Chapter 16

Kai wandered through the house, his body warmed by his soak in the bath and in much less pain than when he’d arrived. He’d stripped off his wet shorts and, winding a towel around his waist, made his way toward a dim light at the front of the house. The whole place was bare, it felt almost uninhabited. Unable to curb his curiosity, he opened a door and peered in. He flicked on the overhead light. Just a bare bulb. It was clearly her bedroom—a tousled unmade mattress on a metal frame, a wonky old dressing table, and bare, uneven floorboards. That was it. Stark, simple, with no ornaments or trinkets except a metal candelabra with no candle in it on the dresser. His eyes narrowed. There was a slim gold locket on a chain hanging over it. Kai went over and looped it round a tentacle, then flipped it open. Inside was a tattered and torn black and white photo. Of a family. A smiling guy, a woman with golden hair holding a baby. And between them, a little girl with the sweetest angelic face.

Electric shocks tingled through his nerves.

This had to be the family she’d lost.

Gods, this was all the proof he needed.

They had to work out what to do from here.

He tiptoed back out and into the hallway. All was quiet. Where was she? Hell, she was as slippery as an eel, one minute there, not the next.

Surely she wouldn’t have left him alone in her own home and run away?

And then through the open front door he saw a small lamp shining on the veranda.

She was dressed now in a simple cotton dress, sitting on an old crate, legs drawn up, her head resting on her knees. Her profile was sweet, innocent almost, as she watched the moon rising above a bank of clouds, lighting up the patches of water between the marsh grasses. It was kind of eerie here, with no sounds except the frogs in the wetlands. The plop of something into the water.

The fact that she lived here, all alone, with barely a possession to her name, hurt him far more than his bruised and battered body right now.

He went over to her. She didn’t look at him, just pointed to another crate acting as a table with a glass full of amber liquid perched on it. “Yours.”

“Have you got one?”

She unfolded her arm to show him a glass in her hand, half full.

He sat tentatively on another crate. It was uncomfortable as all hell. It would be easier if he slid onto the floor and folded his tentacles beneath him to cushion his butt, in the kraken way. But he was in her world, wearing just a towel, and it felt important to sit as she did.

They remained in silence for long moments. Somewhere, a marsh bird called goodnight to its mate.

“I’ll give the trophy back. Renounce the title, if you take me to your people,” she said finally.

“That won’t work.”

“Why not?”

He sipped his drink, feeling the heat move down his throat. “It’s not that simple. I’ve already lost. You renouncing the title won’t make it better.”

“I’ll tell the truth.”

“Really? Which truth? That you slept with me, got me to show you my tentacles and worked out how to defeat me? Or that I, for some reason I’m still not quite clear about, let you win because you told me that krakens murdered your family?”

“The first isn’t true.” she smirked. “At least not entirely.”

She slanted her head and their eyes met briefly. He stopped himself from digging deeper, asking if that night had meant anything more to her, the way it had to him.

He sighed heavily, downed his drink. “Well, whatever, the reason, some part of me believes you. So, now’s your chance to convince me.”

“Thank you, kind sir.” Her words were laced with sarcasm. But as she drew up her legs and hugged her knees again, she seemed so vulnerable that he just wanted to reach for her, wrap her up and cradle her.

He heard her breath rasp in the darkness, remembered the intimacy of breathing into her lungs, her mouth soft, her body limp as she almost lost consciousness. In that moment she’d really needed him, and that had felt good… so good.

When she spoke, her voice was thin, reedy. “All I remember is the sea as a little kid. Everywhere, 360 degrees. I grew up on the ocean, learned to talk and read and walk on the deck of our boat. It was home, and I loved it so much. The vast open spaces, watching the horizon, even the storms were exciting—you know, the rain would come in and then boom, how it suddenly hit.” She gave a little laugh of delight. “We only came on to land for repairs on the boat, to Motham, I think, and to trade fish for other supplies.” She sighed, her hand came up and swept a strand of thick blonde hair behind her ear. She was such a strange mix. Old and young. Hard and soft. Gods, she fascinated him.

