Page 6 of Rising from the Depths

Kronus lifted his gaze to see Eva’s male standing before him, eyes wide and face pale.

“Eva,” the human repeated, reaching forward. He paused when his gaze fell on her leg. Somehow, his face paled further. He turned away abruptly and heaved, doubling over as he emptied his stomach onto the sand. Still retching, he flicked his gaze toward the female’s face only for it to dip back to her mangled leg. He shook his head and stumbled back, looking away from her.

He shoved his fingers into his hair, grasping the short strands. “Fuck!I can’t. I can’t look. Fuck, Eva.Fuck!”

Kronus scowled at the male. By their earlier interaction, this weak human and the female in Kronus’s arms were mates, and the male had failed to protect her in any capacity. Eva was a female, a precious being, to be protected at all costs. Though Kronus knew humans didn’t necessarily view it the same way — their kind had ample women, while kraken females were quite rare — this male’s behavior struck him as cowardly.

He placed a hand on Eva’s neck. Her pulse was rapid and weak beneath her cool skin.

When he looked up, he realized he was surrounded by humans, all of them speaking hurriedly to one another and to him. He clenched his jaw, and it took a great deal of willpower to keep himself from tightening his grip on Eva. The sea was at his back, but the humans were so close, and there were so many of them. His lungs burned, and his throat was constricting. Fury ignited in his gut; he’d fight his way through them if they didn’t back away and give her room to breathe.

Breckett forced his way to the front of the crowd, his mouth lost within his bushy beard, eyebrows low.

“Set her down, Kronus,” Breckett said. “Doc’s on his way, and you’ve got a good hold on her, but we need to get a tourniquet on her leg before she loses any more blood.”

Kronus still tasted her blood on his suction cups, still felt its fading warmth on his skin. He found himself suddenly reluctant to relinquish his hold on her. He was stronger than all of them; he could protect her.

She is wounded, and there is nothingIcan do about it.

The thought was a sobering one. With a wary glance at the other humans, Kronus lowered himself and gently laid Eva on the sand.

“Keep that tentacle in place,” Breckett said as he reached down and unclasped his belt.

Eva caught Kronus’s wrist with one of her hands, squeezing weakly. She opened her mouth and spoke, but her words were too soft, her voice too broken, for him to understand. Her eyes shone with a desperate gleam.

Kronus held her gaze. He doubted the fear on her face was caused by concern for her own safety now anymore than it had been in the water. Despite suffering a grievous injury, she was worried about her friends foremost. That was something to be admired amidst this carnage.

Breckett leaned over Eva and wrapped his belt around her thigh above Kronus’s tentacle. He slipped the end through the buckle and wrenched it as tight as he could, well past the last notch.

“Can you make a hole here?” he asked, easing the belt slightly and indicating a spot with one of his blunt fingers.

Kronus nodded. Eva’s grip remained loose on his wrist as he moved his hands to the belt and punched a hole in the leather with a thumb claw. Breckett hurriedly slipped the metal prong through the new hole and secured the belt.

A pair of humans worked their way through the crowd and laid something on the ground beside Eva — two long, thick poles with some sort of cloth between them.

“Help me get her up,” Breckett mumbled, carefully slipping his arms under Eva’s armpits.

Kronus took hold of her right leg behind the knee and grasped the outside of her left thigh. Together, he and Breckett lifted Eva from the sand and settled her onto the cloth. Kronus forced himself to release his hold on her quickly for fear he wouldn’t be able to let go otherwise. She needed aid he could not give.

The humans who’d brought the device each took an end, using the poles as handles, and carried Eva away.

Rising, Kronus looked over the gathered crowd; Eva’s male was nowhere to be seen, and none of the humans were staring at him any longer. Their stunned faces were directed at something behind him.

Kronus turned to see Vasil, Brexes, and Charos wading to shore, each carrying a limp human.

The crowd eased back, allowing the kraken to lay their burdens on the sand. Two of the humans were dead — a male and a female, the former with one arm torn off at the shoulder and the latter with a massive chunk of her torso missing. The third, the one Eva had been pulling toward land, was still alive, sucking in rapid, shallow breaths.

She hadn’t suffered bites like the others; the puncture wounds on her chest, which oozed dark blood, had undoubtedly been caused by the hard spines that earned razorbacks their name. Her body convulsed when she coughed, forcing fresh spurts of blood from her wounds and her mouth. A wet, gurgling sound rose from her chest as she breathed.

Several humans hurried forward. Vasil backed away, granting them space to drop to their knees around the injured woman. The four kraken eased into a small group and watched as the humans struggled to staunch the woman’s bleeding.

Moments later, a final, labored exhalation escaped her.

“Razorbacks should not be so close to shore,” Charos said softly.

“Nor should they be in pairs,” added Brexes.

“A mated pair, perhaps,” said Vasil, staring at the dead woman with a sorrowful light in his eyes. “Drawn to shallow water by the migration.”

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