4. Eve
EVE
This can’t be happening.
There’s no way this is happening. My memories are hazy. They flash through my mind in rapid succession.
The ship. Being chased by those creatures and hitting my head. Coldness and darkness swallowed me, and now I was trapped in a nightmare. A monster looms over me. His tentacles skim over my bare skin.
I’m vaguely aware that I’m only in my bikini top.
Mercifully, I don’t feel touched in any way, but the realization provides little comfort. I’m in some sort of dimly lit room with stone walls. The cot below me has a thin mattress.
A putrid smell hangs heavy in the air. It’s almost completely blotted out by this creature's masculine scent of salt water and sandalwood.
“Calm yourself, my mate,” he thunders in a voice that reminds me of honey.
Thick and rich, it spreads along my skin and teases my nerve endings. The feeling unsettles me. It shakes off the final dregs of my stupor. This isn’t some hallucination. I’m not dead. This is all very real.
I lurch up from the bed with a gasp. This creature looms over me, blocking my view of the rest of the room. His firm hands cup my shoulders. He must be at least seven feet tall, as he towers over me on his knees. Well, not knees. A thick, blue-green tentacle slithers along my thigh.
The breath rattles out of me as I tremble. Fear rakes icy nails down my spine. I have to get out of here. I need to run. I’ve fallen into some horrific sci-fi creature feature.
How is this possible? Where am I?
“Calm down,” he repeats. “I’ll explain everything, my mate.”
Mate. Mate. Mate.
The word pounds through my head. As does the vague awareness that he isn’t speaking English and yet I can understand him perfectly. The words come to me as if they had always been there. As if I were a native speaker of whatever language this is.
“What is going on?” My voice sounds rough from disuse. “Who are you?”
I push myself to my feet. The cold stone floor bites into my bare soles.
The tentacles along my arms feel sturdy. His fingers glide over my cheek. I’m not in some sort of demented coma. This is all too real. I need answers if I’m going to plot an escape.
A lone tentacle burrows under my chin. It is slimmer than the others, with a pale scar running across its length.
My stomach rolls, but I manage to swallow the bile down.
“I am the Kraken King Harven,” the male announces.
A kraken? That explains the tentacles. God, could this get any weirder?
“I’ve been searching for three centuries to find you.”
The reverence in his gaze makes my head swim. The sweet scent of rot doesn’t help my frail nerves. I feel like I could pass out again.
My knees buckle, but Harven is there before I can hit the ground. His arms and tentacles envelop me, holding me tight to his warm body. As he rises, my earlier assumption about his height proves true.
He’s huge.
Black hair threaded with silver tickles my cheeks and flows down his back. Dark eyes bore into mine. Blue-green skin is warm and slick, stretched tight over the corded muscles of his arms.
His torso is just as heavily muscled. The cut of his abs looks like it was hewn from marble. If the situation were different, I wouldn’t mind being pressed up against a body like this.
The situation, however, isn’t different.
Warning bells go off in my head. I gasp as his thumb sweeps over my lower lip. Shock has left me immobile. I should be fighting, but my head can’t make sense of anything.
“There is no need to be afraid, my mate. I don’t like fear tainting your lovely scent.
I have you now.” His fingers trace my jaw.
“You will be cared for. Whatever your heart desires, I will make it yours. I would never allow the mother of my heirs to go without or be in any danger. I will eradicate any threat to your life. This is my vow to you.”
The command in his voice makes my mouth go dry. The deep timber teases my body.
Feverish heat sweeps over my skin. His words make no sense. The edge of my vision darkens. The scent of decay chokes me.
“Mother,” I mumble. “H—heirs?”
“My heirs, yes.”
His eyes blaze like onyx flames. They aren’t entirely black like I first thought, but a hazy gold. Like the sun through a cloud of smoke. It’s easy to get lost in them—in the absurdity of the situation—as his hand slides deftly down my body.
“For centuries, I have been searching for you. My human mate. The only one capable of bearing my heirs and furthering my bloodline.” His finger traces my collarbone. “You are so beautiful.”
