Echoes of the Tide (Deep Waters #3)

Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

H er hands were shaking. Ace wrapped them in the hem of her shirt, trying to tell herself that it was normal for them to shake after watching a friend crazily murder a bunch of people. It was normal that she was nervous after all that. It was normal for her to think that maybe she was losing her mind a little.

He’d torn that man’s head off so easily. Twisted it in those massive hands and the body had dropped before the man could even scream out in fear. It had just been attached one minute and then... not. Dropped onto the floor like it wasn’t even that big of a deal that he’d wrenched it off.

She knew now why he’d told her not to watch. Maketes hadn’t wanted her to see the spray of blood that would soon fountain from his hands. Who wanted anyone else to know that they were so capable of terrible, awful things?

And yet there was some part of her that recognized he’d done what he had to do. Before he’d told her to come out, he’d washed the blood clean from his body. He’d taken the time to make sure that she wouldn’t see the violence that had occurred.

Even if she’d already watched. Even though he’d told her to not look because he hadn’t wanted her to be terrified of him.

She was, now. But that was her own fault.

Ace was still brave enough to look at him, though. The wounds that decorated his chest and forearm were from keeping her safe. The one on his shoulder was quite literally meant for her. She’d looked down the barrel of that gun and she had known she was about to die. Until he moved in front of her, taking the wound that should have been hers.

All she could do was get them to a safe place. This was the medical pavilion, after all. She knew where she was going now that she’d found the map. She tried to keep her mind occupied with lefts and rights and turns that weren’t all that complicated. Instead, all she could focus on was the quiet sound of his scales sliding along the smooth floor. The sound of his palms slapping against the cold tile because he couldn’t walk like a normal person. It should have sent disgust rolling down between her shoulder blades, and in some small sense, it did.

But every time she looked over her shoulder, all she could see was the blood that was dripping from his wounds. He’d left a slick black streak across the floor, which was then parted by the long length of his tail, like a child had gotten into ink and ran their fingers through it.

Her heart squeezed and finally she found the room she was looking for. “This used to be a surgical suite. It should still have a lot of the items we’re looking for, but also shouldn’t have too many entrances and exits.”

He only watched her with an amused expression on his face. “You know better than I do. I’ve only been in a human city one other time.”

One other...

She held the door open for him and stared as he squeezed past her. They were so close she could feel the chill of his skin and the strange electrical sensation that brushed over her when he got close enough to touch. She wasn’t sure if that was him or just... her. Wanting to touch. Wanting to put her hand on that wound that was meant for her.

“You’ve been in a human city before?” she asked, both for curiosity’s sake and to distract herself.

“I was there when we attacked Beta.”

“Oh.” Right. She’d so easily forgotten that the undines had gotten into the other city and nearly tore it apart from the inside out. They’d even heard about it in Gamma, and they didn’t hear about any recent events.

Maketes didn’t wait around for her to figure out what to say next. Instead, he coiled his tail around himself and slumped against the surgical table. Even like that, he was the same height as her. She’d be looking him in the eye if she stood right in front of him.

And then he just stared at her. Kept looking. No matter how long she stayed quiet, and that was unusual for him. Usually he was the first one to start talking when she...

There it was.

“You’re afraid of me now,” he said, that deep voice rumbling through the room and raising every hair on her body.

She rubbed her arms to get rid of the feeling. “No, I’m not.”

“You watched when I told you not to.”

“I did.”

Ace needed her hands to be busy. She wandered through the room, gathering up the supplies she needed. Needle, thread, antiseptic, a bandage that she realized would fall off the moment he got into the water, but it would make her feel better for now.

He watched her every movement, clearly frustrated with this turn of events. “I told you not to.”

“You already said that.”

“Why are you feeling so uncomfortable with me now, then? I told you not to look. You were the one who decided to do so.” His stare nearly burned a hole between her shoulder blades. “You knew what I was.”

