Chapter 4

But Bretton never managed to dine with Jain and Kesuk. She’d gone into early labor and been rushed to the medical facilities for surgery. A harrowing night in the hospital led to the birth of a baby daughter—Sakari—for Jain and her werebear lord. Relief filled Bretton’s chest because she’d survived and was recovering well.

Knowing Sera would be there and frightened for her friend, he’d forced himself to stay away. He’d want to hold her, and he could not. Comforting her would too easily lead to more. He was already a man at war with himself, his deepest wants battling for supremacy. Leading himself into the temptation to touch her would be foolish. He sighed and leaned his forehead against the cool, bowed glass window in his quarters. He could only pray that it became easier to avoid her in the future.

Light sparkled and flashed just below his window. One glance revealed it was Sera. He sighed again. Her red hair flowed around her as she swam in a tight silver suit. Bubbles rose from her face as she breathed in and out through a small apparatus she held in her mouth—something she had invented to adapt to his world. It was unfortunate that her adaptation was limited to the physical realm and not to the social structure of Aquatilis.

The two bottle-nosed dolphins she’d adopted when she’d come to his world swam in circles around her along with a young sea dragon. Its green scales gleamed in the light from the city. With a rusty chuckle, he wondered if it was related to any of the three weredragons that had come with Varad and Mahlia. Sea dragons had been gene-spliced with humans to create the weredragons that inhabited Harena.

Sera moved along the base of the corridor, and Bretton could only assume she was checking for something. He had no idea what. Technology wasn’t something he knew a great deal about. He knew how to operate machinery as well as the next person, but he had no idea why it worked. Sera did.

He watched her, and the band of emotion that gripped him whenever he thought of her tightened.

One of the dolphins nudged her side, and she flipped, a rush of bubbles erupting from her nose. If he concentrated he could hear the playful clicks and chirps as the dolphins chattered back and forth. As a merman he had enhanced hearing and sight, especially underwater. He grinned. Sera righted herself and gave a hand signal to the dolphin, who swam away and left her with the other dolphin and the sea dragon.

She continued with her work until the dragon’s tail wrapped around her legs, pinning her in place. Her arms pinwheeled in the water as she struggled to get away. The sea dragon whipped her around the way it would while playing with another dragon. Bretton’s heart slammed against his ribs when he saw her lose her breathing apparatus. Her hand shot out to grab it. And missed.

Not pausing to see what else happened, he sprinted for the corridor. The muscles in his arms and legs screamed as he pushed himself to the limit to get to the emergency exit. Terror like he’d never known before fisted in his gut. He slammed his palm against the control panel, and the exit spun open. Grabbing the bar above the chute, he lifted his legs and swung himself in feet first. The tube snapped shut behind him, and with a rush of air and water, it ejected him out into the ocean.

Please, Neptune, let her be all right. Please, Neptune, don’t let her inhale water. Please.

His hands clawed through the water as he swam. He shifted mid-stroke, and his pants ripped away as his legs snapped together to fuse into a tail. He kicked hard, slicing through the water faster than he’d ever thought possible. Where was she? His gaze caught on the flash of green scales. The sea dragon.

Relief ballooned inside him when he saw Sera still struggling against the grip of its tail. He darted forward, wrapped his arm around her waist, and slammed the flat of his own tail into the dragon’s snout. It reared back, stunned. It loosened its hold just enough for Bretton to wrench Sera free.

Her terrified silver gaze met his as they pushed away from the sea dragon. He pulled a breath in through the gills in his nose, sealed his mouth over hers and pushed the air into her lungs. She sucked in a desperate breath, burying her fingers in his hair to hold him to her. Her legs snapped around his waist in a vice grip.

Flicking his tail, he sped them toward the nearest shifting chamber in the main dome. His heart hammered in his ears, fear still pumping adrenaline through his system. He’d almost lost her. Neptune’s blood, he’d almost lost her. He slapped his hand against the palm panel so the iris door spun open and then closed behind them. Pushing another breath past her lips, he grunted when she licked her way into his mouth. Fire exploded in his body as the stark terror twisted into molten lust.

Their tongues twined, fighting for control of the kiss. He shifted into his human form, his cock a rigid arc that pressed between her legs. The chamber drained of water quickly and left them shrouded in mist. He shoved her up against the wall, ripping open the seam of her wet suit. He jerked the top of the silver fabric down to her waist. Breaking the kiss, he sucked her nipple into his mouth and bit at the tight crest. She cried out, her hips rotating against his.

