Page 18 of Kringle and the Kraken

I passed him the end of the cord and took the soft flannel fabric. Kris pulled the cord free and laid it next to the others we’d freed on the ground, while I slipped into his shirt. It was a tiny bit too big, but it smelled like him, like a pine forest and the ocean, and enveloped in his scent, the shirt warm from where he’d held it, I realized my tentacles weren’t the only appendages I had to worry about as my cock twitched behind the zipper of my jeans.

It had been a long damn time since I’d wanted someone as much as I wanted Kris, but I needed my body to get on board with the fact that until I could tell Kris I was a sea monster, there would be no fooling around. It was hard enough to keep my tentacles in check when I was doing mundane things likeuntangling Christmas lights, but during sex, when the primal part of my brain was in charge, there was no way to hold them back. It was a complication I hadn’t foreseen when I’d moved to Lifeboat.

Back in Baleen, everyone was in the know, so if I hooked up with someone in town, I could be exactly who and what I was. It was expected, just a part of the experience of living in a haven town. Sure, there were humans who were gill chasers, only interested in getting off with as many different types of sea monsters as they could, but for the most part, we all knew the score. Tourism in Baleen was largely limited to sea monsters looking for an escape from their own haven towns around the world, so we’d never had to hide anything from anyone. My father had worked some of the magic from the ley line into a protective bubble of sorts that kept people who weren’t open-minded or would do us harm out of town. I’d never seen the magic from that side, but the way it had been explained to me, the town just appeared to not exist. If someone unsafe approached the town limits, they would either be somehow magically redirected, or the town just wouldn’t appear to be there at all.

With the number of outsiders who reportedly came to Lifeboat to visit the Kringle family’s Santa’s workshop experience during the holidays, that kind of magic might be hard to pull off here, but I didn’t think it would be impossible. And as my fingers continued to untangle lights, my mind worked to untangle how the people of Lifeboat could live more openly with each other while still being protected.

“Well, that’s one done.” Kris’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts, thoughts that weren’t my responsibility to consider. I needed to leave the town’s magical management to Mayor Delmar, even if I thought he was a major asshole.

Looking down at my lap, I noticed the snarl of lights was gone, the individual strands all laid neatly on the floor.

“You were really in the zone there.” Kris offered me a hand, and I took it, standing and stretching out my muscles that had gone a little stiff from being in the same position for so long.

“What can I say? I like a puzzle.” He didn’t need to know that I was only half talking about the lights.

“Well, that’s good because we have to untangle the lights in the other tote too, and then the real fun begins.”

“Do I want to know?” I felt my face twist into a skeptical grimace.

Kris laughed, the joyful sound causing some of his family members to look our way, smiling when they saw us.

“Probably not, but when we’re done untangling, we need to plug each strand in and look for any burnt-out or missing bulbs and replace them. It’s tedious, but in my opinion, not as bad as the untangling.”

“You know, you could just take the extra time to bundle the lights neatly.”

“Yeah, yeah, but where’s the fun in that?”

Kris retrieved the other plastic bin of lights, and we got back to work. This time, we leaned against the barn wall and sat side by side, our fingers brushing as we worked, and every time we touched, the same zing of electricity I’d felt the day we’d met and shook hands pulsed through my body. This time, while we worked, I let my mind wander to a problem that was actually mine to solve—how was I going to tell Kris I was a kraken?

CHAPTER SEVEN

KRIS

“Hot cocoa break!”My mom and sisters brought a huge carafe of cocoa and trays of mugs into the barn, setting everything up on one of the long workshop tables. All at once, everyone stopped working and crowded around the table, all jostling to get a cup. I hung back with Levi, knowing there would be more than enough for everyone.

“Wow, your family really loves hot cocoa.”

“I know I’m not much for the holidays, but there are three things I do actually enjoy.”

“Only three?”

“Yep.”

“Well, don’t keep me in suspense. What are they?”

“In no particular order.” I counted them off on my fingers. “Snow, the carolers that sing in the square sometimes, and my mom’s hot chocolate.”

“Then why are we standing over here?”

“I didn’t want you to get trampled in the mad rush.”

Levi leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to my cheek. “Thanks, but if this cocoa is as good as you say it is, I’m willing to take my chances.” He grabbed my hand, weaving our fingers together, and tugged me across the room. “Let’s go.”

By the time we got there, everyone else had already grabbed a cup, and there were only two left on the tray. I picked up a green one with a snowman on it and passed it to Levi, then grabbed the last mug, a simple plain red one, for myself.

The line to fill our mugs moved quickly, the bottleneck occurring when it came to toppings and flavorings.

“What’s all that?” Levi asked after he’d filled his cup.

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