45. Moss

45

Moss

* Moss? *

Carol's telepathic voice was the coolness of water under ice, the light filtering through millions of kilometers of space and atmosphere and ocean to play on his skin.

He'd followed her call. Him and the kraken both. The journey that should have taken hours—days—had passed in a handful of the monster's slow heartbeats as it pulled the ocean around it like a cloak. The kraken was a thing of nightmares; a ship-killer that haunted the shadows of human vessels, slipping from shadow to shadow like the movement at the corner of your eye. This was how it had traveled so quickly to find Carol the first time, falling from the sky.

This was how it found her now.

The ship hung in the sunlit waters above. Carol was there, the glint of the mate bond barely visible. Not that he needed it to know where she was now. He'd opened his senses fully to the ocean's song. The salt knew where she was; it brought the taste of her to his lips and his soul.

He gazed up through the kraken's eyes. Its tentacles twitched. It knew how to deal with ships.

But not ships that held his mate like the most precious pearl nestled in an oyster's delicate flesh.

He reached for the monstrous mind that was all around him, a gnat tapping on a giant's arm. My turn, he told it.

And it listened.

Moss surged onto the back of the boat and shifted back into human form at the same time, landing on one knee on the deck.

The sea spray told him that Carol was at the bow end of the ship, and that was where he went. Several guards tried to stop him, but his supernatural form was still close enough to the surface that he barely needed to glare to get them to back off. The kraken's aura hung around him, thick and slippery with menace.

It would keep them stunned for a few minutes. None of them would be able to come near him like this, but once the initial fear wore off, someone would remember that they didn't need to get near him to use a gun.

Then he saw her, and his senses sharpened to a knife-point.

She was standing on the edge of the deck, a lonely, perfect star, her hair a black flag, her body shaking but her soul undefeated.

There was nothing between her and the drop to the ocean below. To a marine shifter, that was hardly dangerous; more like a good escape route. But an alarm still sounded in his mind.

The deck was crowded. Fear gathered around the shifters there even before they became aware of him. Whatever was happening, they didn't want to be watching it.

Moss narrowed his eyes, focusing on his mate.

Her eyes snapped to his.

* Carol. Are you hurt? What did they do to you?*

* Nothing. How did you find me? I—* Her voice sputtered out, and in its place, unguarded emotion washed over him. Surprise and happiness and a love so painful it made his own heart ache.

* I'll always find you, * he told her.

There were shifters either side of her, and another standing in front of her, his back to Moss. This far away, he couldn't tell what their shifted forms were, but that didn't matter. There were few creatures that stood any chance against him.

These ones would have no chance. And as he stalked closer, their fate was sealed.

His connection to the ocean hadn't told him she was bound. The collar around her neck resisted the salt; it was thick and heavy and made of some sort of non-corrosive material. It pressed against Carol's delicate collarbones, and as he stalked closer, rage building inside him, he saw red marks where it had rubbed against her skin.

Anger surged through his aura. Every shifter in the crowd except for Carol seized with sudden terror.

"What—" The man in front of Carol spun around, revealing a pinched white face and a hint of something rawboned and feline behind his eyes. His inner animal, clawing to be let out. But only for a second. The man mastered his lion and his fear, his expression changing to become…

…Reverent?

The fuck?

"It's you," the man breathed. "Here, at last. The dawn of a new era is before us, and I am the first to bathe in its light."

The fuck? Moss thought again. He strode forward. All around him, people cringed away, but not the man gazing at him like the sun and moon had hopped down from the sky.

* He thinks you're the Soul-Eater.* Carol's voice soothed his confusion. And raised new questions.

* He thinks I'm WHAT?*

Carol's smile was so fleeting he almost missed it, a sudden, brilliant flash of teeth. She pulled her lips closed quickly, but amusement still lingered in the corners of her gorgeous eyes. * He mixed up the stories about the kraken and the Soul-Eater, I think. Thank god you turned up,* she added. *I'm going to need your help in a moment. *

She didn't need his help now?

* Of course I do. I'll always need you.*

He blinked. * I didn't realize I thought that out loud.*

She smiled at him again, sharp and beautiful behind the man whose eyes glowed with obsession. * When we're this close, I don't think it matters how quietly we talk.*

The kraken's aura surrounded her. But instead of being terrified, she felt…

* Safe, * she agreed.

A voice broke through his distraction. "You honor us with your presence, o great one. I am Adrian Fairchild. I've scoured ancient texts and interrogated creatures lost to time in order to free you from your prison."

Moss folded his arms. He ignored Fairchild and cocked an eyebrow at Carol. "This guy bothering you, miss?"

"He was just going to let me go, actually." Her words rippled strangely in his head.

Fairchild frowned. "I bring a ship of sacrifices to welcome you back into the world. Starting with this woman."

Moss's blood ran cold. The air around him chilled as the kraken processed his words.

