Kate and the Kraken by Honey Phillips

Chapter Four

Kate swam in and out of consciousness, only vaguely aware of her surroundings, which seemed to change every time the darkness cleared momentarily. Her bed felt hard and uncomfortable beneath her, but then it was replaced by something soft and silky that cradled her aching body. The light changed from a cool, flickering green to a soft pink glow and back again.

Sometimes, a strong arm supported her as someone gave her careful sips of cool water. Other times, something rubbery and disgusting was pressed against her lips and she did her best to bat it away. Her arms felt weak and ineffectual, but apparently whoever was trying to feed her got the message.

The one consistent memory was a deep, rippling voice like water rushing over rocks. The voice soothed her, comforted her, and was always there. Golden eyes floated in and out of her vision, beautiful but alien, and something about them made her nervous. But then the voice would soothe her and a cool hand would stroke her burning head and she would slip peacefully back into the darkness.

But eventually, the illness passed and she awoke, fully aware of who she was—if not where she was. Her memories felt strangely distant, but she picked through them until she found the thread of her abduction. Abduction.

She started to surge to her feet, but her body was still too weak to obey her commands. As she collapsed back into her bed—bed?—she remembered the need for caution. Keeping her body still, she glanced around, her eyes widening as she took in her surroundings. Where the hell was she?

Instead of the white metal walls of the ship or the ragged interior of the escape pod, she saw what looked like an underwater cave. Dark green coral in fanciful shapes formed elaborate arches over her head. Tiny plants speckled the coral, glowing with a soft pink hue. To her left, the floor of the cave sloped down to an open pool with jade water lapping softly at the rock. To her right…

Her breath caught as she realized she was not alone. A man crouched next to a small depression in the rock. No, not a man. An alien.

She could see a broad, heavily muscled back, similar to human anatomy but covered in shimmering teal-colored skin. His hair was the same color—or perhaps it wasn’t hair. The wide, wavy strands bore a definite resemblance to seaweed. Her heart skipped a beat.

Was he the one who had been taking care of her? It seemed to be the only logical premise, but why? Was he simply being compassionate? Or did he have something else in mind?

She frantically ran through her various aches, but there was nothing to suggest that he had molested her. How long would that last? The Ithyians had been quite clear that she and the others were to be sold for a very specific purpose. And since they had gone to the trouble of kidnapping them, there was obviously a market for human sex slaves.

The water looked temptingly close, but she didn’t think she had the strength to swim away from that big, powerful body. But maybe she didn’t need to. If she could get outside the cave and find a place to hide, she could return once he went in search of her. Then she could drink some of the water she could hear trickling down the wall. Her parched mouth eagerly endorsed the idea.

She started to edge cautiously towards the water but as soon as she moved, the silky strands that made up her bed rustled. The stranger turned towards her at once.

Golden eyes. The ones that had haunted her dreams. Huge, slit-pupiled, and utterly alien. For a moment, she felt trapped, drowning in those golden depths, then she snatched her gaze away. The rest of his features were not as striking. His nose and ears were flatter and more streamlined than those of a human, his mouth wider. Then he smiled and she saw his teeth—white, pointed, and sharp, more like those of a shark than a man.

Her stomach clenched and she tried to scramble towards the water, but her body still refused to obey. He frowned and quickly came to her side, moving with an odd gliding gait before bending down next to her.

“You must be still. Your body has not yet recovered its strength.”

The deep, rippling voice washed over her and somehow calmed her panic. She took a deep breath, then another. However unlikely it seemed, maybe he was genuinely concerned for her wellbeing.

“Thir—thirsty,” she croaked.

“Yes of course.”

As he hurried back to the other side of the cave, she noticed that he was wearing very tight trousers, almost exactly the shade of his skin, that seemed to flow directly into odd shaped boots. Maybe that was the reason for his strange gait.

He returned almost immediately with a curved shell filled with water. She started to reach for it, but he put his arm behind her and lifted her into a sitting position against his shoulder. Part of her wanted to protest, but it felt oddly natural and she realized he must have been helping her drink like this while she was sick. She tried to reach for the shell cup, but her hand trembled so badly she couldn’t clasp it. He put his hand over hers, long, cool fingers enclosing her much smaller digits, and lifted it to her mouth.

Two sips of cool liquid slid down her throat before he pulled it away.

“More.” She tried to make it a demand, but it came out more like a plea.

“In a minute. If you drink too quickly, your body will reject it.” Those disconcerting teeth flashed briefly. “Believe me, I have made that mistake.”

The heat threatened to rise to her cheeks, but she sternly pushed aside her embarrassment. She wasn’t responsible for her bodily reactions while she was ill. As they waited, he continued to hold her tucked against his chest. His skin felt cool and silky against her cheek, with a faint intriguing texture that was not quite scales but was definitely not human skin. This close to him, she was aware of just how much bigger his body was, but her panic hadn’t reoccurred since he first spoke. His skin warmed slightly where they touched, and she became aware of a faint, tantalizing fragrance like the clean air after a storm.

To her horror, she realized she was sniffing him, seeking more of that intriguing scent. He moved slightly, restlessly, but didn’t pull away. Instead, he gave her another few sips of water. They lay heavily in her stomach for a moment, but they soon settled.

“Where am I?” she asked, her voice still hoarse. “What happened?”

“What do you remember?”

“I’m not really sure.” Still not sure of his intentions, she kept her answer deliberately vague. “The pod landed in the ocean, but then it started to leak.”

