Page 27 of Kiss for My Kraken (Fairhaven Falls #8)
The dock splintered beneath his weight as he hauled himself upwards, using four of his thickest tentacles to support his torso.
Water streamed from his body, his bioluminescent markings pulsing with brilliant blue light, triggered by the flood of adrenaline coursing through his system.
Each pulse illuminated the night around him in strobing flashes.
He advanced towards the shack, each movement a display of overwhelming power as his tentacles gripped the earth, propelling him inexorably forward. The ground shook beneath his weight, leaves trembling on their branches overhead.
He could see them inside the shack—Jed, with his hand on Nina, his face twisted with hatred. Another man struggling to restrain Ozzie. A third standing between her and the door. All three now frozen in shock at the sight of him.
He roared, the sound erupting from deep within his chest—a primal, guttural bellow that reverberated through the night. Inside the cabin, windows shattered, showering the floor with broken glass. Nina, still struggling against Jed’s grip, cried out again, but not in fear. In triumph.
“LET HER GO.”
The words tore from his throat, amplified by the resonant chamber of his body. His voice was not human, but a deep, echoing rumble filled with power and anger. He had never spoken in his warrior form before, and the sound startled even him.
The men inside the shack stared at him in frozen terror, their faces pale and slack. Ozzie immediately ceased his struggles, his tail wagging frantically.
Sam’s eyes fixed on Jed, his vision shifting to a deeper spectrum where he could see the heat of the man’s blood pulsing just beneath his skin, a beacon in the darkness.
The man was marked, identified. Predatory instinct demanded his death, and it took every ounce of his remaining self-control not to rip the man apart right then.
“Release her,” he repeated, his voice a thunderclap that shook the walls. “Now.”
Jed’s mouth opened and closed, his expression shifting from terror to disbelief to desperate defiance. He pulled Nina in front of him as a shield, his arm a steel band around her waist.
“Demon,” he finally whispered, the word barely audible even to Sam’s sensitive hearing.
He let the accusation hang in the air, neither confirming nor denying. Let this man believe what he needed to. Let him face the physical manifestation of his own fears.
“Leave,” he commanded, his voice a rumbling bass that seemed to vibrate the very air. “Now.”
Jed’s shock gave way to a twisted kind of ecstasy, the fervor of a zealot whose darkest beliefs had just been confirmed. “I knew it,” he hissed, turning back to Nina. “I knew this place was infested with evil. With Satan’s spawn.”
He grabbed her arm, attempting to pull her towards the door. “Come, Nina. You see now what I’ve been trying to protect you from.”
She yanked her arm free, her face flushed with anger. “Don’t touch me, Jed. Ever again.”
“You’re confused,” Jed insisted, reaching for her again. “Corrupted by these… these abominations.”
He moved then, one powerful tentacle striking the porch boards directly between Jed and Nina. The wood splintered with a crack like gunfire.
“She said,” he growled, his voice dropping to a register that seemed to shake the very earth, “don’t touch her.”
Jed stumbled back, colliding with his companion who hovered uncertainly in the doorway. His face contorted with a mixture of fear and righteous hatred.
“You see?” he shouted to Nina, pointing a trembling finger at Sam. “This is what you’ve chosen? A monster? A creature of the depths? This is where your sin has led you!”
She moved towards Sam, then turned to face Jed, her chin lifted in defiantly.
“No, Jed,” she said steadily. “This is where my freedom led me. My choice. My life.”
She reached back without looking, her hand finding one of his tentacles. She gripped it firmly, and he curled the tip around her hand.
“You have no place here,” she continued. “No claim on me.”
Jed’s face darkened with fury. “You would choose this… this abomination over your own people?”
“Yes,” she said simply. “I would.”
Jed seemed to shrink slightly, as if her certainty had physically diminished him, but the hatred in his eyes only intensified.
“You’re lost,” he spat. “Beyond redemption.”
“No,” she said softly. “I’m found. For the first time in my life.”
A tense silence followed, broken only by the soft lapping of the river against the shore. Then Jed straightened, his face hardening into a mask of cold determination.
“This isn’t over,” he warned. “There are others who need to know what lurks in these waters. What an unholy alliance you’ve formed.”
The threat hung in the air between them and he tensed, every instinct screaming to eliminate this danger to his mate, to their future. One swift movement, one powerful constriction of his tentacles, and Jed would never threaten Nina again.
But her hand tightened on his tentacle, as if sensing his thoughts, and he knew she was right. Violence would only confirm Jed’s twisted worldview, would only fuel the hatred he would spread.
Instead, he drew himself up to his full, impressive height, his skin flashing with waves of brilliant blue light as he towered over the men. In the darkness, the display was both beautiful and terrifying—a reminder of the ancient power he embodied.
“Threaten her again,” he rumbled, letting his voice carry the full weight of his rage, “and the depths will welcome you.”
The naked fear that flashed across Jed’s face was deeply satisfying. The man backed away across the porch, his companions already stumbling down the steps.
“This town is doomed,” Jed declared, his voice shaking despite his defiant words. “When others learn what harbors here?—”
“Others already know,” came a new voice from the shadows.
Eric stepped into view, his sheriff’s badge catching the moonlight. Behind him stood Ben, shotgun still at the ready. Aidan was there as well, as was Jekyll, along with a mixture of humans and several huge and distinctly Other figures.
“Fairhaven Falls protects its own,” Eric continued, his voice ringing with authority. “All of its own. I suggest you and your friends leave town before sunrise. And I suggest you forget what you think you saw here tonight.”
Jed looked frantically between Eric, the assembled townspeople, and Sam’s imposing form. Whatever righteous mission he’d imagined was crumbling before his eyes, outnumbered and outmatched.
“This isn’t over,” he repeated, but the words sounded hollow even to Sam’s ears.
“Yes,” Nina said firmly. “It is.”
With a last venomous glare, Jed pushed past Eric and stalked down the path, calling for his companions. They scurried after him, casting terrified glances back at Sam until they disappeared into the trees.