Page 23 of Call of the Fathoms (Deep Waters #4)

Twenty-Three

Alexia

“ Y ou what?” Alexia exclaimed with a laugh, trying to keep herself from giggling too hard at the story.

“Aulax was just a boy, and he wouldn’t leave the pufferfish alone.” Fortis shrugged. “If he wanted to find out why I told him not to touch things, then I decided to just let him touch them. He ended up grabbing onto it in the biggest hug he could and punctured himself in twenty different places.”

“Fortis! That’s...”

“Cruel?” He looked over at her with a grin. “He learned not to touch pufferfish, now didn’t he?”

This wasn’t the only story he’d told her that was borderline ridiculous. There were so many. Stories of him and his son meandering through the sea, seeking everything they could that would entertain them. How they fought sharks and rode on the backs of whales. Stories that painted a picture of a single father who loved his son more than anything in the world.

Biting her lip, she shook her head, so she didn’t laugh too hard at the hilarity of the story. “It sounds like you love your son very much.”

“I do. I am very proud of him.”

“Why don’t you talk about him more?” Maybe that was her old aches coming through. “I didn’t even realize you had a family. Much less that you spent time with them.”

“I didn’t trust you. Why would I tell you about my family when you could have chosen to return to Tau, or tried to kill me? What reassurance did I have that you wouldn’t track down my family if I couldn’t convince you to help us?”

It made a lot of sense. Alexia had worked for the people who had hunted undine for ages, and the people in Tau were willing to do anything to get the entire ocean under their thumb.

Blowing out a breath, she reached up for her hair, which was already almost dry. How long had they been talking? Far longer than they should have, most likely. But it was nice to talk to him like he was a person and not just some monster out of the deep.

Taking her tangled hair in her hands, she started to weave it into a braid. “I can’t blame you for that. I wouldn’t have hunted down your family, though. If that helps.”

“I’m sure you would have.”

“There’s no logical reason to do that.”

“Wiping out my people from the sea has always been Tau’s plan. That’s why they do everything they do. What are you doing?” The last sentence was said so suddenly that she froze.

With her fingers in her hair, she stared at his wide eyes. That expression was far too similar to what he’d looked like the first time he’d lost control in the ocean. Usually there was some kind of emotion in his black gaze, but when he stared at her like that? It was like he turned into a shark. There was no emotion, only hunger.

“Braiding my hair,” she breathed.

“Why did you stop?” His gaze never moved from her fingers, he wasn’t even blinking, and she wasn’t sure what that meant.

Inexplicably, heat bloomed deep in her belly. Alexia didn’t know what to do with these feelings, but she knew she wanted him to keep looking at her like that. So she continued weaving the strands together, looping them over and over.

Her hair was long. It took some time to braid her hair. By the end of it where she tied it in a knot that would hopefully stay, the air was thick between them. She was breathing a little harder than before, and so was he. She could see the way his chest moved up and down with some emotion she could not name.

But this feeling awakened another being inside her. A woman who could feel and want and desire, whispered for her to take hold of this moment. It might be the only one she ever got.

Licking her lips, she quietly said, “You believe you’re going to die soon?”

“I know it.”

“If I were going to die, then I would want to fill every moment with life. I would want to do all the things that I have always wanted to do, and not have a single regret as I left this world.”

She realized she was likely prodding him with a stick just to see what he would do, but also, she hadn’t felt like this. Ever. Her body had never experienced this warm, liquidy feeling until him and she wanted to explore that more.

“Virago,” he said, his voice little more than a groan. “My control is hanging by a thread.”

Why did that make her heart thud so hard in her chest? “You took all my medicine, I’m afraid you’re the only one with any control left.”

A low sound rumbled in his chest. She’d never heard him make that noise before, but perhaps he couldn’t in the water. And then suddenly he reached over, grabbed each of her ankles, and spread them both wide. The movement spun her in his direction. She had to plant her hands behind her on the floor as he looked her over with those hungry, scorching eyes.

