Echoes of the Tide (Deep Waters #3)

Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

M aketes kept himself together throughout the stitching process. He didn’t care about the tiny spots of pain as she threaded through his flesh with that tiny piece of metal. Clearly, she thought it was hurting him, but he barely even feel it.

All he felt was the weight of her on his lap. The sensation of her legs on either side of his tail, knowing that she was right where he wanted her. And if she moved, even the slightest, he would likely extrude both of his cocks and terrify her to no end.

She was afraid of his gills. Let alone all the other physical differences he had to keep himself from blurting out. And he had thought about it. Maketes’s first reaction to her saying that they were different was for him to think about his twin cocks that he knew for certain human men didn’t have.

He’d seen an achromo man naked before. The tiny, floppy piece of meat between the man’s legs had looked utterly useless upon first sight. And then he’d confirmed by talking with both Arges and Daios that their size differences were great between their females and themselves. But they were much larger than Maketes. He was more manageable for an achromo female. He wasn’t sixteen feet long and made of solid muscle. He was only thirteen feet, a perfect mate for both his own kind and achromos... If it weren’t for a few key features that had always made him lesser to the females of his own kind.

Maybe they would make him lesser to her, as well. Maybe Ace wouldn’t like that he couldn’t flutter very fast. Maybe she would think less of him for... for...

No, he couldn’t think of that.

Maketes adjusted himself where he now leaned against the door to the room, trying to keep his mind on the now instead of going down dark paths. He didn’t want to think about what made him a poor mate when she was right here. So close he could touch her if he wanted.

They’d turned off all the lights, so the only illumination in the room came from the neon lights just barely visible through the single pane of glass that revealed the sea beyond. She refused to sleep on the surgical bed, even though he’d thought it looked rather comfortable and it was silly of her to not make use of it. Instead, she’d yanked all the blankets and fabric she could find in the room to pile them against the base. She’d curled up, telling him to mind his own business when he’d said it was a bad idea, and then tried to fall asleep.

He didn’t think she was very successful at doing so, though. Every time he looked at her, she was moving. Rolling from one side to the other, drawing her knees up to her chest and then stretching them back out.

Obviously, she wasn’t getting any rest. He’d seen the other two achromos sleeping in their rooms, he’d never seen them move this much. Achromos were eerie when they slept. They had almost no movement, no visible breath. They just laid there as though they’d died.

Sighing, he crossed his arms over his chest and looked over the room again. They’d barricaded the only other door. He was faster than the achromos were, anyway. If they tried to get into the room, he’d be on them before they could even set foot near Ace. Leaning against the only other door into the room, he knew they were as safe as they were going to get in this cursed city.

So why was he on edge?

Ace rolled over in her sleep again, this time adding in a cracking noise that repeated constantly until he realized it was her teeth chattering together. Her teeth! The woman was cold, and he was an idiot who hadn’t realized that she was rolling back and forth seeking some kind of warmth.

To him, the room wasn’t all that bad. Brisk, perhaps, but warmer than the ocean beyond. But to her, without her wet suit or anything else to keep her warm, this room and the cold floor must have been near to torture. Even the blankets she’d found were thin with holes in them.

Idiot, he thought to himself, before running his hands down his chest to make sure he was finally warmed up. It took his body a long time to react to being out of the water, but once he was somewhat dry, his body started to put off a lot more heat.

Once he’d finished patting himself down and was certain he wouldn’t make her any colder than she already was, he moved quickly. Maketes used his fluke to wedge underneath her and rolled her into the base of his tail. She let out a little squeaking sound of annoyance, but by then she had already rolled to the muscular part of his tail. He wrapped the thicker base around her and then dragged her into him.

It all took a few seconds before she was in his arms. By then, she was struggling but incapable of much movement because the entire weight of his tail had her trapped against him. It took so little effort for him to bundle her up and press her against his chest. And then even less difficulty to drape his fluke over her back like a blanket and tuck it in around her body.

“Stop fighting, kefi,“ he muttered, getting a little more comfortable around her. “You’re cold.”

“I am cold, but what is this doing other than raising my blood pressure?” She was still struggling, although he had a feeling she would quickly realize she couldn’t move any more than he let her. His tail was wrapped around her, after all.

A massive loop of it pressed her against his chest. But then he realized maybe she wasn’t comfortable that way, so he shifted her to his side. Then she was cushioned in his arm, held to his ribs where his lower gills could taste her, and she had one thick thigh slung over his tail.

“Maketes,” she hissed. “I was fine where I was.”

“You weren’t. You weren’t sleeping, which means I can’t sleep, and I would like to get some rest tonight if possible. I do have to return to the ocean at some point, which means you need to be in the water with me. Get some sleep.”

But she was tense against his side. Even as he relaxed, hoping that she would follow suit, she didn’t. Maketes stared up at the ceiling and prayed for silence, but there was no rest for either of them tonight, apparently.

Because her hand pressed against his chest and he knew that even if she had fallen asleep, he wouldn’t have been able to. She was touching him. Her fingers stroking his skin as though she was mindlessly stroking something comforting, and that made it hard to breathe.

All he wanted was her. And damn it, that was a hard thought to have when she was pressed up against him. He wanted to roll over onto her. He wanted to kiss her like he’d seen his brothers do with their mates, even though he’d never thought about putting his mouth on another. But what did she taste like? Was her taste the same as her scent? All sunshine and sweet things?