“Outdated equipment,” he growled, his voice deepening. “You were lucky to even make it through the atmosphere. And even luckier that I saw you trying to escape.”

“I didn’t see a boat. What were you doing there?”

He shrugged a shoulder, and she actually felt his muscles rippling against her body. Wow. She didn’t think she had ever been this close to somebody with such an impressive build. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss Lily’s attraction to her cheating boyfriend. Stay on track, she scolded herself.

“I was swimming,” he said casually.

“In a storm?”

He shrugged again, and she sternly ignored how good it felt.

“I did not expect a storm. I was in a hurry to leave the capital and rather foolishly did not check on the weather.”

There was the faintest tinge of blue along his cheekbones. Was he embarrassed? The sight was unexpectedly reassuring, and she found herself smiling up at him.

“I’m Kate, by the way.”

“And I am Pr—I am A’tai. At your service.”

She was quite sure that if he hadn’t been holding her, he would have bowed. Apparently, not all aliens were as uncouth as her captors. But the thought of them reminded her of her friends, and she tried to struggle upright.

“I wasn’t alone. There were two more of us. Did you see any other pods? Any other humans?”

He helped her sit up, but he kept his arm around her back, a cool, reassuring band of muscle.

“I’m afraid not. But my focus was on rescuing you from the storm.”

“And I really appreciate that, but is there a way—”

She stopped abruptly. He had been very nice to her, but he was still a stranger. Did he realize that she was going to be sold as a slave? What if whoever he communicated with wasn’t as nice? She didn’t want to put Mary and Lily in danger.

“A way to communicate with the surface?” He finished for her. “I do not have a communicator with me.”

“What do you mean surface? And how do you know it’s still storming? How long have we been here?”

“To answer your questions in order, first, we are in one of the underwater caves beneath the Tears of Latiti.” He held up a long finger and she saw in fascination the webbing between his digits. “Two, rainwater continues to trickle down from above so the heavens are still open. That is what you are drinking, by the way. And finally, we have been here for three days.”

“I’ve been sick for three days?” Her shoulder sagged and she felt him pull her back against his chest. Even if her friends had landed nearby, the storm would have sent them a long distance away by now. She could only hope that their pods had been more watertight than hers.

“You almost drowned.” His fingers fleetingly caressed her cheek. “And I suspect you were not well before then.”

He was probably right. She had eaten little on the ship; none of them had. How was she going to find the others? “When will the storm end?”

“At this time of year, I would not expect it to last for more than another day. Two at the most.” He frowned down at her. “But I will not be able to obtain any surface foods for you until it stops. You need to regain your strength, but you refused the mollusks I tried to give you. Is there anything from beneath the water that you can eat?”

“I can eat fish,” she said unenthusiastically. It had never been one of her favorites, but she was sensible enough to know that he was right. A wave of exhaustion swept over her and right now, sleep seemed a lot more appealing than food. He gave her a little more water, but her eyes refused to stay open, and with a tired sigh, she turned her face to the firm muscles of his chest and went to sleep.

A’tai stareddown at the female sleeping so trustingly in his arms. Despite her disastrous landing and her obvious weakness, she had not complained. He could only imagine how his mother would have reacted in the same situation.

The impulse to protect her still concerned him. His father had always been overly concerned with his mother’s welfare, and he was determined not to follow in his footsteps. I should put her down, he told himself, but he did not want to release her. His gaze drifted down over the white slave gown that barely concealed her curves. Perhaps there was another way.

The subject of slaves had been under much discussion in the Empire recently, with rumors flying around that the new Emperor would outlaw the practice. However, it was such an intrinsic economic factor in many of the worlds that made up the Empire that such a ruling could create outright rebellion. To date, the new Emperor had only focused on making sure that the existing laws protecting slaves were fully enforced. Under those laws, abandoning a slave in a faulty escape pod would constitute negligence. He would be completely justified in removing her from her owner and assuming responsibility.

Although slavery was not a common practice on Mafana, neither was it forbidden. If he took ownership, then he would be fully justified in his desire to protect her. But as his slave, she would not be able to manipulate him the way his mother had manipulated his father. The more he thought about the idea, the more it appealed to him. She would belong to him, and only to him. He would not have to take her to balls or any other tedious social events. He would never have to worry about her cheating on him.

He would not demand a physical relationship, of course, but if he was a good master and treated her with great care, there was no reason why she would not come to welcome the idea.

His eyes drifted back down over the white shift. It was designed to accentuate a slave’s assets and make it easy for their masters to access them. Even now, it had slipped apart to reveal the lush curve of her hip and a tantalizing glimpse of the small patch of fur between her legs. If someone had asked him three days ago, he would have found the idea distasteful, but now the dark silky curls that veiled her little pink cunt were as provocative as the white shift.

His moa pressed against his sheath again and he swore. He had done his best to ignore her tantalizing body as he cared for her. He had been reasonably successful when her illness was at its height and his concern outweighed his unfortunate desire, but now that she was clearly on the road to recovery, his neglected moa was reasserting itself.

He forced himself to settle her back in the bed of soft sea grasses, averting his eyes as a rosy little nipple peeked out from the edge of her gown. The most important thing right now was to restore her health. Since she had said she would eat fish, he would descend into the deep, cold waters beneath them to hunt for the delicacies that swam there. Hopefully the cold water would also relieve his rampant moa. But as he slipped into the water and unfurled his limbs, he suspected it was a useless hope.