“Let go,” he ordered, his fingers wrapping around her bent knees.

She whimpered and eased her grip on him. He pushed her legs down and peeled the wet suit off of her and threw it aside. He thrust his fingers into the hot depths of her pussy, working her hard.

“Bretton, I—”

He dragged her to the cold metal floor of the chamber and shoved her thighs wide, pushing himself between them. He had to have her. Now. Their mouths fused together, and he tasted blood when she bit him. It spurred him on, made him wilder than he’d ever been before. He buried his cock deep in her pussy.

She moaned into his mouth, her feet pressing down on the back of his thighs to push him closer. His hips bucked as he thrust into her tight, wet sex. The sleekness of her gripped his cock and made him feel as if his head would explode. He’d never wanted anything as desperately as he wanted her now. He was too rough with her, fucked her as hard and as fast as he could. He ground his pelvis against hers, needed to burn off the terror he’d experienced when he’d seen her attacked by the sea dragon. Her body arched to meet him, demanding he give her everything. Her fingers jerked the thong from his hair and twisted in the dark strands as they spilled down around them.

He broke the kiss, wanting to see her face flushed with passion. Her gray eyes glittered with the same harsh need that ripped through his body. Her fingers fisted in his hair, and her eyes squeezed closed, a tear leaking from the corner. She writhed beneath him, her sex milking his cock in long contractions as orgasm shook through her. Her body bowed so hard she lifted him with her. “Bretton!”

Hammering his hips against her, he felt the thin thread of control he had left snap. Her wetness coated his cock with every shove into her pussy. Fire rushed through his veins until everything but the feel of her silky flesh was burned from his mind. His body locked in a hard line as he came deep into her.

He collapsed against her, his face buried in the smooth curve of her neck. She smelled of the sea and of the signature sweetness that was uniquely Sera. His muscles shook in the aftermath, his breath bellowing out in harsh pants.

“Are you all right, fire fin?” he rasped. He leveraged himself up on his hands over her. Her gray eyes were smoky with spent passion. She nodded, stretched her arms over her head, and yawned.

Her lip was split, and she licked at the small cut. A cut he’d caused. Cold rushed through him. What had he done? He’d fucked her like a madman after she’d nearly drowned. What was wrong with him? He’d clearly taken leave of his senses—as he always seemed to when she was involved. Anger at himself mingled with the residual fear for her. He shuddered when he pulled his cock from her body, but he forced himself to push to his feet. He needed to get out of here. His father was right—he’d lost all perspective around Sera. He became someone he shouldn’t be. It was lunacy.

Wrapping his fingers around her biceps, Bretton drew her to her feet and turned away while she dressed. He tried to shut out the sounds of her movements, tried not to imagine her soft curves and how much he still wanted her. Approaching the locking panel to the interior door, he stared at it as if he’d never seen one before.

“Is it punishment?”

“What?” He barely heard her as he attempted to gather the unraveling ends of his composure before they stepped out of the shifting chamber and into the main dome of the city.

“The way you avoid seeing me now, even in private. Is it punishment for something I’ve done?” Hurt softened the edge of her voice, and her voice caught.

His gaze snapped to her face, and his gut twisted tight. Sweet Neptune, don’t let her cry. He didn’t think he could bear it. It was hard enough to maintain any distance between them without the screaming need to comfort and hold her coursing through him. He snorted a laugh. Oh, he’d had such luck maintaining his distance so far. He opened the door, and both of them stepped through it.

She obviously misinterpreted his laugh, because her chin came up, and her eyes narrowed. “You had to know I’d want you there last night with Jain in surgery.”

“I am not at your beck and call, Doctor Gibbons,” he grated out, nearly choking on the words that would wound her.

Wincing, she glanced away, and the light faded from her lovely gray eyes. “I never thought you were. I didn’t force any of this on you, Bretton.”

“I know.” His jaw clenched tight. He did know. He’d wanted everything she had to give and more. It just wasn’t meant to be.

A deep breath lifted her breasts, and he made his gaze stay locked on her face. “Then…thank you for saving me. I’m sorry to have troubled you.”

