Dread flowed through her, but she swallowed it back. “You saved me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I have never seen one of you up close.”
“One of…me?”
His eyes roamed over her again, pupils flattening further as he moved fully into the light. His muscles rippled beneath his skin, and his torso angled forward as he approached.
Was he walking along the bottom or swimming? There was an unevenness to his movement that Macy couldn’t place, an oddness to his rhythm she’d never seen.
“Human.”
“You’ve never seen…never seen a human before?” she asked, trailing her gaze over his broad shoulders and chest. His skin was a few shades darker at his shoulders, sides, and waist, naturally drawing her eyes lower.
“I said I have never seen one of you up close. Aren’t those things on the sides of your head for listening?”
Macy narrowed her eyes. “They’re called ears. How do you know English if you’ve never been around humans?”
“What is English?”
“The language we’re speaking.”
He narrowed his eyes, mimicking her expression. “It is the language my people have always spoken…in the air.”
Macy frowned. How was it this creature knew her language? The old records had reported no sapient life on Halora before the colonization; had they missed something?
“Who are your people?”
“They are of no concern to you.”
Shifting onto her knees, Macy crawled closer to the water. “Do you have a name, at least?”
His wide mouth turned down in a slight frown. “I am called Jax, human. The Wanderer.”
Somehow, she found a touch of humor in the situation and smiled. “My name isn’t human. It’s Macy. The Gardener.”
A scintillating flash of red-brown rippled over his skin. “You mock me, human?”
Macy stared at his body in stunned fascination for several seconds before forcing her eyes back to his. “N-no. Why would you think I’m mocking you?”
“Wanderer. Gardener,” he said through bared teeth. The black stripes on his head and shoulders shifted to a vibrant indigo. “You are creating words to insult me.”
She retreated from the edge of the island. He spoke the same language as she did, and many of his features were humanlike, but he wasn’t human. Clearly, a communication barrier remained between them.
“I didn’t make it up. A gardener is someone who tends to plants. That’s what I do.”
Jax eyed her with scrutiny. “Why would plants need tending? They are capable of growing on their own.”
“We need a lot, for food. We plant seeds, water them, and remove dangerous plants that would kill our crops.”
“For food?” His upper lip peeled back. “No wonder your teeth are so strange.”
“Yours are just as strange to me.” Though frightening might’ve been a more accurate word.
His expression altered, brow and mouth softening; he looked almost thoughtful. His skin reverted to gray.
“Why does your skin change color?” she asked.
“Doesn’t yours?”
Macy glanced at her arm. It was tan from hours in the sun. “No. At least, not like yours.”
“It just does. It is the same for all kraken.”
“Kraken? Is that what your people are called?”
“It is what we call ourselves.”
“Are there many of you?”
Jax’s features hardened, and he moved forward, gliding through the water with that odd rhythm. The ridges of his abdominal muscles emerged first, followed by his lower half, glistening in the shaft of sunlight from above.
Macy leapt to her feet and backed away from him once she realized what she was seeing.
His torso led down to thick tentacles — black with pale stripes along their lengths — which swept forward and dragged him onto the island. He towered over her, radiating power and menace.
Macy raised her hands to warn him back, but he didn’t slow. Her heart hammered against her ribs. Cold fear swept down her spine. She backpedaled faster and gasped as her calves bumped into one of the large crates behind her. Screaming, she fell, her cry cut short as she hit the water and it filled her mouth. She thrashed in panic.
It was happening all over again.
Something thick and snakelike coiled around her waist. Macy clutched the smooth skin, clawed at it, seeking purchase to drag herself to the surface.
She was lifted out of the water. She coughed, throat burning, and gulped in air with rapid breaths.
Her eyes fell to the black tentacles wrapped around her middle. She quickly removed her hands from them, snapping her gaze up to meet Jax’s. Though her feet didn’t reach the ground, he still loomed over her.
He leaned close. “I will not betray my people to yours.”
“I’m sorry!” she said between coughs. “I wasn’t… I was only curious.”
He narrowed his eyes, and his pupils expanded. The tip of a tentacle brushed over her bare shoulder. Macy flinched away from it.
“Curious…” he rumbled. Lifting a hand, he moved it toward her face.
She leaned back as far as she could, staring at the translucent webbing between his fingers, at the black claws on his fingertips, at the subtle texture of his skin.
“Please. Don’t hurt me.” Macy turned her face away; if he was strong enough to hold her steady in midair, he could pick her to pieces with those claws effortlessly.
His hand, strangely warm, brushed the sensitive skin of her neck. Her breath quickened. He raised a clump of her wet hair and rubbed it between two fingers, separating the individual strands.
“What is this?”
“It’s hair,” she said, watching from the corner of her eye.
“What is its purpose?”
“I-I don’t know. To keep us warm? We have it all over our bodies, but it just…grows longer there.” She turned her face toward him. “You don’t have any?”
“No.” He tilted his head to the side and moved his hand, running his fingertip over the shell of her ear. “It is much stranger to see in the flesh.”