“When I was seven, Tomas, my little brother, was born. I adored him. I’d care for him, watch him like a hawk, while my parents dived and fished and wrote about their findings.”

“Wrote about them?” He arched a brow.

“Yeah.” She took a sip of her drink. “I remember my mom and dad wrote heaps and drew pictures of sea life. They’d show me, not that I understood much, but I loved Mom’s pictures. But hey, it’s all lost now anyway, so yeah...” Her voice caught and he sensed her holding in her emotions. “Tomas, Mom, Dad and me, and the sea. That’s all I ever knew, all I ever wanted.”

“Then one day, I remember there was this really strange storm rolling in. Mom took us downstairs to our bunks and told us to stay there. She seemed more worried than usual. And then I heard this awful roaring, a terrible sound of cracking and grinding….”

A low sound of horror escaped Kai’s lungs.

She didn’t even glance up, just kept talking in a strangely monotone voice. “After that I just remember water gushing everywhere, and screaming, My mom… my dad shouting…” She faltered.

“I remember holding onto the remains of my bed. I crawled on top of that piece of broken wood and hung on. I couldn’t see Mom and Dad—not then. But I saw this… big blue tentacle scooping up Tomas in his cot. I heard him screaming, saw how terrified he was, then this creature dragged him over the waves, under them, and… he just disappeared.”

Kai’s hearts pounded in his chest. He could hardly breathe with the horror of it, what Luna must have gone through.

“But you… survived. How?”

She turned to face him now, her anguish burning into him.

“I was rescued. By an albatross. We used to feed it from time to time on the bow of the boat. No doubt it was returning the kindness. It kept me alive in its nest, then brought me to the marshlands and dropped me outside a house where a human lived. She raised me, if you could call it that. I worked for her, cleaned house, shopped. She fed me—when it occurred to her. I learned to fend for myself. Went and found my own work on the docks after she packed up and left one day.”

He stared at her, still in shock, and as if sensing his gaze, she glanced sideways at him, their gazes holding in the dim light from the porch lamp.

“You don’t believe me even now, do you?” she asked bitterly.

“I do.” He cleared his dry throat. “I do, Luna. But I need to try and understand—what’s your plan from here?” He heard her take a breath.

“I want to trade my win, for a meeting with your leaders. I’ll tell them you let me win.”

He scoffed. “Yeah, right. You think that’s going to help me?”

“My plan wasn’t to help you.”

Kai couldn’t help a lip quirk. Snarky Luna was back. He’d almost been missing her.

“Look, if I admit I didn’t actually win—that you saved my sorry ass down there, humans in Tween and Twill won’t see this as a human victory. They’ll still fear Kraken kind.”

“No. They’ll think I was a pushover. And that if I allowed that to happen, other krakens have likely gone soft too.”

“No, Kai, really.” She untangled her legs and put her glass down, leaning forward eagerly. “You can work it in your favor. Your people can make an example of me. I promise I’ll grovel and say whatever I’m told to, humiliate myself totally… if…. your leaders will tell me what happened to Tomas.”

“Supposing they don’t know?”

“The kraken that attacked our boat and took Tomas were blue. Your people are the only kraken clan with blue skin. You think I haven’t researched that?”

He nodded, sipping his whisky, feeling the burn of it down his throat. The only other kraken tribe lived many nautical miles to the north of the mountain range and were a deep red. They were rarely known to frequent the waters near Motham.

No, it had to be Theradakians.

But if Luna’s dates were correct, why had his people so flagrantly flouted the Treaty? The Treaty that had been put into place because of the death of kraken kids, and his own terrible injuries. Why would they risk more bombings? Suddenly he felt confused. Let down by his own people. He slammed his glass onto the crate next to hers, then winced as one of his scarred tentacles went into spasm. As he flexed it out, to his surprise she turned and placed her hand on it, softly stroking the ridges of his scars. Sharp pain like a knife traveled into his shoulder and he groaned.

