Chapter 9

Nine

"Stay with me," he said, as if it was that easy.

As if she could just stay underneath the water. As if she could just not go home and then live somewhere with him. It wasn't that easy, she wanted to tell him. Nothing was easy when she had to have air to breathe, and being under the water so much would eventually harm her. She couldn't just decide to stay here with him. That was a dream that would never work out in the end.

But then she thought about it. She let her mind wander through the possibilities and she thought...

Well.

Why not?

Sure, she couldn't live underwater forever. And she would run out of oxygen eventually, but that had to be fixable. She was the daughter of an inventor, and she could come up with something.

Glancing at the tubing attached to her face, and at the anchor of a ship she was connected to, she wondered if maybe she could figure out a way to lengthen the tube. If it was constantly in the air, maybe she could figure out some kind of pump system that would... she didn't know. Draw the air down to her?

It was a long shot. But still, without hesitation, she found herself saying, "I want to stay with you."

Like it was that easy. Like it was just a choice they both had to make. Like they could choose to do this together and the world would change with them.

His dark eyes lit up as if she'd given him the moon. His hands closed tighter around her waist, drawing her closer and closer to him until he pulled off her mouth piece and kissed her. And oh, it didn't matter then. Nothing mattered because he was kissing her, she was in his arms, and the ridiculous decision she had just made was for the both of them. Not just for herself.

A small prick at the side of her neck distracted her for a split second before his tongue swept into her mouth. Then nothing mattered. Because he had coaxed her to follow him, trailing her own tongue along the sharp points of his deadly teeth. He showed her again how deadly he was, how dangerous, and yet how gently he would treat her for the rest of her days if she trusted him.

Gods, she could love this undine. She could dedicate her entire life to making him happy just to feel the plush press of his lips to hers.

"I adore you," he said, his words eerily close to what she had just been thinking. "I want to keep you, Alys. I've wanted to keep you from the first moment I saw you. You are... everything. You know that, don't you?"

"Sure," she breathed against his lips. "I don't know if I'll ever believe that, but I want you. I want to stay. I want to be with you for the rest of my life, even if that's an insane thing to say."

And how...

How was she talking? How was she possibly saying that much when they both knew she needed air to breathe?

Leaning back, she felt panic flare a little too brightly in her chest for a brief moment. The mouthpiece wasn't on. Was this the few moments before she was going to drown? Had they finally made a mistake?

When that moment never came, heartbeat after heartbeat, she stared down at the mouth piece on the ocean floor. Oxygen still bubbled out of it, trailing up through the water in little iridescent bubbles that were so pretty to look at and yet so confusing at the same time.

"How?" she whispered, realizing that air was still exiting her mouth. Every time she spoke, a few bubbles popped out as well. That meant there was air in her lungs.

But...

The prick at the side of her neck. She watched Imber's eyes widen with brief horror before his clawed fingers touched the side of her neck. "I don't... I don't know how I did that."

She reached up her hand to touch his and realized there was a small tendril stuck to the side of her neck. Shifting her head from side to side, she realized she could almost feel it in her throat. Just a little hint that there was a foreign body somehow inside her.

She watched his chest rise and fall with a surprised breath, and she felt her own mimic his.

"Are you... breathing for me?" she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

"I don't know."

It was the only explanation, and yet she didn't know how that was possible. He couldn't breathe for her underwater. It wasn't scientifically possible and yet, here it was.

She was underwater. With him. Not drowning even though her mouth piece had long been on the ground at her feet and... and...

"Wow," she whispered. "I didn't know we could do this."

"Neither did I." The shock had already faded from his eyes, though. He reached for her, his claws tangling in her long skirts as he dragged her closer to him. "But now you can be here without fear for your life. You can live under the water with me."

She knew that light in his eyes. It was the same expression he made when he wanted to kiss her. And it was always such a dangerous game they played when they kissed each other, knowing that she would have to eventually take a breath, or he would have to pinch her nose and force oxygen through her lips. They always knew they were only moments from her drowning.

But now?

They were safe.

Now he could hold her without fear. So he did. He dragged her into his arms, parting her legs around his hips with confident hands that had her arching into his grip.

