Waterborne Read Online Free PDF

such serious talk,” she purred. “The night grows short, and I have an early council meeting in the morning. We should make the most of the time we have left ... ” She smiled at him suggestively. “Unless you’re already weary?”
    “Never.”
    She shrieked with laughter as he seized her shoulders and pressed her back against the cushions. He ground his mouth against hers and wrapped his legs around hers. He wasn’t sure if she would heed his advice or not, but he wasn’t without resources. Alex needed to be eliminated, and if she couldn’t see that, he’d have to take matters into his own hands. Warrior or not, a man in prison was vulnerable. Anything could happen to him. And if he suffered a fatal accident, doubtless ’Enakai would be pleased that her problem had been solved for her, without her having to give the order.
     
    Ree opened her eyes and stifled a scream. What appeared to be a giant, eight-armed, lime-green octopus with bulging red eyes hovered inches from her face. She threw up her arms to protect herself just as the cephalopod mollusk recoiled and backed water, apparently equally shocked to find Ree staring at it.
    For an instant, a spattering of loud static blasted inside her head. The noise was so painful that Ree clamped both hands over her ears. Almost at once, the sound altered, becoming first a series of clicking and then something that resembled a blue whale’s song. Ree blinked, trying to orient herself. Where was she? She didn’t think she was dreaming, yet ... she seemed to be floating in a pale blue liquid in some enormous fish tank.
    Is this reality or a drugged state? Years of training had taught her to trust her own senses, but never to discount the possibility of illusion—either chemical or psychic.
    “Mean ... you ... we not hurt.”
    Ree caught her breath and looked at the green octopus. Was it smiling? Could an octopus smile or was that the look it gave you before you became its dinner? If the thing wanted to eat her, she doubted that she could stop it. Still ... Had it just spoken to her? In Pidgin English? If this was an illusion, it was an odd one. And if it was reality. . . Simply considering the possibility made her dizzy.
    “Not ... hurt. Healing ... we mean you good ... human female.”
    The message was definitely coming from inside her head, rather than from outside. The meaning was plain, and the language was a form of English, even if the pronunciation was somewhere between that spoken in Glasgow and Australia. If this wasn’t a dream, someone had slipped her some powerful drugs. But she didn’t feel drugged. In fact, she felt great, strong, healthy, and hungry. When had she eaten last?
    As if reading her mind, the octopus spoke again. “Have you ... wanting the need to feed?”
    “Where am I?” Following her host’s pattern, Ree didn’t speak the question but thought it.
    “Healing ... place ... temple place.”
    Ree fought to regain her balance. She was obviously submerged, but she wasn’t having any problem breathing. She took a better look at the octopus as it swam closer to her. It was bigger, larger even than she’d first calculated, and definitely different in appearance from the ones that had appeared on her dinner plate. She considered the possibility that this thing, whatever it was, had only assumed the form of an octopus. She’d come in contact with beings not generally included in the population counts of first world countries, but never a talking octopus. She decided to reserve judgment.
    “Be not fear,” the creature said in a gentle voice. The pronunciation was becoming clearer, or at least easier for Ree to understand.
    She’d lost track of time, but she didn’t think she was delusional. She distinctly remembered being in the outside shower on the deck of the Anastasiya. She had perfect recall of Varenkov shooting her with a Makarov PMM semi-automatic, 9 mm. She’d taken more than one direct hit to the midsection, another to her