Page 27 of The Kraken Games

Yes, the application forms were up. And worse—there was a picture of Kai smiling back at her, his glinting gaze seemingly for her alone.

And now she was going to use it all against him.

A bitter self-loathing spread up her throat.

Sex had never made her feel like a whore before. But using Kai like this—photographing his tentacles while he slept.

Thatmade her feel like a whore.

CHAPTER 8

“Move to the left. Faster,” Shen barked. “Use your tentacles to help you slice through the mud, then grab me around the neck.”

Kai did as Shen commanded, using his stronger tentacles to help push his legs through the muddy terrain of the ring. Then, locking his arms swiftly around Shen’s neck, he swung him onto his back.

Mud splattered everywhere.

Shen clambered to his feet, covered in the thick brown goo and laughed, wiping it out of his hair and eyes. “Not bad. Make sure you keep your weaker tentacles out of the way when you lunge.”

“Yeah, they still hamper me when I’m tired.” Kai sighed. They were aching like all hell today, had been since Luna had disappeared nearly a week ago, if he was honest. Ridiculous though it was, it almost felt like his body had gone into mourning since then. Pain had been his constant companion of late, and he knew it wasn’t just the extra wrestling he was doing. That was the trouble with chronic pain; his body still held the trauma memory, even if his mind had mostly forgotten. He only had vague memories of the event, bits and pieces of his momscreaming, of the emergency kraken services and his stay in the hospital. Of being bandaged and hurting and crying.

Over time, he’d learned to stop crying and bear the pain of his shredded tentacles, even though they’d been lifeless. Until finally his parents had buried their pride and taken him to Waldo, Motham’s most famous mage. Physical pain, the warlock had told him during his secret therapy sessions, drawing diagrams on a board, was linked to the emotional part of his brain. The two were intertwined. Inseparable. Which was why when he got sad, so did his tentacles.

So yeah, he got it, but he didn’t like it. Missing a girl he didn’t know, didn’t even like that much except for those tantalizing glimpses of someone else buried deep inside her. But somehow, they’d made magic together when they made love.

It had felt… fated.

Since then, he’d looked everywhere for her, at events, down alleys (yeah, he’d traversed that same alley several times, hoping she’d spring on him from a doorway), but he hadn’t caught a single glimpse of her.

He’d even contemplated visiting that damn orc, Marrick. Going to Club Beast in the East Quarter and begging him for her address. But he couldn’t let Marrick have that much of an advantage over him.

Admittedly, Marrick still hadn’t signed up. Maybe he wouldn’t. But Kai couldn’t risk behaving like a desperate lovesick idiot in front of a potential opponent.

“You wanna take a break?” Shen was looking at him with ruffled brows.

“Yeah—yeah, I guess.” Kai flexed one of his injured tentacles; the scar tissue burned.

“I’ll be honest, Kai, I’ve been worried about you this past week.”

“In what way?” Kai buried his head in his towel so Shen couldn’t see his face drop.

“You seem a bit… flat. Down.”

“It’s nothing, just—I guess the change from sea to being land-based. There’s extra pain from my scars, you know, keeping them hidden in public, and the pull of gravity, but, hey… I’m used to pain.”

“It feels like more than that.” Shen frowned, ducking under the shower and turning on the faucet. Kai watched the brown gloop slide off his turquoise skin.

When Shen got out, Kai took his turn under the wide shower head, welcoming the warm water on his sore muscles. Going over to the control panel on the wall, Shen pressed the keypad and the automatic cover spread back slowly across the ring, keeping the mud at the perfect consistency and temperature until tomorrow, when they would train again.

They moved out of the wrestling room into the brightly lit office next door, with its multiple computer screens, a big modern desk and ergonomic chairs. This was where Shen planned the games. On the walls were framed pictures of past champions. A photo of a young, grinning Shen, holding the first games trophy, twenty years ago, took pride of place over the desk.

Shen had held the title for a full decade before he decided it was time to be with Hana and took up a training role instead.

He was still frowning as he sat down and motioned for Kai to do the same. “You’ve only got me to the dungeon once since you’ve been here, and even then, honestly, I made it easy for you.”

Kai hung his head. “I know.”

The dungeon was the final hurdle. The whole point of the games was for the kraken to pull the other contestant into the dungeon in the center of the ring. Essentially, it was a trapdoorthat led into a deep, watery chasm. There, the kraken would hold their opponent until they conceded they were running out of air, and they’d be brought gasping back to the surface, coiled in tentacles.

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