“She’s Lila, you asshole, and the boss men are her grandpas. So kindly take your fucking hands off my mate, Nikos.” Caspian’s voice comes from off to the side, and when I turn, I find him in front of the platform but still in the water. His tentacles shoot out of the water, wrapping around Nikos and dragging him backward. Unfortunately, with Nikos still having a hold on me, I get pulled along with him.
“Caspian, stop, please!” The scream escapes my mouth, and Caspian immediately stops what he’s doing just before we go tumbling into the water. Nikos loosens his grip and moves back, holding up his hands in surrender while looking contrite.
“Caspian, my apologies. I had no idea that you had taken a mate.” I slap at his hands, noticing that they’re a little too close to my breasts. “I just saw a stranger in my pool, and I reacted.”
“You didn’t even stop to ask!” I growl at the merman as he flops his way back into the pool, leaving me on the ramp.
“Why did you bring her to your home?” Caspian growls as he swims closer to the ramp, one of his tentacles shooting up to wrap around my ankle, caressing it.
Nikos’ eyes widen in surprise as I giggle when the tentacle strokes my skin. “Well, I figured anyone who was stupid enough to swim in my pool was offering themselves to me. It’s been a long time since I had a chance to be with a woman of another race. Could you blame me for making the assumption?” He looks embarrassed now, and I feel a little bad for the guy.
Caspian grows in size, just enough to give him a more looming presence, and wraps a tentacle around Nikos’ waist before picking him up and throwing him across the room. “You idiot! You must invite women to have sex with you these days. Kidnapping and ravishing is no longer appropriate,” he shouts as the merman splashes down into the water.
Kidnapping and ravishing. Damn, doesn't sound too bad to me. I squirm slightly with the thought. Caspian’s eyes shoot to me, and they widen in surprise as he breathes deeply, a small grin crossing his face. His tentacle around my ankle drags me toward him, but this time I allow myself to go. I drop down into the water, and he drags me close to his body, wrapping his arms around me. “You are a curious, lusty wench, aren't you?” he whispers to me as he nuzzles into my neck. “Well, your merman curiosity is going to have to wait until another day. We have to introduce you to my beast. It’s all I can do to hold him back at the moment, and we also need to see if you can shift.”
Nikos is silently brooding from where Caspian threw him, but there’s curiosity on his face as he watches my and Caspian’s easy affection.
“I’m going to have to take you back through the tunnel to give ourselves more room. Close your eyes underwater since I’ll be going fast.” He shifts me onto his back, placing my arms around his neck. One of his tentacles wraps around my waist, anchoring me to him, and with a wave to the silent sulky merman, I take a deep breath before my mate plunges under the water.
He shoots through the water at a rapid pace. When we get to the end of the tunnel, he moves toward the surface so I don't have to worry about breathing. Very quickly, we breach the surface, and I gulp in another breath of air as he swims us to an open platform with large sun lamps sitting over it. He helps me onto it, his tentacles caressing my ass as I climb, and a snort escapes. Playful, flirty Caspian might be my favorite Caspian so far.
“The mermaids need sun to keep their scales in pristine condition in both their mer form and their animal form. They use this platform for sunbathing.”
The lamps aren’t on at the moment, but he sees me looking at them. “They come on at a certain time, but you wouldn't be able to sit under them anyway. The sun from their planet is a lot hotter than the one from Earth. It’s why the water in the pool is warmer too.”
His tentacles slip away, but he stays half out of the water. “Okay, the shifting process is very easy. Or it should be. When we mated, it should have added the shift gene to your DNA. Once you see my beast, all you have to do is picture yourself doing the same thing and will it to happen.”
I can’t help but roll my eyes. It feels a little like when someone who can actually draw tries to explain something to the artistically challenged. Yeah, it’s simple if you’ve actually got the talent. Otherwise, you wind up with a stick figure who looks vaguely suicidal. “Sure, sounds easy,” I say back, but his narrowed eyes tell me the sarcasm is coming through loud and clear.
