Page 30 of Drown Me Gently

“Though I admit, I sent my men to bed early in case you would,” Elias said, and then crossed the deck in a few strides.

Before Auren could think, Elias cupped his face and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Another to his jaw. His lips were warm—startlingly warm—and sent a shiver through Auren’s whole frame. When Elias pulled back, his gaze had darkened.

“Do you know how long I’ve waited to see you again?” he murmured. “To touch you like this?” He sat on the wooden deck beside Auren, eye level and mesmerizing.

Auren’s heart was thudding like thunder in his ears, his gills fluttering with the need to pull in water. Elias’s hands slid down to his neck, then lower, exploring the strange seam where scale met skin. His thumb brushed the curve of Auren’s waist, just before the tail began, and he let out a breathless sound.

“This,” he whispered, “is extraordinary.”

Auren swallowed hard.

“Does it hurt?” Elias asked. “To stay so long in the air?”

Auren shook his head.

Elias ran a hand over the seam again, eyes glittering. “Have you ever wondered what it’s like for us? How different we are beneath it all?” He leaned closer, breath feathering Auren’s ear. “Would you like to see?”

Auren nodded, maybe a little too emphatically.

Elias smiled and leaned back, slowly undoing the last buttons of his tunic. The fabric slipped from his shoulders, revealing smooth, lean muscle and pale skin dusted with the faintest freckles. His chest was bare, flat, sculpted. Auren stared, eyes wide.

“Do I meet expectations?” Elias teased.

Auren’s face flushed, heat flooding his cheeks and chest. He nodded once, quick and shy.

“You can touch,” Elias invited.

Auren reached out, fingertips grazing along Elias’s side. His skin was warm. Firm. Unfamiliar. Auren trailed down to Elias’s stomach, memorizing every ridge. He dared move lower, to where human and Mer began to differ. His exploration stopped at the cold brush of Elias’s metal buckle.

Elias exhaled, breath stuttering, lips still exploring the curve of Auren’s neck. His voice dipped into a hush, soft as velvet.

“Would you like to know more?”

Auren didn’t move. Couldn’t. He was boneless for this man.

“Come now, surely you’re curious. Do you want to explore more of me, darling?”

Ever so slowly, Auren nodded, then his mouth opened in a silent, breathless gasp when Elias’s tongue ran down the length of his neck.

“Tomorrow, my sweet,” he gasped into the crook of Auren’s jawbone. “Come to me tomorrow and I shall sate that incredible curiosity all night long.”

Auren’s breath caught. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think. He only nodded, dazed and warm and pulsing with sensation.

He slipped over the edge of the ship like a falling star. His heart was a drum. His mind buzzed with thoughts he couldn’t hold still long enough to name. He was flushed, shaking, high on the heat of Elias’s touch and the echo of his words. He barely noticed when Iska fell in beside him, her huge body cutting the water with practiced ease.

She pulled him through the sea with eager urgency, but Auren hardly registered the speed. He didn’t feel how fast they moved. Didn’t hear the agitated trill Iska let out as they approached the reefline. Didn’t see the way her head dipped, twitching uneasily. And when he slipped from her side, too dizzy with desire to even say goodnight, he didn’t notice how she lingered. Watching. Warning.

If he had… he might’ve been prepared for the figure waiting in the dark.

Tentacles sprawled across the stone. A shadow in the center of everything. Ulric didn’t rise. He just looked at him. Steady. Cold.

“I see,” the Kraken said. “So my assumptions were correct.”

Auren’s spine went rigid.

“I shouldn’t be surprised,” Ulric said. “You’ve shown your disregard for rules plenty of times.”

“You have no right to lecture me,” Auren snapped, dragging himself into the cave and keeping a wide berth. “Not after what you did.”