Marked by the Sea (Monsters’ Mates #1)

Chapter 17

Amora

“We’re not going anywhere,” Riftan murmured.

“What are you begging for?” Hexon was to my right, and Rowan was to my left.

“You. All of you,” I rasped desperately.

“You don’t know what you’re asking for.” The merking chuckled, and I wanted to shove him. Irritation flared as his focus dropped to my lips. I eyed his horns, and they swished as he shook his head. Black strands of hair swayed across the scales of his neck. Raising my hand, I gripped right below the gills there.

“Don’t do that. Don’t treat me like I don’t know what I want,” I warned, holding his gaze as I tightened my grip. Of course, the ass smirked at me like I wasn’t trying to threaten him.

“And what is it you want?” His tone was exasperated. Rowan’s hand was on my lower back, his fingers drawing soothing circles into my hip. It hadn’t been long since I’d been with them, but they’d had an effect on me. I’d changed. I was comfortable in my own skin and didn’t shy away from their touch. Taking my time, I looked at Rowan, Hexon, and then Riftan.

“You. I want all three of you. You guys are mine, and know I’m yours.”

“I want you, too.” Rowan grabbed my hand, bent in half, and kissed the back of my hand. Hexon inhaled sharply, his gaze on Rowan as he bowed to me, but after a pause, did the same. A tentacle wrapped around my other hand, and I stared, mesmerized, as Hexon, in all of his kraken glory, lowered his head. Sneaking a glance up at me, he nipped at my knuckles before dragging his lips along them, making me blush.

“I’m yours if you’ll have me,” Hexon murmured.

“Of course, I will,” I whispered. Straightening, he kissed my temple, and the three of us turned to Riftan. He was the only one left.

“I desire a life with the three of you. Do you not want the same?” It was time to ask the hard questions, to see if he’d open up and talk to me.

Riftan laughed. It echoed in the cave as his shoulders shook, and he blessed me with those crescent moons. Sighing, he stared at me.

“You question my feelings? I just killed my king and last remaining relative for you. I would say they’re clear and unattested.” Blue eyes sparkled, and it wasn’t hard to ignore the body lying behind him. I now had his answer and didn’t know what to do with it. He felt the same. I grabbed his hand and interlocked my fingers with his.

“Then why are you holding back?” I rasped. His chin dipped, and his eyes dragged down my body to our hands before returning to mine.

“Before I came here, I was with a woman.” His words cut deep as I conjured a scene of him with her. I knew he was betrothed, but I hated this mystery woman he was supposed to marry and make cute merbabies with. Was she waiting back home for him? Did he sleep with her after he left me? My spiraling gut hurt, and it felt as if my pain spilled from my chest.

“Riftan,” I cried.

“I did not bed her, but I won’t lie to you. She approached me, hinting at ending it, but I refused. I had no intentions of breaking it off. I would have done my duty, but even as I told myself that, I came to you. My mind and heart have been at war since the moment I saw you on that yacht.”

“Oh, thank the gods,” I whispered. Riftan smirked as he squeezed my hand. He was opening up, and it made my little heart happy.

“I denied the truth even as I compared her to you. She fell short in every area. You are special, but no matter how many times the guys tried to tell me, I didn’t want to hear it. You were a complication I had no idea how to handle.” With one hand, he held my hand, and with the other, my other hand.

“I thought I knew what I wanted, but when I came here and heard his voice, my heart stopped. I don’t know what the future holds, but I can’t go forward without you.”

“Finally,” Rowan sighed. He dropped his head to my shoulder, and I poked him in the side with my free hand.

“Let him have his moment,” Hexon chuckled. His fingers ran up and down my spine soothingly, but it had the opposite effect—causing my nipples to harden.

“Ooh, someone’s turned on,” Rowan teased in my ear. A tentacle wrapped around my ankle, and the other around my thigh.

“I’m talking here,” Riftan groaned.

“Go on. Our treasure will ignore all distractions and focus, won’t she?” Hexon murmured in my ear, and my pussy clenched in response. I had just been attacked. This was not what I should be feeling right now. But all I wanted was for them to put their hands on me, to hold me, to make me feel good and forget the bad. It didn’t help that Rowan was making out with my ear. I bit my lip as I stared at Riftan.

“Mm-hmm. I can’t,” I breathed.

“Can,” Rowan chastised.

“Can,” I repeated.

“I can’t leave you here to fend for yourself. I can’t be the reason you’re in danger. To answer your question,” Riftan started, glaring at his brothers before continuing, “I was holding back because for the first time since I’ve stolen someone, I wanted to offer you something I’ve never given anyone else: freedom.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, I gasped. And I wasn’t the only one. Rowan stopped what he was doing, and the tentacles froze. My faerie zoned in on our merman.

“You’ll let her stay here? Start a life together?” Hexon asked hopefully. Rowan’s head whipped to our kraken, but before he could say whatever he was about to say, Riftan spoke first.

“In the hideout? Is she our secret? No, she’s my queen. Our queen. And I won’t keep her imprisoned here. She will sit on a throne at my side.” Riftan’s anger was palpable, but I was still stuck on his words.

“You would… let me go back?” My voice quivered. Turning from Hexon, Riftan gave me a curt nod in response.

“If that’s what you wish,” he gritted out. My parents would be happy, but I wouldn’t. Nothing would change. They would still treat me like their little science experiment and try to fix me. There was nothing back there for me.

“And if I don’t want to?” My words were a ghost of a whisper. There was a pause of silence. Then his breathing quickened. His chest rose and fell rapidly. As did the others.

