Olympic Cove 2-Breaker Zone (34 page)

His hands encountered ragged scales. He
had enough time to see the ilkothella’s tail, somehow freed from its shackle,
before it whipped around and slammed into his temple.

Pain exploded through his head, followed
by blackness.

****

Aidan left the power station towing a
net sack of sweet purfruit and sturdy translucent globes of desalinated water,
courtesy of his father’s former second-in-command.
Step one in the care and feeding of your human—make sure he gets food
he likes, or he gets cranky.

Not that he really objected to feeding
Nick, or even fetching fresh water. Although being chased out of the exam room
nagged at him. He was a ranger, godsdammit. Protection was his job, and it made
his skin crawl to think of Nick anywhere near one of those venomous monsters—

A booming rumble reverberated through
the water, buffeting Aidan against a wall. He managed to grab hold of a
windowsill, hanging on until the turbulence eased.

In the distance, a cloud of dark silt
began to rise. He let go of the sill just as his window opened and a female
poked her head out, fry clustered around her. “What was that?” she
asked,
her voice high with worry. “Is it an earthquake?”

Underwater earthquakes were dangerous
for mer grottos, but they usually didn’t involve explosions. “Stay inside,”
Aidan ordered, dropping the bag and swimming as fast as he could for the triton
outpost.

To his horror, the tritons were pouring
out, heading for the silt cloud. He grabbed one. “What’s going on?”

“There was an overload at a power
transfer station near the council chambers. Whole thing got blown to Tartarus,”
the triton said. “Lady Eine ordered us to stand guard at the chambers.”

And Liam was at the council. “Are they
all right?” he demanded. “Was anyone hurt?”

“I don’t know,” the triton snapped,
yanking his arm out of Aidan’s grip. “Get to your station, ranger. All grotto
guards are now on duty.”

The triton turned and swam after the
others. Cursing under his breath, Aidan ducked into the base, swimming down
corridors to the exam room. The hell with duty—he would grab Nick, drop him off
at the ranger station and tell him to stay there until they figured out what
was going on, then head straight to the council chambers. His captain wouldn’t
like it, but—

He turned a corner, and his gut went
cold. The exam room door was open, hanging on one hinge. Hefting his trident,
he flattened himself against the wall, peering into the room. It was empty.

As was the ilkothella rig. And he could
taste the iron of blood in the water.

Nick’s blood.
Snarling, he
turned and followed the trail.

****

Nick’s head pounded as he drifted back
to consciousness. If that wasn’t enough, it felt like someone had run over the
left side of his face with a Mack truck.

Or slapped it with a big-ass tail.
He groaned,
trying to reach up and touch his throbbing cheek. His hands wouldn’t move.

He looked down and immediately regretted
it as his stomach churned violently.
You’re
concussed. For fuck’s sake, don’t puke,
his brain screamed at him.
It’ll just float there and you’ll aspirate
it.

With an immense effort, he got his
stomach back under control, just as he heard a soft chuckle. “I was wondering
when you were going to wake up.”

Very slowly, he looked up. And wished he
hadn’t.

He was in some sort of rusted,
algae-choked ship cabin. Dim green
light filtered through
what had been portholes and were
now rusted-out gaps in the metal walls.
Tiny fish swam in and out of them, completely oblivious to their surroundings.

Whatever furniture had been in the cabin
was long gone, except for two chairs. He was lashed to one of them, a heavy,
sturdy piece by the feel of it. The other one was occupied by a nightmare, one
he’d seen in Poseidon’s vision.

Thetis smiled at him, idly tapping the
Rod against one raddled cheek. “Welcome to my demesnes, Bearer.”

Chapter Twelve

Nick opened his mouth, and a bolt of
agony surged through his cheekbone. “I’m guessing you’re Thetis,” he said
thickly.

The poisoned Nereid smiled at him, black
lips pulling back in a horrible parody of a charming smile. “Clever little
beast, aren’t you?”

“Nice.
Role model or
simply a fan?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Never mind.”
He tried to
force his mind to think through the pain. Sending Aidan to get food, talking to
Halkyone, and then being bludgeoned— “Oh, shit. Halkyone was a lure, wasn’t
she?”

“And a most excellent one at that,”
Thetis said with satisfaction. “It was a risk, of course, letting her get
caught by the mers. They’re so tediously determined about killing my pets,
after all. But I knew Bythos would be interested in what made her tick,
especially now that he had the Bearer of Asclepius’s Rod at his beck and call.”
She leaned forward, an open wound in her chest gaping and exposing her
breastbone. “And so he sent you to do his dirty work, as I’d hoped.”

Nick wondered if he should mention that
Bythos hadn’t even known about the ilkothella. “How did she get out of her
cuffs?”

She flashed him another one of those
horrible parody smiles. “Suffice it to say that an ilkothella’s fluke spines
are both very flexible and useful for a number of things, including lock
picking. They should have bagged her tail as well.”

Note for next time.
Assuming there’s a next time.
“Want to tell me how she got me out of
the triton station?”

The Nereid shrugged. “Not particularly.
I’m much more interested in this.” She held up the Rod, examining it. “Once you
show me how it works, I have quite the To Do list for you.”

She rose out of her chair and drifted
over to him. The water carried the taste of something long-dead and foul, and
he tried to breathe shallowly. “I don’t think you understand how the Rod
works,” he said.

“My lady.”

His jaw clenched.
“My lady.
It’s a diagnostic tool, not a magic wand.”

