Page 17 of Kept By the Kraken

I’m blissed out, my mind floating on a gentle current. The quiet between us is peaceful. I reach an arm behind me and let my hand curl in his tentacles. His chest rumbles a soothing sound of satisfaction that makes my eyes heavy, and I drift off to sleep.

Chapter 10

Bjorn

The warmth in my chest when I wake feels so good it almost aches. When I open my eyes, late morning sun spills through the window and I blink in surprise. I slept late, better than I have in as long as I can remember.

A memory of Penelope coming apart in my arms last night forces me to acknowledge the source of the warmth and the peaceful sleep. My Beast took my skin and claimed our mate. He didn’t only take her to bed, he sealed us together with his mate mark, branding her neck and infusing her with our venom. For our mates, it doesn’t hurt; it’s a shot of pleasure. The injection changes a human’s body, making them compatible for the sea and for mating with a shifter. But it also means she is tied to my magic now. And my heart.

My kraken gives a smug grunt, his presence in my mind larger than the day before, stronger. I push against the veil, but the boundary marker is all but gone. The Beast doesn’t budge, and I know he won’t be locked in a cage again.

Part of me is glad that he took control. It’s done. That should make it easy to give in fully to the urge to love and protect Penelope, to get to know this woman with the brave heart. I can’trun from her now, and there’s a comfort in surrendering to the inevitability of us.

But the bond doesn’t change our circumstances. Penelope’s questions have already risked my exposure. My mistreatment of her means she may hate me, and I would deserve it. There is also the reality of her job and her human life.

My hand rubs along my old brand near my heart and my gut tightens. Thora. The one I made vows to. The one I have forsaken.

I turn in the sheets, and for a moment, I swear I see Thora out of the corner of my eye, her long straw-colored braid flashing in the sunlight from the window. My heart trips and I jerk up, searching for her.

The bed is empty. There is no one. Not a ghost and not my new mate. Jumping from bed, I go in search of Penelope.

Did she run after the reality of seeing me as part man and part beast? Frantically, I check the house, half stumbling as I pull on clothes and stuff my feet in boots. I check the bathroom, kitchen, and the lighthouse tower, but she’s gone.

I stumble into the yard, eyes wild. Her car is parked in the same spot as yesterday. Did she leave it, fleeing on foot?

Darting to the cliff trail, I scan the rocky inlet. Nothing.

My Beast nudges me, and I give up some of my control, calling on him to track her. I partially shift, my eyesight changing and my feelers sprouting. They taste the air and scan our territory.

She is here.

I take off through the yard and into the forest after her. My legs carry me at inhuman speeds, darting through the pines. Animals skitter at my presence, but otherwise I’m alone in the forest.

When I find her, she’s at the edge of an overlook on a cliff deep within the preserve. She’s wearing my clothes again, hereyes closed and face thrust into the wind. Her inky hair whips and curls around her delicate neck, drawing my eyes to the red skin where my mate brand marks her throat.

She’s otherworldly, so beautiful. I don’t understand how, but she’s meant to be mine.

“Are you all right? What happened?” I call, scanning her for any injury or signs that she’s fearful of me. I’m not sure if she will welcome me if I go to her, but the need to have her in my arms pounds like a drum.

She turns to look at me over her shoulder and her eyes light up. “I hoped you’d let me see you again today.”

“What?” Of all the things I thought she might say after my kraken claimed her without ceremony, that isn’t it.

She bites her bottom lip, eyes nervously darting from my gaze. “Last night that wasn’t you. You lost control?”

I nod but refuse to look away even though my cheeks burn at the shameful admission. My treatment of her so far has shown her the worst of me.

“I thought you might keep that side of yourself hidden today, that you’d be angry about what happened.”

“When I first met you, I was furious?—”

Penelope’s face falls and she takes a stuttering breath, looking back at the sea. I want more of her curious and insistent questions, not the unsure woman in front of me. But I’ve only got myself to blame.

“That’s not your fault or how I feel now.”

She faces the cliff, silent and waiting.

“I’ve been acting like a crazy asshole since you met me. I have reasons, but they don’t excuse how I’ve treated you. I’m sorry.”

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