Cataclysm

A Sci-fi Alien Invasion Romance: Captured Earth Book 3

A.G. Wilde

Cataclysm

Cataclysm © A.G. Wilde 2022

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, businesses, or locales is coincidental and is not intended by the author.

Contents

Disclaimer

Cataclysm

Before You Read

Chapter 1

DEJA

Chapter 2

FI’ROX

Chapter 3

FI’ROX

DEJA

Chapter 4

FI’ROX

Chapter 5

DEJA

FI’ROX

Chapter 6

DEJA

Chapter 7

FI’ROX

DEJA

Chapter 8

FI’ROX

Chapter 9

DEJA

Chapter 10

FI’ROX

DEJA

Chapter 11

DEJA

Chapter 12

DEJA

Chapter 13

FI’ROX

Chapter 14

DEJA

Chapter 15

DEJA

Chapter 16

DEJA

Chapter 17

FI’ROX

DEJA

Chapter 18

DEJA

Chapter 19

DEJA

Chapter 20

FI’ROX

Chapter 21

FI’ROX

DEJA

Chapter 22

DEJA

FI’ROX

Chapter 23

DEJA

Chapter 24

DEJA

FI’ROX

Chapter 25

DEJA

Chapter 26

FI’ROX

DEJA

Chapter 27

DEJA

Chapter 28

FI’ROX

DEJA

Chapter 29

DEJA

FI’ROX

Chapter 30

DEJA

Chapter 31

FI’ROX

Chapter 32

DEJA

Chapter 33

FI’ROX

Chapter 34

DEJA

Chapter 35

DEJA

Chapter 36

DEJA

Chapter 37

FI’ROX

Chapter 38

DEJA

Chapter 39

DEJA

Chapter 40

FI’ROX

Chapter 41

DEJA

Epilogue

Next in the Series

Other books by A.G.

Acknowledgements

Keep In Touch

If you enjoyed this book…

About the Author

To all those who are fighting battles, visible or unseen.

Disclaimer

This work of fiction is intended for mature audiences only.

All sexually active characters portrayed in this book are eighteen years of age or older.

Cataclysm

DEJA

I’m running again. Running. Running.

The danger at my back is the only thing spurring me on because my body will give up soon.

Because I’m dying and the world is ending.

I might not make it.

And when a demon appears before me, I know my time is up.

I’m not going down without a fight.

But no one warned me that demons don’t only devour your soul…sometimes…they consume your heart as well.

FI’ROX

No mate has called to me, and I tell myself I do not need one.

As I stare into the darkness, images of Edooria’s fall replay in my mind.

That is why I am here.

I failed to protect my kin. My home.

I watched it all fall.

And my punishment is to do everything I can, even if it means giving up my life, to make the Gryken pay.

The pleasure of a female…a mate…is off limits until I serve my sleekt and fulfill this task.

But Dey’jah…

She calls to me. No other female has dared come as close as she has, and now that I have touched her, I do not want to let her go.

Before You Read

TW: This book contains mention of child loss.

This can be a sensitive topic and though I don’t dwell on it in the novel, I totally understand if you decide to skip this read for that reason. No worries. I have many other great books for you to explore!

<3 AG

Chapter One

DEJA

Run!

Run!

Get away.

Fast.

Anywhere but here.

Anywhere but here!

There’s forest all around me, but I don’t even see the bushes, the trees, as I try to get the hell away from the terror I left behind.

I’m running, the pain in my side, the blood warming my fingers, all a reminder of the monster I’m trying to get away from.

I have to go.

Somehow, I have to get away.

My eyes flash behind me for a second and I half expect to see the thing there.

Long gray limbs. Eyes as dark as night.

Rows and rows of teeth as it opened its mouth to swallow me.

Not of Earth.

A creature from the stars.

A world far from ours.

A nightmare that unfolded into my reality.

I choke on my breath as my chest tightens and the pain in my side grows worse.

I don’t know if I’ll survive this.

Distantly, I’m aware I'm losing too much blood.

That even if that thing doesn’t come after me, I’ll be in a bad place, anyway.

Because this is the wilderness.

The world has ended, and I’m on my own.

I might die.

Soon.

I tighten my arm around myself, my palm plastered against the hole the creature made in my side.

The feel of its skin against mine still lingers there. The memory of it using its limb to go right through me…

I don’t know why or how it let me go.

Someone else at the camp distracted it somehow.

All I remember is staring into its eyes, struggling to get away but being rendered helpless.