“You said you felt nothing before you stopped taking the medication,” he said, his voice a low rumble. “Does that mean you felt absolutely nothing?”

“Before this? I only had a cold mind. Tactical. Able to see only logic and reason.” She took a long, deep breath. “But now I’m feeling... a lot of things.”

Somehow those eyes darkened even further. Like he knew what she meant when she said that. He understood that she wanted—no, needed—him to do something, but she genuinely didn’t know what to ask for.

“You know what men and women do together, I suppose?” he asked. “It wouldn’t surprise me if Tau had removed all pleasure from their city.”

“I have seen the Originals doing what they want with each other.” Although the idea of that made her wince. “It did not look enjoyable. Their ways are... twisted.”

She remembered far too many of them pushing each other beyond limits. It was a game for them all. They liked to see what kind of pain they could cause, how little the other would enjoy it, or how much they suddenly would.

“People who are that old no longer seek pleasure in ways we understand,” he murmured, but then his hand curled around her ankle a little tighter. “We are not in the water, Alexia. I cannot scent what you want.”

Right. Because he could smell her through his gills. She bit her lip, wondering what he would do if she admitted... “Do you remember losing control in the water with the jellyfish? That scent was that I was interested in you, Fortis.”

“You wanted to fuck me?” he asked. His brows rose for a moment before that hungry gaze returned. “That is most surprising.”

“You’re telling me.”

“But you know nothing about... pleasure.” He growled the last word and it sent sparks of awareness throughout her entire body. Like a wave of desire, it rolled over her head and crashed down throughout her entire body.

“I know nothing about my pleasure,” she corrected.

“Then it would not be right for me to take this first moment from you.” The sound of his voice rolled over her. She wanted to feel his skin pressed against hers. A flash of him looming over her, all those teeth bared in threat, made every muscle in her body seem to turn to liquid.

A small whimper escaped her lips, and that was a sound she had never made before.

“Would you like me to walk you through it, virago?” he asked as her eyes drifted shut.

She wasn’t sure she would be able to stop him if he wanted to. And she wasn’t sure she would ever try on her own. The entire idea of answering this pleasure felt daunting and terrifying. What was she supposed to do? How was she supposed to act? What if she couldn’t do it after so many years of people telling her what to do and how to be?

“Virago,” he said. With her eyes closed, it was like his voice came from everywhere. “Unzip your wetsuit.

She reached with trembling fingers and pulled the front zipper down. The rattle of it was somehow so much louder because she knew he was watching and all she could think to do was follow his voice.

“Look at all that smooth, beautiful skin,” he murmured. “I can see how many battle scars you harbor, virago. So pretty. So many moments where you bested your opponent.”

She’d never thought of them like that. But he made it sound like it was a good thing to be marked. She didn’t care so much about the scars that dotted her flesh from countless skirmishes and fights. Knife wounds, bullet holes, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was his deep groan of appreciation as the backs of her fingers hit her stomach.

Just above her pubic bone he barked, “Stop.”

She froze. The warmth of her fingers nearly between her legs was tantalizing. She wanted to slide her fingers between her legs, just to press against the pressure there. She needed... something. Alexia just didn’t know what.

“I do not know the body of an achromo,” he murmured. “I am learning just as much as you.”

She huffed out a little laugh. “That doesn’t sound promising. I thought you were telling me how to do this.”

“What feels good?”

How was she supposed to know? She’d never touched her body before. She’d never even tried to find out what felt nice or what didn’t feel nice.

He seemed to somehow understand without her saying another word. “What I want to do is slide my hands up your ribcage. I want to cup your breasts in my hands.”

Alexia followed his words. Her skin felt overly sensitive and warm. Tingles followed her hands as she moved up to her breasts and parted the wetsuit. His sharp inhalation of breath made sparks dance along her skin.

Had her breasts ever felt like this? The cold air made her nipples stiff, but this was even more. The tips were so sensitive.