“What happened to you?”

Kai hesitated, unsure how much to tell her. “A bomb, planted by humans went off just outside the sacred caves.”

“When?”

“When I was six years old. We were at a school camp. I was lucky, several of my friends were killed.”

She didn’t answer, but he felt her gaze steady on him. “My kind did this to you?”

“Yeah, like I said, it works both ways.”

“I’m—sorry.”

“Why?” He frowned at her. “You didn’t do it.”

“But some humans did. How can you even bear to be here with me?”

“What’s the point of hating a species?”

“Is that directed at me? For what I said about kraken?”

Kai raised his brows in mock naivety. “What exactly did you say, Luna? I can’t quite remember.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “Maybe I don’t hate all kraken,” she muttered, and even in the lamp light he thought he saw her blushing.

For a moment they were silent, both of them watching her fingertips stroke over his tentacle.

“When I touch you like this, does it hurt?”

“It’s kind of weird. Numb and painful at the same time. Sometimes it’s okay to be touched, other times it flares up. But with all the fighting this week… my nerves are super sensitive.”

“I kicked you real hard on your scars.”

“Yep. I recall.”

“What’s this feel like?” she asked, turning her hand and stroking the back of it softly along scar tissue.

“Pins and needles. Sometimes I describe it as an army of ants under the skin.” He laughed bitterly. “Not that kraken would know that. Sea lice maybe.”

“Sounds nasty.”

“I’ve learned to live with it.”

“Do you take medications?”

“Not anymore. For years I did. Strong drugs. But they made me dopey and didn’t really ease the pain. Then—someone—made up a potion for me… That really helped, and I learned techniques to manage it.”

“What kind of techniques?”

“Mental ones. And exercises, lots of exercises.”

“It’s amazing that you managed to compete with that going on in your body.”

“It’s not at the time I feel it, it’s after. Besides—” he shrugged. “I’m used to pain. It’s been part of my life since I was a youngling.”

“Guess we have that in common,” she said softly. “Except no one can see my scars.”

In the darkness, Kai was aware of the soft rasp of their breath. Still her hand rested softly on his tentacle, and it soothed him somehow. The pain receded.

Then something else took its place. Desire flared in his groin, red hot.

Could she tell?

Yes, she sure could.

As if in slow motion, he registered her standing up, putting down her drink and coming to stand in front of him. Kneeling, she placed a hand on each of his knees, pressing them open. Kai spread his legs, trembling, his cock already pumping up, his hearts pounding, one on either side of his chest.

Her fingers stroked, wondrously almost, over his chest, over his strong tentacles, then his weaker ones, her golden eyes surveying every inch solemnly.

“How’s this?” she said softly. Her touch was making him dizzy, and the pain was strangely adding to his arousal. He nodded, unable to speak. Her fingers moved lower to where it was obvious his cock was tenting the towel. Glancing down, he saw the swollen tip nudging over the knotted material. She undid the towel and gazed at his exposed crotch, his cock standing big and proud just for her. Gently, she took it in her hand and when her fingertips eased over the foreskin, sparks of pleasure made him moan.

“Are you trying to buy me with sex?” he rasped.

“Nope.” She cupped his cock in both hands now and he jerked, precum oozing out of the slit, the smell of it pungent, salty. When she bent her head and softly laid her lips around the head, he sighed and arched his hips up to meet her mouth.

So what if she was buying him? So what if he’d return home to humiliation and the wrath of the elders? He needed to make love to her tonight. Just once more.

She lifted her head, her lips wet from his juices.

“Promise me you’re telling the truth,” he husked.

“I promise.”

“Fuck,” Kai groaned, “what do you do to me?”

She didn’t answer, just came up to his level and stared deep into his eyes, her pupils blotting out the gold of her irises.

“You feel it too, right?” His voice sounded thick to his own ears, his cock riding between his legs, missing her touch already, every tentacle wanting to wind around her and tug her into him

She nodded. “We’ve both been hurt by the past.”

