Chapter 9
T he charged silence in the kelp hollow stretched thin.
Greta's breath came faster, gills flaring wide as a sudden, sharp pressure built deep in her veins. The glowing vein patterns along her arms and across her chest began to pulse harder. Faster. The soft teal light turned brighter, almost frantic, like a warning beacon flashing under her skin.
She stiffened against him.
"Something's wrong," she said quickly, voice tight with rising panic. "It feels… it feels like my blood is boiling."
Klari pulled back just enough to look down at her.
His eyes widened the moment he saw the glowing patterns.
One large hand moved instantly to her chest, palm pressing flat over the brightest cluster of veins near her sternum.
His tail remained curled tightly around her waist, but the lazy stroking had stopped.
"It’s the timer," he said, voice dropping into an urgent click-whistle. "It's accelerating. The serum is breaking down faster than it should. Do you feel it, that pulse? That’s the serum."
Greta's own hand flew up to touch the glowing lines. The pulse under her fingertips was strong and erratic, like a second, panicked heartbeat racing against her ribs.
"How much time?" she demanded, trying to keep her voice steady even as fear spiked through her. "Tell me exactly."
Klari's markings dimmed with sudden focus. He kept his palm pressed to her chest, feeling the frantic rhythm. "Not long. Minutes, maybe less. Your body is rejecting the change. If we stay down here when it hits…"
He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't need to.
Greta's stomach dropped. No gills. No tail. No webbing. Just soft, fragile human skin and lungs that couldn't pull oxygen from water.
She looked up at him, eyes wide. "I'm not mating with you down here. Not like this. Not in some kelp hole while those psychos are still hunting us."
Klari's jaw tightened. His cock was still hard and throbbing against her belly, but the hunger in his eyes had shifted into something sharper — worry.
"Then we have to go up," he said. "Now. Before the change takes you underwater."
His tail gave her one last possessive squeeze, then loosened just enough for them to move.
Greta swallowed hard, the frantic pulsing in her veins growing stronger with every second.
The clock wasn't just ticking anymore.
It was screaming.
Greta's glowing vein patterns were flashing so brightly now they lit the inside of the kelp hollow like a distress beacon .
She shook her head hard, gills flaring with rapid, panicked breaths.
Klari's tail was still wrapped tightly around her waist, but his grip had changed — no longer seductive, now purely supportive. His hard cock remained pressed against her, thick and insistent, but he ignored it completely, amber eyes locked on her face with clear urgency.
"Greta," he said, voice low and commanding, "if the change hits while we're still deep, you will drown before I can get you to the surface. Do you understand?"
"I understand perfectly," she snapped back, voice rising in a sharp trill. "We surface. End of story."
Klari exhaled a stream of bubbles, jaw tight. "The ascent will be fast and rough. Your body is already breaking down. You may lose strength halfway up."
"Then you'd better hold on tight, shark-boy," she shot back, even as another wave of burning pressure raced through her veins. "Because I'm not dying at the bottom of this stupid ocean because I was too stubborn to let you carry me."
For a moment, Klari just looked at her — equal parts frustration, admiration, and raw hunger still burning in his eyes.
"Stubborn female," he muttered, but there was a hint of reluctant affection in the click-whistle of his voice.
He pulled her firmly against his chest, one strong arm banding around her back while his tail coiled securely around both her legs for extra support.
"Hold onto me," he ordered. "Do not let go, no matter what happens."
Greta wrapped her arms around his neck, heart hammering as the glowing patterns on her skin strobed faster and faster .
"Fine," she whispered. "But if you grope me on the way up, I swear I'll bite you."
Klari's only answer was a low, strained chuckle as he kicked off the coral floor, shooting them both upward through the golden kelp toward the distant surface.