Page 29 of Hooking Captain Teeth

“Married like a proper couple,” Bettina scolds, wagging the bouquet at her sister. “I know you two, and you’ll have eggs by nightfall. My little nieces and nephews must be legitimate, born from holy matrimony…well, as holy as you whores can be.”

“Then I’ll kiss my bride.” I grab Sabrina’s chin to turn her stare from her sister to me. My lips claim hers as my tongue spears her mouth. A fire ignites between us. My tentacles squeeze her as our new appendages writhe against one another. Three pockets open at my waistline. Out of the central one pops my new Kraken cock. I can’t wait to learn all the ways to quiff my wife in my new body.

“Teeth, we need the water,” Sabrina whines against my lips.

“I can think of something I need more,” I growl against her lips.

“Captain,” Chub yells over our heads. Catty smothers agiggle behind her hand as Chub laughs out loud at us. “Permission to throw the Kraken whores overboard for indecency.”

“Permission granted,” Bettina yells with a broad smile stretching her cheeks. Her giggle brings tears to my lady’s eyes.

I shelter Sabs in my arms as the crew hoists us into the air. She tucks her head in her arms and leans into my body as dozens of hands clutch our bodies. I guess we’re taking my dusters and best dress shirt with us into the abyss. The crew sings a bawdy song about a man lured to his death by a siren who dies with a smile on his lips. I laugh at the audacity.

“One for the boat!” They yell as they swing us over the edge and back.

“Two for her crew! Three pays what’s due!” We swing twice more. Sabrina shrieks each time we sail back onto the boat.

“And four in hopes you float!”

My laughter trails down the Jacob’s ladder as we fly over the railing and into the drink. The ocean smacks my back. Sabrina fights out of my embrace as soon as we are enveloped in seawater. I chose the Kraken form not only to accommodate her fear of humans but also to explore life under the sea. In my mind, I concocted adventures we would take together. She slides through my tentacles and disappears in a cloud of ink as soon as we touch the sand.

Did I make a mistake?

15

Sabrina

“No, no, no,” I scream at the lemon sharks gathering above us. Teeth just sprouted tentacles. He’s not ready to fight off a shiver of lemon sharks—despite how much he calls his enemies “yellow bellies.” I don’t know if he’s figured out his gills, siphon, or beak. My heart tears in two. He could die before we get the chance to start our lives together.

Where should I focus? Stay with him and teach him how to use his Kraken body, or fight off the growing threat above us? If any of his hearties jump in after us for a post-ceremony bath, sharks will swarm them. The devastation of luring his friends to their deaths by deciding to be a Kraken for me would tear him apart. His bitterness would tear us apart. As much as it will hurt him, I must abandon him to fight off the sharks. He will figure out his new body…

…oh no, my empty-headed husband isn’t the best at figuring out…anything.

Too late.I release a cloud of black ink over Teeth to hide him from the sharks. Hopefully, he has enough time to learn how to breathe underwater before he suffocates. Without knowing how to control his siphon, he will stay anchored on the bottom of the sea—much too deep for lemon sharks to dive. His gigantic tentacles will walk him across the sandy bottom, but even they don’t have the heft to lift such a large Kraken. But when he learns to control his new body, he will be a force of nature.

There are ten lemon sharks, with more golden shadows in the distance. The most curious one will approach me in three…two…Punch!I hit the shark’s sensitive nose with an uppercut. The animal rolls onto his back, which momentarily stuns him. As he floats to shallower water, the tides will turn him over, and he will swim off as if nothing happened. There’s no reason to kill these scallywags—they are more of a nuisance to the born Kraken than anything else. More importantly, they are food for the tiger sharks, who are a real threat to us.

A shark’s body brushes my lower back as it swims daringly close.

I punch two more lemon sharks—one with my fist and his friend with one of my tentacles. I must keep two tentacles by my side for punching and the other six cycling beneath me to keep me afloat.Spinning, I keep the closest shark in view. If I lead this battle to Teeth, he would be caught in the fray unarmed. Whirling around, I punch another shark. Bodies float around me as if I’ve stunk the water. I dodge them to assess the angle of the next shark. Damn shark curiosity makes them worse than alley cats. Where are they? A shiver of six circles above. Four lay stunned.

Two sharks bump their bodies against the tentacles to my left.

Ouch!Pain blooms from the tip of my right propulsion tentacle. Bastard nipped me! Worse than the toothmark scarring the smooth, red appendage, a fist-sized cloud of blood releases. The six circling change their swim pattern to include shallow dives as they smell the blood. What was a steady onslaught of curious animals changes into a feeding frenzy.

We aren’t safe here. Lemon sharks are cannibals, and their bloodshed will attract bigger predators. While lemon sharks can’t reach Teeth on the bottom, what they attract might have a deeper dive. What do I do? I could outswim them and retreat to deeper waters if I were alone. Teeth’s bulk was my strength limit in his human form. Carrying his Kraken form? I don’t have a prayer. I doubt I could push him across the bottom. There’s no time to plan. Hopefully, those nutmegsaboard the ship notice the splashing sharks and stay out of the water. Human sacrifices are the last thing I need.

I dodge a large lemon shark who snaps one of the stunned sharks in half. The blood cloud tints the sea red. I twist to avoid the cloud touching me and collide with a smaller lemon shark.Ouch!The bastard bites my elbow. I punch its nose. As the body floats upward, it’s swallowed whole by a tiger shark.

The stripes of a tiger shark send shivers down the tentacles of any Kraken—let alone a small one like me, surrounded by other predators.

My body contorts into a myriad of shapes to avoid teasing bites from the smaller lemon sharks. They love the consortium of tiny octopi and crustaceans in the coastal reefs. I don’t blame them for testing an animal that smells like their favorite food. I’m much too big for them to eat, but if I were injured, they might hope for a limb to fill their bellies. The more blood they spill, the more sharks they will attract.

A tiger shark’s bite would be fatal.

Should I blow another cloud of ink to shield Teeth? Teeth? Where the hell did he go? He should be where I left him on the bottom. Did he drown and float to the surface while I bungled this shark attack?

The tiger shark bears down on me at full speed—too fast to dive. If I drop to the bottom, it willswim over me…heading for where I left Teeth on the return pass…or leaving it free to breach the surface and gobble a floating Teeth. I’m paralyzed with indecision. My tentacles shrink into a ball to protect my beak…as if I carry eggs.

---