Prologue
Kert
Marin wrapped me in his tentacles, squeezing me in a tight, heated embrace. He kissed the breath out of me, his tongue dancing with mine in a desperate and needy rhythm. I moaned, arching into his touch as his tentacle entered me on a slow glide, filling me, stretching me for him. With the whisper of his name on my lips, I threw my head back. He placed tiny kisses on my neck, my jaw, then flicked my lip ring with his tongue.
He would ruin me. And I wanted him to.
His tentacle continued to move back and forth inside me, the suckers teasing my hole with every glide. In an overwhelmingly glorious way, he was everywhere at once, cradling my body and fucking me like there was no tomorrow. Urging his tentacledeeper into me, I gripped my cock, and within several strokes, I came all over my hand and chest.
The squeak of the door handle ripped me out of my fantasy.
I startled and hid the toy I’d been playing with under my pillow.
The door opened, and the streak of light from the corridor blinded me. I squinted against it, watching my best friend and roommate enter. Going by the disheveled state of his black and purple hair, he must have had a night of debauchery. He used the two tentacles at his sides to navigate the room and lock the door from the inside.
With a quiet sigh, I closed my eyes, pretending I was asleep.
A tentacle grazed my cheek in a feather-like touch, lingering.
“Goodnight, Kert.” Marin’s whispered tone filled me with warm fuzzies along with the guilt over what I’d just done, knowing that I would do it again. Too bad my straight, hot-as-sin bestie would never make my fantasies come true. To protect our friendship, I’d have to make sure he’d never find out about them.
The bed squeaked, and Marin climbed on the top bunk above me.
I forced myself to stay awake until his breathing evened out. Right on cue, his tentacle slipped over the rail. I grabbed it and snuggled my cold face to the warm, silky flesh, then fell asleep within seconds.
Chapter One
Marinos
December 1st, nine years later.
The cardboard sign I was holding squeaked against my sweaty fingers. I was standing in the arrivals section of John F. Kennedy International with my heart in my throat and my eyes peeled wide for any trace of my best friend.
Kert would come through the door any second, and I’d see him in person for the first time in four years.
I wrapped my tentacles around my waist to calm my rumbling stomach. Who cared about eating when you were picking up your bestie from a nine-and-a-half-hour flight from Berlin? Not me. Sure, we’d been texting and chatting over video, but meeting face-to-face was a whole new ballgame.
An older white couple passing me spared a glance of interest at the tentacles sticking out of my sides, but didn’t stop to stare. Residents of NYC were too busy to be bothered by others not in their way, but more importantly, the city was so packed with a mix of people of all preternatural origin that it was easy for me to feel like I didn’t stick out too much. Cryptids had been out for centuries, but some people were still learning to overcome prejudice. The political parties and movements trying to put us all back into the monster closet hadn’t helped, but we’d always been fighting for our rights and that would never stop.
Thankfully, over the past years, I had carved myself a tiny space in the welcoming city, and now I was more than ready to show it to my best friend.
I smoothed my messy hair with my hand, nearly dropping the sign, then lifted the thing higher as if that would lure Kert out faster.
Well, shit. It worked.
His smile hadn’t changed—lighting up his face when he caught me waving my cardboard sign with his name on it. His horns were different, though—they used to be filed short, but now they curled up and back over his black hair. A snowflake-patterned crop top peeked from under an open thick parka as he waltzed like he’d just stepped off the set of a pop music video. The sliver of abdomen on display showcased his crimson skin and shiny belly button piercing.
“Marin!” Kert shouted, pushing a cart with two huge-ass suitcases on it. Despite his slim frame, he was stronger than he looked, marching on with not a bead of sweat on his forehead.
“You’re finally here!” I dropped the sign and opened my arms and tentacles in welcome. All three of my hearts pounded like crazy.
Kert jumped into my embrace, wrapping his legs around my waist. His natural scent wafted into my nose, and I inhaled thealmondy-marzipan smell of his skin. It took me straight back to those late nights we’d huddle together to watch a movie from a laptop in our dorm room.
“Hallo,stranger.” He kissed me on the cheek and jumped off. When he didn’t use words in his native German, his accent sounded as American as my ear could pick up, considering my own Greek twang.
I unloaded his heavy suitcases off the cart. “You must be tired. We could go to my place and—”
“Oh no, I will not sleep until I see Times Square and have one of those hot dogs you told me about. Can you take me?” Kert rocked on his heels, giving me his dazzling smile, then flicked the hoop ring on his bottom lip with his forked tongue.
