Page 29 of Echoes of the Tide

Maketes cleared his throat and looked away from her. “You’re flighty and fickle. I don’t want you to be afraid of me again because I chased when you ran. Just stitch me closed, Ace, and stay where you are.”

She shouldn’t, but she did. And with every loop of the thread through his skin, she had to admit, she noticed their differences less and less.

CHAPTER 12

Maketes kept himself together throughout the stitching process. He didn’t care about the tiny spots of pain as she threaded through his flesh with that tiny piece of metal. Clearly, she thought it was hurting him, but he barely even feel it.

All he felt was the weight of her on his lap. The sensation of her legs on either side of his tail, knowing that she was right where he wanted her. And if she moved, even the slightest, he would likely extrude both of his cocks and terrify her to no end.

She was afraid of his gills. Let alone all the other physical differences he had to keep himself from blurting out. And he had thought about it. Maketes’s first reaction to her saying that they were different was for him to think about his twin cocks that he knew for certain human men didn’t have.

He’d seen an achromo man naked before. The tiny, floppy piece of meat between the man’s legs had looked utterly useless upon first sight. And then he’d confirmed by talking with both Arges and Daios that their size differences were great between their females and themselves. But they were much larger than Maketes. He was more manageable for an achromo female. He wasn’t sixteen feet long and made of solid muscle. He wasonly thirteen feet, a perfect mate for both his own kind and achromos... If it weren’t for a few key features that had always made him lesser to the females of his own kind.

Maybe they would make him lesser to her, as well. Maybe Ace wouldn’t like that he couldn’t flutter very fast. Maybe she would think less of him for... for...

No, he couldn’t think of that.

Maketes adjusted himself where he now leaned against the door to the room, trying to keep his mind on the now instead of going down dark paths. He didn’t want to think about what made him a poor mate when she was right here. So close he could touch her if he wanted.

They’d turned off all the lights, so the only illumination in the room came from the neon lights just barely visible through the single pane of glass that revealed the sea beyond. She refused to sleep on the surgical bed, even though he’d thought it looked rather comfortable and it was silly of her to not make use of it. Instead, she’d yanked all the blankets and fabric she could find in the room to pile them against the base. She’d curled up, telling him to mind his own business when he’d said it was a bad idea, and then tried to fall asleep.

He didn’t think she was very successful at doing so, though. Every time he looked at her, she was moving. Rolling from one side to the other, drawing her knees up to her chest and then stretching them back out.

Obviously, she wasn’t getting any rest. He’d seen the other two achromos sleeping in their rooms, he’d never seen them move this much. Achromos were eerie when they slept. They had almost no movement, no visible breath. They just laid there as though they’d died.

Sighing, he crossed his arms over his chest and looked over the room again. They’d barricaded the only other door. He was faster than the achromos were, anyway. If they tried to get intothe room, he’d be on them before they could even set foot near Ace. Leaning against the only other door into the room, he knew they were as safe as they were going to get in this cursed city.

So why was he on edge?

Ace rolled over in her sleep again, this time adding in a cracking noise that repeated constantly until he realized it was her teeth chattering together. Her teeth! The woman was cold, and he was an idiot who hadn’t realized that she was rolling back and forth seeking some kind of warmth.

To him, the room wasn’t all that bad. Brisk, perhaps, but warmer than the ocean beyond. But to her, without her wet suit or anything else to keep her warm, this room and the cold floor must have been near to torture. Even the blankets she’d found were thin with holes in them.

Idiot, he thought to himself, before running his hands down his chest to make sure he was finally warmed up. It took his body a long time to react to being out of the water, but once he was somewhat dry, his body started to put off a lot more heat.

Once he’d finished patting himself down and was certain he wouldn’t make her any colder than she already was, he moved quickly. Maketes used his fluke to wedge underneath her and rolled her into the base of his tail. She let out a little squeaking sound of annoyance, but by then she had already rolled to the muscular part of his tail. He wrapped the thicker base around her and then dragged her into him.

It all took a few seconds before she was in his arms. By then, she was struggling but incapable of much movement because the entire weight of his tail had her trapped against him. It took so little effort for him to bundle her up and press her against his chest. And then even less difficulty to drape his fluke over her back like a blanket and tuck it in around her body.

“Stop fighting, kefi,“ he muttered, getting a little more comfortable around her. “You’re cold.”

“I am cold, but what is this doing other than raising my blood pressure?” She was still struggling, although he had a feeling she would quickly realize she couldn’t move any more than he let her. His tail was wrapped around her, after all.

A massive loop of it pressed her against his chest. But then he realized maybe she wasn’t comfortable that way, so he shifted her to his side. Then she was cushioned in his arm, held to his ribs where his lower gills could taste her, and she had one thick thigh slung over his tail.

“Maketes,” she hissed. “I was fine where I was.”

“You weren’t. You weren’t sleeping, which means I can’t sleep, and I would like to get some rest tonight if possible. I do have to return to the ocean at some point, which means you need to be in the water with me. Get some sleep.”

But she was tense against his side. Even as he relaxed, hoping that she would follow suit, she didn’t. Maketes stared up at the ceiling and prayed for silence, but there was no rest for either of them tonight, apparently.

Because her hand pressed against his chest and he knew that even if she had fallen asleep, he wouldn’t have been able to. She was touching him. Her fingers stroking his skin as though she was mindlessly stroking something comforting, and that made it hard to breathe.

All he wanted was her. And damn it, that was a hard thought to have when she was pressed up against him. He wanted to roll over onto her. He wanted to kiss her like he’d seen his brothers do with their mates, even though he’d never thought about putting his mouth on another. But what did she taste like? Was her taste the same as her scent? All sunshine and sweet things?

Sighing, he tightened his arm around her and tried to distract them both. “What is going through your mind?”

“What do you mean?”

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