Chapter 14 #2
Jax tilted his head back and stared, unseeing, toward the soothing blue of the cloudless sky.
Even as part of him wanted the fight, the rest of him — stronger by far — wanted nothing more than to return to Macy and never concern himself with these affairs again.
He knew, had the situation involved anyone other than Jax, Arkon would have paid it no mind; he held no interest in social struggles.
Could Jax live without seeing the Facility again?
His immediate answer was yes. He wasn’t sure how to feel about his lack of shame for it.
“For now, I will not worry about Dracchus or the rest of them.” Jax returned his attention to Arkon.
“I have betrayed your trust, and for that I am sorry. If you take the chance of trusting me one more time, I ask ten days of you. On the tenth morning, I will meet you at the Broken Cavern, and I will reveal the secret I have kept.”
Arkon searched Jax’s face and, after a short while, nodded. “You have my trust, Jax, as always. Ten days. But please…do not ignore the situation with Dracchus. It will grow worse the longer it is disregarded.”
“Warn the others of the razorback. May the stones fall as you would have them lie, Arkon.”
“And the currents carry you where you would go, Jax.”
“You’re quieter than normal.” Macy slipped a piece of fish into her mouth.
Jax picked at his food with the tips of two claws; he’d eaten little, thus far.
She had woken to find him gone, but it couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes later when he emerged from the tunnel with a meter-long spinefish dangling from an extended tentacle.
Macy set her food down and crawled toward him. She brushed her fingers over his tentacle before settling her hand over his. “Jax?”
His eyes fell to her hand. “I have something to ask of you,” he finally said, “but the choice is yours.”
Something in his voice — his uncertainty, perhaps — made her heart skip and her stomach clench. She was used to him lapsing into companionable silence from time to time, but this…she’d never seen him so withdrawn, so…off.
Was he…was he going to send her away? Send her back home?
The thought stung. She hadn’t realized how much it would hurt…but she hadn’t expected to care for him so deeply, either.
Jax lifted his gaze. “Why do you appear so troubled, Macy?”
She drew away. “Are you…are you giving me up?”
“What do you mean?” He tilted his head, brow creased.
“Are you giving me the choice to go home?”
He slid his tentacles toward her, wrapped them around her back, and pulled her close. Raising his hands, he cupped her cheeks. “Why would you think that?”
Macy put her hands on his shoulders and searched his face.
In it, she saw sincerity, desire, confusion.
“You’re not acting like yourself, Jax. So, when you said you had something to ask me, that it would be my choice, I just thought…
” She licked her lips and inhaled deeply. “You’re not letting me go, then?”
“I don’t ever want to.” He smoothed back her hair, and his thumb brushed over her ear. “I am sorry that I’ve not behaved like myself this morning. My thoughts have been…burdened.”
All the fear and panic that had welled inside her vanished, leaving a vast space to fill with concern. She settled a hand over his and pressed her cheek into his palm. “What’s wrong?”
“Arkon came searching for me this morning. He was troubled…in part because I betrayed his trust.”
“How so?”
“I have avoided him the last few times I went home because I did not want to lie to him.”
Macy frowned. “What would you have lied to him about?”
The tip of his thumb claw lightly grazed her cheek. “You.”
“Me? Why would I— You don’t want him to know about me.”
“I don’t want any of them to know about you.”
To keep his people safe, he’d refused to tell her much about their home. To keep Macy safe, he’d hidden her from the kraken.
“What…what would they do if they did?” She pressed her palms to his chest.
“I…do not know, Macy. They are all aware of the history between our people. How that would affect their reactions, I cannot guess. If they came to know you, I do not think any would wish you harm.”
“You didn’t harm me, even before you knew me.”
There was a sorrow in his smile that she’d not seen before. “I am not like most of them.”
She nodded and took his hands in hers, settling them on her lap. “And Arkon?”
“He would not hurt you.”
“You said this is only part of the problem. What’s the rest?”
“I have raised the suspicions of another kraken, and he seems determined to convince our people that I have betrayed them.”
“Betrayed them how? Because of your absence? That’s normal for you, isn’t it?”
“When I went back to find your suit, Dracchus confronted me. He had declared a hunt. I refused, which I have never done. I have missed hunts during my wanderings, but I have never refused one while I was present. Our people rely on the hunters to bring in enough meat to keep them fed, especially those who are unable to go out on their own.”
