Page 43 of Call of the Fathoms (Deep Waters #4)

Forty-Three

Fortis

H e could see the others were angry. And in some sense, he understood why. A lot of knowledge had just drowned in front of them. But as he stared at those floating bodies, he couldn’t feel bad for them. They had gotten what they deserved, and the more he thought about it, the more right this felt. She’d needed to heal from all the things they had done to her, and this was the best way for her to do so.

Alexia had gotten her revenge. Finally. She’d cut all the ties to the people who had weighed her down for years now, and she shouldn’t feel guilty for choosing her freedom over their influence.

He touched a hand to her shoulder, drawing her toward him where he was propped against the wall. “We’re leaving for a bit.”

Mira’s head whipped around toward him so quickly he thought he heard her neck crack. “Excuse me? You’re not taking her anywhere. She’s the only one who knows how to get around this place.”

He was ready to argue on her behalf, but Alexia replied, “Ace’s droids have already mapped the place. You’ll need to go room by room to make sure anyone left alive either agrees to join us or kill them. Just make sure you aren’t going into sector twelve.”

Anya stepped forward, tapping on the droid attached to her head. There was likely a map already on the glass that descended over one of her eyes. “What’s in sector twelve?”

“The experiments. There should be quite a few genetically enhanced children in those rooms. Some of them will still be in stasis, so waking them up needs to be done carefully. And beyond that are the rooms with all the reborns. They are genetic matches for the Originals.”

Daios slapped his tail on the floor. “Shouldn’t we destroy them?”

“They aren’t the Originals. They’re clones. And they deserve to have a life just like we do.” Alexia’s voice had hardened, but Fortis already knew a threat when he saw one.

He moved in front of her, glaring at Daios until the red finned bastard backed down. “We’re leaving. Clean the city up. All of you. If this is to be your new home, there is no reason for it to be filled with corpses.”

And then he turned, gathered Alexia in his arms, and headed for the nearest hatch.

She looped her arms around his neck and didn’t complain in the slightest when he attached the breathing tube to her neck and dove into the water with her. He knew it would be freezing for her, and she had just been injured, yet his brave and wondrous woman did not even hesitate to disappear with him.

His soul filled with happiness, knowing that he had finally found someone who would allow him to let go of all his chains.

They’d survived. Both of them.

As he raced through the waves to the one place he wanted to show her more than anywhere else, he let out a laugh that echoed out of his chest. Happiness, like this, was so rare in life. He wanted to enjoy every single second.

She looked up at him and bubbles exploded out of her mouth as she started laughing, too. Perhaps they were both delirious as they realized they were free now.

Soon enough, he found the cave system that had always captivated him. Not for the lights that hung from the ceiling in little blue glow worms and not for the water that splashed up in it. But for the hole in the ceiling that the sun and lightning would flash through, revealing all the carvings on the walls.

Carvings from People of Water, of their own kind swimming through the waves. Whales and squid, sharks and small schools of fish decorated the walls in such detail, they looked almost alive. Hundreds of carvings, all done by his people.

Alexia pressed her hands to her mouth, staring at each of them with wide eyes before she crawled out of the water. “What are these?”

“I don’t know. A bored artist’s escape, I imagine.” He pulled himself out of the water as well, brushing his hair back as he looked with her. The depthstrider carving beside him was so detailed, he could run his claw along the texture of its scales. “I thought you would find it beautiful.”

“I do,” she breathed, but she wasn’t looking at the carvings anymore. Now she was looking at him.

Some uneasy feeling relaxed in his chest. Finally. This is what he had been waiting for. A moment alone with her, where he could indulge himself without the fear of death looming over both of their shoulders. He knew what he wanted to do with the time he’d been given back.

Perhaps he shouldn’t lick his lips while staring at her. Apparently, that gave him away.

She took a few steps back, her hands already going to the bloodied jacket she wore. She peeled it off, revealing a soaking wet white shirt beneath that did nothing to hide the muscles of her stomach flexing as she moved, or the tight peaks of her breasts. “You’ve been given years back, Fortis. So many years when you thought you might be dead."

“I have.” He crawled after her, corralling her toward a flat stone in the center of the cave. “So many years.”

“What do you plan to do with them?” The back of her knees hit the stone, and she looked back at it in surprise.

He used that opportunity to leverage himself upright. Grabbing the roof of the cave with one hand, he waited for her to turn back and gasp as she realized he was now far above her, holding onto a rock with one hand and waiting with the other to grab her around the throat.

He curled his claws around her thundering pulse, forcing her up to look up at him. “Take off your pants, Alexia.”

She complied. It was likely a little difficult for her as he held onto her neck, but she wriggled out of the wet garment and tossed it aside. Only then did he lower her onto the flat stone that looked like an altar. She was laid out before him, covered in salt water that dripped from her collarbone and pooled in the hollow just below her ribcage.

Leaning down, he cut through her shirt with his claw, leaving it in two tattered pieces and then peeling it back to reveal those breasts he so adored. “I intend to feast upon you for hours, Alexia. That’s what I’m doing with my years.”

He descended upon her like a man in a frenzy. The taste of her skin was enough to make his mind fracture. He’d always held back from her, at least a little, because he knew how large he was and how new she was to all this. But she’d taken both of his cocks the last time, and surely she could take them again now.

