“You’ll risk yours?”
“That is why Prillons mate in pairs. If something happens to one, you still have a mate to protect you. Surnen will choose another second. You will be taken care of, I promise you.”
“You’re fucking insane. No. That is not okay.”
“Mate. Mate.”
I could feel Mikki’s panic, so I grabbed her shoulders. “Feel the pull of the machine. It’s not stopping.”
“We’ll wait it out. It seems to stop and start.”
“For how long? Until we both run out of air? We have no alternative. The transport beacon didn’t work. The energy signature of this machine is blocking the signal. There is no other way out of here.”
“But I’m used to being underwater. You’re not.”
“And that is why I trust you. I might save you, but you will need to save me right back. I have never been in water before, and I don’t know how to swim.”
I grinned at her. It took a moment, but she grinned back. “Funny, not funny?”
“Nothing about this is amusing, I assure you.”
Taking a deep breath, she sighed. “Okay. Here’s how this will work. We’re thirty feet down. Once you take off that helmet, you’re going to have to remain calm and do exactly what I’m about to tell you. Ever held your breath underwater before?”
“No.”
“Well, welcome to Scuba 101.”
“I was worried we had nothing in common,” I admitted, needing her to know in case something went wrong. “That I couldn’t understand the world you came from.”
“You can now?”
“Yes. It is peaceful beneath the water. Quiet. Beautiful. I understand why you would love this.” I looked around at the murky depths of the ocean. “But let us find something in common on land, all right?”
Peace swamped me. Acceptance. I’d never felt anything this powerful before, and it was all coming from her. My mate. “I offer myself as your second. I vow to protect you with my life, to kill for you, to die for you, to do all in my power to see to your happiness.”
“Now is not the time, Trax.” Surnen’s stern reprimand echoed in my helmet—and Mikki’s—but I didn’t care. She needed to know. I was hers, without regrets, for as long as I lived.
Warmth swamped me through the collar. Perhaps not love, not yet, but something so close I could not determine what the difference might be. Surnen must have felt it too, for Mikki’s emotions silenced him. “I accept. You are both insane, do you know that?”
“We are yours, Mikki. Perhaps now you fully understand what that means.” I spoke slowly, clearly, as I knew Surnen would understand the need that drove me.
“Perhaps. Now let’s get out of here.” Mikki closed off her emotions until there was no warmth, no fear, only calm the likes of which I’d only ever sensed from other warriors on the battlefield. Or Surnen in surgery.
I nodded. This was a side of our female I had never seen before, and it fascinated me.
“Once the helmet’s off, you won’t be able to see. The pressure of the water is going to make it feel like your ears are about to explode. It’s going to hurt. Hold your nose and blow air into your sinus cavities; try to equalize the pressure inside your head with the water pressure pushing down on you.”
“So, like losing my helmet in space, but in reverse.”
She blinked, thinking. “I guess that makes sense. So, yes. You must remain calm. Step one, take a deep breath, fill your lungs with air. Step two, remove the helmet and equalize the pressure in your ears so your eardrums don’t rupture. Do you even have eardrums?”
“Yes, mate. Our ears are very similar to human ears in both structure and function.” Surnen’s words made her sigh in relief.
“Good. Okay. Step three, since you won’t be able to see anything, I’ll take the helmet from you and try to jam it into the machine. If it works, I’ll grab your hand, and we’ll kick for the surface.”
“I understand.” I didn’t like the sound of it, but I’d survived worse in space, and far worse at the hands of the Hive. I could endure far more pain than damaged ears if it meant saving our mate. “I am ready.”
“No. Wait. What if it doesn’t work? You’ll drown.”