17. Meridian
Meridian
SEVENTEEN
A fter days battling insurance companies and deflecting Coast Guard inquiries, I finally make it back to the cove where Cyreus waits.
When I drop anchor, he surfaces instantly, as if he's been hovering just beneath the waves for days.
"You came back," he says, relief evident in the slight forward tilt of his head.
"Sorry it took so long." I settle on the dive platform, dangling my feet near where he treads water. "Insurance nightmares and Coast Guard interviews. It's been a mess."
"I feared you might not return." He drifts closer. "That my ignorance of human customs had broken what we were building."
"Takes more than a cultural misunderstanding to chase me off." I extend my hand, our fingers connecting. "But we should talk about what happened."
"I've been considering our conversation. About independence and agency. "
"There's something you should know." I inhale deeply. "I was engaged before. To Thomas. He believed he knew better than I did what was best for me."
Cyreus grows utterly still.
"He framed it as love and concern, but it was control wearing care's mask. He wanted to remake me into his ideal partner—someone who avoided risks and depended on him completely." I meet his gaze. "By the time I realized what was happening, I'd lost parts of myself I hadn't known could be taken."
"And when I offered to solve your problems with treasure—"
"It echoed Thomas. Someone claiming to love me while trying to fix parts of my life that aren't broken, just complicated." I squeeze his hand. "Your intentions are different, but the pattern triggered old defenses."
He's quiet for a moment. "In my culture, providing for one's mate is the highest devotion. The stronger ensures the weaker never struggles unnecessarily." His gaze lifts to mine. "But I'm beginning to understand humans interpret this differently."
"I need to be your equal, not your responsibility. I need to know you value who I am, not just what you can do for me."
"I do value who you are. Your courage, your determination." His fingers touch my cheek with butterfly delicacy. "But those qualities serve no purpose spent on unnecessary hardship."
"The struggle isn't unnecessary. It's been my identity for twenty years." I lean forward. "If you take that away, what remains of me? "
"Everything that matters," he says. "Your kindness. Your curiosity. The way you found beauty where others would see only monstrousness. Your capacity for love that ignores biological impossibility."
I slide into the water, needing closeness that words can't bridge. His appendages embrace me instantly.
"I've been thinking too," he says. "About what partnership means across our cultures. About honoring your independence while satisfying my instinct to provide."
"What conclusion did you reach?"
"That middle ground exists. What if we worked together?
We could dive as partners—you with your human knowledge, me with abilities to reach places you can't." Excitement transforms his features.
"I know locations beyond your diving range but outside protected waters. We could share both work and rewards."
"A salvage partnership?" The concept ignites something I hadn't felt in years—possibility. "True partners. Equal contributors, each bringing what the other lacks."
"Exactly. It solves your financial concerns without stealing your independence. You'd still work, still use your skills, just with advantages other salvagers can't access."
"I love this idea." I wrap my arms around his neck. "But what would you want in return?"
"That you accept my protection from genuine threats, even when it feels unnecessary. And that you never risk your life simply to prove you can handle something alone. "
"Reasonable terms for diving partners." I press my lips to his. "I'm sorry I disappeared for three days."
"I'm sorry I tried to solve problems you value solving yourself."
"So we're okay?"
His smile builds slowly. "We're learning. That's better than okay."
I kiss him then, saying with touch what words can't adequately express. When we part, I rest my forehead against his. "I'll always come back to you. Through disagreements, through the maze of making this impossible relationship work."
"Is that a promise?" The question carries weight beyond its simple phrasing.
"Yes." I seal the word with another kiss. "Now, show me how much you missed me."
His eyes flash with something ancient and hungry. The water heats around us as his control slips. "Finally."
He hauls me deeper into the cove, to a half-submerged stone ledge. His tentacles grip my waist, lifting me onto the sun-warmed rock like I weigh nothing. Water sloshes around my thighs.
"Three days," he growls, yanking at my soaked clothes while two smaller tentacles slide under my shirt, cold and demanding against my skin. "Three fucking days thinking I'd lost you."
