Page 63 of Heart of the Deep

“When I told you Randall was here, I took way your choice, did I not?” he asked.

“Well, not really. What would you have done if I hadn’t come here?”

“I would have found ways to make our camp more comfortable.”

Larkin chuckled. “It was a nice little camp.”

“I was interested only in the company, not the place.” His tone was so matter-of-fact that she couldn’t help but laugh again. She’d grown up around gruff, blunt men, but Dracchus’s forwardness and lack of shame made all the others seem sheepish in comparison.

They turned another corner, entering another corridor that looked very much like all the rest. Movement ahead caught Larkin’s eye.

Dracchus halted, extending his arm to bar her passage. He used that arm to gently guide her behind him, but not before she saw a pair of male kraken at the other end of the hall. One was orange-brown with dark stripes, similar to Jax in size and build. The brown one beside him was familiar to her — Neo, the kraken who’d attempted to drown Larkin while the ship burned.

“I have not seen that human before,” the orange one growled.

“Why are you here, Kronus? You have no business near our dens,” Dracchus replied.

“Your den? Since when do you den with the humans?” Kronus demanded.

Dracchus’s muscles tensed and his skin lightened, displaying a crimson tinge. “Since you decided to threaten their lives.”

“They don’t belong here!” Neo snarled.

Something curled around Larkin’s waist and yanked her backward. She pulled her knife instinctually as another tentacle encircled her legs, lashing them together, and a clawed hand wrapped around her neck. She twisted and raised her arm, pressing her blade to the unknown kraken’s throat. He growled and tightened his grip.

“All it takes it one flick of my wrist, and you’ll bleed out in seconds,” Larkin grated.

Dracchus turned, looking back at Larkin, and his hearts froze. Orphus held her firmly, and she had her knife at the kraken’s throat. A drop of blood oozed from beneath her blade.

“That is the human slit from the boat!” Neo shouted. “Kill her!”

“You’ll die, too,” Larkin said. Her voice was strained, her face slowly reddening, but she didn’t show any fear.

Pressure built in Dracchus’s chest, pushing against his ribs and constricting his hearts, threatening to explode. He had no misconceptions about the fragility of humans — her life was in immediate danger.

Dracchus chanced a glance toward Neo and Kronus; they were advancing down the corridor, Neo’s skin crimson.

Fire burst through Dracchus’s veins, roiling and unbearably hot, and ignited the pressure within him. He roared. The sound rattled his chest and reverberated off metal and plastic to become something deafening.

Kronus and Neo halted, flashing yellow with eyes wide.

Dracchus turned toward Larkin, muscles aching with unreleased fury. Orphus still held her, but he wore a fearful expression. Even Larkin’s eyes were rounded.

Twisting, Dracchus slammed his fist into the wall. The metal buckled with the impact, and the wall panel sagged, its fasteners partially torn out.

“Release her,” he growled.

Orphus abruptly withdrew his tentacles and backed away. Larkin stumbled forward, and Dracchus took her in his arms immediately. His hand trembled as he cupped her cheek and tilted her head back, checking her neck for injury. It was red where Orphus had gripped her, with two small, shallow puncture wounds from the kraken’s claws.

It was less damage than Neo had done the night they escaped the ship.

That knowledge did nothing to calm Dracchus.

“What is this?” a familiar voice demanded from beyond Kronus and Neo.

Dracchus looked over his shoulder to see Jax and Arkon moving toward him.

“Why did you bring that slit here?” Neo asked, baring his teeth. “She is a hunter! The one who captured us!”

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