Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Lila
Cas and I take turns guarding the eggs while one of us returns to the surface to eat and sleep.
Although we can do both underwater, I refuse to eat any more raw fucking fish.
Nope, no way, I won’t do it. Saxon also needs me, so I go back up to eat and keep Saxon’s needs sated—wink, wink—before returning to the sea once more.
The eggs have continued to grow and become more translucent. I can now see full-grown, perfectly formed kraken babies in there now. It’s super exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. I keep thinking of new things we are going to need and tasking Link, Xavier, and Saxon with getting them.
Echo and Maxsim wait for me on the beach every time I emerge and escort me back and forth from the house. Saxon informed me that they have been patrolling the beach, barely returning to the house, to ensure our safety from top side.
Cas and I have just done a swap. He’s looking more and more tired as the days go by.
I think his paternal worry is kicking in big time, and until we can get them to shift and move out of the unfamiliar water, he’s not going to relax.
We should have done this on Fluxx. Being in familiar waters would have been kinder to him.
We’ve had some curious predatory fish hang around the entrance to our cave, and he’s spent a lot of time shifting into full kraken form and chasing them off.
They can’t be too smart, though, because they keep returning.
I saw them recently. They look like a cross between an orca, great white shark, and crocodile.
They are called the whathefucorcadile. They look hungry and dangerous, and I suggested that we ask Xavier for a magical barrier, but unfortunately, our babies need the flow of the current, and any barrier will stop that, so we remain vigilant.
There is a storm raging above as I make my return journey through the water, which causes the trip to be a little slower with the water turbulence. It really is a bit like a washing machine at the moment, and I’m being thrown back and forth. I need to get deeper so it doesn’t affect me as much.
I angle down as close to the sea floor as I can get.
Through the swirling water, a sound catches my interest—a song that is somewhat mournful and familiar.
Is that the sound of the water dragon from Fluxx?
Surely not. Nobody mentioned there were any in these waters.
My grandpas would have warned Cas like they warned him about the whathefucorcadile.
I slow to a stop in the hope that I can hear better, but a particularly nasty wave picks me up and slams me backward.
I feel my back scrape against a nearby rock, and my bracelet gets caught.
Jerking back in pain, I feel the bracelet snap and watch as it floats to the ocean floor.
Fuck. Well, at least I don’t need it down here.
I’ve had the babies, so there is no risk if I do change once we head back to the surface.
I swim quickly, no longer dawdling. I think my back is bleeding, and I don’t want to risk drawing the attention of the predators Caspian furiously chased off this morning before I returned to the surface. It usually takes them a day or two to return, but they are getting bolder.
I swim swiftly toward our baby cave. Caspian meets me at the entrance, his lips turned down in concern. Are you okay? he asks, running his eyes over my body to check.
I can’t stop the grimace that crosses my face. I got distracted and launched into the reef. I think I scraped up my back.
I turn to show him, and I feel his hand run over my skin. Yeah, you did, but you’re healing quickly. The wounds have already stopped bleeding and are closing.
That’s a relief. I was worried I was going to bring back the whathefucorcadile quicker than necessary.
I chased them a long way off this time. I’m hoping they won’t return at all. The babies must be due to come out any day. He can’t hide the excitement in his voice.
Yeah, but we still have to wait two weeks until they shift for the first time before we can leave the water.
He shakes his head and beams with excitement.
No, I think Link’s cribs are going to be just what we need.
Also, Xavier has converted your grandpas’ swimming pool into an ocean.
He’s made it so the water can pump directly from the ocean into the pool and continuously cycle, so when they are not in the cribs, they can swim in there.
A huge sense of relief washes over me. Although he tried to hide it, Cas didn’t return from his scuffle with the predators unharmed.
They continue to get braver each time, and I worry that the next time, I will be widowed.
No, the pool is a perfect solution, and I will give my warlock mate another special blow job as a reward.
He’s really racking them up now. Good thing I like to suck dick.