“Careful, baby. Naughty girls get spanked if they push their boundaries.” I squirm at the thought of Caspian spanking me.Yes, please! Sign me up.
He chuckles, but there’s heat in his eyes too. Hedidsay something about fuck me pheromones, so it’s not like this is my fault. “Concentrate, Lila, I can’t hold my beast back any longer, sorry.” And with that, his eyes change, and in the same flash of magic that I saw when he transitioned into half-form, his whole body follows suit.
When the flash of magic clears, my mouth drops open. Caspian has tripled in size, and although he’s similar to an octopus, he’s got a large mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. How do I know, you might ask? Well, his beast is apparently so excited to see me that he lets out a platform-shaking roar, showing off those deadly beauties.
When he finishes roaring, his tentacles shoot out and wrap around me, dragging me into the water. My heart races as he lifts me up, pulling me close until he’s nuzzling my whole body. Little purring sounds start to vibrate from him when he gets to my belly, and all I can do is stroke his big head as he coos and chirps and strokes me. It’s actually kind of relaxing, and I find myself beginning to doze off until he decides to put me back on the platform
He waves his tentacle at me as if to say “your turn.” Oh crap, he wants me to try and shift. The big lug is just so excited that I know I can’t disappoint him by refusing to try. Okay, I gather an image of what he looks like in my mind, making sure I have the right amount of tentacles, then I will it to happen. I swear I must look like I’m constipated or something because the beast starts to make a funny sound, kind of chuffing like he’s laughing at me. I flip him off but try not to push so hard, thinking that maybe it should be more natural. There’s a tingling all over, and whoosh, that flash of magic happens to me.
I can feel my body rearranging itself; it’s the weirdest sensation ever, but it doesn’t hurt, and before I know it, I unbalance and tip over, slamming to the ground. Looking down, I have managed a half shift. My clothes are gone, and I’m naked from the waist up, my skin a lighter version of Caspian’s mottled blue and purple. From the waist down, I’m a mess of writhing tentacles. Holy crap. Why didn't I shift all the way? I swear I had a picture of the beast in my mind. Damn it!
Using my tentacles, I lift myself upright. They kind of work like legs in the sense that you don't even have to think about making them move, they just do. I shift myself toward the edge of the platform but hesitate before I drop off. How am I going to breathe underwater? Does it just happen?
Even Caspian’s beast must understand the indecision I’m feeling because he shifts back to half-form and swims over to me. “Look at my pretty mate, all those beautiful tentacles,” he crows as he takes me in. “Come swim with me, baby.” He holds out a hand, but I still hesitate.
“Why didn't I shift into a beast? That’s what I was aiming for.” He shrugs, that same pleased expression still on his face. I guess he and his beast don’t mind which form I can take so long as I can come swimming with them.
“I’m not sure, but maybe it’s for the best. Quite often, the female kraken likes to eat their mates, so I’m more than glad for you to not get that beastly instinct. We can try again another time.”
“How do you breathe underwater?” I ask him, not seeing the gill slits until he turns and angles his neck for me.
“They only appear once you get in the water. Come on, yours should do the same.” I slide gracefully into the water, at least as gracefully as I can, and my tentacles instinctively propel me toward my mate. Once I get to him, they automatically tangle with his, wrapping us together. His arms do the same, and before I know it, his mouth is on mine and he’s kissing me like I’m the very air he breathes.
Moaning, I pull back as the sweet taste of Caspian floods my mouth. “Oh my god! You really can taste through your tentacles.” He chuckles. I try to fuse my mouth back to his, keen to continue what we’re doing, but he pulls away and grabs my hand.
“Come on, let’s swim.”
He drags me under the water, giving me no choice but to go with it. He’s stronger and bigger than me in this form. Closing my eyes, I let him pull me along, holding my breath for as long as I can until I eventually need to take in more oxygen. I start to panic and pull against him, but he must have known this would happen. Instead of feeding into my anxiety, he just wraps everything around me and we hold still.