Sighing, he tightened his arm around her and tried to distract them both. “What is going through your mind?”

“What do you mean?”

“I can hear your thoughts as though you are saying them. You are a loud thinker, Ace.”

“I do not think loud.” She almost sounded insulted before she sighed. “I’m just wondering about your life outside of all this. You’re here with me, but you must have something or someone to go back to.”

Did he tell her the truth? That he’d been wasting away with nothing for so long, and that he’d leapt at the opportunity for adventure with her? Or did he try to play this off as though he had another life?

Maketes was an honest man. He had no interest in lying to her.

“I have nothing to get back to, kefi. Don’t worry about me so much.” He shifted, his hand coming down on her hip because he couldn’t resist the roundness there that called to him. “I have nothing and no one waiting on me.”

“That’s hard to believe. You’re so...” Her words trailed off.

A glimmer of pride glowed inside of his chest. “Handsome?”

“Well, I wasn’t going to say it like that.”

“Like what?”

Her hand slapped down on his chest, and he grinned up at the ceiling. She hated it when he goaded her, but he loved these moments between them. He enjoyed nothing more than antagonizing her.

“My people believe me to be very handsome as well. You can say it if you wish. It’s not the first time someone has told me that I would make a good mate.”

She made a garbled sound in the back of her throat. “I said nothing about being a mate!”

“You didn’t have to. All the females in our pod are very interested in me. I have even had strangers approach me and ask if I would be interested in being the father of their children. Mates are hard to come by, especially ones who look like me.” With his free hand, he grabbed hers on his chest and rubbed her palm up and down his chest. “This coloring is rare, you know.”

Her breath stuttered, and he wondered if touching him was affecting her just as much as it affected him. He wanted her hand to keep rubbing his chest and stomach. His skin was soft there, not quite so covered in scales. He could feel the heat of her palm as if she were made of fire.

Then she spoke, and he felt every muscle in his body tense.

“Why are you not with someone, then? If you wanted a mate, you could have had one by now.”

“I suppose I could have.” Did he tell her? Did he bare his soul in a way that he had been afraid to do since he was nothing but a small fry?

Her leg shifted, that hand moving over his chest all on her own. He couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. She was touching him willingly, and all he wanted was for more of that touch. But then he froze as she continued to speak into the darkness where secrets were easier to breathe into life.

“I can tell you that no one wanted me.” Her words were haunting in the room where they slept, neither of them looking at each other in the dark. “My sister is gorgeous. She’s got this long dark hair that’s never frizzy, and a smile that lights up an entire room. So many people wanted her. I was just her ugly sister. Growing up, I was always a little overweight. I wore glasses, my hair never had pretty curls. And I was loud. So loud. Opinionated, with a mouth on me that would send even the most hardened of engineers reeling.”

He could see it now. This brash, unaware young woman who had walked into a room and demanded that everyone give her attention. Because she was right. Because her words had meaning and no one ever listened to her. How he wished he could see her do that right now. He’d watch her with rapt attention and tear into anyone who didn’t give her the recognition she deserved.

The click of her throat suggested she’d swallowed. “I’ll be honest, I think I just settled into that. People thought of me as the ugly sister, and it was safe that way. I didn’t have to hope that boys would like me, or find me pretty. I took that persona on, and it served me well. Look at Gamma? Do you know what usually happens to women when they end up in that city? Not good things. Not at all.”

Which only served to make him angry. Because she’d been alone. No one had been there to protect her, and he’d been talking to her through a stupid little droid when he should have been here. For her. Making sure that, of all things, she was safe.

He hadn’t known that she wasn’t safe, though. Now, all he could do was make up for that which he had not known.

He tightened his hold on her and decided he, too, would bare his soul. “Our people perform to prove that we are interested in someone. We call it fluttering. The gills on our neck, our sides, they all move when we see someone that we like. It is an essential part of who we are and what mates we find. Unfortunately for me, I cannot flutter very well. The display that I create is... lackluster. To say the least.”

Her fingers had paused, as though she realized that he’d fluttered for her before. And then those fingers moved again, slowly trailing down his stomach to the ab muscles that flexed at her touch. “I don’t see why that would affect whether or not you would find a mate.”

“Well, and then there is the uh...” He coughed. Even now, the words stuck in his throat as though there was something wrong with even admitting this. “Some colorings of our people are a prediction of what they can do. Blue generally shows an ability for reason. Red colorings are always more aggressive and have a harder time controlling their anger. But me? I… Well, yellows are usually where the line stops. A golden child, as my mother used to say, a sign that the ancients are pleased with our family line and that we have done enough to end it. I am a mate for fun, and that is all. But if anyone wants something serious or a future with children? I am not the one for that.”

And it still hurt. A lot.

He didn’t enjoy thinking about these difficult things, because then he didn’t have to admit how much it hurt. He wanted children. He wanted a mate who would look at him with affection while playing with yellow bellied children that laughed as he chased them through the waves.

Her hand had frozen on his belly. “I’m sorry to hear that, Maketes. I can only imagine it’s been very hard for you to deal with.”

“It comes with the coloring, I guess. Us yellow finned bastards sure are pretty, but most of us cannot pass that color on to anyone else.” And it killed him every single day to admit it. He hated knowing that he wasn’t what females wanted, other than for his looks. He wasn’t worthy enough for a long term relationship. They looked at him as funny, hilarious to be around, but not worth more than that.

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 his cocks 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.