Page 14 of Alien Kraken's Prize

I pout at him and he laughs again, clearly highly amused by me.

I don’t blame him. I am pretty amusing, if I do say so myself.

“I can’t breathe water,” I finally say.

“Obviously.” He waits, anticipating another rebuttal.

Am I that obvious?

“I’m not your pet.”

Yes, I am that obvious.

“Not unless you want to be,” he agrees. “Could be amusing.”

My lower half clenches, my eyebrows rocketing up. “You wouldn’t like it. I would be a very bad pet.”

He tilts his head lower, studying my face, his eyes lingering on my nose, then my lips.

“Maybe that’s what makes it sound so appealing.”

I swallow noisily.

“Where’s my tentacle?” I wheeze, trying to control myself. It’s gotta be his stupid sexy secretions. There’s nowayI’m attracted to an octococktopus. Or whatever.

“That’s the problem, sea star,” he says, then has the audacity to boop my nose. “The courtiers decided it wasn’t fair I had both of you and took him away.”

“Not Harry,” I cry, furious all over again. “Harry doesn’t deserve that. Harry deserves peace, the poor thing.”

“I cannot imagine why you would name him that,” he murmurs, amusement brightening those stormy eyes of his. They’re nice to look at.

Like his chest, which… oopsies.

My palms are pressed up against his chest.

It’s nice. Very hard. I give him a perfunctory pat, because hell, why not? My hands are already there!

Finally, with a little sigh, I let them fall away.

“Let’s go rescue Harry,” I announce.

“Oh, you can’t go to court like that,” he says, gaze dragging down my body. “I have to mark you as mine first or they’ll try to take you away from me.”

I narrow my eyes, trying to take a step away.

Nope. Didn’t work.

All I did was manage to make him wind his tentacles even tighter around me.

“What do you mean, mark me as yours? I don’t like the sound of that,” I sniff. “I don’t belong to anyone. God, and to think this shit happened because I finally was getting off my damned spacestation. I thought I was getting a better job! A ticket to a brand-new life,” I moan, truly feeling sorry for myself.

“A job? That’s what you are mourning?” There’s an air of surprise to the questions. “Not family or friends… but work?” His upper lip curls back in disgust.

“Not work, but what work means. Enough food to eat. Enough money to have a nice, clean place to stay. Safety. And of course I miss my friend.” I sigh, hoping with everything I have that Aileen is safe and sound and her new Starlight Lottery job is everything she wished for.

“You worry about those things?” Borumor now sounds absolutely appalled.

“Who doesn’t?” I ask, bemused. “Food and shelter are pretty important.”

---