Page 52 of Keeper of All

Each brother crowded in and one by one they placed their hand on top of Markov’s. Ekon witnessed their krakens rise and the hands turn to tentacles, and before he realized what was about to happen, he was wrapped in tentacles. They roamed over his exposed skin, wriggled under his T-shirt and up the leg of his shorts. Yet, it wasn’t sexual, nor did it evoke any feelings of panic, so he remained still. His animal spirits all quiet and watchful. The fae no longer a dominant presence inside him it was… kraken.

Holy fuck.

“Now you see child, you hold a part of us, a scared part, our mother,” Markov’s kraken explained.

“How did I not know? How didn’t you know before?” Ekon asked, somewhat confused and overwhelmed by this knowledge.

Todd nodded, a tentacle pushing up his glasses. “We were never all together. Our kraken magic is strongest when we are all in the same place. My kraken recognized something in you, but I didn’t want to say anything in case I was wrong. I knew Markov’s would be able to tell.”

Markov’s expression was both smug and pissed off. “My kraken will take full credit for this!”

“Of course,” his kraken responded, and the smile, wasn’t Markov’s, which was plain weird.

One of Markov’s tentacles traced over Ekon’s neck where his mate mark was. “We are injecting you with our barbs so you can breathe underwater, we will do the same for your mate, then you will always be safe in the sea as your mother would have wanted.”

Tears sprung into Ekon’s eyes despite the barb comment which really should be freaking him out because it should be painful, yet wasn’t. “Mother would have wanted? I don’t understand.”

“She is your mother too. They took from her and gave her magic to you. They believe they failed, but they didn’t. They couldn’t ever rule over a kraken, and she has waited for you find your own magic to awaken her from her slumber. You are part of our family, being part kraken.”

Ekon heard Mao’s gasp and felt the impact of the shock through their bond. But he could only pay attention to one thing right then when his world was realigning to a new truth.

“The eternal fae connected its soul to the records of those taken and murdered. He carried the burden. I can see it, feel it within you. When the boat was sunk into the trench, it started a chain reaction for the fae, then Kelvin took more away from it, and this was the catalyst for its grief. We must now right the wrong so you can live freely.” Markov’s kraken held Ekon’s gaze, the tentacle never moving from his mate mark.

“How do we do that when the rest of the records are buried—bombed?” There was a quiver in his voice at how that reality really struck.

“Lou, can you go grab the box, please,” Todd called out.

Ekon saw Lou disappear through the throng watching the scene. He just didn’t understand what the relevance was.

You will child, Markov’s kraken’s voice filled his head, his eyes widened so much he feared for their safety as he stared in shock.

How the fuck are you doing that?

As I said you are kraken too. We can do all manner of things other shifters can’t, and you’ll have fun discovering them.

Give over. Alexi’s voice had his heart triple timing.

How is this happening?

Fucked if I know, Mao squeaked with alarm.

You hear them too?

He is your fated mate, of course he can, Markov’s kraken said, like he was talking about the weather.

“Holy fu—freaking hell,” Mao grunted, eyeing the children after his near slipup, and releasing some of the tension this new revelation caused.

Ekon’s deep chuckles got an eye roll from Mao.

“Do you want to talk aloud for the rest of us who can’t speak kraken?” Azim questioned, looking at his mate with an arched brow. “Do we have a plan, or are we just going to roll about this rocky boat all day?”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Mao

He was losing his mind. The tossing boat really was the least of his problems, because the band was working and he didn’t feel like tossing his cookies. Not over that. The large tentacles running over his skin so he could breathe under water, that was making him lose his shit. Barbs. What kind of barbs were they sticking into his skin? His cat, yep, it had gone so deep Mao was struggling to feel it.

Then with everything he was trying to process, because it was a damn lot when it turned out his mate was part kraken, a mythical, magical sea being. What did that even mean? What did it mean for them?