Page 38 of Ruthless Scoundrel
What if I missed?
Chapter eleven
Jasper
She did it.
The massive sha’kara sinks into the sea, its head sizzling as it boils the water around the perfect hole Reina shot through it. One of my tentacles was snapped off, but that’s fine, as long as I get its heart.
I rip into the beast until I reach the still-beating organ. It didn’t realize its host was dead yet. No matter. It’s mine now.
I wrap two tentacles around the heart and rip it out, then stuff it up under my tentacles to my beak. The iron taste of the meat is overwhelming, but the power it gives me is a hundred-fold what I’ve had before. This is true monstrousness. It’ll take an immense amount of essence to change my shape into this creature.
There’s a sharp pull on my gut and I worry the sha’kara heart is too much. I turn in the water, and, through the blood, I spot Reina. She flails her arms and legs at random, but none of her efforts get her any closer to the surface.
She’s sinking.
I surge toward her and wrap two tentacles delicately around her middle. She breaches and her chest expands as she breathes. I push her onto the raft and then release my massive octopus shift, returning to my man form.
I hold onto the edge of the raft as Reina coughs above me. Her white shirt is once again so soaked through that I can see the color of her skin, and the shape of her body. I try not to look but…
She gasps for air. “Did we win?”
“Yes. You did wonderful.”
She smiles weakly. “First time for everything.”
My heart lurches. Has no one ever commended her?
Without permission, my hands reach up and cup her cheeks. She stills, and so do I as we rock on the sea. “Everything you do is wonderful.”
She sucks in a soft gasp, her eyes searching mine for the truth. Then she jerks away.
“Stop being so lascivious,” she growls.
I wasn’t, but…
I pull myself onto the raft and shake my long hair. Reina groans and tries to shield herself from the flying droplets.
“Do you have to act like a dog, too?” she asks.
I love ruffling her fins, especially when she’s hurting. It transforms that hurt into annoyance, and it distracts her from the pain.
I turn so that we’re face to face. “Do you want me to show you my dog again?”
“So I wasn’t imagining it? That wasyou,” she asks, her eyes glinting with recognition.
“It was,” I say.
“How?”
I sit back and wring out my shirt. “Tell me about your kingdom, and I’ll tell you about my magus ability.”
She crosses her arms. “Why?”
“Because.”
I like hearing you talk.
