Song of the Abyss (Deep Waters, #2)

by Emma Hamm

Frowning, another thought flashed in his mind. Was she mated? Did she have someone who already fluttered for her and made her smile? A white hot rage flowed through every inch of his body. He was glowing, bursting into a bright red while every bioluminescent dot on his form flared with rage.

Tee hee hee 🤭🥰😝

And who was right? Me. I was right. No one’s going to give me credit for being right, so I’m giving the credit to myself.” Daios watched him and felt the lights of his body flickering. Amusement replaced the anger that was so hard for him to think through. “You were right.” “Of course I was right! I’m always right, and no one ever listens to me before the start of anything. You know—” Maketes paused, then looked up at him with his mouth again wide open. “Did you just admit I was right?”

😂. Okay, I love Maketes and cannot wait for his book 🥰

“Say something,” she whispered, her words a little close to begging. “Please.” He said one word, the guttural tones breaking through the injuries in her ears and she could hear what he had to say. It was loud, probably louder than was safe for her to be around. He might even be injuring her further, but oh... Oh, the sound of a word. “More than one.” Anya’s eyes fluttered shut, luxuriating in this moment. He said two words.

😆

There was still a reason for him to keep fighting, even if it felt like there wasn’t. Bowing his head, he murmured, “I honor your reminder. The darkness and the depths do no favors for my state of mind. I should not seek out the shadows when there is so much to see in the light.”

And oh. Oh. The sound of his name on her tongue was exquisite. He’d never heard someone say it in those raspy tones, but even more than that, it was the way she lingered over the word. The sound was wrong, like she was trying to put her tongue around the taste of his name and he... Fuck. He shouldn’t be here. Already those gills around his neck were moving, and he wanted to slide back into the water and kill something for her. He wanted to return with blood all over his claws, dripping from his teeth as he presented her with a kill that would show her just how badly he wanted her. No. Needed her. He needed every ounce of her attention. He was greedy for the feeling of her eyes sliding along his skin. And he would lay his body flat on the sands and pray to his gods for years, if that’s what it took to feel her touch him again.

❤️‍🔥

“Daios,” she repeated. This time she looked at him, and he had to struggle to not roll his eyes back in his skull at the sound of his name on her lips.

He’d hooked the stump of his missing arm between the bedframe and the mattress and was gently, ever so gently, brushing her hair with his claws. Her breath caught in her lungs. She had no idea why he was touching her, only that it made everything in her stop. All the anxiety. All the fear. All the self hatred melted out with the tension in her body as she sank into his touch. His expression was almost serene as she turned, his gaze on the long locks of her blonde hair.

Awwwww 🥰😍

Something inside her screamed that she wanted to feel him brushing her hair again, and it wasn’t fair that he’d stopped. That touch had brought her out of a nightmare. She didn’t feel like a failure when she’d woken. All she’d felt was his fingers and the glorious sensation of being touched.

Pillowing her own cheek on her hand, she rolled in his direction. “I’m not bothered by it, you know.” He swallowed hard. “The dream?” “Your arm.” She let her gaze actually go to the end of it, and he couldn’t move to hide it. Not in this position. “It doesn’t make you any less than what you already are.” Daios winced. “You are one of the few to believe that.” “Do you believe it?” She watched the emotions flicker across his face. Surprise. Heartache. Shock that maybe he didn’t. Licking her lips, she added, “Why don’t you believe it?”

Awwwwwww

She signed with every word that she said, watching as his eyes flew with her fingers. He watched every single word with rapt attention before saying, “It is a beautiful language.” Anya grinned. “I think so, too. I like talking with my hands.” “I would ask you to teach me, kalon, but...” He released his grasp on the side of her cheek and lifted his single hand between them. But no, that wouldn’t do at all. She grabbed his fingers in hers and gently lifted his knuckles to her lips. With a soft kiss on the back of those deadly claws, she met his dark-eyed gaze and said, “You can still sign with one hand.” He looked up at her like she’d told him that she could give him back his arm. Or maybe, just maybe, that expression meant that he was grateful to her for not making him feel less than.

😭🥰

He wanted to yank her into the water and show her why the ocean was so much better than being in the air. He wanted to taste her. Not just to lick her skin, but to draw her scent into his gills and drown himself in every flavor she might give him.

