Page 38 of Song of the Abyss

She meant to ask, but then his thumb brushed over the peak of her breast. A lightning bolt shocked through her entire system, and she couldn’t think. Couldn’t even move as he did it again.

“Except here,” he murmured. “Here you are not pale.”

Fuck.

The slickness between her thighs rushed so quickly it was distracting. She had never thought... He couldn’t know what he did. He didn’t understand that humans were sensitive there.

He was curious about her kind, and the touch to him must be innocent. She was over thinking this entire meeting, but she had to... to...

Swallowing hard, she nodded, still frozen with his hand against her breast. “Thank you for the fish.”

When he didn’t reply, she looked up into that hungry expression. His eyes reflected her own features back at her. The black orbs of his eyes showed a woman with bright red cheeks, a blush staining all the way down her throat and hidden beneath the ugly fabric of her clothing.

His claw tugged the lapel of her borrowed suit. “You turn so many colors, kalon. I can’t wait to see how many.”

And then he slipped back into the sea, leaving her breathless and so red she felt like her skin might melt off.

15

Daios

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.

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