Her smile had his sea legs swaying. “I’d love that.”
“So we fight.”
She nodded with a determined glint in her eyes. “We fight.”
He took her hand, their fingers lacing together. “Then I better introduce you to the rest of the crew.”
Keegan, the ship’s pilot, and his raven-haired historian, Char, approached with Caleb, the navigator, and John, the boatswain trailing behind. They quickly introduced themselves and then made room for the first mate, Duke.
Drake never had much interaction with the hulking first mate. It was clear from the start that Flynn chose this mountain of a man to be his personal bodyguard, and until now, that had been all Drake needed to know.
Duke offered his large hand to Heather, taking hers in a gentle grip. “Good to meet you. Officially.”
Heather arched a brow. “Have we met before?”
“Aye.” He nodded. “You helped me with a ghost problem a few years ago.”
“But I’m sure I’ve never seen you before.” Heather chuckled. “Trust me, there’s no way I would forget you.”
Drake rolled his shoulders back against an unfamiliar spike of jealousy.
Duke released her hand. “We talked over the phone. You connected with the spirits on the property I bought and told me how to help them move on. I never would have slept again without your help.”
Heather chuckled, releasing his hand. “I’m glad my suggestions worked for you.”
Duke straightened, making eye contact with Drake. “She’s legit.”
Drake caught her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. “She’s the best.” Duke made his way back to Flynn’s side, and Drake turned to Heather. “I think you’ve already met everyone else.”
“I’ll never be able to keep them all straight,” she murmured.
“Pirates rarely give tests, lass.”
Heather rolled her eyes, laughing, and damn it all, he would never get tired of hearing it.
Chapter Eighteen
David slammed his door a little harder than he intended. He was in bed with the immortal pirates again. Damn it.
When Drake contacted him earlier tonight, worried Heather could become the coven’s next target, David had to agree. If the mental assaults Drake had endured were incapacitating, he didn’t want to imagine how much worse they would be against a woman who could hear spirits without the aid of witchcraft and ancient relics.
Thinking about it was enough to have his heart rate elevating. He took a breath, pressed Kingsley’s name on his phone, and waited for the Brit to pick up.
“I don’t have the figurehead’s location yet.” Kingsley sighed. “It’s not like we’ve got a tracker on it, but that would have been an excellent plan. Too bad I wasn’t consulted.”
David ignored the sarcasm. “There’s been a little change in plans.”
“Oh?” The frenetic typing stopped on the other end of the line.
“Now that we know Ashley Storrey has the figurehead, once we pinpoint the location, the Sea Dog crew will recover it for us.” David braced himself for Kingsley’s sarcastic response.
But it didn’t materialize.
“My suggestion would be to visit the Digi Robins warehouse we found in Brunswick. We never raided it, so as far as Ms. Storrey knows, it’s still under the radar.”
David wrote himself a note to find the address in the database. “I’ll check it out, but that may be too far from Savannah. Seems like she’d need to touch it to cast the spell, right? It’s gotta be close by.”
“I’m a shamanic computer programmer, not a high priestess. I have no idea how the figurehead’s magic works. I’ll keep searching.” He paused and added, “Watch your back out there. You’re not the only one looking for this. The Serpents must want it, too.”
“Right. I’m also going to need Ashley’s home address.”
“You’ll have it shortly.”
“Thanks, King.”
David set his phone aside and pulled his hair back from his forehead. He had to give Ashley Storrey credit. The woman was fearless to make a trade with the Serpent Society, and then when the relic she traded turned out to be a forgery, she not only kept the figurehead, but also stole the serpent ring off of Dr. Trumain’s dead finger. Ballsy move.
But why? The ring wasn’t imbued with magic. Was it just to piss them off, or maybe to let them know she wasn’t afraid of them? Her reasons didn’t matter at this point.
Obviously she was confident in her magic and her ability to control the army of the dead with the figurehead. She likely believed she was safe, but she didn’t understand who she was up against. David had barely survived his first run-in with the fanatical group, and he was a trained government agent.
Now that he knew the identity of the coven’s high priestess, tailing her would be his best chance of finding the figurehead. His phone buzzed and an address lit up the screen. Time to get back to work.
David drove to the address King sent. He parked two blocks away from Ashley’s home and got out of the car, scanning the area. Unlike her sister, Ashley embraced the luxury offered in a new high-end development on the outskirts of Savannah. No history here. The majority of the community was two-story structures, but Ashley’s was one of the few single-story brick houses on the street. This time of night, most of the homes were dark, but light filtered into the darkness from the back of Ashley’s property.
He made his way around the perimeter, grateful to find her side gate unlocked. If he could scout her property without her knowledge, he could avoid another magical showdown. Although, he’d be prepared this time.
Light poured from the picture window around the back of the house as he slowly eased the gate open. The hinges creaked and he froze, holding his breath. When he was certain he hadn’t attracted any attention, he crouched lower and made his way to the other side of the window before risking a look. Ashley sat with her back to him, working on a laptop. Good. He scanned the living room, taking note of the contemporary furnishings and high tech gadgets. Nothing like her twin sister’s
