Page 63 of Sheltered in the Storm

With a grin, Vos dove us headlong under the water, then propelled us with his tentacles through the inlet and out to the sea.

CHAPTER 22

VOS

In the purpledepths of the sea, my hearts and body sang.

My mate. My love. My world, in my arms, in the deep with me.

My joy made me feel buoyant, even as our bodies skimmed the sand along the ocean floor. I could not take her to the deepest places, as her body was not made to withstand the pressures there, but this…this was bliss.

My Calla’s eyelids were closed. Human eyes experienced discomfort in very salty water, so I could not see her beautiful green eyes and she could not see our surroundings as my tentacles propelled us through the water, but her expression was rapturous nonetheless. I would happily buy her eye protection for swimming underwater at my first opportunity.

Mindful of her need for air, I used my tentacles to bring us slowly to the water’s surface well before her fingers tightened on my arm. We surfaced near the shore, in an area well-hidden by long, low-hanging tree branches draped with red curtains of moss that concealed us. I did not want my Calla to be seen byanyone who might pass by, especially raider ships leaving or approaching their base.

Calla surprised me by wrapping her legs around my waist and kissing me deeply the moment she got a breath. I held her to my chest while my tentacles swirled, keeping us steady and afloat with our heads and shoulders above the water.

“This is even more wonderful than I’d imagined,” she said, her head against my shoulder. Her long red hair floated around her like a fiery cape. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

“The privilege is mine, my mate.” I kissed her hair. “You are not afraid? You are not from the sea like me.”

“The shore is right there if we need to get out,” she reminded me. “The shallows are far less scary than open water. You said the big predators don’t come this close to shore. And any small predators—well, they’re more likely to be afraid ofyou.”

“It is not so shallow here.” I gestured past our feet at the inky purple darkness. “But yes, nothing large comes this close to shore. At least, I have never seen it.”

“Good.” She adjusted her position, settling in more comfortably and securely with her thighs on my hips and ankles crossed behind my back, and put her head back on my chest. “So we have the place to ourselves.”

At the sensation of her legs squeezing my waist and her bare cunt against my lower abdomen, my cock stirred and began to harden. “Calla…”

“Hmm?” She let out a contented sigh. “I do want to swim more, but this is so nice. Can we just float for a while?”

Gods, even now she had no idea how much I craved her, body and soul. “Of course.”

And I had fully intended to float peacefully for as long as she wanted, but as my senses filled with the scent of her body mixed with those of my ocean home, I suddenly felt displaced, as if transported back to the night I had first caught her scent on herfighter, mixed with the smells of rain and the sea—to the moment I knew fate, or the gods, or chance, had brought my true mate and I together.

And just as before, as those scents filled me, my mind blanked, and my world dwindled until all I knew was her. But this time, something changed.

Blood rushed to my cock so swiftly that a shiver rolled through my body, followed by a strange tightening sensation that traveled from my balls to the base of my cock. Not the same feeling as when I was about to come, but similar. My arousal became a sharper, more needful, more demanding urge. I shivered again, much more powerfully, from my toes to the tips of my tentacles.

Calla raised her head, her brow furrowed. “What’s wrong?”

My mate. My everything.

“My Calla,” I said, my voice rough and teeth bared. I felt monstrous, on the edge of madness, nearly wild with desperation. “I need you.”

Despite my growing haze of desire, I worried my Calla might shy away from my teeth and sudden fierceness, but she did not.

“I need you too,” she said.

She moved a little to the side and rubbed herself against my hip, her slickness evident even under the water. The sensory cells in my skin drank in the taste and smell of her. My body went almost as rigid as my cock. My tentacles stilled, and we started to slip under the water before they began swirling again.

Smiling, her eyes half-lidded with her own arousal, Calla held my gaze as her hand wrapped around my cock, stroking its length. “You’re so hard for me already, my Vos.” Her fingers explored the ridges and fringes, and I quaked at every sensation. “Do you want my pussy to squeeze your cock?”

At her words, my cock twitched in her hand and my ballsdrew up. As much as I had previously enjoyed demanding that she tell me explicitly what she wanted of me, I found myself nearly shuddering with need as she commanded me the same way. For this pleasure, I would let her rule me to her heart’s content.

“Yes,” I rasped. “I want your sweet pussy, my love.”

“You’re so slick.” She raised her hand from the water to show me the gleaming, glowing lubrication and precum on her fingers before she licked them one by one, her eyes locked on mine. “Delicious,” she said.

---