Chapter 15

Thoughts of the woman consumed him. Even when he wasn't in the facility with her, he couldn't force himself to go far.

Instead, he found himself sleeping just above the building. Suspended and held aloft by the sea, he let his tail drop to keep him still. And even in his dreams, his mind was consumed with the image of her.

The flashing of her eyes, bright and warm as she looked at his body. The way her cheeks had turned red with some warning sign that he didn't understand. In the moment, he'd been quite certain the red was likely a mating flush. Perhaps she was receptive to him, but he'd kept his body tilted. The lack of an arm was easy to ignore when she couldn't really see it. When she could pretend he was just holding that arm behind him so she couldn't see the nightmare he really was.

No matter how he tried to twist his dreams, his sleep was always troubled. In the end, she always denied him. Just as all the others had.

He was too big. Too dangerous. He was not a worthy mate and even the achromo knew that.

But he didn't even call her an achromo anymore, did he? Kalon was the name that he'd given her, and now he couldn't get it out of his head. His little kalon, and it made him all too pleased to say the word.

A warmth grew in his chest with every thought of her. Out of the facility, he let all the nervous energy flutter through his gills. The water even turned white around him with the breath that ripped out of him. Even his fluke fluttered for her, like he was nothing more than a child who had seen his first crush.

Daios had never acted this way before. He had to get control over himself. He needed to make sure she didn't have this much control over him.

Why? He didn't know.

Daios needed to bring her back with him to see the others. He needed her to see Mira and for them to explain the reasoning behind his taking of her. That was the only reason he'd been in Alpha, after all.

At least, until he'd seen her. Until he realized that some part of him wanted to keep her and worse? That the sea was pushing him in her direction as well.

It all felt rather fated, and he was overwhelmed. So overwhelmed that it made it hard to breathe in the murky waters his tail stirred up every time he moved.

Eventually, though, he'd gotten himself under control. He would return to his kalon—no, the woman—and he would tell her they were leaving. He would pry his icy claws out of her clothing when he had to hand her over, and then he would not look back. He would give her up, just as he was meant to do. Because that was his role in this life.

He was to sacrifice for others, and then he could truly protect them. Nothing could be more important than his people. Certainly not a mate.

Swimming up to the surface of her facility, he broke through the water, ready to tell her to get her things together.

But she was already sitting in that strange seat that moved all around the room, with her droid perched on her head. Her strange tails were crossed underneath her body, the angles of them looking rather painful. The expression on her face was one of sheer boredom as he first saw her, but all of that narrowed into determination as she caught sight of him.

It made him nervous.

Narrowing his own eyes at her, he opened his mouth to tell her they were leaving.

"My name is Anya," she said, her voice a little too loud for the room.

He froze, incapable of saying anything else. Had he gone all this time without asking her name? Had he spent all this time not realizing that she even had a name? That he could have called her something other than achromo or kalon?

He was going about this all wrong. Here he was, fluttering for her, and he didn't even know her name.

Blowing out a long breath, he stilled his gills and then pressed his clawed hand to his heart. "Daios."

"Is that your name?"

He nodded and watched as she curled in on herself. He couldn't tell if that was relief or not, at least until she looked up at him through the waterfall of her golden hair and smiled.

"It's nice to know you have a name, Daios."

And oh.

Oh.

The sound of his name on her tongue was exquisite. He'd never heard someone say it in those raspy tones, but even more than that, it was the way she lingered over the word. The sound was wrong, like she was trying to put her tongue around the taste of his name and he...

Fuck. He shouldn't be here. Already those gills around his neck were moving, and he wanted to slide back into the water and kill something for her. He wanted to return with blood all over his claws, dripping from his teeth as he presented her with a kill that would show her just how badly he wanted her. No. Needed her. He needed every ounce of her attention. He was greedy for the feeling of her eyes sliding along his skin. And he would lay his body flat on the sands and pray to his gods for years, if that's what it took to feel her touch him again.

"Daios," she repeated. This time she looked at him, and he had to struggle to not roll his eyes back in his skull at the sound of his name on her lips. "I think we should talk."

He could listen to her talk for hours. But he had a feeling that wasn't what she was suggesting.

All he could manage was a low grunt, and then a wave of his hand.

She nodded, her eyes flicking back to her fingers. He watched as she moved them in her lap, curling them together and then untwisting them. "I have not been entirely truthful with you. I know you took me for your own reasons, and I have the suspicion that they are similar to my reasons for wanting to leave. You dislike my father. Is that correct?"

He bared his teeth in a low growl. How was he supposed to tell her how he hated her father? That Alpha was at the top of all the cities that were ruining his home, and now that he knew they were helping to control all of it? He wanted to destroy it all from the inside out.

She observed his expression and then nodded. "That's what I thought. I know you might not believe me, but I feel the same way about him."

She dropped one foot onto the floor, rocking the chair back and forth. The sharp squeal of it filled the room, before he leaned forward and stopped her movements. The strange look on her face had him shrugging.

"Loud," he said, pointing to his ears.

She bit her lip, then rasped. "Sorry. Can't hear it."

With a small nod, he moved back into the water, pleased that she stayed where she was this time. High-pitched noise no longer distracting him, he again waved his hand for her to continue.

"I think it's fairly obvious that my father is controlling. But it went beyond that. He was obsessive about my safety, although only because I had use. I was his songbird, his figurehead, the person that convinced everyone how great he was. The better I was doing, the more of a symbol I became." Her cheeks puffed out before she blurted, "My mother would have been that person if she hadn't died. Instead, I was the person who had to convince them all how great he was. Even though he wasn't."

