Page 67 of Secrets of the Void
"Oh." She blinked a few times and then said, "So you want Pilot to come with us as well?"
No, he didn't want the droid to come with them. That cretin would ruin all the sweet moments he had planned and likely make the water icy cold with his disdain. Proteus had no interest in a cock blocking droid tainting this moment for him.
"Absolutely not," he snarled. "The droid stays here."
Again, she looked at him like he had lost his mind. Quietly, Ellie said, "I still can't breathe underwater, Proteus."
Another woman walked up beside her. The engineer was someone he had seen around Ellie a few times. Her dirty blonde hair made her stand out amongst the others, mostly because she was so strong. Broad shoulders and muscular arms that were revealed by her sleeveless shirt made her appear far morecapable than the others. She wore an engineer’s uniform she must have found in the back, but the one-piece suit didn’t fit her. Thus, the arms being ripped off.
"He hasn't breathed for you yet?" the woman asked. "It's eerie, but they can do it just fine. All they do is stick a tentacle in your neck. A quick prick and suddenly you're breathing underwater."
"Who are you?" he grumbled.
"Quinn. Be nice to me, or I won't be as nice to your friend here." Quinn pointed at Ellie and then flashed him a grin. "Go ahead with the tentacle. I've watched it enough times to not let it make me too sick."
He didn't like where this was going. Ellie was already heading toward him, and this wasn't going to work the way either of them thought. "I do not have one of those," he said.
Now everyone was listening. He could sense it. Even the man in the back, who had been making a racket while he hammered together some contraption, was suddenly hammering much more quietly.
He could have heard a pin drop, and that said something for how loud this room had been until he admitted that.
"What?" he hissed. "I'm clearly not an undine. They have always been resilient, and when they discovered the use of that tentacle, it was proven that humans and undine were compatible with each other. I am neither human nor undine."
Quinn just stared. But then he felt her gaze trailing up and down his body, looking him over with fresh eyes before she blew out a long breath. "Ah. Well. That's fine, you can take my rebreather."
The two women disappeared into the back for far too long. He was already antsy, and having to wait for Ellie to return was somehow even worse.
What if she didn't like where he was bringing her? He doubted that she wouldn't like it. Ellie, so far, had been very easy to impress. She liked the ocean. She liked seeing new things. He was going to combine both loves and show her something only in the water and new.
But still, something ugly slithered inside his chest. He hadn't felt doubt like this in such a long time, and shouldn't that say something about him? She weakened him. She made him question his own abilities. She...
Was heart-stoppingly beautiful.
He had to make sure his jaw didn't drop as she walked back into the room wearing a wetsuit with one of the metal devices over her mouth. But his eyes lingered on the curves of her form, and how she moved with such innate grace.
Her long legs were on display so all could see them. The slight roundness of her stomach made his eyes linger on the softness there, but then he could only look at the plushness of her breasts and swallow as his mouth watered. He'd tasted her, and now all he wanted to do was rip that wetsuit in half so he could feast upon her again.
Maybe she knew his thoughts. Her cheeks turned bright red as she met his hungry gaze and then gestured at the device on her mouth. There was a muffled sound of her talking, but it was hard to hear her this far away.
"What is that?" he asked, suspicion blooming in his chest. He needed a lot more information before he’d take her into the deep sea wearing that. What if it didn't work?
The engineer swaggering next to Ellie replied. "Rebreather. One of Mira's creations. It's a newer version, so it'll last longer. Her idea was to create a way to breathe underwater like fish do, a filtration system for oxygen essentially. If you look on the side, you can see the canisters of nitrogen and... You don't need to know all that. I'm getting in the weeds. It'll let her breathe byfiltering out what she needs through the water itself. That's all you need to know." Quinn clapped a hand to Ellie’s back. "Have fun. We'll all be slaving away here while you're gone."
"Should I stay?" Ellie asked, and he heard that loud and clear.
"No," he replied for the rest of them, and then held his arms out for her.
She came to him like a woman in a myth. All the world faded away as her hips swayed and she sauntered toward him. Did she know how enraptured he was with her? Did she know that she had woven a spell around him and that somehow she was all that he could think of?
She likely didn't. And that was part of her charm, he supposed.
Proteus took her waist in his hands and lifted her into the water with ease. She barely weighed anything to him, but nothing weighed much when one was as big as he was.
They sank into the water, and once beneath the surface he could breathe again. He pointed for her to go the way she had before so that he could meet her through the rocks. The other way just wasn't safe enough for her. Yes, there was more space, but the rocks were questionable. A cave-in around an undine was something they could all manage. But her? She would die in a cave-in.
Flicking his tail, he moved through his side speedily so he could be on the other side of the rocks once she pulled herself through. And again, he was just stunned by her. With her hair spreading around her face, the short dark hair looking like ink, he was shocked at how well she seemed to be adapting here.
Without a word, he wrapped his arms around her and started the journey. It would take a while, but he was a massive beast. Proteus could move faster than most undine could imagine inthe water, and he intended to use every bit of his body to get them there with time to spare.
