Page 46 of Salt and Knot

His eyes darken, and there’s that concern.

“You said the kraken wouldn’t hurt me,” I remind him. And in point of fact, he didn’t. Or, not more than seems to have been a species-level misunderstanding about the amount of “getting to know you” time required.

“He won’t.” He smiles a little sadly. “But he doesn’t want you to be scared. I’ll hate it even more. I only want to bring you joy.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” I reassure him, but he doesn’t seem to be listening, caught up with concern for me. I found my fated mate against the odds, and I want all of him. Even the parts he’s been holding back to protect me.

“You’ll stand far away from the edge of the pool,” Dylan orders roughly, brow furrowed. “And if you want to get away, you can just walk away, through the waterfall, and he won’t follow you into the main house.”

“Okay.” I nod, though I know I’m not going to do that. I couldn’t leave my mate.

He sighs, and shrugs off his suit jacket. Then his shirt is tugged over his head, revealing his gorgeous, tattooed chest. The rest of his clothing is quickly disposed of, and he closes the gap between us before cupping my face in his hands, kissing me hard and brief, then, with quick strides, goes to the edge of the pool. He dives in, making an elegant arc, and disappears underwater.

I wait, holding my breath.

My heart lodges in my throat when he doesn’t re-emerge after a normal amount of time.

And for a long moment, I think I’ve gone crazy.

Then a dark shadow moves below the surface of the water. And breaks through.

Eyes as big as footballs regard me, and a single tentacle rises and dips, a cautious revelation. Then he spreads himself out, revealing his full shape.

Dylan looks like an octopus, but huge. Enormous.

I’ve been doing some reading in his library about octopuses, and I mentally catalogue his anatomy. Two eyes at the front, and a head-like part behind them, known as the mantle. At the back is a short tube, known as a siphon, which he breathes through, but can also use to push out water or ink.

I’m curious to know what his ink would be like.

He’s a pattern of purple and blue, with a circular dot on his skin that’s almost like an eye, especially because it’s bright-blue. His tentacles are floating just on the surface of the water, dipping and undulating slowly. It’s insane, but I have this flush that starts between my legs and blooms outwards as I remember how those tentacles felt inside me, and over my body.

“Hi.” It’s awkward. I’m anxious, after all this time. And I’m also… Something else. Compelled, maybe.

Like that day when I stepped into the sea. My head is saying one thing and my heart another. The kraken and I regard each other. He is so, so big. And Dylan was right, that he could be across the floor in a second if he wanted.

I should have opted for a bird cage hung from the ceiling.

But the kraken just bobs slightly in the water, seemingly content to stare at me.

“I like your colours.” It’s stupid, because he probably can’t understand.

But a second ticks past, and then his pattern changes. It’s all over, the purple getting brighter, the blue receding into green, and I gasp.

“That’s amazing!”

The blue dot low down his body pulses, an intense blue, and his colour shifts all over, varying from speckled spots to white stripes on dark-blue. Three tentacles emerge from behind his head, and I step away, my mind immediately going to when he dragged me down into the water.

But they just wave there, the stripes shifting in colour.

And I realise… They’re beautiful.

“You’re showing off how gorgeous and clever you are,” I laugh.

And he changes colour again to an aquamarine that pulses with a pattern of swirling patches of purple that fade in and out.

Then he’s shifting again, going a deep-blue, and his skin rising to be textured and knobbly rather than smooth.

I’m entranced as the kraken puts on a show for me. The suckers on his tentacles remain pale, for the most part, but otherwise, he’s extraordinary in his capacity to change. He pauses for a long time on a soft, shimmering turquoise and purple with white, skin smooth, that’s almost magical.