Chapter 5

Are you actually preening?

Kai gave an amused snort as he postured in the mirror.

Don’t let yourself get like Acha, he reminded himself. Don’t let your head swell.

Yeah, as if. He’d had too many knocks in life to ever let his ego take over.

But something was spurring him on to take extra care of his appearance.

And it wasn’t just the opening night of the games.

He had a sense the human girl, Luna, might come tonight, and the rush of excitement that pulsed through his body was hard to contain.

He’d never had such immediate chemistry with someone before. Sure, last year, he’d found lots of the species he’d fucked attractive—very attractive. But none had engaged him enough to want to hunt them.

He wanted to hunt this female. He wanted to… gods… he wanted to impregnate her.

His mating arm stirred, and he had to focus on maintaining a human cock. He cupped his crotch with his hand, felt the swell there expanding, throbbing. It was interesting, having both a human cock and a mating arm. And right now, they were both jostling for his attention.

Not that he’d engaged his mating arm in sex yet. His cock on land, that was different. He was no virgin in his shifted form. His cock was—more or less—human in appearance,apart from its color. But this year, as The Chosen, he had to keep it firmly inside his pants. So why was he even thinking about her, and why had he been so cut at seeing her embracing that big orc? He should have paid more attention to Marrick. The orc could well compete again, even though word was he didn’t intend to.

But instead, Kai’s attention had been drawn to that petite human. She was slender, muscular in build, like she worked out—a lot. Her features were foxy, almost sharp, the wily intelligence of her pointed face accentuated by her blonde bob. Her eyes were large, but wary. The color of a harvest moon.

There was nothing particularly special about her. She certainly wasn’t trying to charm, that was for sure. And yet, she exuded some kind of sexual energy, a scent, something… so different from any other female he’d met. There was a fierce independence about her. She reminded him of a sea urchin on the outside, but inside… Kai sensed vulnerability, suffering. Maybe he recognized them as the same qualities that lay in him.

And she was definitely the girl he’d seen in the water. No question. He remembered the way her costume had cradled her pert ass as she swam up to the surface. Remembered too, the way his tentacles had been pulled toward her, and his mating arm had stirred, wanting to reach out and wind around that that cute butt, coil along the seam of those bathers, explore underneath. Slide deep inside her. Pleasure her.

Crack her wide open.

Kai growled an expletive. It was worrying that the idea of claiming her was occupying his thoughts when his mind should be singularly focused on the games right now. Besides, unless he flouted the rules, fucking her was out of the question. Look where that had landed Acha.

Kai shrugged on his leather jacket, took a comb, and slicked back his blue-black hair from his forehead.

If he saw her again, he reasoned, he’d realize the weird obsession he’d developed was merely an illusion.

Shen put his head round the door. “Ready to rock’n’roll?”

“Sure.”

“Let’s go, then.”

A hover cab was waiting outside the house to take them to the Pod. As they flew upward over Motham Bay, Kai marveled at his life right now. From plumbing the depths of the ocean in his kraken form, to flying up to meet the heavens, with the panorama of Motham City below. Gods of the sea and sky, this was amazing.

As they got closer to the Pod, the new venue for concerts and events in Motham, he could see the marquee was up over the games arena in Motham Bay. The posters would be plastered all over the city by now.

The date would be announced tonight.

Sign-ups would open tomorrow.

From the hover cab windows, he could see crowds spilling out around the venue. Suddenly Kai felt himself shrinking back into the kid who’d been so shy he’d hide in his rocky grotto for hours. Who got teased with jeers of “Squib boy. Squib boy,” as he dragged his two damaged tentacles along the sea floor.

He’d had so much therapy to get movement back into those tentacles. In the end, magic had been needed. When the medicos in Thedaka couldn’t help him, his parents had turned to a mage in Motham, communicating through intermediaries and then via secret visits for potions and strength building exercises. Using the magic of a land-based mage was deeply frowned on. In centuries past, kraken had always fixed their own kind with medicines made from sea kelp and the healing secretions of sea cucumbers, but their expertise didn’t extend to the new explosives humans had used against them.

As Kai progressed, Waldo the warlock had tailored the treatments to fit. It had been a desperate move, hushed up in Thedaka. But it had worked. Life had finally sparked back into his tentacles. Nerves had regrown. Strength had returned. And when he’d finally started to train for the games, the adversity he’d suffered had given him an edge of determination. Even though Kai still experienced pain most days, he could live with it.

“Ready, Kai.” Shen turned his brilliant azure eyes to him. “Telka di kraka vitoro.” Let the kraken be victorious.

They locked arms in the ancient kraken salute of strength and unity. Inside his torso, Kai felt his tentacles vibrating to the wisdom of his ocean home. Then the chauffeur opened the doors, and he stood in the entrance of the hover cab and waved at the crowd, who cheered and booed in equal measure.

It was always the way. This love-hate with the kraken. It had been this way every season for the past two decades.

On one level it was a game, sure, but beneath the veneer it was a serious display of strength. News of the event would get back to the humans at the Tween Council of Towns. Everyone knew they would have their media covering the event, even if they didn’t admit to it.

