Page 81 of Taming the Kraken

Mikah stood, groaning. “I just want to eat.” He pouted as he stacked a couple of pastries in his hand.

“Mikah, you can stay here.” Alexa smiled as she stood up.

“Ha! And let the squid berate me later? Not a chance.” Mikah snorted as he bit into his food. “Well? Let’s go,” he said, his tone muffled as crumbs fell from his mouth.

“Tell Brian if he needs me to let me know soon before I start second breakfast.” Ryker winked down at Raine, who covered her scarlet face.

Alexa laughed. “I’ll tell him.” She walked out of the room with Mikah, and she grinned up at him. “You know what this means …”

“Yeah, there’s about to be a surplus of babies running around.” Mikah chuckled as Alexa rolled her eyes. “I still think this complicates things.” He frowned and the teasing drained out of his face.

“Everything complicates things around here.” Alexa snorted, bumping her shoulder into his arm.

Alexa and Mikah walked down the long, restricted corridor. When they finally reached Brian’s room, Alexa knocked loudly. A moment later, Brian opened the door and quickly motioned for them to come in. Alexa saw Bella standing a few feet away with a fresh new mark on her neck.

“Oh, Bella! I’m so happy for you.” Alexa chirped, hugging her.

Bella smiled and reached up to rub her neck. “Thank you. It all just felt right. And I’m happy.”

“Lex, I’m sorry. I went ahead and marked her. I completely forgot—” Brian started but Alexa shot a wave of snow in his face, shutting him up.

“Don’t be silly, Brian. Of course it’s okay that you marked her. It’s fine. We can still work around this, and now with Bella being marked, you won’t have to worry about unmated dragons.” Alexa watched as he melted the snow off of him and smiled at her in appreciation. “Can you temporarily move upstairs? That way you and Bella can share a room without suspicion. It’s that or Ken will have to play teleport switcheroo.”

“Actually, I was thinking the same thing. That I could temporarily move upstairs until things are settled with Erebus.” Brian looked over at Bella. “That is, if it’s okay with you?”

Bella giggled and wrapped her arm around Brian’s. “Of course it’s okay with me. But what isn’t okay is I’m going to be late. I’m supposed to meet Grandpa Sage.”

Brian nodded his head. “Right, which is why we needed you two to come. We didn’t want to risk her being seen with just me and a fresh mark on her neck. Speaking of mark … how long will yours stay like that?” He nodded toward Alexa’s neck.

“I’m not sure. This is the first mark I ever gave myself.” Alexa giggled and shrugged her shoulders. “But I will check it every morning to make sure it doesn’t look faded. I’m purposely not healing it.”

Brian nodded and then looked a bit confused. “Where’s Ken? Did he go hunting for Erebus?”

Alexa shook her head. “No, he went to find Terra. Hopefully he won’t be gone too long. Anyway, let’s get you to Gramps. Otherwise, he’ll take his wrath out on Brian.” She giggled as Brian snorted in agreement.

“Gramps is always rough on me. But nothing is too good for Lex. Gramps favors the girls.” Brian pouted as he grabbed the door handle. He stopped and turned around to place a soft kiss on Bella’s lips. “While we’re out in the public eye, I’ll be keeping my distance from you. More so now that you have a mark on your neck. But know I’ll be thinking of you the entire time.” She cupped his cheek, her eyes going soft, and pressed her forehead to his for a heartbeat before she let him go. He raised his gaze to Alexa. “Alright, showtime.”

Alexa walked back down the corridor tucked into Brian’s side while Bella and Mikah followed behind them. Neither Alexa nor Brian were in the arms of who they wanted to be with, but it was a necessary evil.

Alexa couldn’t help but think about Ken. She wondered if he was close to finding Terra. Already, she was too used to his presence. The world felt foreign without his heavy scent around her. She missed the sweet tingles his closeness brought her too. There was no way she would ever stand to be separated from him for long again. She needed him more now. Almost as much as she needed air.

Alexa reached up and touched her necklace, feeling the warmth of the gem kiss her fingers and pretending it was Ken himself, kissing her and telling her he would be there soon.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

The wind blew in from the window, making his white hair toss around freely. He stared out a window from a stone castle in the middle of the sea. Erebus turned his head as he heard the sound of someone approaching.

“My lord, are you unwell?” a raspy voice asked cautiously. He noticed how Erebus was leaning against the stone wall in an unusual manner.

“I’m fine. What news do you bring me?” Erebus turned back around to look outside, staring off at the waves in the distance.

“We can’t confirm much. But we do know Ken was there with her as you already suspected.” The voice stopped talking as Erebus turned to glare at him.

“What about the dragon?!” he growled.

“I’m sorry, my lord. We can’t confirm anything there either. But there was a rumor that they didn’t share a room last night. We heard a maid whispering that they were on different floors. The dragons suspected it was because of the woman’s father, though.”

Erebus snorted angrily. “It was because she was spending the night with someone else. I warned her. I guess she doesn’t mind my face that much—” He narrowed his eyes as he looked back at the man. “Keep doing your job. Notify me when you have any new information.”