Moonlight Mist: A Limited Edition Collection of Fantasy & Paranormal)

by Nicole Morgan

  He shifted his legs from the stirrups. They were quite understandably sore and stiff from lack of movement, and suddenly he craved his tentacles and some leisurely swimming through the fluidity of the water. It was much easier living in the ocean depths. Then all his limbs were loose and limber. He couldn’t wait for her to turn so she could join him and experience instinctual mating. But he would have to wait. He sighed with frustration and headed to the bathroom to retrieve his clothing.

  “Are you serious?” Catalina’s friend Misty gasped for the tenth time as Catalina continued to relay what had happened to her while she’d been tattooing Calder. They’d been lying on their bellies for an hour, upon their air mattresses, on the almost-secluded, white sandy beach behind Cat’s RV, soaking up some late-evening sunshine.

  “You blanked out?”

  Concern marred her friend’s features and Catalina regretted having confessed. Misty would only worry. She was like that. She worried about every little thing.

  “I think you should see my doctor. Maybe you’ve got a brain tumor or something.”

  Oh for heaven’s sake. Yep, she definitely shouldn’t have shared what had happened.

  “No I don’t have a brain tumor, Misty. It was some kind of artistic high. I’m sure of it,” she lied as she tried to ease the anxiety flaring in Misty’s eyes.

  “Do you really think so?”

  No. But Catalina forced herself to smile, reached out and grabbed one of Misty’s hands.

  “I really think so,” she lied again. “Calder didn’t seem the least bit suspicious anything had happened. He said I had done a wonderful job. So obviously whatever happened I was able to keep working through it, so it must have been an artistic high.” The weirdest and coolest one she’d ever had.

  Relief splashed through Misty’s face. She had taken the bait. “Now let’s figure out exactly how we can get this incredible guy into your bed.”

  Catalina rolled her eyes. Leave it to Misty to try her matchmaking. “He’s not available.”

  Misty frowned and pounded the sand with her fist. “Shit. The wife. Of course, I should have known some lucky chick would get the well-hung man who is into the same fetish as you.”

  “Actually—” Cat stopped as Misty’s eyes widened with expectation. She should have kept her mouth shut.

  “Yeah…go on.” Misty squealed, giving her head a curious tilt that made Cat almost laugh out loud at how cute and excited her friend looked.

  “Never mind.”

  “He’s unhappily married?” she prodded, her mouth dropping open with anticipation.

  “Let’s just get off the topic. I want to have some fun. Let’s go swimming.” Suddenly Cat had this really intense need to take a dip in the ocean.

  She turned over and rolled off her mattress onto the sandy beach. Standing, she frowned when Misty didn’t follow. Her friend remained on her tummy, arms tucked beneath her chin. But from this angle, Cat could tell Misty was smiling quite happily. Matchmaking thoughts again. That was okay, though. The urge to head into the ocean was growing stronger and she just wanted to be alone with it.

  “Okay, so he’s not married,” Cat confessed. “But he’s got a girlfriend with a tentacle fetish and that’s why he’s giving her a tattoo. It’s a present to her.”

  Misty gazed up at her. “And you’ve got the same fetish. The man is available, girlfriend. A-v-a-i-l-a-b-l-e. No wedding ring means he is still available.”

  Disappointment rocked Cat. She’d never go after a man who was so obviously in love with another woman. So in love he was getting her something as permanent as a tattoo.

  “I don’t steal boyfriends, Misty. You know me better than that.”

  Misty grimaced and closed her eyes and settled her head back onto her arms, as if she was about to take a nap, which she usually did when she came over to visit and they lay on the beach.

  “Yeah, I know,” Misty said sadly. “And with that kind of attitude you’re never going to catch a man, Cat.”

  Well, then if that’s the way it had to be, then so be it. Cat grabbed her mattress, shoving it under her right arm before padding barefoot toward the gently lapping ocean.

  The sun was just setting and it sat like a giant ball right on top of the ocean, casting orange sparkles across the small waves. As her toes dipped into the cool water, all the tension from today’s happenings suddenly seemed to melt out of her body and slip into the water.