As his gaze slid over the crowd, he realized with a jolt that he was searching for a sleek bob of honey blonde hair, framing a human face.

When there was no sign of her, he swore silently to himself. Gods damn it, what did it matter if she was here? Let’s face it, she’d shown as much interest in him as if he was a piece of debris on the ocean floor. Kai widened his shoulders and tilted his head back, letting his eyes gleam bright as the crowds parted to let him stride through.

On the stage, and strategically around the venue, the screens were up. Pictures of the ring itself, contestants battling in the mud from past championships, hung everywhere. There were no shots of last year’s games—for good reason. Kai followed Shen to the stage where seats were arranged in front of the largest screen. A drum roll sounded, and Kai had to hide his surprise as his smiling face flashed large on screens around the venue. Booming out of the loudspeakers came the words.

“Kai Ganlan, CONTESTANT for the KRAKEN GAMES, and his trainer, Shen Broca, welcome you to an evening to celebrate the opening of the twentieth Kraken Games. This year we will have more parties, more fun. The prize money will be raised. The Golden cup is up for grabs. Will you dare get tangled up in tentacles?”

Kai was quaking inwardly as he stood to make his opening speech. Bracing himself, he breathed deeply as he took the mic.

“Good Motham people, I am honored to be your Kraken contestant. And I’m here to tell you things are going to be very different from last year. I’m a quiet guy by nature, but like still waters, I run deep, and I hold my secrets close. Be warned. You won’t find me boasting about my accomplishments. But stay and watch this video. And then decide… Will you dare challenge me?”

Heckling, jeering, cheering, and wolf whistles ensued.

Kai felt strangely detached as he stood back and watched his story flash up. It had been heavily doctored to make him look perfect. There were clips that made him want to die of embarrassment, following him around as he trained. A few shots from last year, partying. A video clip of him with a whole bevy of succubi and gelfin and fae draped over him, laughing.

Then came some carefully curated shots of him as a baby, a youngling, before the bomb blew him up and mangled him.

His mom, smiling proudly. “Kai was always so determined, even as a youngling. We knew he was a warrior through and through.”

His father, standing proudly at her side, saying, “Wrestling’s in his blood.” That made Kai stifle a snort. His dad was a quiet scientist, his mom a stay home mother, as were all kraken women. There wasn’t a wrestling bone in either of them.

Oh gods! Now Torqua was on the screen. “He’ll tackle anything. He has no fear.”

And a shot of them tumbling, play wrestling near the caves.

There were interviews with school friends. That had been hard to manufacture—he’d had very few friends apart from Torqua. As a disabled youngling, other krakens had shunned him.

There was nothing mentioned about his injuries. Of course not.

It was agreed his weaknesses should never be divulged. The whole reel was designed to be daunting for would-be contestants.

And there was nothing about last year. No pictures of Acha. No mention of Marrick winning.

He wondered, yet again, if Marrick would compete.

If so, Kai had done his homework. He’d figured out the tricks the big orc would pull. He was ready for him. Kai scanned the crowd again. But he wasn’t really looking for Marrick, was he?

Still no sign of that lithe little human anywhere. Disappointment slugged his gut. Which was fucking dumb and irrational. Kai started to feel antsy. Once the formalities were finished and the bar had opened, he decided it was time for something stronger to knock this insanity out of him.

As he made his way toward the bar, he was assailed from all sides. He took the combination of greetings and insults with a good grace, smiling, laughing, returning arm punches with a handshake. Gods, shaking hands took some getting used to.

And suddenly, there she was. Seated on a stool, her elbows on the bar, her legs swinging. Like a bored kid at a grown-up’s party.

Kai ground to a halt, his hearts pounding. He guessed if she was Marrick’s girlfriend and Marrick was here… that made sense.

Fuck buddies, she’d said. Hardly a committed relationship.

Why do you care?

Casually, he strolled over and stood next to her. “Hi. Didn’t we meet yesterday?”

Her golden eyes panned to his face, then slid away. A ridge of pink rimmed her cheekbones. “Oh, hi.”

Her energy was prickly, but still he got the sense that it masked something else…an undercurrent of vulnerability below the surface.

“Is Marrick here?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Somewhere, I guess.”

“Isn’t he your boyfriend?”

She tossed her head. “Nope.”

“Right.” His hearts jumped crazily in his chest. Before he could stem the words, he said, “I hoped you might come.”

“Why?” She cocked her head, a frown furrowing her brow.

“Probably because you seemed to like me,” he teased. She let out a snort and looked away.

A moment’s highly charged silence followed. Finally, Kai managed, “Can I get you a drink?”

She held up her glass, which was nearly empty of clear liquid.

“Vodka?” Kai guessed.

“Water.”

“Would you like something stronger?”

She looked like she was about to refuse, then shrugged. “Yeah, why not? Vodka.”

“Cool.” He moved in next to her at the bar. The energy short circuited in the space between them.

“Anything with it?” He cocked an eyebrow.

“Ice.”