Something coiled in his chest. It reached through his skin, forcing his hand out of the water. With a gentle touch to the bottom of her foot, he tried his best to show whatever comfort he could. Even if it was strange to touch what felt like bone underneath too thin skin.

At her sharp look, he moved the hand and pressed it against his own heart. "My mother died."

"I'm so sorry to hear that."

He nodded, claws curling over his right heart until he could feel the pinpricks digging into his skin. "The pain never goes away."

Another flash of emotion crossed in front of her eyes before she shrugged. "I never knew her."

He mirrored her shrug, and with a grunt added, "And yet, the pain still exists."

Her lips parted in surprise, and he couldn't stop staring at them. Why were they so pink? He'd never seen that color under the ocean, only when he had gone to the surface a few times. He'd seen similar hues in the sky up there. When the blue above the waves turned to streaks of bright pink and purple before the sun set and the moon rose on the horizon.

"I've been working for years with a group of people trying to take Alpha apart from the inside out."

The words shocked him. He opened his mouth, likely to lecture her on the dangers of such things, but all that came out was, "You?"

That bright red color burned through her cheeks, and he second guessed that the shade had anything to do with mating readiness. "Yes, me. Why? Do I not look like I'm capable of that?"

"But you're so... so..." He looked her up and down before blurting, "Small."

"What does size have to do with anything?"

Suddenly, he was angry with her. She thought size had nothing to do with keeping herself safe? She was so tiny and here she was, thinking she could take on a city as powerful as Alpha. One that he and his people had been fighting for ages. She thought she could do what his people could not?

With a flick of his tail, he lifted himself out of the water. His lunge brought him all the way to her side, where he braced himself against the strange contraption she sat in. Together, they wheeled back until her chair hit the glowing boxes against the glass. There they stayed, with him looming over her while his arm held him away from her.

Trembling with rage, he already knew the lights on his body danced with his emotion. The red illumination caught on the edges of her face, lighting her up from every angle.

"You think size has nothing to do with it?" he snarled, his teeth snapping in her direction. "How could you keep yourself safe? I see no claws, no teeth, no natural way to protect yourself. Tell me again how you, of all creatures, are able to protect yourself?"

He'd expected her to cower. Most people he tried to intimidate trembled beneath him, shaking as the fear spread throughout their form until they could think of nothing and no one but him. A monster was before her, covering her body with his and threatening her very life. He bared his teeth, slowly moving closer and closer to her face until he could feel the quick puffs of her breath against his lips.

This was what he wanted. Wasn't it? He wanted her fear. He wanted to know what that tasted like as it ran through his gills, because he was certain it would taste like all the other achromos he'd hunted.

But she was... Anya.

Not an achromo he'd been ordered to kill. She was the woman who had shown him kindness, who had no fear of touching him, and the one who had looked him in the eyes and not flinched when he'd done everything in his power to terrify her.

She watched him, her eyes maybe a little wider than they were before. But then her hand lifted, and she placed it where his neck met his shoulder. Just above the wound that had taken so much from him.

"Bitsy," she said, and the name made him realize she was talking to her little droid. "Shock him."

Shock him? What were they about to do? Change their skin into a different color so he was surprised?

But then he felt a zing of pain jolting through his body from where her hand touched him. He winced, even though it was only enough to contract his neck muscles. He moved toward her touch, his teeth bared with anger as he endured her torture.

The pain stopped as soon as it started. He remained where he was, his head turned into her hand as he got himself under control.

"I'm not without my own tricks," she said. "But I do agree that you're more powerful than I am. But you're more powerful than any of my kind, aren't you?"

He winced. "This strength is a curse."

"Is it?" She'd left her hand on his shoulder, and this time her fingers dug into the muscles there. "I wish I was as strong as you. I wouldn't be afraid of anything."

Daios wanted to turn to her and say that he would keep her safe. If she wished to send him out into the world as her weapon of destruction, he would massacre anything in her way.

But those thoughts were madness. They were the sickness that toyed at the edges of his thoughts.

Instead, he leaned down and nipped at the delicate flesh of her wrist. He didn't break through her skin, although he could feel how easy that would be. Instead, he left tiny red marks that dotted all along her arm as she drew it away from him.

Her catch of breath filled him with purpose. Gently, still holding onto her wrist with his teeth, he licked the sensitive skin there. His gaze caught hers as the rough bumps of his tongue toyed over her rapid pulse.

He might not know what the red coloring of her skin was, but she couldn't hide how her pupils blew the moment he made contact. And gods, the way she tasted.

He had to stop before he did something they both would regret.

"You thought to destroy your own father?" he asked, trying his best to get control over his emotions. He could taste her on his tongue. A soft pop of flavor that was earthy and real. "How long was that going to take?"

"Years of my life," she whispered, her wide eyes meeting his. "Many, many years. We planned for a very long time, and you ruined that plan by showing up when you did."

"And stealing you away?"

"No, we had someone sneaking into the city." Again, her breath puffed across his lips. "He was caught because my father made sure there was no one coming in or out of the city while you were somehow sneaking in. But I think this might be even better."

"Why's that?"

"Because now we have you." Her eyes flicked from his, down to his lips, then back up again. "Now we have you, and I think you want to destroy that city just as much as I do. Am I right?"

"If you want to kill your father, kalon, then I will help you kill him."

"My name is Anya," she corrected.

"I know." He forced himself to push away from her, to give them both space to breathe when all he wanted was to taste her again. He wanted to know what every part of her tasted like.

Daios wanted to drag her into the water and taste her through his sensitive gills. But he couldn't. Shouldn't. Didn't need to, because all of this was just the insanity in his head telling him to do something that would lead to the most destruction.

Slipping into the water, he left her behind before he could do something insane. Like lick her from head to toe.