Page 12

Chapter 12

Bjorn

“ L ittle Violet?” I peek my head around the doorframe to find my lost mate curled up in an old wooden chair, her face buried in a book. “Ready to eat?”

Penelope responds in a flurry of action, slamming the book closed and returning it to the nearest shelf. “Shit! I’m sorry. I found the books and I got sidetracked. Did you already bring up the food?”

I quirk my brow at her. “We’re good. It needs to cool.”

She looks at her feet nervously, the metallic green polish flashing as she rubs a spot on the wood with her toe. Penelope said before she was lonely, but it’s hard to imagine her any other way than bold and surrounded by life. I see her hesitance now and it riles up my Beast. He wants to rip apart anything that makes that expression on her face. We’re in agreement .

Instead of demanding control, I share space with him as I did earlier this afternoon. But to my surprise, he nudges me to lead.

“Do you want to see one of my favorites?” I ask, hoping the discovery of something new will clear the cloud that’s settled over her.

“Yes.” She nods at me from behind the curtain of her hair, her wide smile returning.

I tug her hand and bring her through the spiraling library toward my oldest collections in the back. I don’t keep anything from my shifter life with my Clan except this. Penelope watches wide-eyed as I unlock the wooden puzzle box and remove the wooden tentacle.

“It’s a children’s book I found in a market long after The Shifter Wars. The seller thought it was a broken toy and traded it to me for fish. Each section of the appendage turns and is covered in carvings dipped with ink. It’s spelled to tell the story of the first kraken shifters.” I hold up the tentacle and twist the pieces to the right configuration to begin the story. “Are you familiar with Odin?”

She nods. “He’s a Norse god.”

“There are many gods and Odin is only a story now but to me and my people he was real. He created man, but after he left Earth, his son Thor, the great protector, was called to battle against a giant creature that threatened the people.”

Penelope traces the lines of the monster’s tentacles where they reach for Thor at the end of the first panel. She turns the wood, and I continue.

“Most of the humans had run in fear, but a few gathered to help Thor face the creature. They had few abilities, and many fell quickly. Seeing that even when he defeated the creature the humans would be unable to defend themselves, he decided to capture the creature. He combined his essence with that of the Beast and breathed it into the warriors, tasking them with the protection of the seas.”

With a look of wonder, she studies the final piece at the tip that shows the first kraken clan, flipping back and forth between the man and the Beast. “Does that mean you’re a demi-god? Is your Beast separate from you? Like a second soul in your body?”

“I don’t think of myself that way. Only as a shifter.” I shrug and place the wooden tome back when she hands it to me. “The kraken and the man are meant to be whole. My bond with him broke when I lost my family, though I didn’t understand that then.”

“There are lots of things that seem unbreakable until they do.” She looks away from me and steps back, surveying the bookshelves that line the narrow walls. “Have you read them all?”

“When you’re as old as I am, you find time for a lot of reading. If it’s made it in this house, it’s been read more than once.”

She grins, and I notice the small gap between her front teeth. “An endless Tbr, the key perk of immortality.”

I shake my head. “First, what’s a Tbr? Second, I’m not immortal. We just don’t die easily.”

My hand finds the small of her back and I guide us back through the bookcases until we hit the main staircase of the lighthouse tower.

She explains as she climbs, the bounce back in her step. “A Tbr is a To Be Read list. It’s a list readers keep of what they want to read.”

“Clever. I assume you’re a reader? What’s on your list?”

Penelope’s voice come out pitchy. “Mostly romance and fantasy. My mind is always going. I read journals and analyze data all the time for work. The stories help me shut it off and escape into another world for a while.”

My chest rumbles in agreement. Nights are long when you’re alone. “You’ll have to let me read your favorites.”

She turns on me, her eyes full of mischief. “Yeah, I don’t know if we’re ready for that,” she says, a sweet laugh bubbling out.

“Why not? I’ve had you in my tentacles. Surely we’re past being embarrassed by books.”

Pink patches bloom down her throat, but she smirks at me, eyes narrowing in defiance. “I read naughty stories about monsters.”

My smart scientist has a dirty mind and I’m going to enjoy learning what makes her wet. She wants to be bedded by a beast? Good, because she’s been claimed by one.

I push her back against the stone wall, crowding into her space and binding her wrists above her head with one of my hands. She lets out a huff of surprise as I slot my knee between her legs and wrap my other hand around her waist. I want her to feel me everywhere, to start getting used to the idea she’s mine. I’ve been holding back since I met her, torn up about how I could honor my lost family and be hers. The guilt isn’t gone, but my desire to push her away has vanished.

I lean in and let my beard rub against her cheek as I murmur in her ear, “Does it make you wet to think about being filled with tentacles or trapped on a monster’s knot?” I suck down the column of her throat until I get to my marks, kissing each one reverently. “Does it cause you to touch your pussy and come on your fingers?”

Penelope grinds her center against my leg and her arousal blooms in the air between us, earthy florals dipped in honey. I sneak my hand lower on her waist and swat her ass.

“Penelope?” I ask in warning.

“Yes,” she moans. “They make me curious.”

“I like that you’re so curious. Even when I was frustrated with you digging into my secrets. I want to learn yours.” I dip my hand between her legs, rubbing her pussy through the cotton of her sweatpants.

She looks at me with those irresistible eyes, her voice soft. “I think I might let you.”

“Good. I want to start with your body.” I grab a handful of her ass and pull her closer, taking her lips in a demanding kiss that’s more tongue than finesse. I grind against her, letting her feel how hard she’s made me. “Make me a Tbr of books that made you wet.”

