Filed To Story: The Saltwater Curse Book PDF Free
I didn’t dare have keepsakes of my family on display. I have enough reminders of my shortcomings, I refuse to add to them. The treasures I’ve been gathering over the years are kept in another cave.
During the day, some light trickles in through the hole on the side of the den that leads up to the land. At night, the only source of light comes from the algae threading through the crevices of the rock wall and around the pool.
Emboldened by her blatant approval of our den, I slowly move closer so she doesn’t notice.
Cindi blinks blearily at the algae residue glowing on her fingers. Her gaze swings to me. I puff my chest out and rise out of the water so she might look at me with the same astonishment. I am big, larger than every other kraken I have met.
I am an adequate hunter. I’m fast, strong. I have won every battle I’ve fought. I have access to my people’s riches, and I am protected by virtue of being the king.
I flex my muscles and expand my chest, making myself larger so she can see I am a worthy mate. Her gaze drops down to my partially curled fingers. I may have been cursed with claws, but I have honed them into a weapon. Cindi is smart. She will understand that.
But there is no astonishment, no awe or gratefulness. Everything stills, silent for a heartbeat. Then, pure horror flashes across her face.
I deflate, staggering back. She isn’t meant to look at me like that.
My mate isn’t meant to find me revolting.
What is it that she finds wrong with me? Do I lack the charm my brother had? Or the lethal tact of my sister, so Cindi thinks I cannot protect her? Is it my appearance? My size? Is she disappointed I failed to protect her? Our den?
It makes me sick to know if we weren’t destined to be together, she’d pick either of my siblings over me. Or any other human but me. Everything in my life has been by chance: the throne falling into my lap, my mother’s accidental pregnancy, even finding Vasz’s unconscious form on an island far from my lands after being attacked for the way he looks.
I am never a choice. I am an unwelcome consequence.
Given the option, my people and every person on the Council would choose another to lead them. My own mate would rather be bonded to someone who isn’t me.
The Curse requires my bride be willing, and my Cindi does not find me worthy. She will not be willing. More than anything, I know this to be true.
My hearts hollow as I watch my precious, beautiful mate scramble away from me, leaving the scent of her fear behind. Her eyes dart around the cavern, landing on the human objects placed around.
“Cindi,” I start, but nothing else comes out. The words are lost on me. What could I say in this situation? Apologize for my birth? For the decision of the Goddess to bind our souls together?
What’s done is done. There is nothing I can do to change our destiny.
One of my tentacles reaches for her.
“Get the fuck away from me,” she hisses, clambering back toward the rock wall with the human objects.
I feel sick. My own mate is frightened of me. Oh, the Council would be laughing if they saw this.
Cindi grabs what I believe the humans call a wrench.
Her eyes jump to the tunnel beside me up to land. I hold my hands up like I’ve seen the people on land do when they’re in trouble and slowly exit the pool to block her path. She’s safer from the storm inside the cavern than outside. Cindi is so small, I worry she may be swept away in the wind. “I will not hurt you, mate.”
“Stay back,” she threatens, holding her makeshift weapon with one hand while the other remains tucked to her side. My human is so precious. She’s adorable to think she is the least bit frightening.
It’s hard to focus when the fabric of her dress is sticking to her, hugging every curve. One of the ties has come undone, hanging her dress lower with the added weight. The tops of her pert breasts peak above the teal, rising and falling with her heavy breaths. My mating arm twitches when my eyes fall on the slit ridden up to the juncture of her thighs.
My eyes widen when she uses her good arm to throw the wrench at me. It hits one of my appendages, then clatters onto the ground.
“Touch me, and I will tear you limb from limb, asshole.” Cindi bares her blunt little teeth at me and grabs the knife off the ground.
I don’t mind having a violent mate if it’s the only form of touch she offers.
“Asshole?” I echo. I’ve heard the word before but never understood why humans enjoy mentioning their anus in conversation. Perhaps it is a form of offense? Or endearment?
“Yes. You are an ass-hole for fucking kidnapping me, you fucking monster!” She swings the knife, pointing it at me.
Monster.
One of my tentacles develops a mind of its own, slithering along the ground to touch her, desperate to prove that I might be, but not to her.
“Don’t you dare!” Cindi cries, hopping away on one leg to avoid me.
Her bad arm swings back to hold her up against the wall. It buckles the moment she applies pressure to it. More of my limbs shoot outward to catch her before she can fall.
She screams, batting me away. “Let go of me! Put me down!”
I scrunch my nose. Cindi’s acrid fear stench reaches new heights when I pull her against my chest where it’s safe and she cannot hurt herself. My chest rumbles with a purr, and I release the venom from my suckers into her skin to relax her. The effects are almost immediate. Her muscles incrementally unwind as she stares up at me in astonishment.
A tentacle dips beneath the top of her partially fallen dress and wraps around her upper body to keep her steady. The sudden shift in Cindi’s scent slows my movement. It’s warmer, spiced, morning mildew mixed with the sweet tang of fresh kelp.
My suckers contract, latching onto her skin, puckering around the small nub on her breast to taste her more clearly. Her nipples stiffen into perfect peaks, and my breeding organ hardens.
She shivers, breathing hard—the good kind. The type that brings hope to our damned situation. Her lust permeates the air, and my nostrils flare, filling the smell into my lungs. Blotches of red blossom along her golden skin as her rounded eyes stare up at me, lips parted wide.
My mate finds me attractive.
“Cindi,” I groan, sucking her nipple harder.
Her desire seeps from her pores. I wind between her legs to smear the aphrodisiac over my limbs, the scent marking me as hers. I feel drunk on her and the dream that she may say yes to me. Maybe tonight, we’ll bond, and my life will change.
Her breathing hiccups as she squirms. “What are you—don’t?
—“
A slight prick makes me pause. I frown, looking down at a tentacle. We both stare in silence at the knife sticking out of my limb.
My mate has… She’s marked me.
A mating mark.
Sparks skate across my skin as my sex arm begins to raise, seeking her out. She’s accepting me—albeit, it’s not in the usual place, but I didn’t think this would really happen. Liquid drips from my mating organ as I fight the need to bury myself in her delicious core.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.