Hook's Pan (20 page)

Eyes growing wide, Trisha couldn’t believe what was happening, mob mentality at its worst. Why the hell was Tinkerbell just floating there, when was she planning to step in and end this nonsense?

“You will not burn me at the stake.”

Peter frowned, rubbing his jaw as if he were really giving the idea thought. Staring at Tinkerbell, Trisha jerked her thumb at him. “Any time you’re ready to step in and stop this mob…” she nodded, letting the rest of her thought dangle.

“No, too violent,” Peter finally said.

“Tickle her!” a young voice piped up.

“Tickle her,” someone else said, and then another, and another, like a wave the voices gathered momentum until soon they were all chanting it.

“Tickleher, tickleher, tickleher…”

A mischievous glint sparked through Peter’s brown eyes as he turned his gaze to zoom in on hers.

“I don’t think so.” She shook her head. If there was anything in the world she hated it was to be tickled, she’d rather be fed to Tic-Toc.

“Girl,” Peter said, “I find you guilty of treason—”

“What the fu…dge.” She caught herself before she muttered what she’d really wanted to say. Which, why she was censoring for a pack of hoodlums she had no idea. “You haven’t even tried me yet. Where’s the judge, where’s my jury? Why am I even here!” she screeched with frustration and stomped her foot, whole lot of good that did, but if someone didn’t stop this soon, she’d do something stupid.

Like snatch Tinkerbell out of the air and yank her busy, buzzy wings off.

Crossing his legs, Peter sat Indian style on the air. A grin curved his wide mouth as he pulled a dented gold star out of his pocket and tacked it onto the front of his shirt. “I’m the judge.”

“Of course you are,” Trisha muttered, crossing her arms. “This is the most absurd, ridiculous thing ever.”

“Why were you with Hook?”

“Boo, hiss, grrr…”
The Lost Boys began a choir of chants, stomping their feet and shaking their fists at her at the sound of his name.

“Because she is his mate,” Tinkerbell said, stepping in front of Trisha, finally deciding to say something. However, what she said was obviously the wrong thing, because the cries grew louder.

“Ticklerher, tickleher…”

“I am not his mate,” she growled, “I was brought here by a fairy named Danika, who I don’t think I even like all that much.”

Tinkerbell’s lips twitched, as if she were fighting a smile.

The chanting grew quiet, as every pair of eyes settled on her face. Deciding this might be her best chance to get the truth out before the pack went wild again she nodded. “I was forced into your world, I don’t even want to stay here.”

“How much longer will you remain?”

“A day, I think, maybe. I’m not sure. Your time and mine are very different.”

Peter nodded. “Yes, it is true. I’ve traveled between worlds. And do you swear to leave when the time comes?”

If she were being honest, she liked Hook. She did. The man was smokin’, he was also a fantastic lover. Her stomach twisted remembering how he’d drawn that hook down her body, it made her insides tingle and her heart flutter. But she’d walked away from good bed partners before.

None had ever been as great as him, granted, but she didn’t belong here and great sex wasn’t going to make her change her mind.

She was a human, Earth was her home. Not Neverland, just thinking it was silly. This place belonged in books, living in a world where she had to worry constantly about being kidnapped by demon bugs and even more devilish children just didn’t rank up high on her list.

“I’ll leave.” She nodded firmly.

“Hmm…” he rubbed his chin.

And just when she thought that maybe, just maybe she’d gained ground and that the tide had turned he asked the one question she knew would get them salivating again.

“Swear your oath of fealty to the Lost Boys, agree that Captain Hook is evil, and you shall not be sentenced to death by tickling.”

Licking her lips, she closed her eyes and gave a tiny snort. She refused to be tickled, but she also refused to tell a lie.

“The only bad boy I’ve met here has been you. I do not swear that oath, and I do not think he is evil. I like him.”

Peter jerked as if he’d been slapped, then his hands curled and with a shout of, “Tickle her,” rushed her.

Everything that happened after that was a blur. The Lost Boys were running, their small determined faces more frightening than they should have been, and Tinkerbell was yanking onto the neckline of her spider silk dress and dragging her toward the cliff.

Tinker whispered words quickly into her ear. “You will not tell Hook we were here, you owe me, I saved you once before, I’m saving you again. When you fall yell for Danika, she will find
 
you. Now go!”

Then with a mighty shove Trisha was falling over the edge of the cliff.

Screaming, she flailed her arms and legs and prayed with all her might that a demon bug could be trusted to save her, because there’d be no stopping this fall. A glassy wall of water was rushing up to meet her, wind blew past her face, and her heart was permanently lodged in her throat.

“Danika!” she screamed. “Help!”

Danika heard her name, even as it traveled through realms. Heart clenching she recognized it as Trishelle and immediately extracted her wand from her vest, tearing open a fabric of time. Pulse pounding, hoping she’d be in time, she tore through the worm hole, arriving to witness Trishelle seconds away from splatting into the Never Sea.

Shooting out a beam of power, she ensnared Trisha in a pink net and then heaved a ragged breath, clutching onto her breast as the enormity of all that’d just happened sank in.

Drawing the sobbing, heaving woman to her, Danika shook her head. “What in the bloody hell is going on? Why are you not with Hook? And why are you dressed in fairy garb?”

And then like the flick of a light she knew.