“It’s more than that. When we?—”

“Shhhh. Don’t talk.” Now her lips hovered over his. Their noses nudged and she let out a little sound, maybe a giggle, maybe a whimper.

“Gods, I’ve been wanting you so bad,” he grunted.

She traced her fingertip over his lips. “You saved me with these lips,” she husked. “I owe you.”

“Oh, sweet goddess, just fucking kiss me,” he ground out.

And then it was on. Her fingers winding into his hair, her mouth hungry and hot on his, her tongue lashing into his mouth, fierce, fiery. Like how she’d fought him, only this… this was fierce loving.

And he was ready for the challenge.

Locking his tentacles around her, even his damaged ones, he welcomed the stab of pain as they met her soft flesh. His tongue dueled with hers, and the noises they made lengthened like shadows in the night.

She pulled on his shoulders, tugging him closer. “Do that thing you did last time.”

“Which one?” he laughed breathlessly.

“Suctioning my nipples.”

With a sigh, Kai obliged, feeling around her breasts with two tentacles, coiling around the ripe fullness, loving the way they thrust into his touch, and then suctioning onto each of her nipples. She cried out, arching against him, and he plunged in for another kiss.

A second later she pulled away, feverishly tugged down her panties and flung the little bit of material aside, then spread her legs wide, right in line with his mouth, her scent so strong and sweet it nearly overwhelmed his senses. With a guttural moan Kai buried his face in her pussy, heard her rasp, “Yeessssss” as he ate her ravenously. Acting on instinct, he let a tentacle swirl along her butt crack, teasing her hole, flicking inside, feeling it tense around him as his tongue pleasured her clit,

“Gods, you’re soaked,” he mumbled, lapping her up and swallowing her honeyed juices.

In answer she let out more desperate keening sounds, clawing his shoulders, and a quick glance showed her eyes squeezed shut, her lips a tight little grimace. He remembered this look, as though her need for release was causing her pain. He plunged back into her pussy, steadying her with two big hands, letting his tentacle push deeper into her tight little asshole as her clit grew like a ripe berry in his mouth.

Her legs were trembling hard now, but he had her anchored, answering her moans with his own.

He lapped at her until her whole body turned rigid and she twisted her fingers in his hair and howled her release, screaming and hollering and clamping those strong human thighs around his ears, until he practically saw stars himself.

“Now! I have to have you inside me NOW,” she whined, pulling him up even as her body still twitched with her orgasm. Those golden eyes crazed with want, she slammed her back against the balustrade of the veranda and spread her legs, reaching for him. But still he held back for a moment, unable to stop staring at her beautiful shiny cunt.

“I want you to fuck me Kai, fuck me real hard,” she begged.

Shit, he needed no more encouragement. Already his abdomen was rippling with the need for release, his cock jerking and bobbing.

He was going to make her ride his cock until they both forgot their own names.

Kai lifted her easily onto the balustrade, then moved into the v of her thighs, Hell, if he dropped her, they’d both end up in the muddy marshes. But regardless, he was going to take her hard. To assuage their pain. To annihilate the past. His and hers.

His first thrust was harsh and powerful, and she greeted it with an ecstatic hiss of expletives. Her internal walls clamped around him, squeezing him so tight, it fucking nearly made him come on the spot. He gritted his teeth and held still against her sweet pussy pulsating around him.

As her legs wound around his butt, binding him, he angled her head with his hands and kissed her hard, his tongue thrusting with the same ferocity as his cock, their kisses just as wet and wild as the action down below.

He pushed a tentacle between them and a sucker found her clit and fastened on, sucking greedily at the taut little bud as she whimpered his name.

Oh goddess, could anything be better than this?

As he thrust deeper, she cried out again, clawing at his back with her nails, her mouth slack and her head arching as she came.

It had taken barely seconds.

He felt each spasm of her climax, the sudden gush of her sweet hot liquid bathing his shaft, and he couldn’t hold out. Not a moment more… With a triumphant shout, louder than any victory cry, Kai’s release hurled him into the abyss.