“I did.” She kept her back to him for a second, taking in a deep, steadying breath. Then she turned around and marched toward him with determination. “I don’t know why I’m feeling this way. I think it was easier when I knew what you were, but I could only send you words through a droid. You weren’t right in front of me, reminding me of what you were every second of the day.”

The fins around his face flared wide, and even that made her uncomfortable. Just the slightest show of surprise and she was so close to bolting it made her ashamed of herself.

With an angry exhale, she stacked everything next to him and tried her best to get control over the feelings. “It’s hard to remember that I know who you are when you’re so... so...”

He reached up between them and grabbed one of her flailing hands. “What about me scares you?”

She swallowed. “Maketes, I don’t want to?—”

“Tell me exactly. Tell me what pieces of me scare you so that I can ease your fears.”

She shouldn’t be doing this. This was stupid, anyway. There were so many parts of him that scared her. It would take them hours for her to list them all and they were on a timeline. She barely had time to stitch him closed, which was the other thing they should both be focused on right now.

Instead, she found her lips moving. “Your claws.”

“My claws?” He lifted their hands up so she had to look at them, seeing her fingers coiled together with his. “These would never cause pain. They were made to protect, not to harm.”

“But they ripped through that man’s stomach so easily.”

“I don’t want you to think of that, kefi. I want you to know that they are gentle with you and that if you need someone to save you, that they are the first weapon you should look for.”

Slowly, ever so slowly, he released her hand and lifted his. She could see it coming toward her face, and she let out a slow, stuttering breath so she remained in place.

The smooth back of his claw touched the highest peak of her cheekbone. Feather light, she almost couldn’t feel it as he swept it along the curve of her cheek and down to the edge of her jaw. Gentle, always gentle. He wasn’t even touching her at some points, but she swore he was.

Ace’s eyes fluttered shut. Something was happening inside of her that she couldn’t explain. Just that single touch eased the fear so quickly, when it shouldn’t have. He was still the problem. He had murdered so many people in front of her. She should only see their dead bodies when her eyes were closed like this.

Instead, what she saw were all the pieces of him that she wished she could ignore.

“Your gills,” she whispered. “They’re very different from what I expected.”

“How so?”

“They’re larger than I thought they would be.”

The faintest hint of a laugh made her imagine him smiling. Behind her closed eyes, everything was so much safer. She could imagine the grin on his face and ignore the thought that there were gills there. Instead, all she saw was the way his face wrinkled with happiness. How his eyes crinkled at the corners and deep smile lines on his cheeks were revealed. That expression was so familiar to her already, and they’d only been around each other for a couple of days.

Then his hand cupped hers, drawing her fingers to his neck. The softest velvet bumped against her fingers, gently fluttered the moment she touched them.

“My gills?” he repeated, his voice deeper than before.

She took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut a little harder, and explored. Just like with the shark, he gave her an opportunity to face something that made her feel uncomfortable, and she was going to take that opportunity.

From afar, his gills looked like they were similar to a lionfish. All spines and spikes and likely full of poisonous liquid that would make her writhe in agony. But they weren’t like that at all. They were soft. They slid through her fingers and seemed to touch her back with the slightest of movements. She could feel him exhaling. The warm air that escaped through his gills was so much warmer than the air of the surgical room.

“This doesn’t hurt you?” she asked.

“If you yanked on them, yes, it would hurt.” His tone was twisted, like he was holding himself back from something. “But it feels nice when you touch them.”

“Oh.” Did she want it to feel nice?

Yes. Yes, she did. Because it was nice to know that he was safe. That he wasn’t going to lunge at her in pain or bite at her.

“Your teeth,” she blurted. There was a reason she was touching him, and it was so she wasn’t afraid of him anymore. So she wouldn’t be scared to lean on him, to use him to keep her safe.

“Open your eyes, kefi. If you are afraid of my teeth, then you need to look at them.”

She didn’t want to open her eyes. Ace wanted to stay in this world where nothing existed but darkness and touch.

