Page 39 of Kept By the Kraken

“Is that when he laid his hands on you?” I squeeze her tighter, my chest rumbling. “I want to strangle him?—”

“I think you did! He will live, right?” Penelope asks, peeking around me to look at her ex laid out on the dock.

“I assume,” I grumble.

Penelope tugs on my ear. “You have to check!”

I grunt and set her down, then I kneel beside him. Calling on my Beast’s enhanced sight, I assess her asshole ex. I roll him to his side and beat on his back until his lungs clear. “Unfortunately, he will live, but he’s injured, and I can’t vouch for his mind.”

“What do you mean?” Penelope leans over my back, staring at the wreck I’ve made of him.

“I’m a warrior, Wildcat. One of our strengths in battle is the ability to use our ink to distract our prey’s mind. I have a poison in my ink that confuses the mind, causes hallucinations. It helps to weaken an opponent—with the added bonus that if they live, they’re confused about what happened. Only the Knights ever learned to battle against it.”

“Does that mean he won’t remember you? Will he remember anything?”

“It’s hard to say, but it’s likely most of the last memories will be distorted. It will feel like a dream.”

“What’s it made of? How does it work?” Penelope sucks in a breath and she’s off, curious as ever, leaning over to inspect her ex. “Have you ever accidentally inked yourself? Am I immune? Does it also make fish trippy?”

“Slow down, Wildcat. I don’t know and I’m not gonna be your lab rat. It’s magic. That’s how it works.”

Penelope sits back and looks at me with wide eyes. “That’s kinda badass. Is it bad that I think that’s badass?”

I laugh, picking up my mate and tucking her against me in a bridal carry.

“Where are you going? You’re naked! And he’s passed out!” she shrieks, swatting my chest playfully.

I look down into violet eyes, my sign of hope. I’m in love with everything about her and I can’t wait to discover more with her. She reaches up, seeking a kiss, and I brush her lips with mine. “I could have lost you.”

She tugs on my beard and murmurs into my lips, “But you didn’t.”

“I spent lifetimes in the darkness until you brought your light, and I won’t settle for anything less than lifetimes to love you.”

“I was waiting to love you too.” She brushes her soft lips against mine, smiling into the kiss. “Let’s go home.”

“Home. But first cover our tracks. Then I’m pinning you to bed where you can’t ever leave again.”

She taps my nose like a bad puppy. I laugh at her put-out expression. “What’s the first lesson in bondage?”

“Never let you go.” I carry her up the steps and toward the research facility.

Penelope makes an angry buzzing sound. “Wrong.”

We tease one another all the way back to the lab and through the cleanup, making sure to remove any evidence of her ex ever having been there. After Penelope assures me no one will notice, I steal a pair of scrubs from the lab.

The drive back down to the docks is quiet, the somber mood returning. After we wipe down Daniel’s car, Penelope goes to the dock and gives her ex one last look. He’s laid out on the wood, soaked and worse for wear, but he will wake soon. Probably with one hell of a headache and no idea how he got there.

She turns away from him, her heart aching and tugging on mine in our bond. Despite how well she’s been rolling with tonight’s events, my fierce Penelope is also delicate-hearted. And my mate is wrecked by what happened. Both of us are.

“Come on, my mate. Tonight has been shit and I want to hold you in my arms. Let’s go home.”

Chapter 21

Penelope

Bjorn pulls the brush through my wet hair, and I close my eyes. We’re in bed after finally getting home from this awful night. The rhythmic trail over my scalp is calming. Memories from earlier this evening try to push their way in, but I focus on the present. I ground myself in the heat of his thick thighs cradling me, the luxurious feel of the brush, and the deep rumbling sound coming from his chest behind me. I melt into the moment, breathing in the intimacy of the two of us.

“What’s going on in that curious head of yours?” he asks. “You’ve been quiet since we left the dock.”

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