Page 66 of Sheltered in the Storm

“Not in the least, as long as you do not.” I rested my chin on her head. “Tell me what you are thinking.”

She did not speak for a while. When she did, her voice was small. “Choices.”

I let out a soft coo, and she sighed and settled in against me. “Which choices, my mate?” I asked.

“All the choices I made that led me here to you, and all the choices I didn’t get to make that brought me here too.”

“I understand.” I pressed my lips to her hair. “I think of these things as well. How could we not, when we have each known such darkness and now find ourselves in the light?”

“Yes, exactly.” She took a shaky breath. “Sometimes I think you can read my mind.”

“I cannot,” I assured her. “At least, not yet.”

She chuckled softly, and the snarl of worry in my belly eased. “With everything else that’s happened since we met, I suppose it wouldn’t surprise me…but do please say something if you start picking up my thoughts. I’d like to know what you’re overhearing.”

I did not know whether such a thing was possible, but that was an easy promise to make. “Of course. Your thoughts, like everything else about you, is yours to share or not.”

“You say that like it’s a universal truth.” Now her voice had a caustic edge. “But that would be news to a lot of people I’ve known.”

“Itisa universal truth, whether or not some people believe it.” I kissed her hair. “We each have choices. What to ask for, what to give, and what to accept. Your body is your own. I am privileged to touch you, hold you, treasure you, even fill you, but only when you ask. All choices remain yours.”

“I know.” She squeezed my arm. “I wouldn’t still be here if that weren’t the case, and I won’t be if it ever changes.”

She did not mean it as a threat, and I did not take it as such, but the thought of her leaving made my tentacles quiver in distress.

“I don’t ask for much, my Vos, but I must have that,” she added quietly. “If I don’t own myself, what do I have?”

Her hurts ran so deep. I would give anything, shred anything, suffer anything, to ease that pain.

“I too know what it is like to be owned,” I said. “My serviceto the Guard was not the same as what you experienced, but close enough to understand why your autonomy means so much. I told you from the moment you decided to stay that I will not cage you, and that is the truth. No cages of any kind, ever.”

She made a little sound that might have been stifled sob.

Another coo rose in my chest, but before it could pass my lips, she said, “Thank you.” She laced her fingers through mine. “Being your Calla makes me happy because Ichooseto be your Calla, and that’s the truth too. No, not just happy,” she added, and I sensed her frown. “More than that. Content.” A pause. “Whole.”

My hearts soared. “I feel the same.”

I was startled when, little by little, my knot began to ease. The sensation was strange. Perhaps I would become used to it in time, but at the moment, I found it…unsettling.

I was not alone in my disquiet, apparently. When my cock moved slightly, as if to slip from her, Calla made a little sound.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

“Yes.” She gripped my arms. “Hold me, please, Vos. Just…don’t let go.”

As if I ever would.

I held her tightly, my tentacles swirling gently around us to keep us afloat, as my knot eased. We could not stay like this—I knew that—but I did not want to move. And my Calla seemed almost afraid. Her fingernails bit into my arms, but not in the way she had used them while I came. Now they seemed to be a kind of anchor. But what did she fear? Pain? Separation? Or something else that she could not bring herself to reveal?

Only moments remained of this first knotted coupling. I cooed and held her tightly as her body relaxed against me. When my cock slipped gently from her, a rush of my glowing cum followed, swirling away into the sea.

She sighed and turned to curl up in my arms, her headagainst my chest and eyes closed. Why she closed them, and what I might have seen in them that she might have wished to hide from me, I did not know.

“That is enough time in the ocean today, my mate,” I said softly, brushing wet hair back from her face and kissing her brow. “We will come back another day.”

CHAPTER 23

CALLA

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