Page 122 of Gemini Hunted
She’s committed now.
And so am I, because I won’t fucking leave her here to die.
The tunnel narrows and the current picks up. Dead ahead, Zara’s flashlight plays over the dark hatching of a metal grate, bars wrapped in tendrils of streaming seaweed.
That grate lets the water swirl through, but totally blocks our way forward.
Zara anchors herself against the grate, flashlight searching, and starts feeling her way along the bars for weakness or a latch. I anchor next to her and do the job more efficiently, using my mass and muscle to give the grate a few hard pulls.
No joy.
This shit’s solidly soldered in the rock. I can’t find a weak spot.
Or a latch.
Zara’s anxious eyes turn toward me. I’ve been counting down the minutes in my head. I know her last tank is running low, even though she’s visibly working to keep her breath slow and steady so she doesn’t make the problem worse.
I close my hand over her flashlight and direct her beam through the bars.
Beyond the grate, the tunnel widens. Golden light glimmers through the water overhead. That’s the Academy Vault, gotta be, right on the other side of this grate.
We just need to get through these bars. ASAP. Before Zara runs outta air.
Lucky for her, I know what I gotta do.
I twist around to meet my queen’s wide-eyed stare and give her a cocky grin for reassurance. Suddenly her mating bite pulses on my neck. The building coil of our shiny new mating bond hums between us like an electric cable.
I ain’t a natural telepath, my Fae DNA isn’t built for it.
But fuck me. These shifters and their mating bites?
They’re hella potent.
Yeah, I know… it’s a lot. Sorry…The first whisper of our bond crackles to life in my noggin like electric static, same way it did with Babydoll after he nipped me. That’s my girl, that’s her voice, and she’s clearly fighting to keep her cool.
Through the growing bond between us, I can feel the pressure building in her chest. The parched dryness of fear in the back of her throat. The ache in her empty lungs as she sips carefully on her last wisp of air through the mouthpiece her lush lips are wrapped around.
Gently her hand floats up to settle against my cheek. My heart gives an anxious ping. I run cool, it’s a kraken thing, but her soft fingers are fucking icy.
Mordred,she whispers in my skull.I’m running out of air.
I grip her bare shoulders in my big hands to steady her and lock right onto her.I gotchu, baby queen. But this thing I do, it’s tricky when I ain’t alone, and we only got time for one shot. You gotta trust me and not fight me, you feel me?
Her smooth brow furrows above her goggles. Then her lids drop in a slow blink.
Do what you gotta do, Aquaman… Trust you. I trust you. But you gotta hurry, okay?
Under her lime lace bra, her gorgeous tits heave. She’s fighting for air and finding zip.
Zilch.
Nada.
I don’t waste time. I’m down with this. I’m sigma.
I wrap my arms and legs around my girl’s precious self. I pull her shivering body tight against my torso, with her empty tank and the Horn of Ceres pressed between us.
Then I apparate.
