Page 13 of Taken By the Leviathan King

She steps closer to me, instinctively seeking protection though she’d never admit it. The gesture sends a surge of possessive satisfaction through my veins.

“How is Rynor doing this?” she asks, her voice low and controlled despite the danger surrounding us. “Setting traps in your territory without detection?”

The question gives me pause. It’s something I’ve wondered myself but hadn’t fully examined. My brother is cunning, but this level of infiltration suggests something more troubling.

“He must have allies among my people,” I admit, the realization burning like acid. “Someone with access to the royal gardens, someone trusted enough to move freely without question.”

Imogen’s gaze sharpens. “A traitor in your inner circle?”

I nod grimly, scanning the altered currents that now flow in deadly patterns through what was once a peaceful sanctuary. The water itself has become weaponized—subtle undercurrents that would drag an unwary swimmer into the waiting arms of the venomous coral.

“We need to identify them,” she continues, her military mind already mapping strategies. “Set a trap of our own.”

My chest rumbles with approval. My clever, fierce mate, already thinking like a true queen of the Abyss. “Yes,” I agree, carefully guiding her around a particularly treacherous current. “But first, we must ensure your safety. The changes in you are still developing. Until they’re complete, you remain vulnerable.”

Her jaw tightens at that, but she doesn’t argue. Instead, she reaches for my arm, her fingers brushing against my scales in a touch that sends electricity racing through my blood.

“Then teach me,” she challenges, eyes blazing with determination. “Show me how to survive your world, how to fight in it. If we’re going to face Rynor together, I can’t be a liability.”

I catch her hand, deliberately encircling her wrist with just two fingers to demonstrate how easily I could restrain her—and howcarefully I choose not to. “Very well, little warrior,” I purr. “Your lessons begin now.”

She looks down at my fingers around her wrist, then back up at me with that defiant spark that makes my blood sing. “Two fingers? Really? That’s the intimidation tactic you’re going with? I’ve been threatened by entire alien armies, fish-face. You’ll need to do better than that.”

I can’t help the rumble of laughter that escapes me. Such fire, even when she’s clearly out of her depth. My little warrior never disappoints. “You needed to see it. To understand what we’re fighting for. What we’re fighting against.”

She’s quiet for a moment, her hand resting over my heart. I feel her pulse through her fingertips—steady and strong, like everything else about her.

“I’m in,” she says finally, her voice taking on that commander’s edge I’ve come to recognize. “Not just for the bond, or for my team.” Her eyes sweep across the luminous expanse of my kingdom, a fierce protectiveness hardening her features. “This place—your world—it’s extraordinary. And I’ll be damned if I let your brother destroy it because he’s too power-hungry to see what he’s breaking.” She pauses, something raw and vulnerable flickering across her face. “I’ve already watched one home burn. Earth is barely habitable now, everything I knew . . . gone. I won’t stand by while another world gets destroyed by someone who should be protecting it instead.”

Pride and possession surge through me in equal measure. I catch her chin with one claw, tilting her face up to mine. “My fierce little warrior,” I purr. “Together, we will make Rynor regret ever challenging us.”

Chapter seven

IMOGEN

“Again.”

Krak’zol’s voice rumbled through the water, a low, resonant command that vibrated through my very bones. I grit my teeth, pushing back the wave of exhaustion that threatened to consume me. We’d been at this for hours—or at least, what felt like hours in the perpetual twilight of the Abyss. My muscles burned, my lungs ached, and every inch of my skin tingled with the unsettling awareness of my own transformation.

“I’m trying,” I snapped, my voice tight with frustration. “It’s not exactly like learning to ride a bike, you know.”

We were in a secluded training chamber, a vast cavern carved into the heart of the living coral. Finned creatures with bodieslike liquid starlight pulsed softly in the walls, casting the space in an ethereal, ever-shifting glow. The water here was still, undisturbed by the treacherous currents of the open Abyss, but that didn’t make this any easier.

Krak’zol circled me, his massive form moving with a grace that belied his size. His eyes, those silver pools of predatory intensity, tracked my every movement. I could practically feel his impatience radiating off him in waves.

“You rely too much on your human instincts,” he said, his voice echoing strangely in the enclosed space. “You fight the water instead of becoming one with it. Feel the currents,Imoogeen. Let them guide you.”

Easier said than done, fish-face.I closed my eyes, trying to focus on the subtle shifts in pressure against my skin, the faint tug of the water around me.It’s like trying to grasp smoke—elusive, intangible.I focused, trying to sense the pressure, the subtle give and take of the water molecules, the faint electrical hum that Krak’zol said was the key. He mentioned a gland, newly formed near my gills, that secretes a pheromone—a chemical signal that interacts with the water’s own energy. I tried to feel for that gland, to consciously activate it.

“I don’t—” I started, but he cut me off.

“Less talking, more feeling,” he growled, his tail lashing in a way that sent a shiver down my spine. It wasn’t entirely fear, though. There was a thrill mixed in, an awareness of his raw, untamed power that I hated to admit—even to myself.Is this what Samantha is going through? This... surrender?

I took a deep breath, trying to clear my mind of everything but the here and now. I focused on the sensation of the water against my newly scaled skin, the faint, almost musical hum of the living coral around us, the rhythmic pulse of Krak’zol’s presence beside me—a steady thrum that seemed to echo in my own bones.

Slowly, tentatively, I reached out with my senses, not just physically but... mentally. It was a strange, almost disorienting sensation, like trying to flex a muscle I never knew I had. I imagined the water as an extension of myself, a fluid limb that I could control with my will.

A faint flicker of movement. A ripple in the water before me. I opened my eyes, staring in disbelief at the small vortex I’d created, swirling gently in the otherwise still water.

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