Page 80 of Heart of the Deep

“Where is Uncle Dracchus?” Sarina asked.

“On a hunt with Randall, Ikaros, and a group of kraken,” Jax replied.

She coiled a tentacle around his wrist. “When can I go hunting?”

“When you are fully grown.Maybe.”

“A female hunt?” Rhea asked with a frown. “You mean to allow her out there?”

“I saidmaybe.” Jax frowned deeply. “Should it not be a female’s choice, like so much else?”

“It has… It is not done,” Rhea said.

Melaina deposited another fully peeled winefruit into the bowl. “I would like to hunt.”

“No!” Rhea snapped. “You will not. It is too dangerous.”

“It is dangerous,” Larkin agreed. Melaina, Jax, and Rhea all looked at her. “But life is about risks.”

Arkon tugged Jace’s tentacle out of his mouth, eyes wide with excitement. “See! That’s what I have been saying!”

“And your risk brought the hunters to us,” Rhea said.

Aymee stepped into the room, carrying a steaming platter. “But it also resulted in a mate.” She beamed at Arkon.

He smiled back at her. “For myself, and for you, Rhea.”

Rhea frowned, eyes softening slightly. “It is still too dangerous. Especially for a female.”

“It’s equally dangerous for males,” Larkin said gently. “More so, sometimes, because they tend to make decisions based on how big they think their—” She snapped her mouth shut as Aymee, in the process of seating herself beside Arkon, widened her eyes and shook her head. Larkin cleared her throat. “Sorry. Men do stupid things sometimes because they have big egos. They think it proves they’re somehow superior to each other.”

“That is accurate.” Jax held an arm out, and Sarina, dangling from it by hands and tentacles, slowly pulled herself toward his hand.

“I suppose it is,” Arkon agreed. “That’s essentially the purpose of all these challenges that get thrown about, isn’t it? Is this the same case for human males?”

“All the time. They challenge each other any chance they get, they just don’t do it as formally as kraken do,” Larkin said, dropping the last wedge of fruit into the bowl. She wiped her purple-stained fingers dry on a cloth.

Sarina dropped to the floor as she reached Jax’s hand and made her way toward the platter of fish Aymee had brought. She grabbed a chunk and ate it before anyone could stop her.

Macy came out of the kitchen carrying a similar tray. Larkin frowned. The normally radiant woman looked pale, perhaps even a little green. She held the tray out in front of her as though the very sight of the fish atop it sickened her.

Jax met her before she’d made it halfway across the room and took the tray from her. “Are you well, Macy?”

“I’m fine. Just a little morning sickness, I think. The smell of the fish is just really getting to me today,” she replied.

They moved to the blanket together, and Jax guided her to a spot on one end before taking the tray to the opposite side and setting it down.

“Let’s dig in!” Aymee said.

No one needed to be told twice; they heaped portions of fish, fruit, and vegetables on their plates, though the adult kraken avoided all but the meat. Melaina and Sarina giggled as they traded food back and forth, and Arkon attempted to feed naba to Jace, but the little boy took the pieces and held them to his father’s mouth while stealing the fish from Arkon’s plate.

Larkin smiled as she ate. Arkon wouldn’t have anything for himself, at that rate.

“You are a hunter, Larkin, are you not?” Rhea asked.

“I am,” she replied, shifting a bit of fish to one side of her mouth. There was a strange taste to the meat; not unpleasant, but wholly unfamiliar. “My parents taught me how to hunt and survive when I was really young.”

“See!” Melaina piped, though ducked her head at Rhea’s glare.

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