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"Come with me."
They swam together into the ocean's depths, each meter they descended reminding Isabelle of the same trek she'd made with Dax before. This time she didn't shut her eyes to the darkness, knowing she'd find the light at the bottom of the ocean.
When she spotted his lab, she smiled, an idea forming. She just hoped he'd go for it.
She sat down on the transparent sofa, watching Dax as he worked the scanners. He seemed lost in thought, and very quiet.
"What's on your mind?" she asked.
"Gimme a second here," he said without turning around, his gaze still focused on the screens in front of him.
Isabelle waited patiently, growing more excited as her idea began to take shape. It made perfect sense to her and was definitely workable for both of them. And if Dax agreed to it, she could tell him how she felt about him. Was it possible for her happily ever after to be looming around the corner? She didn't want to hope, but couldn't stop the joy that swelled within her.
When he finished, he sat next to her on the sofa and took her hands in his. She smiled at him, more nervous than she'd ever been before.
"I have to leave soon," he said, his gaze focused on her hands.
She frowned. "What? Leave?"
He nodded and looked up at her. She could get lost in his turquoise eyes, so achingly blue like the ocean she loved.
"I have work to do in another part of the world."
"I see." Disappointment stabbed at her. Maybe her hopes had been unfounded after all.
"But I think I have a solution to our problem."
"Our problem?"
One corner of his mouth lifted. "Yeah. That problem we have of wanting to be together."
Hope swelled again. He did feel the same way she did! "Oh good, because I have a solution, too. I'll bet it's the same one."
"Really? Go ahead, then."
She wiggled, unable to contain her enthusiasm. "I do want to be with you, Dax. More than anything. And I thought you might want to come with me when I leave the island."
His brows knit together. "Come with you? Where?"
"To Texas. Where I live."
He shook his head, his tense grasp on her hands lessening. "I can't."
"But I thought you said--"
"I can't go with you, Isabelle, but I thought you might want to come with me."
Her first reaction was to object, but before she spoke she thought about it. She could travel with him. She had autonomy in her work, and there were oceans all over the world. She could certainly make it work. "Where are you going? Don't you live here?"
"Sometimes. We really don't have one spot that we call home."
"Do all of you live like that? However many of you there are? By the way, how many of you are there?"
Threading his fingers through her billowing hair, Dax pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "I can't tell you any more until you decide."
Confusion reigned within her. "I don't understand. You can't come with me to Texas, and you don't really have a place you call home. So, why can't you just live with me, and when you have to work you can go do your...thing?" Whatever the hell his thing was.
Again, he shook his head. "It's much more complicated than that, Isabelle. I can't just leave the ocean and live on land with you."
"Why not? Are you physically prevented from doing so?"
"No."
"Then what's stopping you?" Dread formed a knot in her stomach. She didn't like the direction this conversation was headed.
"I have commitments. Promises to keep. My life is under the sea, not on land."
"Are you some kind of alien species? Like from another planet or something?" She'd seen so much in the past few days nothing would surprise her any longer. But she wanted to, desperately needed to understand who Dax was and what prevented him from coming with her.
His soft chuckle unnerved her. "No, we're not aliens. We're humans, just a little different than the ones like you who live on the land."
"Tell me more," she pleaded. Tell me everything, Dax. Make me understand. But she already knew he wouldn't.
"I can tell you everything, as soon as you commit."
"Commit to what?" Now he'd really lost her.
"Commit to me, and to spending the rest of your life under the sea. Only then can I tell you everything."
Chapter Fourteen
Dax knew he wasn't going to get the answer he'd hoped for. At his mention of committing to living under the sea with him she'd paled, her confusion replaced by something akin to fear.
It had been a gamble to even suggest it, but he couldn't help but hope she'd surprise him.
"I don't understand, Dax. What do you mean commit to living under the sea? I'd have to vow to live in the ocean forever?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because it's the only way we can be together. The only way I can explain everything to you. Without your oath of commitment, I can't tell you any more than what you already know. And at that, you're lucky they've allowed you to return here after you fought past the memory block."
"Lucky to be allowed to return? Surely you don't mean to suggest they'd have tried to stop me?"
He refused to tell her what could have happened to her had he not interceded. But her joyful face as he watched her on the beach, the way she had jumped into the ocean and come looking for him, had given him enough hope to stall Ronan from placing a deeper memory loss on her. He'd explained he was certain she'd commit, so there was no reason for his concern.
Besides, he knew Isabelle. Even if she didn't commit, she'd never tell the world about their existence. Convincing the League of that fact was a different matter entirely. But convince them he would. He couldn't live with himself if something happened to Isabelle because of his stupidity.
Isabelle's hand on top of his brought him back to reality. "Dax, you're scaring me. Please explain."
"I'm sorry. There's nothing to be afraid about. If you decide not to commit I'll put a deeper memory block on you. I guarantee you won't remember anything about me or what you've seen the past few days. You'll be safe."
"I don't like the idea of not remembering you. Oh, this is all so complex!" She stood and paced the laboratory. Her arms crossed like a protective shield, she worried her bottom lip in the way he found so amazingly sexy it never failed to harden him. His cock rose and twitched. He wanted her again.
And again and again and again. Like he always would. Today, tomorrow and forever, no matter what choices she made. If she walked away today, his heart would still be hers, just like it had been from the first moment he saw her.
Her breasts rose and fell with every breath, her nervousness apparent in her wringing hands and near hyperventilating state. Dax wanted to offer comfort, but the decision rested with her. He couldn't help her.
"Tell me again how this works?" she asked, turning her bleak amber gaze toward him.
Dax read the defeat in her eyes, and felt it deep within himself. "You have to make a commitment to live the rest of your life as an ocean dweller. Once that's done, you're transformed."
"Physically?"
"Yes."
"You mean I become like you are."
"Yes."
"But I could still survive out of the water."
"Of course."
"Forever, or just temporarily?"
"Forever."
"So I can change my mind if I wanted to, after the transformation is made."
"Not really. I mean, yeah, it's happened before, but only once. They don't want it to happen again."
"Who are they, Dax?"
Frustrated at his inability to adequately explain, he said, "I can't tell you."
"In other words, you just expect me to accept this at face value, commit to changing my life, my very biological makeup and live under the sea with you."
