Her lips pressed into a thin line. Just like many of the women of his own kind did before they were about to fight. Let her try to draw blood. He’d enjoy the struggle.

Instead, she tilted her head back and looked at the box. “Beta Iota Epsilon 427, do not print any translators for any undine. That is a direct order. Do you understand?”

The strange head of the creature lowered into the box before it let out a chirping, “Understood,” and then sealed itself inside the box.

Had she... Had she just commanded the box to never listen to him?

Anger surged forward again, and this time he loomed over her. He tightened his fingers around her wrists until it must hurt. It must be painful. And still, she didn’t even wince.

“If you’re trying to hurt me, you’ll have to try a lot harder than that,” she said, so matter-of-factly that it made his head spin. “I’m an engineer, undine. I’ve been burned, hit, and trapped in engines more times than I can count. I’ve got calloused hands and tough bones. Do your worst.”

OceanofPDF.com

Fifteen

Mira

He almost seemed impressed at her words, but Mira didn’t want to impress him. She didn’t care what this asshole thought of her, even if she had tilted her hips a little, so he was more comfortably resting between her legs.

Their position was horribly intimate. And yes, maybe her nipples were sharp little points, but that was just because he was icy to the touch everywhere other than his hands and gills. She didn’t care what he thought of her, or what he wanted to do right now. All she cared about was getting herself out of this damned cave.

Arges bared his teeth, the sharp points very similar to that of the sharks she’d seen swimming in the depths. But that would not scare her.

She hadn’t been kidding. She was an engineer, and she was made of tougher stuff than he thought. If she had to prove that to him, then so be it. She would.

His hips flexed against hers, or were they even hips? She could feel there was boning in them, maybe a pelvic bone like hers. But then there were individual spines that continued down the back of his tail. What she wouldn’t give to see one of their skeletons just to know what the fuck she was feeling against her.

Did he even have a dick? She knew some fish just... sprayed sperm. Maybe that’s what he did. Maybe his species laid eggs and he would just soak her when he was done, leaving her unsatisfied and grossed out.

There, that did it.

Baring her own teeth in a mockery of his grimace, she growled, “Do you need me to roll you back into the water? You sure seem like you’re going to need some air soon.”

His rib gills fluttered.

“Don’t you dare.”

Again, they fluttered, and she swore she saw him start to choke.

“If you spit all that water out of your gills onto me, I will stick my welder up them and burn you from the inside out. Get off me.”

He made an odd, grating sound, and she realized that might be the sound of his laughter. But at the very least, he finally released her hands and then scooted himself off her. Although, it didn’t escape her notice that he dragged himself down her entire body. The feeling of that muscular chest would take a while to get over. Good god, he was built.

And once he was in the water, glaring at her like he always did, she had a hard time getting the feeling of him off. Like she could still conjure up the image of him. All those muscles bunched as he braced himself above her.

There was no way he had any idea what that position reminded her of. They probably had sex in the water, upright, fertilizing eggs in a completely emotionless transaction.

Right, get a hold of yourself, she thought.

Sitting up, she wrapped her arms around her knees to hold all the puzzle pieces of herself together. “You need to talk so the robot can translate your language for me.”

He stubbornly remained silent. The only sound in the cave was the slight dripping of water that tumbled out of his... not hair. What did he call it on top of his head?

“I really wish I could understand you,” she muttered. “It would make all this easier.”

And still, he just stared.

“Right. Well, the other thing I thought I would ask you about is fresh water. I can’t drink salt water.” She pointed to what he was in, as if he wouldn’t understand her. “Humans need water with no salt. Do you understand that? I’ve been boiling salt water and collecting the condensation, but it isn’t enough. Not really. I’m going to get sick, or worse, and⁠—”

He sank underneath the surface. Just like that. Like he was done listening to her, and didn’t care at all what the little human had to say. He wasn’t even going to speak, so the robot could record his language.

Her father’s voice echoed in her mind as she launched into movement. “Mira, girl. You think with your gut, not with your head. You’ve never been all that good at thinking a plan through before you’ve already started doing it.”

Lifting her hands over her head, body arcing, she dove into the water with an embarrassingly loud splash as she tried to swim after him. But she didn’t have her flippers. She didn’t have her rebreather. And he was so damned fast. All she saw was the tip of his dark tail before he disappeared into the darkness.

Brightly colored glowing plants brushed against her sides, trailing along her skin as she struggled to reach the mouth of the cave. Once there, she held onto the side of the wall and stared out into the abyss.

There was nothing out there. She knew it was because her eyes hadn’t adjusted, and the bright light behind her made it even more difficult to see into the distance. But it looked like she stared out into a black wall of nothing. There could be anything out there. A hundred sharks. Killer whales. Monsters from the depths that she couldn’t imagine or even dream up.

Her heart thundered in her chest, racing faster and faster until she was forced to turn around. She kicked her feet a little faster, moved her arms quicker, because her very soul screamed that something was following her up from the depths.

Breaking the surface, she gasped and slapped at the surface before dragging herself out of the water. Scuttling back, she slammed her back against the stone wall and watched the rioting waves.

Her mind conjured up all manner of sea creatures. A giant squid that had followed her up, hungry and desiring only to devour. Its long tentacles would hit the stones any minute before it pulled its gelatinous body up to consume her.

“Mira?” Byte asked, the tinny voice cutting through her fear.

She struggled to even speak. But eventually, she licked her lips and said, “Yes?”

“You’re going to get sick.”

Right. Her suit. She’d gotten it wet and there was water inside it, considering she’d recklessly dove in without even putting her hood on. The cold speared through her, and she realized how icy her toes and hands were. Even her face felt a little numb, making it difficult to speak.

Was her hair crunchy with ice? No, thank goodness. But as she wrenched the wet strands away from her face and tried to wring out the water, she chastised herself for the dangers of what she’d done.

“Stupid,” she muttered. “So fucking stupid.”

Peeling off the wetsuit exhausted her. She hadn’t eaten well lately, nor had she been sleeping regularly. Not to mention the dehydration and if she kept going down this thought spiral, then she would hit that wall of depression again.

“Damn it,” she said, her voice a little watery as she kicked the wetsuit away. “Damn it, this was so... so...”

Mira didn’t finish the sentence. No one was listening to her whining, anyway. Wrapping herself in the one blanket that had somehow survived the mold and algae, she turned back to the water to find dark eyes watching her.