Filed To Story: The Saltwater Curse Book PDF Free
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I cannot let you leave.” Ever.
Her eyes search mine, scent turning bitter with fear, chasing away any evidence of her lust. My lips tic, and I suppress the urge to growl. We were making headway. She was beginning to understand. Why is she upset again?
Cindi lowers her voice. “Are you…” Her voice holds vulnerability I don’t like. “Giving me to them?”
I snarl. I wouldn’t give her to anyone.
She flinches and turns her head to stare at the ground in a sign of submission. It makes me angrier.
She is my mate. I am hers.
I may be the king, but I bow to her, and she bows to no one. Between us, the only one who will submit is me.
“I would never give you to anyone, Cindi. Any man who touches you will die. I have killed for you before, and I will kill for you again.”
“I don’t want you to do that.” She shakes her head, voice barely above a whisper. I would take her violence and her fury over her fear and sorrow.
I grasp Cindi’s face between my hands, and something shutters behind her eyes. I’ve seen it happen twice before when I touched her with my fingers. She shoves me away like I burned her.
“It is my duty, a privilege, to spill blood for you, mate.”
Does she think I am incapable of it? That I’m unworthy of protecting her? Well, she is now my sole purpose, whether she wants it or not.
“Why won’t you stay?”
“I—I don’t belong here. I don’t care about what you think you’re entitled to.” She hiccups like she’s fighting back tears. “I don’t know you. You don’t know me. We don’t owe each other anything.”
I hold her face again so she might truly see me. “You are my mate. There is nowhere you can go where I won’t follow. This is our den, so this is where you will stay. You will be happy and want for nothing. I will take care of you. I am all that you need. You are mine, and I am yours. Fate deemed it so.”
And one day, if I am lucky, Cindi will grow to love me too.
Something in my chest splinters when she flinches, averting her gaze. “I want to go back. Please.”
Why must she fight our bond?
“I forbid it.”
The lines of her face harden. “You can’t forbid me from doing anything. I—I’m not something that can be owned. I won’t let that shit happen to me.”
Finally, the blade breaks the skin of my neck. “Take. Me. Back.”
Another prick pinches my tentacle, and I glance down to see the knife protruding from another appendage.
Oh.
It wasn’t a mating mark. My mate was trying to hurt me.
“I don’t want you,” she spits, glaring at me with the same seething hatred as every other kraken I’ve met.
Those four words hurt far more than a blade.
I lower her to the ground and move back. I can’t look at her. I thought I might be able to withstand such scrutiny from my own mate, but it’s too much. I’m underwater and can’t breathe.
Turning away, I slip into the pool without looking back at her.
I was wrong to think my own mate might want me. No one ever has, and it was a fool’s hope to think Cindi would. She doesn’t think I’ll ever be enough for her. I shouldn’t be surprised, because my family thought so too. They loved me, but they never thought I could hold any kind of leadership position. I’ve always questioned if it was a result of my appearance or because of what my appearance did to me.
It’s clear it never mattered. The Goddess’s curse upon me is mine to bear. Not even my fated mate can break it.
11
Cindi
Did he just… “Where the fuck did you go?” I yell at the pool, mouth dry.
Nothing.
Nada.
Silence.
Fucking prick.
I grab the knife off the ground and chuck it at the wall. It clatters off the rock with a high-pitched ring. I want to hit something. Scream. Throw things. Cry until my voice is completely hoarse. Rage. Burn this world to the fucking ground.
So, I do it.
I scream like shards of glass are tearing through my veins. I turn the cave upside down, smashing rocks, splintering wood, ripping moss away from stone. It’s not nearly satisfying enough.
I’m dimly aware of the pain in my hand and the tears rushing down my cheeks as I run around the cavern to search for an exit. I barely wince when my foot slices open on the harsh rock floor, hardly swallow when my mouth feels like sandpaper.
Oxygen rushes from my lungs, and I stumble, head swimming. A fresh wave of tears pours down my cheeks.
I’m so sick of being sick.
I have to get out of here. Staying isn’t an option. I was free.
I escaped Tommy. I was this close to getting the hell out of here.
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.