Passionate Ink (10 page)

Despite his disappearing into the water, his strong scent still wafted around her in waves. He wasn’t too far away and she needed to be here with him. That thought, of course, totally confused her due to the fact he’d kidnapped her.

Instincts
. He’d said in this Octoposeidon form she’d live by her instincts. But she hadn’t turned tonight and her instincts were telling her to be near him.

“Oh come on,” she blurted, her voice echoing in the still night air, making her tense with wariness. What if he got hurt out there in the ocean? What if he got killed by predators?

She swallowed at her suddenly dry throat and focused on trying to think of what she should do next. A huge part of her urged her to stay and wait here for him to come back to her. He was her mate. He’d fucked her in the ocean depths. He’d claimed her in order to protect her and because he loved her.

Oh come on, Cat
.
You’ve flipped your freaking lid. He’s probably drugged you and you’re hallucinating all this
.

Another part of her, the curious side, urged her to explore all possibilities that maybe, just maybe, he was telling the truth. Her hand slipped into the pocket of her robe and she found a piece of paper. Suddenly, she knew what to do.

* * * * *

Calder lay at the depths of the sandy ocean floor and waited for the golden rays of sunshine to do its magic and transform him back to human form. It had been a long and lonely night without Catalina. The anguish of thinking she might not be there when he came back out of the water had just about driven him mad. After what seemed like an eternity, the morning finally arrived and he swam closer to shore. As the sun split over the horizon, its bright rays splashed into the water and Calder felt the stirrings of the approaching change.

Impatience raged through him as his tentacles slowly receded into his body and his human shape began to shift. Blood poured into his limbs and the familiar crushing pressure increased inside him as his body realigned and his bones reformed.

When he could no longer breathe in the water, he popped his head past the surface and sucked fresh, salty air deep into his newly converted lungs. Immediately he opened his eyes and searched the beach. Surprise and excitement crashed through him as he spied Catalina’s large RV with its colorful splash of sea life creatures emblazoned on the side.

She hadn’t left?

During the long, lonely night, he’d convinced himself she wouldn’t be here. As blood poured through his limbs, his strength returned.

Finally, after several moments, he could stand. The sturdy sand beneath his feet allowed him to move swiftly toward the beach and her RV. Although he could travel faster as an Octoposeidon by using his tentacles, he’d learned to move quickly after a change into human form and he took off at a dead run out of the water.

He made it to the side door of the RV and halted. No sound came from within and his hearts dropped in despair. Had she walked out of here? Had she gone to the authorities? Were they on their way to arrest him?

A surge of adrenaline pounded through him and with intense wariness he surveyed the surrounding fields for any sign of activity. Nothing moved except the ankle-high grass. About two miles out in the ocean, he spied a sailboat and then a cruiser, but nothing to indicate a problem.

If he was ever caught, he would have to either escape or kill himself with the death pill embedded safely and deeply inside his thigh, before night fell, to avoid exposing his race. Humans hadn’t evolved enough in order to be trustworthy with a species such as shapeshifters. Until they were honorable, his kind would continue to protect their species via suicide.

As Calder lifted the latch on the door, he was surprised to find it unlocked. Although if she had run for help, she wouldn’t have bothered to lock up anyway.

He padded up the two steps into the interior and immediately found her. Apparently she’d closed the windows as the trailer was very warm and her scent intoxicated him to the point where he wanted to wake her and start fucking her. But he held himself under strict control. He didn’t want to frighten her again.

His breath backed up in his lungs. She’d fallen asleep, her face cradled in her arms, propped on top of the small table. The laptop sat right in front of her. The website URL and password he’d written on the card and put in her robe pocket lay on the table beside the laptop. Even if the authorities had come and found the card and used it, they would think the site was just for kooks.

Calder grinned down at Catalina. Such a beautiful human with her soft, silky, auburn tresses and smooth skin. He ran his fingertip along her wrist to her elbow and sucked in a hot breath when she whimpered softly. Yes, even in sleep she would know his touch, his scent. He’d been her first Octoposeidon and she would always know him.

He touched the screen on the laptop and it flared to life, bringing vivid images of the mating section of the Octoposeidon website. Erotic pictures of shifters with their human torsos and tentacle arms and legs intertwined, or swollen tentacles penetrating mouths, vaginas and asses, had his breath coming faster.

He wondered if she believed him now. Wondered if her instincts for preserving their kind ran as deep as his own. The first week of an Octoposeidon’s change was always the most vulnerable time for their species. The octopus side was rarely an issue. It was the human side of the shifting that caused most of their problems.

Confusion. Insanity. Denial. Suicide. He hoped Catalina would embrace who she really was.

There would, of course, be many questions. On both sides. The urge to fuck her grew more intense as he continued to inhale her succulent scent. When a female slept and dreamed of sex or when she was close to her mate, her sensual odor was always present. Those were the most dangerous times for the human side of the female Octoposeidon, giving her away to fellow Octos who might be in the area.

