In a matter of seconds, she rights herself, crackling with the same fire like she didn’t have a moment of weakness.

“What are you then?” she presses, disregarding my question.

I study her carefully for signs of the Waste. Her eyes are slightly sunken, but her skin doesn’t have the green tinge, and the whites of her eyes are clear. It would be far too soon for the water to make her sick. It would take months to years for it to affect her.

Is it a human sickness, then? Her skin isn’t hot to the touch. What else should I look out for?

“Kraken,” I answer.

“Like an octopus-squid thing?” She scrunches her nose, seemingly fine.

I frown, attempting not to take offense at her insinuation I’m dimwitted. “No, like a kraken.”

“You know what? Never mind.” She shakes her head, pushing the serrated edge of the knife harder against my throat. “I don’t care. Just take me back.” My mate’s tone sharpens.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“I cannot let you leave.” Ever.

Her eyes search mine, scent turning bitter with fear, chasing away any evidence of her lust. My lips tic, and I suppress the urge to growl. We were making headway. She was beginning to understand. Why is she upset again?

Cindi lowers her voice. “Are you…” Her voice holds vulnerability I don’t like. “Giving me to them?”

I snarl. I wouldn’t give her to anyone.

She flinches and turns her head to stare at the ground in a sign of submission. It makes me angrier.

She is my mate. I am hers.

I may be the king, but I bow to her, and she bows to no one. Between us, the only one who will submit is me.

“I would never give you to anyone, Cindi. Any man who touches you will die. I have killed for you before, and I will kill for you again.”

“I don’t want you to do that.” She shakes her head, voice barely above a whisper. I would take her violence and her fury over her fear and sorrow.

I grasp Cindi’s face between my hands, and something shutters behind her eyes. I’ve seen it happen twice before when I touched her with my fingers. She shoves me away like I burned her.

“It is my duty, a privilege, to spill blood for you, mate.”

Does she think I am incapable of it? That I’m unworthy of protecting her? Well, she is now my sole purpose, whether she wants it or not.

“Why won’t you stay?”

“I—I don’t belong here. I don’t care about what you think you’re entitled to.” She hiccups like she’s fighting back tears. “I don’t know you. You don’t know me. We don’t owe each other anything.”

I hold her face again so she might truly see me. “You are my mate. There is nowhere you can go where I won’t follow. This is our den, so this is where you will stay. You will be happy and want for nothing. I will take care of you. I am all that you need. You are mine, and I am yours. Fate deemed it so.”

And one day, if I am lucky, Cindi will grow to love me too.

Something in my chest splinters when she flinches, averting her gaze. “I want to go back. Please.”

Why must she fight our bond?

“I forbid it.”

The lines of her face harden. “You can’t forbid me from doing anything. I—I’m not something that can be owned. I won’t let that shit happen to me.” Finally, the blade breaks the skin of my neck. “Take. Me. Back.” Another prick pinches my tentacle, and I glance down to see the knife protruding from another appendage.

Oh.

It wasn’t a mating mark. My mate was trying to hurt me.

“I don’t want you,” she spits, glaring at me with the same seething hatred as every other kraken I’ve met.

Those four words hurt far more than a blade.

I lower her to the ground and move back. I can’t look at her. I thought I might be able to withstand such scrutiny from my own mate, but it’s too much. I’m underwater and can’t breathe.

Turning away, I slip into the pool without looking back at her.

I was wrong to think my own mate might want me. No one ever has, and it was a fool’s hope to think Cindi would. She doesn’t think I’ll ever be enough for her. I shouldn’t be surprised, because my family thought so too. They loved me, but they never thought I could hold any kind of leadership position. I’ve always questioned if it was a result of my appearance or because of what my appearance did to me.

It’s clear it never mattered. The Goddess’s curse upon me is mine to bear. Not even my fated mate can break it.

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11

Cindi

Did he just… “Where the fuck did you go?” I yell at the pool, mouth dry.

Nothing.

Nada.

Silence.

Fucking prick.

I grab the knife off the ground and chuck it at the wall. It clatters off the rock with a high-pitched ring. I want to hit something. Scream. Throw things. Cry until my voice is completely hoarse. Rage. Burn this world to the fucking ground.

So, I do it.

I scream like shards of glass are tearing through my veins. I turn the cave upside down, smashing rocks, splintering wood, ripping moss away from stone. It’s not nearly satisfying enough.

I’m dimly aware of the pain in my hand and the tears rushing down my cheeks as I run around the cavern to search for an exit. I barely wince when my foot slices open on the harsh rock floor, hardly swallow when my mouth feels like sandpaper.

Oxygen rushes from my lungs, and I stumble, head swimming. A fresh wave of tears pours down my cheeks.

I’m so sick of being sick.

I have to get out of here. Staying isn’t an option. I was free. I escaped Tommy. I was this close to getting the hell out of here.

How did I end up right back where I started, but with a… Jesus Christ, I can’t believe I’m even thinking this. But with a goddamn, living, breathing, eight-armed fucking kraken.

A kraken who does things to my body I can’t explain—relaxes it, lulls it into a faux sense of comfort.

A kraken whose suckers I can still feel around my nipples.

A kraken who wants to own me. Keep me as a pretty pet. Lock me in a cage, throw away the key, try placating me with pretty words or flowers to get me back in line.

Tommy told me I would want for nothing, that he’d take care of me because he loved me more than the moon and the stars. There would be nothing that would keep us apart. Little did I know, it was because he chained me up, then threw away the key.

Maybe I should be scared shitless about the mythical sea monster aspect of my captor. Sure, his size and the knowledge he could kill me with a single swipe is frightening, but it’s nothing I’m not used to. Size and shape and looks mean fucking nothing.

Tommy was beautiful. He had the most dazzling smile I’d ever seen, like he just walked off the cover of Vogue.

Look where that got me.

On the other hand, Dad had friends who towered over me, could pick up a tire with a single finger, push trucks without breaking a sweat; one guy could even lift his Harley as a party trick. Despite their intimidating size, the leather jackets, and fuck you attitude, they were gentle giants, patched up teddy bears.

I don’t need to go out to sea to find a monster; they exist on land. They hide under human skin and call themselves men.

I don’t want to be around to discover whether the textbook monster is just as evil.

The cavern alone is as big as the small, two-bedroom cabin I was stolen from, lit by the glowing matter slimy to the touch, the last vestiges of moonlight pouring in through the hole above the pool.

I skitter to a stop at a deep alcove to the side of the cave, saying a silent prayer I’ll find an exit. Instead, beds of moss stare back at me, rich greens illuminated by the threads of blue and purple bioluminescent matter climbing up the walls.