Page 26 of Treasure of the Abyss

Chapter 6

Macy’s skinwas warm and smooth, the feel of it strengthened by the desperation of her hold on Jax. His hearts pounded in rapid succession and his chest was tight. This was a thrill not unlike that of a coming hunt, but it was a different sort of excitement, a new heat in his blood. Her body was soft; it molded to his, melted into his embrace, and his flesh tingled where it methers.

He desired her. There was no hiding from the fact, no denying itstruth.

Kraken females had pursued him for his prowess and ability to provide, but their numbers were few, and they’d always pushed for him to change. To deny his nature. That was not what Macy sought in his armsnow.

She doesn’t want to bealone.

The realization struck him hard; he understood her loneliness, related to it, because he felt it, too. Years of wandering alone crashed up him like a wave battering theshore.

Her scent — a combination of salty and sweet, with a hint of earth and stone — washed over him. He tasted it through his tentacles, smelled it through his nostrils, and it permeated him. The only barrier between them was the wet cloth she wore. His memory of how it had sculpted to her body, accenting her tantalizing curves, sparked something in hisgut.

A fire burned inside of him, and it was forMacy.

It took all his will not to extrude as his arousal grew; his emotions had never been so conflicted, his desires never so misaligned. He longed to take her but needed to comfort her. Macy’s sorrow flowed intohim.

The water from her eyes — hercrying— was hot against his chest. Her shoulders trembled with shaky breaths, and he smoothed a tentacle over her back, rubbing gently. She tightened her hold onhim.

Instinct demanded he do anything he could to make her happy; her sadness was a blade twisting inside him. But he couldn’t give her the one thing she wanted. He couldn’t let her go. He knew it now, more than ever, and protecting his people was only onereason.

Jax held her until her crying subsided. By then, his hearts had slowed, but his blood hadn’t cooled. He doubted it ever would while she touchedhim.

Macy’s grip loosened, and one of her arms slipped away. Her palm smoothed down his shoulder to settle over the center of his chest. She curled her fingers, brushing one back and forth over hisskin.

He held his breath; would she realize, soon, the way they were touching? Would she fight out of his grasp? She viewed him as her captor, and her feelings on the situation weren’t likely to have changed sosuddenly.

“Do you have a family?” she askedsoftly.

Jax knew what family was, what it meant, but he’d never thought much about it. “I had a mother. I do not know my father’s name, or if he spawned otheryoung.”

“Did your father leave you and yourmother?”

“Leave? He was a hunter and would have served our people until his death. I likely swam with him when I was old enough tohunt.”

Her finger stilled. “So…he never knew ofyou?”

“Why do you sound so sad when you ask that?” Jax glanced down at her; despite the angle, her downturned lips and creased brow wereclear.

“You grew up never knowing your father. Haven’t you ever wondered who he was? What it would have been like to be raised byhim?”

“I was raised by all the males. That is how I learned to hunt, scavenge, and survive. If my father lived, he took part in it. I see nothing sad inthat.”

“And yourmother?”

“Females… They have their own matters to attend. I knew her. Our lives rarely met while shelived.”

Macy raised her head and looked up at him. The whites of her eyes had reddened, making her irises brighter in comparison. “I don’t understand. She didn’t raise you? Only the…males? Did you have ahome?”

“I remained with her until I could be taught by the hunters. Then, I sheltered in various dens until I was old enough to claim my own. How are human children raised, if our ways are so strange toyou?”

“By our mother and father, inonehome. We stay until we’re joined…and, a lot of times, evenafter.”

Jax couldn’t imagine three or four kraken sharing a den; they’d tear one another apart after a fewdays.

“What do you mean byjoined? Join a hunt, or…do you meanmated?”

Macy’s cheeks darkened. She dropped her eyes and pulled her hand away from his chest as though it burned. “Would you… Put me down,please.”

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