Page 28 of Echoes of the Tide

From afar, his gills looked like they were similar to a lionfish. All spines and spikes and likely full of poisonous liquid that would make her writhe in agony. But they weren’t like that at all. They were soft. They slid through her fingers and seemed to touch her back with the slightest of movements. She could feel him exhaling. The warm air that escaped through his gills was so much warmer than the air of the surgical room.

“This doesn’t hurt you?” she asked.

“If you yanked on them, yes, it would hurt.” His tone was twisted, like he was holding himself back from something. “But it feels nice when you touch them.”

“Oh.” Did she want it to feel nice?

Yes. Yes, she did. Because it was nice to know that he was safe. That he wasn’t going to lunge at her in pain or bite at her.

“Your teeth,” she blurted. There was a reason she was touching him, and it was so she wasn’t afraid of him anymore. So she wouldn’t be scared to lean on him, to use him to keep her safe.

“Open your eyes, kefi. If you are afraid of my teeth, then you need to look at them.”

She didn’t want to open her eyes. Ace wanted to stay in this world where nothing existed but darkness and touch.

But then he leaned closer, hesitating where the heat of his breath brushed against the junction of her shoulder and neck. She heard the ragged breath he sucked in before his lips were suddenly pressed to the soft skin there. She could feel the imprint of his teeth through his lips. The sharp edges of them were dulled by warm heat that spread throughout her body like a wildfire.

Then those lips parted. She could feel the sharp tips of his teeth pressing against her flesh before he leaned back oncemore. Just the barest hint of them, and she was ashamed to admit she wanted more.

So she opened her eyes, blinking in the glaring white overhead lights before meeting his dark gaze. He parted his lips, baring those teeth for her eyes. Maketes even let her look her fill before he spoke.

“I am made like a weapon. But many of my kind are more terrifying than me. I promise you, with every part of who I am and every part of who I will be, I would never hurt you. You have made every part of me shine with light, sweet achromo. You are brave and wild and free, and I would be a fool to try and dampen that light.”

The same hand that held her fingers to his gills took her touch to his lips. Then he released her, never pushing her to do anything she didn’t want to do. Because of that, Ace found she wanted to touch.

She gently ran her finger along his plush lower lip, tracing the outline of the cushion of it. She could see where he had been biting the soft flesh, as though he was as nervous about her touching him as she had been. Again, those lips parted. He even opened his mouth slightly so she could run that same finger over the sharp points of his teeth.

They weren’t as razor sharp as she’d thought. Perhaps there would have to be more force to a bite to tear flesh like he had with the others.

It should have frightened her. Instead, a heat bloomed deep in her body. A heat she almost didn’t recognize because it had been so long since she’d felt it.

This time, her finger traced his lips with a little more intent. If he was human, she would have maybe tried to kiss him. He would have pushed her away, a man as attractive as him would never kiss a girl like her, but she still would have tried. It was just the two of them here, after all.

Those big hands came down on her hips, holding her in place. “Are you still afraid of me?”

“You killed all those people with your bare hands,” she whispered, her gaze still locked on his lips. “You ripped a man’s throat out with those teeth. And you are everything so many have described a monster to be.”

“And yet?”

She smiled. A real, true smile that made her cheeks ache. She was so rusty with smiling, Ace wasn’t even sure if it looked like a genuine smile or if it was all wrong. “I know these hands will not hurt me. I know that your teeth will never rip at my flesh. And I suppose I can admit that I trust you. Even if you have the hands of a murderer.”

His hands flexed on her sides, and then he let out a low, grumbling sound. It rumbled in his chest like the sound of a motor before he suddenly pushed down on her hips.

She went from standing to sitting. There was no fighting that grip. She thought she was going to tumble to the ground, but instead, she landed on his coiled up tail. The scales pressed between her legs, rubbing against the ache that had built while she touched him, and she was suddenly struck by their position.

She had one hand still on his gills, one hand tracing his lips. Her legs were wrapped around him, and his hands were on her hips. If she rocked even slightly, she’d be grinding herself against the ridges of his scales. Seeking out that friction that she desperately needed but that he likely didn’t even understand.

Maketes must know very little about her kind. There was no reason for him to learn anatomy, and she’d never even asked him if he was interested in humans or what he thought about her people.

Cheeks flaming bright red, she drew her hands back to herself. Planting them on her thighs so she didn’t touch himanymore, she cleared her throat. “Would you like me to stitch you up?”

He blinked, the movement so smooth and alien-like it almost threw her right back into the discomfort and fear. But then those enormous hands clenched on her hips again, and she had a hard time focusing on anything other than wishing he would tilt her hips for her and tumble them into a reality where they weren’t friends at all.

“You may tend to my wounds if you stay where you are.”

She blinked at him, her eyes wide. “Why would you want me to stay where I am?”

He looked back at her with those pitch black eyes, and she thought for a second she saw something in the depths. His gills were still flared wide, undulating in a slow movement that was almost impossible to see. Perhaps from being overstimulated, she could only imagine he wasn’t touched very often either.

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