Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
DAX
When Dax had seen Mateo entering the cafeteria for the first time in days, he’d been hopeful that he was nearly done.
The man hadn’t eaten there since Tuesday, so he figured he was busy fixing Dax’s screw up and showing up today meant he was nearly done.
He hurried over eagerly, his movements slowing as he took in Mateo’s appearance.
He had dark circles under his eyes and his hair, which had been immaculate when Dax had first met him, was disheveled and flopped onto his forehead.
He looked a lot like Louis did when he was overworking himself, which was… concerning.
“Mateo? Are you alright?”
He watched Mateo’s face twist, looking almost like he was going to cry when he blurted out, “It’s going through the last scans. I should have it back to you today. I just need a little more time.”
Dax lifted his hands, eyes wide as he glanced at the guy who had come in with Mateo, who looked just as concerned as Dax felt. Mateo’s friend tipped his head to look better at Mateo’s face, studying the man who looked seconds away from losing it completely.
“Mateo? Is something going on?” He shot an almost accusatory look at Dax, who shook his head rapidly in response.
Yes, he’d been a little… enthusiastic about getting updates, but he didn’t think he’d done so much to cause this amount of stress for the man.
Mateo was always polite in responding. He hadn’t shown any signs of being upset.
The sigh Mateo let out was almost a sob, and when Dax moved closer, putting an arm around his shoulders so he wouldn’t keel over, the poor man’s body was so stiff, it felt like hugging a diving board. The guy was seriously tense.
“Uh… Maybe he should sit down,” he suggested, raising his eyebrows at the guy who’d come in with him.
Mateo’s companion was still frowning deeply but nodded and allowed Dax to steer Mateo to the closest empty table, pushing him gently into a chair.
Mateo immediately dropped his head into his hands, scrubbing his face roughly.
Dax sat next to him, lightly rubbing the poor man’s shoulders in an attempt to get him to relax.
Even through the layers of clothes he could feel how tense he was.
“Mateo, what’s going on?” the other human demanded as he sat across from him. “You look like you haven’t slept in days.”
“I can’t sleep,” Mateo whined behind his hands. “Every time I try, I get woken up by loud noises or slamming doors. It’s worse than living in my old apartment. I haven’t gotten uninterrupted sleep since I moved in.”
Blinking, Dax asked, “Where the heck do you live that you have to deal with all that?”
The other person seemed just as surprised as Dax was. “Wait. Aren’t you part of the Residential Pilot Program? It hasn’t even been a full week yet. Taron never mentioned it going poorly.”
The… what?
“What’s the Residential Pilot Program?” he couldn’t help but ask. Whatever it was, it obviously wasn’t a great environment if Mateo was so exhausted after less than a week.
“It’s a new program to test if the company will eventually provide housing for employees,” a new voice replied, sounding confused. “And why would it be going poorly? I haven’t heard any complaints.”
Dax looked over his shoulder toward where Taron stood, a small army of people behind him all looking curiously in their direction.
“What’s wrong with the program? Has there been an issue or something? Why did no one call me?” Taron demanded, looking a little hurt.
With each question, Dax felt Mateo’s shoulders tighten a little more under his hands.
He was close to breaking, and no way was Dax going to let that happen with an audience, especially not when he was part of the reason Mateo was so upset.
Sliding a tentacle around Mateo’s waist, he took his arm and hauled him to his feet.
“I’m just gonna borrow him for a little bit. Be right back.”
He didn’t wait for permission, dragging Mateo along with him as he headed for the elevators. The guy didn’t even protest, just kind of slumped in on himself and stared at the floor, like he wasn’t fully present in his own body anymore. Goddess, the guy really was wrung out.
Dax managed to find an empty elevator, which was something of a miracle in this company and jabbed the button to close the doors quickly before anyone could join them.
He pressed the button for the floor that housed the company gym.
There was only one place Dax ever went when he needed to clear his head and was guaranteed peace and quiet especially at this time of day.
The gym wasn’t overly busy since most people were at lunch, and the pool was blessedly empty when he cast a glance in that direction while shuffling Mateo toward the locker room.
It was only when they got to the locker room that Mateo finally spoke, his brows drawn together in confusion. “You want me to work out right now?” he croaked.
Snorting lightly, Dax shook his head. “No. We’re going for a swim. You’re guaranteed quiet under the water. Don’t worry about your clothes, there are drying spells to fix that.”
Mateo didn’t look convinced, but he did stop long enough to strip out of most of his clothes except for his boxers and stuff them into Dax’s locker.
Dax had a permanent locker because he was here most days and was willing to pay for it, and he didn’t want to ask Mateo too many questions about renting one while he was this out of it.
He pulled off his white coat and button up, tossing them in the locker as well, then led the way out of the locker room and over to the edge of the pool.
“Don’t worry about the temperature, they keep it decently warm–”
Mateo didn’t wait around for more explanation.
He sat at the edge of the pool, slipped into the water, then drew in a deep breath before sinking down.
Dax was quick to join him, feeling the gills appear under his jaw and the fins on his ears fan out now that he was in the water.
He wasn’t merfolk, he couldn’t shift his lower half like they could, but certain aspects of his species only showed up while he was under the water, giving him the ability to breathe and move with ease.
Mateo’s eyes were closed under the water, though he didn’t need to worry about it if he opened them.
The company had the salt water brought in from the coral realm through a complicated portaling system that he’d admired at great length when he first started working for Spellbound.
