Page 57 of Song of the Abyss

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.

21

Daios

Daios had seen Mira and Arges kiss before. He’d even asked Maketes what they were doing, considering how disgusting it was to watch. Mouths were for eating, nothing more than that. It was sickening to watch the two of them fit together like that. He also thought it was a risk every time they did it underwater, considering Mira couldn’t breathe like they could.

All of it had led him to believe that kisses were, unsurprisingly, something that only humans did and that he would never partake in.

But the moment her lips pressed to his, something snapped inside of him.

Like he’d been just waiting for this moment to feel that soft mouth against his. As though the cushion of her lips had unlocked some demon deep in his chest that he had only held barely leashed until this point.

He grabbed onto her, his clawed hand tearing at the fabric of her clothing. He didn’t care if it fluttered to the floor because she was suddenly pressed up against him again. He could hear the soft little moan that rocked through the back of her throat and the way she arched into him.

Her hands pressed to his chest, so tiny that even if she tried to push him away, he might not feel the pressure. Her tongue swept against his lower lip and suddenly she was sucking on his bottom lip and all he could think about was what it would feel like if she sucked on something else. But that wasn’t done. None of his people were soft like this when they fucked, and not when they mated, either.

Still, he enjoyed the sensation of her softness spreading throughout his entire body. Her hands came up around his neck, pulling him down closer to her while his claws spasmed against her back.

She wasn’t ripping at him. Not tearing. Not fighting the way their people would, and he wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad sign. He was floating in a haze of desire and passion, and he felt like he was maybe doing this wrong.

Until he opened his mouth to tell her that, and her tongue swept into his mouth.

Her flavor exploded into his senses. That warm, sweet taste reminded him so much of home. She was a candy he wanted to lick from bottom to top, just to know that sweet flavor that would never, ever leave his memory.

Letting out a low groan, he pulled her even tighter to him. Was he crushing her? Probably. But she would tell him if he was doing this wrong. For now, he wanted to just indulge himself and drown in her.

Her tiny nails dug into the back of his neck and dragged down the cords of muscle there. His answering groan mixed with the breathy sound of her pleasure had all his gills flaring wide. They fluttered, shaking with such intensity he could almost feel the wind of them as his entire body told him to claim, take, fuck.

Anya noticed. Her soft little gasp and the way she pulled back told him she had no idea why his gills moved for her. But her eyes on him... He loved it. He loved it when she looked at him without fear or concern or even disgust, as he had expected her kind to do.

Instead, she just looked at his gills standing on end and the differences between them with a soft smile on her face. “They’re beautiful, you know.”

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