Page 28 of Wrapped in Their Arms

But she barely had time to suck in the precious breath before she was yanked underagain.

The thick, rubbery tentacles wrapped around her more tightly, sliding over her skin—slick, cold, and horribly strong.Morelimbs joined the fray, coiling around her wrists, pinning her arms to her sides, binding her legs.Shefelt as though she was being wrapped up by a python in slimy bands that squeezed the air out of her lungs.

Dimly, she heardLupinshouting.

“No, no, no—you have to let them breathe!”he scolded sharply.“Didn’tItell you?Letherbreathe!”

The tentacles obeyed.

Her head broke the surface again and she gulped air greedily, coughing and sputtering black sludge.Goodripped from her lashes, her nose, her chin.Herhair clung to her face in heavy ropes.

“Sorry about that, my dear,”Lupincalled, sounding only mildly annoyed.“Myassistant is still new to air breathers.”

“Let me out!”Noellebegged, her voice cracking.Shetried to reach for the pool’s edge, but the tentacles pulled her back, binding her tighter.“Please—please get this thing off me!”

“I’m afraidIcan’t,”Lupinreplied briskly.“Hehasn’t done his job yet.Hurryup, you!”he snapped at whatever the monstrous thing was, lurking beneath the surface.“Dothe treatment or no fish for you tonight!Doyou hear me?Nofish!”

At once, the tentacles around her body shifted.Theybegan to flex…towrithe.

And thenNoellefelt it.

Hundreds—no,thousands—of tiny, circular suction cups latched onto her skin.

A terrified scream ripped its way out of her throat, only to be muffled by the thick air of the spa chamber.Everytiny cup sucked at her flesh with savage force, tugging on her skin, pulling so hard she thought her entire body would be flayed alive.

The sensation was intensely painful, and it waseverywhere.Herarms…her breasts…her stomach…her thighs.Eventhe tender skin at the backs of her knees was being suctioned vigorously.

It felt like a million tiny mouths were kissing her and biting her all at once and it wasawful.

Dios… please,BlessedVirgin, it hurts—hurts so much!Ohplease, please stop,Ican’t stand much more!

The tentacles dragged her through the thick ooze, pulling her deeper, rolling her like dough in the monstrous bath of black goo.Shekept trying to grab onto something—anything—but there was nothing solid to hold onto.Onlythe tarlike substance and the endless, writhing limbs.

Her vision blurred.Theedges of her sight began to dim as the world around her started to fade.ButNoelleknew she couldn’t allow that.

No… don’t faint… don’t faint… if you pass out, you’re dead.You’lldrown for sure.Stayawake!Stayawake!she ordered herself.

She fought—kicking, twisting, clawing at the creature’s limbs.Butshe might as well have been fighting steel cables.Evenwhen she bit down hard on one of them, the tentacles didn’t loosen.Ifanything, they tightened even more, continuing with the savage suctioning of every square inch of her skin.

Time ceased to mean anything.

Her chest was on fire.Hermuscles screamed.Herskin felt like it was being ripped away in strips, only to remain whole by some terrible miracle.

It was unbearable, yetNoellehad no choice but to bear it.

She didn’t know if minutes passed, or hours, or if this horror had swallowed her whole and this was her life now—sucked and scraped and dragged through a nightmare beneath black water that wasn’t water at all.

Then—at last—the tentacles loosened.Oneby one, the suction cups disengaged with horriblepop-pop-popsounds that echoed inside her skull.

The thick tentacle around her waist lifted her—hoisting her like a rag doll—and pushed her upward.

Noelle broke the surface of the goo one final time, limp and gasping.

Her elbows hit the cold metal edge of the pool, and the creature shoved her fully out of the black goo.Shesprawled there, naked and shivering, black sludge dripping from her body in thick, ropey trails as she tried desperately to catch her breath.

Her skin felt like it was on fire—every inch tingling and raw, as though she’d been scrubbed with sandpaper made of stinging nettles.Herlungs heaved and her whole body trembled uncontrollably.

I’m alive…I’malive…Dios,Ican’t believeI’mstill alive…