CHAPTER 28
Levi
The bakery bell chimes overhead as I duck inside, and even the warm embrace of sugar and fresh bread can’t lift my mood today. I school my expression, trying to bury the irritation that’s been my constant companion lately. Koko is not just a goddess; she’s also a friend, and it’s not her fault that everything has felt wrong since Rose left. Not just wrong – hollow. My skin no longer fits right, like a shell that’s grown too tight. Even my kraken form feels distant and disconnected for the first time in my life.
“Perfect timing!” Koko emerges from the back, looking impossibly pristine as always. Her golden hair is braided like a crown around her head, not a single strand out of place despite the heat of the ovens. She wears a floral dress that would look at home in a 1950s television show, complete with a ruffled apron tied in a perfect bow at her waist. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget she’s a goddess, but moments like this – when she looks like she’s stepped straight out of a vintage homemaking magazine,all grace and otherworldly perfection – remind me of exactly what she is.
Her smile is knowing, almost mischievous, but I’m too tired to puzzle it out.
“You said you needed me for something?” I manage to keep my voice neutral, though it takes effort. The past month has been endless – every morning without Rose feeling longer than the last. If not for this cursed connection to the ocean, I could be with her right now, learning to love her desert the way she learned to love my sea. Instead, I’m anchored here, limited to phone calls and the endless ache of missing her.
Koko’s smile widens. “Yes, and your timing is perfect.” She points past me toward the front window. “See for yourself.”
I turn, following her gesture, and spot Conall’s battered SUV pulling up outside. The ancient Ford groans as Conall unfolds himself from the driver’s seat – all six and a half feet of him, his red-brown beard wild and his flannel shirt stretched tight across shoulders broad enough to fell trees. He looks like the kind of person who wrestles bears for fun, but I know he rehabilitates injured birds in his spare time. However, I barely register him because the passenger door opens, and – I must be hallucinating – Rose steps out, looking tiny next to Conall’s mountainous frame.
I blink hard, but she’s still there. Still real. Stillhere.
“Go,” Koko laughs, but I’m already moving, already running. The bell nearly flies off its hook as I burst through the door.
Rose turns at the sound, her face lighting up, and then she’s in my arms. I lift her clear off her feet, breathing in the familiar scent of her shampoo, feeling her solid warmth against my chest. My heart seems to restart, everything clicking back into place – my skin, my breath, even my kraken half settling into contentment.
“What are you doing here?” I manage when I can speak again. “I thought you weren’t coming for two more weeks?”
She pulls back just enough to see my face, her eyes sparkling. “Koko called and offered to buy my ticket early.” Her voice drops to a whisper against my ear. “Did you know she was a goddess?”
I can’t help but chuckle. “Yeah. She saved my life once and welcomed me to Lublin Harbor. Almost everyone here is a magical creature of some kind, just to warn you. Koko seems to collect them.”
“Yeah, Conall told me he’s a bear shifter. I can believe it just based on his size.”
She laughs, her fingers playing with the collar of my shirt. “Lublin Harbor is full of surprises. A love goddess who bakes, a mountain man who turns into a bear…” Her eyes soften as she looks up at me. “A man who shares his soul with the sea.” She rises on her tiptoes, pressing closer. “I missed you.”
I catch her lips with mine, pouring a month of longing into the kiss. “God, I missed you so much.”
We thank Koko, who waves off our gratitude with that same knowing smile, and then we’re driving back to the marina. We barely make it through my door before falling into bed, making up for lost time with desperate hands and whispered promises.
Hours later, we emerge into the afternoon sunlight. Rose suggests a swim, and my kraken half surges forward eagerly – he’s missed her too. I grin at her and give her a quick kiss, then take a running leap off my houseboat deck. The moment I hit the water, the change takes hold – smoother than it’s been since she left, like slipping into a favorite coat. My human form melts away between one heartbeat and the next, limbs elongating into powerful tentacles and body expanding. I surface next to the dock, my head breaching the waves.
Rose squats down on the dock, running her hand over my head in a way that makes both halves of me hum withcontentment. “I missed this you too,” she says softly. “Even though I know you’re both the same Levi.”
I carefully wrap a tentacle around her waist, lifting her onto my back, where she belongs. Captain Orin spots us from his boat as we glide out of the marina.
“Thank god you’re back!” he calls to Rose, waving enthusiastically. “He’s been in such a mood without you; the whole town’s relieved you’re here!”
I click my beak at him in warning, but he just laughs while Rose giggles above me.
“So, what they say about small-town gossip is true, huh?” she asks, patting my skin. I tap her side once with a tentacle – ‘yes’ – and savor her laugh.
We spend hours playing in the open water, diving and surfacing, my tentacles cradling her safely as we explore. Eventually, we settle into our favorite position: Rose lying on her back atop me, trailing her fingers over my skin and tracing the old scars that she seems to heal with her touch.
The peace shatters when I feel it – an overwhelming presence that makes every instinct screamdanger. I wrap a tentacle around Rose’s waist, making her yelp in surprise as I prepare to flee. But before I can move, the water before us begins to rise.
Rose gasps as a mountain of flesh emerges from the depths. My heart pounds as I recognize him, even though I’d only ever seen him once, and I was delirious and half-dead at the time. Thalassor, the leviathan god himself. I know I can’t hope to defeat him, but maybe I can get Rose to the safety of Lublin Harbor, to Koko’s protection?—
“Be still, little kraken.” His voice resonates through the water, deeper than the ocean trenches. “I mean no harm to you or your mate. Indeed, I am pleased to see one of my children has found their true match.” His massive eyes, each bigger than myentire kraken form, fixes on us. “I have Mokosh to thank for her assistance in this.”
Rose’s hand presses against my skin, steadying herself as Thalassor continues.
“Your dying call woke me from a long slumber, and I am glad. The kraken needed my help –they had forgotten the old ways, forgotten that they need humans as much as humans need them. Although they are slowly getting better under my guidance and the king’s rule. Did you know your kind originated from my union with a human mate?”
