Page 52 of Heart of the Deep

“Why?” he asked, drawing back and narrowing his eyes. “I have seen the way you look at me. I have not hidden my interest in you.”

Larkin’s jaw gaped. “You’re serious, aren’t you? I thought you were just curious because I was human. Not that you wanted to… Fuck!” She turned her face away. Despite her anger, she couldn’t deny her body’s reactions to him, even now, and that only heightened her frustration.

He guided her face back toward him. She didn’t bother resisting; one of his fingers was probably stronger than her entire arm.

“You are a worthy mate,” he said. “My equal. Your strength is to be admired, but it is made into something amazing when paired with your compassion. You are a hunter, a fighter, awarrior, selfless and fearless, adaptable, unconquerable. But Imustface that challenge. I will conquer you, or you will conquer me. Either way, I will have you.”

He brushed the pad of a finger along her jaw. His gaze held her, and she didn’t want to escape it; she wanted to sink into those amber depths and lose herself. “We will share this den, and I will protect you. That will be all for now. In time, I will persuade you to make your claim.”

He gently withdrew his tentacle from her waist and lowered his hand. “There are clothes in the dresser, and that room—” he pointed toward something behind her “—has fresh water, if you want to clean yourself.”

Larkin swallowed, unsure of what to say. She turned to look at the open doorway behind her. Suddenly, the entire world crashed down on her. Her body was heavy with exhaustion, her eyes swollen and sensitive from crying and strain, her chest raw and throat dry, but she couldn’t crawl into bed in her current state.

She glanced back at Dracchus. “This conversation is far from over.”

To her annoyance, he simply nodded. How could he seem so confident, soreasonable, about this? He’d just decided they were mates and that was supposed to be it?

Krullheaded kraken.

Exhaling heavily through her nose, she walked to the dresser, tugging open the drawers to see what they contained. To her surprise, they were filled with dozens of articles of clothing, all folded neatly. She ran her fingers over a shirt. Her callouses snagged on the soft material.

Why would anyone need so many clothes?

“Where did all this come from?” she asked, picking out a long, loose, shirt and a pair of pants.

“From the humans who lived here before,” Dracchus replied.

“Are there any still here?”

“They were all killed by the kraken many generations ago.”

Larkin raised her brows and looked at him. “All of them? You killed everyone?”

“My ancestors.” His gaze was steady, and there wasn’t a hint of shame or remorse in his voice. “I cannot deny the past, but I have done what I can to prevent it from repeating.”

“And I made it worse, haven’t I?” she asked, frowning. “Bringing me here… What will that do?”

The muscles of his jaw ticked, and his shoulders sagged infinitesimally under some unseen burden. “It will continue to force my people to face the truth of our situation. Change is occurring. It is necessary. And it will not stop.”

Larkin held the clothes against her chest as she stared at him. The truth of his words was discomforting, but she couldn’t deny it. Change was happening. The very existence of the kraken altered Halora in ways that no one fully understood; the decisions made now, the actions taken, would affect generations to come — human and kraken alike.

As long as they didn’t kill each other off.

“Our people have a lot in common, it seems. We thought you were monsters.” She ran her gaze over him slowly, and a spark ignited within her that she could not deny. Dracchus’s form was appealing to her. He was a kraken, yes, but he was still aman. “We weren’t wrong. Your kind are capable of being the monsters we imagined, but humans tend to forget we are, too.”

After all, hadn’t a man her father trusted tried to murder Randall? She’d seen Cyrus’s cruelty emerge from time to time on hunts, but she’d never guessed he would direct it toward another human. Just more proof of how naturally humans took to deception, masking their malicious intent behind attractive, friendly faces. The kraken, on the other hand, bore sharp teeth, claws, and tentacles, but seemed — at least in her limited experience — far more honest about their intentions.

Especiallywhen they wanted to kill you.

Dracchus had shown her respect, had fought one of his own to protect her, and had kept to his word. Everything she’d seen from the kraken spoke of an underlying humanity, for better or worse — humans weren’t all rainbows and sunshine, either.

“Go and do as you must,” he said, nodding toward the washroom. “You need rest, as do I.”

A flash of guilt flowed through her. Dracchus had pushed himself for days to find this place, bring her here, and reunite her with her brother. They could talk later.

“Don’t wait for me,” she said gently.

She entered the washroom and was stunned by what she found inside. She knew the fixtures — a toilet, a sink, and a shower — but they looked so different from everything she’d seen in Fort Culver and the other towns scattered across the mainland. This equipment was top-quality, built to last, with a sleekness that wasn’t present in the colonies topside. She’d never seen so much functional technology in one place.

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