Page 18 of Not So Stranded (Delaney’s Sea Monsters #3)

TWO YEARS LATER

From behind Kit, a little voice hollered, “I took a whole six baby turtles into the water, Daddy!”

Kit looked to the moonlit surf, squinting suspiciously at his offspring. “Bramble, you didn’t carry them, did you?”

“No, of course not,” they said solemnly. “That would be irreponsible.”

“Irresponsible.”

“That’s what I said.”

“Okay, hon,” he said with a chuckle. “Thank you for counting.”

“You’re welcome!”

Of course, if Kit went with his children’s accounting of the eggs, this single green sea turtle nest was responsible for producing anywhere from sixty-two to four hundred and eighty-seven eggs.

Thankfully, he could also count. And way more accurately, too.

There had been one hundred and twenty-two turtles who’d made their way to the water, but Kit wanted to make sure there weren’t any trapped at the bottom of the nest, like last year.

“Oh, there are more,” Hiaka said, their hands scooping sand from the bottom of the nest. Four turtles blinked up at them. “Poor little things.”

“They’re okay.” Kit held the sand back. “Pick them up and put them on the sand beside you.”

“Buried alive,” they said as they lifted out two wiggly turtles, “and they still have to struggle.”

Kit rolled his eyes. “Trust me, it’s good for them. They have to do this.”

“I’m still surprised you interfere,” they said, setting two more turtles down beside the others. “I’m glad you do, but still surprised.”

Four more little turtles started for the ocean. One hundred and twenty-six.

Kit shrugged. “Every one of them is necessary.”

“And nobody gets left behind.”

They both looked down to see Juniper adding ticks to the paper on Kit’s clipboard, very seriously counting the new turtles. Hiaka leaned down and kissed their sandy little head. As the smallest of the children, Juniper was often last.

And in looking at Juniper, Kit realized Marius was right there, too. “Marius, do your parents know where you are right now?”

They shrugged and edged closer to Juniper, who said, “Mo knows.”

Kit couldn’t find anymore eggs at the bottom of the nest and dusted off his hands. “That’s all of them. Why don’t you two go rinse off? Take Hi-hi with you.”

Juniper and Marius held hands as they tentacle-walked down to the water’s edge, Hiaka following them.

When Hiaka looked over their shoulder with a huge smile and their hands in a heart shape, Kit laughed silently and nodded.

It was pretty clear after two years that Marius and Juniper were an item.

Some of the other two-year-olds might have found their mates amongst their peers, but none of them were as attached as those two.

“Daddy!” Aloe hollered from the water. “Hurry up! Zenzi had us follow the babies and we know where all of them went!”

Kit quickly filled in the nest before scrubbing the sand from his arms and picking up his clipboard. Not much was known about newborn and even juvenile green sea turtles. He wasn’t sure this discussion with his children was going to improve that, though he’d happily indulge them.

“Okay,” he said as he sat down in the surf, “what did you see?”

Yarrow jumped up out of the water and pointed, “They went that way!”

Groaning, Aloe shook their head. “Not all of them.”

“Most of them did,” Yarrow said with a glare at their sibling.

“Okay,” Kit said to cut off an argument, “going out into the open ocean is normal behavior, so that’s good that they went that way.”

Clove pointed with both arms and half their tentacles toward the dock. “A bunch went that way.”

After a dramatic gasp Fennel said, “What if they’re going to go eat Larkin’s kelp?”

“Well, they probably won’t eat it,” Kit reassured, “but they may hide in it to keep themselves safe. And what do we do when we find baby turtles hiding?”

“Leave them alone,” most of them said like little robots.

He had his doubts that they actually obeyed that rule.

Oak came up and tangled their tentacles around Kit’s foot. “But what if— What if they get stuck? We can help them then, right?”

Kit knew what they were remembering from last year. “Yes, if they come into the lagoon and can’t get back out, we can help them. But you have to tell a grown-up. And Keoni is older, but they are not a grown-up.”

“We really, really know that,” Sorrel said with an eye roll. “Keoni is not grown.”

Even at five, that kid was still a menace.

