Olympic Cove 2-Breaker Zone (33 page)

The knot of tension in Nick’s chest
eased. “So you’ll have your own place right there in the cove?”

“
We’ll
have our own place,” Liam corrected. “The three of us will split our time
between the cottage and the residence, depending on what we’re doing.”

“Uh, you do know that the cottage is just
a rental, right? I may have to move somewhere closer to Olympic Beach.”

Aidan smiled. “Lord Bythos seemed to be
of the mind that the human woman who manages the cottages would be more than
happy for you to live there as long as you like. Apparently she’s been having
problems renting out the cottages because the cove has a reputation for being
‘odd’.”

“Oh.” More of his tension drained away.
He had no idea if the cottage was winter-proofed, but apparently he was about
to find out. “Okay, then. We stay at the cove.”

“Agreed.”
Liam leaned
over and kissed his nose “I’d love to stay and talk with you about this, but I
have to get up and head over to the council chambers.”

“Right.”
Nick fumbled
with the netting, unwinding it and letting Liam slink out over him. “Do you
think they’ll give you that leave of absence?”

“If they don’t, I’ll give up my rank and
go to work for Lord Bythos.” Amusement flickered in the hazel blue eyes. “I’d
actually enjoy that kind of opportunity. Becoming an Elder was always my
mother’s dream, not mine.”

Nick reached out to stroke his lover’s
chest. He couldn’t picture the big Dom knuckling under to anyone. “Then why do
it?”

Liam grabbed his hand and kissed it.
“One, because I have an overdeveloped sense of duty,” he said. “Two, the authority
associated with being
an Elder appeals
to me, which
shouldn’t surprise you.” His eyes twinkled at that. “Three, there was nothing
else I really wanted to do until now.”

Nick twisted, peering over his shoulder
at the still sleeping Aidan.
“Nothing?”

Liam chuckled.
“Nothing
for work.
He’s all pleasure, as are you.” He pulled Nick in for another
kiss, adding a touch of tongue this time. “Mmph, you are difficult to resist,
my heart. But I really have to go. Are you and Aidan going to examine the
ilkothella this morning?”

“If the tritons
have a working gag, yes.”

“Be careful.”

“I will, promise.” Nick squeezed his
arm. “Go. We’ll see you tonight.”

It wasn’t until the front door closed
that Aidan stirred in the hammock. “Ow,” he said muzzily, stretching with a
cautious motion, blinking at Nick.
“Oh, hey.
Where’s
Liam?”

“Off to talk to the council.”

“Good.” He shifted with a wince, but
smiled. “You were amazing last night. Thank you for that.”

“You’re welcome.” Nick wriggled closer
and kissed him. “How are you feeling?”

“Sore.
Achy.
Totally loved.”

“Good.” Nick kissed him again,
then
leaned back before Aidan could step it up. “Speaking of
waking up, we’ve got to get up and go back to the station. I want to see if
they have that restraint rigging set up yet.”

The mer sighed. “Wonderful. I’m mated to
another slave-driver.”

****

Nick hung onto a wall handle inside the
large room, studying the sturdy rectangular metal framework bolted to the floor
in the room’s center. It boasted a complicated series of cables and pulleys,
and reminded him of some of the suspension rigs he’d seen in BDSM clubs.

Aidan had his arms folded, scowling at
the thing. “Have you tested it?” he asked the triton floating next to it.

“Yes,” the triton said with some pride.
“We loaded two of our biggest males into it and told them to break loose. They
couldn’t do it.” He pointed out the thick suspension and restraint cables.
“This is titanium alloy, one of our strongest materials. The cuffs on the
creature are made from the same metal. If it can break out of this, I’ll be
impressed.”

“And I’ll be terrified,” Nick said
darkly. “The next question is
,
how do we get the damn
thing into it?”

The triton gripped his trident. “That’s
our job. Both of you float back, please.”

They did, drifting to the doorway and
grabbing another set of handles. Checking to make sure they were out of the
way, the triton went to a large access door in the side of the room and pressed
a button. The door rumbled sideways, and two tritons backed through the opening,
holding long reinforced poles. On the end of each, attached to a cuffed wrist,
was the ilkothella, already in a tight-fitting muzzle that clamped its jaw
shut. Silvery mesh bags covered its hands, secured by the wrist cuffs. Its
black eyes rolled as it was hauled into the room, two more tritons with long
poles attached to its fluke cuff pushing it along.

The four tritons maneuvered the creature
over to the suspension rig, pulling their prisoner into the mer version of a
spread-eagle position. The first triton darted in, attaching the cables
securely to wrist and fluke cuffs. Another cable was attached to the back of
its muzzle, holding its head still.

The triton backed up to a control box at
the head of the rig, touching a control. The slack in the cables retracted, keeping
the ilkothella in its helpless position. Satisfied, the triton hit another
control and locked the rig. “It’s all squared away, doctor.”

“Thank you.” Nick pulled the shrunken
Rod out of a pocket in his trunks and cautiously approached the bound ilkothella.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said. “I’m just going to examine you, all
right?”

“It can’t understand you,” Aidan
growled.

“Do you know that for sure?”

“No, but—”

“Then let me do this my own way.”
Stopping a foot away, Nick started a head-to-toe scan of the creature. The
differences from a healthy mermaid were marked. Not only was every organ system
altered in some way, but there were a few new ones. Dark, lobed glands—venom
glands, he assumed—had grown alongside the salivary glands, and were full of
black, sticky ichor.

Does this look
familiar to you at all?
he
asked Pythia.

The snake studied the material.
It
has the strangest consistency, as if it’s some sort of thick oil.