Her little nose wrinkled, and he was concerned by how much he thought it was adorable.

Hehehe

“You were smiling at me, but now it’s gone.” He tried his best to mimic what he thought she wanted, but even he could feel the bared teeth were more a grimace than a smile. She shook her head. “No, that’s not it. You get little wings around your eyes when you smile.” “Are you saying I have wrinkles?” “Yes.” She grinned, and this time he couldn’t help but follow suit. She stared at him with that goofy expression and he could feel a matching one on his own face.

Ohmygosh, they’re so precious 🥰🥰🥰😆

color. “I forget we’re so different sometimes. I must seem so strange looking to you.” “You are quite ugly.” The honesty made her tilt her head back and laugh so hard her face turned bright red. He didn’t mean it to sound as terrible as it did. She wasn’t so ugly that he didn’t want to look at her,

Hahahaha

Grabbing onto her arm, he gently pulled her hands away from her face so he could smooth away the tears himself. They were surprisingly warm on his fingers. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you upset.”

He kept their gazes locked as he slowly licked her tears off his fingertips. She watched every single movement, and he swore her chest didn’t even rise with a breath. She just watched him, her eyes slowly turning more lidded as her gaze locked on his fingers. “You taste like the sea,” he rasped. “My favorite flavor.”

Ohhhh goshhhh 🔥🔥🔥

Baring his teeth at her, he flared all his fins wide to make himself even larger than he already was. She should have run from him screaming. Instead, she just puffed her cheeks up and squared her shoulders. Like she was mimicking him.

Bahahaha

“Wet and salty isn’t on my list of things that I like to eat.” He opened the next one a little harder, and his claw thunked against the metal floor. “I am wet and salty.”

Good point 🤣

“Why?” Her gaze searched his. “Why did you bring these to me?” His mouth opened, the words ready to fall from his lips. Because I want to keep you for myself. Because if I keep you, feed you, bring you everything you ever dreamt of, maybe you’ll give me a chance. Because no one has made me want them as much as I want you.

He wanted to mate her. He wanted to keep her for himself forever. Every part of his body screamed that he needed to consume every drop of what she was and beg for her forgiveness later.

He licked his lips, that black tongue doing more to her than it should have. “I want to find someone who doesn’t fear me. I want to know that when I come home, there is a soft place to rest my head, and someone who cares if I had a hard day, or if I am upset. I want someone to take care of, and who takes care of me in return. That is what I dream of, kalon.”

But the moment her lips pressed to his, something snapped inside of him. Like he’d been just waiting for this moment to feel that soft mouth against his. As though the cushion of her lips had unlocked some demon deep in his chest that he had only held barely leashed until this point.

But her eyes on him... He loved it. He loved it when she looked at him without fear or concern or even disgust, as he had expected her kind to do. Instead, she just looked at his gills standing on end and the differences between them with a soft smile on her face. “They’re beautiful, you know.”

Awwww 😭❤️

She looked over her shoulder, still bent down and giving him the most perfect view of her muscular globes that looked like the moon. “Would you turn around now?” Even to him, his voice sounded hoarse. “Absolutely not.” “Putting on a wetsuit isn’t the most graceful process. I know you think I look good now, but I’m about to make a fool of myself.” “I’ll watch.”

🥵🔥🔥🔥

He had a hard time believing anything she did would put him off. She captivated him with just a flick of her hair over her shoulder. Until he watched her put on that wetsuit. And suddenly he knew what it meant to have control, because he nearly burst out laughing multiple times. She shook, shimmied, pushed, and turned bright red in the face as she tried for long moments to get the wetsuit on. He bit his lips and tried very hard to not say a word as she hopped up and down, only getting the material up a few inches at a time. Although the movement bounced her breasts rather entertainingly, it was hard to focus on that when she was cursing with every movement. By the time her wetsuit snagged over her hips, she was breathless and angry. “You wipe that smile off your face, Daios.” He did not.

🤣🤣🤣

The two women shook hands, all while he narrowed his eyes and couldn’t stop looking at where Mira was touching her. Was she gripping Anya too hard? She wasn’t so delicate that she couldn’t handle a firm handshake, but he didn’t want her to be uncomfortable here. He didn’t want her to be afraid of anyone here.

