Blue Abyss: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 3 (The Timewalker Chronicles) (14 page)

Humanity had seriously underestimated their home and all the creatures they shared it with. All intelligent life in the ocean would be searching for the Triscani now, and for her. It was only a matter of time before the message spread to cover the globe. This shark had circled through all of Earth’s oceans more than once, and would do so again.

Mari would process what all this meant later, when her arms weren’t so close to falling off her body from exhaustion and the hard heat of Raiden’s body wasn’t driving her to distraction pressed intimately to her side. She wanted to stay right where she was, next to him.

Two of the juvenile sharks, no more than four or five feet long, bumped against her.
Come
.

Raiden, they’ll take me first. Then they’ll come back for you
. Mari pushed away from Raiden to grab hold of each smaller shark’s top fin and they pulled her closer to shore, nearly close enough to stand. Raiden would have to do the same. She released them when her feet touched bottom, grateful beyond measure for the ride. Their minds were nothing like their mother’s. They were young, carefree, protected and directed. They were happy.

Such an odd word to associate with the most feared animal in the oceans.

Mari swam for the beach, thankful that her limbs answered her instructions, as the juveniles went back out to retrieve Raiden. They’d made it. Thank God. It was a freaking miracle.

She swam but the water became too shallow and had to stand or allow the waves to crash over her head and toss her around like a rubber duck trying to surf. Water rolled up into her hips and forced her to her knees. Mari sputtered and tried to stand again, inspecting the stretch of land laid out in promise before her. She recognized this tourist trap. Normally, this beach would be littered with beach chairs, umbrellas, and a large number of foreign tourists. But it was early still, only a few of hours past dawn, and the daily revelry had not yet begun in earnest.

Waves lifted her off her feet and her head went under.

She was so damn tired without his touch. The moment she’d had to let go, she’d felt his loss, like a motor that had run out of gas, her body just stuttered, her heart struggled, each beat a physical pain behind her ribs. Her muscles cramped and her mind went blank, save for one word.

Raiden? She needed him. Where was he?

I’ve got you.
The words registered as strong arms wrapped around her, lifted her from the water. Raiden carried her to shore cradled in his arms like she was something precious. The top of her arm, her Mark, heated where it brushed his chest through her dive suit. What would it feel like to press the Shen to his bare flesh?

Lifting her face skyward, she welcomed the sun on her cheeks like a desert welcomes rain. She envisioned him rising from the depths of the sea to save her like a true merman from folklore. The sun’s radiance shocked her after so long in the cold depths. The rising water temperature that had surrounded her when the sharks neared shallower water had awakened her muscles as if from a long, cold sleep. Pins and needles everywhere. Everywhere. She hurt. Raiden spit out the mouth piece and pulled off his mask, giving her the perfect opportunity to study the firm lips and chiseled jaw of the man rising from the water with her. Two years of nightmares. Triscani. Death. Sharks. This dream date just never ended.

Her shivering worse by the second, she curled into his embrace, afraid that if he put her down, she’d collapse in the pink sand. She clenched her hands against her stomach so that she wouldn’t have to watch them tremble. Mari raised her head to look around as Raiden carried her out of the water and dropped onto his knees to lay her on the beach. He barely looked at her after throwing his mask and tank aside and yanking off the flippers like they were shackles. He stayed crouched over her, protecting her while his gaze scanned their surroundings.

She spit water out of her throat and gritted her teeth as her lungs made the switch from water to air. Warm droplets emerged from her bloodstream to coat her skin and face. Water ran down her temples and neck, dripped from her chin into the sand. The rest of her body would be shedding the excess water as well.

“Where are we? Do you know this place?” His eyes roamed her face, noted the water streaming from her as his hands methodically inspected her body for injuries. Finding no new ones, his gaze met hers, the gray eyes too familiar. She’d lost herself in them too many times, too many nightmares, to count. She felt like she knew him, like she’d known him forever.

