Page 18 of Stranded with the Kraken
I swallow thickly. “Full form?”
His cheeks turn an interesting shade of red. “Um, yeah. What you saw last night was what we call a half form. A lot of monsters have one. Like werewolves, who can shift halfway and remain bipedal or turn all the way and become actual wolves.”
“So your full form is…an octopus?” I venture.
I try to imagine a human-sized octopus and wonder if I’m brave enough to go swimming with one.
Jasper inclines his head to the side. “Er, not exactly. You ever see those old paintings of giant squid monsters taking down ships?”
I stare at him in silence. He has the grace to look sheepish but shrugs, as if to say, ‘What can you do?’
“You’re big enough to take down aship?” I ask, just to confirm what he’s saying.
He purses his lips. “If I want to. Our magic is weird. I can also be a small kraken if I want. And I’ve never taken down a ship, just so we’re clear. I’m only saying that I could if I wanted to.”
I go to sit on the chair next to him, but he maneuvers me so I end up in his lap instead. I don’t protest because he’s warm and it feels lovely, even though I’m still processing the new kraken info. I should really ask for a minute alone so I can go online to Google the hell out of this, but that seems kind of rude when he’s right here and willing to answer my questions.
And I have one that seems just as premature as Jasper’s invitation for me to stay here with him.
“If we had kids,” I start, then hold my hand up immediately to stop his protest, “I’m only talking theoretically here, of course. But I have to ask. If we had kids, would they be kraken, too?”
Jasper catches my hand and intertwines our fingers. “Nothing theoretical about it. I would love to have children with you.”
When I gape at him, he must realize how wild it is for him to say that to a woman he only met last night, because he clears his throat and adds, “One of the reasons I want you so badly is because you have triggered a heat in me.”
“A heat?” I ask.
He presses my palm to his chest, which is warmer than normal, now that I think of it. Last night, I’d noticed how hot he was in the water, but I’d chalked that up to him being a different species.
“All my instincts are telling me you’re the one,” he says softly. “The mate every kraken is searching for. So believe me when I tell you, I’ll do anything to make this easy for you. But you have to know how serious I am about you. I want to have kids with you,” he repeats.
I want to interrupt, but he gives my hand a squeeze, a silent plea to let him continue.
“And to answer your question, yes, it’s very likely they’d be kraken, too. One of the reasons why I moved to Clearwater is because of its magical community. It’s the perfect place to raise kids. The private school that witches run has options for all kinds of creatures. Roosts and perches for gargoyles, chew toys for young werewolves, safe spell bubbles for little witchlings whose magic is acting up. And if we had kids, they’d add a classroom pool if we asked them to.”
I remain very still, processing what he’s saying. Chew toys? Private schools?
“You’ve given this a lot of thought,” I say at last. “You know? I accepted your Bone-R invitation for a one-night stand, but you were looking for a-a mate, a family this whole time.”
A muscle twitches in Jasper’s jaw. “You make it sound like I’ve lured you in under false pretenses.”
I turn to face him, still perched in his lap. “No, that’s not what I meant. But can you see how far ahead you are?” I motion with my hands, measuring an inch between my fingers. “I’m here. And you are way over there!”
I widen my hands dramatically, as far as I can. Jasper stares at me for a long moment, then reaches for my hands and brings them closer together, his palms larger than mine.
“Can we meet in the middle?” he asks quietly. “I’ll stop talking about schools, and you can promise me to think about all of this?”
He sounds so earnest, so hopeful. But there’s a reason why I’m saying all of this.
“Jasper,” I say, “are you sure you wantme? Because you don’t know me. I mean…” My cheeks flush as I consider my words. “You do know some very intimate parts of me, but not who I am. And I have no idea whoyouare. What hobbies you have. How you spend your free time. Your friends. There are things you should know about a person before you agree to reproduce with them, don’t you think?”
He lifts one shoulder in a shrug. “Yeah. But that can come naturally. I don’t have to know all of your secrets to know how I feel about you. And I trust the fates. They know what they’re doing, and so do my instincts.”
I let out a small growl of frustration. “That’s easy for you to say. Your world is magical and special, but I’m just a human. You may trust the fates, but I wasn’t raised to do that. What if your-yourmate radaris confused and we get a kid on the way, and then you realize it was just some stupid hormones making you feel all this stuff? What will we do when your heat’s over and you don’t want me anymore?”
I clamp my mouth shut because this is all getting too serious. Too revealing. I stare at my lap and clench my hands into fists, tugging them away from Jasper and tucking them under my arms. But even though I want to run away to go sulk somewhere, alone, I don’t move from Jasper’s lap. It hits me then that I want comfort from him, and tears sting behind my eyelids at the thought that he might only be feeling whatever he’s feeling because of some silly twist of fate.
“Arielle.” Jasper nudges my chin up like I did to him earlier and forces me to look at him. “Is that what’s holding you back? You think I’ll get bored of you?”
