edge of the bed and turned her back on him.

After some time had passed, he silently stood and dressed. Suddenly her voice pierced the bubble of silence in the room.

"When I get my son back, I want nothing else to do with you," she said.

"He is my son. You won't be going anywhere with him, " he replied.

The exclamation of rage grew in her eyes as the full meaning of his statement sunk in.

Their heated words soon filled the silence of the cabin. Hurtful words were exchanged. One's more biting than the next. Tears of frustration filled her eyes with his determined ones, promising hell to be paid if she tried anything.

She bounced furiously from the bed, dragging the sheet with her, confronting him with murder blazing in her eyes.

"I despise you, " she cried out.

"Funny, I felt none of it moments ago, " he taunted tightly as she lunged for him.

He caught her and pulled her close. But she pulled away, she looked around wildly for a weapon, but before she could find something hard enough and sharp enough to attack him with, he scooped her up in his arms and threw her back onto the middle of the bed.

With a gasp, she floundered helplessly in a mad tangle of sheets and her long hair, but by the time she managed to sit up and face him, he was gone.

He leaned against the rails of the quarter-deck as the men around him continued to work. None dared question the scowl on his face.

He decided to leave her alone to fume for a few hours. Which would be wise on his part, he thought darkly. If he stayed there any longer, she would have cheerfully scratched his eyes out.

"She will come around my boy, " the colonel said at his side after joining him. Her grandfather chuckled as he frowned at that statement.

"I doubt it, colonel." He shook his head. "She hates me, " he swallowed at the growing lump in his throat.

He wouldn't doubt how she would enjoy seeing him swing from the gallows, his long body twisting and turning at the end of a rope, with his face blue and swollen!

Christ! He tightened his hands on the rail. The colossal mess of his life was becoming his nightmare as her words twirled in his mind. She would leave him with her son.

He couldn't let that happen. She was his whether she fought him or not. They will search for their child, make his step mother pay and he will fight to keep them together this time.

Whether she gave in easily or not.

*****

Either way, hope you guys enjoy...