Page 15 of Rising from the Depths

Kronus moved to her without thought as she cried out in pain, spreading his tentacles to sink low beside her.

It was only then that he noticed the clean bandages wrapped around the stump of her left leg. Her right leg continued from the knee into a shapely calf and a dainty foot — nothing like the tentacles of his people, but oddly appealing — while the other simplyended.

And for humans, limbs did not grow back.

Wrenching sobs wracked her body. “I should have died with them.”

“But you did not,” Kronus said, slipping his arms beneath her.

She pounded a fist against his shoulder and flattened her other palm on his chest, pushing him. “Don’t touch me!”

He released air through his siphons and rose off the floor as she continued to hit him and struggle against his hold. “I did not save you just so you could give up and die afterward,” he grumbled.

When her nails bit into his flesh, he bared his teeth and growled. Despite her weakened state, she was making a surprising effort to fight him off. What would it take for her to turn that spirit towardliving?

“Let me go!” she screeched.

He obeyed, dumping her onto the bed. She bounced once, grasped the rail, and moved to pull herself up again, but Kronus halted her with a firm hand on her shoulder. He pressed her back down. She shrieked and clawed at him, swung her fists and cursed in words he understood and words he did not.

Hers was a familiar anger; it reminded him of his own deep-seated rage after the battle in the Facility had ended. He’d hoped to die during that fight, had expected to die afterward, but the same kraken who’d banished him beforehand had chosen to be merciful. Part of him resented their mercy. How much easier would it have been to die?

“What is going on?” Aymee demanded, striding into the room.

“It’s his fault!” Eva yelled, thrashing atop the bed.

Kronus grunted as her assault on him intensified. He leaned over the bed and, with more difficulty than seemed possible, caught her wrists in his hands and pinned them to the bed at her sides. He coiled two of his front tentacles around her knees, locking them in place, and settled some of his weight over her middle to prevent her from bucking her hips.

She closed her eyes and screamed, the sound so loud and piercing that it was more painful than all her scratching and hitting.

“Shit! Hold her still!” Aymee rushed to the counter.

“Iam,” Kronus growled through his teeth, turning his head as though it could provide him some relief from Eva’s noise.

Aymee hurried to his side, pressed a small injector gun against Eva’s neck, and pulled the trigger. Eva’s eyes flared open wide, and her scream faltered. For an instant, she pushed up against Kronus with renewed strength, and he feared she might slip free of his hold.

Then she sank onto the bed, her body giving up the fight as she closed her eyes again and cried. Her anger had vanished, leaving only raw grief and misery.

“He left me,” she said between sobs. “He…left me alone. Left me…on the beach…”

Her head lolled to the side, and the remaining tension in her body eased. Cautiously, Kronus eased off her, first releasing her wrists, then shifting his torso upright before withdrawing his tentacles. He hadn’t realized just how ragged his own breath had become, just how thunderously his hearts had been beating.

Had he done the right thing in saving her? The answer came without delay.

Yes.

“What happened?” Aymee asked. “We were in the middle of a procedure with another patient when she started screaming.”

Kronus frowned, staring down at Eva’s now relaxed features, which were framed by tousled hair. “I need to visit her male. Blake. Where does he dwell?”

“What? Why?”

“Her male,” he repeated, looking up to meet Aymee’s gaze. “Where can I locate him?”

“He was just…here.” Her eyes rounded, and she shook her head. “No, Kronus. No challenges, no fights, noviolence.”

“He turned away from her when I pulled her out of the water,” he said, dropping a hand to the metal railing on the side of the bed and squeezing, “and you said he has only visited her here twice. The last time, he left her in tears, and this time was even worse. He needs to learn that his behavior isnotacceptable.”

Aymee’s eyes dipped to Eva, and her brows fell.

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