Jason.
His long forehead was creased, his skin a deeper greenish blue in the overhead lighting, and his tentacles spilled out of his side of the booth.
I whipped toward Ursuline. “You contacted Jason?”
“Hope that’s okay,” they said, their dark eyes scrutinizing me.
Joy burst inside me at the familiar face. I’d wanted to talk to him, explain where I’d disappeared to, but I also hadn’t wanted him to know the threats my family had made.
He looked up, and those dark, sharklike eyes settled on me. A faint grin rose on his lips, which for him was the equivalent of beaming. “It’s been a bit, Elrich.”
“Can I have a hug?” I blurted out once we neared him, and he rose from his seat and outstretched his tentacles. They curled around my shoulders, brought me a few steps closer, and squeezed me tight to him. Heat burned in my eyes, tears of relief that my friend hadn’t forgotten me. That he still cared.
My choice to protect him had been the right one. I’d known it back then, and I was reassured of it now.
“Ursuline contacted me,” Jason said as he let go. The fact he’d offered a hug in the first place was nothing short of a miracle.
Ursuline slipped into the seat opposite Jason and patted the spot next to them. I slid in at once, and they curled their tentacle around my shoulders. The touch they so readily offered made me swoon. I’d never been on the receiving end of anything this constant in my life.
I met their eyes. “Thank you.”
They offered a wan smile, so I leaned back into the seat, their tentacle securely around me. Jason stared between us, his expression unreadable, but he wouldn’t judge.
“So, the Triton family?” Jason did ask, breaking the quiet.
I wrinkled my nose. I wanted to tell him the truth, but I didn’t want him feeling guilty for my choice or what my family tried to do.
“Not by choice.” Ursuline stepped in for me. “Society pulling their usual chess moves.”
Jason let out a low grumble.
A waitress swung by, a brunette with a long braid and a sharp expression. “What can I get you to drink to start?”
“The Elixir for me,” Ursuline said, then glanced to me. “Tea?”
I nodded, warmth spreading through me that they knew what I preferred. I shifted in my seat, the cock cage keeping my lengthtightly contained. The mere movement made my balls throb. Sitting beside them was a different sort of torture with this constant reminder—not only that my cock belonged to them but the memory of what their mating tentacles could do to me.
“The Elixir?” I asked, curiosity striking me as I skimmed over the menu. Like before, it fascinated me to see human menu items like meatloaf alongside seaweed and krill salad and blood and carrot soup.
“It’s a specialty for oceanic folks,” Ursuline said. “A brine smoothie filled with nutrients from the sea. It’s the sort of thing we’d normally get from living in New Atlantis, but for those of us who spend more time on land now, it helps balance our diets.”
“Can I try some?” I asked, curiosity filtering through me. All the differences between monsterkind and humans fascinated me.
“Sure, sunshine,” they said, an amused smile on their face.
“A new development?” Jason asked, glancing between the two of us.
I swallowed hard and glanced to Ursuline. I wasn’t sure how much they wanted to say, even though with their tentacle wrapped around my shoulders, they clearly didn’t mind PDA.
“As much as it can be,” Ursuline responded.
Jason nodded and sipped at his coffee. Like always, he wasn’t chatty, but his presence was a solid weight I’d missed. He’d been a refuge when I needed one the most, the monster who’d taught me to unlock the passion for art that’d been brewing inside me my whole life.
“Have you worked on any new pieces?” I asked Jason.
His small smile hinted he had. “A few for an upcoming show. And you?”
“Yeah,” I said, heat rising to my cheeks. Most of my latest pieces had been inspired by one person—the one sitting right beside me. Creativity had flowed, whether from moonlit swimsto the melody of the music they played or from the sheer pleasure of their competence in the way they’d taken me apart. “It’s about all I’m doing now that I’m stuck milling around the Triton residence.”
