The man morphs into Tommy right before my eyes.
It doesn’t matter how many times I tell myself it can’t be him. My mind is certain it is.
It’s him.
4
Ordus
My mate is distressed. I must fix it.
Her chest rises and falls with panicked breaths, dark eyes wide with panic as she stumbles away, fists trembling at her side.
Claws protrude from my nails as I search the street for danger. My sights land on a nearby man smoking a cigarette as he stares at a square device in his hand.
Shall I kill him? Will that make her feel better?
“What is wrong? Speak to me.” My attention catches on the black brace wrapped around her wrist. Fury explodes through me, white and searing. Someone harmed her after she left her den. She wasn’t wearing it at the beach yesterday, or during the brief moment I was blessed enough to catch her departing her cabin.
I had to barter with Vasz again to convince him to locate her. It was not my intention to have this interaction, but I could not resist the urge to come near her.
It’s fortunate I did, because my mate needs me.
I step forward, raising my arms to touch her. My fingers still tingle from the memory of her soft flesh beneath my skin. It was an effort not to shift to my true form to taste her with my suckers.
Even now, I’m fighting my primal instincts not to act on my urges. I want to nuzzle my face into her neck, lick her frantic pulse, memorize every inch of her small human body with my limbs.
My fate-sent mate flinches away from me, staring up with her arm poised in defense, as if I’m a monster. Daggers pierce my hearts. She’s looking at me like the others do, which can’t be right. That’s not how mates are.
I will kill whoever made her upset. Man. Woman. Another kraken. They’ll die.
I will thread shells into his entrails and gift them to her so she may decorate our nest.
Yes. That is an excellent courting present.
It will prove I am a strong mate, capable of protecting and avenging her. My mate will be the one thing I do right in my life. I failed to protect my siblings, failed to save the waters.This, I will prosper at. I must.
“Your hand. Tell me who harmed you,” I demand, speaking in the tongue both visitors and locals often speak.
The fear slips from her face, and she blinks up at me in wonder.
My mate is even more beautiful up close, with big brown eyes framed by long, curling lashes that kiss her sharp cheeks every time she blinks. Her tapered jaw ends in a point I want to press my lips to. I could spend years staring at her, and I would never be bored.
I am the luckiest male to have ever existed to have found such a perfect mate. I am certain, without a shadow of a doubt, she will be the one to end the blight over my lands.
There is no other option. She is the one. Shemustbe the one, or else no creature will survive the Dead Lands.
Her sweet face contorts and her scent burns, directed at me. My claws recede into human form, and my stomach twists with unease. Is my mate…angry at me? That cannot be right. She should be feeling joy, excitement, elation, all good emotions at discovering I am her mate. Is she unwell?
Just moments ago, her arousal scented the air as she took in my small human form. I even puffed my chest for her. My human had found me worthy. She wished to mate me, have my children, become my bride.
But now, I am…confused. She does not want me? That’s not possible. The Goddess chose me to be her mate.
There must be a threat I am not seeing.
“You’re asking a lot of questions for someone who has no business asking me anything,” she snaps. Her voice is better than a siren’s song. I want her to keep talking and never stop.
Yet, her eyes harden, and her lips curl into a sneer. At…me?