  Despite the conversation she’d just had with Misty about not going after another woman’s man, she couldn’t stop thinking about Calder. Couldn’t wait to see him again. She’d set up their next appointment for the day after tomorrow because she had already been booked solid for the following day. She’d blocked out the entire afternoon for him.

  He would have a day of healing and, when he came back, she’d be able to go on to tattoo the octopus across his belly and abdomen. If she didn’t zone out like she’d done today, and didn’t slip into another odd, artistic high, she could do the outline of the octopus in that time frame. Then start on coloring and some shadowing, leaving the other tentacles he wanted for other days. She’d leave the rose-enshrouding heart with the keyhole for last.

  She gazed down at herself as she slipped up to her knees in the water. She’d had a friend tattoo artist do an octopus on her lower back, with tentacles wrapping around her waist and one going down the back of each of her legs. She had a couple of tentacles stretching up her belly toward her breasts too. The ones on her front she’d tattooed herself. She’d spent many hours on them. They were so lifelike. Just as beautiful as the tentacle she’d drawn on Calder’s cock. She’d used many of the same colors. Various shades of greens, grays and blacks, with white-capped waves splashing all around the long, swollen tentacles.

  She still didn’t understand how she’d been able to tattoo Calder without even remembering doing it, especially since she’d been looking so forward to this project. This zoning-out thing was really strange, and it was weird too that she wasn’t more panicked.

  Cat walked farther into the ocean, the water now embracing her breasts. She let the air mattress float on the water beside her and held it with one hand, readying it so she could shove her upper body on top and kick her way farther out.

  But instead of following through on her intention, she smiled as she continued to look down. Beneath the water’s edge, her tattoos seemed to come alive, moving back and forth on her body like arms beckoning her to dive under and swim like the animals. To be free and just float through the water, light and weightless. Her arms and legs transformed into tentacles, stroking the cool liquid with ease. She imagined herself as a squid or an octopus or some sea creature, her tentacles waving at her mate.

  Oh yes, she would definitely have a sexual partner. Catalina smiled and incredible warmth burst inside her as she imagined having a male companion to swim with, to make love with and to love.

  A tentacle of her partner would magically strip off her bikini top and bottom and wrap around each of her breasts, the suction cups holding her tightly, while two other tentacles would stroke her nipples until they were tight and achy. A swollen, hot appendage would snugly encircle her waist, holding her steady while yet another slipped into her ass.

  She gasped at the sensual fullness as he explored her. The tip of another tentacle rubbed against her sensitive clit, massaging until her breath came faster and carnal urges shivered through her core. She moaned as another tentacle slid into her vagina, the warm, velvety flesh sliding deep, the suction cups snapping against long-dormant nerve endings.

  She sucked in a sharp breath as both tentacles eased from her vagina and ass then plunged back in. Another thrust erotically into her mouth. The thought she was being triple penetrated rushed her mind.

  Very ingenious to triple penetrate. After the initial shock of what he had done, she reached out her own tentacles which had only moments ago been her arms and legs.

  Awesome to be able to shift like this. But it was just a dream
. A wicked fantasy. And she was going with it.

  Wrapping one of her tentacles around the base of his engorged cock, a cock that looked just like Calder’s newly tattooed shaft, she held him tightly, using another tentacle to erotically caress his cock head. It was really cool, this fantasy.

  Aside from her arms and legs, the rest of her was the same as she floated beneath the water. Calder drifted in front of her, his arms and legs had turned into long, swollen tentacles too, yet the rest of him remained human. His head, muscular chest, his torso, his tattooed cock, all looked the same.

  His eyes were closed as he held on to her. His thrusts continued, growing harder and more desperate. His tentacles swelled, pulsing, getting hotter inside of her. She firmly held his cock while she continued stroking his flesh.