Turning, she faded into the crowd. It took every shred of his strength not to call her back, to apologize for hurting her, to apologize for being the man he was. They were just so different. Too different. He curled his fingers into tight balls. If he didn’t have the fortitude to stay away from her, then this might make her keep away from him. Cursing himself for being a bastard, he slammed his fist against the nearest wall. He welcomed the pain he so richly deserved as it reverberated up his arm.

Several people turned to stare at him, and he knew word of this would get back to his father and the Senate. For once, he didn’t care.

 

Sera curled into a ball in her bed and buried her head under the covers. After she’d run from Bretton, she’d wanted to put as much distance between them as possible. How clearer could he have made himself? He wasn’t interested. Sex was all she was good for. It hurt, but she had to accept it. Really, finally accept it. She still ached with the soul-deep pain of it after a night’s sleep. Forcing herself to crawl out of bed, she dressed, ate, and walked into her laboratory.

Oeric reported to her lab at the time she’d instructed. She’d canceled the day before because she’d spent a long night in the hospital with Kesuk and the weretigers and weredragons while they waited for news about Jain. The young merman knocked once, stepped through the door, and stood at almost military attention. He didn’t touch anything, kept his hands folded behind his back.

She sighed, scrubbing a hand over her forehead. What was she going to do with this man? All her problems lately seemed to revolve around males. She suppressed a growl and pushed to her feet from the stool she sat on.

“Have you ever done any underwater repairs?” She needed out of the city today, needed to not see Bretton. Reaching for her wet suit, she tucked it under her arm. Then she grabbed her flippers and her small rebreather from their compartments in the wall. The breathing apparatus had arrived this morning in the tubes that connected the shifting chambers with everyone’s personal quarters. Bretton must have gone back for it. She closed her eyes over the pang that clenched her heart.

Oeric blinked at the abrupt question. “Ah, no. But I promise not to get in the way.”

A chuckle bubbled up from her throat. “That was the right answer.”

“I thought as much.”

She nodded and led the way down the corridor to the small dome at the end of the Titan sector. Her two sea skimmers were docked in the dome. One was a single-person skimmer, and the other could hold four. She punched in her authorization code to the second docking hatch. It parted in the middle to reveal the cockpit of the larger skimmer.

Stuffing her gear into the tiny shifting chamber at the rear of the skimmer, she performed the mandatory checks before they could get under way. Oeric sealed the door behind him and then stood to the side and watched her work. She shrugged and ignored him. She’d expected it to feel more…uncomfortable to have him here. The man was enormous, nearly the same size as Kesuk and Nadir—the two largest men she’d ever seen. But Oeric was just calm and silent. After a few moments, she forgot he was there and lost herself in the familiar process.

When she turned, he strapped himself into the copilot’s chair. She plopped into the pilot’s seat and finished the last of the checks. They both put on the headsets that would allow them to hear over the cold fusion engine—the same power source that fueled everything on Aquatilis. Reaching under the dash, she pulled out a holosheet and handed it to Oeric. His eyes narrowed as he read it. He nodded. “The checklist you just ran through.”

“Yep.”

“Thank you.” He tucked the sheet into the front pocket of his jumpsuit. She waited a beat, expecting him to ask where they were going. He didn’t.

She grinned. “We’re headed for the sea cow ranches on the rim.”

“Manatees and dugongs both prefer the warmer waters that erupt from volcanic vents on the rim. Sea cow, or sea cattle, is a misnomer.”

“Head of the class.”

He leaned against his straps to get a look out the bubble-shaped glass that made up the cockpit of the skimmer. Her personal skimmer was simply a ball of glass with controls and sea-floor sensors on the anchor legs, but this one had a large metal body attached to the rear of the glass that made it look like an underwater version of an Earth hovercopter.

The skimmer propelled them at a speed no merman could match, so she imagined this was the fastest Oeric had ever gone. A boyish look of delight crossed his normally impassive face. It made him look his age, which, after she’d read his personnel file, she now knew to be twenty-two. She smiled in response.

She cued the comm. “Atlantis Skimmer Two to Ariel Ranch, come in please.”

The line crackled for a moment before a woman’s voice came back. “Sera! It’s so good to hear from you again.”

“Hi, Nara. I’m just going to run some quick external tests on your systems.”

“You can’t stay for a meal?”

“I want to check the rest of the ranches. If I hurry, I can get to everyone today.”

“Next time, then. And please do stop by on your way back to Atlantis if you have time.”

“Will do.” As they swooped around the ranch, Sera could make out the large herds of slow swimming sea cow.

