And that was a thrill beyond anything she’d imagined.
She got rid of his pants and took him into her mouth, a long, slow swallow. Risk shivered beneath her skin. Moss’s fingers twitched. But he didn’t reach for her; he let her keep going.
Lips soft, she sucked him in, the points of her fangs a fraction of an inch from his cock. She ran her tongue over him. Teased him with the slightest hint of a bite.
He groaned so deeply she felt it in her bones. *Carol—*
She looked up at him, her shark senses piercing the gloom. They’d drifted far beyond the surface now, but the hint of light behind him still looked like a halo. His eyes were soft and full of wonder.
Slowly, fixing him with her eyes, she dragged her mouth down him. It was intimacy on a knife’s point, and she was holding the blade. How much longer could he hold on?
*Not long,*he admitted. Her thoughts had been too close to the surface again? *That’s right. Like flying fish. Couldn’t—ah—couldn’t miss them.*
His own thoughts were fraying like rope under tension, each unraveling thread burning with desire. *I don’t want you to finish me like this,*he admitted, rushing to get the words out before he lost all control. *I want to come inside you.*
Desire spiked between her legs. But—
*Don’t worry.*Iridescence ghosted over his dark eyes. *I haven’t forgotten my promise.*
Tentacles burst through the dark water all around him, winding around her arms and legs. She was pinned, spreadeagled. Moss rose above her—still haloed by the sun filtering from the surface far above, but with lust burning through the soft wonder in his gaze.
She couldn’t escape. The kraken’s shadow tentacles numbed her where they touched, but she could still feel their strength. He could move her any way he wanted and she couldn’t move at all.
And where the kraken’s tentacles were strong and unyielding, the octopus’s were dexterous and clever, exploring every inch of her bared skin and stealing beneath her clothing to find more.
One twined up her back, finding the catch of her bra. Another snuck under her waistband, echoing the way she’d teased Moss. It traced down the dip of her hip, caressing the top of her thigh with a touch that was light. Gentle.Infuriating.
And then Moss was only a few inches above her, cupping her chin in his hands. His kiss was cool water on a hot day. The peace before a wave crashed down.
He was a monster beyond what he’d always feared—not trapped in the kraken’s form, imprisoned far beneath the wavesand waiting the call to kill, but a chimera of everything shifter magic made him; man and octopus and kraken, in one strong, masterful form.
The first time she’d seen him she thought he looked like a god of the ocean.
And now he was.
Desire shimmered through her, a pulse that broke apart and reformed like quicksilver, gathering wherever he touched but he was touching hereverywhere.Heat bloomed across her skin and she kissed him deeper, hands tangling in his hair, chasing that shimmering electric thrill, chasingmore.
The bond between them glowed like the moon. Weightless in the water, he lifted her towards him, the touch of his cock between her thighs a wildfire that blazed through every other sensation.
All his tentacles tightened around her. His hands gripped her—and she held onto him with all she had, arms and legs and almost, almost teeth. His heartpulse was everywhere and all around her. She’d hunted him down, caught him.
And he’d lured her in.
Everything she was quivered in anticipation.
He pushed into her, no prep this time, only the exhilarating pressure of being filled inch by inch. She moaned, almost a yelp, the taste of salt bright in her open mouth and her throat, as his tentacles dug into her upper thighs. The numbness made what shecouldfeel burn even brighter, until there was nothing in her mind except the electric pulse of sensation. Touch. Thrust. Slide. A tentacle tickling beneath her ear, his kisses on her lips and her neck, his thighs like tree trunks thick and solid between hers, his cock and fingers and every other part of him coaxing pleasure from her body until she cried out wordlessly into the darkened sea.
Orgasms were supposed to end, weren’t they? But this one kept going on and on, each touch rekindling the swell of pleasure until they swept all thoughts from her mind. She was a single shivering thread of sensation, unwound and unbound, floating in the black.
The swell receded. She came back to herself, bit by bit, thoughts blinking like distant stars. And Moss was there, inside her and all around her. Holding her safe.
*I love seeing you lose yourself,*he confided, his whisper a prayer. *You always watch yourself so carefully. I love the fact that you trust me so much to let me do that for you.*
*You trust me too,*she reminded him. Putting words to her thoughts felt strange, like piecing together part of herself that was still content to drift beneath endless dark skies.
And it made it real.
*You trusted me when I turned up with a baby dragon and you had no way of knowing if I’d stolen her or not. You trusted me when I said I’d been attacked by shifters that nobody’s ever heard of, and when I told you they aren’t our enemy. You trusted me when I called the kraken, and you came to me. Even though you didn’t think you could stop it—stop yourself—killing all those people.*She touched a hand to his face. *I’ve spent so long making myself small and hidden, and you showed me I didn’t need to. I can lose myself with you because I know it’s safe to find myself again.*
