Page 11 of Heart of the Deep

Larkin turned her head in time to see her father and Ranger Dane pass behind her, heading toward the back end of the ship. She pushed away from the rail and followed them.

Nicholas spat out a curse. “Get the rest of them secured and on this boat. I want them locked up before they come to.”

Rangers scrambled to fulfill his orders. There was a sense of cautious excitement amongst them; the few townsfolk from The Watch who’d agreed to come along to help operate the ships were more reserved, exchanging worried glances with each other.

Larkin frowned. The locals had told the rangers that two young women from town had been taken by the kraken, often in overly-dramatic tales of nighttime abductions during a terrifying storm, but the families of the missing women had given a very different take.

The women had gone willingly.

She’d dismissed that as a coping mechanism, a mental shield against the loss of their daughters, but if the kraken were intelligent enough to speak and reason…

Larkin shouldered through the crowd gathered at the center of the ship. At the center of the group, several men guided a dripping net down from a pulley. Four rangers anchored the rope on the other end, leaning back to use their weight to counter the black kraken’s bulk. They lowered the net into the pool of seawater on the deck and opened the net.

The creature lay in a heap of tangled limbs, completely still apart from its slow, shallow breathing. Several nearby rangers pointed their rifles at the beast. It took three of them to roll the creature onto its back, using the butts of their rifles for leverage.

“Fucker is huge!” someone said.

Larkin stared at the kraken. Its skin was black, with gray stripes on its tentacles, arms, and head. Its broad shoulders led down to a tapered waist. Based on its musculature, she had no doubt it was male; she was more shocked by howhumanit appeared once she looked past the obvious differences.

One of the rangers approached the kraken with a large metal collar. Another man lifted its head, allowing Larkin a glimpse of the creature’s face — a wide mouth, a hairless brow, and only a pair of holes where its nose should have been — before her view was blocked.

The collar barely fit around its neck.

A heavy hand fell upon her shoulder, startling her.

“Good work, ranger,” her father said.

She turned her head toward him. The frustration had faded from his expression, but a worrisome gleam remained in his eyes. Larkin missed Randall with all her heart, but Nicholas Laster seemed obsessed.

“The couple that got away wasn’t your fault,” he continued. “You did your job exceptionally. Two and a half damned weeks out on this water, and it finally paid off. I’m proud of you, Elle.”

A flicker of pride swelled within her at his praise, but it quickly subsided.

“What are you going to do with them now?” She looked forward as six men grasped the net under the creature and hauled it toward the ramp leading below deck, their muscles straining.

“We’re going to establish them in their new quarters and ask them some questions when they wake up.” The tightness creeping into Nicholas’s expression offered Larkin no comfort.

“I heard this one shout a warning to the others. Cyrus was right. They do speak our language.”

“Well, we’ll find out if they know more than one or two words soon enough.”

“Father, what are y—”

“We’re done here, ranger. Hit your bunk. You’ve earned some rest.” Before she could say anything more, he turned and stepped away, barking orders at the others as they hauled the second net out of the water.

She clamped her teeth together to suppress her hurt. Things had changed drastically since they’d learned of Randall’s disappearance, but the rift between Larkin and her father seemed to grow daily. In his quest to find his son, he was pushing his daughter away.

Larkin brushed the stray bits of hair from her face and looked out over the silver-lit sea. Despite her efforts, her gaze drifted back to the kraken.

This didn’t feel like an accomplishment.

It feltwrong.

Chapter 4

Adull throbbing between his temples drew Dracchus up from impenetrable blackness. Awareness returned slowly. His mouth was dry, which he’d never experienced before, and his eyelids were too heavy to open. His aching arms were drawn up with his hands to either side of his head, held in place by metal bindings at his wrists. A larger piece of metal encircled his neck. His tentacles were also bundled together tightly by a rough, irritating material, leaving no room for them to move independently. The whole bundle felt like it was anchored at his waist.

Clenching his teeth, he forced his eyes open. His vision adjusted so slowly that he wasn’t sure if the gloom was in the air around him or merely a result of his own grogginess.

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