Caught by surprise, he jerked his head away; he’d seen Macy and Jax kissing but didn’t know they used their tongues.
Aymee followed him, taking advantage of his shock by flicking her tongue between his open lips.
Arkon dropped his hands to her legs, squeezing gently. Her taste was sweet. He tentatively sought her tongue with his. She stroked his mouth, explored it, and with every caress, he sank deeper into the kiss. Her sighs emboldened him.
This was seduction, sensuality, a mating of mouths; Arkon’s tenuous control slipped.
She stiffened and pulled mouth away. “Arkon!”
He recognized her alarm slowly, as though emerging from a daze, and opened his eyes just as his head — and Aymee’s immediately after — dipped underwater.
Her hold became desperate, arms and legs squeezing him with crushing force. He fanned out his tentacles and thrust them down, propelling himself back to the surface.
She sputtered, spraying water to either side as she shook her head, and raised a hand to sweep hair out of her eyes.
“Aymee! Are you all right?”
He turned his head to look back at her, eyes wide and shining with reflected moonlight. If he twisted any further, he’d spin them in circles.
Aymee burst into laughter at the mental image conjured by that thought — Arkon turning endlessly, trying to locate her as she spun along with him, perched in his blind spot. It reminded her of games she and Macy played when they were kids, giggling as they hid behind an adult who’d turn slowly and pretend not to see them.
His brow furrowed, and his mouth opened as though to speak. It was a moment before any words came out. “You’re…laughing? I don’t… What is amusing? You could have drowned.”
Arkon’s confusion only made her laugh harder. She shook her head and burrowed her face into his neck. “I’m fine. Really. I just…just need a minute.”
“Aymee?” he asked when her shoulders finally ceased their shaking.
“I’m fine,” she repeated, and took a few steadying breaths. When she lifted her head, her lips were curved into a wide grin. “Guess I kissed you senseless.”
His skin darkened, though the moonlight neutralized his color. “In the interest of honesty, I must admit to being…unfamiliar with such attentions.”
“I assumed as much.” She ran her thumb along his jaw.
He gently covered her hand with his own as his lips parted, allowing her a glimpse of his pointed teeth. They should have been disconcerting — Jax’s had been, when she’d first seen his — but they were simply another part of what made Arkon himself.
“Have you ever been with another?” she asked.
“Have I ever been with another? I am not sure that—” His eyes rounded. “You mean…?”
Aymee chuckled. “Yes.”
He flared his siphons, releasing a light spray of water. “Have you?”
“Hmm.” She leaned close and pressed her cheek against his again.
Aymee was bolder than most. Perhaps it was a result of working in the clinic for so many years? Sex was a fact of life to her, and it was easy to forget that not everyone shared so open a view. Her attitude was too forward for some people.
She lowered her hand and absently flicked the water with her fingers, watching the droplets disturb the shimmering surface.
“I wonder what you think of me,” she said softly, draping her arm around his neck in an easy embrace. “We barely know each other, you’re a kraken and I’m human, and yet…”
“Any discomfort I’ve expressed has been solely the result of my inexperience, Aymee. I have greatly enjoyed our time together.”
“I have, too.” Smiling, she sighed and closed her eyes, letting the serenity of the ocean’s song and gentle motion wash over her. “You’re the only one I would have trusted to bring me out here. I’m not like Macy. The sea has never called to me like it does her. Even after her sister drowned, I think part of her still wanted to come out here and feel all this.
“In a way, I fear it. I know what it’s capable of. But with you…” She opened her eyes and turned her head, taking in his profile. “I’m not afraid.”
“Even after I nearly drowned you?”
“Even after,” she said with a chuckle. “We should get back.”
He nodded and swam back toward the beach in silence. The rhythm of his movement was even more soothing than the rise and fall of the water. Soon, the waves swept them forward, carrying them effortlessly toward land.
As soon as the water was shallow enough, she unlocked her legs from his waist and lowered her feet to the sand. She kept her arms around his neck, steadying herself, as they emerged from the sea.
Sand squished between Aymee’s toes as she walked to the spot where she’d left her skirt. Arkon moved alongside her, his tentacles spread wider than usual; his stance reduced his height to something a bit more human.
“I know you asked me first,” he said, eyes downcast, “but…have you? Been with anyone?”
Aymee’s steps slowed. The faces of other men came to mind — all of them different now than they’d been, if only a little. Despite the way rumors typically spread through The Watch, her trysts had remained secret, even from Macy. Aymee wasn’t sure if shame or disappointment had kept her from telling her best friend. “Three.”
“Three,” he repeated, voice low and flat.
Aymee tensed and looked at him. What should she make of his response?
He halted and turned toward her, frowning deeply as he studied her face. “I have upset you.”
“Do you think poorly of me?” she asked.
His jaw muscles bulged, nostrils and siphons opening wide for a moment. “There is a sinking feeling in my stomach at the thought of you with another male, and I am envious of those men, even though I do not know them.”
Her eyes widened.
Jealous? He was jealous.
