Page 42 of Kringle and the Kraken

“So what are you going to do about it?”

Levi’s eyes narrowed. “Why does everyone keep asking me that?”

“Because you’re supposed to be the one leading and protecting the town, right?”

He nodded.

“Then we need a plan.”

“We?”

I shimmied closer to him and pressed my lips to his. “Yes, Levi. In case you haven’t figured it out, we’re in this together.”

His eyes twinkled, the glow from earlier flickering in the hazel depths, and his tentacle twitched inside me before he tugged me on top of him, and his tentacles started moving over me again.

“Round two first, then we can create a plan.”

A tentacle wrapped around my cock while the one still buried in my ass pressed against my prostate, and I let out a breathy, “Deal.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

LEVI

Kris stumbledinto the living room the next morning looking like he’d been thoroughly put through his paces. Round two had led to round three, and we’d fallen asleep before we could talk any more about Delmar or the wraiths or whatever the hell was happening with the ley line magic.

But those thoughts were never far from the front of my mind, even when I was buried tentacles deep in my mate.

My mate.

Since the moment Kris Kringle walked into my shop to invite me to the KELPS party, I’d been trying to keep myself from thinking the words, but after last night, there was no way to stop it.

Kris was mine. Which meant the safety of his town—which was our town now—just got moved to the top of my priorities list. Nothing would touch my mate while I had breath in my lungs and strength in my body, and gods help anyone who tried.

His boxers were on backwards, and his hair and beard stuck out in every direction. Dark sucker-shaped and finger-shaped bruises dotted his torso and peeked above the waistband of his underwear, and my hearts flip-flopped in my chest. He looked beautiful with my marks all over his skin. I wondered if he’d seenthem yet. I wondered if the moment he caught sight of them in the mirror would be the moment everything hit him and he’d go running like his ass was on fire.

But he wasn’t running. He was studying my law degree where I’d hung it on the wall. I still wasn’t sure why I’d bothered.

“Your middle name is Ethan? And you’re a lawyer?” He looked over his shoulder at me. “How did you end up here running a record shop?”

I shrugged. “Yes, my full name is Levi Ethan Shoal. My parents thought they were being funny.”

When Kris looked confused, I spelled it out for him. “Levi Ethan. Levi-ethan. Leviathan.”

His eyes went comically round, and then he laughed. “Okay, that’s pretty clever since that’s pretty much exactly what you are. Well, kind of.”

“Yeah, yeah. As for how I ended up here and why I’m not practicing law, I just needed a change of pace. I wanted to go into music when I was younger, though I have zero talent for it, but I do know how to run a business. I’d been running my own barrister’s firm for years. I wanted to come to the States, and Lifeboat is the only North Atlantic haven town here, so it made sense.”

“With Delmar and all the shit going on here, do you regret it?” He shuffled toward me, his expression unsure.

“Not at all. Not for one second. If I wouldn’t have come here, I wouldn’t have met you.”

My mate picked up the pace, closing the distance between us in three long strides, and threw his arms around my neck, kissing me until I was backed up against the kitchen counter.

“Morning.” His breath smelled like peppermint, which meant he’d stolen some of my toothpaste, and presumably, he’d had to have caught his reflection, which meant he knew he was covered in my marks and he didn’t care.

“Morning. How are you feeling?”

His smile turned a little dreamy. “Really, really good.”

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