Page 31 of Kringle and the Kraken

“I know, I know. I’ve thought about telling him a million different ways, but he has no idea you’re a kelpie or that Kori is a kappa. He doesn’t know that the reason the Christmas carolersare his favorite part of the holidays is because they’re merfolk harmlessly luring him in with their magic. If I confess one thing, I have to tell him everything.”

“Did you know Kris used to work for me?” I shook my head, and Marvin continued. “I used to own a commercial fishing operation, and he’d help out on my boat. I had a few other sea monsters on my crew, and they used to love to tell him stories about their lives as though they were old fish tales. Kris ate up every word. He loves the sea, and I know when you tell him the truth, he will love you just the same.”

My hearts turned over in my chest, the triple beat picking up at the thought of Kris loving me. I wanted that. I wanted that so badly. But there was an ocean between us at the moment, an ocean only I could cross.

Marvin’s wrinkled hand landed on my knee, patting me back to reality. “Come on. I’ve kept you from your man long enough. You don’t need to make a decision about what you are going to do right now, and I think Pete has the artifacts out. There is a picture you need to see.” I stood and offered my hand to Marvin, but he brushed me away, leaning heavily on the table as he stood. “Aging really sucks.”

“How old are you?” Kelpies, like krakens, could live a long, long time. Given the appearance of his human form, I guessed Marvin to be close to a thousand.

“Nine hundred and twenty-seven, but I barely feel a day over nine hundred. And Clara keeps me young. She’s only eight hundred and sixty.” He winked and patted me on the back. “Let’s go.”

I followed him to the snack table first, and he served me a cup of eggnog, then turned toward the table where Kris and several other men were gathered. They all seemed to be looking at something in a frame, and I took a drink of the eggnog as I waited to catch a glimpse. The second I did, my breath gotcaught in my throat, and I swallowed hard, the spiked eggnog getting stuck and making me choke and cough.

Kris patted me on the back until I stopped hacking, my eyes still streaming as Marvin pushed me forward to get a better look at the photo.

Holy shit. The picture was worn by time, but I would recognize my grandfather anywhere, and despite the age of the image, I could see he’d been one good-looking kraken.

Pete, the leader of the KELPS chapter, launched into the history of the photo, but I barely heard his words as I replayed everything Marvin had shared with me. My grandfather was supposed to protect Lifeboat, and since he’d been gone, there had been no one keeping the town safe. A selkie pup had been taken, and the Delmar family was on some xenophobic power trip trying to get rid of all the humans in town.

“Here.” Kris nudged my shoulder and covertly passed me another piece of Marvin’s wife, Clara’s, shortbread. “You okay?”

I tried to give Kris a smile, but it felt like it got stuck closer to a grimace. When I tried to speak, my voice came out rough from choking on the eggnog. “I’m good. I like your friends.”

“I saw you talking to Marvin for a while.”

“He’s great.”

“Yeah, he is. I used to work for him. He helped to foster my love of the sea.”

Reaching between us, I wrapped my fingers around Kris’s. My tentacles started to lift, thinking they would get more playtime, but I held them back. Soon I was going to have to come clean. “I know. He told me.”

“Oh, great, they’re already telling you all my secrets. I told you they were world-class meddlers.” Kris and Marvin exchanged a look, and Marvin winked.

“Not all of them. Don’t worry.”

“Good.” He leaned in closer and brushed the barest hint of a kiss along my cheek as he whispered in my ear. “Are you still coming back to my house after this?”

“Definitely.”

“Excellent. Pizza should be here in a few minutes, and we can eat and run.”

But that isn’t what happened.

As we were getting ready to sneak out, Kris got a phone call from his brother Keith. They were overrun at the tree farm and needed a hand, so instead of heading back to Kris’s, we were on our way out to help.

Which bought me the tiniest amount of extra time to try to figure out how to tell Kris the truth.

CHAPTER TWELVE

KRIS

Levi wasquiet for most of the drive, but he kept his fingers intertwined with mine the entire way out to the tree farm. The silence between us was comfortable, and it gave me plenty of time to think about the plans my family had so rudely interrupted. Cockblocked by Christmas trees.

Since Thanksgiving, I’d been hard-pressed to think about much besides the way it had felt to be wrapped up in Levi, the way we fit together, and the sounds he made when he came. I was desperate for a repeat, my dick going more than half-hard whenever I was around him.

In the cab of my truck, his scent filled my nostrils, the salty, cedar scent reminding me of the smell of the shore after a storm. I wanted to bury my face in his neck while I buried my dick inside him or while he had his dick deep inside me. I wasn’t picky. I wanted Levi in any and every way I could get him, and I’d been hoping we’d get that chance tonight.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you off?”

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