Free Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) by Chrissy Peebles Page B

of
the crystals had fallen from her brown eyes, he could still feel
her heart pounding against his chest.
    Suspended in the center of the eerie
trench, they continued to cling to one another. Neither one wanting
to let the other go.
    The water surrounding them was quickly
turning crimson.
    Atargatis unwrapped his arms from
around Naia’s waist, lightly gripped her shoulders, and gently
pulled away from her. His gaze skimmed over her until he spotted
where the blood was coming from.
    “ We need to stop the
bleeding before we get anymore unwanted visitors.”
    Naia followed his gaze to the left
side of her fin and watched as the blood escaped from her wound.
The under current seemed to be pulling it directly from her body,
causing it to spread in ribbons and clouds around them. The scrapes
on her shoulders and arms were superficial and would heal quickly,
but the gash needed to be taken care of right away.
    Atargatis saw her eyes widen in fright
as she looked back at him.
    Silently, he reached down and covered
the wound with his hand. She shuddered at the pain as he touched
her. Naia watched his hand inquisitively and felt a soft vibration.
She looked up only to see that his eyes were closed in
concentration. Looking back down, she saw a light form within the
center of his palm. The halo of light got brighter and brighter
until it shifted from the palm of his hand onto her fin.
    His hand remained in place for a few
moments longer while he finished healing her. Once he removed it,
she looked down at her fin and saw that the wound was completely
healed. There was no evidence that she had ever been cut at
all.
    The blood that had surrounded them
slowly dissipated until it was eventually gone.
    “ How did you do that?” she
asked, her eyes wide with surprise.
    “ You too have the same
ability, now that we are one.”
    “ Really?— Wait, how did you
know where to find me and how did you speak in my mind?”
    Atargatis cupped his hands around her
face and with the pads of his thumbs he caressed her cheeks. “Naia,
now that we are mated, as you may have already noticed, we have
many powers we didn’t have before. Our minds are now connected.
Anytime you need me, just think of me. Then reach through your mind
and imagine you’re speaking to me. You will never be alone
again.”

    ***

    Darkness was settling in for the
evening back at their hideaway and Naia was nestling herself down
on the kelp bed as Atargatis swam over to join her.
    He saw his reflection in her
smoldering brown eyes. He searched for the words to tell her what
was going on above the surface. He had to tell her he had pledged
himself and his guard to fight along with Atlantis.
    Reaching up he caught a lock of her
hair that had swayed across the front of her face. He wove the lock
between his fingers, feeling how soft it felt as it slipped away,
floating back in place with the others.
    “ Atty, why do you look so
serious tonight?”
    “ Naia, you know that I
would never do anything without discussing it with you first.
Though I know you could reach into my mind and know what I am
thinking or how I am feeling, I would still come to you the moment
I was thinking about making a life altering decision.”
    Confusion flickered across Naia’s face
in the wavering light of the orbs. “Yes, I know. Why are you
telling me this?”
    “ This morning after I left
you, Hekili sonared me a message saying Crehon needed to meet with
me.”
    “ Don’t you usually meet
with Drakon in the mornings?”
    Drakon Stathos was Atlantis’s
ambassador. He was the one who usually met with diplomats regarding
social relations in Crehon’s place.
    “ Yes, under normal
circumstances, I would. But today Crehon asked to speak with
me.”
    “ It must have been
something important to bring him down off the mountain.”
    He chuckled, knowing what she meant by
her statement. Naia had always thought Crehon was a bit pompous.
“Yes, it was. He brought news of impending war.”
    “ What?