Right now she was giving off an extremely seductive aroma and it was wreaking havoc with his self-control. Perhaps that’s why she had kept her windows closed? Because she’d read the warnings on the website?

Excitement pounded through him at that hope.

“Catalina,” he whispered. His voice sounded too hoarse. Desperate. He needed to calm himself or he would frighten her. Or then again, if she got him even more aroused, his smell would fire off his skin and seduce
her
into
his
arms.

He needed to wake her before he grew even more heady. They needed to talk.

“Catalina,” he repeated, this time a little louder.

She whimpered again, a sexy little moan that had him wanting to hoist her up on the table and slide his tentacle-tattooed shaft deep into the snug warmth of her pussy. He smiled down at her as she blinked. Warmth melted through his entire body as she lifted her head and stared at him. His gut hollowed out at the momentary flash of fear shifting through her pretty, sky-blue eyes.

Then it was gone. Replaced by trust and acceptance. Instincts told him her brain had successfully made the transition. Her human side had caught up with her Octoposeidon side. He hadn’t anticipated it to happen this quickly. He’d expected a few more days of holding her here against her will, and then shifting together to Octo form and back to human form before her instincts for self-preservation would kick in. She was smarter than he’d given her credit for.

“Hey,” she whispered and smiled. The beauty of it stabbed deep into his hearts like a ray of sunshine, lifting his spirits and increasing his urgency to mate with her.

“You smell nice,” she said, tilting her head as she gazed up at him. Her lips were slightly parted, as if she were expecting a kiss. Dare he kiss her?

Shit.
His odor was seducing her. Ah, hell. He’d just have to go for it.

* * * * *

Catalina should be afraid of him. At least a part of her brain was telling her that, but her need to be with him was pushing away the remnants of fear with every breath. By studying that website she’d begun to understand the things that had been happening to her. The intense sexual dreams, her crazy attraction to Calder, her fascination with tentacles and why she’d been blacking out.

Okay, so she wasn’t pure human. She’d get over it. She had to.

“We need to talk,” he whispered as his head drew closer and, to her delight, his lips tingled softly across her mouth, leaving her wanting more. So much more.

“About?”

He pulled away and straightened.

“Us,” he said.

She really liked the sound of that.

“You can’t tell anyone about what we are, Cat. Pure humans can’t handle it.” His tone was serious and she forced herself to focus on being serious too. Kind of hard when all she wanted was the sexy man’s tattooed cock buried deep inside her.

“I know. I went through the website with a fine-toothed comb.”

“Yeah, I know it’s fascinating stuff about discovering there is another species living among the human population, but you can’t tell any of your friends. Under any circumstances.”

“I understand.” After witnessing his transformation, she’d gone online and read everything on that site. Her brain fully comprehended the seriousness of the situation and the dangers of being a female Octoposeidon, especially during the times when males smelled her and might fight Calder to get her.

It was weird how easily she’d accepted what she’d read. How it all made sense.

“I don’t understand why my mother and father never told me the truth. How could they not tell me? I remember when my mom was alive I always had babysitters at night. Mom and Dad worked nights, or so they said. My mom was at home during the day and she took care of me. My dad worked as a teacher at the local college. I just thought he was a workaholic. I never questioned why he worked so much. And when my mom passed away, the woman he remarried must be an Octoposeidon.”

“Once a male has a female and he loses her, he finds it extremely difficult to continue living, so he is forced to find and fight for a mate quickly. Your father was lucky to have found two mates in his lifetime. As you have read on the website, females are rare.”

She nodded, remembering reading that.

“They probably didn’t tell you because they were trying to protect you. Many times the child remains human and never changes. Sometimes parents decide to keep their shapeshifting a secret from the child to give them as normal a life as possible. There’s no real way to know if a child will change until the scent.”

Catalina smiled as warmth splashed through her. “Oh yes, the scent. Which, by the way, I love on you. You smell too good to resist, my man with the tentacle tattoo. Too good to resist.”

His eyes flared a deeper shade of green and he leaned closer. “I love you, Catalina. I’ve loved you from the moment I first smelled you.”

“I can honestly say the same, Calder. I love you too.”

“When do I get the rest of my tattoo?” he whispered against her mouth.

“After. We have more important things to do at the moment,” she replied.

Excitement laced his face and his mouth descended upon hers again, his warm lips making love to hers. He made her entire body tingle and her instincts told her she finally fit in somewhere. It was awesome, this strong sense of belonging. She wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. She was going to love this new way of life and she was going to love Calder.

Forever.

About the Author

Jan Springer lives in Ontario, Canada and writes full time. She enjoys kayaking, hiking, photography and gardening. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America, Passionate Ink and The Author’s Guild. She loves hearing from her readers.

Jan welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and e-mail addresses on her
author bio page
at
www.ellorascave.com
.

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