"What were you thinking?"
"Just about you." She brushed her fingers over the lines of his cheeks and then sighed. "Right. What were you saying?"
"I was telling you that I don't think any of this is going to be easy. A long road awaits all of us, but I do think we'll get there in your lifetime." He curled his fingers close to her hips, his claws grazing her wetsuit. "And that I'm not sure they're going to need us for a little while yet. You and I could perhaps explore ahead of them. There are a lot of facilities out there, and we could be the ones to see if they're safe."
"What about the mutant dogs?" she asked.
"Those aren't dogs."
"What would you call them, then?"
"Just mutations. I think that's good enough." Proteus tilted his head to the side. "What is it with humans and incessantly needing to name things? You've seen it. Surely that is enough."
"Proteus, you're going to be around humans a lot more. I think you need to stop asking questions about us and understand that you aren't going to understand us."
He rolled his eyes. "That is because logic is never part of what you do."
"Sometimes it's just a feeling." She looped her arms around his neck. "I think I proved that to you very well, not that long ago. Didn't I?"
She swore the water was suddenly much, much warmer. Proteus leaned closer to her, his gaze locked on her lips. And she knew he was thinking about her mouth wrapped around his cock, her fingers toying with his slit, all the things that had made him make that lovely groaning noise that she still thought about when she was daydreaming.
"All right, you two," Alexia said, her voice breaking Ellie out of her daydream. "If you want to start ahead of us, that might actually be a good idea."
Ellie cleared her throat and leaned around Proteus to look at the other women. "Do you have a preference of which direction we go in?"
It was Anya who replied, but she was still looking into the glass of her droid, not at anyone else in the room. "Actually, yes. I can send some coordinates to your droid. There are a lot of facilities listed in these documents, areas they used as testing sites. If we can convert one of those into a livable space, that's the best opportunity until we can determine how difficult it will be to build Above."
Proteus snorted. "I imagine you'll find it far easier than building underneath the waves."
"Maybe." Mira patted Arges's chest. "But it will be a lot more difficult to build without the help of the People of Water. You're all a lot stronger than any human I know. That'll take some figuring."
Once again, they all devolved into trying to figure out the logistics of building on land, rather than in the water. Clearly the topic was of great interest, and everyone was thoroughly excited by the idea. Even the undine in the room were talking about all that it would take, and how they could prepare the humans to pick up significantly heavier items.
She watched all of it with amusement. At least they were excited about something. Ellie was just happy to have helped them all in some way.
Then her attention turned back to Proteus, and he had eyes only for her. He wasn't looking at the others in the room. She wasn't even certain he was listening to their conversation anymore.
He stared at her. His gaze moved from her eyes, to her nose, to her mouth. And then back up again. He took in every inch of her like a man obsessed.
"What do you think?" he asked quietly.
"About what?"
"Do you want to go on an adventure together?" He quirked a brow that he didn't have, but she knew the expression was meant to tempt her.
Ellie realized she no longer had to question why she wanted to do something with him. She got to do it whenever she wanted.
Reaching for her rebreather, she slid it over her mouth even though she knew the whole contraption was going to rip out her hair. Then she gestured for Pilot to join them. The little lobster once crab, clambered onto her arm and then clung onto her shoulder.
"I am very ready for that," she said, the words muffled through the rebreather.
As they both dove beneath the waves, she knew she'd never been more ready for anything in her life.
Forty-One
Ellie
4 months later
