Osear,have mercy.
Neither of us can swim. It’s a surprise we didn’t drown.
I suspect the tentacled beast brought us here.
The kraken’s body moves up and down in shallow breaths, Dove’s body following suit. Relief washes over me. I didn’t want to be the one to tell the wolf she was dead. He would rip me in two. And I like her. She’s hard-headed and strong. I like the idea of us being allies beyond this mission. I see the catalyst for change within her, the exact makings of a Seraph.
Scooting closer, holding a small outcropping of rocks, I glide my smooth-scaled feet towards the human.
“Dove.” My whisper is a hiss. I try to wake her without stirring the large creature seemingly claiming her.
“Mmmm,” she hums before a racking cough makes its way up her throat. I go to cover her mouth with my hand.
It’s too late.
A tentacle squeezes tighter around her. Dove’s eyes pop open, and she hacks up the whole ocean, a stream of water coming out.
I go still, crouching before her, very aware the real threat has her body in a vice grip, large suckers securing themselves to her exposed skin.
“Dove?” I question.
Flickering eyelids gradually open, only to flutter closed again.
I sigh, looking past Dove towards the body of the kraken, shaped like a circular blob of dough with eight snakes hanging off it. The imageryalmost makes me want to laugh until I find two shining white eyes staring back at me. It doesn’t touch me. However, I do perceive a silent understanding.
Don’t hurt me, and I won’t hurt you.
“Fine,” I mumble, sitting next to Dove and the kraken. I succumb to my new fate.
As long as it doesn’t try to kill us, I’m willing to accept a truce. I can admit when I’m not the strongest one in the room.
twenty-eight
Dove
Wakinguptoasplitting headache and a dry throat is not my idea of a good time. In fact, it’s happening way too often.A dangerous chill creeps through my whole form. Trying to sit up, I find myself weighed down by something thick and heavy, banded around my waist.
My natural instinct is to push at it. It’s probably just Rivern’s arm pinning me to his side. However, my back is not meeting warm, soft flesh.
That’s concerning.
Opening my eyes,I find myself in the pitch-black.Damn these human senses. I need to ask Fury for night vision.
I tug on the arm that has me strapped down. It won’t budge. If anything, it’s taking my skin with it, like they are connected.
What is going on?
“Mine,”an otherworldly sound drifts through my mind. Not lilting like Rivern’s voice or smirking like Fury’s words.
This is new.
The tiny hairs covering my arms rise, my skin prickling all over.
“Who is that?” I whisper into the void of darkness.
“You are mine.”Another tentacle comes to grip my ankle and slowly moves upwards. I freeze as it glides closer to my inner thigh.
“Hey, stop that.” I push at the tentacle moving under the scrap of material still thankfully covering my lower half. Moyrie and Gideon might be comfortable roaming foreign lands naked. I am not.
