Page 9 of Taken By the Alien Triton King

It was not an embrace; there was nothing gentle about the way his body collided with mine. Iron bands around my waist, his scales rough against my skin as he spun us around and headed back up—slower this time, because he was fighting the current I had lost to. My breathing, strange as it was underwater, foreign as it felt when it was water I inhaled, stuck in my throat now as if he’d slammed the air straight out of me. It was the force of that rapid ascent, and it made my head spin. For a moment, up was down, down was up, and I was certain there were hundreds of eyes staring up at me from the dark depths below.

Kaerius hauled us over the edge of the cliff, barreling through the pair of guards who had brought me there. His silver-blue eyes blazed with fury, his gills flaring as his gaze locked onto the ones who had dragged me here. “What do you think you’re doing?” he roared. My hands shot up to cover my ears instinctively. Even in these unnatural, underwater surroundings, it was loud—terrifying.

One of the advisors moved forward, his tail fanning behind him in gentle motions, his expression smooth—almost unbothered. “The human is a threat to your rule. We are simply removing the problem.” That sounded like a party line, and Kaerius didn’t buy it.

He moved so fast I barely saw it—one second, he was holding me one-armed against his chest, his tail whipping down to keep both guards pinned beneath it. The next moment, he rushed forward and grabbed the male by the throat, lifting him off the ground with effortless strength. The pompous advisor choked, clawing at his grip, but Kaerius didn’t let go. Beneath that grip, I could see the man’s gills flare as he struggled to breathe, his blue scales growing paler along his cheeks until they looked as white as his pale blond hair.

“You do not decide who is a threat,” the king snarled. “You do not touch what is mine.” Mine—there was that word again. I barely had time to process that before he threw the man away with a flick of his wrist. The current caught the male, sweeping him out above the abyss—only this guy was strong enough to save himself, rapidly swimming back to the shelf and to safety, darting behind his companion’s back.

Kaerius swept his gaze over the others. None of them dared to move. “Get out of my sight,” he commanded. “All of you.” I bit my lip, but I knew he didn’t mean me. His arm was still snug around my waist, keeping me anchored to his side. Mine, he said, and I knew it meant he wasn’t going to let me go at all. I was relieved about that. I’d nearly died—I would have died down there—of the cold, of starvation, or eaten by a predator. I was staying right where I was, in his arms.

The guards hesitated for only a moment before scrambling up from the sand and darting into the rising red kelp behind us. The pair of advisors exchanged glances but then bowed their heads and followed suit. Then, it was just me and Kaerius.

My breath was still coming in short gasps, my heart hammering against my ribs. I turned to face him, searching his expression, but it was unreadable—except for the storm raging in his eyes. “I—” My voice caught, shaking. “They were going to—” I couldn’t find the words to express what had just happened; it was too much for a bookworm like me. I wasn’t cut out for that much excitement—I didn’t just shrug off an attempt on my life.

“I know,” he said quietly. His hand lifted, hesitating for a moment before his fingers brushed my cheek—gentle despite the strength behind them. “I should have been here sooner.” His tone was full of self-recrimination, as if he were the one to blame for my plunge into that dark abyss. “I should never have left you alone.”

A tremor ran through me. “Why?” I needed to hear him say it again, even though I knew exactly what his words were going to be. It was starting to feel like that fact was the only certainty I could count on down here, under the water’s treacherous surface.

His expression darkened as if my question offended him. “Because you are mine, Samantha.” I should have argued. Should have pushed back. But as I clung to his arms, trembling from the near-death, the weight of his words settled deep inside me. He had come for me. He had stopped them.

He dipped his head, I raised mine, and we met halfway. His mouth, scorching hot against my cold lips, his tongue claiming me, conquering me until I had no choice but to accept what he’d been telling me from the start: I was his. I believed it, and now it was time to find out if that meant he was mine.