Chapter 15

Iwake alone in the strange guest room that Shuvo's mother, Calenta, showed us to after she tried to feed us everything in her pantry. The walls are painted dark brown and textured like tree bark. The bed is large and surprisingly comfortable. There is an armoire across the room that looks like something out of a fairy tale, and the floor is carpeted in moss.

Stretching my arms over my head, I groan out a jaw-cracking yawn before sliding my hand across the cooled spot where Shuvo was when I fell asleep. I roll to my side, pulling the soft blanket over my shoulders and wonder when he left. Pressing my legs together, I let out a soft moan at the ache between them and the memory of how it got there.

Meeting Shuvo's parents was a surprise. Of course, I knew he had family here and that I would meet them at some point, but I wasn't expecting to walk straight to his childhood home. His mother is sweet and talkative. His father is just as silent as Shuvo. His sister and brothers, along with their families, will arrive in a few days. Everyone is over-the-moon excited that he's come home.

It leaves me with an odd sense of melancholy, knowing that if I were to show up at my family home after a lifetime of being missing, I would receive a very different kind of welcome.

Clutching the blankets to my chest, I sit up and push my hair out of my face at the same time I push those murky thoughts away.

My eyes scan the large room, and a smile teases the corners of my mouth when I see my clothes scattered across the floor, followed by the much happier memories of the previous night. The way Shuvo covered my mouth with his hand as he rode me hard, whispering shhhhh into my ear as he muffled my orgasm.

Heat flares between my legs, and I'm about to slide out of bed to find where Shuvo has gone when the door opens and he appears with his arms full of plates and cloth, followed by the savory smell of breakfast.

My stomach growls loudly, and he drops the cloth at the end of the bed and hands me one of the plates before climbing back into the bed beside me with the other.

"God, this smells amazing!" I pick up the spoon and dig into what looks like a mix of grains and fluffy scrambled eggs. Lifting a small bite to my lips, I give it a tentative nibble before groaning and digging in. The textures are familiar, but where I'm expecting salty, I get lightly sweet instead.

"It's called—" Shuvo begins quietly as he points his utensil at my plate.

"Don't tell me." I snap my hand up with a giggle between bites. "Please, I really don't want to know; just let me enjoy this." I've learned that, in most cases, it's best not to know exactly what you're eating.

He chuckles and starts eating his portion. When we've finished, he takes our plates and sets them aside. Then he reaches for the cloth he dropped at the foot of the bed earlier. I also notice he's wearing one of the communicators around his neck like his mother had on. I wonder why?

"Put this on, and then I'm going to take you to the water," he tells me.

The cloth is silky soft and a beautiful dark orange color. I hold it up in front of me and realize it's a body suit.

"What are we going to do at the water?" I ask nervously. "I should warn you, I don't know how to swim."

Shuvo waves my worry away, but I'm not about to let him brush it off so easily. "I'm serious, I have a low-key fear of water."

He steps in front of me and takes my hands, pulling me from the bed. "There is no need to worry. I won't let anything happen to you."

I sigh at him completely missing the point and decide this isn't a battle worth fighting right now. Besides, I've trusted him enough to take me across the entire universe. I can at least try to trust him in this too.

The bodysuit fits like it was custom made for me. It covers me from my feet to just under my chin, leaving only my head bare. As I dress, he explains that the material will protect my skin and work as an insulator—so, basically an alien wetsuit—since I'm not an aquatic species.

He circles me, his mouth curled up in an approving smile. "Ready?" He takes my hand and pulls me from our room before I can respond.

"I don't know about this," I hedge as I stand at the edge of the water. The beach is covered in flat, polished stones, and the water is surprisingly warm as it laps over the tops of my covered feet. The thick layers of clouds overhead make everything look dreary, but the temperature is balmy and surprisingly pleasant.

"Does the sun ever come out from the clouds?" I ask as Shuvo holds my hands and leads me into the water until it's up to our knees.

"Sometimes. Never for very long."

My disappointment quickly turns to anxiety as Shuvo continues walking backward, holding my hands and pulling me after him.

"Wait," my voice quivers nervously when the water reaches just under my breasts. My hands are trembling in his, and my breaths are starting to come faster and faster. I want to do this, but I don't know if I can make myself.

"I won't let anything happen to you," he promises me.

