Page 39 of The Kraken Bride

Too late. Another long line of mers rose from the sea shoulder to shoulder, their tails undergoing the same sloughing as they closed in on me.

Surrounded.

My heart thumped, but my dragon rallied as much as possible, my blood cells becoming embers. I assumed a battle position, just as I’d been taught. But the dragon didn’t overtake me because it wasn’t at full strength. Unused to being off-leash, it already verged on being pushed to the max.

“Now, now. There’s no need for combat. Bruised meat isn’t as tasty.”

The merry voice hit my ears like blades. Every muscle locked.

A massive man stepped from the shadows, moving with lazy confidence, as though he expected the land itself to part for him. He was enormous. Taller than even the shifters, his build thick with brutal strength rather than sculpted muscle. His skin bore a faint, unnatural sheen, reminding me of stone polished by centuries of water. Deep scars crisscrossed his torso in deliberate patterns.

His hair hung loose, dark and wavy while his ash and melted gold eyes fixed on me with unmistakable appraisal. As if I were a long-anticipated meal.

Power rolled off him in heavy waves, pressing against my skin, my bones, my dragon. The air itself seemed to recoil.

This was no king. This was a predator, and I’d just become his prey.

“You are the primordial,” I stated, certain. I pretended my voice hadn’t trembled.

He smiled, revealing red blood on his teeth. Red. It wasn’t Sebastian’s. But whose was it? “I am indeed the monster you speak of.”

Run. But I couldn’t. The mers had hemmed me in, forming a circle around me and the first kraken berserker.

My stomach turned inside out.

His gaze roved over me. “I hear Sebastian is quite taken with you, the little lizard ballerina. That he is reacting to you in ways he hasn’t with any other woman.”

I didn’t let myself get snared by his implication. Not here, not now. “What I am is your worst nightmare.” I fought to draw fire into my throat. Come on, come on.

Buy time. I ran through my mental list of Adelaide’s advice… oh, forget it. Today, I would trust in myself, and myself believed I should throw him off the scent. “And for your information, Sebastian’s grandmother assured me I can’t win his heart, and he’ll never keep me.”

As I heard my own words, heat filled my throat, my jaw, my mouth. Weakened but there. Hot enough to burn, but not hot enough to ash. Should be the perfect temperature in just another minute or two…

To my surprise, Jokull’s features softened at the mention of Lady Harpa. “Now there’s a woman worthy of being queen of the kraken.”

Well, well. He admired Sebastian’s grandmother. If he considered her his own firebrand, even better. He might pull his punches.

Hotter and hotter. “Mind if I inquire about your plan today? Every villain has one.”

He smiled and stepped closer. I stepped back, aware of the warriors behind me. Almost hot enough.

“I do have one,” he began.

Now! I unleashed my fire. His flesh melted in an instant. His bones charred. Then everything reformed in seconds. Muscle, skin, hair. He continued on as if nothing had happened.

“I’d hoped to speak with Sebastian personally. However, I’m here only to send him a message.” With no more warning, a shadowy tentacle sprang from his body, snaking around my wrist and yanking my arm in his direction.

He brought my captured wrist to his mouth. Before I could process what was happening, he bit off my pinky.

Searing agony. Stars winking before my eyes. Laughter erupting all around. The smiling primordial crunched on the bone.

A scream burst from me, and somewhere far away, in the depths of my mind I’d never dared venture, I thought of Sebastian’s missing finger, and understood the primordial’s message perfectly.

I didn’t think, just unleashed another stream of fire upon the mers.

As their pained cries rang out, I ran. Just ran.

Chapter