Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

H e didn't like that he wasn't with her. Maketes was the only thing standing between her and injury, if not death. He'd seen how she reacted to those people who were going to attack her. She'd hidden. If he hadn't been there, she would have died. There was no question in his mind about that. She would have been shot in the head and no one would have known she was even dead.

Then she'd slept on him. He could still smell her on his scales, and it was driving him mad. He needed to be in there with her.

But she'd asked him not to be. She'd asked him not to watch over her while she was so far from his reach, and he hated every second of it. She'd pressed that etched example of where she wanted him to go up to the glass and he wasn't an idiot. He knew when to say yes to a woman and when to say no.

She needed to do this. Hadn't he been working on her fear? He'd gotten her to pet a shark. He'd gotten her to pet him.

That memory was seared into his mind. All he could think about was her tiny hands rubbing his chest, the way her thick thighs had straddled him, and how badly he'd wanted to squeeze it. He wanted to grip every part of her just to see his hand against her bare skin. Her lovely, freckled skin would dent around his strong grip.

He wanted her all the time. And that was quickly becoming a problem, because he couldn't focus on anything else.

Sighing, he swam in a circle around the building one more time, trying to figure out what that map had meant. It was pretty clear there were markings on it, but he had always been terrible at following directions. Maps were more guidelines, anyway. He trusted the ocean to get him to where he needed to go, and usually she was kind enough to kick him in the right direction when he forgot what he was doing.

Today, the goddess of the ocean had abandoned him. Even the sea had a flavor of disappointment, as though she was reminding him that it was important to pay attention. Especially in times like these.

Frustrated, he flicked his tail and swam even faster. But then he was just circling the damn building, and he wasn't actually looking at the inside. His frustration had a way of getting the better of him, which meant he unfortunately was lost now. If he could get ahold of that temper, he could figure out where he had first met with her, and then backtrack from there.

Obviously, the achromos inside of the building were now all on high alert. They watched him through almost every window he could see. Which was likely good for her, because she could sneak right past them. But he didn't see her anywhere.

She'd made it sound like the office she had to go into would have a window. That he didn't have to worry about losing her in that window because he should be able to see her.

He was so angry he was starting to glow. The lights all up and down his tail flickered on and off, which was even worse. Now the humans could really see him. And if he didn't get control of himself, he'd end up lighting up the entire ocean.

The neon lights behind him cast his shadow on the building as he passed. In his gaze, it made him look ten times larger. A massive beast whose shadow enveloped the entire tower. His tail moved slowly, like the shark they had seen, his claws were visible on that shadow. It swallowed up the entire city, surrounded by a halo of red.

Another dark shadow joined his, this one significantly larger. He knew who it was long before he looked, but how could he not? He could smell the scent of sulfuric depthstrider from miles away.

"Couldn't stay away from me?" he muttered, casting his gaze along the building and hoping to catch a glimpse of a curvy figure with a scowl on her face.

"You looked like you needed some help. I am here to offer my assistance."

"I don't need help from the likes of you." Ace's words burned in his mind, and he turned to glower at the other undine. "You're too big. The humans are already looking at you. You draw too much attention."

Fortis just stared at him. The massive depthstrider didn't have to do much to look intimidating. Unlike many of his people, he was such a pale lavender at his chest that he glowed in the darkness. It was almost hard to look at him without squinting his eyes. Those yellow bulbs at the end of his tentacles sparked with emotion and then disappeared again. But it was his gaze that made Maketes uneasy. Those dark orbs were already swirling with colors, barely dark at all. Instead, they were a rainbow of the future that Maketes didn't have time to deal with.

All that bulk was eye catching, though, so perhaps Ace had a point. But then Fortis's expression registered. Not one of disapproval, as Maketes was very used to. This expression was one of... pity?

"Achromos," Fortis said.

"What about them?"

"You called them humans."

