Page 66 of Mated on Live

His cousins, his father, came swimming back as they finished eating. They called out to them in greeting, waving at her. Sophie beamed, waving back, twirling in the waves. The water cradled her body so easily. She had almost no control. Even when she tried to step onto the side of an ovili bed the way he did, she couldn’t do it. Her feet touched the walls easily, but she didn’t balance on them so much as she just put them there, her arms flapping to keep herself upright.

Chuckling, Serval took her by the hand and pushed off into the water, swimming to the mouth of the bay where their island opened up into the surrounding sea.

His home island was part of a long cluster of islands, not very dissimilar from each other. Specifically, his and seven others formed a ring, with a deep dip in the middle. From his island, he could look out and see two neighboring islands. The water obscured things just enough that he couldn’t quite make them out from there, but it was clear enough that, when he brought Sophie to the entrance of the bay, she could look out and see the submerged city.

He heard her gasp of amazement, got to enjoy the way her eyes widened, as she stared at the bright lights coming up from below.

The deep section between their ring of islands had a city that served the entire chain. It was a single, massive dome completely covering the deepest part. Beyond the clear plex-steel that protected the city from the water, they could see the large buildings – homes and businesses – of the city. Five entrance tunnels had a two-door system that allowed people to swim in, the water to be drained out, allowing them to walk in practically dry.

Sophie said something, waving her hands excitedly. Serval could only smile at her, completely unable to understand. She didn’t know how to manipulate her voice so that it was more easily understood underwater. He just floated back as she waved her combot forward and got footage of the city before pointing quickly to the surface.

She kicked at the water, moving, but slowly. Serval grabbed her hand and swam her up himself, cutting the distance much faster. He broke the surface just before her. She threw back the escaped tendrils of her hair as she yanked her breather out of her mouth, beaming at him.

“It was incredible! Serval, did you see?! A whole city! Right there! Under the ocean! I’ve never seen anything like it!”

He smiled, calmly floating on the surface as she bobbed up and down next to him, talking excitedly about something common he had seen his entire life.

But it was totally new to her fully terrestrial species. An entire functioning, sunken city must be an amazing thing to see for the first time.

“Can we go there?” She asked, then, before he could answer, she kept talking. “This place is so awesome, Serval. Just, all of this! I can’t believe this is my life!”

With a delighted cry, she threw herself back. Serval pushed after her, surprised when she just floated there on the surface on her back. That was something his species couldn’t really do. While he could tread water, perfectly stable and confident, he couldn’t just float like that on the surface. His little human mate was so soft, however, the water easily buoyed her.

He kept up with her as she turned her head, smiling. The bright sun made her glow – her skin, her hair, her bright, golden eyes.

“Beautiful,” Serval whispered, stroking her cheek under the water.

She closed her eyes, leaning on his palm.

He leaned in, covering her lips. She opened for him immediately, returning his kiss as she continued to float. Laid out on the surface. A temptation, a lure, drawing him to her. How could he possibly resist?

From below, distorted because his ears were out of the water, he heard a few of his cousins calling out salacious and teasing things. He broke the kiss, ducking his head underwater to glare at them balefully as they laughed good-naturedly.

He popped his head back through the surface again, to find his mate was giggling too. Her eyes were sparkling as she easily turned in the water, coming off her back and treading water beside him with a smile.

“Got a place we can go?” She asked.

He immediately nodded. “This way.”

Chapter 25

Sophie

The ocean was warm, tropical and salty. The bright, turquoise waters were beautiful. The coral that formed the land was covered by white sand from below, just highlighting the brightness of the sea that stretched from horizon to horizon. The weather was hot, but not unbearable, while the smell was familiar but with an exotic, alien hint that kept her from pretending this was Earth, even with her eyes closed.

The ovili farm was cool. The underwater city was incredible! There was more. A whole planet more. No, a whole universe more.

And the male who had her by the hand, pulling her through the water with the ease of a dolphin ride, was going to show her all of it.

She stared at the back of his head, at his olules trailing in the water, as he took her around, out of the bay, and around the island. Past the long beaches. Past more houses. She didn’t know where they were going, but she trusted him implicitly as she enjoyed the ride.

The island was roughly crescent shaped from above, and it was largely flat, but that didn’t mean it was smooth and perfect. There were lots of little beaches and alcoves and rock formations that they passed as Serval swam tirelessly around.

She didn’t know what he was taking her. She didn’t really care. She only wanted privacy with her male so that she could share with him the overwhelming excitement she felt just in seeing everything here.

The place that he brought her to was private. Intimate. A small alcove in the rocks. The rock only seemed to stretch about ten feet into the air, and it was probably the highest place she’d seen on the island.

But it still provided privacy for the swing built over the water.

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