Flicking several switches over her head, she powered up the scanners that would sweep the ranch and give her readings on the life-support and biological systems. She cleared her throat and quickly explained to Oeric what she was doing. He nodded but didn’t comment. She sighed. Good, he wasn’t going to ask a hundred questions. Because it was a standard operation, it was easier to explain than when she was working on an invention or fixing anything.

Her dolphins, Aveta and Sulis, darted around the skimmer in wide arcs. She grinned. “Looks like we have company.”

“I’d heard of your pet dolphins.” He craned his neck to follow the path of Sulis. “Will they stay with us the entire time?”

“Unlikely, but they have once or twice before. I usually go too fast for them to keep up between ranches, and they get bored and go back to Atlantis by the time they catch up to me at the third or fourth ranch.”

“I see.” He nodded.

The holoscreen on the skimmer flashed the test results. She flicked the comm controls again. “Atlantis Skimmer Two to Ariel Ranch. All systems are green.”

Nara’s voice came back immediately. “Thank you, Sera. It’s such a relief to have you here to do this now.”

“You’re welcome. Have a good day, and I’ll be back in a few weeks to check again. Send me a burst transmission if you have any problems.”

“I will.” A cheerful lilt sounded in Nara’s voice. “And you’ll overnight with us next time.”

“I promise.” Sera often escaped out to the rim when Atlantis got a bit too constricting for her. They were warm and had a hard-nosed practicality that people who lived in the city had never needed to develop.

Four hours later, she let Oeric run the last scan. The kid was bright and willing to learn. Easy to work with, which was not something she could say of many of the uptight merpeople.

Her comm device crackled, and a soft female voice came through. “Hahn Ranch to Atlantis Skimmer Two. Come in, please.”

Sera frowned and cued her headset. “This is Atlantis Skimmer Two. Go ahead, Hahn Ranch.”

The woman’s tone remained neutral. “I have Ambassador Hahn here. He’s asked for permission to come aboard and ride back to Atlantis with you.”

Her heart slammed in her chest. Bretton. There was no way to say no, which meant spending time with him in the tight quarters of the skimmer. She was more grateful than ever that she’d brought Oeric with her today. What was Bretton doing out on the rim? “Tell the ambassador we’d be happy to give him a lift. We’ll set down a kilometer east of your herds. Have him swim out to meet us.”

“Acknowledged. Hahn Ranch, out.”

Circling the border of the ranch farthest from Atlantis, Sera looked for a good landing site. Spotting a flat area, she brought the skimmer to a slow halt outside a massive dome on the edge of the rim.

Oeric almost pressed his nose to the glass. “Pacifica,” he breathed. “The lost city. After Earth’s sun died, the life-support systems were lost, and the scientists couldn’t save it. So it was abandoned.”

She focused on him, desperate to think of anything but Bretton and the fact that she was going to be confined in this skimmer with him. “Ever been this far out to see it?”

“Once as a boy—I was only able to look in the windows. A child can make the swim in a day, but most of us don’t leave the city region very often.” His eyes twinkled with excitement.

Keying the landing gear, she set them down just outside the city. “Well, you’re in luck. Let’s see if I can’t get us inside.”

“Are you serious?” A huge grin lit his face and made his gold and blue eyes dance.

“Of course.” Anything, anything to keep from being locked in this glass jar with Bretton. But Oeric didn’t need to know that.

His forehead wrinkled. “This area is supposed to have had some recent wild sea dragon attacks.”

“There’s a trident in the back as well as a small harpoon gun. Let me change, and then we can go.” She unbuckled the straps, hopped up to walk back to the shifting chamber, and shut the door. A year of practice made it a quick change to shed her jumpsuit and stuff herself into the silver wet suit. She hit the panel to open the door as she sealed the seam on the front of her diving outfit.

Oeric stepped naked into the tiny chamber with her. His clothes lay folded in a neat pile on one of the passenger seats. After a year of being around shifters, she’d grown used to the nudity, but she’d never really enjoyed flashing her ass in public.

“As an unaltered human, I have no way of communicating underwater. Keep any questions limited to those that have a yes or no answer.”

“There’s a kind of infopad sold at a shop near my grandmother’s that could be used to remedy that problem. You’d have to input the answers, but it’s an idea.”

She nodded. “I’ll look into it. Perhaps it can be modified.”