  They made love, thrashing in the water. Air bubbles surrounded them and hid them from prying fish, eager to watch. Pleasure rocked her as he kept up the triple penetrations. Spasms raced through her breasts, her vagina, her ass. They pummeled her, gripped her and loved her.

  She gasped in the water, her body trembling into the orgasm, and vaguely realized she could breathe the liquid. But that discovery was quickly forgotten as a hot limb pressed into her mouth. He continued thrusting his tentacles into her, and then she was flying into another climax.

  She exploded. Her mind splintered, her body shuddered and his tentacles pulsed and tightened as he tensed and trembled right along with her. They floated that way through the bubbles, their tentacles holding and caressing each other. Intuition told her he was satisfied and loving the after-sex ambiance. It was as if she was in tune with his body, his instincts, his love for her. As if they were one being.

  He opened his eyes and suddenly everything seemed real. Too real.

  Gorgeous, green eyes blinked at her and shock crashed through Catalina like a rogue, ocean wave. She really was underwater. Breathing. What the heck?

  What had just happened wasn’t a fantasy. It was real! The shock suddenly made it difficult to breathe and terror ripped through her as she thought about drowning down here. Then, without warning, she was thrust away from him and upward. Ripped from his embrace, pummeling up through the murky liquid like a rocket. Her head broke free from the water and she frantically gasped for air.

  “Cat! Cat! Oh my God! There she is! There she is!” Misty’s panicked shrieks echoed in Cat’s ears from somewhere behind her. Cat’s feet miraculously touched the sandy ocean ground and she stood neck deep in the water. Stunned at what had just happened, she couldn’t understand how she suddenly had feet and arms again. Heck, she couldn’t get a grip on how she could have so easily accepted she’d just had tentacles, and that Calder had been part-human, part-tentacle man and had been making love to her.

  Confusion gripped her and she turned around and gasped as a bright light shone over the half-foot waves, blinding her.

  What happened? Why was she in the water? Where was her air mattress?

  “Miss. Miss. Are you all right?” Some guy called to her as he furiously paddled a surfboard through the surrounding darkness. An irritating light arrowed at her from the newcomer and suddenly all she wanted to do was dive back under the water. Back into the love and pleasure of being with Calder.

  Catalina shook her head. No, she must be going crazy. Not Calder. But something had tugged her under the water. Something delightful.

  A shark? An octopus? She remembered tentacles. Lots of them wrapped around her, pulsing in and out of her. She moaned softly, reliving the powerful thrusts and magnificent orgasms. But, she hadn’t been human…

  She’d been one of whatever the hell she’d been. She’d had tentacles herself.

  “Cat? Is she all right?” Misty’s voice shrieked through her confusion. How in the world had Misty seen her? It was so dark on the beach Cat couldn’t even see the shoreline.

  “Miss, your friend is really worried. Can you talk to me?” The man was right beside her now, belly down on his surfboard, a dark silhouette on the water’s surface. That irritating light was slicing into her eyes again.

  She held up her hand to shield the light. “I’m fine. I just went out too far.”

  “I don’t know. You were gone pretty long. We were all looking. We couldn’t see you. I’m going to take you to the first-aid station and get you checked out.”

  He slipped off his surfboard and into the water beside her. He wore a helmet and the light came off the front of it.

  Her rescuer was just a young guy of maybe eighteen years.

  “I’m going to hoist you up on my board and then climb on top and paddle behind you. Are you okay with that?”

  She nodded numbly, but then suddenly stopped. Her bikini top was missing!

  “Um, no. No. I’m fine. I’ll walk back.”

  “That’s a bad idea, miss. You might slip under again.”

  Again? Yes, yes, she had been under the water. But how had she been able to breathe? How in the world was she going to explain her missing top? She ran her fingers lower and froze when she touched cool skin. Her bikini bottoms were gone too! She was completely naked.

  Oh goodness. Something had definitely happened in the water. She began to tremble.

  “I’ll just hang on to the surfboard and walk with you,” she compromised.

  “Okay, but that’s against my better judgment.” He hoisted his lean form back onto the board.