It all suddenly hit her with all the weight of the sun. She was here, in his arms, underwater, and for the first time since she'd met him, she was safe. Safe to explore his body, his touch, the feelings that had been brewing for the few months that she'd known him. They had spent so much time together and she had been completely blind in the realization that she'd been carrying so much fear with her.

Every interaction, every touch, every moment that she got to see him, she was terrified.

What if she lost connection to her oxygen? What if she drowned right in front of him? What if someone followed her, or her ship broke down, or she disappointed him because she was weak and needed goggles and a mouth piece?

All of that faded away until there was nothing but her and him. Nothing but the man in front of her with heated eyes who wanted her.

He wanted to touch her. To hold her. To kiss her because he knew, for the first time, it was safe to do so.

She would be an idiot to not take advantage of every second.

She grabbed onto his shoulders and yanked him to her. She could feel the slight huff of surprise that echoed through his body because it also puffed air into her lungs. But the flexing of his claws against her spine, or the way he grabbed handfuls of her skirt before stopping himself, all of it told her just how close he was to losing his control as well.

"I want you," she moaned against his lips. "I don't care how or why this has happened. I want you."

And maybe, just maybe, he wanted her as much as she did him.

Like she'd unleashed a shark, he descended upon her. She only had a few moments to realize they were sinking to the sands before her back hit them. A plume of sand covered her vision for a brief moment before his gills fluttered hard enough to push it all away from her. He loomed over her, a dark shadow with a frame of the sea behind him.

"I have wanted to taste you for such a long time," he growled, his voice low and guttural.

She didn't know what to say. She didn't even know how he would taste her, but... Sure. If that's what he wanted to do. Nodding frantically, she wrapped an arm around his neck and kissed him again. Arching into him, wanting whatever he would give her. "Then taste me."

He groaned, his body going rigid under her touch. "We are not a gentle people, Alys."

"I don't want gentle."

"I don't know how to do this the way your people do, maybe..."

She leaned away from him, a full-blown glare on her face. "Do you want me?"

"Yes." The word wrenched out of him like she had pulled it out of his heart. "More than anything."

"Then touch me how you want. Taste me how you want. I don't even know what that means, but I'm telling you that nothing you do will feel wrong." She kissed him again, sweeter this time, but with no less desire. "No one has done this before, Imber. I think it's safe to say that anything we do will be new for the both of us."

He shook his head, gliding his lips over hers. "I don't want to hurt you."

"I'll tell you if it hurts."

She didn't think any of it could hurt. All of his touches had felt like little lightning bolts for weeks now, and surely he knew that? He had to know...

Then all thought fled from her mind.

He'd leaned down and dragged his tongue up her throat. She had that tongue in her mouth more times than she could count now, but she hadn't realized it was ridged. There were bumps there, like little suction cups that moved up and down the sensitive skin of her neck. Shivering, a little moan escaped her lips before she could catch it.

"Good?" he asked.

"Yes," she whimpered. "Don't stop."

But he wouldn't. Because he was already molding her body with the palms of his hands. Broad and wide, he could fit her entire breast and some of her rib cage in a single grip, but oh, it felt amazing. He watched her as he touched her everywhere. Lingering on the spots that made her gasp.

His thumbs brushed against her nipples, working them into stiff peaks that sent little bolts of energy between her legs. She couldn't get enough air from him, dragging on the tentacle attached to her neck like it was a drug. Especially when his hands smoothed down her belly, then gradually started lifting handfuls of skirt up her legs.

Inch by inch, he feasted on the sight of her.

"You will tell me more about these tails soon enough," he grumbled, lifting one of her legs high to nip at the delicate skin behind her knee. "But first, I need to know where this taste is from."

"Taste?" she asked, almost delirious with need.

The gills around his neck fluttered. "I can taste the water, Alys. I can taste you."

Oh god, was he suggesting that he could taste her on the water? Like the actual taste of her arousal was... was...

He pushed her skirts up high and then suddenly he was between her legs. The featherlight touches of his gills fluttered against her inner thighs, the sensation nearly sending her into a spiral of pleasure before those ridges of his tongue slid through her folds.

