Her smile changed. It became flickering and sharp—not uncertain or anxious, but like a fish delighting in the play of moonlight on its scales. *Well?*
*Well what?*
*Was it right?*
Her fingers brushed his cheek, tracing a delicate line down his jaw to where his pulse thrummed in his throat. Every touch burned like ice.
*Is there more to life?*she repeated, and he would have had to be an idiot not to understand what she meant.
He was an idiot. About many things.
But not this.
He put his arms around her, weightless in the cool embrace of the ocean, and kissed her.
Here in his domain, with gills to match his mate’s, loaned from the octopus who’d come back from the dead for him, there was no need to stop to catch their breath. Moss took his time, exploring Carol’s lips with gentle care.
But there was no hiding the thrill that went through him when he found her teeth.
She tensed in his arms. *I’m not changing them back. I could, now. And I’ll probably have to, for normal life, but… they’re mine. They’re ME. If—if you’re not comfortable with that…*
*Don’t you dare change anything about yourself. I’ve spent every minute since I met you beating myself up for how hot I find your teeth.*He ran his tongue along the sharp points, and she gasped into his mouth. *And your eyes. Everything about you.*
*You like that I look like some sort of monster looming out of the deep?*
*I’d fucking love to turn around and find you looming out of the deep at me. Can’t think of anything better.*
*And my teeth?*The hint of vulnerability in her psychic voice made him want to hold her and never let her go. But the growing confidence?
That made him want to lie on his back beneath her and see how far that confidence would take her.
*Use them,*he told her.
A thrill of delight, sharp as sin and sweet as nectar, raced like lightning down the mate bond.
*Only if you use your tentacles.*
48
Carol
Despite everything, her heart quailed as she waited for Moss to respond.
He liked her teeth. Heliked her teeth.He thought they were hot. But had she pushed too far, revealing her own wants about his monstrous form?
The answer was a clear no.
Tentacles burst from his back, shadow-black and orange-spotted. They wrapped around her, binding her arms and legs. She gasped at the mixture of sensations. The soft strength of the octopus arms. The shadow tentacles like pieces of night coiled around her, numbing her skin where they touched and making the rest of her ache for more.
*Like this?*Moss asked, and her whole body flushed red with want.
The hunger that had frightened her last time roared stronger than ever. But this time she wasn’t afraid. She embraced it.
Because Moss wantedher.Exactly as she was.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and snapped him close to her, grabbing his face with both hands and kissing him likehe was the only oxygen she needed. His tentacles tightened, constricting—but if he wanted to hold her, he’d have to fight for it.
The same way she would fight for everything that was him.