The compliment is growled against my ear. My frozen body begins to thaw at his pleasure-filled groan, even as my stomach remains rigid. What is happening to me?
“Bedding you will be no hardship.”
My heart stumbles in my chest.
“I—I—”
The words are stuck in my throat. King Harven doesn’t seem to notice. His fingers continue their lazy exploration of my skin. His tentacles slither along my legs, leaving behind cool, suctioning kisses.
“How fortunate you survived when the others did not. I can feel your strength,” he murmurs almost reverently. Lust kindles in his gaze. “Your womb will be just as strong and fertile.”
My womb?
It’s like ice water has been dumped over my head. Dread floods my stomach. This is his true intention. The reason I’ve been brought here.
Oh God, I can’t believe it. This can’t be happening.
I can’t afford to pass out. Not as the Kraken King slithers his tentacles all over my body.
The gleam in his eye. The words he’s purring. I’m going to be fucking sick. I’m going—
“If you are amenable to it, my mate. I would like to begin trying immediately.” His jaw clenches. “I know your journey here wasn’t the easiest, but I will do all the work. It’s typical for a king to court you properly, but my desire is becoming hard to ignore.”
His nose presses against the top of my head. The king’s hand strays to my chest. Something hard pushes against my outer thigh as a tentacle slips under the edge of my shorts.
A deep groan leaves his throat.
“Tell me, do you taste as good as you smell?”
I watch as if I’m a spectator outside my body.
The whole scene plays out in slow motion. The Kraken King closes his eyes and lowers his head. His hand collars my throat gently to hold me still. Seconds trickle into minutes as I wait for what’s coming.
My body is taut, unsure what to do. How to move. There’s nothing I can do but await it.
And it comes swiftly. Determined. Claiming.
King Harven’s mouth lands on mine with finality. His lips are soft and warm. They claim mine in a harsh press. The slight touch is brutal, as is the searing pain in my chest. He tastes of salt and spice.
He breathes me in as if one touch could own me.
It’s a simple kiss, but the web of sensuality weaving around me threatens to turn into an unbreakable binding. It’s an unwanted possession. A claiming—declaring that I’m his to do with whatever he pleases.
I’ve never been kissed like this. I never want to be again.
His tongue slithers like a serpent into my mouth. The desperation in his groan as he ravages my lips awakens my dormant fire. It flares to life. My ire sparks into a raging inferno. I was cold before.
Now I’m boiling with molten rage.
How dare this male touch me? How dare he say those words as if I have no say in the matter? I’ve dealt with my share of handsy men who take without asking. I’ll be damned if I let this tentacle monster touch me a moment longer.
A growl rips from my throat as I roughly shove him back. The shock weakens his tentacles as I stumble a few steps away. Clutching the side of the cot for support, I curl my lips and bare my teeth at him.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I snarl.
The king blinks slowly. A deep furrow forms between his arched brows as if I’m a wild beast instead of the docile human he planned to ravage. Good. He should fear me. He should keep his hands to him-fucking-self.
A gasp echoes behind me.
The hairs on my back stand up. Hating that I have to look away from him, I dare a glance behind me and see the bodies seeping in through the open doorway.
They are all different types of scaled creatures.
Some have tentacles like the king, while others bob on thick tails or stand on webbed feet.
Their glistening eyes regard me warily. Some hide their disgust better than others.
If the situation wasn’t so bleak, I’d almost laugh at how absurd it is.
A figure steps forward. She is otherworldly beautiful with dark blue hair and piercing eyes. She breaks away from the other two sea creatures, dressed similarly. They eye her warily as she extends a manicured claw.
If looks could kill, I’d be dead.
“How dare she reject our king!” the female spits. “She should be punished.”
Another female floats to her side. Delicate tentacles drape towards her fin-like feet as if they were a skirt. A headband of pearls and broken shells rests atop her white hair. Milky blue eyes stare hard at the first female.
“Remember your place, Nixie.”
A tentacle hooks around my arm until I’m spun backward. The room blurs before I can look at it. The king blocks my vision once more.
His dark eyes bore into mine. His face is hard. The anger there makes my stomach curdle.