  She only took a few steps before the water came to just above the curves of her breasts. She stopped and finally confessed her situation. Or at least what she hoped he would believe to be her situation.

  “I…actually I don’t want to scare my friend. I got caught in an undertow. My top got ripped off and I’m really cold. Can you just go back to her and get my throw?”

  “I’ll get your friend to bring it out.”

  “No, please. I’d rather you go and get it. I need a moment to compose myself.” Actually, she needed a few moments to reorient herself and try to figure out what had happened.

  The man nodded. “Sure. Sure. But once again. This is against my better judgment.” He slipped off his board again. “Here, hold on to this. Tight. I’ll get it.”

  “Thanks.”

  When he left, she couldn’t help but look back out across the ocean in the direction she instinctively knew she’d been. The sun had set. The sky had turned a velvety, dark purple, bursting with glistening, white stars. Nothing moved on the quiet surface of the ocean. Not a wave. Not even a ripple.

  Her breath backed up at the beautiful glass-like surface of the endless ocean. Far in the distance, a roll of white puffy clouds danced on the horizon and a large white houseboat was anchored out there too.

  As she stared at it, her shattered nerves seemed to calm, just like she’d calmed earlier when she’d first gone into the water. A beautiful rainbow slowly arched over the boat. Then all too quickly the rainbow disappeared and the boat was swallowed up by darkness.

  She should be relieved that she’d somehow gotten free of whatever had held her. Instead, she yearned to go back out there. To be with him.

  With Calder?

  Oh yeah, she must be losing her mind. Big-time.

  Calder’s three hearts pounded madly as he swam near his houseboat, his body satiated from the quick, intense sex he’d just had with Catalina. He hadn’t anticipated taking her tonight. He’d anchored his houseboat about a mile off the beach from where her RV campsite was located and watched the area with binoculars, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. When, in the late afternoon, Catalina and another woman around Cat’s age came out to lie on the beach, his hearts had soared. He’d waited on his houseboat, loving the way those tentacle tattoos hugged the backs of her legs and wrapped around her waist. Damn, she was sexy. He kind of felt guilty spying on her, but after leaving her today, he’d only wanted to see her again.

  While he thought about her, Calder slowly crawled with his tentacles. He’d been so intent on watching Cat, he’d almost shifted on the houseboat. Usually he found a
more secluded spot to anchor for the night, but tonight he’d barely hit the water before he began turning. It had been a close call, but well worth hanging around the area.

  He’d loved curling his tentacles around her breasts, tweaking her nipples. Watching how her pretty mouth parted and panted. She hadn’t even realized she’d turned. It was normal in the beginning not to realize what was happening. But her brain would catch up.

  He could still feel her cool silky flesh tingling against his suction cups where he’d latched onto her newly formed limbs. Throbbing arousal pulsed through his tentacles, especially the ones that had penetrated her.

  He hadn’t realized she’d shifted until her sexy scent embraced him in the water. His instincts to mate with her had kicked in and, using his tentacles, he swam quickly and found her.

  She’d been languishing on the surface of the ocean. The fact her head was underwater and she’d been breathing made him realize the gills, prevalent to their species, had formed behind her ears. He’d aligned with her and brought her down to the ocean floor and, following his instincts, he’d made love to her.

  After the sex, he’d sensed she was changing back to human form and he’d propelled her to the top of the water. The sudden shift in Octoposeidons wasn’t uncommon in the first few days when a female or male entered the beginning of their change. Some, when in their human form, drowned due to the unexpected shift back and forth, unless of course they had an experienced one around to help them. The same could be said when shifting from human to Octoposeidon on land, except this was called dry drowning.

  He focused his thoughts back on Catalina.

  She was probably frightened. Didn’t know what had happened. Perhaps she was even thinking she was going insane. He should go to her and explain. He shouldn’t have waited today. He should have warned her what would be happening to her arms and legs and that she would be able to breathe beneath the water during the nights. He doubted she would have believed him anyway. But now that the mating had begun, she would experience unexplained sexual urges.