Thistle came over and, like their touchy-feely sibling, wound their tentacles all around Kit’s ankle. “But, Daddy, what if the baby turtles get lost and never come back here?”

“Some of them won’t come back if they’re boys because only the girl turtles come to the beach to lay eggs. Remember how we talked about gender?”

Thistle nodded and grinned. “Not everyone is amazing like us.”

“That’s right,” Kit said with a chuckle. “Cecaelia are amazing.”

Yarrow did another big jump, like they were practicing to become a dolphin. “And hybrids are super amazing!”

Hiaka was coming up from the surf just in time to hear that and raised their arms as if in triumph while giving Zenori a rather snotty once-over look. Kit laughed as Zenori just rolled their eyes, totally unfazed by their mate’s antics. Instead they tapped their wrist where a watch would go.

“Alright, my little squishies,” Kit said, “it’s time for bed.”

They made the usual grumbles and whines, half of them yawning even as they insisted they weren’t tired. But they’d been allowed to stay up late to witness this turtle nest hatching, and if they didn’t go to sleep soon, they’d be little demons tomorrow.

Oak and Thistle let go of Kit’s foot and ankle, and he couldn’t help twitching a couple times as they walked over sensitive patches of skin on their way back into the water.

“Kit?” Zenori asked. “Do you want to come with us?”

They meant to take him around the island and through the gate, but he had things to do before he returned. “No, it’s okay. I’ll finish up here and meet you in a few.”

Hiaka and Zenori gathered up their children, and then disappeared beneath the waves.

Kit picked up his clipboard and headed for the dock.

Once there, he put his sandals on and retrieved his flashlight before going into the boat.

It wasn’t the one he’d been renting when he first started on this adventure, but a converted trawler that Eric had bought for him.

While it had been a difficult gift to accept at first, Kit had come to understand that Eric viewed the boat as something their community needed—even if it was just him using it to visit various islands to continue his work.

After stowing his notes, Kit headed across the dock and up the path. He waved a stick in front of him the entire way up and over the hill until he cleared the forested area. Never again would he forget that there were spiders on this island.

The fairy lights were still on around the lagoon, giving the place a golden glow, as parents got their kids tucked in beneath the surface of the warm, dark waters.

There were fewer people here at the moment since the six-year-olds and their parents had gone with Eric and Ty on the yacht to Pacilona Nepthis for their first visit.

It seemed to be a right of passage that often resulted in mated pairs coming back to the lagoon.

Kit was looking forward to possibly meeting new cecaelia and maybe even some humans.

He waded into the water and immediately had nine sets of little hands grabbing his legs.

Laughing, he scooped up each kid, gave them a kiss and a hug, told them goodnight, and set them back down again.

All of their kids and those from other families had taken to sleeping in a pile in the center of the lagoon where it was deepest. He wasn’t trying too hard to understand why because the more water between little ears and what he wanted to do with his mates, the better.

While Primus, Mo, and Hiaka saw to the children, Kit found his chair with Zenori sitting in it. They held a long tentacle up to him, elixir pooling in the center, and Kit grinned as he lifted it to his lips. “You read my mind,” he said before he took a drink.

As the warmth of the elixir curled in his belly, Kit straddled Zenori’s lap and hummed into their kisses.

Zenori’s hands wandered down Kit’s back and under the waist of his swim shorts to grip his ass.

Moaning, sharing his tongue, Kit thrust his stiffening cock against Zenori’s abs.

Tentacles slithered up the legs of his shorts and wrapped around his thighs, massaging and teasing every little bit they could reach.

“Mmm, are we ravishing Kit tonight?” Hiaka asked as they eased up against Kit’s back. “These shorts are a problem.”

Kit laughed as tentacles were both suddenly holding him aloft and working his shorts down his legs, while he held onto Zenori’s shoulders and tried not to face-plant into them.

“Ravishing,” Zenori said, their voice husky. “This is a good word.”

Hiaka giggled as they repositioned Kit on Zenori’s lap and returned to sandwiching him there. Now Zenori was lazily fingering Kit’s ass as Hiaka fondled between his legs. Kit kept moaning as he writhed between them, desperately loving their attention.