It was strange to speak of later dates of taking the young merman with her. Intellectually, she knew that was what having an apprentice meant, but she was so used to doing everything on her own.

Placing her rebreather in her mouth, she took a few deep breaths to get used to breathing in through her mouth and blowing out through her nose. Oeric punched in the code to allow water to fill the small shifting chamber while she strapped on her flippers.

The rush of seawater didn’t quite manage to cover the sickening suction and pop of bones as Oeric shifted into his merman form. The tips of his fins brushed against her hand while he grabbed the bars overhead to hold himself up while the last quarter of the chamber filled with water.

He went a horrible shade of pasty white. Her eyebrows arched, and she made a gesture to ask if he was all right. The big man nodded and closed his eyes. I will be fine. I don’t care for confined spaces.

She shuddered as the water level went over her head and she had to use the rebreather. Yes, she could see how even a mild case of claustrophobia would be a problem in this chamber.

Punching in the release code, she grabbed the harpoon gun and handed Oeric the trident before they exited the skimmer. The rear hatch opened wide, and Oeric snapped his tail to get out first. She wedged herself against the wall to give him room before she followed him out.

He jerked to a stop and lifted the trident, but she snapped a hand around his wrist before he let the weapon loose. Her dolphins had followed them out to Pacifica. The man’s muscles relaxed under her grip, and he nodded.

Sera. Oeric. Bretton’s smooth voice filled her mind and slid like rough velvet down her nerves just before he rounded the end of the skimmer. She shivered and closed her eyes for a moment.

Oeric bowed at the waist, his tail whipping to keep him at a steady level in the water. Ambassador. Doctor Gibbons has decided to explore Pacifica.

Before Bretton could respond, Sera flashed a hand signal to Sulis, wrapped her free arm around his dorsal fin, and let him swim her out to the dome. She held her harpoon gun at the ready while the mermen kept pace beside her. They all pressed their noses to the glass when they reached the central dome. She half feared to see ancient corpses floating in the water inside, but it looked empty. The windowpanes were crusted with purple algae.

Pacifica was roughly half the size of Atlantis. It had been incomplete when she’d left Earth, and she hadn’t looked into why it had malfunctioned, because there were so many issues in the populated areas of Aquatilis for her to deal with that Pacifica hadn’t been a priority.

As if in answer to her question, Oeric spoke to her telepathically. The backup systems had never been adequately tested before the survivors from Earth arrived and overflowed Atlantis. Pacifica was overloaded, and when the main system failed, there was nothing else. The unaltered humans drowned in the flood that filled the city.

Bretton nodded. It was a sad time for mankind.

I’ve always wanted to see the inside. What if the damage was reversible? A quiet yearning filled the young man’s telepathic voice. Then he grinned, embarrassment in his eyes that he’d revealed so much.

So he had a fascination for the lost city, did he? Interesting. His excitement was contagious. What if Pacifica could be restored?

Intense longing flooded Sera at the thought. What if she could escape some of the overachieving perfectionists of Atlantis? She’d considered moving to one of the rim ranches before, but they didn’t have the lab equipment she needed to work.

And Bretton wouldn’t be there.

She squashed that thought. Bretton didn’t want her. He’d made it clear in more ways than she could count. She’d just refused to pay attention to it. Until now.

A flash of red light caught her eye. She squinted to see if she could find the source. Nothing. Was it a reflection of some kind? Glancing over at the two men, she didn’t see anything red. Bretton was all turquoise and black, while Oeric’s tail was blue tipped with gold that matched his eyes. And nothing she wore flashed. The utility belt built into her wet suit held several instruments, but none with red lights and none of it should have been powered on.

She tapped Oeric on the shoulder and pointed down to indicate she was going to the base of the dome. He nodded and executed a neat flip in the water. Bretton frowned and followed suit. Compared to a merperson, Sera’s own movements were slow and ungainly, but she pushed away any impatience.

If Pacifica had the same architectural plan as Atlantis, there were ducts where the base of the dome met the corridors that spiked out. They were used to fill and drain the shifting chambers. There. The red light emanated from one of the duct’s control panels. She pulled from her belt a tool that would help her pry the cover from the duct and let her into the shifting chamber. Brushing more of the purple algae away from the control panel, she blinked when she saw the holoscreen light up at her touch. If the systems had failed at Pacifica, why would it have any power at all? The cold fusion that powered everything on Aquatilis was limitless, but if it had failed, there should be nothing left to generate this panel.