She arched into him, her entire body seizing around the sensation of that touch.

"Pain?" he asked, pausing between her legs even as those gills slid between her thighs.

He was touching her with his gills. They were soft and so gentle. Even though the touch was otherworldly, they fluttered so perfectly around her that she could only choke out words that maybe sounded like, "Don't stop."

The low growl that vibrated against her was nearly enough to send her careening into the hardest orgasm of her life. She was so glad it didn't, though, because she wanted to savor this moment.

He turned all his attention between her legs and feasted. For all that he had no experience with a human, he made up for it in sheer enjoyment. The noises he made, the grunts and groans of pleasure every time he licked over her clit or felt her thighs clamp down harder around his head, it all made the pleasure inside her coil higher and higher.

She glanced down, seeing black claws ripping through her skirts and his tail lashing behind him as he ground himself into the sand and she almost couldn't take it.

She wanted... needed... more. Him. Everything. She wanted to see him, feel him stretching her, pushing her to a point where there was no return. She wanted to know what it felt like to not just be devoured by an undine, but consumed.

Grabbing onto his hair, she pressed him to the perfect spot as his tongue lashed against her. "Yes, Imber, right there."

He groaned, a long, low word that sounded like a curse. "You taste so good," he growled before plunging his tongue deep inside her.

And what a long tongue it was. She arched her body, riding his tongue like she would his cock as he pistoned it in and out of her pussy. She was glad they were underwater or she might have heard the obscene sounds of how wet she was and how hard she rode him, but then stars sparkled beneath her eyes.

He bent his tongue, pressing against something inside her and all those little suction cups gripped onto her and she exploded.

Every muscle in her body locked up tight. She couldn't see. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't do anything other than hold on to him and hope she made it out of this alive, because she thought maybe she wouldn't.

Eventually the clenching muscles gave, and she slumped down onto the sand. There really wasn't enough air for her to breathe, but she felt him breathe a little harder for her so she could at least get her heart to beat a little slower. It wasn't easy, though. Not when she was so limp in his arms.

He braced himself over her, that long, dark tongue licking his lips as though he couldn't stand wasting a single taste of her.

"I'd like to do that again," he said, his voice still thick and ragged. "Soon."

"Yeah, when I can breathe again," Alys replied, then giggled. "I don't... I don't think I can move."

"Good, you don't have to." Imber smoothed her hair away from her face. "For now, I should get you somewhere safe."

She shook herself free from the post orgasm haze, reminding herself that technically they weren't safe yet. They were still in the ocean, likely still near the dig site for Alpha. They had a lot of things to do, and she couldn't just snuggle into him when all she wanted was to return the favor.

"But what about you?" she asked, drawing her fingers down his lips. She couldn't stop touching him. Not after that.

He grinned, nipping at her lips. "Soon, little one. Soon. But first, we have to do something about your shell."

"My shell?" She frowned before realizing he was looking at her ship. "Ah. Right. That is a problem."

One that was easy to fix, even if it meant that she would have to break her father's heart a little. It made her own heart break, but she hoped he would see it as a sign.

He was the only one who knew she was close with the undine. He was the only one who knew that she wasn't alone in the ocean.

She made quick work of it. She couldn't even let Beta know that she was going to be okay, or the little droid would have to tell them. So she directed Imber. "Rip off the front glass, if you can. There's a red button on the top panel. It's an emergency protocol that will make it go home on its own. It should be able to do so even with all the water damage."

He gave her a look, clearly unimpressed that she thought he couldn't rip off the panel. She watched with wide eyes as he made it look almost easy. He tore the glass off like it wasn't held down by industrial strength bolts that were then welded onto the metal.

He could have ripped the whole thing open like a tin can if she asked him to do that. And somehow, that was thrilling more than it was terrifying.

When it was all said and done, there was very little to do other than rub at the faint ache in her chest. They were still connected by that tentacle, far enough to be an arm's length away, and that was all. So when he gathered her close, it felt only natural to move even closer.

"Come home with me?" he asked.

She found it was hard to do anything other than nod against his chest and mourn the loss of her old life. Even as she felt a spark of excitement to see her new one.