Had he? Maketes barely even remembered his rant. He'd just been angry, and he wanted Fortis to shut up for a few seconds and he'd wanted Fortis to feel like the bad guy. Not him. He wasn't too large so that he wasn't useful anymore. That was the other undine. That was all the others who had... had...

Shit. He had called them humans. He wasn't even using his own people's language anymore.

He growled low, the sound escaping through his gills even as his tail lit up with all the tiny specks of yellow that he had learned to hate so much. "What of it, Fortis?"

"You've been spending too much time with their species."

"I understand that, friend. What would you have me do? Ignore them? Mira and Anya would be so disappointed, considering I'm the only one of our kind who knows how to act less like a monster and more like a man."

He'd always prided himself on that detail. He was the one the women could go to when they needed to talk. No one else. They went to him, because they knew he would listen to them. That he wouldn't try to talk over them or try to solve their problems. Maketes was the one who always listened, even if he made jokes and took nothing seriously.

Fortis flicked his side fins, keeping him still in the water where he hovered like some monolithic beast from the deep. He shouldn't even be here. The depthstriders were supposed to stay where they were happiest. In the deepest parts of the ocean where no one would ever have to look at them again. Namely, Maketes.

"Part of who you are is the one who sees," Fortis replied, his voice low and raspy. "You are meant to know them as they are, not as we see them. You are destined to call them into the darkness with us."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Maketes wanted to slap him with his tail so bad. "I don't want more soothsaying or future telling. Can you please, for the love of all things in the sea, stop talking to me like I'm begging for the future and instead, try to be a real person for once?"

Fortis blinked. All the shimmering lights in his eyes disappeared as well. And suddenly, Maketes was looking at the real man behind the power.

Had he ever seen this side of Fortis before? He wasn't all that certain.

Fortis took a deep breath, his gills shuddering at his sides before they stilled, as though it took a great deal of concentration to not be the terrifying asshole who told people their future when they didn't want to know it.

"If you wish to deal with the man, then so be it." And that was it. That was all he said. He just floated there, looking like one of the People of Water for once, and not the depthstrider who looked into people's minds without permission.

Maketes didn't know what to say. This man had tormented him most of his life, trying to tell him bits and pieces of his future when Maketes just wanted to live it. And now here he was. No longer a creature. Just a man.

Clearing his throat, he tried to find words. "Well. That's good."

"You will be the one to determine if it is or not."

"Right." Maketes tried to find the humor in this. "You could have turned it off since day one?"

Fortis lifted his shoulder in a half shrug. "I suppose I could have. But why should I?"

"So people weren't scared of you?"

The big male spread his lips wide, showing all those sharp teeth that were far worse than the shark. Speaking of, the big beauty was still around the city. She coasted past them, her black eyes taking Fortis in and Maketes realized the depthstrider was bigger than the shark. He was beyond massive. He was larger than any male he'd ever seen.

"How did you ever have a son?" he muttered, shaking his head as he turned his attention back to the city.

"Much the same way as the rest of our people."

"But you're so big."

"And she was very brave." There was another flash, as if Fortis had grinned again. "I might have let her win a few times, but she never held it against me. She gave me a son that I am infinitely proud of, and I have raised him as she wished."

It didn't escape Maketes's notice that Fortis spoke of the female in the past tense. He knew very little about depthstriders, but he knew the dangers of pregnancies and their people. Females of their kind weren't exactly made for procreation. That was why they chose smaller mates. It made the birth easier.

Their numbers had dwindled in the recent years. Hard lives, seas that weren't as healthy as they used to be. All pieces of a puzzle that had drawn their kind to warmer waters and ever closer to the humans.

Achromos, he corrected himself. Even thinking of them as anything other than the colorless creatures they were was a dangerous path to go down.

Fortis pointed higher up the building. "Your little one is up there, if you are seeking her."

"What do you mean, she's up there?" He glanced up, which was far higher than she'd indicated. "She said she was in this area."