* He's talking about me,* Carol said.

Moss's fists clenched. Around him, the kraken's power thickened, its aura coagulating until shadowy tentacles filled the air.

"You were going to throw her to the Soul-Eater?"

Fairchild took a step back, his throat bobbing as he swallowed. "Y-yes, o great one. To receive your blessing—"

"You were going to kill her."

He would kill them all.

Fairchild's eyes narrowed as he took in the shadow-tentacles writhing around them. Then they fixed on Moss, cold and calculating. "You're not him."

"Bullseye."

Fairchild drew in a shaking breath, nostrils flared. Moss was almost impressed by his ability to resist the kraken's terrifying power.

"You have no place interrupting us, then. Ms. Zhang has volunteered to call the greatest of our gods from his slumber. The sacrifice of her blemished animal side will lead us to a new era, one where powers are granted only to those worthy of them."

Unease prickled in Moss's stomach. "What are you talking about?" Silently, he added to Carol: * We're still far away from the prison, but if they really have found a way to contact the Soul-Eater, we need to make sure they don't get any closer. And that means I need to get you out of here, before… before I deal with this.* His thoughts curdled. All around him, the kraken's aura pulsed with threat. * Guess I don't need to wait around for the shadow dragons to call the kraken, after all.*

The look on her face made him go still. Her expression was frozen as he'd never seen it before.

Ice stopped Moss's heart. He barely noticed Fairchild step forward, inspecting him with a curious expression. "I can't quite get a read on your own other half, Mr.…? Some mutated form of squid? Cases like you are the very reason I have sought our kind's salvation for so long. Magic is exploding all over the world—uncontrolled and unwanted. If you feel your life would be better served without the burden of whatever creature you clearly are not suited to bear…"

Moss let the other man's voice fade away. All his attention was on Carol's pale, still face. * Tell me he isn't serious. You're not considering letting the Soul-Eater take your shifter side.*

Her inner shark was the magical reflection of her soul, for god's sake. It gave her extra strength and endurance, enhanced senses, faster healing. It was part of her heritage. He remembered the light in her eyes as she talked about her family.

She was ashamed of her sharklike appearance. He knew that, and knew how much he'd hurt her, his words reinforcing her own belief that her features made her monstrous and not more beautiful.

But would she really give up who she was to look like an ordinary human? To be an ordinary human?

His chest tightened. None of that was the real reason that the thought of Carol sacrificing her shifter self to the Soul-Eater turned his veins to ice.

Without her shifter magic, she would no longer feel the pull of their mate bond. He would still feel the same for her as always, but as a human she would feel their fated connection as nothing more than a strong attraction—strong, but ultimately ignorable.

That was what Fairchild had offered her.

The same thing he had wanted, ever since he realized she was his mate. Her freedom.

In his mind's eye, the deck crumpled and cracked beneath sinuous tentacles. The ship rocked as a huge weight slammed into it. Sailors fell screaming into the ocean, small as ants, as the massive creature tore their ship apart.

His breathing quickened. His aura twisted around him, heavy and dark. The guards on either side of Carol drew back warily, their expressions confused. They had no idea what was going on. Their animal sides were screaming at them to get away, and they didn't know why.

Ship-killer. Kraken. Moss had fought with all his strength against the violence his shifted form was capable of. Now, for the first time, he wanted to feel steel and bones crack, wanted to hear the screams, wanted power—

No. His lips twisted. He didn't want power. He didn't want any of it. He only wanted her, and she had chosen to live half a life rather than to want him in return.

He met her eyes. Her beautiful moon-dark eyes that were normally the only still thing about her. Seeing her stand unmoving like this was unnatural. Like the waves had stopped.

* Carol, * he whispered, reaching into her mind, * tell me it's not true.*

She drew herself up. Her lips quivered, and she wouldn't meet his eyes. His heart sank. "Moss…" she began, and that one syllable told him everything he feared.

Then her voice lashed into his mind. * Of course it's not true! I've been kidnapped by insane shifters who think they can peel my shark off me like an orange. I had to say something to keep them from killing me outright!*

As her telepathic voice whipped joy into his soul, she kept talking out loud, the words hesitant and half-afraid. "I have to go through with it. Don't you see? Captain Fairchild is right…"

* Who else came with you?* Her fierce whisper echoed in his mind. "…If this god, or whoever he is, can help me, then I need to at least try…"

* No one.*

* Good.* Her face hardened briefly as her trembling mask slipped. "Can't you see that, Moss? What if I never get a chance like this again?"

* I need to get you somewhere safe.* He knew there was no hiding the pleading in his voice from her. She was right. They were too close, pulled together in the whirlpool of the kraken's building power. * I can't risk you getting caught in the kraken's rage.*

Her mouth went flat. "I know," she said quietly. "But I can't let you do that."

And before he could stop her, she dove backwards off the ship.