I shake my head even as darkness claws at the edges of my sight.
But then the command thrums through the bond, undeniable, filling me with heat and certainty.
I open my mouth. Against every human instinct, I draw in a breath.
And—oxygen.
Cool, blessed, beautiful oxygen.
My lungs fill, my chest no longer screaming, and I sob in relief even though I’m underwater.
I breathe.
Then light. A sudden, swirling brightness, a luminescent storm carving through the black.
It hurls toward me, massive and unstoppable.
Kael.
But not as I know him.
He’s bigger. Wilder. More. Tentacles whip like living storms around him, his body aglow with abyssal power, his trident blazing brighter than lightning.
His roar shakes the sea itself, and the thing holding me shrieks before it’s ripped away.
He looks like a freaking sexy hot merman on steroids.
Holy. Fuck.
But the monster doesn’t flee. It launches at him.
They tangle in a ferocious clash, light against shadow, his coils strangling, its darkness clawing.
My heart seizes, torn between awe and terror.
I flounder, spinning in the currents, desperate to find which way is up, which way is out.
Kael. My love.
The thought hammers in me louder than my pulse.
Fear for him is worse than the fear of drowning ever was.
Then—movement.
A shimmer passes me, smooth and vast.
A curved fin, glittering like silver and gold, slices through the black.
A cry echoes in the deep—mournful and strong.
The curved fin whales.
I lunge, fingers brushing slick skin, and then I’ve got hold.
The creature surges upward, carrying me with terrifying, impossible speed.
The surface shatters above me.
