He grins, a jagged, terrifying slash of bright white teeth in the dark water. He picks up the pace, thrusting into me with a fierce, possessive intensity bordering on violence, but his large hands are careful. They hold my hips steady, anchoring me safely to his storm. He starts to growl. It starts low in his throat, a heavy, dark rumble of unadulterated pleasure.
The sound builds in volume and intensity as he gets closer to his edge.
"Vaelis," he groans.
Hearing my name, my real name, spoken in that deep, gravelly baritone while he is buried deep inside me, undoes me. It shatters my fragile composure.
I lean off the wall and wrap my arms tight around his neck, exposing my flushed face. "I'm right here," I sob, the intense physical pleasure spilling over into hot, stinging tears. "I'm right here with you."
Kael’s driving rhythm falters. He stutters in the water, his powerful muscles locking tight.
He gently pulls my head back by the neck for a fraction of a second, looking directly into my soul before I feel his lips sucking on my throat.
"Mine," he baritones against my ear.
The sound of that guttural growl settles into my bones, a resonant hum that tells me I am no longer Vaelis. I am an extension of him, a territory newly claimed, a possession marked in the only way that truly matters.
He thrusts again, faster, incredibly deep, burying himself completely to the hilt, and climaxes with a groan so deep it bounces powerfully off the canyon walls.
I feel him pour hotly into me. I feel the heavy, exhausted shudder running through his solid frame, the distinct way his muscles lock and tremble against my own scales.
My body follows his lead, tipping over the edge a second time with compounding force. My breath hitches. My nerve endings detonate, flooding my veins with starlight and drowning my mind in an otherworldly tide.
I slump forward onto the wall, my core clenching tightly around him. He holds me there, pressed securely against the rust, while the intense aftershocks wreck us both, the water around us growing warmer with our combined heat, our breaths coming in ragged, shared gasps in the dark.
Slowly, carefully, he lowers us both down, our bodies floating in the now-warm water until we settle onto the silty bottom.
The grit is a soft powder against my sensitized skin, and I lie boneless against him, my head pillowed on his shoulder, my tail still loosely twined with his. His arms are a secure band around my chest, and for the first time since I was dragged from the upper reef, I feel a profound sense of safety. It's terrifying in its intensity, a quiet in the storm I never expected to find.
His heartbeat is a heavy, steady drum against my back, a rhythm that seems to anchor the very water around us. I can feel the rapid, shallow rise and fall of his chest slowly evening out, the deep breaths he's taking to center himself. His hands, which had been instruments of such overwhelming force, now trace idle patterns on my stomach, the touch impossibly gentle.
There are no words, only the quiet hum of our existence, the distant creak of the tower, and the soft rush of the current overhead. In the encompassing darkness, I find I don't needsight. I can feel the shape of his satisfaction, the warmth of his skin, the unspoken promise in the way he holds me.
He runs his large hand affectionately down my arm. His touch is gentle again, the abrasive roughness of his skin now a familiar comfort.
"Back?" he rasps.
His new voice is getting stronger. The harsh gravel is smoothing out into a deeply resonant, masculine timber.
"Back," I agree with a firm nod. "They're waiting for us."
He scowls darkly. "Mira waits," he grumbles heavily. "She will be disappointed. We did not find her a cure."
I laugh. "Is that what you're worried about? She can wait longer, Kael. You did. And now you finally have your voice back."
He looks deeply at me. He touches his own throat, his fingers tracing the scars there.
"I do," he says simply.
We swim back to the House of Drift together.
The Silt District is eerily quiet. The toxic smog is hiding the dangerous scavengers and the desperate outcasts living in the deep shadows. But I do not feel afraid of the dark anymore.
I am swimming right next to the loudest, most dangerous thing in the entire ocean.
We reach the hidden shell.
Bolt has thoughtfully dimmed the interior lights to a low, ambient amber glow. The mechanical engine hums softly in the sand.