And then the pain…

Maybe it hit an organ.

I don’t know.

I just need to get away.

There’s still a chance I can survive this.

Still a chance…

A scream cuts through the air somewhere far behind me, followed by an unearthly sound.

A screech so loud it echoes through the trees, stilling even the forest itself. As if the forest knows it’s in the midst of something not of this world.

I choke on my heavy breaths again, tears clouding my eyes so much I stumble.

The dirt is rough, and my knees scrape against it as I skid down the mountainside. I go down a few meters before picking myself back up on my trembling legs.

Another blood-curdling scream echoes through the woods.

They’re dead.

All those people at the camp.

Billy. Jillian. Lily.

Those two asshole brothers who kept us captive…and even that girl, too.

The new one.

Sam.

They’re all dead.

There’s no way they can kill that thing.

I have to keep going.

It’s the only way I can make it out of this alive.

My breaths sound loud in my ears and, along will the chink-chink of the beads in my hair as I run, I quake at the thought that the monster will hear me.

That it will find me before I make it to safety.

But…I have to.

My ankle twists and I stumble once more, rolling for a few meters before my back collides with the base of a tree.

Pain sears up my spine as a fresh gush of liquid runs down my fingers. I faintly recognize that it’s my blood.

I’m losing too much.

As pain continues to rocket through me, I look in the direction I’ve come from.

I have to get up. I can’t stop running.

The world grows faint for a moment and I grip the ground beneath me.

Can’t lose consciousness.

Can’t…

By some mercy, it all zooms back into clarity and I push off the tree, crawling on my hand and knees.

Brambles and twigs dig into my skin as I work my way into standing position again.

I have to keep going.

And so I do.

Somehow, my legs work.

Somehow, I push forward.

Time is dragging on as I run.

I know the minutes pass, but they move too slowly and I’m not moving fast enough.

I don’t know how long I run for, or how far from the camp I’ve gone.

I just know that I can’t stop moving.

Because those things are out there somewhere.

And they’re coming to get me.

* * *

It appears out of nowhere.

The forest simply stops and I stumble upon asphalt.

“A road,” I whisper.

My lids are so low, I wonder if I’m seeing straight, and as I stagger down the road, I grip my side.

There have been no sounds in the forest since I escaped from the monster.

A part of me wishes that’s because the creatures have died.

That those people at the camp killed them somehow.

But I know that’s wishful thinking.

The forest was quiet before the creatures suddenly appeared.

And now it’s quiet again.

They’re still out there somewhere.

Hunting.

And they will find me.

I have to keep on going, but there’s no way I can make it much farther like this.

Even at the thought, my knees buckle and I almost fall.

Gripping my side tighter, I keep on walking.

I see the structures before I recognize what I’m looking at.

Cars.

Parked ones.

Abandoned in the middle of the highway.

A jolt of recognition goes through me.

Cars.

That means people were here.

Maybe I will find something.

Something to bandage this wound. A first-aid kit if I’m lucky.

I try to hasten forward, but all that results is me pulling my left side as I limp along.

The rubber soles of my sneakers scrape against the asphalt as I move, hardly making progress.

But I can’t stop now.

The first vehicle has the driver’s door open.

“Hello?”

I don’t know why I even bother.

I know there’s no one here.

Everybody’s gone…or dead.

Those huge alien machines destroyed everything.

“Ow,” I breathe as I brace my knee on the driver’s seat and the pain in my side shoots through my entire body.

Gritting my teeth, I lean into the car, my hand trembling as I get the glove box open.

A book. Some papers. Nothing of use.

I glance behind me, but there’s nothing in the back seat and I don’t think I can lift open the trunk. Not in my current state, at least.

Maybe someone’s been here before. Cleaned it all out.

Turning my gaze down the road, I count three more cars close by and several others about half a kilometer down.

I have to keep looking.

I stagger to the next vehicle and grip the handle, pulling it toward me.

It doesn’t give.

I try again. Nothing.

Any energy I had suddenly drains and I lean against the vehicle, huge breaths making my chest rise and fall.

A thin layer of sweat coats my forehead and that feeling of faintness returns.

“No,” I groan.

Have to fight it.

Have to reach safety first.

As I rest my forehead on the glass of the driver’s door, my lids lift and my vision clears a little.

Enough for me to see the scarf resting on the passenger seat, underneath a magazine and a pair of glasses.

The scarf.

I could use it to tie this wound.

Bracing against the vehicle, I take a deep breath and put all my strength in my arm as I pull on the door handle.

