Page 102 of Heart of the Deep

“Whatever they are willing to do,” Dracchus said, “we will allow no harm to the young. You are strong, little one, and you will be safe here.”

“What about everyone else?” Melaina asked. There was a hint of fear in her voice, but she stood as straight as her mother, and her concern was for the others. Though she was not his youngling, Dracchus took pride in her.

“They will be here soon, and the small ones will need to see your strength. They will see your bravery and know there is no reason to fear.”

Melaina smiled and nodded.

Voices in the hallway called Dracchus’s attention away. He moved toward the sounds.

Ikaros rounded the corner first, followed by Larkin and then the others — Macy and Aymee, carrying their half-asleep younglings, and then Jax and Arkon. The two male kraken cast skeptical glances at Kronus but said nothing.

Larkin and the prixxir moved directly to Dracchus, and he drew his mate into a tight embrace, overwhelmed by an unexpected sense of relief. She squeezed him back.

“Now what?” she asked.

“Damn it!” Randall’s frustrated voice — accompanied by athump— drew everyone’s attention to the doorway.

Randall clenched his jaw, backed up, and turned sideways to pass through the door with a long, cloth-wrapped bundle in his arms. He knelt once he was in the corridor and set the bundle down, unraveling it to reveal six long guns —rifles, as the humans called them.

Larkin broke away from Dracchus and picked up one of the weapons, inspecting it with confidence and familiarity.

“How long have those been in your den?” Dracchus asked. He’d shown Randall how to access the weapons and diving suits he’d hidden away, but he’d thought it had been with the understanding that they’d only be taken when necessary.

“When I reorganized the mess you made of that cabinet, I couldn’t fit everything back in,” Randall replied with a smirk that said he hadn’t tried particularly hard to make anything fit.

Dracchus grunted; now was not the time for this discussion, partly because his gratefulness would undermine the annoyance he was meant to display.

“So, what’s the—”

Macy’s words halted when Ikaros growled — a deep, undulating, menacing sound. The prixxir stared down the corridor from which the others had just come, slowly backing toward Dracchus and the others. The growl ceased, and Ikaros stood with whiskers and spine fin raised. In the ensuing silence, Dracchus became aware of another sound — the uneven rhythm of tentacles moving quietly along a metal walkway, barely audible above his own breathing.

“Get the younglings inside,” Dracchus commanded in a low voice, “and lock the door.”

Macy and Aymee hurried past him with Sarina and Jace while Jax, Arkon, and Kronus moved to stand beside him.

Dracchus’s hearts beat thunderously, and an uneasy energy suffused his limbs. Arkon handed him a spear. He grasped it with both hands.

Months ago, Arkon had shown him recordings of the uprising. The walls and floors of this building had been splattered with blood. Foolishly, Dracchus had told himself it would never happen again, despite the tensions and disagreements that had been escalating among his people.

“We are the shield,” Dracchus said to the kraken beside him. “Randall and Larkin will shelter behind us and fire between our bodies.”

“Ikaros, to Melaina,” Randall said.

The prixxir looked toward Randall with wide eyes, whimpered, and scurried into the room.

“We’re here, too,” Aymee said.

Dracchus glanced over his shoulder to see Aymee in the hallway, holding one of the rifles. Rhea was beside her with a spear in her hand. The door to the den slid closed.

“Aymee…” Arkon’s voice was breathless, overflowing with concern.

“Macy’s staying with the kids, and that’s only because she’s pregnant. Weallneed to fight for the lives we’ve made here.” Keeping the barrel pointed at the floor, she raised the rifle and checked the chamber. “Promise I won’t shoot Randall this time. I hope.”

Randall chuckled, Larkin snickered, and, despite everything, Dracchus smiled. His chest was tight,full, but it wasn’t merely anticipation, wasn’t merely concern — it was affection. It waslove. These were his people, and he didn’t want any of them to come to harm. He shifted his gaze to Larkin. Her eyes were bright, intense, brimming with emotion. She dipped her chin in a nod and made a simple sign.

With you.

Dracchus returned the nod and looked ahead.

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