Chapter 15
Luna sank into the bathtub and surveyed her bruises.
That one was when he…
This one…
Her chest had red welts across it from the impact of his tentacles, but she’d hardly felt any of it at the time. The fight was a big blur of moving parts; all she remembered vividly was coming to with Kai’s mouth covering hers, breathing for her, with her.
Then his tentacle pushing her to the surface.
To victory.
Afterward, she’d just wanted to find him, ask him what the fuck had happened back there, but of course she’d had to attend her own victory celebrations. Somehow, with Marrick by her side she got through the formalities, but as soon as she could, she’d excused herself, gone to the change rooms and squeezed herself out of the tiny window. She’d searched everywhere around the empty stadium, but there was no sign of Kai. Or Shen. Or any of the kraken support team. Had they already left? Gone back to Thedaka?
Eventually she’d wandered dejectedly toward the jetty, hoping to see him there. But no. In the end all she could do was go home. There was only one water taxi on the docks, Wyatt and his stinky old selkie fishing boat. She disliked Wyatt intensely. He was the antithesis of his brother Noah, was often drunk on cheap ale, and was known around town as a real user. He wasn’t to be trusted, but he was the only guy who could get her home. She was too tired to walk over the bridge to the marshes. Too demoralized.
So much for the elation of winning. Huh.
And of course, Wyatt had charged her too much, the schmuck. “Congratulations, darlin’.” He’d made a pass with a flipper as she pulled out her wallet, his breath foul and heavy with alcohol. She’d paid him and hopped off the boat faster than a school of fish being chased by a shark. “Those tentacled tossers have had their day,” he called after her. “Two fucking years in a row they’ve lost. We’ll be able to get our boats into deeper waters now.”
“Never goin’ to happen,” she grunted.
He’d shrugged, grinning. “Tween humans will be happy to know one of their own won.”
That got to her. She turned and spat out, “I’m not one of them.”
Gods, the last thing she needed was to be lauded as a hero by high breeds. Her shoulders slumped with relief as she saw his battered old boat heading back toward the docks.
Alone now, in the bath, nursing her wounds, she tried to make sense of why Kai would have let her win. Did this mean he was willing to help her? Or was he just going to disappear into the ocean and renege on that?
Urghh, the situation was so confusing, her feelings for him even more so. And she hated feeling confused. Anger, sadness, loneliness, she could handle all of them. But not these mixed-up emotions she had for Kai.
She pulled herself together.
Okay Luna, plan.
The prize money. She wouldn’t accept it. She’d return the cup in exchange for a meeting with the clan’s elders. She’d renounce the win. Say she cheated. She rubbed her forehead. There were the logistics of a meeting to consider. She’d heard it said that many of their clan elders had never walked on land.
But how would she manage to talk to them down there?
Idiot. She’d had a crackbrain plan and now that it had come to fruition, she had no fucking idea how to execute it.
Suddenly all her revenge fantasies seemed nothing more than hot air, evaporating in the steam around her.
Gods, she wasn’t a winner, she was a loser. Through and through.
Edith had always called her that. Well, Edith was right, she was a loser, a stupid dumb loser of a lost human. In fact, she’d probably end up like Edith, eating the little bony fish that floated into the marshes, barely making money from badly made shell pots. Bitter and alone.
Hah! I’m bitter and alone now. What’s the fucking difference?
With a groan, Luna sank lower in the warm water and stretched out her sore limbs. At least the claw bath she’d found on the side of the road a few years back was big enough to fully recline in. Drown her sorrows in. She couldn’t remember being in this much pain, physically or mentally, in years…
It was true what they said, wasn’t it? Be careful what you wish for.
And then, damn it, she thought of another way those kraken tentacles had wound around her, giving pleasure, not pain. And how good that had felt… so fucking good.
A prickly feeling hit the back of her throat and eyes. What, was she going to cry now? She never cried.
The sound of something brushing against the window startled her. There was only water this side of the house. Outside her bathroom, the marshes gave way to the deeper waters of the river. Marsh critters didn’t tap on the glass. They slid in, sure, when she left the window open, but they never asked.
Tap tap.
There it was again.
Kneeling in the bath, Luna put her face to the window, cupping her hand against the glass. And screamed.