How could she not feel responsible for that? He’d gone back because of her, and had refused because of her.
“Is that all it takes? You refuse a single hunt, and it means you’re working against them?
He squeezed her hands gently. “In your home, you grow food for your people, and you have men who hunt on land and sea to bring home meat, don’t you?”
“Yes, but if someone doesn’t work for a day, it doesn’t mean they’re betraying us.”
“Because you have plenty already. For kraken, there is only the hunt. It is our survival. There is nothing more important, except protecting females and younglings.”
“What will they do?”
“I cannot say.” One of his tentacles brushed up and down her back slowly. “But it makes little difference to me. My place has never truly been there.”
The melancholy in his voice was undercut by a strange confidence. She didn’t know how to respond to him, didn’t understand how he felt about it; he likely didn’t understand, himself.
“What was it you wanted to ask me, Jax?”
“I have betrayed your trust, as well, Macy.” His jaw muscles ticked. “I told Arkon I would show him what I have been hiding in ten days. It was not right for me to speak for you, to take your choice, so know that you do not have to agree. You don’t have to come with me and meet him.”
Withdrawing a hand from his, she traced the dark stripes on his head and pressed a kiss to his lips. “You trust him, and I trust you. I’d like to meet your friend.”
Jax leaned his forehead against hers and slipped his arms around her. “You are certain?”
“Yes.” Macy smiled and rubbed her nose against his face. “It will set your mind at ease, and maybe his... Well, maybe not so much his.”
“I think he will be more…curious, than anything.”
She chuckled. “I remember someone else being curious.”
“I still am.” The tip of a tentacle slipped between her thighs and the hem of her long shirt.
His touch sent a thrill through her. Her sex clenched, and she rose to her knees, bracing her hands on his chest and parting her thighs. He settled his hands on her hips.
“What is it you’re still curious about?” she asked.
“I want to know every little piece of you, and learn how you respond when I touch each one.”
“So touch me, Jax,” she begged. His words made her ache for more.
He bunched her shirt in his hands and drew it over her head. She returned her hands to his broad chest, and he cupped her breasts, caressed them, teased their hardened tips.
Macy arched into his palms with a sigh.
When the tentacle between Macy’s thighs stroked her slit, she gasped and parted her legs further.
The tip of his limb slid along her slick folds.
She closed her eyes and let her head fall back, surrendering to his ministrations.
She rocked against him, jolts of pleasure sweeping through her as he moved his suction cups, one at a time, over her clit.
She came quickly. He took hold of her hips, forcing her to ride out the waves.
Liquid heat flooded her core and flowed from her, coating his tentacle and her thighs.
Before she’d recovered, he lifted her and pressed the tip of his jutting erection to her sex, lowering her onto him with deliberate slowness.
Her inner muscles quivered, drawing him deeper.
Jax slid his hands to her legs, guiding them to encircle his hips, and she locked her arms around his neck.
Breath ragged, she opened her eyes.
The two of them remained still, their bodies intertwined, and Macy felt the beat of his pulse echoing through her. She’d never felt so close to anyone in her life; her bond with Jax transcended physicality, extending into her heart, her soul.
She hugged him closer, kissed him, rose and fell to take him fully into her body. His tentacles ran up her back and curled over her shoulders as he broke the kiss and pressed his lips to her neck.
“Macy,” he rasped, moving in time with her, his thrusts pushing deeper and deeper.
Macy closed her eyes and tilted her head back. “Love me, Jax.”
He growled and returned his hands to her hips, lifting her up and slamming her down on his shaft. She took him to his base, and his feelers writhed, flicking along her folds and over her clit. All the while, his lips trailed heat over her face and neck.
She lost herself in a whirlwind of sensation and pleasure, in Jax’s scent, feel, and intensity. Short breaths escaped her with his thrusts, each one striking a cord within her that pushed her higher and higher until she finally erupted.
She came with a cry, clawing at his back with her nails.
Jax roared as her sex clamped on his shaft, and his body shook with the force of his climax. His heat flooded her. She rode him until neither of them had anything left to give.
He held her when she sagged against him, as they both caught their breath, and continued to place gentle kisses on her skin.
Macy smiled and rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. She was on the verge of dozing when he spoke softly.
“Always, Macy.”