I paused, looking down into the depths of his piercing eyes. They searched mine, probing for answers I wasn’t sure I could give.
“Why do you wear that clouded expression, Isla?”he asked, his mental voice a soft, rumbling murmur.
My heart clenched. I hesitated for a moment, collecting my thoughts, teetering on the edge of escape and confrontation.
Ky’rn deserved honesty…
“I…”The swirling whirlwind of emotions threatened to swallow me whole, but Ky’rn’s piercing amber gaze sought clarity in mine, grounding me.“I realized how little time we have left before you’re gone forever from my life.”
It was a brutal truth, but it needed to be said. It was foolish to think otherwise—to fantasize about anything else.
“How little time?”His voice rumbled, as if the very thought of it was too foreign, too painful for him to understand. His aquatic features tightened, puzzled and wary. “What do you mean?”
My fingers twitched, longing to touch the ridges and contours of his face, but I held back and managed a feeble smile.“I’m overjoyed at the thought of you being free soon.”I sighed audibly.“But I’m not blind to reality. Given the political climate and bitterness between Earth and the IPA…you might never come back.”
Silence suspended between us before he finally spoke. “You’re right, I will leave Earth. But if I find a way back, it would be to find you.”
He sounded sincere, yet I scoffed, a defense mechanism to shield my fragile heart. A laugh escaped me, the sound more bitter than I intended. “Why? Why return for me?”
The raw honesty in his eyes almost broke me. “You see me, Isla,”he whispered, his voice rough with emotion.“I’ve become attached to you. Perhaps it’s the circumstances of our meeting, or maybe it’s because you alone among your species saw me for who I am, not what I am.”
My lips quivered, averting my gaze.“We could never be together.”
Suddenly, the world spun as I was yanked below the water’s surface. Water enveloped me, yet fear was strangely absent, replaced by an electrifying awareness of his body against mine.
He pulled me back to the surface and pushed me against the tank’s wall. He captured me in his arms, his eyes—intensely focused—branding mine.
His voice cut through the silence.“If it could never be, why is your soul echoing with pain, Isla? If we could never be, why does every fiber of your being make me want to forsake it all?”
I gazed into his eyes, impossibly deep, finding a truth I was hesitant to admit to myself.“It’s Stockholm Syndrome,”I murmured, defeated.
His brow furrowed.“I do not know what that means.”
My breath hitched.“It’s when a captive becomes empathetic, even affectionate, towards their captor, aligning with their goals, sometimes falling…”I hesitated.“… falling for them.”
A smirk, tender and amused, played on his lips.“But, Isla, you’re not my captor, and certainly not my abuser. At this moment, aren’t you the captive?”
Ky’rn’s body surrounded me, large and protective, and as he nestled his nose into the junction of my neck and shoulder, the tension seemed to ebb from my muscles.
Ky’rn’s closeness was intoxicating.
His natural aquatic scent, combined with the salty water, created a heady mixture that left my mind in a whirl. Every touch, every word, and the very weight of his presence pushed all rational thought aside. This was the embodiment of an alien, dangerous yet alluring.
The sensation of his rough tongue on the soft skin of my neck was completely unexpected. The lap of cold water over the sensitive spot created a contrast that sent shivers down my spine.
My heart rate, already accelerated by our proximity, seemed to double. Every nerve ending in my body was alert and alive, tingling with anticipation, sending a myriad of emotions coursing through me.
Confusion, fear, excitement…and an overwhelming desire to be close to him, to feel the gentle touch of his scales and the coolness of his embrace. An involuntary gasp escaped my lips.
Ky’rn paused. His glowing amber eyes locked onto mine, seeking consent.
“I’m not trying to frighten you, Isla,”he murmured. His deep mental voice sent vibrations that caressed my skin.“You smell divine. It’s a call I can’t ignore.”
It was a primal assertion, and though every rational thought warned me to push him away, to create distance between us, I remained frozen, ensnared by his unyielding gaze.
“What are you saying?”My heart pounded in my chest, even as some intrinsic, ancient part of me recognized that he didn’t intend to harm me.
A gentle smile curled the corners of his mouth, his teeth gleaming white in the artificial light.“I wish to sample you, to mark you as mine in a way that all will recognize.”