“Horseshoe Bay.” She’d asked for a place where she would find people. The shark delivered her a five-minute walk from her hotel. Amazing. The distinct heel shape of the cove, the rock formations to her left, the handful of tourists with their striped umbrellas and standard-issue resort beach towels walking toward the water…

“Where on Earth? How close are we to my ship’s crash site?”

“The Bermuda Triangle? Close. We’re right on top of it.”

His gaze shot back to her. “How do you know that?”

Mari sighed, and wished he’d hold her again. She was pathetic. “Celestina, remember?”

He just glared. She dropped her head back to rest in the sand and fought back tears. “Shit. I can’t remember what I’ve told you and what I haven’t this time. It’s all a jumble.” She lost the fight, and hoped he wouldn’t see the pitiful stream of moisture making tracks from the corners of her eyes to her temples.

“I remember.” His shoulders stiffened and his eyes were not kind. No, they were demanding answers. “How do you know Celestina, Mari? How did she know I was down there? How did you find me?”

Mari closed her eyes against the anger and distrust in his gaze. That was not the look she needed to see. She needed to see his eyes clouded with desire, with hunger, as she kissed him. Over and over. That had been real, not a dream. He’d tasted like heaven and fire, like home.

“I told you, Raiden. Dreams.”

“And Celestina?”

“I don’t know. After last time, when the Triscani killed me, she showed up with this monstrous warrior and took me up to their spaceship to heal. Then they sent me down there again, to save you.”

“To kill the Triscani?”

“Yes.”

“Alone?”

Mari opened her eyes and laughed, but it was not a lighthearted sound. “I’m always alone, Raiden. I can handle it.”

His gaze roved over her from head to toe, pausing on the blood and torn pieces of her suit, the salt coating her flesh. Mari waited for a the inevitable million questions to start pouring from him as his gaze returned to her face. She’d hoped the steel in his eyes would melt, even a little. His face remained a mask, but ever so gently he traced her lower lip with his thumb. It came away coated green and his frown deepened as he rubbed his hand back and forth in the wet sand to remove the stain. “I can see that, healer.”

“Let’s go. That’s my hotel. I have a room. More gear. Food. A car. We’ll have to take a taxi to the marina, but I have some cash.” Mari tried to sit up, but her limbs refused to move. Come to think of it, she couldn’t feel her legs. “Raiden? You’ll have to help. I can’t feel my legs.” From dead, to time traveler, to shark bait, to Horseshoe Bay. No wonder she was too tired to move. That had to be it. She refused to be terrified on a pink sandy beach in paradise when she’d just killed two Triscani with her bare hands, made friends with a clan of great white sharks, and lived to tell the tale.

“Do you think you can stand?”

“No.” No sense lying. “I can’t move. I can’t…” She sobbed in frustration and anger. She hated being afraid.

Raiden cupped the side of her face with his strong hand. “Hush. I will take care of you now. Just tell me where we need to go.”

Mari nodded, but knew she couldn’t rest for long. The tourists would have a difficult time understanding why two people had washed up on the beach, one in black combat clothes toting a SCUBA tank and one wearing a dive suit but no gear and dripping blood. Too weird to explain without effort, and she was too tired to lie. No one ever believed her lies anyway.

Nausea rose up from nowhere and she curled onto her side, pressed her forehead onto her fists, holding back the contents of her stomach by sheer force of will. She felt half dead, her shoulder still hurt, and she doubted she could stand if her life depended on it. Would Raiden stay with her in her hotel room or would he feel compelled to begin his search now?

Her hotel was close, just a few minutes away. If she could work up the energy to strip down to her swim suit, they could ditch all the gear and blend in with the other tourists. She could carry her suit to her rooms, order room service, and recover a bit. Maybe even take a shower?

She envisioned Raiden under the water with her and quickly shut down that train of thought. She had to figure out how she was going to help him without getting her heart broken.

Her stomach heaved. She moaned in pain and Raiden hovered. “We need to go, Mari. I’ll carry you.”

A forty-something father with two teenagers on his heels yelled out to them, asking if they needed help.

