And she wanted the same thing for him. The ocean performed its slow dance all around them. His heart hammered beneath her hands, and she tensed her thighs and pulled him in close. Her body still sang with the after-echoes of her own orgasm; now she shepherded him along the edge of his. Closer, closer, but so slowly.
Moss groaned and let his head fall on top of hers. Every one of his limbs, human and monster, embraced her. *I love you,*hewhispered into her mind. *I don’t know how I ever lived without you. You found me when I thought I’d lost everything and have given me so much more. I want to show you every part of the world I know, and discover so much more with you by my side.*
Carol blinked. Behind his words, the kraken’s immense mind felt suddenly… at peace.
She understood.
Then he kissed her again, matching her excruciating slowness with his own movements, her over-sensitized nerves welcoming every touch. He thrust faster and harder, her hips snapping towards his and his hold on her preventing her from moving away. She would never have moved away. She wanted him, every part of him and every moment ofthis, pressure building in and around them both until the whole universe seemed to spin around them. He came inside her, claiming her with his mouth and his hands and his seed.
He hadn’t wanted to the last time. He’d still planned on leaving, then, and didn’t want to hold on to her in any way that was permanent.
But now? Was he still planning to lock himself away?
The question washed from her to him, and he raised his head, eyes dazed with satisfaction, hunger sated but also greater than before. He’d tightened his grip on her as he came. Maybe she would bruise. Another impermanent mark of the permanence they’d chosen with each other, like the tiny bites she’d left on his skin. A physical sign of the silver bond that held them together and would never, ever let them lose one another again.
*I’m yours,*he said simply. *I’m not going anywhere.*
49
Maggie
They’re coming back!
Maggie shrieked and shrieked until someone paid attention to her. That someone was Mathis, who thought she was hungry. She wasn’t hungry! They were coming back! Carol and Moss had been gone formillions of years,and everyone else was cooped up in the house being grumpy and serious, and now they were coming back andno one was listening to her.
She ate the snacks anyway, becausefood, and then got back to the very, very important job of being loud until someone did what she wanted.
Keeley picked her up to try and calm her down, and Maggie did her best impression of a spinning top until she took her to the window.There!Maggie wanted to shriek. Except, not reallythere, because they were still too far away to see.
She didn’t need to see them. She could feel them, the same way she’d felt the big dragon before he got too far away. But they didn’t feel like the big dragon. They felthappy.So happy it made her wriggle with joy.
“Prrp pppree pree PROOP,” she insisted, tugging on Keeley’s hair.
Keeley’s eyebrows drew together, and she called Lance over.
“She’s seen something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know—” Lance swore. Yay! He’d seen it too! “Can you feel that?”
Keeley turned her frown on him. “Feel what? Other than the tiny daggers in my scalp.”
“My snow leopard’s fur is standing on end. Whatever’s out there…”
“Let me guess. You’ve got a bad feeling about it?”
“That part of me does.” He stepped closer to the window as Keeley juggled Maggie onto one shoulder to dig in a cabinet. “Pass me those binoculars?”
“After I’ve had a look.” Keeley paused. “Holy shit.”
“What?”
“I think I know why your snow leopard has a bad feeling about this.”
She handed him the binoculars. Lance swore and called for the others to come over.
Maggie chittered happily. This was going to beso much fun.
