Page 41 of Treasure of the Abyss

Macy is likely asleep, by now. If I must take the time to remove Dracchus from my path, so beit…

“You have a duty to the kraken, Wanderer. We hunt together, we thrive together, as it has alwaysbeen.”

“I ask for no share in your bounty. I will sustain myself during myabsence.”

But, if the suits worked, and Macy could travel safely underwater, what reason would Jax have to return — apart fromArkon?

Dracchus narrowed his eyes and swept his gaze over the room again. “If Arkon is not here, why are you in thischamber?”

“For the same reason you’vecome.”

“Did you not say his den would be the best place tosearch?”

“Now that I know he is nothere.”

The air between them buzzed with tension; Dracchus was just as on-edge as Jax, just as ready to act. This rivalry between them had started many years ago. Jax had been tired of it since thebeginning.

Dracchus leaned close, nostrils flaring. Confusion skittered across his features. “There is an odd scent on you,Wanderer.”

Macy. Jax’s skin tingled with the remembrance of theircontact.

“There are many scents in the ocean unfamiliar to you, Dracchus, because you do not venture beyond the huntinggrounds.”

“You owe this duty to your people, Wanderer. We all do. Gather with the others in theMess.”

Jax leaned in and locked his gaze with Dracchus’s. It would be simple to initiate a brawl. Despite both kraken anticipating it, Jax was just a little faster, and the first strike could be the one to turn the tide in his favor. “No.”

The cords on Dracchus’s neck stood out. “You betray us. Face my challenge, Wanderer, before our people. It is time you were made to answer to yourselfishness.”

A formal challenge; it meant witnesses, a gathering outside, and the intricate, delicate motions of the dance. And it would end in physical combat because neither would back down. Dracchus wanted to best Jax before a crowd because no one would quite take his word if he claimed to have defeated Jax without anyone to support hisclaim.

“I refuse your challenge, Dracchus. Our people need food more than they need entertainment.” Jax moved around Dracchus and toward the door. “You need your strength for thehunt.”

Dracchus remained in place, shoulders rising and falling with his deep breaths, bristling with anger. “The things you could accomplish, Wanderer, if youcared…”

Jax pushed through the door, dropping a hand to ensure the bundle was still secure. He cared deeply about the kraken, despite the way they’d treated him and Arkon over the years, but they would survive, whether he helped or not, just as they alwayshad.

Macyneededhis aid, and he was beginning to suspect he needed her just asmuch.

Chapter 10

It was still mostly darkwhen Macy opened her eyes. She wasn’t sure what had woken her — a noise, perhaps, or a dream already faded from memory — but she knew instinctively that she wasn’t alone. She turned her head to see Jaxnearby.

He lay on his stomach, arms folded under his cheek, breath slow and deep in his slumber. One tentacle was stretched toward her, its tip only centimetersaway.

Macy rolled onto her side and cradled her head in the crook of her arm. This was the first time she’d seen him sleep. He always seemed to be awake and doing something, so she hadn’t been sure if kraken slept or not. It reminded her of an old conversation with herfather.

They’d been out on the water, riding the waves in his boat, when Breckett had insisted to seven-year-old Macy that fish slept. She hadn’t been able to hide her skepticism — how could anything sleep, with water in its eyes? — and demanded to know how he was so sure. Even at that age, she knew his response —because I just know— was grown-up talk that really meantI don’t know, but I’m right so bequiet.

Macy smiled sadly. She missed those days. Missed her family and friends, but this was for the best — for both Macy and thekraken.

With his face relaxed in sleep, Jax appeared more human; it was likely because his unusual pupils wereconcealed.

Her gaze settled on his lips. She touched her fingers to her own, and — not for the first time — wondered what kissing him would feel like. Not a peck on the cheek, but akiss, like Camrin had given her on the dock. She’d longed for Camrin’s kiss to end; from Jax, she yearned formore.

Macy’s eyes continued their slow trek over his body; first over the well-defined muscles of his shoulders, back, and arms, and then down to his inhuman lower half. His skin darkened below his waist, but the stripes that ran along his tentacles — the same pattern from his head and shoulders — were clear in thegloom.

Though it was difficult to distinguish one tentacle from the next in the dim light, she knew them well from their days together. They were thick at their tops, tapering gradually to narrow tips. She followed the flow of the one he’d stretched toward her. It was twisted slightly, exposing the lighter, suction-cup-lined skin on itsunderside.

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