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Back The Octopus and I Save as PDF
Chapters (19)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. PRAISE
  3. TITLE PAGE
  4. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  5. DEDICATION
  6. CONTENTS
  7. ONE
  8. CROSSING ISTHMUS
  9. THE OCTOPUS INCIDENT
  10. TWO
  11. A SEAL’S TAKE
  12. THE MULTI-COLOURED KNITTED KNOCKERS
  13. NO BIRD IS ONLY AN I
  14. THREE
  15. I AM SHE
  16. SPUN AIR
  17. THE OCTOPUS AND I
  18. NOTES AND REFERENCES
  19. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Then he thinks about the alpha ramming him from the rocks, and he thinks about how terrified he was, and how submissive he felt, and he wonders if he’ll ever care about mounting a harem enough to fight alphas like that, no matter how big he grows. He thinks about his cock emerging from his fur like an eel from a cave when he smelled that his friend was beta-ready. He would quite like to mount her. But then he thinks about watching the would-be-alpha die with his throat ripped out, and he thinks about the beta-half-pup who brushed up against him teasingly as they watched the betas hump each other, and he thinks again: maybe being a beta would not be so bad.

He dives back down and drifts on the lower current, mulling it all over.

When I am beta, he thinks, I can swim and feed with my friend every harem season. I don’t have to be alpha to see her, he realises; in fact, it will be easier to see her if he is not a trapped alpha, unless, of course, he is her harem’s alpha. But he loves herding fish; he loves gorging himself. Would being her harem’s alpha really be worth it? He’s not so sure.

As he floats drowsily, watching the swaying and trickling beams of sunlight, he sees the silhouette of a tuna above him. He watches it for a while, perplexed. It’s the strangest thing: it’s as though it’s trying to race in one direction, but something is pulling it in another—in the direction of the boat, which has also drifted into his view. The tuna struggles lamely, and he thinks, idly, of all the tuna he has chased along the current this last little while. This could be his chance to finally catch one.

He spirals slowly, thinking, then decides.

He rushes at the tuna, charging as fast as he can as it slips up beside the boat. As he reaches it, it breaches the water, so he launches himself up into the air at it, breaching his head and shoulders up high enough to reach the dangling fish. He sinks his teeth into its rich, fatty flank.

For a brief moment, his eyes meet the eyes of a human-half-pup who is standing in the boat. The human-half-pup’s expression of surprise is so distinct, so seal-like, if it weren’t for the fish in his mouth he would have barked a laugh.

Syrupy blood trickles down his throat.

THE MULTI-COLOURED KNITTED KNOCKERS

THE MULTI-COLOURED KNITTED KNOCKERS

Jem was doing the dishes when his phone rang. He wiped his hands dry on a tea towel and picked it up. It was Lucy’s number displayed on the screen, but when he answered, it was Flo’s voice that surged out of the speaker.