Chapter 2 #2
Mom always said I’d know my mate the moment I met them. I guess I was a slow learner because we had to make physical contact before I was sure.
I was simultaneously overjoyed by finding my mate, but also terrified!
She was human and eventually I was going to need to reveal my kraken form. If I wasn’t careful, everything could fall apart.
Humans felt a pull to their mates, but they weren’t driven to be with a mate like we were.
“It feels like I know you,” Nina murmured, making no move to pull her hand away. “Have we met before?”
“Never,” I said. “I would’ve remembered you, and I would’ve made sure you remembered me.”
One of my tentacles emerged from my back and tried to sneak around my hip to touch her. I grabbed it in a death grip with my free hand and kept it hidden behind my back.
We stood staring into each other’s eyes. I couldn’t let go of her hand or look away.
That was until another tentacle tried to feel up our mate!
“I’ll go get Janice,” I said, probably too loud, and I pulled my hand out of her grip to grab the other misbehaving tentacle. Now both my hands were behind my back, holding the naughty appendages out of Nina’s view.
“Yes, thanks,” Nina said, looking a little startled by my sudden change in behavior. If only she knew.
I backed out of the cabin. “I’ll be right back. Help yourself to anything.”
Stumbling over the cabin threshold, I didn’t turn around until I was at the edge of the boat and sure she couldn’t see me. I jumped to the dock and pulled my tentacles in front of me and gave them a good shake.
“Listen up, guys!” I hissed at the two in my hands as the rest emerged from my back. “If you scare her, none of us will ever get to touch her! Keep yourselves hidden until it’s time, got it?”
I gave them another shake to emphasize my point. I could feel intense disappointment from my tentacle mini-brains but also resignation. I let go, and they all pulled back into my body. I let out a long breath and hoped they remained well-behaved.
Turning to face the yacht, I noticed two women coming down the dock. One of them was crying, and the other was guiding her with an arm around her shoulders.
I rushed up to them, scared that one of the men on the yacht had managed to do what Hank had failed at.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
The not-crying woman shot me an aggressive look. “Back off!” she barked.
I stopped short and held up both hands. “I live on that boat and heard crying. I'm only here to help. Do you want me to call the cops?”
“Yes, get them to arrest Zak!” the crying woman said. “Zak stole all my love.”
The protective woman gave me a frustrated look. “As much as I'd love to see Zak in jail, I don't think being an asshat is illegal yet.”
“Uh, okay,” I said, unsure what to say, and if I should leave these two to go looking for Janice.
“Her boyfriend broke up with her at his party,” she explained, seeing my confused expression. “Thanks for coming to help, but there's nothing to be done but get Carrie home and let her cry it out.”
“Then I guess—hey, wait, are you Janice?” I asked.
Janice nodded, giving me a wary look. “How do you know my name?”
“I saw Nina, and she asked me to make sure you were okay,” I said.
Janice looked relieved. “I texted her that I'm leaving with Carrie. I guess she didn't see it.”
Carrie started wailing again. “How could he do that? He said I was fat in front of everyone!”
“He did?” I asked, shocked. I knew Zak wasn't a great guy, but I didn't know he was that bad.
Janice nodded her head. “It was brutal. I don't think any real woman would be good enough for that guy. After he called her fat, he said he'd be willing to go out again once she lost twenty pounds.”
“I'm so ugly!” Carrie cried
“You're not,” I said. “You’re very pretty!”
Carrie couldn't hear me, she was too busy crying about how no man would ever love her. Janice shot me an apologetic look.
“I need to get her home and pour gallons of water down her throat,” Janice said. “And maybe some Xanax."
I nodded and moved out of the way. I stayed there and watched until they made it up to the parking lot. She helped Carrie into a car and pulled away.
Now that I could report back to Nina that Janice had safely left the party, I almost headed back to my boat. A blast of masculine laughter made me hesitate and look at Zak's yacht.
I couldn't let it go. Zak might not have tried to drug Nina, but he was friends with men who did. Not to mention that Zak had been unnecessarily cruel to Carrie.
Even though my mate was waiting for me, I had to exact a little revenge. Diving into the water, I shifted into my kraken form, my board shorts shredding and floating away from my body.
It only took a second to get to the stern of Zak's yacht. I grabbed hold of the propeller with several tentacles and braced the rest against the hull. I strained until the propeller pulled free with a groan. I got bonus points because the driveshaft came with it.
Satisfied with my destruction, I let go and watched the equipment drop to the shallow bay floor. I could hear screaming from inside as the yacht suddenly shifted and water invaded the engine compartment.
It was going to sink, but it would take a while. That would give everyone on board plenty of time to evacuate.
Swimming to my boat, I shifted in the water and climbed aboard, belatedly realizing that I'd miscalculated.
“Why are you wet and naked?” Nina asked, emerging from the cabin.
“That's a good question,” I said, floundering and looking up, as if an appropriate answer would fall out of the dark sky.
None came.