Such as crude
oil.
This all got started when Thetis was
caught in an oil spill. Maybe she’s incorporated the oil somehow into the
mutation?

I suppose it’s possible.

Any way you
could do a molecular analysis?

A what?

Never mind.

“I need a sample of its venom,” Nick
said out loud.

“You’re not getting that unless you take
off its muzzle and let it bite something,” Aidan muttered.

“I was thinking along the lines of a
needle biopsy. I can insert a syringe needle into the venom gland and draw some
of it off for analysis.”

The creature’s eyes rolled and stared at
him. The malevolence in that glare was startling.
So much for “it can’t understand us”.

“Never mind, I can do that later,” Nick
said quickly, returning to his examination.

It wasn’t made any easier by Aidan
hovering over him, twitching any time he got within a foot of the creature.
“Aid, I really need you to back off a little,” Nick finally said.

The mer folded his arms across his
chest.
“Just keeping an eye on you.”

“I know, but it’s hard to concentrate
with you hovering over me.”

Reluctantly, Aidan drifted back. Within
five minutes, however, he was over Nick’s shoulder again.

It was time for a diversion. “I’m
getting hungry, and I could probably use some fresh water as well,” Nick said.
“Could you get some lunch for us?”

The mer glanced at the ilkothella, then
at him. “I’ll send a triton.”

Nick tamped down his irritation. “I
appreciate that you’re trying to protect me, I really do. But I can’t work like
this if you’re constantly in my way.”

“I’m not in your way.”

“Yes, you are. I almost elbowed you
three times. Plus I genuinely am getting hungry.” He took Aidan’s hand, noting
that in mer form the webbing between the fingers was very pronounced. “You can
send a triton in here and have him keep an eye on me.
How’s
that?”

Aidan didn’t look convinced, but finally
nodded. “Just don’t do anything stupid, okay? If anything happened to you I’d
never forgive myself. ”

Nick leaned in and kissed him.
“Nothing’s going to happen to me. Go get the mer equivalent of coffee and
donuts, okay?”

That earned him an eye roll. “We should
be so lucky. I’ll be back in a half hour.”

He left. Relieved, Nick turned back to
the ilkothella, kicking a bit to get into the right position. “I’m guessing you
can understand me,” he said conversationally. “
Which means
that no matter what’s been done to you, you’re still a sentient being.
I
really don’t want to hurt you if I don’t have to, but there are a lot of people
here who would be very happy to see you dead, so working with me would be in
your best interest. Blink your eyes twice if you understand me.”

Black eyes studied him for a long
moment,
then
blinked twice.

“Okay, good.” He checked the muzzle
surrounding the creature’s jaw. It looked like an oversized version of Hannibal
Lecter’s facemask, and was held on with three woven straps. The one that went
over the creature’s skull kept its jaw shut. If he loosened that one, the
muzzle would still be held in place by the other straps, but the ilkothella
would be able to talk.

Or scream. “I’m not going to take this
off, but I can adjust it so that we can talk. I’ll do that if you give me your
word you won’t scream like you did yesterday. If you do, the tritons will come
back in here and subdue you, and I won’t be able to help you after that. Blink
twice if you agree not to scream.”

The blinks came faster this time.

Warily, Nick worked the buckle holding
the over-the-head strap, loosening it a notch. He backed away as the ilkothella
worked its jaw inside the muzzle.

It huffed out a stream of water. “Do not
expect me to thank you, vermin,” it said, its voice muffled.

“I wasn’t expecting you to thank me.
Just to talk to me.”

“About what?”

“Who you are,
for one thing.
What happened to you, for
another.
”

The ilkothella tried to turn its head,
but was caught by the muzzle’s restraining cable. “The Goddess calls me Halkyone.
I am her handmaiden. She gave me the boon of her blood through her bite. After
I awoke, I was transformed.”

“Do you know how?”

“I do not question the Goddess. I obey.”

A bite reinforced his theory of the
mutating vector being venom-laced saliva. “Do you know why she chose you?”

“Because I was
clever.
She wanted a handmaiden who could think. The others are too bestial for her
needs.”

That wasn’t reassuring. Ilkothelloi were
bad enough from what Ian had said, but intelligent, sentient ilkothelloi could
be a plague unlike anything the planet had ever seen. “How are they bestial?”

Halkyone twitched a shoulder, the
closest it—she—could come to a shrug. “They hunt, they feed, and that is all.
They can be trained to obey, but they have no true thoughts of their own beyond
their instincts.”

“And you’re different.”

She preened. “I am my Goddess’s
handmaiden. I have offered my throat to her. I shall swim at her side when she
makes this world anew.”

I bet Thetis
says that to all the girls.
“Do you know what her plans are?”

“To kill the vermin of the land, throw
down the gods, and rule all dwellers in the sea. This world shall witness a
cleansing and be remade in
Her
image. It will be a
glorious battle.”

He felt like he was talking to a scaly
extra from
300
. “Do you know how she
plans to do this?”

The ilkothella made an odd, choking
noise. After a minute, he realized she was laughing at him.
“As
if I would tell you, vermin.
You shall be among the first to die when
the Goddess rises. I hope she gives you to me.” Behind the slits of the muzzle
he could see a thick grey tongue slopping over lips. “I can’t wait to find out
how you taste, with your red human flesh. I want to hear how loud you scream as
I began to feed.”

Nick swallowed. “Okay, that’s enough of
that,” he said, reaching for the head strap.

An immensely loud, rolling rumble
sounded, and the room shuddered. The vibration buffeted him in the water, and
he grabbed blindly for support.