Page 78 of Heart of the Deep

Dracchus frowned. “Larkin?”

She sniffled, and her body shook anew. “I never thought I’d have this.”

“It upsets you?”

She lifted her hand from her chest and wiped her face. “No. It’s just… Other men always saw my scars, knew of the accident, and all they saw was a body to fuck without consequences. I used them, as well, but it still always hurt to know they’d move on because I was damaged goods. Useful to scratch an itch and nothing more. There was never a future.”

Dracchus held her a little tighter at the thought of her with other males. He hated the pain she’d endured, but he was glad she’d been rejected — that rejection had ultimately led her to him. A pang of guilt struck him. It was a selfish thought, but he couldn’t deny it.

“There is a future for us,” he said, sliding his hand down to gently cup her sex, “and I will not give you up. You aremine, female. Forever.”

She laughed, turned her face into his arm, and kissed it. He felt more tears, but her body shook with joy rather than sorrow. “I never imagined sex with a kraken would be sodirty.”

Dracchus wasn’t quite sure what she meant by that, but her tone didn’t imply anything negative. He stroked a tentacle lazily up and down one of her legs and returned his hand to her stomach. His fingers traced the scars, and his chest swelled with pride and contentment when she didn’t stiffen or flinch away.

“What happened, Larkin?” he asked.

She rested her head on his arm and took a deep breath. “Twelve years ago, when I was fifteen, we were hunting a predator that was killing livestock near a town called Gordons Ridge. The loss of food was bad enough, but it was getting too close to the humans who kept the herds, and we didn’t want some little kid to become its next meal. The tracks we found near one of the attacks belonged to a tiger. A big one.”

“What is a tiger?” Dracchus’s few experiences on land hadn’t acquainted him with much of the wildlife, and neither Arkon nor any of the other humans had ever mentionedtigers.

“They’re large animals, with bodies shaped a bit like a prixxir. If prixxir were covered in black-and-purple striped fur and lived only on land. They have manes, which is a lot of long fur around their heads, and long ears and tails, but their tails are thin. The claws on a full-grown tiger are as big my finger. I guess the early colonists thought they looked like a creature from Earth, so they gave it the same name. Extremely aggressive. They don’t usually hunt humans, but once they get a taste…

“Anyway, we tracked it into the jungle and split off into pairs to cover more ground. My mom and I…” Larkin paused, taking in a shaky breath. “We heard it roar, and then another animal bleating. We raced toward the sound and found the tiger attacking a baby opik. It turned on us, ready to attack because we threatened its kill, but we were faster. Me and my mom fired at the same time. It went down before it took two steps.

“After we made sure it was dead, my mom went to check on the opik. It was still alive. We thought that maybe, if we acted fast enough, we could stop the bleeding. Give it a chance to survive. So, we called for the rest of the rangers and got to work. But then…its mother came.”

Larkin covered his hand and pressed it down on her scars, as though it could relieve her pain. “Opiks are big when they’re adults. Taller than most humans at the shoulder, maybe as long as you. Thick necks, with heads low to the ground, and…horns. It didn’t give a shit that we were helping its baby, just that we werethere. That we had its baby’s blood on our hands. And big as they are, they’re damned fast.

“I had enough time to get to my feet, but I couldn’t bring up my rifle fast enough. I don’t think shooting it would’ve made any difference, but maybe if I’d been a little quicker…”

Fresh, hot tears flowed over Dracchus’s arm. His chest ached for her. He couldn’t find words.

“It hit me first. Lifted its head, and I just felt thispressure,” her fingers clenched over his hand, digging her nails into his flesh, “and then I was in the air. I hit a tree, and my vision went black, but I could hear my mom yelling to get the opik’s attention, heard it clomping through the undergrowth. Heard her screams. Then shouting, and gunshots.

“I remember everything getting so quiet that my heartbeat filled my ears. Then my father wailed, and I knew…she was gone. Randall was frantically calling my name, and I think I felt his hands on my face, but I must have passed out, because there was nothing else.

“I woke up later in agony. I was hot all over, sick to my stomach. My dad and brother were at my side, holding my hands, and I’d never seen them so pale, so strained. I’d never seen either of them cry, but they were crying over me. My mom was dead, and they were afraid they’d lose me, too. I was so torn up inside, and they stitched me up as best they could, but we were so far away from home. We didn’t have supplies to perform surgery, and I probably would’ve died if they took me all the back to the Fort.

“An infection set in. I don’t remember much of that, either, except that my father was there every time I opened my eyes. He refused to leave my side. They said it was five days before my fever broke. Someone had run to the nearest town and scrounged up a booster, some antibiotics, and a doctor, and eventually, they were able to bring me home so I could recover. It took a long time, and there was so much pain, and my mother was justgone, and I’d never hear her voice again, or see her smile, or be hugged by her.”

Larkin swallowed. Her face trembled against his arm, and her body shook with her sobs. Finally, she released a long, unsteady breath.

“There was no goodbye. No lastI love you. But I know she sacrificed herself for me. The doctor at Fort Culver performed surgery to repair as much of the damage as was possible, but even with all the equipment we had available, she could only do so much. After I’d woken up from the anesthetic and shaken off the grogginess, she came and told me that I would never conceive a child. The damage had been too extensive. Just one more kick while I was still down.”

“Larkin,” Dracchus rumbled, gently turning her face toward him. He brushed the tears from her cheeks and stared into her bright blue eyes. What could he say to take away that pain? To make it better?

The answer came to him suddenly, constricting his hearts.

Nothing.

This pain belonged to Larkin alone, and he could never take it from her, no matter how much he wished he could. But he could ease her burden by showing her how he felt. By making her feel her worth every day. This event had shaped her into the woman she was, into his mate, but he could show her that there was more to life, that there was more toher.

He dipped his head and kissed her, tasting the salt of her tears, and smoothed his palm over her scars. She turned her body toward him and wrapped her arms around his neck without breaking the kiss, without breaking his embrace.

“Thank you,” she whispered against his mouth, pressing her forehead to his.

He guided her head to his chest and held her as she cried. His hearts swelled with joy and hope, ached with her sorrow, and pulsed with the strength of the bond he and Larkin had formed.

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