Chapter 2 #2
Her eyes fell to the black tentacles wrapped around her middle. She quickly removed her hands from them, snapping her gaze up to meet Jax’s. Though her feet didn’t reach the ground, he still loomed over her.
He leaned close. “I will not betray my people to yours.”
“I’m sorry!” she said between coughs. “I wasn’t… I was only curious.”
He narrowed his eyes, and his pupils expanded. The tip of a tentacle brushed over her bare shoulder. Macy flinched away from it.
“Curious…” he rumbled. Lifting a hand, he moved it toward her face.
She leaned back as far as she could, staring at the translucent webbing between his fingers, at the black claws on his fingertips, at the subtle texture of his skin.
“Please. Don’t hurt me.” Macy turned her face away; if he was strong enough to hold her steady in midair, he could pick her to pieces with those claws effortlessly.
His hand, strangely warm, brushed the sensitive skin of her neck. Her breath quickened. He raised a clump of her wet hair and rubbed it between two fingers, separating the individual strands.
“What is this?”
“It’s hair,” she said, watching from the corner of her eye.
“What is its purpose?”
“I-I don’t know. To keep us warm? We have it all over our bodies, but it just…grows longer there.” She turned her face toward him. “You don’t have any?”
“No.” He tilted his head to the side and moved his hand, running his fingertip over the shell of her ear. “It is much stranger to see in the flesh.”
Reluctantly, Macy lowered her hands, resting them atop his tentacle. She’d expected it to be slimy, but his skin was velvety-fine, soft over hard muscle. It wouldn’t take much for him to do her serious harm; he’d just need to tighten his grip, and he’d crush her insides and snap her spine.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I have seen…ghosts of humans. It is different to see a human of flesh so close. To touch.”
“Ghosts?” Her finger slid over one of the suction cups. It expanded, and she pulled her hand away.
His gaze dipped to her hand. “They can be seen and heard, but not touched.”
“Where have you seen ghosts? Ghosts aren’t real.” Sea monsters weren’t real, either, but here she was, talking to one…
“There are a great many things underwater.”
Jax didn’t elaborate; he shifted his attention to her nose, and his nostril slits flared as he leaned closer.
She pressed a hand to his chest to stop him.
His skin was just as soft there as it was on his tentacles.
The thumping of his heart vibrated against her palm, stronger than she would’ve guessed, its tempo rapid and rhythm odd — it pulsed in sets of six quick beats.
“Your heart is…different,” she said.
Jax glanced at her hand. He lowered his from her hair and placed it on her chest.
Macy nearly stopped breathing. Her heart raced as she stared at him with wide eyes. Part of his hand curved over her upper breast, and the tips of his claws rested against her bare skin.
“Hearts,” he said, brow falling. “Yours are weak.”
“It’s not weak. Humans only have one.”
“Are you all so small? So…delicate?” Removing his hand from her chest, took her wrist between forefinger and thumb and lifted her hand off his tentacle, examining it.
She tugged her hand out of his grasp. “What do you mean? Humans come in all shapes and sizes. I’m just…female. Aren’t your females smaller?”
“All shapes and sizes,” he muttered. “Doesn’t that make mating difficult?”
“What?” Her cheeks heated.
“Do you have to find mates of the same size and shape for mating to work?”
“You thought…” She shook her head, her face burning with embarrassment. “Not literally all shapes and sizes. Some of us are smaller than others. Some are wider, some are thinner, but we’re more or less the same.”
One of his tentacles brushed the back of her knee, and the tip slid up her inner thigh. Macy sucked in a sharp breath.
“No!” she exclaimed, drawing her legs back and kicking the offending appendage.
The tentacle snapped back. His hold on her waist tightened slightly, and his expression hardened. He stared at her with alien eyes.
“Put me down,” she said with a softer tone. “Please, just put me down.”
She didn’t think he’d listen; for the space of a few breaths, he didn’t move save for the slow rise and fall of his chest and shoulders. Finally, he lowered her. Relief flooded Macy as her feet touched solid ground.
Jax withdrew his tentacles and backed away, putting a bit of distance between them.
“Thank you.” Shaken, she wrapped her arms around herself and glanced past him, toward the dark part of the cavern. “How did you bring me in here?”
“Through the water.”
“So, you could…could take me back. You could help me to the shore.”
“No.”
For a moment, she stared at him, silent, unsure if she’d heard his response or imagined it.
“Then you could show me, and I-I can find my way.”
Oh, God. She didn’t want to face the sea alone.
“No,” he repeated. There was no malice in his voice, but his tone was firm.
“What do you mean?”
“I will not allow you the chance to lead your people to this place.”
Macy dug her fingers into her arms to keep them from trembling. “I won’t. I promise I won’t tell anyone about you, about this cave. About anything. I just want to go home.”
“I cannot trust the words of a human. I will not kill you, but you will remain here.”
Her chest constricted; she couldn’t breathe.
“Can you at least tell me if you saw my friend? He was on the boat with me. Is he…alive?”
“I saw only you, Macy.”
She was relieved that Camrin hadn’t been captured, too, but what were the chances he’d survived the storm?
“Please.” Tears obscured her vision. “Please, let me go. I can’t stay here.”
“No,” he said again, softer this time.
Her face crumpled, and hot tears rolled down her cheeks. He wasn’t going to let her go.
Jax’s eyes widened, and he approached her. Leaning close, he raised a hand toward her face.
She slapped it away and stepped back. “Leave me alone!”
Jax recoiled, red pulsing across his skin. The shocked expression faded from his face quickly.
Macy didn’t care if she’d offended or angered him; he was keeping her as a prisoner. She moved farther away, sank to the ground beside a barrel, covered her face with her hands and cried. Her shoulders shook with each wail and shuddering breath as she cried.
She didn’t know where she was or what she was going to do.
Would she ever see The Watch again? Would she ever see her parents or Aymee?
She didn’t even know if Camrin was alive or dead. Only that it was her fault.
I should have told him!
There was a splash on the far side of the cavern. She didn’t have to look up to tell Jax was gone. She was alone.
That only made her cry harder.