had thrown it and called it back to him, just as she'd seen Ian do with his maces.
That's our taxi, sweetheart. Ian adjusted his grip to anchor her more securely against him, and then as the machete raced by, he released his grip on his own weapon and reached his free hand toward the handle of the machete. For a moment, they were suspended in the water, and she felt the force of the current as it tugged them down.
Then Ian grabbed the steel weapon. Their descent stopped with a violent jerk, and then the machete began to tow them effortlessly through the water as it tore back toward the surface.
Relief flashed through her as they sped to the top, but almost immediately, her body began to hurt, she became dizzy, and black spots began to dance across her vision. Ian! Something's wrong.
His mind brushed hers briefly as if to scan her body, then Ian's voice shouted in her mind. Too fast, Ry! She can't ascend that quickly! Stop it!
You know the damn thing doesn't have speeds, Ry said. Protect her yourself!
Ian didn't hesitate. He yanked her tighter against him and slammed his mouth down over hers. This time, the kiss wasn't a breath of fresh air or careful desire. It was raw, sheer passion, an invasion into her soul that shredded her defenses and thrust her under his spell.
Stop! Frantically, she shoved against him, terrified of how he was attempting to possess her. Don't—
But then he deepened the kiss, and he thrust the fierceness of his lust right into her body. It ripped a gasp from her, and fire seemed to explode through her veins, tearing her from her own mind and yanking her into a raging cauldron of want and desire. There was no chance to resist, no hope of escaping, no possibility of stopping him.
He simply consumed her.
* * *
Ian didn't care what Alice wanted.
He didn't give a shit if she wanted to distance herself from him. It didn't matter if she wanted to block him and keep him out of her mind. Not if it meant letting her die, which is what was going to happen if he didn't protect her from their rapid ascent to the surface.
The only way to do that was to give her access to his immortality, to his legendary strength as a Calydon. It was pretty damned clear that she would not survive the fast pressure changes if she weren't shielded by his power. That kind of sharing was impossible except between Calydons, or between a male and his sheva, his soul mate. Since he was still certain that Alice was his soul mate, wrapping her up in his metaphysical protection should be easy.
But nothing about their connection was how it should have been. His brand hadn't begun to form on her arm after they'd made love, which was one of the five bonding stages. She shouldn't have been able to block him from connecting telepathically, especially not when they were so close to each other physically. Yet, it had happened. Somehow, she was resistant to their bond, and it worried the hell out of him.
Not that he was going to let that stop him from saving her life. He knew the curse would flare up if he tried to connect with her, only to have her reject him, so he mentally prepared himself for a whopping failure as he used the intensity of their kisses to try to breach the walls between their beings. He reached for her, he opened his mind to her, he fought to connect with her, but sure enough, as he tried to merge, he ran into the same walls he'd encountered before when they'd made love and he'd tried to draw her to him.
He could feel some of her emotions, her desire, her fear, but there was a part of her, a deep part of her, that he simply couldn't access. There was no way there should be that kind of block between the two of them. Fuck! He fought harder, racing against time as her body bowed in agony. With the ocean trying to kill her, he couldn't afford to let go of Ryland's machete and stop their ascent. They had to get out, which meant that he needed to help her survive.
Let me in, Alice. I can save you. He hauled her tighter against him and kissed her even more fiercely, opening himself fully to the desire and passion that had been building