Her milky eyes glittered even in the
green gloom. “Oh, you can’t expect me to believe that, especially as it seems
quite a bit smaller than it was the last time I saw it.” She leaned closer, and
he couldn’t help recoiling from the stench hanging around her. “I’m sure you
can do some amazing things with this device, can’t you, doctor.”

“I’m still learning what it can do,” he
gagged out, trying not to vomit. “I’ve only had it for a week, dammit.”

She pulled back and the water cleared.
“Hm.
Well, then, let’s test its limits together, shall we?”

****

Aidan arrowed through the dark blue
water, trident held tight to his body as he followed the scent trail of Nick’s
blood. Entwined with it was the scent of the ilkothella.

He’d followed it through the station
corridor and into a maintenance tunnel, of all things. Somehow the damned thing
had known the perfect way to escape its jail cell. It just needed a diversion
to get all eyes off it.

It was a fucking
trap. And I left him alone in the middle of it.

The only reassuring thing was that
Nick’s body hadn’t been floating in a corner, and his scent trail smelled
fresh. If the ilkothella had gone to all that trouble to grab him, it probably
wasn’t going to kill him, at least not immediately.
Gods, I hope.

After more than an hour of hard swimming,
he finally tracked the scent down to a small coral reef that had grown around a
wrecked human warship. He paused at the edge of the reef, scanning the area. He
could already smell a number of other ilkothelloi. There was only one reason
why the monsters would congregate outside the Gulf.

Thetis.
The Nereid was
the mastermind behind Nick’s kidnapping.

One part of him wanted to go straight
back to Bright Water, round up the tritons’ tactical squad and bring them back.
Yeah, except that they’re all protecting
the council members under Lady Eine’s orders. No way in hell she’s going to
give them permission to leave right now.

Ranger backup was out as well. It was
far more likely that he’d be dragged off to patrol the grotto while the higher
ups investigated the explosion. He mentally gauged how far he’d swum from the
grotto,
then
added the distance between the grotto and
the cove. It would be hours before he could bring Ian and the sea lords here,
assuming that they were even home.

So that leaves
me.
Great.
Grim, Aidan moved off to scout the
area. One way or the other, he was getting his mate back.

****

“You can’t do this, mamere!” Liam
thundered at Eine. “I need to find Aidan and Nick!”

“I have tritons and rangers searching
for them now,” the First Elder said implacably, folding her hands on the back
of her council couch. At her request the rest of the Elders had filed out,
leaving Liam alone with her. “Your place is here at my side, working to calm
our people and get to the bottom of this attack.”

Investigators were already poring over
the power transfer station, trying to determine what had caused the explosion
that had thrown the grotto into panic. Tritons were stationed around the
council chambers to protect the Elders, and all grotto rangers had been
recalled and were now on patrol looking for potential attackers.

Except for one.
When Liam learned
to his horror that the captured ilkothella had escaped and Nick and Aidan were
missing, he realized the whole thing had been a ruse, most likely with Nick as
the target.
Either Aidan was dead or injured and
his
body stashed somewhere (Liam’s mind recoiled from the thought), or the
ilkothella had Nick and Aidan was tracking them down.

He had already left the council chambers
to go after them when his mother had two tritons seize him and bring him back.
Now he swam back and forth, raging at her in impotent fury. “You don’t need me
here! I’m still a junior counselor. There’s nothing useful I can do for you!”

She sniffed. “You can monitor incoming
reports for the council.”

He stopped, staring at her. “Monitor
incoming reports? Are you insane?”

“Lower your voice,” she ordered. “You
may be my son, but allow me to remind you that I am First Elder of this grotto,
and as such it is my duty to think of all my people, not just the ones closest
to me. If you wish to join the council of Elders you’ll do well to remember
that.”

“You’re assuming I want to join the
damned council in the first place.”

She straightened, hands clenching on the
soft surface of the couch back. “Members of our clan have served as Elders for
Bright Water grotto since its inception over two hundred years ago,” she said.
“It is bred into our blood and bone to lead. It is what we
do
for our people. Your unfortunate association with that ranger
has made you forget that, it seems.”

“No. My
mating
with Aidan has showed me that there are other ways to live,”
Liam said, swimming up to her. “Ways that don’t require manipulation and game
playing. You’re the one who loves power, Mother, not me.”

Eine’s
expression smoothed into a mask.
“Strange. It was my belief that you
quite enjoyed holding power over others,” she said coolly.

That struck home. “If you’re referring
to my sex life, it goes to show that you have absolutely no idea what goes into
power play.”

“Perhaps I don’t. Perhaps I prefer my
power to be used publicly rather than privately. But I can assure you that many
other mers don’t have even a fraction of the understanding I have. If word were
to get out about your preferences, I have to wonder how it would be received.
Granted, it might not close many doors in this grotto to you, but it would
certainly close them to your Aidan. I believe he was up for promotion this
year, wasn’t he? I doubt that would happen if his superiors knew how submissive
he could be.”

Liam stilled. “You wouldn’t.”

“I would do many things to keep this
grotto running on a calm tide.” Her eyes went cold. “Don’t test me, my son. I
assure you, you will not win.”

“You might be surprised.”

“Would I? Are you willing to wager your
chuisle’s
reputation on that?”

Liam’s fists clenched at his sides. He
didn’t care what people thought of him, but he wouldn’t hold Aidan up to scorn
and ridicule. “This will be remembered, mamere,” he growled, turning to leave.

“I’m sure.
Oh, and
Liam?”

He paused.

“Your leave of absence request is
denied.
By order of the council.”

Rage washed through him, followed by
despair. Struggling for control, he swam off to the small clerk’s chamber
attached to the larger meeting hall. He went up to the desk, grabbing the edges
so hard he heard the material creak.