Page 13 of Seducing Scylla (Mated Myths #1)

Morgan

M y embarrassment from the evening before is quickly forgotten as Scylla carries me into a grotto filled with glow worms that cast a blue glow over the stone walls.

My eyes expand at the steam rising from the pool of water in the cave’s center.

Warm water is more than I expected, and this is a whole dang hot spring.

Scylla sets me down gently on the cavern floor, the rock slippery and moist with condensation, before gliding into the hot spring and disappearing beneath the surface.

My body still feels hot, and I don’t know if the hot spring will ease my discomfort, but I’m eager to be clean.

I take this opportunity of privacy to quickly strip down, careful not to slip with my injured foot.

Balling my dirty clothes up, I carry them with me as I tip-toe into the shallows of the pool.

The water is glorious as it laps at my ankles, easing away the first sting of having icy cold feet.

I slowly wade further in until I am neck deep and begin scrubbing at my dress and underwear, watching the water cloud with the caked-on sand and then clear as I wring them out and slap them onto the stone to dry, which is probably wishful thinking with the humidity.

I use my hands to scrub my body, making sure I get in all the crevices, and then dunk my head under the water to wash my hair. I break the surface with a deep breath, my now clean hair soaking and plastered down my back. I will never take for granted the feeling of being clean ever again.

Scylla’s head eases above the water, her blue-purple skin illuminated under the glow worms across the cavern’s ceiling.

Big black eyes bore into mine and I feel like she’s seeing inside my soul, rifling through my very essence and assessing it.

Deep down, I hope what she sees doesn’t leave her wanting.

There is something about her that makes me want to appeal to her.

She inches closer to me, her head still just above the surface, the water barely rippling with the movement, and for the first time, I can imagine her as an apex predator stalking her prey.

I stay very still, a deer caught in the headlights until Scylla is face to face with me, so close our noses are almost touching.

A tentacle brushes against my ankle. My breathing turns shallow as my body ignites.

“Hello, Morgan,” that melodic voice whispers.

Startled, I rear back. The fire within me drops to a simmer as I increase the distance between us.

“W-wait, what? How can I understand you?” My eyebrows draw together, confused.

“This is the Pierian Spring of Knowledge. We have bathed in it, and it has gifted us with each other’s language.”

“But I didn’t even feel anything. Isn’t there supposed to be a magical tingle, or a bright light or something?”

Scylla full-blown smiles at me for the first time, as if I’m the most endearing creature she’s ever seen, revealing three sharp rows of teeth inside her mouth like a shark. My mouth dries up at the sight.

“Okey dokey, I think we need to rewind for just a minute.”

“I do not understand this rewind .”

A slick tentacle brushes against my leg and all of a sudden, I am burning up again until it eases once more when we are no longer in contact. My eyes widen.

“Wait, do that again. ”

“Do what?” Scylla tilts her head, her black eyes sparkling in the blue, glimmering lights.

“Touch me.”

Scylla smiles that disconcerting pointed grin again.

I hold my breath, waiting for a tentacle to graze my leg.

Instead, Scylla raises a clawed hand from the water and trails it so softly down my cheek.

Instantly, I am flushed, hot and needy, an ache buried deep in my belly flares to life.

I rub the softness of my thighs together, trying to find friction beneath the water, and am left wanting.

“Stop,” I whisper, barely able to get the words out from between my lips.

I don’t want her to stop at all. I want her to trail that hand between my breasts, her tentacles to wrap around my waist, and her suckers…

My tongue feels thick in my mouth as I envision those tentacles creeping closer to that tender spot between my legs.

Scylla’s hand drops back below the surface, disappointment flashing across her face, and I wish I could know what she’s thinking.

I don’t think I’m imagining the interest in her eyes when she looks at me.

But I have so many questions that need answering before I succumb to my wants, and that’s even if Scylla wants the same thing.

“What is happening to me? ”

The hot and cold, the burning desire when Scylla touches me that reduces to a mild simmer when she’s not.

I don’t understand it. I don’t dislike it.

My imagination goes wild at all the ways we could enjoy each other, but I don’t like not feeling in control of my body when I have no control over anything else about my situation.

“You are my mate.”

“I-uh, what does that mean?”

I think I know what that means. I’ve read enough romance to guess, but right now, with my heart beating a mile a minute, I need her to spell it out for me.

“We are mated.”

“That is… not helpful.” I take a deep breath. “Is that why I feel like this? Hot and cold, and uh… needy?”

Scylla cocks her head. “I do not know. I have never had a mate before. I only know that I have been alone for a long time and now the Fates have brought you to me.”