Page 7 of Not So Stranded (Delaney’s Sea Monsters #3)

After two days of phenomenal sex, Kit remembered that he was still trapped on an island with no way to leave.

That very sexually satisfied part of him didn’t want to leave, of course, but the rest of him…

Well, he should at least want to make sure the people who cared about him knew he wasn’t dead.

That would be the responsible adult thing to do.

Which was why he was sleeping in his little spot on the beach tonight instead of sucking elixir out of Hiaka’s tentacle so he could sleep in the lagoon with them again. Maybe get fucked in the middle of the night. Sucked off with the sunrise.

Good grief, he sounded like an addict.

Which, again, was why he was sleeping on the beach tonight.

He needed some space to clear his head—that elixir was a drug after all—and get some perspective back.

He needed to think of ways to signal that he was here and stranded, not just keep floating along like everything was fine.

He’d even ignored evidence of turtle activity on shore in favor of spending time in the lagoon. He had to get his priorities straight.

But not even all the yelling he was doing at himself in his own mind was loud enough to hide the fact that a boat was approaching the island.

A boat! Rescue!

Dammit.

No, not dammit, rescue was a good thing.

He had a life, a job, out in the real world that he needed to return to.

As incredible as it had been to be with Hiaka and Zenori—to just meet them was a gift—he couldn’t stay forever.

So he opened the flap of his makeshift tent and made to stand up and make himself known to whomever had just arrived.

“The creek’s too narrow and shallow to get the boats down it now, but we can use that C4 to fix that in the morning. No way am I letting somebody take that boat from us. We’ll just stay here for a while—until they stop looking—and then we can double our income with two boats.”

Kit stayed where he was as all of that registered.

These men had found a boat that others were looking for?

Could it be his boat? Doubling their income with two boats was odd.

Fishing? Pirating? There had been an uptick in folks pirating fishing boats to steal their catches. Good people didn’t steal boats.

But way more alarming was the C4 they were going to use in the morning to blow up the creek to get their boats into the lagoon. He might not be able to stop that from happening, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to sit here while Hiaka and Zenori were trapped or hurt.

Heart pounding wildly, Kit slipped out of his tent on the other side and did his best to quietly walk toward the lagoon.

He knew where it was and how to get there, but dammit, everything looked different in the moonlight.

And there was no way for him to walk silently with all these dead leaves on the ground.

He sounded like a herd of elephants! He kept looking back, terrified he’d see flashlight beams swinging in his direction.

Someone would shout and then there would be running and yelling and threats…

Kit picked up his pace, panting and feeling jittery as the sound of the waterfall got louder.

That would cover the sound of his footsteps.

And no one would suspect that there would be anyone on an island like this.

Those men would’ve probably avoided the whole island if they’d seen his boat anchored where it was supposed to be. So they thought they were in the clear.

“Kit?”

He jumped at the sound of Hiaka’s voice, and then hustled over. “Shh! There are men on the beach.”

“Oh, um, are you going with—”

Keeping his voice low, but full of the urgency making him feel like he might throw up, Kit said, “They want to blow up the creek to make it so they can get their boats into the lagoon!”

“Oh, fuck. Zenori, wake up!”

“I’m awake.”

And suddenly, Kit found himself dragged into the water by a whole lot of tentacles and positioned on Zenori’s back. “Holy shit, what’s happening?”

“We are escaping in the most efficient manner,” Zenori said as they headed for the creek.

Kit just let it happen, clinging to Zenori like a child as they allowed the current to take them where the creek met the sea. Which was when he realized that this was fresh water and that was salt water and— “How can you both survive in salt water and fresh water like this?”

Hiaka snorted a laugh behind them. “That’s what you’re asking right now?”

“Right.” Kit felt his face heating. “Sorry.”

Something pinched his butt, and Hiaka said, “Geek’s gonna geek.”

Kit chuckled and relaxed a little bit even as they entered open water. He was relieved, too, knowing that no one would get caught up in what the pirates had planned for morning. But he had to wonder—

“Now what?” Hiaka asked.

Zenori was doing something with their tentacles that let them bob along the surface even with Kit still holding onto their shoulders. “We find another island to put Kit on. The rest of our plans must wait.”

Their plans to breed. Damn, and the lagoon had seemed like such a perfect place for that. “I’m sorry,” Kit said mournfully.

“It’s not your fault,” Hiaka said, bobbing beside them.

“Well, part of it might be. They implied that they found a boat that others were looking for. Theoretically, that could be my boat.”

Even in the darkness, Kit could see Hiaka roll their eyes. “Okay, but they decided to blow up our island on their own.”

“True.”

“We could steal it.”

Kit looked at Zenori’s profile. “The island?”

“The boat. Your boat. We could steal it back.”

“Oh.” Kit tried to imagine how that might work but—

“Oooo,” Hiaka said with clear delight. “You hang here. I’ll be right back.”

And they ducked beneath the surface and disappeared.

“Shit,” Kit said, “I don’t like them going alone.”

“Neither do I.”

They rose and fell on gentle waves as clouds covered and revealed the half-moon above them.

It took a minute, but then Kit realized that Zenori was easing them around the island.