Reluctantly, Macy lowered her hands, resting them atop his tentacle. She’d expected it to be slimy, but his skin was velvety-fine, soft over hard muscle. It wouldn’t take much for him to do her serious harm; he’d just need to tighten his grip, and he’d crush her insides and snap her spine.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I have seen…ghosts of humans. It is different to see a human of flesh so close. To touch.”
“Ghosts?” Her finger slid over one of the suction cups. It expanded, and she pulled her hand away.
His gaze dipped to her hand. “They can be seen and heard, but not touched.”
“Where have you seen ghosts? Ghosts aren’t real.” Sea monsters weren’t real, either, but here she was, talking to one…
“There are a great many things underwater.”
Jax didn’t elaborate; he shifted his attention to her nose, and his nostril slits flared as he leaned closer. She pressed a hand to his chest to stop him. His skin was just as soft there as it was on his tentacles. The thumping of his heart vibrated against her palm, stronger than she would’ve guessed, its tempo rapid and rhythm odd — it pulsed in sets of six quick beats.
“Your heart is…different,” she said.
Jax glanced at her hand. He lowered his from her hair and placed it on her chest.
Macy nearly stopped breathing. Her heart raced as she stared at him with wide eyes. Part of his hand curved over her upper breast, and the tips of his claws rested against her bare skin.
“Hearts,” he said, brow falling. “Yours are weak.”
“It’s not weak. Humans only have one.”
“Are you all so small? So…delicate?” Removing his hand from her chest, took her wrist between forefinger and thumb and lifted her hand off his tentacle, examining it.
&nb
sp; She tugged her hand out of his grasp. “What do you mean? Humans come in all shapes and sizes. I’m just…female. Aren’t your females smaller?”
“All shapes and sizes,” he muttered. “Doesn’t that make mating difficult?”
“What?” Her cheeks heated.
“Do you have to find mates of the same size and shape for mating to work?”
“You thought…” She shook her head, her face burning with embarrassment. “Not literally all shapes and sizes. Some of us are smaller than others. Some are wider, some are thinner, but we’re more or less the same.”
One of his tentacles brushed the back of her knee, and the tip slid up her inner thigh. Macy sucked in a sharp breath.
“No!” she exclaimed, drawing her legs back and kicking the offending appendage.
The tentacle snapped back. His hold on her waist tightened slightly, and his expression hardened. He stared at her with alien eyes.
“Put me down,” she said with a softer tone. “Please, just put me down.”
She didn’t think he’d listen; for the space of a few breaths, he didn’t move save for the slow rise and fall of his chest and shoulders. Finally, he lowered her. Relief flooded Macy as her feet touched solid ground.
Jax withdrew his tentacles and backed away, putting a bit of distance between them.
“Thank you.” Shaken, she wrapped her arms around herself and glanced past him, toward the dark part of the cavern. “How did you bring me in here?”
“Through the water.”
“So, you could…could take me back. You could help me to the shore.”
“No.”
For a moment, she stared at him, silent, unsure if she’d heard his response or imagined it.
“Then you could show me, and I-I can find my way.”
Oh, God. She didn’t want to face the sea alone.
“No,” he repeated. There was no malice in his voice, but his tone was firm.
“What do you mean?”
“I will not allow you the chance to lead your people to this place.”
Macy dug her fingers into her arms to keep them from trembling. “I won’t. I promise I won’t tell anyone about you, about this cave. About anything. I just want to go home.”
“I cannot trust the words of a human. I will not kill you, but you will remain here.”
Her chest constricted; she couldn’t breathe.
“Can you at least tell me if you saw my friend? He was on the boat with me. Is he…alive?”
“I saw only you, Macy.”
She was relieved that Camrin hadn’t been captured, too, but what were the chances he’d survived the storm?
“Please.” Tears obscured her vision. “Please, let me go. I can’t stay here.”
“No,” he said again, softer this time.
Her face crumpled, and hot tears rolled down her cheeks. He wasn’t going to let her go.
Jax’s eyes widened, and he approached her. Leaning close, he raised a hand toward her face.
She slapped it away and stepped back. “Leave me alone!”
Jax recoiled, red pulsing across his skin. The shocked expression faded from his face quickly.
Macy didn’t care if she’d offended or angered him; he was keeping her as a prisoner. She moved farther away, sank to the ground beside a barrel, covered her face with her hands and cried. Her shoulders shook with each wail and shuddering breath as she cried.
She didn’t know where she was or what she was going to do.
Would she ever see The Watch again? Would she ever see her parents or Aymee?
She didn’t even know if Camrin was alive or dead. Only that it was her fault.
I should have told him!
There was a splash on the far side of the cavern. She didn’t have to look up to tell Jax was gone. She was alone.
That only made her cry harder.
Chapter 3
Senses reeling, Jax plunged into the water. The initial blast of cold did little to clear his mind.
Sorrow had saturated Macy’s expression, her posture, her tone; their physical differences had not masked her emotions. Seeing her in such a state had made his chest ache, even as the water spilling from her eyes had piqued his curiosity.
