Page 36 of Heart of the Deep

Larkin straightened, and Dracchus couldn’t take his eyes off her as she stepped to the edge of the pool, the light setting her red-orange hair aglow. She leapt into the water.

Dracchus’s tension eased. He groaned, pressing the heel of his palm to his slit to lessen the lingering ache of his hardened cock.

After all the challenges he’d faced, would it really be this little human female to bring him low?

To his own surprise, Dracchus didn’t mind. The challenge of conquering his huntress would be the greatest of his life.

* * *

Larkin slid the last piece of vorix flesh onto a sharpened stick and propped it over the fire. The aroma of cooking meat made her mouth water, and her empty stomach clenched with hunger.

They’d worked hard after locating the stream earlier that afternoon. She’d strained her already sore body even further, but it had been the sort of work she appreciated.

She’d found several thick, hollow reeds to use as water containers, and they’d located a suitable spot to camp that was near both the stream and the sea. Despite the repeated trips over uneven ground and through thick vegetation, Dracchus hadn’t uttered a single complaint. He helped without having to be told, asked questions to clarify what she needed before he made mistakes, and seemed to have limitless endurance.

His assistance was the only thing that enabled her to get a shelter up before dark — not only was he well equipped to tear down large branches and haul heavy loads to their campsite without tools, but his extra limbs were invaluable in combining those pieces into a functional whole. He was able to hold numerous components in place simultaneously while she secured them with thin vines.

Larkin turned her head to look at him. The firelight cast a soft glow over his dark skin, reminding her of how she’d first seen him within the brig. But he wasn’t restrained by manacles and netting now; he was free to recline in all his splendor beneath the large lean-to they’d constructed, leaning on an elbow with his tentacles stretched out to one side.

She’d expected him to be uneasy around the fire. He’d gone to the sea while she built it, and she couldn’t imagine an aquatic species having much to do with flames, but he displayed no discomfort. Rather, his gaze repeatedly crept toward the cooking meat, gleaming with poorly concealed hunger.

Larkin gathered the first three sticks she’d set up and held them out to him. The meat on their ends continued to sizzle, dripping juices. “Here.”

He shook his head. “You eat first.”

“Are you always this noble?” she asked.

“I do not knownoble. You made the kill. The first share is yours.”

“To humans, it’s rude to turn down an offering.”

“And?”

Larkin rolled her eyes. “Krullheaded kraken,” she muttered, snatching the meat from one of the sticks and slipping it into her mouth. “There,” she said around the food, shoving the other two sticks into his hand.

“Is that not rude, also?” he asked as he accepted the sticks, gesturing toward her mouth. “Macy tells the younglings not to speak while they are chewing.”

She lowered her eyebrows. The rangers always attempted to be polite and personable within settlements, but the field was a different story. What did etiquette matter when you were hunting wild beasts in the middle of nowhere?

Still, she chewed and swallowed before speaking again.

“Macy. She’s that missing girl from The Watch. The one who was taken by a kraken last year.”

“She was not taken.” He bit the entire chunk of meat off one of his sticks and proceeded to talk with the food in his mouth.

Jerk.

“She went by her own choice,” he continued, “aided by her friends and family.”

“Why’d she leave?” Larkin picked up another skewer and took a small bite, breathing around its heat.

“She was mated to a kraken.”

Larkin choked. Dracchus shifted toward her with concern on his face, but she waved him back, shaking her head. She coughed, clearing her throat. “I think I misheard that. Shewhat?”

“She was mated to a kraken.”

Her gaze traveled down his body, pausing on his pelvis, right above the start of his tentacles. There was nothing there but smooth, black flesh.

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