Two dark eyes hovered mere inches away. An exquisitely shaped face, luminous blue in the moonlight.
What. The. Fuck.
A hand came up and motioned for her to open the window. Stupid as it was, she tried to cover her tits with one hand while opening the rusty window with the other. When it did finally give, she nearly fell straight out and into Kai’s embrace.
She righted herself, grabbing the window ledge. “How the hell did you find me?”
“I followed you. When you left in that selkie’s water taxi.”
“Making a habit of stalking me, are you?” Stupid dumb happiness at seeing him made her brusque.
“Just thought I’d come and help you celebrate.”
“Yeah, right. If you can call a bath to ease my bruises celebrating.”
“I’ve got a fair few of my own.” He smirked. “And a very bruised ego after tonight.”
“Well, um, thanks. For doing what you did,” she said gruffly.
For a second they just stared at each other. “We need to talk,” Kai said.
“I tried to find you before I left,” she muttered, “but you’d disappeared.”
“I was getting a good dressing down from Shen. Now is really our only chance.”
“W-why?”
“I leave tomorrow, crack of dawn.”
Her heart dropped, way more than it should. “That soon?”
“Acha got the hell out of Motham when he was defeated. Two years of losing in a row, and I’ve got a truckload to answer for.”
“Guess you better come inside then,” she said, trying to sound grudging, even though her heart was racing.
Without a word, he jumped out of the water and flipped himself up onto the window ledge. Hauled himself in on his arms and swung his legs over in one easy move. He was in pure human form, Luna noted. Maybe he didn’t want her to see where she’d inflicted harm on him.
And then, to her utter surprise, he dived into the bath. Water gushed everywhere, overflowing onto the old linoleum. Luna lost her footing and skidded into the bath with him, legs and arms flying, and her pussy practically riding up into in his face.
Grabbing the side of the bath, she righted herself.
Kai chuckled. “Well… this is kinda cozy.”
Half laughing, half cursing, Luna scrabbled madly to vacate the bath and grabbed a towel. And then, well, just look at him… cheeky kraken. As if he belonged right there, Kai took over the bath, leaning his head back against the enamel and stretching out with a big sigh in the warm water.
There he lay, resplendent and blue, with just a pair of teeny tiny shorts on, the bulge in them hard to tear her eyes away from.
“Hmmm, this is nice. I’ll come out all peachy.” He huffed out a sigh. “What’s in it? Smells good.”
“Aromatherapy oils. Lavender and rose geranium.” Luna wound the towel tighter around herself.
When he closed his eyes, she couldn’t help feasting on the sight of him. He actually looked exhausted, the blue skin pale and drawn over his high cheekbones, shadows under his long almond-shaped eyes. She could detect the lines of pain around his mouth.
“You can release your tentacles if that would help.”
He cracked open an eye. “Do I trust you?”
“W-what?” Did he think she’d jump his bones? Tempting.
“You seduced me into showing them to you before… remember?”
“You did a bit more than show yourself—remember?” she countered, then felt herself blushing wildly.
His gaze tangled with hers. “Yeah, I remember.”
Luna’s breath hitched as her eyes skimmed down his body once more, the flat pack of his abs, the bruises she’d inflicted all over his torso. Knowing that he needed to release his tentacles and ease the pain of his injuries.
“I promise I won’t look,” she said.
He smirked again. “Bet you can’t help yourself.”
Luna’s blush deepened. “Want a drink?” she said, trying to sound casual. Would he stay after they talked? Her pussy suddenly clenched. She needed to burn up adrenalin from today’s events but even so, fucking Kai again would be a disaster.
“Whisky,” he said. “Do you have any?”
“Er, yes, I think so.” She remembered some peat whisky that she sometimes drank when the weather got cold and her body needed the warm smoky taste.
“I’ll go make you one.”
As she headed for the door, she heard the bath water churning, the sound of limbs moving, not one or two, but many.
She paused, one hand holding the towel around her, the other on the doorknob. She couldn’t help glancing back. There was Kai, head thrown back, all his tentacles in the water now.
Seeing the blood still seeping from his wounds, something pulled tight in her chest.
He's suffered. Just like you.
And then she turned and closed the door, leaving him to relax.