Fourteen

Last night, Hobie had slept hard after his party ended, and he was still sleeping at noon the next day. Yesterday"s excitement had probably been a little too much for his still-recovering body, but I didn"t regret it because I"d seen how happy it had all made him. He"d loved having people to celebrate with, and I"d been glad I could do that for him.

"I wish we had some more information, but at the same time I don"t want Hobie to experience any more flashbacks," I said, turning to Nala, who sat on the edge of the coffee table despite the rest of the couch being free. We kept our voices low so as to not wake Hobie.

"Yeah. It"s like looking for a needle in a haystack. Except we don"t know which metal the needle is made of or even if we"re looking in the right haystack," Nala grumbled, and if I wasn"t so annoyed by the fact that the man who"d hurt my mate was eluding us, I"d have been amused by Nala"s analogy.

"We"ll keep looking," Tarika murmured as she poked her head out of the kitchen. She"d commandeered it as soon as they"d arrived, declaring Hobie would need a filling lunch since he hadn"t had a proper meal yesterday.

It was only after he"d fallen asleep last night that I"d remembered he never had a meal, and I"d been disappointed in myself that I"d forgotten. I needed to take better care of my mate, to recall his very human needs. I could understand why he hadn"t remembered, but I had no excuse.

"Yeah, we will," Nala said, agreeing with his mate. "That bastard is not going to get away with hurting Hobie."

I smiled, glad I had such good friends. For a long time, I"d kept my own company, unable to trust that anyone would ever care about me. I"d been told I was an abomination, something that shouldn"t exist, and the only people who"d believed otherwise had died trying to keep me safe. After all that, how could I ever believe someone would honestly want to care about me? Want to befriend me?

Of course, Nala hadn"t needed any encouragement. He"d taken one look at me and declared we were going to be the best of friends. Then, he"d followed me all over, persistently trying to get me to open up. He"d patiently chipped away at my walls until I"d given in and accepted his friendship, and that was that.

I"d met Tarika a few centuries after that, this lonely siren who"d just sent off her only son into the big, bad world because she didn"t think she was capable of loving him, or anything else for that matter. I wondered now why I hadn"t introduced Nala and Tarika earlier, if only because they were both sirens. I should"ve realized Nala"s cheerful nature would be a perfect balance to Tarika"s pessimism.

"Eben?" A sleepy voice drew my attention to the doorway, and I smiled when I found Hobie standing there, rubbing his eyes with his fists and looking adorably rumpled in his pajamas and messy hair.

"Hey, Hobie. You"re up." I reached out and tugged him closer with a tentacle. He climbed up onto the couch and curled into my side, completely relaxed and pliant as he tucked his head under my arm, allowing me to wrap him up in my arms and tentacles.

"Morning." He squinted up at me. "Why didn"t you wake me?"

Smiling down at him, I ran my fingers through his tangled hair, pushing it away from his face. "You looked like you needed sleep." He gave me a look like he wanted to say something before shaking his head and turning to Nala. I made a mental note to ask him about it later as he wished him a good morning, and then Tarika when she peeked around the kitchen doorway to tell him brunch was almost ready.

Hobie"s stomach growled as if on command, and he rolled his eyes at himself. "What were you guys talking about?"

I shot Nala a glance, and he winked at me before grinning at Hobie. "Oh, I was just teasing Eben about how much he has changed since he met you. Seriously, if you met the pre-Hobie Eben, you probably wouldn"t even recognize him."

I narrowed my eyes at Nala, warning him he"d pay for it if he kept speaking. I was glad he hadn"t mentioned what we"d actually been talking about, but I wasn"t sure I liked this topic all that much either.

"Really? He was that different?" Hobie asked, peeking up at me. When I narrowed my eyes at Hobie, he grinned up at me, and my annoyance melted away just like that. Fuck, this human had me wrapped around his fingers.

"See? This is what I"m talking about. He was mad at me for saying it, but one smile from you, and he"s suddenly Mother Teresa," Nala exclaimed, and I scowled at him as Hobie let out a peal of laughter.

"Oh my God," Hobie gasped out, his body curling around my tentacles as he continued laughing. "I just pictured Mother Teresa with tentacles and I can"t..." He shook his head before another laugh burst out of him. "I"m going to hell."

"No, you aren"t," I assured him instantly, and he shot me a curious look before shaking his head.

"But really, were you that different before?"

"I might"ve been a little...rough around the edges," I relented.

"Ha!" Tarika called from the kitchen, and why had I ever thought befriending these two was a good idea?

Hobie seemed to be having fun, though, so even if I was annoyed, I didn"t truly mind. If hearing the stories of my exploits made him happy, I would—albeit reluctantly—recount all my life experiences, in chronological order.

"Nala, get your ass in here and help me set the table," Tarika called, and Nala gave us a salute before racing off to help his mate.

Hobie snuggled closer, peering up at me with sparkling brown eyes. "I"d love to hear more stories about your past sometime. You don"t have to tell me the serious stuff yet if you want. Even hearing about the places you"ve been and the things you"ve seen would be awesome."

