Page 37 of The Kraken Games

Their earpieces counted the time— you couldn’t hear it under the water otherwise.

Twenty seconds… thirty…. one minute… two minutes.

Nils finally gave the salute of defeat, his eyes literally startling out of his head, veins on his forehead bulging. Kai gave him a wink and rose to the surface with the minotaur still firmly imprisoned in his tentacles.

He hurled him back into the ring, raising his tentacles in the victory salute, leaving Nils to sprawl, defeated and trying to get his breath. Then Kai snapped his tentacles back into his torsoand climbed nimbly out of the dungeon. Back in human form, he punched the air and postured around the exhausted minotaur.

Everyone knew how it went, but still the arena erupted.

The monsters of Motham loved nothing more than to hate the kraken winning.

But despite that, everyone was soon grinning. Nils was helped to his corner, given a pat on the back and a good talking to by his trainer as he tended to his wounds.

Kai did a victory lap around the outside of the ring to even louder heckling. There were shouts of “Show us yer tentacles” and “Cowardly fuckin’ kraken.”

That was the whole point of it. They only got to see his tentacles when he fought, and when it was all over, he was back in human form, leaving monsters scratching their heads as to what they’d actually witnessed.

Except for one—the human who’d seen everything he had.

Every—fucking—thing.

As he jogged, his eyes scanned the crowd. Would she be here, watching, trying to get tips for when it was her turn? He thought he caught the glint of her blonde hair, but no, it was an elf.

She hates you;she’ll have left by now, even if she was watching.

But when he turned to give one last wave, out the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of a small figure, a hoodie over their head, sitting close to the front. From the shadow of the hood, he sensed a pair of golden eyes were piercing into him, like a thousand cuts. Then the figure got up and pushed through the rows.

He watched it disappear into the throng.

In his hearts he knew it was her.

Turning to leave the arena, Kai felt strangely defeated.

Even though he’d won.

CHAPTER 12

Luna put her notebook back in her pocket and shuffled her way along the line until she reached the exit. Moving through the crowds, the feeling of claustrophobia tightened in her chest. She had to get out of here.

Every day, she’d been here. Every day, she’d watched him win, her gaze unwavering, focused, intent. Cameras weren’t allowed, so she had to rely on notes and sketches to record his moves.

After his first easy win over the minotaur, his eyes had somehow found her in the crowd. That had unnerved her. Since then, she’d made sure she left before his victory lap. Who needed to see that anyway?

On day four, Kai seemed to lose form. Until then, he’d handled the opposition no problem, taking them down within the first twenty minutes. Then a goblin, bigger than any she’d seen before, with massive biceps and shoulders, had obviously noticed that Kai held back two tentacles and went for them early in the match. Kai had clearly been in pain, retracting them into his body and then resorting to mainly hand combat after that.

He’d taken the goblin down, but only within minutes of the allotted match time.

A centaur had trampled him on day five. Again, Kai had been hurt, huddled into a tight ball in the mud while the ref stood over him counting. The only other way a kraken could lose was if they were floored for a full minute— it had never happened in the history of the games. Watching the count, Luna had felt a pull of alarm so strong she’d had to tether herself to the seat.

What if she didn’t get to compete?

She’d not even considered that possibility.

She walked into the arena every day with her heart pounding, her palms sweating, but not only because it would be her turn soon.

If she was honest, she’d admit it was from the intimacy they’d shared. The orgasms that had simultaneously racked their bodies as they held each other, and the stupid fact she’d allowed his name to spill from her lips. Shit, with other guys, she’d be lucky to even remember their names.

You got to see his damaged tentacles.

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