Eron woke to a throbbing pain resonating in her head. She put her first two fingers to her temple and massaged for a little then focused the massage around her eyes. She remembered the horrible nightmare she had about losing her crew and ship it gave her an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Eron sat up after a while, she tried to get her eyes to focus and ignore the headache. When the room came into focus, she noticed she was not in her cabin. Jumping to her feet, she saw her clothes laying neatly on the bed instead of on her body. She was currently naked, not even her wraps were on, which was not like her.

Needing to know what was going on she quickly got dressed in what was available and went outside. Men were shouting and moving about, but she had never seen these men before. Eron stood there petrified understanding that there had to be more to her dream than she thought. Walking up behind the man at the helm who was steering the ship, was yet, another stranger to her.

"Look who's awake." John startled Eron as he approached next to her.

Eron turned to face the familiar voice. She saw him in fancy clothing as if he were a completely different person. Eron wore her emotions on her face when she saw him. His betrayal was a stab to her heart, and she looked like she was about to rip him to pieces. "Where is my ship." She grabbed him by his collar while a tear fell down her face.

"Captain...." the helmsman took a step forward to stop her, but John's hand shot up holding up a stop motion freezing him in his tracks.

"Miss. Eron forgive me for my intrusiveness but you are far too trusting." John let out a deep laugh.

Eron heard his emphasis on the word miss, but chose to ignore it, her crew was far more important at the moment. "Where is my ship John?" She pulled his face down in front of hers.

"You know I never did like your attitude." John shook her off him. "Lock her up in my quarters." John made a wave of his hand discussing her. Men grabbed her from both sides of her and started to drag her back to the room.

"One second." John stopped them before they got too far away. "Miss Eron from here on out you will address me as Captain. You no longer have a ship, so I suggest you adapt. Oh, and drop the whole John thing. I think we both know by now that isn't my name." He flashed her a smile. "Take her away."

"YOU BASTARD! I WILL KILL YOU FOR THIS!" Eron was cut short of her cursing from the slam of the door.

He was indeed the notorious Pirate Captain Reason Sutton Bays. The men on the deck laughed at the event that just transpired and went about their jobs.

"Jon, go down to the hold (large cargo area in the lower part of the ship) and grab me a bottle of whiskey to celebrate. Gents we have a lady aboard." Reason joined in with their laughter.

"Aye" His quartermaster John went quickly to get the whiskey. Normally it was against the rules to drink while working, and against the law to have a woman on board, but this circumstance was different. She was a captain of another vessel, but he couldn't shake the feeling that she would bring turmoil to them.

Jon brought up the bottle of whiskey and they each poured one shot. One for the Captain, Quartermaster, first mate, second mate, and the helmsman. They all cheered together then threw the liquid in the back of their throats.

"Alright men back to work." Jon urged the men to go do their chores. "Captain may I have a word with you?"

The quartermaster is second to the captain, yet on the same level as the captain. He is the manager of the crew and is responsible to equal distribution, so Reason can't dismiss what he says lightly.

"Spill it" Reason said as they entered Jon's room.

"It's against the pirate law to have a woman on board." Jon said in a quiet but firm tone.

Oh, here it goes, Reason leaned his back against the closed door. "And here I thought you would lecture me for using your name." Reason laughed.

"Though that bothers me it is not the pressing issue at the moment." Jon turned towards his desk and pulled out a book. "Here." He tossed the opened book on the edge of the dest for Reason to read.

"It states no women or partners are allowed to board a vessel." Jon tapped the page while looking at Reason.

Reason didn't move from the door; he slowly grabbed his jaw with one of his hands. "I know the law, you don't have to remind me. You know she is the key we need. So, fuck the law just this once."

Jon didn't like Reason's attitude. "You can't just do what you want."

"Can't I?" Reason leaned his back against the frame with a cocky attitude. "I am the most feared pirate ever lived. Who is gonna stop me?" He crossed his arms challenging Jon.

Jon rolled his eyes. "Right, then why don't we exercise another law and put it to a vote. I think we all should have a say on what we get ourselves hanged for, for you." (Voting was a common practice among pirate ships.)

"Fine, first thing tomorrow. I'll hear no word of it till then." With that Reason left to go check up on his most important cargo, his key, Eron.

Eron heard the door unlock, grabbed a candlestick, and hid behind the door. She remembered winning against him in sparring once before, surely, she can do it again.

When this captain walked through the door, she swung the candlestick as hard as she could, but he was much faster than he was just a few weeks ago. He dodged the swing causing Eron to lose her balance and crash onto the floor.

He jumped on top of her grabbing the candlestick, prying it out of her hands, and throwing it away. He pinned her hands down and sat on her waist. Leaning in closer to her face Reason left his lips a couple inches away from hers, "That wasn't very nice of you to do that."

"Get the fuck off me you murderer." Eron spat in his face.

"Miss. Eron my patience is wearing thin with you. Don't make me throw you overboard." He glared down at her.

"Fuck you." She said trying to buck him off her.

"I guess you don't want to be civilized about this. Fine, let me get straight to the point. Your father had taken something from me, and I want it back." His hands were clamping tighter on her wrists.

Eron's face twitched from the pain but refused to show any emotion. "Then go and take it up with him. My men and I have nothing to do with it."

"Now you are lying to me, and I don't like liars Eron." He leaned closer placing a kiss on her jaw line before sitting up straddling her.

Disgusted Eron kicked her foot up and her toes met the back of his head. To her dismay he steadied himself on top of her not giving in, and even tightened his hold of her.

He moved both her hands into one of his large hands. "Bitch!" He used his now free hand and slapped her in the face.

Blood spilled from Eron's mouth and she felt the resonating sting on her mouth. Unable to move Eron decided to spit the blood up in his face.

"Feisty. Don't worry, I'll break you." The hand that Reason just used to slap her latched onto her throat squeezing just enough until she passed out.

"Fucking bitch." Reason wiped the blood off his face "fucking dirty ass whore." When he got up he kicked her in her side and walked out the door.