Like I"d said, I"d tell Hobie whatever he wanted to know, as long as it made him smile.

Tarika was a phenomenal cook, and I might"ve eaten a bit too much. I"d woken up hungry, and with the veritable feast laid out before me, well, I hadn"t been able to stop myself. If I wasn"t careful, I was going to end up gaining too much weight. It wasn"t something I"d ever had to worry about, and somehow that felt stranger than having a kraken mate. I wondered what that said about me.

After the brunch, Tarika and Nala went back to their place while Eben and I returned to the living room. I didn"t feel like doing much, so we settled on the couch and started up one of the shows we were watching.

The show didn"t hold my attention for long, though. Not when we were lying on the couch, my back to Eben"s chest, and his tentacles wrapped securely around me while he ran his palm up and down my arm.

From the moment I"d promised Eben his tentacles didn"t scare or unnerve me, he"d always used them to stay connected to me, no matter how small the touch was. Sometimes, a single tentacle wrapped around my wrist as we walked on the beach, and other times—like now—four of them wrapped around me, rendering me almost immobile. Yet I didn"t feel trapped in the least. I knew that the second I asked, Eben would release me.

The tentacles did make me feel safe, though. Like I had a wall of muscles protecting me from anything that might intend to harm me.

It should feel strange that I wasn"t scared of this being who could crush me so easily, but it didn"t. Because when I craned my neck to look up at Eben and he smiled down at me, I didn"t see the giant kraken. All I saw was the person I"d started to care a lot about.

"Hobie," Eben said, and I turned my attention to him, flushing a little when his gold gaze roamed over my face, then the rest of me.

"Y-yes?"

"Before, when you came out after waking up, it looked like you wanted to say something but didn"t. Can I ask what you were going to say?"

My brows furrowed as I tried to remember what he was referring to. Oh. That.

"It was nothing." I waved him off and turned my eyes back to the flatscreen.

"Hobie." Eben"s voice was stern, and I sighed. Dammit. I was hoping he hadn"t noticed that hesitation.

Without taking my eyes off the TV, I muttered, "It wasn"t a big deal. I was just going to say that next time I"d prefer to wake up when you do instead of alone."

Eben was silent for a few moments, and my cheeks burned as I waited for him to say something. That had sounded so clingy, hadn"t it? If he hadn"t known before, he"d know now just how needy I was.

"Then from now on, I"ll stay with you until you wake up."

I blinked, then shook my head. "You don"t have to do that. Just wake me up."

He gave me a full-body squeeze, his tentacles pressing against me with a delicious warmth that seeped all the way into my bones.

"Humans need sleep. You need sleep. I enjoy keeping you company while you sleep. I think the solution"s pretty obvious, no?"

I sighed as I realized I wasn"t talking him out of it, and muttered nonsensically to myself. Eben chuckled softly, and I couldn"t help myself from smiling.

Twisting around, I forgot the show completely as I turned to face Eben, and he gave me a curious look, his tentacles loosening just enough to allow me to move before wrapping tightly around me once more.

I ran my palm over the thicker part of the closest tentacle, loving the textured skin, the purple color beautiful against my tan. My skin had more color to it now after spending a month eating breakfast out on the patio with the sun shining down on us.

When I glanced back at Eben, his cheeks were flushed. "Sorry about that. I can put them away if they"re too much."

My eyes widened as I grabbed onto the tentacle I"d just been admiring. "No! Don"t do that!" Toning down my voice a little, I continued, "I love your tentacles, and I love it when you hold me with them."

"You mean that?"

"I told you, Eben. They make me feel safe. You make me feel safe," I murmured, and Eben smiled softly.

"I"m glad." He used his tentacles to shift me upward until our lips were millimeters apart. "May I kiss you, Hobie?"

Grinning, I reached up to tangle my fingers in his sleek hair, then used my grip to tug his head lower. "You may," I whispered, then kissed him instead.

His lips curved against mine in a smile, and I sighed softly as I sank into the kiss, letting him lead as he gave me small, chaste kisses before pulling away and then diving back in. The way he kissed me was almost playful, and yet I could sense the depths of his feelings for me in every brush of our lips.

In my wildest daydreams, I"d imagined scenarios just like this. Me and the man I loved, curled up on the couch and watching something, then getting distracted by each other and forgetting all about the show... I"d never thought I would actually get to experience something like that, but now, as I kissed Eben and filled them with every ounce of my feelings for him, I realized I"d been wrong.

The months of my captivity might have been the stuff of nightmares, but getting rescued by Eben was the best thing that could"ve ever happened to me. If I hadn"t been abducted, would Eben and I have ever crossed paths? If that monster hadn"t had me in his clutches…

I hadn"t realized I"d closed my eyes while we kissed until I realized I couldn"t open them anymore. Or I couldn"t see even with my eyes open.

Panic filled my chest, sending chills all over my body as I tried to pull away, to get away from the monster even though I knew I wouldn"t. I couldn"t see, and he"d stopped kissing me, but his hands were still on me, gripping my shoulders, holding me in place.

What was he going to do to me?