“No, we’re fine. Just headed back to the hotel after some snorkeling.” Mari waved and attempted a weak smile. Raiden balanced on the balls of his feet, looked ready for battle. “Calm down. They’re just tourists.”

She lurched to her knees with her hands still in the sand for balance. That lasted a three count before she fell onto her side, head spinning. Things weren’t quite working right. The beach was revolving…

Mari flipped onto her back in the sand and stared at the few puffs of white clouds that drifted across the sky. Her mouth tasted of nothing but salt. Too much salt. Her tongue lay thick and sticky, glued to the roof of her mouth. Her saliva tasted like the warm saltwater gargle her mother used to make her use when she got a sore throat. In other words, disgusting.

Water. God she was thirsty. She needed a drink of water. Maybe if she asked one of these nice tourists, they’d bring her a bottle.

Mari tried to sit up again, but the moment she was upright everything spun like a tilt-a-whirl and she lilted onto her side again. Dry heaves racked her abdomen and her vision blurred.

Raiden reached for her, but she pushed his arms away, too miserable to be held or restricted in any way. “No.”

He scowled but didn’t try to touch her again. “Tell me where to take you?”

“My hotel.” She nodded over her right shoulder. “The tallest building behind me. My room’s on the second floor…but just give me a minute. Okay?”

“What country are we in?”

Think, Mari. Think
. Why couldn’t she think? “Bermuda.”

“I’m not familiar with that Earthen country.”

Earthen country? Definitely not from planet Earth. Not that she cared about that at the moment. Her vision was fading to gray and her head felt like a plum being prune baked in an oven, drying out and become more shriveled by the second. She was in trouble here.

Just how long had the shark taxi trip lasted? One hour? Fifteen minutes? She had no idea. She looked at the skin covering the back of her hand. It was coated with white. Salt.

Just how much salt had she absorbed through her lungs? She didn’t know much about it, but knew too much salt could kill her. If she didn’t start drinking water now, was she going to get worse?

She needed to get to the hotel. Water. Bed. She had to get out of the sun. Panic ate away at her calm. Her hamstrings cramped, an agonizing clutch of muscle that twisted her body into a pretzel. She cried out.

“Mari. I’ve got you.” Raiden lifted her in his arms and it was the only thing that saved her. Eyes closed, she listened to Raiden’s heart beating like a soft drum inside her mind. Not just beating, but pounding with adrenaline. She tried to wrap her head around what it must be like for him, an alien prince on an unknown beach. No money, no map, no idea where on Earth he was. Two years in statis. A Triscani attack. Sharks. A woman he didn’t know lying in death throes on the beach.

Mari debated. She could let Raiden carry her to her hotel room. She could call out to some tourists for help. Or, she could just lie here a few minutes longer to see if her body would knock off the feel-like-I’m-dying game. She’d done it before, in the cave. Maybe she just needed a bit more time to recover?

Turning her head, she watched as two people, a man and woman, walked straight toward them. Perhaps she should be alarmed, but she couldn’t work up the energy to worry, not while Raiden’s arms were around her and the encroachers were human. ’Nuff said.

Raiden tensed as if to spring. She reached over to squeeze his forearm before he could move or threaten their visitors. She shook her head. “Wait.”

“You look like you could use some help.” The woman stopped opposite Raiden a few steps away, hands held out where Raiden could see them. Somehow, Mari wasn’t convinced that would matter, the woman made Mari’s whole body hum, like she was standing too close to an electrical wire.

“I’m Sarah.” Her male companion paced a few steps behind her where he could see both women, Raiden and the entire beach. He sized up Raiden in a blink and kept moving. Alert. He turned away from them. Keeping watch? Watch for what?

Triscani? Or something else?

Mari wasn’t normally one to stare, but it wasn’t every day she saw a hulking, scarred, bald, soldier type with a six-foot-tall girl-next-door for a companion. The man would’ve drawn attention anywhere he went. First he was big. Second he was packing a lot of muscle. And last but not least, he had a vicious scar covering most of the right side of his head and neck that disappeared into his shirt.