Chapter 20

Anya braced herself against the consoles and prayed. She hadn't done that in years, but she wanted to make sure that someone was out there looking after her if this whole place suddenly imploded. At least it would be a quick death. Almost too easy, really. Her entire body would just crush into a blood mist and no one would know. Her father had no idea where she was. No one in Alpha did either.

They would just be two dead people in the sea, with only crabs to pick at the watery pieces of what was left of them.

But eventually the shaking died down. The water stopped churning on the other side of the door, and for a moment, she could breathe again.

They'd almost died. Again. It would take only the slightest push of the water or the wrong movement, and everything in this facility would shut down. The water would rush in and there was nothing he could do to help her. Not when all that chaos would likely throw the mask far out of her reach.

The mask.

"Fuck," she whispered, feeling how shaky the word was in her throat.

The mask had been in that other room. She had no way of getting out of here now, and there wasn't any way for him to get another one. At least, not without him leaving for a long time and gathering it up from wherever he'd gotten it before. But that would mean he had to leave.

She had no food. Only a small tool to purify the water that was filled with grit and grime.

Her situation pressed down on her shoulders hard now. She'd been so content with leaving her home and having this adventure for the first time in her life that she hadn't realized just how dangerous this was.

And then there was the shaking in her legs that had nothing to do with fear. The shaking that had come from the mind-blowing orgasm that had almost felt painful against his fingers. He'd barely even touched her, and she'd come like she hadn't in years.

Daios watched her with those dark eyes narrowed, like he was reading every emotion that flickered across her face. She didn't want him to think she was second guessing what had just happened between them. But also she couldn't focus on anything other than the minor shakes that still rattled through this building.

She couldn't stay here. Both of them knew that.

This was only a temporary home for her, and even then, it was still far too dangerous for her to live in much longer. An abandoned facility with holes punched all through it and flooding issues wasn't a long-term place to stay.

What had she been thinking? What world had she created inside her head that this was okay?

Breathing hard, she sat down on the chair and hugged herself as tightly as she could. "I think you know I can't stay here."

He didn't respond, just stared at her like he always did. But she could read him a little better now. She could see the ticking of muscles in his jaw and how his tail lashed underneath the water. Whatever moment they'd just shared crumbled as their world twisted in another direction.

Her breath fogged in front of her mouth, reminding her of another problem. Turning toward the console, she said, "Bitsy. What's going on with the heater?"

Little darts moved on the screen as Bitsy did her best to figure out what went wrong. "Life support is down to ten percent. The heating elements have been damaged in the tube collapse."

"Shit," she whispered, shoving the chair away from the consoles. She barely even felt the movement at her back until someone suddenly reached in front of her and plucked Bitsy off her head.

Her droid!

"Hey!" Anya scolded, before she realized Daios was holding the droid in front of his own eye. From what she could see on the other side of the glass, Bitsy automatically changed the language that was presented. The language of the undines, apparently, had written word.

She couldn't have guessed that.

"Be careful with her." Anya squeezed herself a little tighter before bending to snag the blanket off the ground. It was soaking wet now, no help against the cold. "She's my only way of understanding people."

He nodded, before returning his attention to reading what flicked in front of his eyes. Then he handed the droid back to her. Anya could see how carefully he pinched the delicate robot in his massive hand, barely even holding onto it as she took Bitsy and deposited the droid back onto her head.

Words flickered to life on the lens as he started talking. "Your droid seems to think this place could come down at any moment."

"I agree with her."

"Then we need to move."

"I can't get in the water like this." She waved a hand up and down the suit she still wore, then pointed to the collapsed section of the tunnel. "And my wetsuit was in there. So I'm kind of trapped."

Her heart started up again. It was thudding and lumping in the wrong way as panic set in. She really was trapped. She wasn't going to get out of here alive.

"And the..." Words failed her, so she just waved her hand in front of her mouth. Maybe he would understand because she couldn't focus on making the right sounds for words when she was going to die.

His hand waved in front of her face, but she wasn't looking until she noticed there was a pattern to his movements. They weren't... right, exactly. Not really. He wasn't precise in his sign language, but she could still vaguely understand what he was trying to say.

"Care. Me. You."

Her breath caught in her throat, ragged and raw, as she tried to say, "What are you saying?"

He pulled himself a little out of the water so he could look her in the eye. "I'm going to take care of you, Anya."

Everything evened out. She could breathe again as she locked her gaze with his and took in deep, steady breaths as he did. Slowly. In and out. It was easy to put her trust in him, even if it felt a bit like madness to do so.

Finally, she nodded. "Okay. Okay, I trust you."

"Good." With his shorter arm, he motioned for her to look to their left. "Watch me while I search for the wetsuit. You are not alone."

"I'm not alone," she repeated.

"I will not be far. If this room floods, I will come and get you."

"I can't breathe underwater," she whispered, not sure if he could even hear her words. "I'm not like you."

"I don't want you to be like me, kalon." And for the very first time, he reached for her with that injured arm.

She didn't hesitate. She just walked into him, even knowing that he was wet and cold and that she was already freezing. He pulled her into him, his short arm hesitating only a moment before he used it to pull her into him.

It still felt like a hug. He was so much larger than her, and she didn't care if he didn't have a hand or an elbow on that side of his body. All she wanted was to be tucked into him like this, where she could feel him taking deep breaths. He was alive. He was strong.

