Page 42 of Bind Me

A curl pulls at the corners of his lips, the kind I’ve seen on someone who knows they’re out of control but having way too much fun to rein themselves in.

“Where I can’t sate my beast, where he craves something I won’t give him.” He steps closer, towering over me, the fire from his body leaping onto me.

I back against the stone table, and he leans in closer, propping a hand against it, partially caging me in on one side.

My heart’s beating frantically, my nipples hard points against the fabric of my tank top as I squeeze my thighs together. My exhales grow ragged at his proximity while my brain panics. Without thinking, I slip from him in the opposite direction from where he has me locked in. He’s intimidating, but that’s not the part that scares me.

It’s the energy pouring off him, the sheer force of his presence, that I grapple to push away or ignore.

What the hell is up with him tonight?

“And why’s that?” I take quick steps back around the table, then quickly descend the three steps across from him, putting distance between us. “Because you’re going to go all kraken on me?” I say sarcastically.

Feet away from him, I glance back at him with a grin. He hasn’t moved, yet darkness seems to have gathered around him. The water near the cave’s entrance turns turbulent, lapping at the shores as though something massive has disturbed it. Except it’s more than that… I watch it splashing up, seeming to reach out for Kaden.

Shivers snake down my spine at his power.

“Sasha,” he growls in that dangerously deep voice, almost sounding like a warning.

“Look, I’ll let you do your thing… whatever you were doing down here,” I murmur, rushing toward the door, unsure what mood I’ve just stumbled on.

When he doesn’t respond, I turn and hightail it out of there. But in a heartbeat, something snaps around my middle, something soft, cold, and extremely strong. It wraps around me so fast, wrenching me backward with a speed I barely keep up, but it’s almost as though it carries me as my feet try to keep up.

A cry flies out of my mouth, dread surging through me as I shove my hands at the restraint to get it off me. When I do a double take, I notice it’s a large octopus limb, complete with those thick suckers sticking to my skin.

Dread comes alive inside me as I realize how wrong I’ve been to not believe Kaden.

I’m twisted on the spot and now standing at the base of the steps. He’s partially transformed, still mostly in his human form, but spearing out from his back are long, dark, sinuous tentacles. They’re a deep, inky gray, glistening in the low light, with suckers lining their undersides.

It’s impossible not to panic, especially at the glint in his eyes, as if he’s teetering on the edge of fully transforming.

My breath catches in my throat. “Gods, you’re a kraken.”

No one’s really seen one as they are rare as fuck, but everyone’s heard stories about how gigantic they get, how unstoppable they can be, how they can command even the ocean itself.

So much makes sense now about Kaden. Why Asbesta, the Siren Goddess, wanted him in her house. Having a kraken as an ally gives her a tremendous advantage.

Kaden laughs, the sound dark and low, as if my shock and fear bring him pleasure. He doesn’t answer immediately, his eyes unreadable. The octopus arm tightens slightly, but it’s not painful, just firm.

“You chose not to believe me,” he states, his voice rumbling with a primal edge. Standing up on the steps, he fits in with his surroundings. All he’s missing is a throne to rule the waters and fishes.

There’s definitely something else—something raw and restrained—about him.

“So, this is your way of dealing with your out-of-control night? By grabbing me with your… kraken arm? What’s next? Sacrificing me on this table? Is that what you do?” I shove hard against the tentacle, but it doesn’t budge.

“Sacrifice you?” His eyes flash with amusement, a dangerous glow behind them. “No, not that.” His smile widens with all kinds of implications of what he’d like to do with me.

Is it bad that it turns me on to think about what he’d do to me?

He suddenly draws me up the steps, where the tentacle releases me, and I catch my breath, yet he’s now holding me firmly with his hands on my hips. I’m suddenly off my feet and sitting on the side of the table, bringing me face-to-face with him.

I swallow hard, trying to calm myself while placing a hand against his chest to keep our distance.

He pushes against me like I’m no obstacle, his breath on my cheeks, his lips sliding over to my ear, leaving me quivering with need.

“You always fight me, little mermaid.”

“I don’t know any other way to be. And didn’t you just tell me I shouldn’t trust you on such nights?”

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