But nothing happens.

“Fuck.” My breath comes out ragged and the pain in my side makes me hiss.

It’s not opening.

It’s one of those new SUVs with automatic locking doors.

“Damnit.”

But I don’t have time to waste, so I pull myself away and head to the next vehicle.

I’m just at the door when it suddenly opens.

I don’t even have the strength to show surprise when the barrel of a rifle is pushed into my face.

“Don’t come any closer.” The voice is male. Rough, like he used to spend all his time smoking and drinking.

I freeze. I don’t have any other choice.

I can feel my strength leaving me with every second that passes by.

Can feel it seeping from me with every drop of blood that leaves my veins.

“I mean no harm.” I slump against the car, the beads at the ends of my braids rattling as I take a breath.

God knows I’m in a bad state when a gun pointed at my skull doesn’t faze me.

“You best get on out of here, if you know what’s best for you. Those machines are attracted to women. It’s you they go after. I’ve seen it happen with my own eyes. I don’t want no trouble.”

I want to answer him, but I don’t have the strength to.

Instead, I allow the car to take my weight, and, for the first time, I stop to look at my wound.

My fingers tremble as I lift my palm, red with the fluid that’s meant to be inside my body, not out of it.

“Is this your car?” My voice sounds weak, so very low, as I stare at the wound.

It’s deep.

I don’t know if bandaging it will do any good.

The car shakes, and a head pops out.

He’s balding and the sides of his head have hair that’s gone gray.

His gaze flicks down my body and lands on the wound in my side.

His eyes narrow a little, but not even alarm passes through his eyes.

“I just need a bandage. Anything that you may have and I’ll get on my way.”

He’s still staring at my side. “I don’t got nothing.”

My legs choose that moment to give out and I slide down the side of the car, my slick blood painting the metal red in one dark streak.

My eyes threaten to close again, and my breath comes hard as I fight the darkness.

I’m dying.

And the man beside me looks on.

It doesn’t seem like he’s going to help me. I have to help myself.

The sleeveless blouse I’m wearing will just have to do.

My body aches as I lift my arms and pull the blouse over my head.

I can feel the man’s eyes on me, but he says nothing. He simply watches. And even though my bra is now on display, the tops of my breasts in his clear view, I don’t have the strength to care.

I grip the blouse with my teeth and somehow rip it in two.

My head lolls and I struggle for consciousness as I lean forward and wrap the cloth around my belly, drawing it tight against the wound as a breath hisses between my teeth.

My body feels heavy as I brace my back against the car once more.

So this is how I die?

In the middle of a road beside a stranger at the end of the world?

“Hey,” the man says. “Hey, you!”

“Mm?” I groan.

My eyes are closing, even though I’m fighting hard to keep them open.

“Y-you can’t stay here.”

My vision blacks out and comes back in.

One moment, the man is in the vehicle and when I see him again, he’s standing in front of me, anxiety creasing the lines in his face as the muzzle of his gun comes inches away from my nose.

“You hear me? Leave! Get the fuck out of here!”

As I drift out of it once more, I hear him curse.

I’ll leave.

Soon.

I think I say the words.

But I’m not sure that I do.

I feel so weak.

So, so weak.

Chapter Two

FI’ROX

Base Zero is bustling with energy.

Not only are my kin excited, but the hyu’mans too.

But…for different reasons.

Several of hyu’mankin have returned with Ga’Var, second in command of our sleekt.

They rejoice for that, but I doubt they see the excitement bristling through our ba’clan.

I doubt they feel the energy moving between us.

We’ve had a breakthrough in this war.

A prototype.

I grip it against me as I slip from the tunnels.

I doubt any of the hyu’mans see me leave, too caught up in their celebrations.

But despite the power I hold in my hand, and despite what I want to do with it, I do not leave the base on some solo mission to test the prototype.

Nothing would give me more joy than to take a Scrit down on my own and prove to my brethren that I am capable…that I am a worthy member of this sleekt.

Fi’rox. Newest member of the sleekt and the least experienced.

I do not have much say in what our sleekt does or how we approach this scourge that we hunted across the stars.

I am merely here for one reason.

A reason shared by many of my fellow Vullan: destroy the beings that destroyed everything we knew and loved.

But…despite the urge to fight…despite this urge that drives me to kill…I must leave the base for another reason.

One that has my ba’clan shivering as I soak in the scent of the female I set out to hunt.

They said she ran away.

Scared off by the enemy.