It's not that I don't believe him. It's just that…

"Fish live in the ocean." The suddenly thought of something unseen brushing up against me has my feet backpedaling. "Why don't we just sit down over there on the beach? I've never been to a beach like this bef—oooohhhhhaaaaa!"

The moment I look back toward the beach, Shuvo's arms circle my waist, and he tosses me up against his shoulder before wading deeper into the water. This time he doesn't stop until the waves are lapping just beneath my chin, and I'm pretty sure his feet are no longer touching the bottom.

"Shuvo, please!" I beg him with my arms wrapped around his neck. "I don't think I can do this."

Shuvo presses his forehead to mine. "Trust me. I'd never let anything happen to you," he promises. He holds me like this until I calm a bit and then, when I have my breathing more or less under control, he holds up a silver tube.

"Where did that come from?" I glance down into the water at where he might have pulled it out of. He's wearing nothing but a pair of pants in the same material as my bodysuit.

Ignoring my question, Shuvo pushes a button, and a full mask inflates from the tube. With a practiced ease, he settles it over my face and straps it firmly behind my head. Once he's happy with the fit, he unhooks the communicator from around his neck and tosses it up onto the beach, where it lands in some moss that must have washed up.

With his arms banded tightly around me, he stares into my eyes as he slowly sinks beneath the surface, dragging me down with him. My lungs pump until just before I'm pulled under, when I suck in a deep breath and hold it, squeezing my eyes shut at the same time my head slips under the water.

"Nee-tah."

The deep voice has one of my eyes opening, quickly followed by the other one. The mask is keeping the water from my face, and I have a crystal-clear view of Shuvo hovering right in front of me.

He's still holding me against his chest as he lazily kicks his feet, propelling us backward and taking us deeper and deeper.

"Breathe, my love," he reminds me. His voice is rich and melodious, resonating through the water much differently than on land or through the communicator.

I suck in a sharp breath, not because I'd been holding it, but because the blackness of his eyes suddenly slides away, like a second eyelid.

"Your eyes," I whisper in awe.

No longer demon-black, Shuvo looks back at me with the most amazing orange irises. They remind me of the sun on a hot day when it hovers just above the horizon for that last moment before sinking from sight.

"Our eyes are sensitive to light and air outside of the oceans," Shuvo explains as he continues to draw us farther from the surface. "The film protects them when we are out of the water, much like your mask and suit will filter oxygen and protect your exposed skin from the temperature changes as we descend."

"Do I look different to you like this?" I spit out the first thought that pops into my head. "Without that covering, I mean."

Shuvo chuckles and then nods. "Yes. You're clearer like this. Even more beautiful, which I didn't think would be possible."

My heart squeezes in my chest, and if we weren't under water, I would kiss him! "Don't you need a mask? How are you talking to me?" I ask instead as I look down at his exposed upper body. "And what about your skin?" That's when I notice the gills that have appeared along both sides of his neck and across his ribs.

"There is no need. I'm just as comfortable under the water as I am on land." To demonstrate, he loosens his arms around me and grabs hold of my hand, so he can swim alongside me as he pulls me deeper and deeper until the rays of the sun dim.

"Being underwater enables you to speak?"

He nods. "My vocal cords are activated by the flow of water, rather than air. That is why it's difficult to speak on land. Some of my people choose to live their whole lives deep in the ocean, only coming to the surface a few times in their lives, if ever. Most of us split our time between the two. And some, like me, choose to leave the water almost entirely.

"My mother prefers the land, like me, while my father would have never breached the surface if he hadn't met her and recognized her as his mate." Shuvo chuckles. "I think the Fates had a good laugh when they made their match. They couldn't be more opposite, and yet…"

"He must love her." I sigh, and my inner romantic swoons a little.

"He does."

Shuvo slows and pulls me so we're facing each other again. Reaching out, he cups the side of my face, stroking his thumb across my cheek. Or, rather, where my cheek would be if I weren't wearing the mask. He stares at me with his amazing eyes and then leans close and presses his lips to the space just below my hairline that isn't covered.

A soft smile touches my lips, and I cup both sides of his face as I curl my legs around his waist so every inch of us is touching. "Maybe we'll have that kind of love someday too."

He presses his forehead to mine. "Maybe," he agrees.

Holding me against him, he begins a slow kick that propels us over the edge of an underwater cliff, and then we dive down into a dark abyss.