Page 31 of Echoes of the Tide

Sometimes, he didn’t want to be the fun one. Sometimes, he wanted to be the person who someone else looked at as if he were their forever.

Her hand slid again, this time far too close to his cocks. He grabbed onto her wrist just as her fingers brushed against the slit between his scales. It took every single ounce of his power to keep his cocks where they were supposed to be. He would not scare her. Not after coming this far through her fear and disgust.

“Sleep now, Ace.”

“What did I just touch?”

He glanced down to see her looking at her fingers. They were glistening with the natural lubrication that existed where hiscocks were kept. Normally, no one would ever see the substance. It only existed so his cocks didn’t get irritated by the salt water. But to see it on her fingers? After this conversation?

He’d never been more embarrassed in his life.

Maketes let his head thud back against the wall and drew her hand up his chest, letting the movement wipe the fluid from her fingers. It would dry against his scales, a reminder that he shouldn’t let her touch whatever she wanted.

“Sleep,” he repeated. “Time for talking is over.”

As if he would get any sleep tonight.

CHAPTER 13

Ace had such sweet dreams when she usually had nightmares. She was used to watching her sister die, or being chased through the empty hallways of a city that had died long ago. The worst ones were the people of Gamma hunting her down, all the while knowing that she had to stay hidden to keep her sister safe. It was hard for her to sleep at all these days.

But as she slowly woke from a dreamless sleep, she felt better than she had in years. It was so hard for her to even wake. She wanted to snuggle deeper into the warmth that held her. Listen to the repeating thuds of twin hearts that lulled her back into that dreamless state.

She couldn’t entertain this any more than she already had. Her cheeks burned with the memory of what she’d touched. How her fingers had slipped down the grooves between his abs so mindlessly. Like she was touching someone she had every right to touch.

Then that slickness had covered her fingers. It had been so intriguing. She wanted to run her fingers over that faint slit in his scales, just to see what would happen if she maybe pushed through it. To know what would happen if her fingers delvedinto those hidden shadows. Would he moan? What would that even sound like? She wanted to hear him when he was lost in the throes of passion. She wanted to know what he sounded like when he was completely unhinged.

And these were not thoughts for an early morning. Already she could feel herself growing wet between her thighs, that foreign need growing so powerful that it was hard to ignore. She wanted to sneak her fingers beneath the waistband of her pants and take care of the issue herself. But he was right here.

That would be decidedly wicked. What if she did? What would happen if she just ignored every part of herself that said she wasn’t a sexual creature and just... allowed it to happen?

Would he wake up? Would he find her touching herself and decide to finish the job?

He shifted underneath her, those tiny scales brushing against her thighs and making a sharper rasping sound than they had before. One moment he’d been like a pillow she rested against, and the next, he was all movement. Every muscle in his body flared and tensed, rippling with life as though he had to use every single one of them to suddenly be alive again.

A deep breath flexed through his ribs and she could even feel the faintest flutter of his gills as though they were also striving for air even though he’d been using his lungs for hours now. Then his hand came back down on her hip as he had last night, cupping her flesh as though the roundness there didn’t bother him in the slightest.

“Good morning,” he mumbled, his voice still raspy with sleep. “You’re up early.”

It wasn’t early at all. She could see the faint sunlight coming in through the window and that only reminded her that she was on a deadline. She was supposed to figure out how to save her sister, and if they didn’t get moving quickly, then she was fucked.

Sitting bolt upright, she scrambled out of his arms and then struggled to her feet. She was a little uncoordinated. And why the fuck couldn’t she see anything? The entire world was a blurry mess. She’d been sleeping so soundly, maybe she’d done something to her head. Or someone might have clocked her in the fight and she’d just forgotten because she’d gotten the world’s worst concussion.

“Ace,” Maketes said, a laugh hiding in that word. He grabbed her hand and placed her glasses into it.

She blew out a long, awkward breath and slid them up over her nose. The world came back into clarity and she looked down at the massive undine spread out on the floor at her feet.

Damn, he was pretty.

All those rippling muscles, like a banquet at her feet. He was just a solid wall of strength and power. He lifted one arm lazily over his head, those ab muscles flexing like they could feel her gaze on them. His biceps were the size of her head. Those clawed hands were draped near his hair, which was tangled in long coils over his chest as though they were fighting to get her attention. Even his damn hair made her want to touch him.

An image burst in front of her eyes. She could get down on her knees, straddle him like she had before, and then lick her way down those abs. She wondered if his skin would taste salty, like hers. Or if he would have some other flavor that would ruin humans forever for her. Where was his cock, anyway? Surely he had one.

They had to procreate somehow. Maybe they were like fish, though. Maybe he was the one who carried the babies, like the little seahorses her little sister used to have as pets.

Maybe he would expect sex to be something boring and transactional. Maybe they didn’t even like sex.

He suddenly moved, flexing all those muscles and all of a sudden his face was right in front of hers. One of those long, darknails curled underneath her chin, forcing her to stay looking into his gaze. “You’re thinking too much, kefi.”

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