They could see the beach and about ten people sitting around a fire, three more dark shapes a bit further away and seeming to be lying down.

For people evading other people, they didn’t seem to be hiding very well.

Kit could also now see the two boats at anchor not far from the beach. The men had used a dingy with a motor to get to shore, but those were definitely two similarly sized trawlers. Unfortunately, he couldn’t tell if one of them was his from this distance and in the dark, but one could be.

A head popped up in front of them, and Kit gulped back a scream.

“One boat has all kinds of supplies on it,” Hiaka said, “and the other seems a lot more lived in. Nobody’s on either one of them now.”

“Do you seriously think we can just take it?” Why did he feel like he was the pirate?

“If it’s yours, technically, we’ll be recovering it.”

Zenori didn’t seem to want to talk about it anymore because they started swimming toward the boats. Kit tried to psych himself up for what was about to happen. He’d climb up onto the empty boat, pull the anchor, start it, and off they’d go to…

“Where should we go, though?” he had to ask.

“Away,” Zenori said.

“It’ll depend on how much fuel there is,” Hiaka said.

“If it’s my boat, there’s more fuel on it. For my return trip.”

“Well, then,” Hiaka said, “maybe we go to Cecaelia Bay.”

“Cecaelia Bay?”

“Where I was born.”

Kit wanted to ask so many questions, but since they’d arrived at the boats, he bit his bottom lip and kept quiet.

Without hesitation, Zenori used arms and tentacles to haul themself and Kit up the side of the boat Hiaka pointed to and right onto the deck.

Kit’s knees felt weak when he stood up and stopped clinging to Zenori.

He had to look back to the beach, afraid someone would shout about them being on the boat.

“We’ll get the anchor,” Hiaka said, “while you see about getting us moving.”

“Right.”

Kit headed into the cockpit as he heard the whirring of the anchor coming up. Immediately, he saw the photo of his entire team that he’d tucked into the framing near the steering wheel. “It is my boat!”

“Fantastic. Now drive it.”

They’d left the key in the ignition just like he had—what an idiot he’d been—and so he twisted it and actually smiled when the boat came to life.

Now he heard voices shouting behind them, the men on the beach no doubt realizing they were being robbed.

Knowing they could absolutely come after them, Kit put the boat in gear and floored it.

Tentacles suddenly appeared on either side of him and wrapping around whatever they could reach, Hiaka and Zenori clearly trying to hold on as the boat sped away from the island.

“Does this make us pirates?” Kit asked with a laugh.

Kit drove southeast until sunrise when they finally accepted that no one was coming after them.

They agreed to be vigilant, but it seemed like a clean getaway.

Maybe those people hadn’t been bad people willing to hurt someone, they’d just been opportunists.

It was possible they might not even stay on the island to do any damage to the lagoon or the turtles, too, since they no longer had anything to hide.

Theoretically, the three of them could potentially go back there.

“But the beauty of that place is gone now,” Hiaka said with clear regret.

Zenori tucked Hiaka closer to them with an arm around their shoulders.

They were all sitting on the deck, taking a break for breakfast. Kit was trying not to make a big deal over having an omelette with cheese and vegetables because he hadn’t been eating badly on the island once he got their help, but dear lord, it was a truly delicious omelette.

Refocusing, Kit asked, “Can you follow through on your plans when we get to Cecaelia Bay?”

“Oh, sure,” Hiaka said. “They’ll be happy to have us. My parents will be thrilled. We just…” They sighed.

“Wanted a place of our own,” Zenori finished.

Kit could sympathize. “I grew up in the foster system. There was a lot of uncertainty to that because you never really knew how long you’d get to stay somewhere.

And some of the places were crowded to the point of never being alone.

Which is good sometimes and bad sometimes.

” He cocked his head at them as he realized…

“Sorry, do you know what the foster care system is among humans?”

“I’ve read about it,” Hiaka said and wound a tentacle around Kit’s leg. “Did you get adopted?”

“No.” Kit patted that tentacle when Hiaka squeezed. “It’s okay. I worked hard in school and got scholarships and then fellowships and here I am now.” He grinned at them, hoping it didn’t sound sad. “I might not have blood relatives, but I have friends.”

“What is foster care system and adopted?” Zenori asked with a frown, their gaze tracking Hiaka’s comforting tentacle. “Are they dangerous?”

“No, not dangerous,” Kit said on a chuckle.

“Foster care makes it so kids who don’t have anyone else can be taken care of on a temporary or long-term basis.

Foster parents are compensated for their service, and I had a few who only did it for the money.

Adoption, though, is when a child is taken in as a full member of the family because they want a child in their lives.

It was the goal of being in foster care, but it never happened for me. ”

Zenori was still frowning as they said, “I have an ancestor who adopted seven hatchlings after their parent didn’t return. The parent was their friend, and they considered it an honor to raise their young.”

Kit smiled. “That’s excellent. I’m really glad they had someone to care for them.”

“I am upset that you did not, but we will care for you now.”

Kit laughed again because Zenori and Hiaka were pretty much the only reason he was still alive, and also because Zenori patted Kit’s other knee like he didn’t need to worry anymore. And, well, maybe he didn’t.