“Tell me you want to be with me. Choose us. We’re already yours.” Riftan didn’t ask why I wouldn’t want to go home or why I’d want to stay. It was as if he were afraid of what I’d say.

“I choose my mates,” I said without hesitation.

“Then I’ll take you home,” Riftan growled.

“It’s not that easy,” I laughed.

“It is.”

“It isn’t,” Hexon and I said at the same time. We both looked at each other before the merman demanded his attention. Anger rippled through Riftan’s features, but Hexon didn’t back down.

“I’m taking her home.”

“She’ll drown,” Hexon snarled.

Something cackled in the air between them, and then they were standing.

“I can’t go in the wa—”

“Ours. She won’t stay on this rock,” Riftan growled, cutting me off. Panic started in my toes. As my lungs constricted, and as the panic made its way up, it felt like I was drowning. A weight dropped on me, and everything that had happened up to this point finally took its toll.

“Rift, Hex—” Rowan tried. Instead of listening to him, they were too busy fighting about what was going to happen to me.

“I disagree. She can stay here. We can keep her safe. What happens when you break things off? She’ll be in danger. Maybe not from Prem, but her father won’t be happy about the news.” Hexon and Riftan were chest to chest.

“What of our people? Will we let them know our queen remains chained above the surface?” Riftan growled.

“I don’t care about their thoughts. We’ll remove her chains. The only thing that matters is she lives.” Tentacles tightened around me.

They both wanted me alive, but none of them asked what I wanted when it came to where I would stay. I wanted nothing more than what Riftan was offering, but I wasn’t like them. I couldn’t live beneath the waves. As much as I wanted to go home with him, I wasn’t part of their world. On top of that, there were the issues of his fiance and war. Tears blurred my vision as I wrapped my arms protectively around myself. Rowan broke the chains and helped me to my feet. I grasped my chest as I had a panic attack.

“I can’t breathe,” I rasped.

My shackles lay at my feet. Rowan’s worried gaze searched my face as the other two continued to fight. Tentacles surrounded the cool night air and caressed my cheek and arms as Hexon stepped toward me. Red eyes that once hadn’t cared, shouldn’t have cared, were filled with worry and fear—so much fear—as claws dug into my skin. Shaking my head, I reached out to my kraken, unable to accept what was happening. I couldn’t.

Things were escalating. And quickly.

“Please,” I cried. Despite our king’s order, he believed it too risky and couldn’t deny his instincts. He couldn’t let him hurt me. Cold tips curled into my skin as Riftan yanked me from his tentacles—his power unmatched.

“Don’t do this. We don’t even know if what Lucien claimed was true. You’ll kill her!” Hexon pleaded as I was dragged back. His pleas fell on deaf ears. Riftan had made up his mind, and no amount of crying, pleading, or begging was going to make him change it. It wasn’t the thought of drowning that scared me, as Hexon kept repeating, but just being pulled into the deep sea. That’s what scared me—being in the water. Moments from what felt like death, I sucked in a lungful of air before the merman once again dragged me beneath the surface.

I’d chosen this.

Those were my last thoughts topside before I was swallowed whole by ice-cold water. A shadow flickered, and a second later, the water broke with a sudden splash as my monsters dove in. My body went into shock as deeper, deeper still we plummeted into the ocean until the twinkling stars disappeared above.

He pulled me down like a rag doll until my lungs threatened to give out. Rowan swam to me, his body lithe as he slid through the water elegantly. His eyes remained on mine as we continued our descent. I pursed my lips to keep the water out for as long as I could, until I couldn’t.

My chest squeezed as the alarms went off in my head. Oxygen. I needed oxygen. I thrashed around, unable to break free of Riftan’s grip. It was impossible. Inhaling, salt rushed in until I was twirled around and stared into a blackness that outmatched the sea. He’d told me he wanted me, believed this myth could work, and pulled me to my death. His webbed hand fisted my hair, and claws dug into my scalp as I was forced to remain staring up at him.

The devil I’d grown to love had my life in his hands. We didn’t need to dive this deep to test it, but my bitterness led me to believe he enjoyed my suffering. The lack of oxygen made his eyes appear cold as they glared into mine. My human troubles and the water that quickly filled my lungs were so far beneath him. I clawed at his chest, but it was useless. Tentacles swayed and curled in the water.

Yanking me up to him, his fingers dragged along my forehead, pushing my hair back before he pressed his lips to mine. Turning from him, I was forced back with a flick of his wrist. I opened for him as my lungs constricted. My eyes felt like they would pop with the pressure, but his forked tongue drove into my mouth. His chest vibrated beneath my hands as something like elastic wrapped around me before it snapped into place.

Everyone knew of the three kingdoms that ruled over the human realm: the Dragons, the Wolves, and the Bears. We had done everything we could—my parents paid their taxes, gave our monthly offerings, and stayed away from the monsters. But none of it mattered because no one told us about him—them. How could anyone have known of the kingdom beneath the sea? The one I was being dragged to?

Where had Rowan gone?

Hexon?

I couldn’t see them.

Were they not coming?

Dots danced across my vision as unconsciousness promised to take me. I was more than ready to welcome death. My chest expanded, but as water filled every inch of my lungs, I didn’t die. Exhaling, bubbles floated out and toward the surface. Inhaling, my body came alive as I sucked in more. The King’s theory had been right. Riftan had been right. As my eyes flickered up to the horned prince, the smug smirk on his face proved he’d confirmed this. Without a word—I didn’t know if he could talk down there—he wrapped his arm around my waist tightly and dove.

With one last glance toward the surface, I couldn’t figure out where my other mates had gone. I couldn’t see anyone but Riftan. Despite the havoc that waited for us down there, I still hoped they would come, too.