Page 13 of Entranced By the Nakken (Freedom, Love, Monsters #4)

Casey

Casey did as Tsunis commanded. He was so helpless to their power, it might as well be magic.

Fuck, they could tell him to do any number of unsavory things and Casey would not question.

He wanted to explore this side of them, to peel away their layers of uncertainty and see if a piece of it lay beneath.

Within heartbeats, Casey stripped to his underwear and climbed onto the dragon’s neck. He couldn’t explain how he knew where to find Tsunis, and he wouldn’t be caught dead saying platitudes like I followed my heart unless it was ironic, which it wasn’t. It was the cold, hard truth.

“Now what?”

“Hold on.” The voice was Tsunis’ but deeper, and…in his head?

Casey blew out a breath and clutched hairlike strands of silver fins, cinching the beast’s broad neck with his thighs, like riding a horse. A massive, mythical horse, who planned to plunge him underwater.

“Very good, little mate.”

“Little?” Casey started to scoff, but water consumed his world. They dove without warning, their massive head jutting out from between Casey’s widespread thighs. Okay, at the moment, he was the little one, completely out of his element and submerged in water instead of oxygen.

“Breathe.”

Breathe? He tried to shout but choked. He tried again and swallowed more air—air?

“Goddess bless! Would I drown my own mate? Trust me, human.”

“I trust you.” Casey looked around. It was like looking through a foggy mirror at first, but as it cleared, he could see the river life, abundant with algae and crappie and striped bass.

He took another breath in, a surreal sensation, and waved a hand in front of his face, realizing he wore a bubble as an astronaut’s helmet. “Whoa.”

“Hold. On.” Even telepathically, Tsunis didn’t like to repeat themself.

Casey held tight, grinning so hard it would hurt in the morning. Tsunis rumbled their approval, a shimmer skating down their velvet scales.

They took off down the river at a speed no boat Casey’d been on would dare. It took a while for his body to get used to water rushing at his face without wanting to choke. Not a drop touched his cheeks, though the rest of him could feel the water rushing past. Fucking weird.

When his breathing regulated, Casey laughed. He gripped the dragon’s fin-covered mane and whooped with delight, flexing his legs around the beast between them.

Eventually, the riverbed dropped, slowly at first and then more steeply. They weren’t in Lindahl anymore. Tsunis rocketed up, up, up, breaking the surface. Casey shrieked. It was like a rollercoaster, with a view of vast open waters below. Had they traveled all the way to the fucking Atlantic?

They crashed into the water, and Tsunis took a long, wide right turn.

“You’re incredible,” Casey blurted. He watched the riverbed climb into view until the vegetation tickled his toes.

“I’m yours.”

“And I’m fuckin’ yours, baby!” Casey returned the sentiment through peals of laughter as Tsunis broke the surface again, this time twisting in a death spiral on the straight shot down.

Back in familiar territory, Casey expected Tsunis to land them at their usual spot, but they joined the stream’s relaxed flow and continued past the spot Casey had spent endless hours writing.

Tsunis did not stop there. The moment the riverbed dropped, they sped for a gap in the stones that appeared no wider than Casey’s shoulder span.

Casey trusted Tsunis, but a scream bubbled up his chest.

At the very last moment, Tsunis fucking liquified. The mass between Casey’s knees turned into water, but no less sturdy. They shot through the crevice, the stone scraping Casey’s shoulder, but they emerged on the other side unharmed.

The narrow passageway opened into a spacious cavern so beautiful it stole Casey’s breath.

“Holy fuck.” Casey loosened his grip on the slippery strands of mane long enough to rub his eyes, replacing them when Tsunis hissed inside his mind. “Where are we? Is this your home world?”

A mournful sound was their response, indicating this hidden oasis was not the watery world Tsunis called home. So, this had been in Casey’s backyard the whole time.

Except it couldn’t have occurred naturally.

Wide, oblong slopes of porous rock extended outward from a centralized spot.

Along the sloped edges grew glittering coral reefs that provided light where there should be none.

Stalagmite crystals hung from the ceiling, but this was no ordinary calcite formation.

The crystals were an opalescent blue, with an inner glow all their own.

If that wasn’t enough to convince Casey that this place was unnatural, the colorful, exotic fish sealed the deal.

It was breathtaking, but one anomaly kept demanding his attention. Amidst all the beauty, there was a glitch, and everything seemed to center around it. Casey squinted at the writhing mass of wrongness.

