Page 75 of Jewel of the Sea

The overhead lights were off, and the lights along the bases of the walls were dim, leaving the room in relative darkness. With Aymee — dressed only in a long-sleeved shirt — snuggled against him in bed, her bare legs tangled with his tentacles, it was a comforting darkness.

Only her slow, gentle breaths broke the ensuing silence. He turned his head toward her. She looked younger while she slept, her features softer despite the shadows cast upon her face. Perhaps it was the absence of the sorrow he too often saw in her eyes. Aymee was doing better than she had been the night he’d brought her here, but she was still healing.

He understood — Aymee was a doctor, expected to display calm and confidence to soothe others in dire situations. But she had Arkon, now. He would be her strength when she felt weak. She didn’t have to pretend for him.

The rumbling came again, louder this time. Aymee inhaled and shifted, pressing her face deeper into his shoulder as her hand moved from his chest to his stomach.

The slide of her palm over his skin heated his blood, and his thoughts returned to the day before. Whether due to his people’s general avoidance of it or his own inexperience, he’d never imagined physical contact could be so staggeringly powerful.

Notanyphysical contact, he corrected. Aymee was the key.Hertouch affected him.

They had floated in the water for some time after she’d pleasured him, and once his hearts had finally slowed and the euphoria of her touch had faded, he’d wanted to explore more of her. His glimpse of her breasts had left him craving, and the fleeting brush of his tentacles over them had been taste enough to become addicted. Aymee had only laughed and pulled her suit back into place when he tried to touch her after climbing out of the water.

“This was about you,” she’d said with a soft smile before kissing him.

Aymee had taken enjoyment from making him feel good. He couldn’t deny his lack of understanding at the concept. She’d done ittohim, and he’d felt it all. How could the pleasure have been hers? He wanted to learn her body, her taste, every tiny aspect of her; he wanted to learn how to make her cry out in ecstasy. But, somehow, she’d found satisfaction through his release.

That went against all he’d known about females before meeting Aymee. He’d been told kraken females took pleasure for themselves. What concern had they for the males they mated with? Thanks to the way the kraken were designed, there’d always been plenty of males ready to please and provide for the relatively few females.

It was a male’s duty, after all, to attempt to father the next generation of kraken. Personal desire or contentment was nothing compared to the survival of their people.

Not so with Aymee. She wanted to make Arkon happy. More than that, she derived her own happiness from his.

He lightly combed his claws through her hair, careful of the tangles.

On a rational level, Arkon knew that the ways of his people did not apply to humans. Their physiology, history, and societies were very different, shaped by unique challenges and necessities. Choosing a mate did not have the same meaning to humans as it did to kraken. It did not have the same implications.

Still, he couldn’t help but feel Aymee had chosen him. It was likely she’d done so after their night together on the beach, but he’d been too startled by his body’s reactions to recognize the significance of what she’d offered —herself. Her actions today had expanded his understanding of the way humans viewed such matters; Aymee had placed Arkon’s contentment before her own, had chosen his satisfaction, had chosenhimdespite their multitude of differences.

Absently, he trailed the tip of a tentacle down her leg.

“Is it morning already?” Aymee asked, voice husky with sleep.

“No, it is not,” he replied. The base’s lights — at least in this room — were set on some sort of timing mechanism. They came on fully only for a few hours around sunrise and sunset. Aymee had theorized it was because the people who’d worked here had slept in shifts.

“Then why are you awake?”

As though in answer to her question, the rumbling returned, drawn out over several seconds.

“Another storm?” She buried her face between his neck and shoulder and slid an arm around him. “Can you hear the storms when you’re below?”

“Not in the Facility, no. But in the water, those sounds sometimes seem to go on forever. There is a certain feeling in the sea when a storm begins. It is difficult to define or describe...”

“What kind of feeling?”

“It feels like...the water ischarged. It’s tension, anticipation, fear. The currents are disrupted and can become violent, and much of the sea life seeks shelter.”

“Is it dangerous?” Her breath was warm against his neck and sent tingles across his skin.

“Hunts are ended when such storms begin, and most of us remain home.” As his awareness of her body against his heightened, it became more difficult to hold onto his thoughts. “I’ve never known a kraken to be killed by lightning, but the sea is dangerous enough without the complications introduced during bad weather.”

Her hand returned to his chest, resting above his hearts. “Must be difficult during the wet season, then.” She rubbed her thumb across his skin. “Do you miss it? Home?”

Arkon slid his tentacle back up her leg slowly. “I miss Jax, Macy, and Sarina. Even Dracchus, if I am honest. I know there is still so much information to delve through with the Computer. It is the only home I have ever known…but I do not miss it. I am content.”

Her hand stilled, and she fell silent; Arkon wondered if she’d fallen asleep.

“Thank you for being here with me,” she finally said.

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