Page 44 of Salt and Knot

“I’d rather have you.”

The world stands still, like the sea at high tide.

He’s given up living forever. For me.

Then the conversation continues around me, and like the tide ebbing the water away, I’m left on wet sand, shocked.

This past month, Dylan and I have walked on the beach, swam, laughed together, had more kinky tentacle knotted sex than I’d have believed possible, and he’s spoiled me with everything I could want. And when I tried to say I didn’t need it, he explained that what was the point in having saved billions over the years of his life if not to provide for his mate.

I’ve spent time in Dylan’s enormous library, picking out a book on molluscs or sea shanties or folk lore of the sea. There are so many old books, including some ships’ logs from the fifteen hundreds that must be incredibly rare, that Dylan says he saved from wrecked ships.

Apparently, the stories of krakens sinking ships are mostly overblown and due to him trying to save sailors who fall into the water. But he did admit that the odd one or two could have been deliberate. Muttered something about immoral practices and the African coast being very dangerous.

And if krakens aren’t the baddies the stories make them, why haven’t I asked about his other half? His kraken, who found me. Who lured me to the water and wanted me just for who I am.

Dylan gave up half his lifetime for me, and I’ve been scared to ask about half of him.

Casting a glance at his friends, I tug Dylan aside. They watch, curiously, but leave us to it.

“How is your kraken?” I say in a low tone.

“Why do you ask?” Dylan replies carefully, his eyes going darker.

I can’t say because I miss a monster I’ve never formally met, and really only had dubiously consensual sex with.

“Does he want to see me again?”

Dylan’s irises flash bright-purple, so fast I almost think it didn’t happen.

“Yes,” he says, and there’s so much weight in that one word that it would sink to the bottom of the ocean. “But he’s under control. You don’t need to be worried. I’m not going to let him through.”

“Oh.” He’s still protecting me. Dylan has cut short his life for me, and I’ve been denying that I want to see his kraken side because I’m embarrassed about that first day. About how I responded, and Dylan’s guilt has only sharpened that. I swallow. I’m brave. “I feel like we might have got off on the wrong foot. Or tentacle, as the case may be.”

Dylan doesn’t smile at my poor excuse for a joke, staring at me with his brows knitted with fearful hope.

I take a deep breath, and screw up my courage. “Would he like to see me?”

“Desperately.” And there’s a low rumble of intensity to his voice that reminds me of the sound I heard underwater that first day at the beach.

And suddenly it’s so simple.

I’ve been holding back on him, when he’s given me everything. He’s even compromised and hidden part of himself that he thinks scares me.

The knowledge is so intense. It’s absolute.

This man is mine. The monster is mine too. It was the kraken who found me and brought me into this world. Without his monster side, I might have never met him. I could still be alone and confused.

I want to embrace every part of Dylan.

Everything that means.

“Then I want to see him too. Now.”

Chapter 23

Dylan

“Do you really mean it?” I can’t quite believe this is happening.