“No, I mean… don’t apologize.” The awkward tension caused me to rub the back of my head to distract myself from the intensity of his gaze. Xexon was odd. He wasn’t the fierce monster the rest of the ship had believed him to be. He seemed almost human-like, though with rough edges from not being raised around others. “I… um, I helped you because I knew you weren’t attacking us simply to devour our bodies. I knew you were only trying to protect Brasil from another ship getting too close. It was our fault for trying to find the kingdom.”
“Why do you want to find Brasil?”
Why was I saying so much in front of him? Xexon’s presence was warm, and even as he stood before me, I could feel the heated touch of his tentacle still on me. I opened my mouth and almost asked him to touch me. To wrap his tentacle around my waist once more. “I have been enamored with the sea kingdom since I was a little boy. I was told that it was filled with creatures we’d never seen before. Though growing up, they turned the stories into nightmares to scare us into staying away. As I grew older, I found this pull to the sea. I wanted to explore and see what was out there in the world. Away from the mainland. But the captain of the ship wanted to plunder Brasil. I found out the day after I had already signed up for the voyage. Unfortunately, there was no turning back for me.”
“I believe you, Dante.” Xexon smiled softly and moved closer once more. He was so close that if I reached out, I could touch him. His arm, his defined form, his tentacles. Heat erupted within my body and I realized I wanted much more from Xexon than was honorable. “I knew when you acted on my behalf that you were different than the others. I heard you call out for your crewmate to stop their attack, although they were trying to saveyou. Along with the strong pull I had toward you already, I knew I had to get you off that ship.”
“What do you mean?” I tried to keep calm and harden my voice to hide my overwhelming emotions, but it was impossible. There was a need that tightened the end of my words and Xexon could sense it, I knew. His eyes became hooded as he searched my face. He licked out at his lips and I did my best not to groan from the sight. What was he doing to me?
“There is another reason why I saved you, but I cannot simply tell you. That’s not how it works.” Xexon sighed, his expression hardening and that need from before was closed off. “I must send word to Brasil.”
His words hung in the air as he turned to move away. My hand moved of its own accord and I was a breath away from one of his tentacles before my mind finally caught up with my body and I snapped my hand back.
“Wait,” I called out as he distanced himself. “What about me? What will I do now?”
Xexon paused, his gaze meeting mine for but a fleeting moment before he turned away once more. “Fear not, my dear Dante. I will ensure help arrives for you. Soon you will be rid of me and this sea.”
With that, Xexon vanished and I was left alone in the main section of the cavern. His form moved smoothly around a bend in the rock face and I lost sight of him pretty quickly. Unsure of what to do next, I stood there, listening to the sound of the water dripping and plinking both on the rock and pool, interchangeably.
I could escape while he was busy, he even said as much, but how was I going to swim all the way to the surface? I didn’t know where this cavern was even located in conjunction with the ship, or where we’d been attacked, and who knew how deep we were.
Xexon had only shown me kindness since even before I’d woken up here, even if he had yet to tell me why. There was a bond between us that was silent yet stole my breath. It churned in my mind as I wondered if Xexon had the abilities of other underwater creatures, ones that lured seamen to their deaths, dragging them under. But they sang songs that bewitched their dinner, and Xexon had saved me. He could’ve killed me by now, but why bring me here alive?
Even as danger still lurked in the shadows, Brasil so close, if they saw me as a threat and wished me dead, Xexon would have to follow the order. Right? But he had a gentle touch and I would much rather meet my end looking into his glimmering gaze than suffocate and drown in the deep depths of the sea.
I stared down at the illuminated pool and smiled. My mind was even trying to come up with a reason to stay. So be it.
Chapter 2
Xexon
I retreated into the shadows of a hidden side of the cavern. It dipped down for a breath before opening up into a wider area with a vaulted rock ceiling. I strained my ears but couldn’t hear Dante across the way or know if he had escaped through the entrance back into the sea, or if he had stayed. I did my best not to dwell on which I preferred and went about preparing the ritual call.
With a large abalone shell, I poured sparkling white liquid from a vial near the wall. It plinked within the coarse material before swirling around and remaining in a constant state of churning. With one of the nearby bone knives, I pricked my finger and gave the liquid three drops of my blood.
As the crimson blended with the white, swirling into a pale pink before being submerged back into the vibrant white, I uttered the chant under my breath. I repeated the familiar words three times, eyes closed so that I could better feel the current of magic that hummed all around me. I channeled my energy into the infused sea water until it lapped at the edges of the abaloneshell and splashed up into the air, gurgling over and over until it soon formed a shadow-like creature right above the shell in my hands.
I suppressed the ripple of anticipation that had my tentacles vibrating, nerves that would be of no use to me right now. The ruby-red gaze of the shadow pierced through my mind as though it were reading my thoughts. It became more defined within seconds, a hood etched out of the water, hands with webbed fingers, a neck carved with gills.
When he spoke, his voice shook the small room, and I hoped Dante couldn’t feel the pressure beyond. “Why did you not exterminate every human aboard that accursed vessel?” the newly formed male demanded, its words laced with venom and their sharp teeth snapping together. “Why’d you allow half of them to escape and tell the mainland of our defenses?”
What was I supposed to say? How could I explain that once I felt Dante’s energy, I couldn’t do anything but go to him? To bring him down to my home. To safety. My mind was filled with only him, not of my duties.
“My apologies, Lord Aephrim. There was a complication.” I did my best not to react. That was such a weak explanation, and I knew I was going to have to tell him the truth. It was the only way he would understand. Though the beings that lived in Brasil didn’t quite understand the mating of shifters, they at least knew the intensity and need for it.
His fury rippled through the shell. “And what, pray tell, would that be?”
“I have found my mate.” I bit the words out like I was chewing up the sharp shards of the abalone shell and spitting out the gritty leftovers. “It was my priority to get him to safety, away from those on the ship. They would have killed him themselves if they had seen him protect me in the midst of the storm.”
“Your mate? Your mate is a human male?” Lord Aephrim huffed with half a laugh mixed in. Of course it sounded absurd, but it wasn’t the first time a shifter mate was male, as was the shifter. Fate would always make a way. “Your duties are to protect Brasil and kill anyone that gets too close.” He sneered. “That means every single human on that ship, especially your mate.”
I inhaled my anger and refused to let the pain leak out in my words. “I cannot kill my mate, and you know that, Lord Aephrim. It is almost impossible to do.”
“I suggest you figure out a way, Xexon, or else we will do it for you.”
Rage blinded my vibrant vision and my tentacles crept up my arms, all but reaching out to strangle the water form of Lord Aephrim. “You would be breaking our contract. A war would be on the horizon for Brasil.”
“As I see it, you broke the contract the moment you allowed that human snail to live.” He snarled in return.