Better than he could have imagined? Join me?
“Darius?” he breathes, hesitating.
His hand falls away from his hard dick, his face crestfallen. “Oh my gods. I’m so, so sorry. I’m such a perv. I shouldn’t be here jacking off at the sight of you. I-I heard my name, and I thought—”
I reach for his wrist with one of my tentacles. His eyes widen as soon as it touches his skin. Then the prettiest, sexiest smile covers his face. And I swear, his ocean-blue eyes sparkle. “Did you mean it?”
“Mean what?”
“That I’m…I’m your mate?”
My jaw drops open. Out of everything he’s just witnessed, that’s what his mind clung to? My inner kraken begins singing his mating call.Mate. Mate. Mate.
Kaleb gasps again, stepping into the shower. “I can hear him. Oh, wow. I can hear your beast.”
My heart flips. “My kraken. My beast is a kraken, and I’m a mer-kraken. Half merman, half kraken.”
Shaking his head, Kaleb laughs. “That’s why you said I looked like an offering from King Poseidon. Wait! Are the Greek gods and goddesses real? Damn. I really do have so much to learn.”
Laughter bursts from my chest. “Don’t worry, my mate. I will be here for you every step of the way.” I don’t realize just how romantic or true those words are until I say them out loud. ‘I’ll be here to teach you, to help you control your magic, and to introduce you to this paranormal world. I promise to do everything in my power to protect and cherish you.’I send the words down our bond.
Kaleb’s eyes shine with emotion. “I heard you.”
I nod. “Only fated mates, soulmates can talk like this,” I say out loud. Then, to my complete and utter shock, Kaleb drops to his knees, right there in the shower, and takes my mating tentacle into his mouth.
He bobs his head up and down like he would a human cock before pulling off. “Is this okay?” he asks.
I nod frantically, eyes wide, jaw slack. “No one has ever done that before. Not with my mating tentacle. If you keep doing that, there will be cum, just like my cock,” I explain.
Kaleb doesn’t reply. He just smirks and takes me back into his mouth. Then, with his free hand, he strokes my human cock. Desperate groans leave my throat. That’s when I notice he’s jacking himself off with his other hand.
One of my long tentacles swats his hand away and takes control until we’re both thrusting and coming.
Chapter twelve
Darius
Even with those mysterious tentacle tattoos wrapped around his biceps.
Gods, last night when I heard Kaleb’s words travel down the bond, I was already an emotional wreck from my conversation with Zero and then with Kaleb’s father. So when I heard those words, I was filled with hope and fear. But then, after last night and earlier this morning, I realized that Fate really did know what she was doing.
I smile over at Kaleb, who is bouncing in the passenger seat, happily singing along to the remixed Christmas songs playing on the radio. We spent the morning chatting about what our lives were like before we met. When Stacy finally wandered into the kitchen, she confessed she was a wolfless wolf who’d been abandoned by her pack as a child.
At least my pod let me stay until I was old enough to know how to survive. Gods, I can’t imagine what it would feel like to go through that as a child. Both my mate and Stacy have been through so much, I’m happy that they found each other.
I opened up to them about my less-than-loving childhood, what it was like living in the ocean, and then eventually becoming a magical tracker for the Elite Guard. Around brunch time, I showed off some of my cooking skills while telling them about my tea shop.
When it was time to leave, Kaleb and Stacy both burst into tears, hugging each other as if they would never see each other ever again. Honestly, it kind of broke my heart. While Kaleb was getting Cleo situated in the car, I pulled Stacy to the side and told her that if Kaleb decided to move to Heart’s Hollow, she would always have a home there, and that I had an extra room waiting for her.
More tears filled her eyes, and to my shock, she threw her arms around me as if we’d been friends for years. When Kaleb walked in and realized what I’d offered, we had a very emotional group hug. I never knew I could have such intense feelings for people Ijust met, but in that moment, my inner kraken agreed. Kaleb and Stacy were officially ours. Our family.
Thankful words and feelings thrummed down the bond, and I knew I had made my mate extremely happy.
“We have about half an hour left on our trip, but up ahead, there is a turnoff that will take us on the scenic route. The ocean view is absolutely gorgeous, but it adds an hour onto our travel time,” I state.
“I’ve never seen the ocean in person before.”
“You what?” For a moment, I’m too shocked to speak or think. Then his words truly hit me like a slam into the chest. I glance at him quickly.