Pacifica should no longer have the capacity to generate this system. Oeric’s voice took on the intense curiosity she was used to from other scientists. She would have smiled if her mouth hadn’t been full of the rebreather.

She lifted her shoulders in an exaggerated shrug. She had no idea what was going on either. Punching in the disengage code that worked at Atlantis, she hoped it worked here, too. A series of lights blipped on the display and then went black. Damn. She was going to have to manually override the system.

The entire panel lit in blue and orange before the duct cover popped open. She glanced over at Oeric and Bretton, motioning for them to stay put.

No. Bretton sliced a hand through the water.

Oeric shook his head. There may be sea dragons in there, Doctor.

She doubted that. The dome looked as though it had been sealed after the initial life-support had failed. Because she had no way of arguing with them, she measured the width of the duct opening and compared it to the width of Bretton’s shoulders. He might fit, but she doubted it. Oeric wouldn’t have a chance.

Oeric’s jaw clenched, and she would bet he was thinking about what it would be like to get trapped in that tunnel. She patted his arm and used the side of the duct to pull herself into it. Tucking the harpoon gun close to her chest, she made sure it was ready to use just in case she was wrong about the sea dragons. Her last experience with a tame one was more than enough to make her wary.

Her sex clenched at the memory of what had happened after the sea dragon incident. Heat lashed through her body, made her muscles shake so hard she had to stop swimming for a moment. God, the man was a menace to her mental well-being even when he was nowhere near her. It was unfair, because she doubted very much that he had the same difficulties. Her jaw tightened, and she forced herself to push forward and shove Bretton firmly from her mind.

The water inside the duct was dark and cloudy, so she flicked on the lights she’d built into the rebreather. Her heart jolted when something moved ahead. Just a few dangling optic cables. Her pulse still raced as she pushed them out of her way. The end of the tunnel lay ahead. This panel should exit into the shifting chamber where she could let the mermen in. Bracing her free hand on the side of the tunnel, she wriggled in the tight space until she lay on her back. Another control panel flickered above her. This time when she punched in the right code, it responded immediately, and the cover flipped open. She clutched the harpoon gun and kept her finger on the trigger, hoping nothing with sharp teeth awaited her inside.

Nothing moved. She blew a breath out of her nose, and a flurry of bubbles rose. Kicking with her flippers, she entered the wider shifting chamber. Within seconds, she had it open for the waiting Oeric and Bretton. They went through a series of what used to be air locks before they reached the main dome. All of it was filled with water, and all of it still appeared completely functional. Lights automatically flickered to life as they moved through the corridors. The dome would have the central control room that might give her a clue about what had really happened at Pacifica.

Because the systems had not completely failed.

The control room door stuck a quarter of the way open after she keyed the holodisplay. She wrapped her hand around the edge to push but couldn’t budge it.

Oeric’s fingers closed over hers. If I may?

Gesturing him forward and deliberately avoiding looking at Bretton, she moved back. Might as well let the young merman’s massive size and brute strength count for something. After a few minutes of struggle, his tail gave a hard kick, the muscles in his arms and neck stood out in sharp relief, and the door squeaked open.

Oeric and Bretton crowded into the small room with her. Oeric explored the holoscreens while Bretton stayed in the middle of the room, looking irritated. Because he couldn’t do anything to help, or because he didn’t want to be here? She couldn’t tell…and she didn’t care. Damn it.

She started from one end of the room and worked her way to the main controls, running diagnostics on every system in the city. Except for the water inside, everything was operational. She shook her head. It made no sense at all.

Oeric wrapped a hand around her elbow and tugged her over to a panel. He tapped his finger against the screen. The backup systems are reading incorrectly. To borrow your phrase, I have a theory. What if the backup systems did not fail? What if they never worked properly in the first place?

She nodded. Either the original systems never worked and someone had screwed up, or they’d been installed incorrectly…and someone had screwed up. Both situations could be remedied. Excitement kicked her hard in the gut. Pacifica might be saved. There should be labs and equipment here she could use. Pointing to a holoscreen, she showed Oeric that she proposed to start pumping the water out of the city. It would start in the main dome and work its way outward to the four quadrants. She pointed to Bretton and let Oeric explain her intentions to him.

