Chapter 7
Lena
After returning with Nahuél back to the main pool last night, he had mapped out for me the dangerous area of the floor to avoid, and somehow I had managed to test them all before the others could find them, and rope the areas off with yellow caution tape.
The team is quiet as we trudge back to the hotel, hauling the coolers of samples taken for the day, our laptops, and clipboards with our tracking forms. While my body had been laser-focused on the task at hand, going through the motions with care and precision, my mind had been a riot of thoughts.
After showing me what must have been his most protected and guarded treasure, the crystalline cave, he went on to show me glimpses of the connected systems and a waterway that cut like a tunnel through slick, black obsidian.
Excitement and awe didn’t even begin to describe how I felt with each treasure he revealed to me, and each moment was more precious than the last. When we finally returned to the main chamber, I had a sinking feeling of loss, knowing that I would never get to experience those places ever again.
It made me think back to every project I had ever worked on in my career, all the things I hadn’t seen, hadn’t experienced.
Every scientist knew there was only so much to see unless you wanted to die trying or destroy the landscape by peeling back the layers.
In the end, he held me close, both of us hovering near the back wall where I exited back to the real world.
???
THE REST OF THE afternoon was a blur of testing for pH and conductivity of the water samples before packaging them off to our lab, and then writing up our findings from the flow rate measurements of the day.
“Alright, team, I think we'll call it for the day. Get some rest, and back at it tomorrow morning.”
Cami and Theo flash me a grateful grin. “Yes!” They punch the air in victory, sprinting from our makeshift lab in one of the smaller conference rooms.
Martin stays quiet, organizing his papers before heading for the door as well, closing it behind him without a word.
I stare after him, wondering what is going on with that guy.
Even though I had been preoccupied most of the day with thoughts of Nahuél, Martin had been oddly reserved compared to his normal interfering self.
I’m still staring at the door when the stack of his findings from today slides off the table, fluttering in all directions.
I rush to grab the paper, hoping they have some indication of the order they should go in.
The last thing I need is for Martin to think I tampered with his work.
Scooping them up into a pile, I can’t help but notice his numbers, which look odd to me.
Taking the stack over to my tablet, I compare them to Cami and Theo’s entries and realize that Martin didn’t enter his findings from today and that his numbers are way off compared to the rest of the samples we found.
“What the hell?” I murmur to myself. What had he been doing for the last hour and a half on his computer? I tried to think back today to what Martin had actually been doing, but my mind was so focused on myself, and honestly, I was kind of ignoring him since he wasn’t arguing with me for once.
I smack the papers back down on his desk. Did he literally just waste a whole day making shit up? Standing in the middle of the room, I know I have two choices- go after Martin and confront him about his lack of work ethic, or go cool off.
The different scenarios play out in my head, and I decide that cooling off is the better of the two options.
There is still my career to think about, and knowing that Martin would react badly to any criticism I had of him, let alone accusing him of what amounts to falsifying documents- I just need to tread carefully.
A small part of me feels that I don’t really have any agency here, either.
So, I walk to the bookstore. It’s late in the afternoon, but the sun is still shining. It feels so good on my skin, with a light freeze playing through my hair. A sudden thought stops me cold- I wish Nahuél were here with me.
But I know that’s not possible. He told me that his powers were weak, and he was trapped in the cave, unable to use his magic to leave. I decided to use my time in the bookstore to see if I could research more about Nahuél, the forgotten river god.
The now familiar bell tinkles over the door as I enter, the smell of peach pie and coffee filling the space, making my mouth water.
“Hey, I know you!” Kate smiles at me as she comes around a shelf. She waggles her eyebrows at me. “How’s the uh, ankle?”
I roll my eyes. “Just fine, thanks. I should have never called you, now I’m never gonna live this down.”
Kate gets serious. “No, you can always call me Lena, I’m just teasing you. You need some coffee, pie? Romance books? Research? We got it all!” She gestures to the store.
“Yes, pie, yes coffee, and research today.” I drop my voice. “I got more info on my mystery man, if you catch my drift, and want to see what I might find.”
Kate winks at me. “You got it.”
Two lattes, nearly a whole pie, and an hour later, I leave the store with two books on forgotten gods and goddesses from around the world.
It’s dusk out, light from the sunset barely peeping over the horizon, while half the streetlamps have flickered on, the rest waiting for darkness to truly fall.
As I pass by the alleyway between the bookstore and the fiber arts studio, I spot movement out of the corner of my eye just as an acrid scent hits my nose.
Peering into the falling darkness, I see a hunched figure at the end of the alleyway near a tree.
Flared orange light from a lighter glows in the darkness, and I see the familiar side profile of Martin, his back slightly to me, head bent down, looking at his left arm with some sort of strap in his mouth.
My head automatically snaps away from the scene, and I speed walk away, calf muscles protesting with effort.
By the time I get back to my room, my mind is spinning.