"You are not very good at following her or at hunting, little brother. She is on the higher levels. I believe she told you she was going in that direction." Fortis moved in a wave like motion, heading up the building without waiting for Maketes to join him. But his words trailed behind him as though they were right next to each other. "Perhaps you should listen to her when she speaks."

"I do listen!" He was the best listener there was! The women loved him because of it. He listened to everyone that spoke to him.

He just... wasn't exactly good at letting it all settle before his mind moved onto the next thing.

Flicking his tail to keep up with the much larger male who was already far ahead of him, they both traveled upward. And there, just past another crack in the building, he could see his little kefi. She was rummaging through drawers of a room. There were papers strewn all around her. Obviously not the right place for her to be, though.

There was no key in her hand, and that wasn't a good sign. She'd already had plenty of time to find it.

He could see her mouth moving. Somehow, she was talking. Not to him, though. But then he saw the little beads of her droid zipping back and forth in the room, as though even the droid was upset.

"Now what?" he muttered. There always seemed to be something wrong with these two. They were terrible at planning anything that worked.

"You were inside the pavilion with her?" Fortis asked.

"How did you?—"

Fortis tapped his gills on his ribs, still not looking at Maketes as his gaze tracked Ace's movements. "I can smell it on you, little brother. You are coated in blood."

"I killed some achromos who attacked her."

"Oh, now they're achromos?"

"They are when they think they can lay a finger on what is mine." The snarled words ripped out of him, rage hanging from every single sound. He still wanted to rip into them again. He wanted to tear their flesh from their bones with his teeth, listening to their screams of fear. He'd do it all a hundred times over if they thought he would leave her to their grip any longer than he had to.

"On what is yours?"

Shit. He shouldn't have said that. Fortis took words far too literally, and everyone else would hear that Maketes was interested in an achromo of his own.

"This is my mission." He tried to save himself by saying that, but he knew it was a losing battle. "I will not fail it because some simple achromos with tiny weapons attack us."

Fortis's lips quirked, just a hint of a smile, before he was back to the stoic rock that he usually was. "Interesting choice of words. Happy hunting, brother. It is good that you killed them. I can ignore the other future you might have swum down."

"I thought we weren't talking about that," Maketes replied in a sing song voice. "Now just help me find the crack in the wall so I can get back in and make sure no other achromos get ideas around my own."

"That will be a problem."

"Is that so? Did you see that in a vision, or did you use your worthless eyeballs?"

Fortis just pointed. And that was when Maketes realized there was, actually, a crack near her. She'd been right. There was a small area of filtration that was likely used for drainage. It just wasn't wider than his arm.

Groaning, he slapped his forehead with his hand. "You've got to be kidding me! How small does she think I am?"

A fish might swim up that. Or a crab. But a full-grown male of his size wasn't going to get through. He might be able to fit an arm, but that was it. The filtration system wasn't what Alpha's had been, but then again, Gamma was individual towers. These weren't at all what he needed to get to her side.

Swimming up to the glass, he slapped at it hard. "Ace!"

She whipped around, that glare on her face sending a tingle all the way down to the tip of his tail.

"What?" she hissed, stomping up to the window in that adorable way she always did and slapping it in response. "I'm busy!"

"I can't get in."

"I don't care! I'll meet you back where we first came in."

"What if you need me?"

She bared her teeth in a little snarl that might have been terrifying if he didn't see how blunted they were. "Maketes, I am trying very hard to be polite to you. But I do not need you. No one knows I'm here. I have not been attacked. Stay out in your giant ocean with all your wide open space and let me work."

"You said I could join you." Did she not want him with her? That thought stung a bit.

"I know I said that, but plans change. You're just going to have to roll with it. I'm this close to getting the key. This doctor kept a journal, so-" She pinched her fingers together and moved them over her lips. "Zip it, fish man."

He had no idea what that meant, but she'd already moved away from the window and back to the desk. He had a mind to slap the glass again and again until she was annoyed enough to come back, but Fortis cleared his throat behind him.

So Maketes would wait. Even if it was killing him to be out here while she was in there.