And he wouldn't let anything happen to her.

He released her, although she noticed how reluctant the movement was. He didn't want to let her go anymore than she wanted him to let her go.

"Be right back," he said, his voice low and rumbling as he sank into the water and then disappeared.

Anya prided herself on being resilient. That's what had kept her alive so long under her father's thumb, and she would not be any different in this circumstance. She was a capable person who had lived through a lot of hardship. This was nothing different.

And yet she still ran to the window and watched him as he moved through the water. Unlike the time he'd tried to startle her, he kept all of his lights as bright as he could. The red glow penetrated through the murk and the darkness. She could see him the entire time. He was right there, within reach.

It took him a few moments to figure out a way into the flooded room, but then she saw the same thing he did. Structural flaw. There was a huge portion of the metal that had buckled under the pressure. He reached for the warped metal and twisted it.

She didn't know how much strength that took. She should probably be horrified that he could just bend thick metal without even struggling to do so. Instead, she only felt that fire in her burn all the more hot.

He ducked into the room and then she couldn't see him for a little while. That oppressive feeling of death was back the moment he was out of her sight. Which was silly.

"You don't even know him," she told herself, but her eyes never moved from the spot where he'd disappeared. "You haven't talked about who he is or where he came from. This is just... Stockholm Syndrome."

Bitsy flashed a few words. "Are you losing your mind?"

Probably.

She was looking at an undine like he was the next snack she wanted to take a bite out of, so yeah. She was losing her mind. He had saved her life, though. He'd gotten her out of the city and that was all that mattered at the time.

But then he'd brought her food to keep her alive. He'd brushed her hair and touched her in ways that made her burn. She hadn't thought...

None of this made sense. She shouldn't feel this way about someone she didn't know. She'd only recently learned his name. This was insanity. She knew nothing about his people or where he came from.

It was her mind. She was messed up being this deep under the sea and the pressure was getting to her. That was all.

But she couldn't deny that all the tension in her body eased when she saw him coming out of the room with her wetsuit and mask in his hand.

She held her breath until he came back into the room where she stood. The only air left in the entire facility was in this room and they were only at ten percent life support. Soon enough, that air would run out.

He handed her the mask and then yanked himself out of the water. Awkwardly, he propped himself up on the stump that couldn't be comfortable to bear all of his weight, and then started pressing the water out of her suit.

Unfortunately, the mask hadn't survived as well as she'd hoped.

"Bitsy?" she asked. "What's the damage?"

Her droid looked it over before animated tears appeared all over the lens. "Broken."

"Fixable?"

"Not here."

Breathing out a long sigh, she looked over at Daios, who was doing his best to make sure the wetsuit wasn't a total loss. But he didn't know that she was staying here. Forever.

And in her mind, she heard a voice telling her that if she was going to die, she should do so with no regrets.

Squaring her shoulders, she marched toward him with single-minded intent. He glanced up at her approach, but then turned his attention back to the wetsuit. "I do not know how these things work. Is the water going to be a problem? There is little time for it to dry."

Sitting down on top of the wetsuit, she framed his face with her hands and turned him to look at her. He blinked, those dark eyes reflecting the determination on her features.

"Anya?" he asked, his voice low and slow. "What are you doing?"

"Tell me something about you."

"What?"

"Tell me something about you," she repeated. "I want to know more than just that you are my kidnapper. I want to know who you are as a person, not just what you are capable of."

He shook his head. "I don't understand what you're asking. What do you want to know?"

She didn't know. Everything. Nothing. What if what he said disappointed her? What if she heard his thoughts about the world and realized they were so far different that this could never work?

But she supposed it didn't matter, anyway. She was going to die, and he was going to watch her drown.

Swallowing hard, she forced the thoughts away and tried for a smile. "What's your favorite color?"

His eyes moved to hers, and he was so quiet Bitsy seemed to struggle to catch the word, "Blue."

The color of her eyes.

"How old are you?"

"Somewhere in my thirties, I stopped counting a long time ago."

What else did she need to know? "What do you dream of?"

His gaze flicked down to her lips. Maybe she would have missed the movement if she didn't know him so well, but she did. She had come to read this creature as well as she could read herself.

He licked his lips, that black tongue doing more to her than it should have. "I want to find someone who doesn't fear me. I want to know that when I come home, there is a soft place to rest my head, and someone who cares if I had a hard day, or if I am upset. I want someone to take care of, and who takes care of me in return. That is what I dream of, kalon."

Tears pricked her eyes. This sweet, terrifying man had lived a life she couldn't imagine. What had led him to this point? To thinking that it must be impossible for someone to see him as a person and not just a weapon?

How deeply he must have buried this dream to have come so far. She let her gaze wander over the stub of his arm that must be so painful while he leaned on it like that, but he didn't even flinch. He just took the pain without complaint, because he was afraid the wetsuit was going to be too cold for her, or that it wouldn't work right.

He took care of her. No matter what.

And that was why she held onto his jaw a little tighter and turned his attention entirely to her. "I don't want to die with any regrets." She let the words take flight. Somehow, they were all the more true when she could hear them said.

Taking a deep breath, she leaned closer, giving him time to back away. When her lips were only a breath away from his, and she could see the shock radiating through his entire body, she whispered, "And above all else, I don't want to have regrets with you."

Anya leaned forward and kissed him with every ounce of raw and ragged desire that burned through her.

For him. Only for him.