Ohmygosh, this guy’s the sweetest 🥰

He knew he was lacking in many things. Kindness, softness, the ability to see what other people were feeling and react accordingly. His outside now matched that monstrous interior, and some days he was ashamed of that. But when she placed her hand on his wounded shoulder, so covered with scars that some of his scales had lifted over the worn skin, he didn’t feel so ugly. Daios forgot what he looked like when she touched him like that.

😭❤️

When it was just the two of them, it was easier. He didn’t think about all the things her people had done to his. He barely even noticed their differences when she was laughing or locking his gaze on hers. She had a way about her that made him forget to be uncomfortable.

“Well,” Maketes said, his voice low and slow. “Why don’t we... practice?” “What?” “Pretend I’m the lovely Miss Anya.” He fluttered his lashes, gills flapping flat against his neck as though he were trying to make himself look more like a female. “Oh, Daios, I haven’t seen you in weeks!” He blinked at Maketes once, twice, then just grunted, “No.”

Bahahaha

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.

😭😭😭 I love reunions like this ❤️

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?

🥹💗

“What does Anya mean?” Her face split into a bright smile. “I don’t really think it’s as deep as your name meanings. Anya means ‘grace’, I have been told. I did not grow into that name very well.” He disagreed. For their people, grace was something that was given in someone else’s hour of need. She certainly had done that for him.

❤️

“But I do not find you ugly.” “Do you not?” “How could I? When your hair is the color of the sun on a cloudless day? When your smile warms the entire ocean around me? When I touch you, your soul is so familiar to me. It is like I have known you in a hundred lifetimes before this, and some part of me that I’ve forgotten wishes to bury itself inside you. It tells me to cling to the curve of your waist, to clutch at the feeling in my chest that lingers when you are near. My soul wishes to keep you and never let you go.”

“We battle and whoever wins is the one who pins the other. It is unnatural to fuck with someone tied up like this.” “Is it? Because you seem to enjoy it.” “Oh, I do, kalon. I love nothing more than to see you helpless and writhing.”

🔥

“Tell me how it feels,” she whispered, the words ragged and raw in her throat. “Tell me.” She looked up to see him shaking his head. Instead, his shorter arm nudged her head to the side and she could just barely see his fingers moving as he spoke, her head rocking as he sank even deeper. “Home. It feels like home.”

Daios puffed up with pride when he noticed she didn’t move far from his side. Instead, she stood beside him with her hands planted firmly on her hips.

He’s ADORABLE 😭

“My lack of arm has nothing to do with feeling whole. A metal device or not, I was never whole before you. You were the first person to look at me and see a man after my injury. Not a mistake, not a failure. You were the one to see me. My kalon, if you wished me to shed my skin, I would. If the arm makes you uncomfortable, then I will drop it into the deepest pits of the sea.” “That’s not what I want,” she said with a watery laugh. “I don’t want you to not be whole again because of me.” “I am only whole because of you.” He pressed his lips to hers, the long kiss tasting of salty tears and seawater. When he drew back, he pressed their foreheads together and took a deep breath with her. In and out. “Anya. It’s just an arm. A tool to be used, but never something that is part of me. I will use it to bring you to victory, but it does not change who I am.”

❤️

Tell me what this word means.” “It’s not about the word itself. It’s about the feeling in here.” She moved one of her hands to his chest. “It means that living without you feels wrong. That to be parted from your side makes me miss you more than I miss breathing fresh air. And that I will always think of you, no matter how far I am from you.” “This feels right,” he said. His hand scooped underneath her hair and drew her close to him, breathing in the scent of her. “Know as you dive into danger that I love you, my kalon. I will hold you in my heart until you return to my side.”

“I will find my way back to you,” she whispered against his lips, almost desperately. “I will come home, Daios.” “Home,” he replied, that deep voice radiating through her entire body. “That is what you have given me, kalon. Wherever you are, I am home.”

😭😭😭

How was he supposed to go back into the darkness without her to guide him?

He shifted even closer to Anya, gently tugging her trembling hands from her lap and bringing them to his mouth. “I wish I could tell you how much I love you. How your light has brought more wonder and joy to my life than I have ever felt in it. I have been a warrior my entire life, and before you, that was all I was. You make me want to put my weapons down and find out what it really means to live.”

😭🥰