But then he leaned closer, hesitating where the heat of his breath brushed against the junction of her shoulder and neck. She heard the ragged breath he sucked in before his lips were suddenly pressed to the soft skin there. She could feel the imprint of his teeth through his lips. The sharp edges of them were dulled by warm heat that spread throughout her body like a wildfire.

Then those lips parted. She could feel the sharp tips of his teeth pressing against her flesh before he leaned back once more. Just the barest hint of them, and she was ashamed to admit she wanted more.

So she opened her eyes, blinking in the glaring white overhead lights before meeting his dark gaze. He parted his lips, baring those teeth for her eyes. Maketes even let her look her fill before he spoke.

“I am made like a weapon. But many of my kind are more terrifying than me. I promise you, with every part of who I am and every part of who I will be, I would never hurt you. You have made every part of me shine with light, sweet achromo. You are brave and wild and free, and I would be a fool to try and dampen that light.”

The same hand that held her fingers to his gills took her touch to his lips. Then he released her, never pushing her to do anything she didn’t want to do. Because of that, Ace found she wanted to touch.

She gently ran her finger along his plush lower lip, tracing the outline of the cushion of it. She could see where he had been biting the soft flesh, as though he was as nervous about her touching him as she had been. Again, those lips parted. He even opened his mouth slightly so she could run that same finger over the sharp points of his teeth.

They weren’t as razor sharp as she’d thought. Perhaps there would have to be more force to a bite to tear flesh like he had with the others.

It should have frightened her. Instead, a heat bloomed deep in her body. A heat she almost didn’t recognize because it had been so long since she’d felt it.

This time, her finger traced his lips with a little more intent. If he was human, she would have maybe tried to kiss him. He would have pushed her away, a man as attractive as him would never kiss a girl like her, but she still would have tried. It was just the two of them here, after all.

Those big hands came down on her hips, holding her in place. “Are you still afraid of me?”

“You killed all those people with your bare hands,” she whispered, her gaze still locked on his lips. “You ripped a man’s throat out with those teeth. And you are everything so many have described a monster to be.”

“And yet?”

She smiled. A real, true smile that made her cheeks ache. She was so rusty with smiling, Ace wasn’t even sure if it looked like a genuine smile or if it was all wrong. “I know these hands will not hurt me. I know that your teeth will never rip at my flesh. And I suppose I can admit that I trust you. Even if you have the hands of a murderer.”

His hands flexed on her sides, and then he let out a low, grumbling sound. It rumbled in his chest like the sound of a motor before he suddenly pushed down on her hips.

She went from standing to sitting. There was no fighting that grip. She thought she was going to tumble to the ground, but instead, she landed on his coiled up tail. The scales pressed between her legs, rubbing against the ache that had built while she touched him, and she was suddenly struck by their position.

She had one hand still on his gills, one hand tracing his lips. Her legs were wrapped around him, and his hands were on her hips. If she rocked even slightly, she’d be grinding herself against the ridges of his scales. Seeking out that friction that she desperately needed but that he likely didn’t even understand.

Maketes must know very little about her kind. There was no reason for him to learn anatomy, and she’d never even asked him if he was interested in humans or what he thought about her people.

Cheeks flaming bright red, she drew her hands back to herself. Planting them on her thighs so she didn’t touch him anymore, she cleared her throat. “Would you like me to stitch you up?”

He blinked, the movement so smooth and alien-like it almost threw her right back into the discomfort and fear. But then those enormous hands clenched on her hips again, and she had a hard time focusing on anything other than wishing he would tilt her hips for her and tumble them into a reality where they weren’t friends at all.

“You may tend to my wounds if you stay where you are.”

She blinked at him, her eyes wide. “Why would you want me to stay where I am?”

He looked back at her with those pitch black eyes, and she thought for a second she saw something in the depths. His gills were still flared wide, undulating in a slow movement that was almost impossible to see. Perhaps from being overstimulated, she could only imagine he wasn’t touched very often either.

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.