I do not know what to expect when I find her…but this is the first time I will be away from my brethren since landing on this world.

I will make the most of it.

I head in the general direction the hyu’man ran.

It shouldn’t be hard to find her. Hyu’mans don’t move quickly.

This is their planet, yet they are clumsy and ill-suited to survive.

I am confident I will find her without worry, but even so, my ba’clan bristle against me.

Out here, without the protection of the base, they can sense the ominous stillness in the air.

Every cell in me is alert as I move.

Every part of me aware of the slightest sound…the slightest movement.

Traversing through the wiry Er’th trees is easy and soon I am far away from the base.

I see the Scrit not long after that.

It is still.

Standing in a clearing it made, its metal coating glistens in the light of Er’th’s star.

My hackles rise, and I let them.

No longer do I have to pretend as all of us do inside the base.

There are no hyu’mans here to fear me.

So I let them rise.

I let my rage flow through me as I look up at the machine.

Every ridge on my body constricts, my muscles going taut as I approach it.

Large.

Silent.

Destructive.

I remember when these same machines first fell on Edooria.

They looked like huge fireballs hurtling through our dark sky.

And then…chaos.

The Gryken destroyed…everything.

And so, I will not stop until every single one of them is dead.

I want to see their bodies littering the ground as they shrivel under the sun.

And I will see it too…even if I have to die in the process to make it happen.

These thoughts ring in my mind as I get closer to the machine.

I know it is empty.

It is not moving. Yet…there is an ominous feeling that lingers.

More so than usual.

I do not understand why until I see the red.

It spreads from the base of the machine outward, covering the green surface of this planet.

It stops me in my tracks and my ba’clan pulse against me, every symbiote on edge.

“What is this?”

There is no one to answer me.

No one to witness the network of red veins that have spread from the legs of the machine.

The ground underneath the veins is black and there is a rhythmic pulsing within them.

This place reeks of death and destruction.

Everywhere these veins touch is…dying.

My ba’clan pulse hard against me and my hackles rise even higher.

This is new.

The machines didn’t do this on Edooria. Why are they doing it here on Er’th?

My gaze rises to the orb of the Scrit and I fight the urge to attack.

I need to head back to the base…report this…but I also need to find that hyu’man female that ran away.

She is in danger.

The others will not be happy if I return without her.

I glance in the direction they said she went and focus on the memory of her scent.

It is faint. Caught merely from the skin of one of the other hyu’mans.

Still, I will find her. And maybe I will also find an answer to these strange pulsing veins branching from the enemy.

I head off, both thoughts in my mind, not looking back at the tall machine as I move through the foliage.

I must keep my focus. The rage boiling within me cannot win.

Not yet.

Not till I am face-to-face with one of them.

So I focus on the female instead.

On her scent.

It does not take me long to find the camp and the shelter the others told me about.

And…

There is carnage.

Two bodies, our enemies, lie almost unrecognizable, withered by the heat of the planet’s rising star.

A growl escapes me as I walk past one toward the body of a hyu’man male.

Dead by a single blow.

Off to the side, the decapitated body of another hyu’man male lies.

This camp reeks of Gryken, death, and blood. It is hard to control my instincts to hunt and kill.

My ba’clan are going crazy, my hackles all risen, my teeth bared as I snarl.

But I must focus.

I am here for the female I hunt.

I turn my nose to the air, to the slight breeze flowing past me, and I sniff.

Her scent should be strong, for she was here…but…there is nothing.

My ears twitch as I slow down and take in the camp.

If she came back here, if she’d returned after running off, I would have smelled her.

But…she’s been gone for a while.

Long enough for the wind to have diluted her scent.

A few steps away from the dead bodies, I stop and turn, my gaze moving around the camp.

This is not good.

She could have gone in any of several directions.

This world is easily traversed, but vast.

Finding her now will take some time.

Time that we do not have…that she does not have.

Every minute out here, she risks being caught by a Scrit.

I need to find her.

I move in one direction, ready to continue the hunt, when a scent catches my nostrils.

It emanates from one spot, not moving in the air like I expect it to be.

I head toward it and as soon as my gaze falls on the source, my fangs bare in a snarl I cannot hold back.

Blood.

Lots of it.

I scoop up the earth.

It’s stained with it, and I sniff.

The female’s scent floods my system and my fangs bare even more.

Her scent is stronger. Much stronger than what I had before.

It infuses me with a pressing urge to hunt and something else—a tingling I cannot place.

I growl again, pushing air through my nostrils.