She wasn’t exactly trying to charm. No please or thank you. Kai felt completely devoid of tactics. Stripped bare of any artifice, he focused on ordering their drinks.

Clearly, flirting wouldn’t work. Maybe “I want to fuck you” would.

He imagined her just nodding, dragging him with that grim-faced expression into a corner and opening those slender, muscled legs for him without a word spoken.

The thought was alarmingly erotic.

His cock thickened inside his already tight jeans. Ouch.

Where the hell had that image come from? That wasn’t his style. He liked to woo a female, flirt before he fucked.

But yeah, if it wasn’t for the games, he’d be up for getting down and dirty fast with Luna, even in a grubby back alley somewhere, slamming her against the wall. He had no idea why he wanted it so bad.

Hell, he didn’t even like her.

What was there to like with that perpetual scowl?

Did she have a sense of humor?

Did she do fun?

Who the hell even was she, this strange little human in a world of monsters?

When he handed her the drink, he heard himself say, “Do you want to go outside, get some fresh air?”

Her eyes glinted, her lips parted, and her pink tongue licked her lips. Kai stared, mesmerized.

“I guess.”

When she hopped off the stool, he was struck again by how slight she was; her hostile energy somehow made her seem bigger. But despite everything, he felt oddly protective as they wended their way through the throng of folks all calling out to him, waving, pushing forward. At one stage he lost her in the crowd and almost panicked. Relief flooded him as he saw her standing by the exit, looking bored with her glass in her hand. Waiting.

“I thought you’d run away,” he said as he reached her.

She turned and went outside without a word.

They stood by the railings of the paved courtyard overlooking Motham, the pounding club music vibrating behind them.

“If you think I’m going to give you tips about Marrick, you’re mistaken,” she said finally.

“I’m not here for that.” He turned toward her and just like in the water that day, their eyes held, and raw sexual energy arced through him. He wanted to dive on her, rip off her modest little tee, feel the curve of her small breasts, the way she’d writhe against him. To soften the thin line of her mouth and the look of distrust in her eyes, replace it with desperate want.

Kai hauled in a breath. “It’s you I’m interested in.”

Wariness intensified in her gaze. “Why?”

“I don’t know.” He laughed shakily. “It was you, wasn’t it? In the water, near the caves.”

“Maybe.”

“You remember, right? Two weeks ago?”

“Maybe.”

Gods damn it, she was as tight as a clam. “Do you ever say more than one syllable?”

“That was two.” Her lips twitched. Was that a flicker of a smile? “Don’t take it personally. My friends complain too.”

“That you’re monosyllabic?”

“More or less.”

Kai chuckled. “So if I manage to get a whole sentence out of you, I should congratulate myself?”

“Yep.” She held up her glass and they clinked, and it felt so much more intimate than it should. Kai chugged back his drink, the vodka burning his throat.

He was even more determined now to crack through her shell.

“Let me try and get a conversation out of you.”

“Good luck.” But he liked the way she smirked into her drink, her mouth hitching up at one corner.

“Okay.” He huffed. “What do you do for a living?”

“Work on the docks. Packing in the warehouses.”

Kai hid his surprise. “But… aren’t you human?”

“Yep.”

“So how come you’re working in the East Quarter?”

He’d never heard of a human working on the east side of Motham. Industrial jobs would be considered beneath them. The few progressive humans who did work in Motham hung out in the commercial Hole in the Wall District, in professional roles.

She shrugged again. “Long story.”

“I sense you’re not planning to tell me.”

She made a gun firing gesture with two fingers. “You got it.”

Kai pushed his luck. “Give me the short version.”

She cast him a surprised look, then another little smirk made her cheeks bunch. Made her almost pretty. “I got stuck here as a kid. Needed money. Got a job on the docks.”

“You got stuck here. How come?”

“Mislaid my family. “

“How?”

He sensed her stiffen. She slugged back her drink before answering. “I don’t talk about what’s gone.”

“How about what’s to come?”

“Not that either. My turn. How come you’re The Chosen this year?”

Kai smothered a grin. “Why should I tell you?”

“Cos I asked.”

“After your rather mediocre performance, I’m inclined to give you one-word answers.”

She shrugged. “I’ll piece ’em together.”

He grinned. “My whole story was on the screen earlier. Were you here for it?”

“Yeah, I saw it.” She skimmed her eyes down his body and her gaze lit up his synapses. “Didn’t really believe it though.”

“Why not?”

“It was too good to be true. Life isn’t like that.”

“Mine has been.”

“Liar.”

As her eyes panned his body a second time, he felt his damaged tentacles moving beneath the skin. A dull ache running through the scar tissue.

What was this girl doing to him?

He shifted to ease the tension, sank back some more vodka and then, looking around, saw a bevy of monsters heading toward them with intent in their eyes.

Her eyes followed his gaze. “Shit. I’m out of here,” she muttered, and to his dismay she turned and darted toward the back exit of the club.

He should stay. Meet and greet and show himself off to the cameras.

This girl would only lead him into trouble. Big trouble.

Kai slammed down his glass and followed her.