Page 36 of Salt and Knot

Chapter 18

Dylan

For a second, I’m convinced I’m dreaming.

“Brave omega,” I tell her softly. “You’re so brave.”

She’s still sitting at the edge of the pool, but she hasn’t run away, and that’s a lot.

I sink lower into the water, and immediately I feel the kraken, right there, despite the heat of the water. He knows.

I cling onto control. The kraken grumbles at not being fully unleashed. It’s a tussle, in a way it usually isn’t.

He wants to be with Isla. Our mate.

I breathe through it, aware that Isla is watching.

The shift happens quickly, and the freedom and extra sensitivity of my kraken tentacles washes over me. They keep me afloat easily, stretching out and scenting the water where my omega’s orange scent is left.

I look up and my gaze meets Isla’s. She’s regarding the water below my waist with a combination of wonder and concern.

“Does it hurt?” she asks.

Is that really what she’s worried about?

“It did once. It’s a significant amount of magic coursing through me. But it doesn’t anymore. Or perhaps my body is so used to it after all these years that I don’t interpret it as pain.”

She nods slowly, and keeps looking at my tentacles, then snapping her gaze back to my face.

“It’s okay,” I say gently. “You can look all you like. I’m your mate, Isla. I belong to you. Body and soul.”

Chapter 19

Isla

I take him up on his offer. I look greedily.

“Do you want to see a tentacle? Out of the water,” he adds, then continues, “I won’t touch you.”

“Yes.” I don’t have any question about this. I’m fascinated. Obsessed.

Slowly, a purple and blue tentacle rises from the water. I stare as the skin gleams in the lights hanging above. Shiny, wet. And so incredibly alive.

The tentacle is thick under the water where it attaches to Dylan’s torso. His lower abs have a purple tinge, and around his hips the skin changes to the purple of the kraken. The texture alters too, going smoother. The hair that he had on his lower belly trailing down to his cock has completely gone.

But it’s the tapered end of the tentacle that is fascinating to me. At the tip, it’s smaller than my little finger.

He holds still at his core, but his tentacles keep shifting underwater, as though they’re partly autonomous. I’m mesmerised by him, just as I was by his full kraken form.

I expected to feel at least some fear when Dylan shifted, but there’s none. His eyes are blue and steady, watching me all the time. And he says he belongs to me.

That’s wild. I wonder if I’m brave enough to ask questions?

“What about your cock?” I say after a second, because this is my chance. I’m going to find out everything I can.

“Yes, I have that when I’m half-shifted, don’t worry.” He gives me a wicked smile. “There’s a pocket.”

My gaze drops, and when I still can’t see properly, I lean forwards. The shirt I pulled around me falls away from my breasts.