Filed To Story: The Saltwater Curse Book PDF Free
“Uh…” I glance over her shoulder into my cabin—or, at least, it used to be my cabin. I’m kind of offended my landlord cleaned out my shit and moved on so quickly.
She shifts, blocking my view, casting a skeptical look over me. I can’t imagine I look all too approachable, with my sopping hair and the patches of saturation over my green dress—the same green dress I wore when Ordus stole me.
She says something in Bahasa that sounds a lot like who the fuck are you, why are you here, and what do you want
?
All great questions I’d be able to answer if language weren’t an issue.
I can’t see Ordus, but I can sense him itching to come out from his hiding spot amongst the trees. He could probably translate for me, but a strange, six-foot dude with long black hair doesn’t exactly inspire comfort in a woman nearing eighty.
I really just want to know if she might have any of my old stuff—not that I’d need it or anything. I have everything that matters, but it’d be nice to know if she had car keys lying around anywhere, or a motorbike in one of her rooms so, if push comes to shove, I’m not relying on a taxi when I don’t have a phone to call them or money to pay them. I oh so conveniently forgot my purse in the cavern.
“Never mind. Sorry. Thank you,” I mutter, backing away toward the beach. I’m not going to get anywhere with this. The woman slams the door behind her. After a moment, I hear Ordus following along on two feet.
I’m not entirely sure what my plan is. This morning, when Ordus told me we’d be going to the mainland for dinner, I’d figured I’d come up with something concrete by the time we arrived at my old place.
Maybe I would have fully decided how to deal with the Curse and the his-people-want-us-dead situation. Maybe I’d agree to marry him, then find a place on the mainland so he still has access to the beaches he’s familiar with. Then the paranoia will start back up, and I’ll spend every waking moment feeling like a sitting duck, waiting for the Gallaghers to find me.
Then they’ll get to Ordus, which scares me a shitload more.
So, all in all, I’ve got nothing.
I want to save krakens. I want freedom. I want to stay alive. And I want…
I want Ordus.
But maybe I could try to get in touch with Nat or Deedee to arrange for passports for the both of us, just in case we need to fly out of here. But I’m hoping it never comes to that.
Fuck, can krakens handle that type of altitude? His biology clearly isn’t the same.
And what about Vasz? I can’t just leave him.
It’s just problem after problem.
I huff and whirl to face Ordus once my feet hit the sand. He stands closer than I’d usually be comfortable with. I don’t hate it. In fact, I like it a lot. Not that it’s surprising at this point.
The golden light of the setting sun catches the faint, silvery-blue threads in his human skin. He’s still just as attractive without his spots. His hair came out of the braid at some point during the—
at least
—six-hour swim to the mainland. He hasn’t said as much, but I can tell he’s disappointed by it.
He reaches for my hand, and I let him. I catch a hint of the barest purr that makes my stomach swoop. After I held his hand yesterday, it has been open season on the hand-holding front.
Ordus studies my face, concerned. “I will make her help us.”
“No,” I quickly say, leveling him with a stern look that would have had Tommy beating me black and blue. For the briefest moment, my bravado falters, and that inkling of fear trickles into my bloodstream, but it’s gone just as quickly. “We do not force old ladies to do anything.”
His forehead wrinkles in confusion. “She has your belongings. She upset you. This must be resolved.”
Oh my God. He’s serious. “That sweet old?—“
His nose scrunches in distaste. “She didn’t smell sweet.”
What?
Never mind. It’s not important.
“You smell sweet, though,” he says so quietly, almost…bashful.
My cheeks heat—part in embarrassment, part from that fuzzy feeling in my stomach. When was the last time I felt butterflies
? When I was sixteen?
I’m half tempted to give myself a sniff. I’m not sure how I could possibly smell nice when I sleep in a musty cave and spend my days in the water.
“Would you—” He shifts his weight. I’m not used to seeing him in human form. Ordus on two legs is weird enough for me, but everything else of him is notably smaller. My eyes catch on the bulge beneath his shorts, and my blood heats. I conveniently didn’t register he’d be packing human heat in this form.
He clears his throat, and my eyes snap to his, skin blazing. If he knows what I’m thinking, he doesn’t let on.
“Would you like to go to the city?”
I blink. He wants to be around humans? “Which one?”
“The busy one.” Ordus waves his hand in the general direction of where the main towns and cities are located. “You can eat at a human place.”
My jaw drops. When he said he’d take me to the mainland, I didn’t think he’d let me go anywhere but my old place and somewhere small where he could easily catch me if I tried to run.
My stomach grumbles at the idea of eating something other than seafood and eggs. “Will you eat as well?”
He blanches. “If you wish.”
There’s no fighting the tug at my lips as they stretch into a small smile. This man really will do anything for me. “Then lead the way.”
Traveling by kraken will never get easier. I’m grumbling curses under my breath, wringing my hair out and squeegeeing the water off my body. I’m just about ready to scream when I shove myself into my stiff dress, flinching at every shadow and sound.
The material sticks to my wet body and scratches the tattoo on my back. It’s been fine for the past month, but the six plus hours of underwater travel has pissed it off again.
I huff and quickly stomp out of the shadows toward a waiting Ordus, who looks out of place against the backdrop of racing motorbikes and the flurry of tourists and locals, laughing and checking out the menus of restaurants along the beach.
I take a deep breath and instantly regret it. After over a month of fresh sea air, the smell of cigarette smoke, exhaust fumes, and trash gives me a migraine.
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.