"Then take me," I challenge, arching into his touch. "Stop thinking and take what you need. "
His nostrils flare as he scents my arousal. He tears my shirt, literally tears it open, tentacles ripping at my remaining clothes until I'm naked and panting on the rock.
"I missed this," he hisses, gaze raking over me like physical touch. "Missed you."
The stone scrapes my back but I couldn't care less. His larger tentacles brace behind me while smaller ones grip my thighs, spreading them wide. No teasing, no gentle exploration—just raw need after days of separation.
"Need to taste you." His voice drops to that register that vibrates straight to my clit. "Need to remember what you sound like when you scream."
A thick tentacle pushes between my legs without preamble, finding me already slick. I cry out, back bowing off the stone as he sets a merciless rhythm.
"Yes," he says, eyes fixed on where his appendage disappears inside me. "So wet for me already."
Another tentacle joins the assault, this one wrapping around my breast and squeezing just shy of pain. A third finds my clit, circling with relentless pressure that has me cursing and grabbing at his shoulders.
"You want to know what I thought about?" His mouth finds my neck, teeth scraping sensitive skin. "I thought about breeding you until you can't remember your own name. Until all you know is me."
"Cyreus," I gasp as he hits that spot that makes stars explode behind my eyes. " Fuck—please—"
"Please what?" His voice is rough, demanding. "Say it. Tell me exactly what you want."
"I want your cock inside me," I pant, beyond pride or pretense. "I want you to fuck me like you're afraid I'll disappear. Like you're claiming me."
He snarls and replaces his tentacle with something thicker, hotter. His thick alien cock. The stretch burns deliciously as he pushes in all at once, giving me no time to adjust.
"This what you wanted?" He sets a brutal pace, each thrust jolting me against the stone. "This hard enough for you?"
"Yes," I gasp, nails digging into his shoulders hard enough to draw blood—if he had blood. "Don't stop—don't you fucking dare stop—"
His rhythm is relentless, animalistic. Multiple tentacles work my body simultaneously—one pinching my nipple, another rubbing my clit with perfect pressure, two more gripping my thighs so hard I'll have marks tomorrow. I don't care. I want the marks.
"Let everyone see what you are," he growls against my ear. "Mine. Say it."
"Yours," I moan as pressure builds low in my belly. "Fuck, Cyreus, I'm going to come—"
"Do it," he commands, slamming into me harder. "Let me feel that tight cunt squeeze my cock."
I come with a scream that echoes across the water, inner muscles clenching around him in waves. He doesn't slow, just fucks me through it until I' m gasping.
Before I can catch my breath, he flips our position with that inhuman strength. Now I'm straddling his lap on the rock, his cock still buried inside me.
"Again," he demands, gripping my hips with bruising force. "Ride me. Show me how much you missed this."
I plant my hands on his chest and start moving, setting my own brutal pace. His tentacles continue their assault on my other sensitive spots, giving me no chance to recover.
"That's it," he hisses, watching where our bodies join. "Take what you need. Take everything."
When I try to slow down, overwhelmed by sensation, his grip tightens.
"Don't you dare hold back," he warns, voice strained with his own approaching climax. "I want all of you. Every. Fucking. Drop."
The second orgasm hits even harder than the first, tearing a hoarse cry from my throat. This time he follows me over, his release flooding me with inhuman heat as he makes sounds no human vocal cords could produce—part roar, part harmonic vibration.
Afterward, we collapse together in the water, my body draped across his chest like a rag doll. His tentacles still hold me, but gently now, cradling rather than gripping. Three heartbeats thud against my ear, gradually slowing from their frantic rhythm.
"I missed you too," I murmur against his chest, drawing a soft laugh that reverberates through both our bodies .
"So I gathered." His hands trace patterns along my spine, touch light enough to raise goosebumps. "Does this mean our disagreement is officially resolved?"
"Mmm. We might need one more round of reconciliation to be certain." I lift my head to see his face, flushed and satisfied. I kiss him again, not ready to let him go.