Alexia hooked her arms around him and drew him down. Their tongues tangled with each other, exploring the taste of their passion even as his claws found her nipples. He couldn’t stop touching her. Couldn’t help that he wanted to drag his fingers down her sides, likely bruising with such a harsh grasp. But he wanted to crawl inside of her. It was a need, a frenzy, that overtook his entire being. He wanted her, that much was certain, but he needed to be closer to her than he was right now.

“I missed you,” she said, nipping at his lips. “I need you inside me.”

“I need to taste you first.”

A low whine vibrated in her throat. She was as desperate for him as he was for her, but he had to be the reasonable one here. She might have a little more experience than before, but she needed far more than a few kisses and a breast grope before she could take him.

Trailing down her body, he pressed kisses to every part of her that he could find. And then slowly he turned, rolling them on the rock until she was on top of him with his lips sucking at her breast. With a soft pop, he drew back and stared up at her.

“Ride me,” he said.

“You want me to what now?”

She might not have any idea what he meant, but he could damn well show her. Grabbing onto her hips with his hands, he slowly rocked her back and forth across his tail. The scales gave her the texture she was desperately seeking, and he could indulge himself in her for a bit.

Darkness fell upon the cave as night turned the room to silver, with the meager beams of moonlight coming from the hole at the top of the cave. And as he watched her rocking, finding her pleasure on him, he committed this moment to memory.

She was stunning with her dark hair still coiled in a braid, some strands coming out and loosening around her face. The silver moonlight barely showed much of her at all, just giving him an impression of flexing muscles where she braced herself on his stomach. Both of her biceps were strong, bulging with power as she moved. Her abs flexed, little mountains that he knew many other women didn’t have. Not like Alexia.

And then came the rain. Soft droplets even though he knew it would be a deluge outside of this cave. But the raindrops had to wind down through the small hole at the top of the cavern, dripping onto her body in little icy beads. Bumps rose on her flesh, a sign that she was cold.

Her face scrunched as it always did when she was close, and he knew now was his moment to join her. Fortis hesitated, though. Just one more moment as lightning turned the entire room into a bright white glow. She reached her peak without his help, her head thrown back and all her muscles tightening in an impressive display of strength and power.

“By the gods, you are beautiful,” he murmured as she slowly opened her eyes. “Beyond beautiful. A goddess who has taken flesh and blessed me with her presence.”

“Shut up and fuck me,” she said with a soft laugh. “You’re looking pretty good yourself, undine.”

He surged upright, shifting her forward so she could feel the pressure of his cocks between her legs. “Are you done waiting, virago?”

“I’ve been done waiting since the moment you realized you didn’t die.” She hooked her hand behind his neck and used that to pull herself closer.

She teased him on her knees, using her free hand to slide the tip of him through her folds. Back and forth, she made sure that he knew every texture and every sensation of her on his entire length before notching him and pushing down.

They both groaned as he slid into her, the feeling so sublime it was almost hard to breathe. Inside of her was home. It was everything that he’d been searching for for nearly twenty years until this moment with this woman resting on his lap, taking him deep inside of her body.

“Fuck,” she breathed, drawing the word out long and slow. “You feel so good.”

“Perfection, virago. Now move.”

“I don’t want to.”

A surprised laugh burst out of him, and then he palmed both of her hips. “You’ve had a trying day, dear one. Allow me.”

He lifted her up and down. Even though she was heavy with muscle, he could still show her how to move for the both of them. Slowly, he eased inside of her and then drew her back up. He wanted to feel every bit of her surrounding him before he lost his mind.

It was hard to breathe like this, though. He kept his pace deliberately slow, slower than it needed to be, as his breath sawed in and out of his lungs. His control was going to snap soon enough.

Alexia pulled upright herself, still clutching his neck and forcing him to lean back so he could support her. And then she dropped back down on his other cock. Hard. Hard enough that he slid right to the base and both of them groaned with the force of it. Then she lifted herself again and dropped back onto the other one.

Just like he’d done to her before. But this time it was her doing it. Her using all the weight of gravity and her own body to take him. Over and over again, she toyed with him. Teasing him as he had just teased her.

“Virago,” he breathed, trying his best to stay sane while she continued her rhythm. “Come for me.”

“You first.”

“Damn it, woman. Come for me!” he barked, and then she shattered.

He could feel her clenching around him, each muscle coiling around his cock until it was too much. He came, both of his cocks exploding at the same time. One inside of her and the other splattering the stone behind her as he yanked her close to him.

Fortis pressed his lips to the top of her head, holding her against his hearts as they both came down from a high that felt almost impossible to have reached with one of her kind. And yet, he had.

This woman was everything to him and more. And he hadn’t told her that before dying.

“I will never forgive myself for thinking I should die without telling you how marvelous you are. How much you changed my life and how dearly I would have regretted never telling you that you are the other half of my soul. I love you, virago. More than I thought possible.”

She pressed her lips to his chest, turning her head so that she was tucked beneath his chin. “I know you do, Fortis. I am obsessed with you. I hope you know that. I love you more than anything, and I don’t think I’ll ever regret giving up my life for you. The one we will make together will be so much better than any future I might have had otherwise.”

He liked that.

Leaning back on the stone, he stared up into the stormy sky and breathed out the last bit of tension that still existed within his heart. “A future,” he murmured. “I like that.”