Page 4 of Not So Stranded (Delaney’s Sea Monsters #3)

Ididn’t want Kit to go back to his tent on the beach but couldn’t think of a reason for him to stay fast enough to stop him. If only humans could sense their mates! Then none of this coercion and manipulation would be necessary.

Yikes, that made it sound bad.

Persuasion and guidance. There, that was much friendlier.

As I turned away from Kit’s retreating form, I caught sight of Zenori staring at me. The sunlight through the trees surrounding them added to the dappled blue pattern on their shoulders, making them seem even broader than they were. But they were also frowning.

“Did you untie Kit’s boat?”

I gasped and pressed a hand to my chest. “No! Of course not. I want him to stay, but I’m not going to force him to.”

“You were up on the beach with him for some time last night.”

Shrugging, I slowly swam closer to Zenori, feeling like I needed to apologize.

I didn’t, but there was some guilt weighing me down.

Zenori had expected to find one mate, breed, and go back to their life.

I’d changed everything about that plan just by talking to them, and now I was making them accept a human.

Zenori hadn’t protested last night when I’d discovered Kit, but now that Kit was aware…

“I was checking the tie-downs on his tent and, you know,” I said, flushing in embarrassment, “watching him for a little while.”

“What was he doing?”

Zenori crossed their arms, so I stopped approaching and sighed. “Just sleeping.”

“You watched him sleep?”

“Yes, I did.” Straightening up, I owned it while also pointing at them. “I watch you sleep sometimes, too.”

Zenori cocked their head at me. “Why?”

“I don’t know! It’s…comforting or something.” I hugged myself, not at all liking that I had to justify my concerns for my other mate.

“Oh,” Zenori said and uncrossed their arms. “I worry about you less when you are unconscious.”

I blinked at them for a moment before smiling, the guilty feeling fading away. “Okay, well, same.”

Zenori’s brow ridges hopped up, their surprise clear. “You worry about me?”

“I mean, not as much as Kit. You know how to take care of yourself.” I waved a hand toward the cave. “Which is why I want him in there instead of on the beach.”

“So you can watch over him.”

“Yeah.”

“I feel that way about you.”

Zenori had admitted to not understanding what love was, and since I was only newly acquainted with the feeling, I hadn’t been pushing for any declarations. But hearing them admit to a need to watch over me, keep me safe, felt like them saying they loved me.

“I’m glad you understand.”

Zenori held out and hand, and I rushed to grasp it and let myself be pulled into their embrace. Tucked close to their chest, they dropped a kiss on my lips. “I will assist you in concocting falsehoods to bring your other mate closer to you.”

I snorted a laugh. There it went sounding bad again, but at least Zenori was on board with the plan. “Thank you, Nori.”

“You are welcome, Hi.” Zenori kissed me again, their hands wandering down my back. “May we practice breeding now?”

“Yes, you dork, we can,” I said on a laugh.

“Dork? I do not know this word.”

Grinning, I totally lied and said, “It’s a term of endearment.”

“Ah. Then less talking and more stroking, you dork.”

I howled with laughter as Zenori’s tentacles started fishing around behind mine to find my cock.

In a moment, a massaging grip closed around the base of my cock, and I stopped laughing to moan instead.

Zenori had taken to “practicing” very quickly and was getting really good at it, too.

Pleasure with a partner hadn’t ever occurred to them because none of Zenori’s ancestors had ever found their mate.

But wow, was I glad to have taught Zenori that mutual pleasure should always be a goal.

Part of me hoped Kit might hear us and come back, so I didn’t hold in any whine or moan that wanted out of me.

Zenori kissed my neck, both hands holding me as I clung to their shoulders.

My tentacles tangled with theirs, and I wound one around Zenori’s cock.

The rough growl to their moan right there in my ear had me shivering with desire.

Someday soon, we would stop practicing, and I’d let Zenori fill me with their seed.

That would fertilize my eggs, and we would become parents.

I wanted that so desperately and knew they did, too, but I needed Kit with us when that finally happened.

