Page 18 of Taken By the Leviathan King

It is a joining, a merging, a violent fusion of two beings into one. The water around us churns, the crystals pulse, the very air crackles with energy. It is raw, primal, intense. I grip her hips, holding her still as I pump into her, each thrust deeper than the last, making her mine, branding her soul with my touch.

I whisper Leviathan words against her skin, ancient claiming rituals that haven’t been spoken in centuries because no mate has been worthy.

“What do they mean?” she gasps, her voice breathless.

“They bind us,” I admit, nipping at her lower lip, “soul to soul. They are words spoken only once, to the one true mate.”

Her eyes widen—understanding, then a flicker of fear and awe. It doesn’t matter. Too late. She is mine now, bound by something older and stronger than the Abyss itself.

We move as one. I am lost in the moment, lost in her and the way we fit so perfectly together. A feeling so foreign that I almost missed the faint tremor in the crystal song, a discordant note that would soon shatter our fragile peace. Nothing exists but this—the press of her skin, the sound of her gasps, the way she clenches around me. A primal rhythm takes over, a dance of bodies and souls. I grip her hips, lifting her higher, driving deeper until she is impaled on my length. She cries out, a wild, untamed sound that makes my inner leviathan roar with satisfaction.This is it. This is her.

I will claim her, body and soul. Her heat wraps around me, a tightening vise that steals my breath. I surge again, deeper this time, feeling the slick heat and her answering gasp of pleasure. I’ll mark her, inside and out, until every inch of her body knows she is mine. My fangs find the sensitive hollow of her throat, nipping, claiming. She twists in my grasp, a wild creature caught in my snare, and I can’t help the growl that rumbles in my chest. She smells of sea salt and arousal, a heady combination that drives me closer to the edge. Her muscles clench around me, milking me with each thrust. She is a storm, a tempest of sensation that threatens to drown me in her heat.

I thrust harder, faster, driving her higher and higher until she shatters. Her cry is a symphony of pleasure and pain, a sound that echoes through the crystal cave. I feel her contractions, the pulsing waves of her climax tightening around me, and I lose myself in the sensation. Every muscle in my body tenses. I can’t hold back any longer. I surge one last time, driving deep into her core, and unleash my seed. The force of my climax islike a tidal wave, washing over us both, leaving us gasping and breathless in its wake. I hold her tight, my body trembling with the aftershocks of pleasure, knowing that she is now irrevocably mine.

And then, the kelp curtain parts, and Zorath shuffles in, his face etched with worry. He stops dead, his eyes widening as he takes in the scene: the shimmering water, the lingering scent of arousal, and Imoogeen standing beside me, her expression a mix of defiance and…well, something else entirely.

Zorath coughs, averting his gaze. “My king, forgive the intrusion, but Rynor—”

“Must he attack now?” I growl, the pleasure of moments ago replaced by a surge of icy annoyance. What precious time I could steal with my mate, ruined. My claws extend, carving grooves in the crystal floor. I shift, subtly shielding Imoogeen from Zorath’s gaze; she remains wrapped in my arms, still flushed from our joining.

Imoogeen steps forward slightly, her hand finding mine. Her touch grounds me, pulls me back from the brink. “What’s happening, Zorath?”

The advisor hesitates, clearly uncomfortable discussing matters of war in such a…delicate setting. “Rynor has broken through the outer defenses. He is heading for the Heart of the Deep.”

My blood boils. The Heart is the source of all our power, the lifeblood of the Abyss. If Rynor corrupts it…

“How did he breach the defenses?” I demand, my voice a low rumble that shakes the chamber.

“We don’t know, my king. It is as if he knew the weaknesses, the hidden passages…” Zorath trails off, his gaze darting nervously between Imoogeen and me.

“Treachery,” I realize, the word a venomous hiss. “Rynor didn’t just attack. He knew where to strike. Someone betrayed us, exploited the Abyss’s secrets.”

Imoogeen’s eyes widen, the pupils swallowing the green. “Then we have to stop him.”

I nod, my resolve hardening. “We have to go. Now.”

I wrench myself away from her, the loss a physical ache. Every instinct screams at me to keep her safe, to protect her from the coming storm. But I can’t. The Abyss is in danger, and she is the only one who can help me save it.

Chapter nine

IMOGEN

Myskinstilltingles—notjust from the residual pleasure of Krak’zol’s touch, but from something deeper: the venom working its changes through me. I can feel it in the way water now feels like a second skin, in how the currents whisper secrets against my newly sensitive scales, in how the darkness of the Abyss no longer blinds me but reveals its hidden contours.

I’ve barely had time to process what just happened between us—that earth-shattering, universe-altering joining that’s left me feeling both impossibly stronger and terrifyingly vulnerable—before we’re racing through the palace corridors, following Zorath’s urgent lead.

“The Heart of the Deep,” Krak’zol explains as we swim, his powerful tail propelling him forward while I struggle to match his pace. “It’s the source of all power in the Abyss—a crystal formation older than time itself. If Rynor corrupts it—”

“Let me guess. We all die horrible deaths, and he gets to rule whatever’s left?” I finish for him, surprised at how easily I’m slipping into the rhythm of his movements, my body instinctively mimicking his undulating pattern through the water.

“Worse,” he growls, silver eyes flashing. “The Heart doesn’t just power the Abyss. It maintains the balance of the entire oceanic ecosystem on Sanos. If corrupted, it could poison the currents, kill the reefs that sustain our people, and collapse the underwater kingdoms that have existed for millennia.”

Well, shit. That escalated quickly from “secure a new home for humanity” to “prevent ecological catastrophe across an entire planet.” The thought of all those ocean realms—places I’d barely glimpsed but had already begun to marvel at—reduced to dead zones makes my stomach clench. If Rynor succeeds, there won’t be any safe harbor for the USS Legacy. No future for the thousands of sleeping humans counting on me. Just another poisoned ocean, like the one we left behind on Earth. I didn’t cross galaxies just to watch history repeat itself.

We enter a vast chamber where several of Krak’zol’s warriors have gathered, their expressions grim. Tension thickens the water, making it feel heavy against my skin. I notice how they part for us—for me—with a mixture of curiosity and something that looks suspiciously like respect. One warrior’s gaze lingers on my neck, where Krak’zol’s mark pulses with a faint luminescence. He immediately drops his eyes and inclines his head.

That’s... new.

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