Page 94 of Nora's Kraken

When Elias brought the idea up a few weeks ago, it took me a moment to remember the taunt he’d made the first time I’d seen him shifted. I’d half written it off as sensual teasing or empty boasting, but it turns out he was absolutely serious.

The cool fall and winter prevented us from playing out this particular fantasy of his, but now that it’s finally summer here again in the Pacific Northwest, my kraken’s not going to be denied.

He sent us off from shore and rowed out into a calm little bay before disappearing into the water with a roguish grin and a dark promise in his eyes. Even though I lunged for the side of the boat and peered into the water, he was already gone.

The whole thing is absurd, really. Here I am in a tiny wooden boat, struggling with the oars and drifting further and further from shore, all while some gigantic sea monster stalks me from the depths.

It’s absurd. Absolutely absurd… and undeniably hot.

A faint splash sounds from somewhere behind the boat and my heart starts racing even faster. I whip my head around to look, but there’s nothing there. No sign of my kraken.

Struggling with the oars, I manage to get a few good strokes in before the noise echoes out through the stillness of the bright, sunny afternoon once more. My core clenches and a wave of goosebumps breaks out on my skin at the pulse of awareness that skitters through me.

He’s close. Really close, if the strong tug in the center of my chest is any indication.

Letting all my emotions pour into that bond, I push onwards. I’m really giving it my all now, dragging the boat through the water and breathing heavy, but only until the first massive, blue-gray tentacle breaks the surface of the water. It wraps around the boat’s bow and stops me in an instant.

Elias is so much bigger in this form.

He warned me about it, of course, when he walked me step-by-step through how this whole scenario would play out. But hearing about it and seeing it in the flesh are two very, very different things.

When a second tentacle joins the first, snaking up around the side of the boat and looking for weak spots—or, more likely, looking for me—I scramble to my feet in sheer, delighted fright. The boat rocks beneath me, but when I peer into the water all I can see is the shadow of something dark and massive.

A heartbeat later, one of those enormous tentacles jerks me back down onto the wooden seat in the center of the boat as it wraps around my waist. It’s joined by another banded around both my thighs, and two more to cuff my wrists. The rest envelop the sides of the boat as he begins dragging it slowly but surely toward one of the sea caves set into the rocky coast.

I pull a little at my bonds, testing, teasing him, only to be held even tighter. The tip of the tentacle wrapped around my waist unfurls upward, dipping under the hem of my shirt and seeking out my breasts. It latches a sucker onto the very tip of one of my nipples and gives a sharp tug, the slight stinging pleasure of it an unmistakable reminder to behave and remember who’s in charge here.

It sends a corresponding pulse of heat straight down between my thighs. Even as we pick up pace and move closer to shore, even as the wood of the boat starts to creak and crack under the pressure of his tentacles, my excitement only grows.

I’m still a little nervous, but I know my monster will take care of me. Just like I know the word itself doesn’t have any fear in it unless I decide it does.

Monster. My monster. Not the kind hiding under the bed or lurking in the shadows of my past, but the wild force of nature who’s claimed me for his own.

Beneath me, the wood finally gives way just as we reach the mouth of the sea cave. I’m hoisted into the air and out of the way as the wooden planks crack and shatter, and even though I know I’m still safe, I can’t help but cry out in surprise.

The tentacles holding me tighten as the darkness of the cave closes over us. It’s a long, narrow crevice in the shoreline cliffs with a bottom deep enough for Elias to navigate through, and a flat rock ledge at the very back perfect for storing away plundered treasure.

We reach the back of the cave, and he sets me down on the damp stone, all of those tentacles retreating back beneath the water. I walk carefully to where the edge of the rock meets the water, and peer down at the kraken waiting for me.

From this angle, I can see all of him, and even though the dim of the cave still obscures him a little, it can’t hide the sheer massive size of him, the power, the graceful way his limbs move through the water.

Once upon a time, I might have been frightened at the sight of him, but now all I see is beauty. All I see is Elias.

“My kraken,” I whisper, voice filled with affection and awe as I look at him. “My mate.”

All those tentacles shudder and shift, and a moment later Elias’s head and shoulders break the surface of the water as he transforms back into a half-shift. With a wave of seawater that breaks onto the rocks and washes all the way up to my knees, I surrender completely and let my monster pull me into his arms.

Elias

I’ve captured my treasure at last.

Nora lets herself be caught so beautifully, offers herself to me with an enthusiasm and a sweet surrender that spreads like fire through my veins.

My mind is still half-kraken, still half-feral with the need to claim her, keep her, fuck her, and the urge to have her bare has me surging forward onto the damp floor of the sea cave. It’s the perfect spot, one I spent weeks searching for once I had her agreement.

I needed everything about this day to be perfect.

And it has been. From Nora’s openness and enthusiasm, to the beautiful day, to the unending waves of excitement and the slightest hints of trembling, nervous anticipation I’ve been feeling from her since the moment I disappeared beneath the waves.

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