I needed to know whether Kit would also breed with me.

Breeding with both of us would be a dream come true, but I wasn’t going to push Zenori for that if Kit wasn’t also their mate—and they had assured me they didn’t feel drawn to Kit like they were to me.

I was getting close and wanted Zenori with me, so I eased the very tip of my tentacle into the slit of their cock.

They hollered, head thrown back, and their tentacles squeezed my cock.

I came all of a sudden, hips thrusting toward them under the water that took my seed away.

A moment later, and I felt my tentacle get shoved from Zenori’s cock as they came, too.

We wrapped arms and tentacles around each other as we panted through the blissful release and bobbed in the gentle waves from the waterfall.

“Every time you do that,” Zenori said, “I cannot resist.”

“What? Being inside your cock?”

“Mmm, yes. I can feel myself trying to draw you in deeper.”

“I can feel the way your cock seems to suck on my tentacle.”

I smiled as a memory surfaced in my mind.

Not for the first time, I could recall Serion, my cecaelia parent, experiencing the first time my human parent, Michael, inserted his cock inside Serion’s.

The pleasure wasn’t there for me to feel, but Serion’s surprise and their thoughts of wonder and joy that their mate could join with them was there for me to remember. I wanted to do that with Kit.

“What are you remembering?” Zenori asked.

I lifted my head from their shoulder. “How do you know I’m remembering something?”

They cupped my cheek and smiled fondly. “Your skin warms more than usual. That means you are recalling a sexual lesson from your parents.”

I felt myself blushing more as I chuckled. But should I tell them? I stopped laughing and put my head back down.

“Is it something about humans?” Zenori asked quietly. “Do you wish Kit was here?”

The guilt was back. “I do wish Kit was here, but not as any kind of replacement for you. As an addition for both of us. A human’s cock can fit inside ours so perfectly. I would love that for you.”

Zenori’s arms tightened around me. “Perhaps some day.”

I tucked my smiling face into their neck and cuddled closer. “You are the best mate,” I mumbled against their skin.

“Yes, I am,” they said, and I was pretty sure they weren’t joking.

Hours later, I went down the creek from the waterfall and around the island to where Kit was camped. I sincerely hated maneuvering on sand to get to him—it got in every crevice—but that was worth the trouble to sit beside him.

Kit’s dark, curly hair was a mess, his beard was getting scruffier, and he needed a bath, but… Well, he was sweet and adorable while he slept. His lips were parted and he made little snoring noises all curled up on his blanket.

I wanted to run my fingers through his hair, wake him up with kisses, but I resisted everything my instincts said to do.

He wouldn’t understand and might even be frightened.

And though I knew Michael had been afraid of Serion in the beginning before eventually accepting their connection, I was worried about moving too fast with Kit.

Michael had been the only survivor of a boat fire that had set him adrift at sea for nearly two weeks.

Serion had sustained him with elixir, but a heightened sexual drive was a side effect in humans who consumed our elixir.

Serion had tried for consent, but Michael had been too far gone on instinct to really give that properly.

Once the effects of the elixir had worn off, they’d both been upset and apologetic about their behavior toward the other.

They were deeply in love now, but my siblings and I could all recall their troubled beginnings.

I realized I’d been combing Kit’s hair back from his forehead when he pushed into my hand and sighed.

My heart squeezed, that move making me think he longed for physical touch.

Humans didn’t seem to get enough of that in their busy lives.

I’d grown up cuddling with my siblings, cousins, parents, and friends.

Even when everyone was naked! Humans thought that was weird at first, but they always ended up being the fiercest cuddlers.

Risking it, I leaned in and gently kissed Kit’s forehead. “Dream of us,” I whispered. “Not only will I do the wickedest things to every inch of your beautiful body, but I’ll hold you close and never let you go.”

I could’ve sworn Kit’s pretty mouth twitched with a grin for a second there. Maybe his subconscious mind heard me. I left him sleeping and returned to the ocean, hoping he would remember his dreams in the morning.