Page 4 of Taken By the Alien Kraken King

“Perhaps.” I didn’t think so, but I’d been wrong before.

We swam faster, our tentacles propelling us out of the water with five strong pumps. We emerged next to an enormous boulder jutting out of the water next to a pristine beach. An alien craft, the likes of which I’d never seen, had landed nearby. A rickety platform allowed the occupants to descend.

The first to emerge was female. The second as well. I watched, fascinated, as they exited one at a time. They were all different, with varying sizes, shapes, and hair colors. None caught my attention, save for the last.

Sunlight glinted against her hair, spun like the yellowy glow of the bioluminescence common to my realm. I leaned forward, hoping to catch another glance of her face.

Then I heard the noise again.

Thud. Thud.

An explosion shook the beach where we were supposed to have our meeting. Feminine screams came from the land-walkers, and chaos ensued.

“What happened?” Ahtu asked.

“I don’t know.” My gaze focused on the female with sunlight hair. “Where did she go?”

“Who?”

I lurched out of the water, forcing my tentacles to work in conjunction with my legs, racing across the sand toward the female. Where was she?

A second explosion near my position threw sand in my face, temporarily blinding me. Instinct told me to return to the water. Once under the waves, the sand dissipated. The female struggled to surface, but was losing the battle. A piece of surface debris struck her upper back, or head, and she sank like a castaway stone.

I spun around, allowing my tentacles to spread out, covering the maximum space possible. The tip of my trident tapped against the glowing crystals of the crown that marked me as Royal. A short electric pulse coursed over my flesh, stunning everything my skin contacted.

I reached the female in record time, grabbing her and pulling her against my chest as I turned my back to take the impact of the falling debris.

“What?” I shook my head as I stared into her Larimar-colored eyes. Impossible.

Fates be damned. She wasn’t any random land dweller. The light-haired legged creature I held in my arms like precious gems was my mate.

“Bourne, your eyes,” Ahtu said, swimming up behind me.

“We need to go. Now.” I darted deeper into the darkness, away from the debris. My tentacles tightened around the female, as precious air bubbles escaped her lips. “Two heartbeats,” I murmured before pressing my lips against my fated mate, breathing life changing air and bonding venom into her mouth. If the gods were kind, she would not suffer as my DNA intertwined with hers, allowing her to live with me.

“Damn.”

Iwokeinastrangeplace, my scream piercing the silence. Every breath my lungs took felt like fire in my chest, as if the air I breathed was poison. My dream contained wild images of eyes, glowing eyes hiding in the deep, and thick, muscular arms pulling me toward a solid chest. And tentacles, clutching me close, protecting my body from falling debris. It ended with a kiss that seemed to say more with the emotions poured into it.

My feet kicked the air, but I didn’t move. Using all the strength I possessed, I turned my head and took in the strange surroundings.

Dim blue light filtered through a vaulted cavern of living stone and translucent membranes. The walls pulsed with soft bioluminescent patterns, like slow ocean heartbeats. Spiraled tendrils of strange flora clung to every crevice. When touched by the light, they shimmered. Pools of water dotted the floor, glowing faintly, giving off steam.

Dry land! I forced my body to move from my current position toward a place I considered safe.

A second scream tore from my throat when I realized I was underwater. Not only was I under water, but breathing with relative ease. The more breaths I took, the less pain radiated in my lungs. Confused, I gasped at the realization, and my mouth filled again, not with water as I expected, but with cool, oxygen-rich vapor my body processed from the water. The vapor clung to my skin like mist, leaving miniscule bubbles on my skin. Entranced, I wiggled my arms and watched the bubbles rise to what I assumed was the ceiling or surface.

Parts of my forearm sparkled as if healing from a burn; if the burn healed in shades of blue and green. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn the colors on my arm looked almost like scales. But that was crazy. It had to be my mind playing tricks on me. I didn’t have scales. Out of the corner of my eye, a glimmer of light drew my attention. Wherever I was, it was beautiful, and I was positive I was no longer on the planet’s surface.

Once I crawled onto the damp ground near one of the tidal pools and breathed, a shudder wracked my body. The steam rising from the pool filled the air with a faint, metallic tang.

I flopped onto my back, stretching my arms. After a while, I sat up slowly, my limbs heavy from whatever had happened during the descent. The explosion tore my suit, but my private parts remained covered. Next, I checked my wrist for the data wristband provided as a perk of the mission. It still blinked, though weakly. I tapped at it, trying to access the built-inemergency beacon, but the signal either wasn’t strong enough to pass from the depth or through the surrounding material of the cavern. I exhaled and remembered the explosion, but something else niggled at the back of my mind. Eyes. Glowing eyes that belonged to a muscular body with powerful… what?

Somehow, that creature saved me. It brought me to this place. But where was here, exactly? And how was I breathing water? There was a massive gap in my memory.

I shut my eyes again to recall what happened after I hit the water. Falling - yep, I remembered; kicking to the surface and getting hit with something on my upper back by my shoulder, remembered that too. My pulse surged at the memory of warm lips pressing against mine. Now I remembered everything.

The handsome face and torso of a man wearing a crystalline crown over his soft brown hair with otherworldly glowing eyes could breathe underwater. He wasn’t human, and yet, I wanted him. Wanted his lips on mine again. I shook my head. This wasn’t like me. I never kissed on a first date. Date? I’d been painfully single for years. Whatever happened, I knew this man hadn’t taken me on a date. I wasn’t dating an alien.

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