Echoes of the Tide (Deep Waters #3)

Chapter 33

CHAPTER 33

H e hated leaving her behind, but he also knew that it was necessary. The other women weren’t as terrible as he made them sound, and he wasn’t even sure why he had said it. Maketes adored both Mira and Anya for who they were. Strong women with hearts of gold, who had chosen their mates over everyone else.

He could only pray that his chosen mate would do the same. But he also had a duty to his people, and that was a hard realization to work through. His people needed him to provide information, and he needed... her. Every inch of her.

Even now, he still burned after she’d kissed him so easily in front of his people. Ace had just grabbed onto each side of his face and kissed him like it might be the last time they ever saw each other again. He should have laughed at her, told her not to worry, and that everything would work out the way it was meant to work out.

Instead, all he’d been able to think was that she was kissing him and that he wanted her to be kissing elsewhere. He wanted her everywhere. On him. Around him. With him inside of her. Just that single kiss had made it difficult for him to think about anything other than her taste, her touch, and all the beauty that made up who she was.

It had him on edge. He’d admit that. Even going to see his brothers made him angry. He wanted to turn right back around and go to her. What if she was being mistreated? What if the other two women made her feel unwelcome?

Just the thought had all the lights in his body flickering to life. His spines were standing out straighter, harsher. He was ready to fight on her behalf again. He’d even fight his own kind if that was what it took.

“Maketes!” a voice called out. Arges, most likely, his blue shaded brother's voice was easier to pick out. It was always kinder than the others.

Still, he flared all his fins and turned toward the sound like it was a direct attack. Arges paused where he swam, a frown on his face as he surveyed the anger in Maketes’s gaze.

A grin spread across his features, like he had discovered something incredible. “Brother,” Arges said. “I heard you brought back an achromo, but I didn’t think it was this bad.”

“This bad?”

He waved a hand up and down, gesturing to all of Maketes’s body. “Look at you. All vibrant and showing off. You haven’t mated her then, I suppose?”

A much deeper male voice answered from behind Maketes, and he felt the hard slap of a fluke across his back. “This small one has found a mate already? Was it the one he brought back with him? She scented pretty in the water.”

That was it.

He turned with a small flick of his hip fin and raced for Daios. Catching his brother hard in the chest, they both tumbled through the water until Daios hit the sand on his back. But as much as he tried to claw at the big, red finned devil, Daios blocked him at every turn. All the while, the massive male was chuckling.

“Look at him! All caught up in the mating rage, I can tell. This one is already done for, Arges.”

“Don’t tease him so much. You were just as delicate when you first found Anya,” Arges replied. But there was laughter in his voice as well and it made Maketes see red.

Snarling, he turned toward Arges. “You both are a waste of my time.”

“And yet, you’re fighting us.” Arges spread out his arms wide. “Come on, little brother. You need to get some of this energy out.”

They were right. He did. And there was no better way to do so than to take a pound of each of their flesh. Baring his teeth, he raced for his blue brother, only to be caught around the tail by the red. They all struggled, tooth and claw flashing in the sands until there was black blood in the water. And that was enough for him. He didn’t care who was bleeding, only that there was blood.

It was more frustrating than either of his siblings could know. The two brothers had gotten their women easily in comparison to him. They didn’t have to worry about a friendship breaking down, because they hadn’t been friends before they fell prey to the feelings that now boiled inside of him.

It was frustrating. She frequently denied his offerings. He’d yet to kidnap her and take her away from everyone, because that cave had arguably been part of the job. Then there was the gift portion of it. He should have gotten her some trinket by now, but he hadn’t had time to do so. All because they were swimming around because he was trying to be a good male who kept his people safe.

Snarling, he swam up toward the sun, where he intended to spin around and use all the force of his momentum to pin his brothers into the dirt. One by one, he would beat them.

But then he was caught by a dark purple webbed hand around the neck and then he was hanging from the depthstrider’s grip like a child. He writhed against the hold, his tail flailing and all of his body coiling around the thick arm that now drew him back down toward the sands. But nothing and no one could fight against something this large.

Fortis held him in his grip, bringing him right back to his two brothers, who were both breathing hard and had a few claw marks down their chests, but were no worse for wear than he was.

Frustration burned in his chest. He wanted them to be hurting. He wanted them to wear the scars of this moment.

At least, until Fortis gave him a hard shake. “Snap out of it. I recognize the mating need has you in its grip, but that doesn’t make you a mindless beast.”

The words sank through the anger that raged through him and Maketes let the anger go. Fortis’s hands on him didn’t hurt, after all. The big male was just forcing him to stay in place. His gills flattened, his spines drew back down, and then his tail became loose beneath him.

He swore the sea toyed with the ends of his tail, whispering that he needed to relax or he would never keep her safe. If he wasn’t thinking with a rational mind, then he needed to force himself to do so.

Breathing in and out for a long moment, he nodded. “I am better.”

“Good.” Fortis released him and then shook his hand off as though he were clearing the scent from his fingers. “Disgusting. I’ll never understand such anger and need for an achromo.”

Daios snorted. “Just for that, I hope you find the most difficult one out of us all.”

The glare that Fortis leveled him with should have turned him into chum, but then Fortis leveled the rest of them with that same look, and Maketes slunk back to his brothers. There was such disappointment in that gaze. More than that, though, were the eyes of a male who saw too much.

“The three of you are just the beginning,” Fortis said, his voice deep and low. It was the same tone he used when he saw into the future, and it was the tone that Maketes hated to hear. “If we continue to fight, the future becomes foggy with fear and more blood. We must focus on the gift that is now in our hands. The one that Maketes has brought us is far more useful than a singular weapon.”