Why had her eyes leaked? Was it something all humans did, or was something wrong with her?
Those questions were minor concerns compared to the sadness and desperation Macy had displayed. He’d been so close to relenting. So close to sinking down on the ground beside her and saying yes, yes, I will take you home. I will take you anywhere you want to go.
But he would not betray his people.
As he descended into the underwater tunnel, he changed his skin, causing it to emit a faint light. He used the uneven protrusions as handholds to pull himself through the narrow passage.
Macy was other; an enemy, dangerous and deceptive. Humans sought only two things — power over that which they did not control, and the destruction of what they could not control. That was what the only kraken ghost in the Facility taught, when he appeared.
Never trust a human.
But Macy’s blue eyes were so full of feeling, and though they were so different from a kraken’s, they held something he could not deny — a spark of life, of intelligence, of compassion. As strange as she looked, there was an exotic appeal to her features.
The feel of her, the smell, the taste…
His muscles burned with exertion as he sped through the tunnel. His urge to return to her was far stronger than he’d expected. For the first time in his life, Jax doubted his strength of will.
What would going back now accomplish? If he gave in, she’d be in control. How long before he gave away everything and put his people at risk?
Humans had only ever brought hardship to kraken.
She was with another human.
Within a few moments, he emerged into the all-encompassing blue of the open ocean. Nearby fish scattered at the sight of him, flitting away in all directions. Tendrils of grass swayed below, illuminated by shafts of sunlight pouring through the glittering surface above, and hard-shelled bottom feeders scuttled amongst the rocks and plants at the base of the cliffs.
Jax descended, swimming close to the rock face along the coast. From what little he’d seen of humans, they preferred the land, venturing into the water only on the floating platforms they called boats. Macy had thanked Jax for saving her, and had panicked when she fell into the water in the cave…
Perhaps the old stories were true — humans needed air to survive. If so, Macy’s companion had likely been claimed by the sea; anything that might have remained of the missing human after the storm would have been eaten by scavengers already.
When Jax rescued Macy, she was being pulled into the open sea. The current would’ve drawn her farther and farther from land, eventually into deeper water than most kraken dared swim. But the sea could be fickle; there was a chance the other human had been swept back to shore.
At the very least, Jax was likely to discover some sign of their boat.
He turned away from the cliffs and swam into deeper water, toward the place he’d found her the night before. When he reached the general area, he pushed up, breaking the surface.
The breeze was cool against his exposed skin. He rode the water, turning his gaze to the land; the shore was hazy in the distance, rising from the sea like a cresting wave frozen in time.
Curiosity had brought him onto land a few times in the past — as far as he knew, he was the only one of his kind to do so. The others feared it because it was the unknown. Because it was the domain of the near-mythical humans. A cursed place. Though he’d never ventured far from the sea, Jax knew the truth — everything felt different on land, the textures alien and sometimes painful, but there was nothing more to fear there than in the ocean.
He swam forward, dipping just below the surface. The likelihood of finding Macy’s missing human was low, but it was an excuse to explore. An excuse to get away and sort his jum
bled thoughts.
Jax lifted his eyes above water as he neared the shore. Along much of the coast, the land was a wall of rock that stood against the ceaseless battering of the ocean, impossible to traverse without climbing. But there were spots — often hidden — allowing easier access. The beach ahead was one such place.
There, the cliffs were broken up for a short span; they gave way to boulders, then to smaller rocks and pebbles, and finally the sand. Macy’s boat lay on its side, between the high tide line and the surf. The large cloth the humans used to catch the wind flapped in the breeze.
He advanced slowly, fighting a current that wanted nothing more than to sweep him ashore.
When a figure rose from the sand beside the boat, Jax’s hearts thumped. Macy’s human was alive.
And — even from this distance — Jax knew it was a male.
The human moved to the long pole that held the wind-cloth, squatted, and lifted. He walked forward, sliding his hands as he moved, until the boat lay on its belly. The cloth billowed in the wind. Scrambling over the side, the human manipulated some ropes until the cloth hung limp.
Jax altered his color to match his surroundings as he eased closer. The human, shoulders heaving, sat in the boat with his head bowed. He remained that way for a time, oblivious to his surroundings.
Soon, Jax was close enough to make out the male’s features; his short, orange hair, the reddish hue to his skin, his wide nose and thick brows. He was larger than Macy, with a heavier build. The sand around the boat was dotted with tracks leading back forth along the beach and winding up toward the rocks beyond.
The human dragged his hands over his face, dropped them to his legs, and pushed himself up.
“Macy!” he shouted into the wind. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he repeated his call, louder than before. His voice broke as he dragged out the last part of her name.
Was this Macy’s mate?
Heat spread through Jax’s abdomen. She was Jax’s, now; he’d taken her from the sea, had brought her to safety, had — if she was to be believed — saved her life.
Climbing out of the boat, the human walked to its front, leaned down, and pushed. The boat began a slow journey toward the water.
The Kraken Series Boxset: A Sci-fi Alien Romance Series Books 1-3 with Bonus Exclusive Short Story Page 3