“But no, I do not think poorly of you.” He shook his head and tipped it back, looking up at the sky. “I have no right to feel the way I do. For a kraken female, three is…nothing. It was your choice, besides, and I cannot hold such decisions against you. My desire to tear the males you have been with to shreds is irrational, and quite unlike my usual self. I simply thought…Macy said humans choose once. Is that untrue?”
Warmth blossomed in her chest, spreading farther each word he spoke. She stepped closer, took his cheeks in her hands, and tilted his head down to meet his eyes. Silver moonlight bathed half his face, while shadow shrouded the other side save for the faint point of reflected light in his eye. The contrast strengthened his expression — jealousy, vulnerability, passion, and longing were writ upon his features.
She tucked this moment away in her memory; it would make a powerful painting.
Aymee stood on her toes, placed a light kiss on his lips, and moved back to sit on a rock near her skirt and sandals.
Arkon lifted his hand to touch his lips as though in disbelief. His chest swelled with a deep inhalation before he approached and sank into a squat in front of her.
“Macy’s not wrong,” she said. “Humans choose when they are ready to join with another. There’s more to it than sex, though, and once you make that choice, it’s meant to be forever.”
“Meant to be forever?”
“That’s the intention. But people just… I guess we just don’t always work that way. It’s great in concept. One person to share your life with, to share everything of yourself with…” The wind blew her drying hair into her face; she dragged her fingers through the curls, tugging them aside.
“You do not sound very excited by the prospect.”
The corner of her mouth quirked up. “I wasn’t.”
“But…you are, now?”
The hopeful note in his voice went straight to Aymee’s heart. She wanted to move closer, to touch him, to hold him, but she remained in place, staring silently at him until she forced herself to look away.
Take what you want. Take it all. Do not h
esitate, because it could all be gone faster than you can blink.
Maris’s words echoed in Aymee’s mind.
Hadn’t she done that already? Hadn’t she jumped headlong into taking what she wanted with those other men? It had never brought her fulfillment. Why would it be different with Arkon?
She couldn’t answer that question, but she knew she’d regret it for the rest of her life if she didn’t try.
“I was sixteen when I had sex for the first time. I’d heard whispers from other kids my age, and I’d learned some things from working in the clinic. I was curious.” She dropped her hands into her lap; the bare flesh of her thighs reminded her only then that she’d not yet pulled on her skirt.
“I didn’t think too hard about the decision. I just told one of the boys who was interested in me that I wanted to, and…we did. It was horrible. There were a few moments when it felt nice, but mostly it was painful.” She wrinkled her nose. “I knew there’d be pain the first time, but I guess I wasn’t prepared for how much. I just laid there, waiting for him to finish, and when it was over I felt…hollow. Afterwards, I got angry.”
“I…” Arkon sighed. “I understand the pursuit of curiosity, at least. What were you angry about when it was done?”
“I felt like I’d been lied to. That I shared my body and was left bereft. The experience was nothing like what I’d heard.” She rubbed a finger against her leg. “It wasn’t until a year later that I decided to try again, with a different guy. It felt a lot better, but there was always something missing. We got together a few times, but eventually, we both moved on.
“Then I started a fling with another guy a few years ago, until I found out he was seeing other women. And I didn’t feel anything. I wasn’t jealous, I wasn’t hurt. I just…didn’t care.” She frowned and stared down at her feet as she dug her toes into the sand. “I don’t regret any of it. I just wanted to know what it’s really supposed to be like. I just wanted to find that missing piece.”
Aymee smiled, kicking the sand. “Macy found it with Jax.”
“Perhaps you were simply…starting from the wrong place.”
“Or maybe I was looking too soon.” She lifted her gaze to him. Shadow obscured his features, his entire body silhouetted against the moons. “Do you believe in fate, Arkon?”
He was silent for a long while. “Sometimes, I do. It implies that the universe works in ways I cannot possibly understand — which is unsettling, if I pause to think about it — but none of us can understand everything.”
“I didn’t believe in it. But what were the chances of Macy meeting Jax? For her to have gone out on the water after avoiding it for so long, to get caught in that storm and swept out to sea at the exact moment he happened to be there?”
“Near impossible,” he replied. “And yet it happened.”
“It did.” She wished she could make out his darkness-clouded expression.
He moved closer. “And their meeting, whether fate or not, was the first link in the chain of events that brought you and me together.”
That increasingly familiar warmth sparked in her chest again. “It did.” Aymee would never have met Arkon if not for Macy and Jax. She glanced up at the sky. “It’s late. Is it safe for you to travel home, after dark?”
“There is no need to worry about me. Is it safe for you?” He turned his head and looked at the jungle, which was lit from within by countless glowing plants. The crease between his brows was visible now that the moonlight touched his face.
“I told you waiting wasn’t very smart of me.”
“But you didn’t say why.”
“It’s not very safe to go out at night. Especially in the jungle.”
He frowned before turning back to her. “Then I will accompany you, or you will wait here with me.”
Aymee pressed her thighs together and curled her hands into loose fists. “You’ll stay the night here with me?”
He reached forward and took one of her hands. “Without hesitation, Aymee.”
Her heart skipped, and she forgot to breathe for a few moments. The depth and meaning behind those simple words was too much to decipher. Once again, she thought of what Maris said that day in the square.