“A gift?”

Fortis heaved a sigh and stared up at the sun beams above them. “Give me strength,” he murmured, clearly calling out to the gods.

Ah, right. Now that he was thinking a little clearer, he knew what the big male was talking about. “Right, the keycard. Ace has it.”

“The key?” Arges asked, clearly not following.

“She was sent to find a key from Gamma. They were going to trade us meager weapons if we got it. I thought you’d already have been briefed on this?”

Arges still appeared lost, but Daios nodded and replied, “We were. He was busy with Mira at the time, if I remember correctly. I had my concerns about what the key would open.”

“It seems it’s not a key for a vault, like the people from Gamma thought. It is a key to knowledge itself. Especially about a city called Tau.”

Daios looked confused by that name, but Fortis and Arges stiffened. He’d never seen the depthstrider turn that color either. It spread from his dark tail all the way up his chest, turning him not only a strange shade of dark purple, but sinking him into the background of the sea. Almost as though he was invisible to the naked eye.

Arge? hissed long and low. “I have heard that name before. A soldier uttered it before I tore him in half.”

“Did you say... Tau?” Fortis asked, his voice so low it was little more than a growl.

“I did.” Maketes tilted his head to the side, confused by the reaction in front of him. “I didn’t know it existed, neither did the achromo I brought home. Why do you know the name?”

Suddenly, all three of them were looking at the colossal beast, but Fortis wasn’t looking back. His gaze was out beyond them, toward the sea and the depths that sank so far into the abyss no light could survive. It was there that Maketes had never explored, but it was there that Fortis lived.

“It is a name that is spoken only rarely amongst the depthstriders. A whispered echo of a place that once existed. Few of our kind have ever found it, and those who have only remain in memories and in the souls that visit us.” His eyes swirled with colors, as though he were already speaking with the dead. “Those who linger in the sea, in the place between life and death. Those are the ones who have seen this city.”

All the scales on his tail lifted, sudden fear lancing through his entire body. “Ace said the key holds all the knowledge of this place, and perhaps a direct connect to those who rule it. Apparently, there are quite a few people in each city who have a direct connection with them. The man who held this key believed that someone in Tau controlled every achromo city under the sea.”

“That cannot be,” Fortis snarled.

His two brothers turned to him as well, their brows furrowed in concentration. But it was Arges who spoke first into the angry silence.

“Maketes, do you believe her?”

“I don’t have to believe her.” He thudded his hand on his chest. “I know it to be true. The man was not lying. I was there when he spoke, and I traversed through Gamma to get her back. The people in that tower were wrong. Corrupted. They ate each other and all those who threatened them. But this man spoke true, and his voice rang with purpose.”

“Then it is true that Tau exists.” Arges shook his head. “This place should not be in the ocean.”

“I say we use the key.” Maketes needed them all to listen, because he knew his purpose was to tell them. “Use the key. Find this controlling city. If we can figure out where it is, then we can destroy it. With that knowledge, we could force all the other cities to run on their own. Perhaps if Beta no longer gets orders from someone more powerful than them, then they will have to work with us.”

Daios shook his head. “That is why we destroyed Alpha. It has only made tensions worse between us and the achromos. It is a failing mission, brother.”

“Perhaps. But if Tau controls as much as they say...” He didn’t know how to tell his brothers that this was important.

The sea swirled around him, kicking up sand so that it misted around his body. He could feel the ocean urging him on, telling him to continue arguing with them. It was his job to convince them that this was the right path to swim.

Yet, he didn’t know the words. He couldn’t find them. Because in the end, he didn’t know what this key would open or what it would unlock.

So instead, he pressed his closed fist over his hearts. “I know this is the right path. I know this is the only choice for us.”

All three of them stared at him, and he could feel the currents change in his direction. One moment, they looked confused, and the next, understanding passed over them like a wave had crested over their heads.

“It’s the right thing to do,” he repeated.

Fortis nodded. “Keep me informed. I was told that you are seeking out your achromo’s sister as well. Would you like me to get involved?”

His hip fins flared in surprise. “You know of that?”

“I know of everything that happens with my people. Especially when there is a yellow finned bastard who asks one of my hunters to find an achromo without killing it.” Fortis’s jaw clenched before he continued. “I will help them find this woman if you wish. There has been no news of her that I have heard.”

“I would be in your debt.”

Surprise lifted Fortis’s brows before he nodded. “Consider it done.”

Then the purple beast swam off. Gone, with just a flick of his tail, like the conversation was over just because he’d decided it to be so.

Daios frowned, then bared his teeth in a nasty snarl. “I don’t like that one.”

Arges snorted. “No one does. That’s his charm, don’t you know? I pity the achromo he finds who will break him.”

All three of them burst into laughter. Maybe part of the hilarity was of anyone liking Fortis at all.

“Fortis and an achromo,” Maketes stammered through his laughter. “Can you imagine? He’d eat her in her sleep before he’d admit to wanting to keep her.”

“Eat her just so that he doesn’t have to admit maybe the achromos are prettier than he thinks?” Daios shook his head. “Maketes, what’s yours look like?”

Just like that, all the need was back. It burrowed into him like a knife and he groaned at the thought of her. “Soft. Everything about her is so soft.”

“They are awfully soft,” Arges replied. “Too easy to cut.”

“No, no...” He lifted his hands as though envisioning her ass already cupped in his palms. “There’s so much to grab. So much to spread out like a banquet before me.”

Daios made a disgusted expression and then slapped at Maketes’s hands. “Stop that.”

“What? There’s plenty of her to please me.”

“Stop... doing that.” Daios slapped his hands again. “Let’s get you back to your achromo before you tell us too many personal details.”