“Into the water.” Where else would he be asking her to go? He drew back enough to see that her eyes had drifted shut, and she weaved toward him when he pulled away. “Come into the water with me again, kairos.”

“Kairos. That’s what you always call me.” She looked up at him in awe. “You’ve called me that for ages now. Surely you haven’t known⁠—”

He raked his claws through her hair, using them to tug her head back so she had to look at him. “I will call you whatever I wish, Mira. Kairos. achromo. Mine.”

He snarled the last word, every inch another creature that should have terrified her and yet, she looked at him with only more lust in her eyes. She wanted him.

It threw him off what he normally wouldn’t have done. With any of his people, he would have bitten her neck. Marked her. Torn into flesh, and waited for her to do the same to him. She would have already marked him with her spines or claws. But their females were so much larger than the males. She was so tiny, and he wasn’t sure they would even fit.

They would. He was certain of it. They were made for each other, just as the sea gods had intended. If it took a little work to fit them together, then they would figure it out.

But then again, he had to figure out how to even get them to fit.

Leaning to the side, he hooked her device with his claw and held it out to her. “Come with me, Mira. I have many questions that I need answered.”

“Wouldn’t talking up here be a little easier?”

“I don’t intend to talk.” His gills quivered again, and he let his eyes wander down her body before meeting her gaze. “Make your decision, Mira.”

Maybe he was pushing too hard. Maybe this would overwhelm her, but she looked at him like she wanted this. Like she wanted him. When he slipped back into the water, she didn’t hesitate. She pulled the device from his grip, yanked it on over her head, and followed him into the water.

They had slept through most of the day and into the night. The storm had passed, and the moon turned everything silvery and bright. Spears of moonlight caressed her skin with a metallic loveliness that took his breath away. Her dress floated up around her hips, revealing long legs that were all the same color. No scales, only smooth, lovely skin that would have once disgusted him.

Now, it only made him want to taste her. To touch her.

She turned toward him, her hair floating around her head and not a single moment of fear in her movements. She swam toward him, using her arms to drag her through the water.

The currents shoved her the last distance into his grip. She twined her legs around him, already arching into his touch even though he knew this likely wasn’t where she had expected any of this to happen.

But the cool water flowed over his gills, soothing the remaining aches and pains that still lingered. Then she touched him, and he forgot he’d been injured at all.

The currents flowed around them, coiling around both of their bodies and drawing a blooming scent to his gills that filled him with longing. He had smelled that from her before, but he had never realized that it meant she wanted him. Needed him. Desired him just as he did her.

Breathing it in deep, he had to force himself not to rub against her just to keep that scent. “Are you sure?” he asked, his voice low and booming. “Are you certain this is what you want?”

“I’ve never been more certain.” Even with her voice muffled by the device that helped her breathe, he could still hear the passion in her tone. “I want you, Arges. I have for a long time.”

Perhaps they both knew this moment would have to be stolen. That they couldn’t stay together for any longer than a few moments, because it was such a risk for them to even linger like this. To even be in the waves together meant that others could smell them, hunt them, find them.

He drew his hands down the smooth planes of her legs, feeling the warmth that radiated off her body even in the chilled water, and he found he just didn’t care. He had never been the one to risk anything, especially not her, but right now, this was worth every risk.

“I cannot kiss you,” he said, moved his hand over the device on her face. “Is this important to your people?”

“It’s nice, but not necessary.” She caught his hand and drew it down to her breast, molding his palm to her skin. “There are other ways to make this enjoyable.”

“I do not know your kind.” A small flare of nerves twisted inside him, wriggling like an eel in his belly. “Mating is rough and brutal for my people. The females are larger than us. We coil our tails together, fighting even while intertwined. There is much blood and much pain, along with pleasure.”

Her eyes widened in the water. “That’s not how it is for humans.”

“Then how is it?”

She cupped his hand in hers, easing his grip on her breast and softly gliding it over her skin. She used his thumb to ghost his touch over the peak, and to his fascination he saw her nipple grow harder beneath his gaze. “Soft,” she whispered. “Not always, but soft is always a good start. We touch. Linger. We use our tongue and fingers to bring the other person pleasure.”

“Tongues?” he tilted his head, watching her with a narrowed gaze. “You jest?”

“I do not.”

She leaned forward, and he had no way of knowing she was going to remove her rebreather. One second it was on, and the next he felt the warm, wet glide of her tongue along his gill.

His scales slid to the side, and he popped out into the cold water. His gills shuddered, his body seized, and all the thoughts in his mind fled other than fight, fuck, or claim. By all the gods in the sea, he had never expected it to feel that good. He hadn’t thought anything could feel that good! Her fingers had been stunning, but this?

She slid the device back over her face, hitting some button that cleared out the water as she leaned back. “Get the idea?”

“You’ll do that again,” he growled, gripping her a little too hard. “But first I’m going to do it to you.”

OceanofPDF.com

Thirty-Three

Mira

She had no idea what she was doing. Mira was wrapped around him like some kind of squid, coiling her limbs around him because that was what he said the females of his kind did. But she didn’t think she could ever make herself seem larger than him. And if he was expecting a woman larger that him, one that would fight him and hurt him, it wouldn’t be her.

It wasn’t possible for her to overtake him, and she highly doubted that he would do anything but laugh if she tried.

So that meant she had to do things her way. She had to touch him the way a human would touch another. She had to convince him that there were other ways to have sex. Other ways to enjoy being with each other that weren’t just fighting, blood, and fangs.

She was a little worried about the logistics, but they would see where this went. That was why she’d licked him. Just to see what he would do if she touched her tongue to him, to see what would happen if he realized there was another way to do this.

Perhaps his kind were violent, but she wouldn’t survive that. Not with him. Not likely even with one of her own kind.

He had clearly enjoyed that touch, though. With an arm still around her back, he tilted her hips so her chest was spread out before him. “So you like gentle touches. That’s what you say?”

“Human women do.” She stared down at his black eyes, already burning with so much passion it made her heart speed up. “The men maybe prefer more forceful touches.”

“I don’t want to talk about other men.”

“I have a feeling you’re going to be very different, so neither do I.” Maybe she was crazy to want him like this. He was an undine, not even remotely human, and yet all she could feel was more wetness pooling between her legs. His muscles were so tempting. She wanted to touch them, taste them, let her tongue trail between the valleys of his abs, even though she knew it was a risk every time she took off her rebreather.