Page 20 of Jewel of the Sea

Aymee perused him with a peculiar look on her face. Finally, she met his gaze and held out the apple. “Would you like to try?”

Arkon set aside his questions about the way she’d just stared at him and shifted his attention to the fruit. Macy had described it as crisp, sweet, and juicy. “I...do not know that I am feeling quite that adventurous, this time.”

She laughed and pulled the apple back. “Macy told me Jax still refuses to eat anything that didn’t have a pulse. Do youreallynot eat plants, or is it just plants from topside that gross you out?” The crunch of her teeth sinking into the apple punctuated her question. She turned her mouth up teasingly as she chewed, juice glistening at its corners.

Though he was no more compelled to sample the apple than he’d been a moment before, he felt a strange urge to taste its juice from her lips. “We were designed to be hunters. Our senses, especially sight and smell, are far superior to humans’. I believe it was intended as a means to keep us somewhat self-sufficient. We hunted food while we were out, which meant less work for our human keepers. My understanding is that the creatures that were used as part of our basis were carnivorous, as well.”

“Octi…” Her brows drew together as she struggled with the word.

“Octopus. It was a species of cephalopod from your people’s homeworld.”

“And the kraken were based on their myth?”

“No, not exactly. The kraken was supposed to be an octopus of immense size. A sea monster. Big enough to drag the huge ships the humans used to sail far below the surface. Our ancestors took the name from those legends.”

“So, what is it like?” She took another bite of the apple and spoke around it. “When you hunt, I mean.”

Arkon pushed himself off the blanket and onto the sand. “It’s an exhilarating experience, much of the time, though there are often other tasks I’d rather attend. Kraken rarely socialize, but during a hunt, a group of us operates as a team, united by a common goal.”

He leaned forward, bracing himself on his hands with his belly near the ground. “For most prey, we wait in ambush.” To demonstrate, he altered his skin to match the color and texture of the sand beneath him. “When it comes close enough, we attack.” He sprang up at an imaginary fish, kicking sand onto the blanket, and paused. “My apologies.”

Aymee chuckled and brushed sand from her leg. “You’re incredibly fast. What about hunting by scent and sound, without sight?”

“It’s possible, but our eyes are our most powerful tools. There are...other creatures that excel in the dark, and the risk is rarely worth the reward.”

She set her apple aside and pushed herself to her feet. “Would you like to try?”

He furrowed his brow. “Would I like to try what?”

“Hunting without sight.”

“And what would I be hunting?”

She swept by him, trailing her enticing fragrance in her wake. “Me.”

His hearts quickened. “That certainly sounds more than worth the risk…”

Aymee turned around and walked backward, toward the setting sun. “It’s a game we played as children. The seeker keeps their eyes closed and listens for the hiders. We called it Blind Man’s Bounty.”

The notion of pursuing her by scent and sound stoked some primal instinct deep within Arkon. “Are there any other rules I should be aware of?”

“Only that I won’t leave the shelter of the overhang, and that you must keep your eyes closed until I am caught.” She stopped and lifted her skirt over her knees, tying the excess material into a knot at her hip. “Are you ready?”

Arkon’s gaze dipped over her bare legs before he squeezed his eyes shut. “Yes.”

The ocean hissed against the shore, and the breeze whisked over his skin. The sounds gained power as they reverberated off the cliffside and the overhang above. Sunlight warmed his skin, and the sand beneath his tentacles bore a myriad of tastes and scents — including the faintest hint of Aymee.

“Come find me, Arkon,” she called in a sing-song tone.

He turned his head in the direction of her voice; it, too, echoed lightly off the nearby stone, obfuscating its point of origin. Slowly, he moved toward her and inhaled deeply, searching out anything beyond the smells of brine, sand, and stone on the wind.

“I’m over here.” Her words drifted to him from an entirely different direction.

Adjusting his movement, he circled around the area he thought she’d spoken from, putting the wind at his back — if her aroma were blowing toward him instead of away, he had a better chance of locating her.

“You’re getting cold, Arkon.”

His hearts pounded in rapid succession. Both the sand beneath him and the surrounding air cooled; he’d moved into the shadows.

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