There were no chemicals in it, as there were spells that neutralized contaminants, and the constant flow of water through the portals meant–
He cut his thoughts off abruptly when he remembered humans couldn’t breathe under water. He hadn’t been tracking the time. How long could humans hold their breath?
Concerned, he reached for Mateo, wrapping a tentacle around his wrist to get his attention, and froze when something settled in his chest.
Mate.
Mateo was his mate.
He was so stunned by the revelation that he didn’t notice that Mateo was watching him until he tugged his hand away and kicked to the surface.
He grimaced when he realized he’d been keeping them down there for too long.
Instincts screamed at him to help his mate, and he snatched him on his way back out of the water, wincing apologetically when the shock of being grabbed so suddenly caused Mateo to suck in a little pool water.
He coughed and spluttered, fingers digging into Dax’s tentacle for support as he fought to catch his breath.
“My bad. I was worried you’d been under too long. I wasn’t sure how long humans could hold their breath.”
That was what he was initially worried about anyway.
Now, he had a lot more to think about. Krakens were one of the only species who knew about their mates right away.
Skin to skin contact was enough for them to figure it out.
He never knew why; most other species needed time to gain that kind of knowledge.
He’d never researched a reason because it never pertained to him.
Now that it did, he didn’t know how to proceed.
He didn't have a problem with his mate being human, lots of krakens mated outside their species, but he’d thought he heard something about humans not having mates. Did Mateo feel their bond snap into place? Or was Dax the only one aware of it?
Once he finally caught his breath, Mateo opened his eyes to look at him, his thick black hair now plastered to his forehead, those dark brown eyes looking at him accusingly. “I can hold my breath longer than thirty seconds.”
Had it really only been thirty seconds? He’d been lost in thought, and once he touched Mateo, intending only to ask, he’d completely lost track of reality, too stunned to think straight.
“Sorry. I thought it was longer. How long can humans hold their breath?”
“Depends on the human,” Mateo grumbled, pushing out of Dax’s grasp and swimming on his own, arms and legs moving in slow circles to tread water.
Dax felt a level of unease at that move.
Mates liked to touch. That Mateo was pushing away from him made him think maybe he didn't feel the bond like Dax did. Dax would need to explain it to him.
What would he even say?
“Are you going to freak out if I go under again?” Mateo asked, studying Dax like he was the type to be prone to overreacting.
He wasn’t, not normally anyway, but this was a special circumstance.
Mateo was his mate, and he didn’t know a thing about humans.
Especially worn out humans who looked ready to cry a few minutes earlier.
His chest tightened at the memory, but he bit back the half a dozen questions that popped into his head. He’d brought Mateo to the pool to settle him. Asking him a bunch of questions wouldn’t help.
“Uh… Can I get more information on the holding your breath thing first?” When Mateo gave him a flat look, Dax grinned, teasing a little in hopes of lightening the mood. “Come on, humor me,” he urged. “I’m a scientist. I need data.”
He didn’t want to push or make things worse, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop himself from grabbing Mateo again or hovering too close if he didn’t at least have more information.
With a sigh, Mateo thought about it. “For new swimmers, probably less than a minute. I think the record for humans was something like eleven minutes. I grew up near a lake and spent most summers swimming, so my record was three minutes. I haven’t practiced in a while though, so I’d probably only do two or two and a half now. ”
It was more than he’d thought, but not nearly long enough for his instincts to be satisfied.
He stared at the ceiling, thinking out loud more than expecting a response.
“I’ve never had a human as part of my trials before, but I was on a team once developing charms for non-water based supes to be able to breathe under water.
I think I have an extra one upstairs. I can get it for you if you want.
I’m not really sure two minutes is enough to clear your head. ”
“It’s fine. As long as I don’t get interrupted by tentacles grabbing me when I’m trying to focus,” Mateo said, then disappeared under the water again without waiting for Dax’s response.
Chuckling, Dax let himself sink under the water, counting the seconds in his head as he rested at the bottom of the pool, Mateo above him, holding his breath with his eyes closed, doing his best to clear his head.
While he waited, he studied the man he’d apparently been driving insane for the past three days. His mate.
Mateo’s hands moved lightly through the water, keeping himself from floating up to the surface holding his breath like that.
Now that he wasn’t so stuck on how exhausted he looked, Dax realized Mateo was better looking than he’d first assumed, which was saying something since he’d already found the man attractive.
But Mateo apparently wasn’t the kind of person to skip his workouts.
While overall he was lean muscle, he must have had a decent workout routine to have such definition.
If he’d been above the water’s surface, Dax would’ve drooled a little. Those abs were something to admire.
After about two minutes, Mateo kicked to the surface for a breath, sinking back down again after a few seconds.
Dax didn’t rush him, keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn’t cramp or stay too long under the water while giving him the time to relax.
The longer he watched, the more concerned he got about the human.
Even clearing his head like this, he still looked strained, and Dax didn’t need to touch him to see how stressed Mateo was, muscles tight in his jaw and shoulders.
What were the chances that Dax telling him they were mates would tip Mateo over the edge? He didn’t want to make things worse. He wasn’t even sure how to bring the topic up.
After a few repetitions, Mateo moved to the side of the pool, and Dax followed, popping up beside him when Mateo rested his arms against the edge of the pool to catch his breath.
“How do you feel?” he queried when Mateo laid his forehead against his arms for a moment.
For a long second, Mateo didn’t reply, but when he finally lifted his head, he no longer looked close to falling apart. “Fine, I guess. I just got overwhelmed, that’s all.” He looked awkward, avoiding eye contact as he added, “Thanks… for bringing me here. I needed it.”