T. D. Hamm

“She wanted him. So it took so little effort to spread her legs wide around his thick waist and to kiss him. She didn’t know if undines even did this, but the last time he’d been very good at it. All she wanted was to feel him against her like they had in that facility where he had lost control for a few moments. She wanted to know if that had been a mistake or if it had been real. She hoped it was real. His hand at the back of her neck tightened, and she could feel the moment he let go of all his hesitation. One moment, he kissed her so softly, and the next, he devoured her. With lips and tongue, teeth and sharp bites, he consumed whatever she gave him. Like he was trying to swallow her whole. Like he wanted to crawl inside her and never leave and in this moment she couldn’t think of a reason why he shouldn’t. “What do you wish of me?” he said between kisses, and she could feel how restrained the words were.””

“He looked up and their eyes locked. She could feel his exhaustion, the ache that spread through his body, but even more, she could feel the relief that coursed through him at the sight of her. Because it was the same emotion she felt. With a sudden surge of his tail and a flash of fluke, he sped toward her at twice the speed. She barely had time to open her arms before he thudded into her. Hard enough that bubbles erupted from the seal around the rebreather, and her chest ached with the impact. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, holding on as he didn’t slow down. He just struck her with all the force of a hurricane and carried her away from the others without a word. “Daios!” Arges shouted, and she knew that Maketes was trying to follow them. None of them could keep up with her undine, though. A burst of energy and power renewed his speed, and soon enough, the others were just specks in the distance. He was shaking, she realized. Quaking against her chest until she felt as rattled as he was. Tears pricked her eyes, and she held onto him tightly, rubbing her palms up and down his back because she didn’t know what else to do. What to say. Instead, she just held him to her heart and let him hold her against his. At one point in their mad dash, he reached up and ripped the rebreather off of her face. Before she could even protest, he’d connected that tentacle to her throat, and she felt him breathing for her. Perhaps a little too fast, and certainly ragged. But it was there. “Just need to feel you,” he growled against her ear, the tones so low that they practically vibrated through her. She went limp in his arms. How could she do anything else? She’d been so worried, so frantic, that he might be harmed. Which he was. He’d arrived with banners of blood trailing after his body and yet still he carried her through the sea. Perhaps to somewhere he considered safe. Anya””

“Sighing, she tilted her head away from them a bit and looked up through the glass. At least she got a glimpse of Daios every day. He swam by the glass dome often. Whenever she caught his eye, he would nod at her and angle his body away from her sight. Just like he used to. All that forward momentum was lost. She worried maybe he didn’t even want to see her. He’d delivered her like a package he’d wanted to get rid of. Then he’d disappeared into the ocean. How was she supposed to feel? After that kiss, the way he’d touched her, and how she’d come apart in his arms… He’d dumped her and left, like he hadn’t wanted to be around her anymore. After everything they’d talked about and everything... Well, maybe she’d just been entertainment while they laid low so her father’s ships couldn’t find them. Maybe she was the only weird one who saw a man who had needed someone to see him.””