Page 45 of Keeper of All

His lips twitched, and he paid no mind to the alarmed look of Danik as he came out of a door they passed.

Mao was an imposing force that was for sure.

Through a maze of hallways they ended up outside a biometric-locked door. Ekon had been in once or twice before. The place inside was a delight on the senses. What light came from the reflection off the enormous pool. It cast a greenish glow over sea murals painted on the walls. It resembled an ocean and its wildlife, giving a feel of being underwater. It was pretty cool.

“We keep this room at a constant temperature so that it’s always warm, and the water is the same temperature as the ocean. There is a complicated system of pipes that we use to keep the water perfectly tuned to our krakens’ needs,” Todd explained to Mao as he glanced at them, following Todd into the massive room.

Other than a wooden bench which was set off to the left of the door that sat next to a small table that held a docking station for a tablet, there was nothing else in the pool room.

“It’s beautiful.” Ekon wasn’t a water baby, except he was kind of excited to get into the pool with an honest to gods kraken. “Put me on the bench, I’ll strip there.”

“You leave those pants on,” Mao muttered, side-eyeing Todd who was wriggling out of his jeans.

“He’s mated to two dragons, love. He isn’t interested in what I have,” Ekon placated, stripping but doing as Mao asked.

At the side of the pool, Todd took off his glasses laid them on the edge of the pool then dove in. Mao picked up Ekon and walked with him to the edge. He placed a kiss on his upturned lips. “I’ll be right here,” he murmured softly against his lips.

Mao crouched down and halted. Holy fuck, look at the size of that thing!

Ekon chuckled as he looked into the eyes of the amazing sea creature. Massive tentacles swirled up out of the water and wrapped around Ekon and Mao let go, startled. Ekon felt it and refrained from laughing as he was lowered into the water that embraced him in warmth he didn’t expect.

The water was silky smooth, and he could scent the salt, although it wasn’t overpowering.

Ekon felt his magic rise and meet the kraken’s, it’s voice suddenly filling Ekon’s mind. Relax child, you are safe in our tentacles.

Although it wasn’t a command, he did not startled for some reason. Can you help us? It was like communicating with his mate, only on steroids with the power the kraken held.

Your soul speaks to mine and yes… yes i believe we can. Souls, they are sealed through blood and bone. Tentacles moved over his limbs as if seeking answers. The fae is old and wounded by betrayal. To heal him and yourself, everything must be reunited.

Please don’t talk in riddles, I’ve had enough of that.

The laughter was all in his head as he swayed gently in the kraken tentacles, feeling at peace in ways he’d yearned for since childhood.

Everything must be reunited, blood, soul, and spirit. You can only do this with everything your fae carried within.

“What the hell does that mean?” Mao demanded, hands on hips looking pissed.

“The records, he carried those souls within him. We do not have all of them.” His mind was full of Todd’s thoughts coming through his kraken as he explained to Mao Todd’s thinking. “There were others on Andromeda’s ship.”

A deep furrow appeared between his brows. “Where the hell is that?”

“Mariana Trench, deep in the Pacific Ocean. We will need all the krakens to reunite.”

“Fuck me!” Mao growled. “Fuck me sideways. I hate the water!”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Mao

Mao needed a moment. He needed just one, single, freaking moment, but it looked as though he wasn’t going to get that for a while. Watching his mate, in a huge pool, with a big-assed fucking kraken, was definitely not on his bingo card for life, and that’s without the multitude of sensations coming through the bond he shared with his mate.

The krakens were the most dominant, and Mao assumed that would happen no matter where a kraken went or who they were with. It wasn’t strength for power’s sake. Mao got a deep sense of ancient wisdom, of shared pain, and how hard it was to stay hidden in an ever-modernizing world.

Even the fear for their children—Mao could understand now why Alexi decided to have the bunker records destroyed. That didn’t mean Mao agreed with that decision—he still felt that was unfair on the shifters in those records both living and dead, and clearly Todd hadn’t wanted that either which led to why they were at the krakens’ compound and in this mess.

By the Fates, if those records had been destroyed completely, Ekon could’ve died… Mao tried to shut down that line of thinking, but his mind took him back to when he’d handed Ekon the detonator, and how Ekon had hit that button… Mao had to close his eyes as his vision blurred.

Focus on Ekon. That wasn’t as easy as it might sound when the eternal fae had the power to take over his mate’s body. That did not sit right with Mao, and he desperately hoped, no matter what the krakens were planning, that the takeover wasn’t permanent addition. He was mated to Ekon. He was in love with Ekon. Not some freaking fae who was using Ekon’s body for… Mao had no idea what the fae’s end game was.