Trisha’s eyes were red, her nose swollen, and as she rubbed her face with the back of her hands, she shuddered and then laughed. A great, big booming sound full of disbelief and sheer relief.

“That little devil kidnapped me,” she hiccupped. “Tinkerbell saved me, I think.” The muscles in her thighs were literally snapping and hopping like a Mexican jumping bean.

“Why did he take you?” Danika hadn’t meant to stay away so long, normally she liked to peek in, be privy to the romance as it blossomed, see the tangible proof of all her hard work, but circumstances had prevented her being around much this time.

In fact, she needed to get back quickly, hating the thought of not being able to help Trisha make an easier transition.

Being a godmother, she knew when love was growing and something still felt off. Staring into Trisha’s beautiful face, she sensed emotion—great emotion, but also confusion and indecision.

Trisha shook her head. “Because he’s a spoiled brat and Tinkerbell is about the most useless excuse for a mother figure there is. She pushed me off the cliff. Couldn’t she have at least used her magic to stop them?”

Panting, she looked up at Danika, her cat-shaped eyes wide with disbelief.

“Tinker is a fairy best left alone. Why she’s chosen to stay with a gang of wild hyenas is beyond me,” Danika agreed, “she’s got very little control over any of them, which is probably why she pushed you off. Pan had had his fun and would likely not follow to save you. Which clearly,” she clenched her jaw, “she was right. Though I will surely have a talk with the fairy council about her. Mark my words.”

The need to hurry back to Alice impressed itself upon Danika’s mind. But Hook was also her priority and now so was Trishelle. “But tell me, do you love him?”

“Who?” Trisha’s face scrunched. “Hook?”

She nodded.

“Umm…no. And he doesn’t love me either, so you can settle yourself on that score. You picked the wrong girl, demon bug.”

Bristling at the term, Danika hissed. Normally she kept her fangs blunt, for the sake of the humans who seemed to find the sight of them off putting, but Trishelle didn’t seem fazed. In fact, she merely smiled and rolled her eyes.

“How can you expect anyone to fall in love in three days? That’s ridiculous.” She giggled.

Jaw dropping open, Danika shook the net a little, rocking Trisha just enough to get her attention and force her to stop laughing. “The heart always knows.”

“Pu-lease. That’s just sentimental fluff. I know he’s hot, and I know I like him, he makes me smile. But I don’t love him. And I probably never will because I
will
be returning to Earth.”

Blinking back the shock, Danika wondered how this had gotten away from her so quickly. By this point most women were at least questioning their heart, realizing there was something there.

“Does he entice you at all?”

Trisha shrugged. “His body, yes. Absolutely. And I do like him. I really do, but I don’t believe in love.”

“But…but…”

“Danika, I’m sorry. I told you I’m not the right woman. You obviously chose the wrong girl.”

Grunting, Danika rolled her eyes. “Listen to me and listen to me well, you are his. You absolutely have free will in this, Trishelle Page, but should you choose to walk away you will never find a love like him again. Contentment, friendship…maybe, but passionate, all-consuming need and love, no. Are you willing to leave all that behind?”

“So says you.” She crossed her arms, jutting out her lower lip prettily. “And besides, that kind of love doesn’t sound like love at all. It sounds like obsession and that’s ugly and terrifying and not at all what I want in my life. So if you want to just send me back now, then do it, but there is no love, and never will be.”

“I cannot believe you’ve hardened so much. What has happened to you, Talia?” Hot tears burned the corners of her eyes. She couldn’t understand how she’d gotten this so wrong.

Miriam had told her truth with all the others.

“I’m not Talia,” she screeched. “I’m so sick and tired of everyone saying that to me.” Breathing hard, she was silent for several long tense moments.

Danika didn’t know what to say. At its core, a soul remain unchanged. Perhaps the memories were gone, but surely the love remained?

Sighing sadly, Trisha shook her head. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Danika. It’s not your fault, it’s just that I feel so bad for him. I like him, a lot, okay. I’ll admit that. I really do and it hurts me what Peter did to him. And maybe I’m even to the point that I can believe I may have been a mermaid at some point in my life, hard as it is for me to say that, but I just can’t be what you all want me to be for him. I’m sorry.”

Danika hated conceding defeat. After all the times she’d failed Hatter she’d sworn to herself, never again. Never again would she bring a woman to her men if they were not absolutely the right ones and deep in her gut she knew, knew with every shred of her immortal being that Trishelle truly was Hook’s destined mate. “Even Betty knew, and she had the same amount of time as you.”

Eyes sad, Trisha shook her head. “No she didn’t, Gerard came to Earth. Even though the days are stupid long here, in my head, they’re only three very long days. Betty had three months. Days and weeks to get to know him. I’ve got three days?”

“But you can’t leave him, Trishelle, if you care for him at all...”

Closing her eyes, she shook her head. “He is a good man, I do see that. But no one person should have to bear the responsibility of being the sole source of happiness for another. That’s toxic and in the end, it never works out.”

Just then Alice’s scream ripped through Danika’s brain like an ice pick, making her cringe and nearly lose her hold on Trisha’s safety net.

It felt wrong to leave now. Wrong to walk away, all her boys had found their mates, Hook deserved her attention just as the others had, and had it not been of such great importance, she would never leave until she figured out a way to make Trishelle see the truth.