“Beautiful,” he groaned. “Touch your nipples for me, virago. I want to know what noises you make while you play with them.”

Her fingers found those aching peaks, and she rolled them between her fingers. It made pleasure spike and somehow, a strange sensation speared between her legs. She was wet and aching, clenching around nothing as though her body wanted to be filled. She couldn’t breathe the same as before. All she could do was rock her hips against the floor.

She needed friction. Trying to close her legs, she found she could not. Both of his hands were on her legs, holding them open, forcing her to feel these sensations without doing what she wanted.

“Does that feel good?” he murmured, and she swore she felt his breath on her thigh. “Tell me what you’re feeling.”

“It feels... incredible.” She squeezed her breast harder, imagining it was his clawed hand. “I wish it was your hand.”

“What about it?”

“I want to feel your claws.” Fuck, it was more than that. “I want to feel them digging into my skin.”

The image of sharp little pricks, and how hot the beads of blood would feel slipping down her breast made her whine. That was exactly what she wanted. Not something soft, or delicate. She wanted raw and primal, to feel him rutting into her like an animal, taking what he wanted without asking.

“Careful. I can see you’re holding yourself hard enough to bruise.” Was that his breath on her stomach? She swore that was a fanning sensation of breath. “Now I want you to reach your pretty hand between your legs. You tell me what you find there.”

She swallowed hard. She’d been wanting to touch there, but also had no idea what to do once she did. Everyone she’d seen have sex seemed to enjoy it. What if she didn’t?

But the quiet rumble of his growl made it easier to delve her hands between her legs.

“Tell me,” he growled, as though it was the most important thing in the world.

“Warm and wet,” she whispered, although her voice shook. “It feels... so good.”

Another low, echoing growl. “Spread your legs wider, virago.”

She did, and then jumped at the sensation of his massive hand touching the zipper. He pulled it down as far as he could. She had no idea what she must look like, her stomach flexed to hold her upright with her legs spread wide and her fingers working between her thighs. All she knew was that this felt better than anything she’d ever experienced in her life. It felt right. It felt as though she was rushing toward something that she didn’t know how to grasp.

“Fuck, look at you,” he muttered. “Spread out before me like a banquet. I would feast upon if you if you let me, virago. There is nothing I want more than to taste you. Where your fingers are now, I would replace that with my tongue.” She swore there was another, wetter sound that followed his words. “I would devour you whole if you let me, until I could taste nothing but you.”

She couldn’t help herself. She opened her eyes to see that he wasn’t as close as she thought. He only had one hand on one of her ankles now, and the other... her gaze traveled down the roping muscles of his torso to see that he had not one, but two cocks. They were fully protruded, a lovely deep pink that melted into the same purple as the rest of him. He gripped the top one in a choking grasp, his eyes between her thighs as he rutted into his fist.

Something about that image made part of her break. Her fingers slid to the top of her pussy where it felt best, and her fingers circled that area faster and faster as her gaze locked upon his massive cocks.

“I can feel you staring at me, virago,” he growled, his voice impossibly lower. “Someday, I will make you take both of these cocks. You will learn how they feel inside you.”

“I don’t know if I can,” she whispered.

“Put your fingers inside yourself. I want to hear you.”

She did as she was told, and her cheeks flamed bright red. The sound of her fingers sliding inside her body was obscene, but somehow it was even better knowing that he wanted it. The base of his cock bulged, and the sound of his groan sent her tumbling into an oblivion she hadn’t realized existed.

With a hissing sound, she saw stars. It was beyond anything she’d ever imagined. One moment she was herself, and the next she was a clenching, needy beast who was seized by every muscle that burned.

She felt ropes of his cum splatter over her wetsuit and even that made her orgasm burn brighter, hotter. She peeled her eyes open again—when had she closed them?—to see him panting over her, one cock in his hand coated with an irridescent liquid, while the other was still very much hard.

Her eyes flicked up to his, and he grinned. “There are benefits to being with one of my kind,” he breathlessly said. “Once is never enough.”