I weave through some flotsam being pushed down to the sea floor by the currents.
Forty, forty-one, forty-two…
I can see the light refracting from the surface of the water now, not much farther.
Fifty-five!
I break through the surface and scan the horizon for danger. Once I’m satisfied that everything appears normal, I dive much more quickly back into the nest. As I pop through the opening, Leeenuh gawks at me.
“Dat seams furthur dan ewe tink it iz…” she mutters under her breath.
“You’ll only need to hold your breath for a count of about sixty,” I grin.
“Sixty?” She winces.
“Can humans not hold their breath for sixty counts comfortably?” I understand not having gills, but having barely any breath control seems like overall poor design for humans as a species.
She holds out a hand and rocks it from side to side, in what I can only assume is an uncertain answer.
“I could swim faster?”
Her face is cautiously optimistic.
“I could still breathe for you, I promise it’s not—”
Leeenuh holds her hand up to silence me, no words are needed to know that she’d like to try it on her own.
She doesn’t seem too frightened of the prospect, though, as she makes a diving motion out of the cave’s entrance.
“Oh no, you hold on to me and we’ll go in together.” I give sweet Leeenuh little warning before sweeping her off her feet, my arms wrapping around her torso. “Are you ready?”
When she nods, I take it as my cue to jump through the opening feetfirst, not wanting to risk hitting her head with a dive.
The initial rush of water is shocking, but I’m reassured when my Leeenuh is still clinging to me. Her cheeks are puffed large as I make my initial kicks toward the surface.
I work the muscles in my legs harder and harder, trying to cut down the fifty-five counts. I’m worried her human lungs might not handle that comfortably.
I push down the thought of this journey causing her harm as she tightens her hold. I can’t pretend that I don’t savor the feeling of her blunt little nails digging into the skin of my back.
I take a glance down at her face and notice her eyes are tightly shut.
We pass the dredlin, their scales shimmering with their rainbow of colors.
I feel Leeenuh shift on me slightly and when I look at her face, I’m nervous at how red it’s become. Seeing her in distress must trigger some biological response in me because as I accelerate toward the surface, I can feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins, barely missing a dredlin’s body in my haste.
Leeenuh emerges from beneath the water, gasping for breath. She clasps her hands at my back as she pants, dropping her forehead against my chest.
“Tat ha two hive bin longur dan a minit,” Leeenuh chokes out.
“It’s alright, you did great!” I say as one brother strokes her back.
She’s so exhausted from the effort to simply get to the surface. Her breathing seems to slow a bit, and her body relaxes. She shifts her legs, hooking them more securely around my back, and settles her head into the crook of my neck.
My cock hardens against my will. What’s wrong with me? A simple snuggle of her body and my cock is ready to burst.
Focus, Kitaico.
I tread water toward the rocky shoreline, trying to gauge which spot might have the best footholds to get Leeenuh ashore comfortably. I spy a smoother portion, likely refined by the waves over the eons. It will surely be a slippery ascent, but I think I’m less likely to hurt her on that specific portion of rock.
There’s a steep section, about two of me tall, that we’ll have to scale before cresting over the edge and onto dry land. Kitaico of the past would have just jumped up and hoped for the best.
But the days when I would scale the shore’s overhang recklessly, letting my tentacles do most of the work, are gone. I can’t be careless with my mate in my arms. I swim over, making sure her ankles are notched tightly behind my back, and use my arms and my foretentacles to grip and hoist our bodies into the spray crashing against the rocks.
“Hold on tightly, Leeenuh!” I yell.
My foot slips, and I stumble forward, nearly hitting the back of Leeenuh’s head against the rock before one brother snakes around her skull protectively. She doesn’t seem to notice the near miss and I thank the Great Mother I didn’t drop her.
Once I’m steadier, the brothers snake upward, higher than my arms can reach. With a grunt, and no small amount of effort, I pull us both up over the jagged ledge.
When we arrive on solid ground, she moves her legs as though she might get down. I place a hand over her ass, stopping her attempt to dismount.
“Not yet, we’ve got longer to walk, and I would feel better if you let me carry you the rest of the way,” I say nobly.
Her human skin always seems fragile to me, and I don’t want to set her down on the lava rocks. I fear they might tear into her soft little feet.
She rolls her eyes but doesn’t resist.
As I walk closer to the dense jungle forest, vines and leaves in all shades of pink, red, and orange wrap around us as we enter the brush. Leeenuh squints as she tries to take in her surroundings. The light dims as we enter the tree line.
