He hesitates. I have the hysterical thought that I’m going to have to teach this kraken what a clitoris is, but Thane doesn’t give me a chance to. Another tentacle slithers around my waist and down my stomach to my clit. He gives me an almost-tentative stroke, and then his expression goes hard. “Beg for it.”
I almost do. Almost. But I am who I am, and I’ve never submitted easily once in my life. “Make me.”
The tentacle reverses course. I cry out in protest, and he takes that opportunity to shove a different tentacle into my mouth. It doesn’t penetrate far. It certainly doesn’t hurt, but it shocks me all the same. He’s faintly salty on my tongue, his tentacles covered in the same vaguely rubbery skin as his torso. One of the small suckers pulls at my tongue, and I moan.
“It will feel even better on your clit.” The rough edge to his cold voice is the only indication that he’s affected by what he’s doing to me. He gives my tongue one last suck and eases his tentacle from my mouth.
I’ll fight him later. I need this too much right now. Words bubble up and escape so fast that they tumble over each other as they leave my lips. “Please. My clit. Do that to my clit. Make me cum.Please.”
He watches me for several beats even as he continues fucking me with one tentacle. I open my mouth to keep begging, but it ends up not being necessary. The tentacle he had in my mouth courses down my body. This time, there’s no hesitation as it slides against my heated flesh. I register that it slides better now that it’s wet with my spit and almost cum on the spot. “Thane!”
“Give it to me,” he snaps.
My brain wants to deny him for the sake of denying him. My body has other ideas. He twists one last time inside me and presses one of his suckers to my clit. It feels like a bomb goes off inside me. I scream, and my back bows as the entire room devolves into static. I’ve orgasmed before, of course. I’ve orgasmeda lot.
None of those past ones compare to this.
I think I actually black out a little. I’m vaguely aware of him easing out of me and pulling back the covers on the bed so he can tuck me in. All without touching me with his hands. I actually reach for him before I remember myself and let my hand drop to the bed.
“Consider us even, Catalina.” His voice still has that extra rasp of desire.
I watch him cross the room, but he bypasses the door. It’s only then that I realize there’s a pool in the corner of the room. Thane slips into it and disappears beneath the water. He doesn’t look back once.
All I want to do is sleep, but I struggle out of the comfortable bed and stumble to the edge of the pool. It’s an irregular shape that makes me wonder if it was carved out of the floor or if it’s a natural occurrence. I go to one knee and touch the water. It’s not freezing, but it’s definitely not a hot spring. The water is the same vaguely balmy temperature that I registered before Thane surfaced. It’s also clear. I peer down into it. There are several divots that might be for sitting or lounging, but the part that catches and holds my attention is the hole in the center descending into darkness.
That’s where Thane went.
I sit cross-legged and stare at it for a very long time. It makes sense that a place built for people who are part fish would have watery ways to move around. We’re on land, technically, but that doesn’t make much difference. I bet a lot of this place is actually underwater. Thane doesn’t seem to need to breathe air, so maybe he doesn’t surface often.
My bracelet catches my eye. It allows me to breathe underwater. Before I can talk myself out of it, I slip into the water. I take a breath and then submerge myself. It takes fifteen seconds for my instincts to start screaming that I need to get to the surface. Even braced on one of the underwater shelves, I’m achingly aware of that dark hole and what might come out of it.
If it connects to the greater sea... There are predators in the sea. There must be. It’s a different realm from mine, but I bet they have some equivalent to sharks or something like that. What’s to stop one of those predators from coming through the tunnels and trying to make a snack of me?
It’s not worth exploring.
After one last suspicious look at the tunnel, I pull myself out of the pool. The last couple days start catching up with me. Or maybe it’s the life-changing orgasm I just had. I’m not prepared to think too closely about that. Not yet.
Thane doesn’t like me. He may want me, but it’s blatantly reluctant on his part. Really, it doesn’t make any kind of sense why he even agreed to take me from Azazel in the first place. He doesn’t want a kid any more than I do, apparently, and he obviously has no intention of spending time with me. I heard the emotion in his voice when he talked about his late husband.Thatis caring. What he feels for me is responsibility.
I really am doomed to repeat history over and over, aren’t I?
My life fallsinto a strange new pattern over the next few days. I’m not a captive, locked away in my room, but Iamtucked away in a mostly deserted part of the keep. Embry comes by in a hurried kind of way to drop off clothing and let me know that food will be provided to my room, but if I need anything else, I have only to ask. Ze is really nice in that genuine way that is rarer than diamonds, but ze is just as obviously far too busy for me.
That doesn’t stop me from trying to keep zir with me a little longer on the second day. “Embry.”
Ze pauses. Embry is Thane’s sibling, and they share a lot of the same facial features, but ze is built a tiny bit leaner and zir’s skin leans green, rather than blue. I think ze might be taller, but it’s hard to gauge because the tentacles mean height is a relative thing. “Yes?”
“I’m bored.” It comes out whiny, but it’s been days, and the closest I’ve come to a proper conversation was some kraken-person telling me to get the fuck out of their way when I ventured down toward the kitchen. I’m trying not to take it personally, but I might as well tattoo Not Wanted on my forehead at this point.
Embry hesitates like ze wants to be anywhere but here, but zir good nature overrides zir desire to get out of this conversation. “Thane will come around.”
I snort. “I think you don’t know your brother that well if you think that. He doesn’t want this and he doesn’t want me.”
“Maybe not.” Embry shrugs. “But he’s not a bad guy. He’s given this territory everything, and that takes something from a person.”
“Like their husband.” A husband he obviously cared very deeply about if seeing Ramanu with a bracelet he made was enough to make Thane forget himself.
Embry gives me a disappointed look. “My brother lost the person he cared most about in the world that day. It’s not a joking matter.”