Tsunis’ liquid dragon form dissipated, transforming into the humanoid version of themself that Casey was most acquainted with.

They flipped gracefully in his arms and for a split second, they allowed Casey’s hands to dig into the velvety flesh of their hips, their piercing silver stare shut off from emotion.

Then they were gone, swimming toward the very thing that was causing Casey such unrest. His brow furrowed as he followed, not half as good a swimmer, but he caught up quickly enough.

At the bottom of the cave, Casey let his feet touch the ground, surprised to find he could walk like it was a stroll in the park. Tsunis led him under roots of trees, never slipping on the moss-covered riverbed like Casey did.

Up close, it looked like dirty petroleum jelly, about two feet in diameter, eye level. The slimy substance was stained black, perpetually mixing in on itself.

He started to reach for it but closed his fist. One look at Tsunis and he knew his hands would be better use wrapped around something else. Their right arm was wrapped around their chest, their left fingernails getting a pedicure by double-lined teeth.

“This is it? The portal?” Casey rounded the thing. He took their hand from their worried teeth and kissed the knuckles.

Tsunis nodded and allowed him to unravel their tense posture. Casey encircled their waist from behind, hands clasped in front of Tsunis’ navel. He kissed the top of their head, and Tsunis tilted, falling into the crook of his shoulder.

Holding Tsunis like this made it all worth it.

Everything from the teasing Casey endured as a kid when he told people he’d seen the river spirit, to the long nights studying for classes he didn’t care about, to his shame over moving back home.

It had all led him here, with Tsunis’ soft scales under his palms, their silver hair gleaming in the unnatural lighting that filled the sea cave.

“I’m so sorry,” Casey murmured, breathing in their fresh scent. He swayed side to side with their hips tucked into his. “We’ll find a way.”

“And then?”

“What do you mean?” Casey stopped swaying as Tsunis twisted around in his arms.

“We fix the portal, and I go home. Then what?”

Casey’s brow knitted. He tightened his hold on their waist, flattening a palm on the small of their back to keep them close.

“Then what, mate?” Tsunis’ growl was all venom, but the vehemence in their pale pupils was laced with vulnerability.

Understanding washed over him. All this time, he’d thought—hoped—his strong feelings for Tsunis were shared. Their hesitance around the whole thing came off as more of a shy thing than disinterest. To have it confirmed was a relief.

“Then, anything.” He lifted one shoulder then let it drop.

“Anything you want. I’m yours. You can take me with you.

You can leave me here. You can stay here with me.

We can go back and forth. Remember?” Casey caught Tsunis’ chin before they could hide.

“I’m fucking yours. And I wouldn’t change that for anything.

Although, if you leave me here, I’m just going to find you like I did today. ”

Tsunis scoffed, but all their hard edges had smoothed. “I suppose you would.”

Their fists unfurled and disappeared into Casey’s hair, which they used as leverage to pull him down for a kiss.

They’d kissed many times since that first one, though Casey had taken special care not to get carried away.

This kiss was not like any of those. It was soft but needy, as though all Tsunis’ vulnerability leaked into the kiss, which they poured into Casey like a gift. Their trust. Their belief. Their hope.

It was a lot, but Casey didn’t feel burdened. He welcomed it, swallowing each bit of their song like it was precious because they were precious to him.

Tsunis was the first to break. When a moan parted their lips, Casey’s baser instincts kicked in, driving his tongue into their perfect mouth.

His hands slid from their lower back to grip their thighs, and he ate their next moan as he hoisted them up.

Tsunis wrapped their legs around his waist. Fucking made for him.

Casey fumbled forward until he had Tsunis pinned between a branching root system that was sturdy enough. He broke the kiss to trail his lips down the column of their throat, his cock aching in his underwear when Tsunis’ delicious moans graced his eardrums.

“Casimir,” their voice wavered around his name like a plea. His body’s response was to drive his cock through their parted legs. Tsunis’ arms dropped back, gripping the roots on either side of Casey’s shoulders. “Casimir, there’s something I should warn you.”

Casey barely held a single strand of control. With his face buried in the crook of their neck, he hummed. “Anything.”

“I’m not—unnff—oh, Glacia.”

Tsunis’ head fell back, their body twitching in Casey’s hold. In his lusty haze, Casey had kissed up their jaw, his nose grazing the underside of their earfin.

“Fuck, I’m sorry.” Casey jerked back, but Tsunis’ legs locked around him.

“Again.”