Squeezing his hand, she leapt up and pecked a kiss on his cheek before pulling away to gather her skirt. “Do you think this spot is safe enough from the tide?”
He seemed briefly dazed by the kiss; he visibly shook himself before tilting his head to study the ground. “The tide line is here,” he said, moving his hand horizontally to indicate a strip of ground about two meters away. “We’re above it, but it’ll get close.”
“Will we be okay through the night?” she asked, stepping into her skirt and pulling it on.
“Putting the near-drowning behind us…you’ll be safe with me.”
Aymee chuckled. “I didn’t doubt you for a second.” She sat on the sand and patted the ground beside her. “After hunting, I imagine you’re tired, too.”
Arkon slithered over and eased himself down. “I am accustomed to sometimes going days without sleep. It is often necessary for the hunt.”
“How long do they usually last?”
He lay back, putting one hand behind his head and the other over his abdomen. “A few hours; a few days. It varies greatly, depending on what we are hunting and where we go to find it.”
Aymee scooted closer and lay on her side next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. Arkon tensed; he’d said he wasn’t used to touching like this. Still, she wrapped her arm around his chest and held him. She couldn’t resist snuggling closer. “Today’s hunt was a quick one, then?”
Though he hesitated a few times in the process, he eventually slipped his arm around her shoulders. “Yes, relatively. I…must confess to some degree of impatience that fortunately sped it along.”
“Really? I thought you had great patience.”
Heat radiated from him, branding her arm where his hand rested. His claws lightly pressed against her through her blouse, fingers occasionally twitching as though he wanted to run them over her body.
“Apparently not when it comes to waiting to see you.”
She mockingly gasped. “Are you blaming me for your impatience?”
His skin darkened. “No, not at all. It is my fault, but I had been looking forward to our meeting so eagerly since the last time and—”
Aymee laughed and slid her palm over his chest. “It’s fine, Arkon.”
Her hand rose and fell as he inhaled and released a shaky breath. “I just want very much not to disappoint you, Aymee.”
She rubbed her cheek against him. “Perhaps it was fate at work again. If you’d been on time, we might not have shared this night together.”
“How do you always find the positive aspect of any situation? You waited here, alone, for hours.”
Aymee yawned. “I knew the time with you would be worth it.” She found his hand and laced their fingers together as much as his webbing allowed. “And I was right.”
He held their intertwined hands up, turned them slowly, and lowered them again. She was on the verge of drifting to sleep when he spoke, his voice low. “I have never mated with anyone.”
She smiled and kissed his shoulder. “I know.”
Chapter 8
Aymee’s brow twitched. A cool breeze wafted over her, tousling her hair and fluttering her clothes, and she shivered as it made its way up her skirt. The sound of waves was louder than usual, as though the entire ocean were in her bedroom. Inhaling deeply, she stretched. The weight on her lower body gave her pause.
A slow smile spread across her lips — the tentacles wrapped around her waist and legs, keeping her in place, belonged to Arkon. He held her in one arm, hand at the small of her back. Despite some stiffness after a night on the ground, there was nowhere else she wanted to be in that moment.
She opened her eyes. A faint, early morning glow tinged the sky, granting her vision of him outside the night shadows. His chest rose and fell wit
h his gentle breaths, and minuscule movements flickered through his tentacles and suction cups. The intimacy of their position sent a rush of heat spiraling through Aymee, creating a sudden, needy ache between her legs.
One of his tentacles shifted. Moving hesitantly, it slowly slid up along her inner thigh.
Her breath hitched. Arkon tensed.
“It’s okay,” she whispered.
His tentacle resumed its upward path, suction cups trailing whisper-kisses over her skin. Aymee fisted her hand against his chest and parted her thighs when the tip of his limb brushed her mound through her underwear.
Arkon shuddered. The tremor ran from his chest, through his arms, and along his tentacles, turning his light caress into a needful press. She caught her lower lip between her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. She lifted her pelvis toward him, seeking the ecstasy of his touch.
His trembling hand gripped a fistful of her shirt as he brushed the tip of his tentacle over her again and again, each stroke sending a thrill of pleasure through her.
It wasn’t enough.
She trailed her hand down, between their intertwined bodies, and slid it beneath her skirt. Her fingers moved over the smooth, soft skin of his tentacle before finally settling on her thigh.
Aymee paused, her tension and desire reaching new peaks with each passing second.
This is what I want.
Hooking her finger in the fabric, she tugged her underwear aside.
Arkon’s tentacle froze against her parted sex. The single, simple touch made her moan.
“Aymee.”
She’d never heard Arkon’s voice like that — a low, husky, desperate growl clawing up from his chest.
He withdrew his tentacle abruptly. Before she realized his intention, he released his hold on her and rolled away.
Aymee gasped as she tumbled onto the sand. Pushing herself up on her hands, she raised her head.
Arkon was upright, his back toward her, shoulders heaving with ragged breaths. The tension in his body exaggerated the definition of his muscles.
The Kraken Series Boxset: A Sci-fi Alien Romance Series Books 1-3 with Bonus Exclusive Short Story Page 40