Again, she didn’t meet that piercing turquoise gaze, but she felt it burn into her back as she swam to the front of the room. She keyed in the command that would push the water out of the city. A deep rumbling vibrated through the walls as the pumps kicked on. The initial drain should take a little over an hour. If the backups were working, she could make it happen in a fraction of that time, but she didn’t want to tax the mainframe. And she wanted to look at the backup systems before she left.

Glancing back, she made sure the men understood what they needed to do to prepare for the draining. Oeric closed his eyes for a moment as he shifted back into his human form. His legs kicked to keep him afloat. Fortunately his gill passages worked no matter what form he was in. Bretton’s eyes narrowed at her before he shifted as well.

She glanced away, pulled the city schematic up on the large screen in the control room, and pinpointed the location of the systems room. North quadrant dome. Turning, she led the way. The men could probably still swim faster than her, but she had no desire to stare at Oeric’s naked backside—among other things—the whole way there. And looking at Bretton’s nudity would just heat her to the point where she would be unsurprised if the water around her boiled.

It took them almost no time to assess the problem once they reached the systems room. Oeric’s eyebrows arched. Some fool installed this backwards.

She cut power to the backup systems so they could safely work with it. Everything on Aquatilis was specifically designed to survive water. She should know—she’d helped design it. If it was used properly. She shook her head at the mistake that had cost so many their lives. Whether the mistake was made out of laziness or sheer idiocy, there was no excuse for it. These people had been desperate after the sun had failed, but cutting corners with safety meant people died.

At her nod, Oeric reached in and reinstalled the system while Sera ran a battery of diagnostic tests. Everything checked out perfectly when Oeric was done. Damn, the kid knew his stuff when it came to working with the domes. The water level finally dropped low enough that she could stand and have her head above it. She sucked an experimental breath through her nose. O2 levels read as normal on the holodisplays, and she couldn’t smell any gases. Nothing read as odd either. Oeric met her eyes, and their faces stretched into triumphant grins. “Pacifica lives.”

Sera groaned, tugged off her flippers, and strapped them to her utility belt. “You realize this means I have to make a report to the Senate.”

“Yes, we will.” Bretton’s voice took on a silken, dangerous edge as he spoke into her ear. She shuddered, lust rushing through her with a force that should no longer surprise her but did. Her nipples beaded tight in her wet suit.

Oeric reached out to pat her back in consolation. “I’ll come with you. If nothing else, I’m so big I scare Senator Laddon. He turns and scurries away whenever I approach.”

“You’re joking.” Senator Laddon was one of Bretton’s father’s closest friends. Some would claim the senator was Cuthbert’s puppet.

Oeric gave a negligent shrug. “It might have something to do with a slight accident I had when I was younger. The senator felt the brunt of my fist.”

Bretton chuckled, his turquoise eyes dancing. Obviously everyone knew the story except Sera. She grinned. “A slight accident? Do tell.”

The young merman rubbed the back of his shaved head, and a flush raced up his face. “I’d rather not.”

She laughed out loud, adrenaline and triumph fizzing in her veins. “Okay then. The water should be completely drained soon, so let’s explore a little, check the control room one more time, and get back to the skimmer. We’re running late.”

Oeric met Bretton’s eyes, and some silent communication went on between them. The younger man nodded, turned, and slogged through the waist-high water down the corridor. She angled a glare at Bretton. “You ordered my apprentice to leave?”

“He knew it was the healthiest choice for him. I gave no orders.”

She rolled her eyes at that sideways logic and pushed through the chilly ocean water to open the first door in the corridor. There was nothing in the room but a few metal crates. It looked like a storage area. The water was dropping rapidly now, wrapping around her calves as she walked to the next door. Bretton passed her to look in the rooms on the opposite side of the corridor.

“Sera.” She looked up when Bretton spoke. He motioned her forward. “This room was untouched. No water got inside.”

Wading through the ankle-deep water, she approached to see that he was right. Everything inside was dry except the floor where he’d let the water in. She nodded. “Hermetically sealed. We’ll probably find a few rooms like this in the city.”

Her shoulder brushed his chest as she leaned in, and desire raced over her skin. She swallowed and pressed her thighs together. She felt her sex dampen.

Every time she was near him, he pulled reactions from her whether she was willing or not. She choked on a laugh. When wasn’t she willing? She had no resistance when it came to him. Her nipples tightened and chafed against her wet suit. She sped past him, trying to get some physical distance, even if her ability to maintain emotional distance was nonexistent.