I toss my shopping bag onto the bed and pace the room, going over the details of what I just saw.
Like a jigsaw, pieces begin to fall into place, the realization dawning over me as I sink onto the bed. What do I do?
My first instinct is to call Cami and tell her what I saw, but my fingers hesitate over the screen, unwilling to tap the button.
I scroll through my contact list, pausing at Dr. Saira Halden, our boss.
I imagine her no-nonsense face scrunched up in sustained disbelief as I tell her what I saw. No, that won’t work either.
Shit! I need someone to talk to, someone to confide in, someone who will listen and just understand the difficult position I’m in and give me advice.
My eyes land on my pack, and I pack a thick towel, throw my sweatshirt on, toss my flashlight into my pocket, and head out. In the hallway, I hesitate before turning in the opposite direction toward the stairs, away from the main lobby. I can’t risk running into Martin tonight.
The trail and path to the secondary cave entrance are nearly burned into my memory now, and I make it there in record time. I don’t waste precious moments trying to figure out how to open it either, swishing my fingers through the pool.
“It’s me,” I whisper, causing the water to awaken with the warm neon blue light.
Withdrawing my pocket knife from my pack, I make a tiny slice on the pad of my thumb, swiping it on the area where the crevasse should appear.
Sure enough, seconds go by before the entire wall is glowing bright silver, welcoming me through.
The icy cold envelopes me before spitting me out into Nahuél’s chamber, directly into his arms. This is only the second time I’ve seen him completely out of his pool, and his size takes me by surprise again.
He holds me tight, shifting my hair off my shoulder so his lips can trace my neck all the way to my ears, taking my earlobe between his lips, suckling gently.
He is bent over me, his tall frame dwarfing me.
“I knew you would come. I waited, wishing.” His words fill my ear, breath whooshing into my soul. I’m nearly collapsed against him, my arms hooked onto his hips.
“I had to come. I needed to see you.”
He purrs into me. “Say that again.”
I look up into his eyes, his beautiful face carved from silver. “I needed you. I needed to see you.”
His need is pressed into my stomach. I glance down between us at his perfect cock.
Because of our height differences, I could easily bend over slightly and have my lips just brush the thick, bulbous head of him before taking him as fully as I can, but he seems to know what I am thinking and tilts my chin back up to see him.
One finger lifts my pack off my shoulder, lowering it to the floor. He eyes my sweatshirt for a moment before taking care to lift it from my body, draping it over my pack. He starts on the buttons of my pants before giving a frustrated huff.
“Take these off, I want to see you again.” He backs away from me into the pool, the water dancing to life with light, bubbling around us like a jacuzzi.
I take my time, first unbuttoning my shirt, one button at a time, and then sliding my pants off, shoving everything off to the side where they won’t get wet.
My toe is barely in the water before I’m swept off my feet, landing with a splash, legs hooked around Nahuél’s middle, his belly brushing my mound.
His lips are everywhere, my neck, my ears, crushed against my own lips.
The frenzy of his need doesn’t stop, so consumed by me that he stands up fully, exposing me to the cool air with one arm hooked under my ass, and the other around my back, holding me partially away from him while he suckles mercilessly on my nipples.
Roaming from one to the next, planting hot kisses between each, his tongue swirling and nipping me.
I’m flailing and moaning against him, practically riding his belly as he casually attacks my nipples.
“Nahuél!” I moan. I don’t know how much longer I can take the teasing; my core is pulsating with a need so great it's almost painful.
“Tell me what you want.” He murmurs into my chest, mouth full of my breasts.
“I need you.” I sound so piteous.
“Where?” His palm slides between my legs, tracing my lips which are swollen and slick.
My hips move automatically, seeking friction. “I need you inside me.” I gasp.
He pulls me down into the water, floating us toward the edge where he sits and lies down.
“Ride me then.”
His long arms hold me over his cock as I press my palms into his chest, marveling once more at how small they look in comparison to him.
I don’t have time to think about his cock fitting me.
I’m blind to the incessant need, and soon the head of it is pushing into me, piercing me one delicious inch at a time.
Time, motion, hell, even the rotation of the earth must have stopped at that moment, sending me into blackness; the only sensation is the fullness, the connection between us.
My legs are spread wide over his large hips, the thickly corded muscles of his thighs under me, supporting me as I rock back and forth.
I start slow before the frenzied motion overtakes me, and another sensation comes along with me as I feel his round belly slapping against my clit in time with my hips and it dawns on me that I’ve been missing out my entire fucking life on this sex hack.
I want to relish this moment, so I open my eyes and see him spread out under me, locked onto my face with a look so open and wondrous that I slow down, rolling my hips into him, feeling every stroke of his luscious, warm cock within me that we moan together from the pleasure of it.
Dancing rainbow lights burst from the pool, creating a kaleidoscope of colors in the chamber.
The pressure builds and builds, and I know I am close, but I want to see him break apart, so I pull him up and shift off of him.