“Should we do it tonight?” Hiaka asked in Kit’s ear.

Kit gasped, stilling between them. “Really? Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“I am as well,” Zenori said.

Sudden emotion made him choke up. “More babies…” he whispered.

They’d been talking about it for a while—when was the right time, who should do what, when to tell the kids… All they’d really agreed on was that it should be Hiaka and Kit this time with Kit hosting.

Apparently, tonight was right time.

“More babies,” Zenori said, “and only one pregnant mate.” They smiled so big.

Hiaka grumbled, but Kit laughed and hugged Zenori. They’d put them through so much two years ago, he didn’t blame them at all for wanting one less mate to manage. Well…

“You know you’ll still have to be in charge, right?” Kit whispered to Zenori.

Zenori chuckled and nodded, while Hiaka smacked the back of Kit’s head with a, “Hey! I heard that. I can be in charge of stuff.”

Kit looked over his shoulder, grinning wickedly at his mate. “Oh, yeah? Like what?”

Before that last word was out of his mouth, Kit found himself yelping as he was lifted up and spun around.

Zenori wrapped their arms around Kit and snickered into his neck.

Hiaka tried to look menacing and growly, but their cock was poking up out of the water and between Kit’s knees.

Kit grabbed it with both hands and started stroking, and Hiaka melted like butter on a hot roll.

“Oh, dammit,” they said before a whimper escaped their lips. “I-I was gonna be all toppy and—”

“Later.” Kit caught Hiaka into a deep and filthy kiss before aiming Hiaka’s dick at his own. The both of them moaned as Kit’s cock sank into Hiaka’s. “Fuck, that’s good.”

Kit was leaning toward Hiaka, kissing the life out of them, when fingers were suddenly slicking his hole with elixir. Zenori being proactive and wicked at the same time, because Kit came with a grunt and a groan, his cock shooting into Hiaka’s.

Blinking at Hiaka, Kit could tell all they really wanted to do was come themselves, but they closed their eyes and took deep breaths instead. When they shivered hard, Kit knew that was them fertilizing the eggs within them. Then Hiaka opened their eyes and grinned wolfishly at Kit. “Turn around.”

Later had arrived. Kit bit his bottom lip and, with Zenori’s help, he turned around on their lap to present his ass to Hiaka.

Zenori held up a tentacle full of elixir, and Kit gulped it down.

Heat coursed through him, his cock got hard all over again, and he moaned as Hiaka started working their cock into him.

“Both of us will see your needs this time,” Zenori rumbled as they traced Kit’s parted lips with their fingertip. “You’ll have tentacles filling every hole as often as you need to feel us with you.”

Kit kissed Zenori and came again, whimpering, as the first egg pushed into him.

Hiaka was panting behind him, their hands bruising his hips, and their head pressed between his shoulders.

Kit knew this was just on this side of painful for them, but it was lighting him up inside to have one egg after another roll in to fill him up.

He felt like he was teetering on the edge of another orgasm when Hiaka started to withdraw. Taking shaky breaths, Kit blinked at Zenori as their hand stroked his cock. Hiaka left him stuffed full of eggs and throbbing with need, but cuddled up to his back and whispered, “I love you.”

Kit hollered with yet another release before slumping against Zenori, his head on their shoulder while he moaned. “Love you,” he mumbled, feeling rung out and exhausted. “Love you both so much.”

“I love you, too.” Zenori petted Kit’s hair. “Was that six?”

“Hmm?”

“Yeah,” Hiaka said. “Wow.”

Kit had to think about that for a second. “Six eggs?”

“Six eggs,” Hiaka confirmed and reached around to pat Kit’s belly.

Kit moaned. “The water’s getting me horny.”

Hiaka giggled against Kit’s back, not helping at all, but Zenori kept petting him and said, “Just go to sleep. We’ll take care of you.”

Taking a deep breath, Kit thought that was a very good idea. “Such a good mate.”

“I know.”

Hiaka just giggled.