He could hurt me if he wanted to. I doubt these monsters care about consent. If he wished to fuck me in front of all of them, there’s nothing I could do to stop it.
The blood in my veins ices over, even as his anger kindles my own. I will not be meek. If he wants to take me unwillingly, I’ll fight him. I’m no easy prey. It’s best everyone here learns that.
“What is the meaning of this, my mate? Surely you feel it too.” He runs a shaking hand through his hair. The crown at his brow glints. “Our bond, the pull, the need. Once I’m inside you, you’ll—”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I snap. “One minute, I’m aboard a cruise ship. The next I’m in some nightmare, where a kraken is threatening to fuck me every five seconds.”
The king steps closer. His tentacles slither over my feet. I jump back, and my hand catches. That’s when I finally notice the iron shackle around my wrist. The adrenaline had numbed me to the pain of it chafing my skin, but it comes roaring to the surface.
My body vibrates as I sneer at the king.
“Let me make one thing very clear to you, King Harven. I don’t know what horrible thing I’ve done to be trapped here with you.
What sort fucked up karma is making me your captive, but let us come to an understanding.
I will never welcome you. Not in my life, and certainly not in my bed.
I’d rather die than let you inside me, so unless you are planning to pin me down and force me—”
The king’s eyes flash. A gasp falls from his lips.
“I’d never do that—hurt you like that. You are my mate. Please, I know you are confused. I will explain everything. If you would only submit to me and—”
“Did you not listen to a fucking word I just said?” My nails curl into my palms as I try to stop myself from striking him. “You’ve got the wrong girl, kraken. I’m not your mate. I’m nothing to you. Return me to the surface. Now.”
His hand reaches for me, but my responding jerk back stops him. The others gathered at the doorway gasp. I’m sure it’s a capital offense to speak to their king like this. They may demand my head. So be it. Rather be dead than breeding stock for this disgusting creature.
The desperate hope in his eyes goes out like a blown candle. I almost grin.
Pulling sharply, the shackle’s chain rattles against the metal frame of the cot. Crimson trickles down my arm. The biting pain is good. If I want to survive my new reality, I’ll have to be strong. I’ll have to fight.
I yank again to no avail. The scent of death deepens.
I had been wrong before. There is a fate worse than being single at twenty-seven.
My loneliness sent me aboard that cruise, and because I was such a weak-willed individual who didn’t properly appreciate all I had, I was going to pay the ultimate price.
Forget finding my perfect match, I’d be lucky not to be rutted upon by this kraken and his tentacles.
If it comes to that, I’ll find a way to end it. Bearing his children would be a fate worse than death.
“You're hurt,” Harven breathes.
His voice makes me tremble. I replay all that’s transpired since I awoke. My head pounds as I sift through the memories, trying to find any clue as to how I might escape. A kernel of a memory snags.
“What did you mean by others?” I can’t hide the tremble in my voice. “The humans from my ship. Where are they?”
There is no way I’m the only one who was taken. I saw the others get snatched overboard.
The king’s expression turns grim.
My tongue feels too large in my mouth. Only when he retreats a fraction and sweeps out his hand do I finally see it. My mind hadn’t been able to register them before. It had been too angry and confused, but I can see them with stark clarity.
Some of their faces are familiar despite the bloat. I recognize a woman who sat next to me on the sun lounger yesterday. Mira, from Tennessee. A divorcee finally ready to put herself back out there.
Her eyes are milky white. The color leeches from her lined lips. Black veins spread up her discolored skin.
There are a hundred bloated bodies in the room atop similar cots. They are arranged artfully in a line. Their final moments on display. The sickly sweet scent deepens. It punches through my chest and chokes me.
Face after distorted face. Festering corpse after festering corpse.
A whimper rifles out of me.
“It is a waste,” the king says, “but sacrifices had to be made to find you.”
My stomach rolls. The stench is more than I can bear. I vowed not to pass out again, but I can’t help it.
How long until my face resembles theirs? The room swirls and tilts. I feel the cold stones collide with the back of my head.
Then there is nothing. Nothing at all.