CHAPTER SEVEN
RUINE
“Why did you make me do that? I didn't want to do that. Why didn't you listen to me?”
Breathing heavily, Ruine was crouched with his back to the pearlescent door the guards had once been in front of, his hands clenching his knives so tightly it made his fingers ache.
Blood stained his nice suit. It was in his hair, splattered violently across his face. Why couldn't they have just listened to him? Why couldn't they have just walked away. Looking at the bodies as they lay awkwardly in the hallway, his stomach twisted. Tighter and tighter as a cold sweat broke out over his entire body.
Leaning across into the deep sea wall, he was actually thankful for the whirling void as Ruine emptied the contents of his stomach into the undulating surface and let it be swept away to feed the fishes.
Better out than in at least. He applied the saying twice more as his body retched until there was nothing left. Until gargling with saltwater looked appealing.
Wiping off his knives on his now ruined suit, the demon slid them back into the hidden holster and fished through the dead guard’s pockets, finding the key to the door.
Ruine’s face contorted into an unhappy scowl. “You cant be fucking serious. Are you just a cliche as a race or something?” It was a gods-damn shell that fit into the space like a key. But not a key. Weird. Was this their version of fingerprint scanning?
Several locks clicked, the contraption behind the luxurious doorway releasing. His eyebrows crept up towards his fucking hairline. Whatever was in here needed this much? They should have put more than just two guards at the door.
Shouldering the door open, what Ruine found had every muscle in his body locking into place, horrified. It was a boxed room, no bigger than anyone would expect for storage really but that wasn't what it held.
A huge orb of water floated in the middle, the surface moving fast, swirling as if creating a barrier around itself. There was a chain from the bottom, disappearing into the twisting mass. Something was inside it. Something they didn't want others to find.
Curiosity burned in him, a toddler making grabby hands at something they shouldn't have. Looking for any threats around him, Ruine moved slowly, stepping closer, enough for a fine mist to touch his skin from the surface. From his view, he couldn't see anything. Nothing but sea form and a current too fast to peer through - or so he thought before a fucking hand snatched through the surface to grab onto his lapel.
Ruine would never admit it to anyone, ever, but there was nothing remotely masculine about the scream that left him. He didn't even have a second to draw a weapon before he was yanked inside with a strength he couldn't fight against, his head disappearing into the swirling void. Thank the Gods he had enough sense to huff a lungful of air beforehand.
Despite the surface looking dangerous, it was actually less than a moderate current against his neck. Squinting his eyes open against the salt water stinging them, Ruine came face to face with… Everything he was looking for. A bubble of air left his mouth as he stared, dumbfounded.
Her eyes blinked sideways. It was the first thing his brain registered and would forever be the first impression Ruine had of his mate. Scales covered patches of her face. An oval face with wonderfully green eyes staring at him. Green like rare jade stones polished to a shine.
A pert small nose. Her mouth was opening and closing, she was saying something to him, but he couldn't hear for the rushing water in his ears and shock vibrating through his body. Dark green hair floated around her in a cloud, shifting this way and that yet not tangling in the way he would expect. Her ears were pointed, lower than a fae, longer too.
A gentle sight came from within his mind, his demon rising to the surface again and making itself known.
Pretty. Mate .
Holy shit this was happening. This was it. A bizarre sense of euphoria filled him-
Mate!
I know!
Said mate was obviously becoming more frustrated in his inability to hear what she was saying as she bared adorably small fangs at him and shoved his head out of the orb by slapping her webbed hand against his face and pushing. Falling on his ass, hair dripping wet and still staring like a fucking idiot, Ruine was horrified at what followed.
A trident lowered itself from the side of the wall, generating a current that shocked through the orb and the creature within. Sparks flickered over the surface, shocks of white light coming from within the water as the whole thing vibrated with power before the trident pulled away.
She knew it was coming. She knew it would happen, that's why she shoved him away. The danger his demon mentioned had never been to him. It had been to her. To his mate and what was happening to her.
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck!
Shoving his upper body into the large orb again, Ruine found his mate curled up as if she were in the foetal position, her body locked tight from aftershocks and twitching. Her face was scrunched up in pain while Ruine followed her body down to the thick metal lock around her ankle. Gripping it as best he could, the demon yanked and pulled to no avail.
He yanked the fucking thing until Ruine had to duck his head out of the orb to catch his breath. His temper rose, little flickers of scales running down his spine, a tingle of awareness as he drew a deep breath in and pitched himself back inside. Curling his fingers around the metal, Ruine grit his teeth and poured his strength into his arms.
His fingertips turned to claws, digging into the hard surface and cutting into the metal. His teeth sharpened, long enough to prick into his lip as he squeezed his eyes shut and kept pulling. It was happening slowly, his demon rising to offer help little by little. They hadn't shared his body in such a way in a long time yet it still came naturally.
A sizzling awareness of scales that felt everything so much more intensely. Every brush of water against his body, the way his horns sharpened further, his body strained. Something moved at the base of his back, twisted down and around his thigh to latch on. A vibration came next, by his feet and he just fucking knew what it was.
Pain .
I don’t need you to fucking tell me that!
The shock was immense. A bolt of electricity that scrambled his brain and had his body fighting every instinct it had to pull away. Opening his mouth to yell, there was nothing but a rush of bubbles. Ruine felt as though the tendons in his arms were going to rip as he gave the last pull everything he had, the concern of passing out a very real thing as the electrified water swirled and swirled –
Pop!
Holding onto the cuff and the ankle it was attached to, the demon fell back onto the floor with a clatter, his body cushioning that of his mate’s as she collapsed over him. His body was jerking, muscles twitching strongly here and there unable to help it. The air wheezed in and out of his chest so hard it whistled.
They needed to get out of here before he left more bodies in the hall. Maybe if he shoved them into the water, nobody would notice. The current could take them away surely.
Where the fuck was that dragon?