That sounds awesome. Go eat, and I will watch them. Hopefully tomorrow the five of us will be going to the surface together.
He bites at his lip and looks between me and the eggs on the wall. Are you sure? I can go without if you’re still in pain.
No, I’m fine. Please go. I’m almost positive we are going to need the energy to keep up with these three.
I smile affectionately at my offspring, and I watch as one of the girls swims tight little turns inside her egg sack.
Oh, and while you’re there, the four of you need to decide on names for the other two.
Cordelia’s brother and sister can’t be called Thing One and Thing Two. I will not have it.
He looks at me, speechless. Of course it went straight over his head. We would never! He leans in and kisses me before swimming out of the cave, leaving me to watch our children in their egg sacks, hopefully for the last time.
I swim back and forth, brushing against them with my tentacles, hoping they can feel the love I have for them.
I’m practically bursting at the seams to hold their slimy little bodies against mine.
Who would have thought I would be so excited to love on the little creatures?
But a mother’s love knows no bounds—or it shouldn’t.
I think about my cyborg fiancé, whose mother is a nightmare, and Maxsim’s mother, who seems like a sensible lady yet gifted her son to me in the name of good relations.
Okay, so no gifting my children to anyone.
That is a sure-fire way to piss them off. Good to know.
A sound at the mouth of the cave draws my attention.
Turning swiftly, I slowly edge my way toward the front of the cave.
Hey, you. I give my inner kraken a proverbial shake.
Since we birthed the eggs, she seems to have settled back into stasis.
She hasn’t even tried to convince me to let Cas’s kraken have another crack at us with his ovipositor, but I am definitely going to need her help if we have to chase off the whathefucorcadile.
The sound reaches us again, and my kraken perks up—not in anger, but a wave of fuck me vibes.
Oh no, bitch, today is not the day your horniness comes back online, I growl inside my head, but she just ignores me as I look back toward the entrance.
I mean, Cas could have come back, or maybe Xavier decided to try his hand at creating an air bubble around himself so he could come visit. I remember him suggesting it when I was at the surface, and he was whining about missing me.
I’m just about at the mouth of the cave now, and I strain my eyes to see who’s there. Surely she wouldn’t be horny for the predators. Or do I need to explain about not being into bestiality again?
She just shimmers inside me and pushes me forward, so I swim out of the entrance and look around.
Ah, there you are, my little fish roe. I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist my song.
Fish roe? I stare at Nikos, completely bemused by the fact that he is here and calling me fish roe.
Yes. Isn’t that the stuff on Earth which is expensive and a delicacy? Just like you are, my little sea squirt, and look at your wonderful perky nipples. My mouth would feel very good on them.
Delicacy? Expensive? I think for a moment. Oh, caviar!
Well I guess that’s kind of cute. I mean, it’s the best one so far. I look down at my naked tits and shrug. I’m moving past the self-consciousness of being naked in front of people. I’m sure this won’t be the last time.
Why are you here, Nikos? I ask him, still slightly confused. I always feel either confused or angry around this merman—okay, fine, and occasionally horny, but I’m almost certain that is my kraken. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
I heard you had laid your eggs, and I just knew it was my time to woo you with my fins and tail. I am sure you will love it when I put my hard member in your wet slit, so I sang you my song that tells you I am available and ready for mating.
I swim a little farther out into the ocean, away from the mouth of the cave, so I am face to face with the delusional merman, my eyes running over his undeniably beautiful body. I mean, how amazing must it be to have a tail and fins and be a mermaid?
No sooner than I think about these things, I feel my body shudder, and then a wave of energy runs through me. It leaves me feeling a little dizzy, so I grab my head, shaking the feeling off.
Oh my! Oh, yes, my little mermaid, you are now perfect for me.
We are matching in color and everything, and we will swim in the current, and I will stick my love rod inside your slit, and we will make love like we are never going to be apart.
Nikos’s voice is rapturous, and I feel it take hold of me.
Little tingles of arousal shoot down both arms, my torso, and my tail.