My hand slips under her shirt, down the soft roundness of her stomach, and beneath the waist of her sweats. She’s wet already and so responsive, her breath panting against me at the first touch. My fingers stroke over her pussy, back and forth until she moans for me.

I slide my other hand into her hair, fisting it until she’s held in place against the wall. Nibbling along her neck causes her to squirm against my hold. “Not yet.”

I fuck her on my middle finger, knuckle deep as she grinds her hips down onto me. It’s sexy as fuck watching her swivel her hips and her eyes glaze over with lust. My finger slows and I add another, circling her entrance then scissoring them to train her to take me.

“We’re gonna need to stretch you, Wildcat.” She’s so fucking tight. Last night when I claimed her, I was mindless, lost to my Beast’s need to rut and claim. I won’t be so reckless again.

“I like a little pain with my pleasure,” she gasps.

I fuck her faster, filling her with another finger until she is three deep and rocking on my hand. She moans and her nipples poke against the fabric of the T-shirt. They’re too tempting. My teeth claim one then the other, before I take turns sucking them into my mouth. When my thumb strums against her clit, she goes off for me, her pussy clenching my fingers as she comes all over my hand. I ease her down, kissing her lips and massaging her scalp.

She watches me with heat-filled eyes as I slide my fingers from her pussy, bring them to my mouth, and lick my fingers clean. “I’m going to eat your pussy later just to see how wet you can get.”

I adjust my aching cock, tempted to take her right here. But the light has begun to turn with the incoming sunset, and I promised her we would watch it while we ate dinner in the tower.

Penelope pinches the skin on her forearm.

“What the hell was that?” I grumble.

“Checking to see if this is really happening?” She smiles at me again, and it’s so full of giddiness that my heart tumbles, skipping a beat.

“Shifters are real. You’re my mate. Claimed and bedded.” I swing her over my shoulder, and she giggles.

“I probably shouldn’t admit how hot that is,” she says breathlessly.

“Too late.” I swat her ass playfully and jog up the stairs.

I set her down on the spread blanket in the lantern room. She moves the tray I brought up earlier between us and gives me another of those guilty expressions.

“It will still be good,” I promise her. I rip off a chunk of the flatbread and dip it in the stew. The first bite is rich and salty. It’s lukewarm but good, reminding me we haven’t eaten in too long.

Penelope follows my lead, taking her own chunk of bread and dipping it in the bowl. She moans at the first bite. “I can’t believe I helped make this.”

“You picked it up quickly.”

Despite what she said about her knowledge of the kitchen, she caught on. She helped me finish rolling the dough and frying them in the pan.

“Thank you for answering my questions.”

I grunt in acknowledgment and take another bite. We fall into a comfortable silence as we eat and watch the sun set through the lighthouse windows.

“It’s beautiful up here,” Penelope says, edging closer to the wall of glass. “Tell me about it.”

I indulge her curiosity, telling her about when I first settled here and worked the land, building the house and the tower. It’s been a long time since I’ve dared get close to another and it’s easier than I expected, as if a dam has burst on my silence and a century’s worth of words tumbles out.

Each time I answer one of her questions, it sparks a new one. What was it like, she asks time and time again. She doesn’t share many of her own stories, only interesting facts about a place I mention or the time period. I wonder if she’s protecting her secrets or if she simply forgets to share in her thirst for new knowledge.

The sun fades and the stars travel the sky as we talk. It isn’t until the light of sunrise returns that our words dry out, replaced by yawns.

I pick up my new mate and carry her to my room, then into the bathroom. Turning on the water in the shower, I wait for it to warm as I undress Penelope. She’s a sleep-drunk little thing in my arms, snuggly and soft.

In the shower, I wash her slowly, massaging her skin and scalp. When I run my fingers through her legs, she lets out a small whine and I realize she’s still a little swollen from my rough treatment yesterday. I wash myself quickly and towel us off before carrying her to the edge of the bed.

“You’re sore?” I ask, though I already know the answer.

“Not bad,” she mumbles and turns to crawl into bed.

I stop her with a hand on her thigh. “Let me care for you, Wildcat.”

Pulling her knees open, I expose her to me. My Beast nudges and I give him room. Penelope pushes back onto her elbows and drops her knees wider, looking down at me with soft eyes. She’s the picture of abundance and sensuality with every one of her round curves. Her dark hair pools around her shoulders and the violet of her eyes is so light, they almost glow. I’m awed by her.

My tentacles replace my beard, and her delicate hand comes out to stroke them. “What are you doing?”

“My kraken is made to take care of you.” I press kisses to her thigh as a tentacle massages her pussy.

She moans and throws back her head. “What is that?”

My tentacle slides into her entrance, rubbing its cream into her walls. She squeezes against me, and I nip her thigh.

“It’s to help you recover.” I press more kisses into her thick thighs and over her plump mound until I suck her clit with my tongue.

She grinds her pussy against my mouth. I push more of the warm gel into her tight channel, massaging and suckling her clit until she’s shaking. Her orgasm rushes through her, clamping down on my tentacle, and my dick jumps against my thigh, desperate to fill her. But she needs time to recover before taking my cock again. Instead, I kiss her thigh and pick up my sleepy, well-satisfied mate. I tuck her in my arms and situate the blankets.

“I’m glad the gods sent me to you,” she whispers.

“Me too, my mate.”

Her hand reaches up behind her to find my bearded tentacles and she curls her fingers into them. I kiss her head and my Beast rumbles his satisfaction, creating a deep vibrating sound in my chest that makes her muscles go lax.

Her breathing evens out, her chest rising and falling in a slow pattern that works to soothe my soul. I can feel her light in my chest and her weight in my arms. For the first time in as long as I can remember, when I shut my eyes, there is not only darkness but peace.