Page 34 of Salt and Knot

Her mouth opens in shock.

“The bite allows you to process oxygen from the water, like gills,” I explain.

“I get gnawed on, and then I get gills.” She narrows her eyes sceptically.

“Just a single bite. And it’s more like a beak. One large tooth on each side of the jaw.”

I thought this was reassuring, but Isla’s expression suggests not.

“Five minutes after meeting me.” Her eyebrows raise.

I shrug. “You’re his mate. He recognised you the instant you stepped into the water. Your scent mixed in with the tiny shards of magic that a kraken leaves behind in their territory, and reacted.”

She pauses, her teeth finding her bottom lip as she thinks about what I’ve said.

“Probably he’s the reason you swam in the first place. The water here has my magic embedded into it.”

“Your magic? Or his.” We’re still fixed together by my knot, and she isn’t struggling. But neither is this knotting the blissful experience it has been before. It’s more a physical manifestation of how we’re tied together, whether she likes it or not.

“They’re the same. My kraken form is half of me,” I admit softly. “My base instincts, unfiltered by civilisation or logic. In some ways, being a kraken allows me to be honest.”

“Honest.” She repeats the word, eyes wide.

“I want you.” I keep my gaze steady on her face. “I want you in every way you can imagine, and it’s only my honour and concern for how you might feel that keeps me from pinning you down and marking you right now. Sinking my teeth into your neck and confirming our mate bond.”

She blinks, and her hand shifts on my pectoral where she’s been steadying herself throughout this conversation. “You want to?”

“Yes.” She hasn’t run. She hasn’t tried to get away from me, or even force herself off my knot, despite what I did, and who I am.

“You said I was your mate. So I’m the monster’s mate too?”

“Fated mate, yes. You felt it too, didn’t you?” It’s a guess, but it’s based on the emotions I can feel from her.

She doesn’t affirm or deny, which I take as a positive.

“It felt like home? When you were near the sea?”

Her nod is miniscule.

“And it became stronger the closer you got to here? The beach I found you on is right beside where I swim. You felt the memory held by the water. You could feel it as soon as you were close enough to smell the sea air, and it called to you. Then when you stepped in, I’m not surprised you felt something. I’ve been swimming here for decades, every day. The water holds the pattern of me. Especially my kraken. And the connection between us, Isla. It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt in my life.”

The knot is easing, apparently my body finally getting the point that this isn’t sexy or fun. But still. I’m inside her. We’re connected. Because of that, I can’t help but hope.

She chews her lip. “And the kraken…”

“He knew you’re his. There will never, and has never, been anyone else for him. Or me.”

“Never?” She looks a bit stunned, but also suspicious. “I’m supposed to think that a six-hundred-year-old never fell in love?”

I pause because, although there is a separation between my human and kraken emotions, this one is so strong, it’s difficult for me to express.

“It’s easier for me. I’ve been able to find companionship over the years. It doesn’t last, and it’s not…” Her. My mate. “But it wasn’t total isolation. There are other creatures like me, and we meet occasionally.”

“Other kraken shifters?” She’s leaning forwards again, curious, and I take that as a good sign.

“They exist, but I don’t know them. Krakens are prone to eating anything they come across.”

“See, I was right to be concerned!” Her voice emerges with a hint of hysteria. She shifts on my lap, and my knot gives.