I have one duty. Bring this female back to the base.

I sniff again before closing my nostrils to the strength of her intriguing scent.

I do not need her scent to find her.

Even a dumb wild animal could find her with the trail she’s left behind.

Her lifeblood is like a path directly to her.

I stand, my gaze in the direction that I now know she went in.

If she is still alive, she is barely so.

I must hurry.

Chapter Three

FI’ROX

The female’s lifeblood is like a path that I follow through the wiry trees.

There is no sound around.

Even the little animals have gone.

Maybe because of me.

Maybe because of the Gryken that had ventured into these forests.

The more distance I cover, the more alarmed I become.

I do not believe this female lives.

The farther I search, the more I believe I will see her limp body slumped against the next large tree or lying in the undergrowth.

But…so far there has been nothing.

Not yet, at least.

I come upon an area where the ground has eroded.

Broken twigs and crushed leaves lie disturbed.

She stumbled here.

I crouch, following the path with my gaze, my fingers hovering over the disturbed ground.

She stumbled….and then she crawled.

My ears twitch at the thought.

She has a will to live. Even I can respect that.

Rising, I’m about to continue my search when my ba’clan bristle, every symbiote that coats my skin rising slightly.

Danger.

I turn my gaze to the sky and glimpse the source of my unease shortly after.

A Scrit. One heading this way.

My hackles rise as I watch it approach.

It will not see me. My ba’clan cloaks my bio-signature.

But the female…

My ba’clan bristle again.

Rek.

I must find her now.

If she still lives, it will not be for much longer once the Scrit senses her.

I take off at a run, cutting through the trees, glimpses of the female’s lifeblood leading the way.

I move in harmony with the cool wind flowing around me, aiding my pursuit, when the trees suddenly end and I’m on a hard, dark surface that stretches far and wide.

A transit route.

The female’s lifeblood almost disappears here, but I can see it against the dark surface.

I follow the trail to find her lifeblood painted on a strange metal shelter and I sniff, my ba’clan rising as the ground shakes with the approaching Scrit.

That’s when sound reaches my ears.

“It’s you! You invited it here!”

A voice I do not know.

My head snaps to the left, my pupils narrowing as I catch the source of the sound.

A male. Hyu’man.

And beneath him on the ground…must be the female I am searching for.

Her eyes are closed. Her body limp.

For a moment, I wonder if I am too late, but then her eyes flutter open to focus on the male before her.

“You invited it here!” The male is shaking as he lifts a crude stick and places it against the female’s head.

She raises her hand in a plea, her lips moving, but I cannot hear what she says.

“I told you it would come after you!” Time slows down as I watch the male’s finger depress a hook on the stick.

Wait…that is no stick. It is some form of crude blaster.

I am moving without even needing to think, my body doing what my mind needs it to do.

A deafening sound echoes the moment I collide with him, smashing him into the road’s hard surface.

There’s a sickening crack as his head meets the surface, and I take a moment to look down at him as his limbs instantly become limp.

Dead.

I didn’t intend to…

But there is no time for regret.

A groan behind me has me glancing back at the female as the earth shakes again.

The Scrit is close.

Too close.

I grip the prototype latched to my side and glance at the approaching machine.

I could take it down.

I could take it down right now, but…

As I turn my head, my gaze lands on the dying female.

Rek.

I move over to her and her hand rises toward me.

My ba’clan bristle at the interaction and something blooms inside me.

She is the first hyu’man to try and touch me…

But I soon realize this isn’t so.

She isn’t trying to touch me. She is trying to push me away.

“No.” Her voice is so low, so feeble, and her fear scent, though weak, rises enough for me to close my nostrils against it.

She tries to speak again but whatever comes out is a mumble as her head tilts, brushing against the hole the male’s weapon made in the structure behind her.

She is in a terrible state, but I cannot help her here.

The Scrit will see us soon.

I have no choice but to move.

Gripping her in both arms, I lift her.

She struggles against me, a hand coming up to hit against my chest as she tries to fight.

Humor floods through me at this inopportune moment.

I have never seen a prey animal not cower when all things are stacked against it.

But this one…

She fights still.

She fights like a fire not wanting to go out.

“You can fight me later, little fire. Right now, I have to get you out of here.”

* * *

DEJA

The demon is carrying me.

I recognize him. He was at the camp not long before those other aliens attacked.

Maybe he’s working with them.

Maybe he helped kill everyone and now he’s found me.

Everything within me tries to get away from the powerful arms that have circled me as my vision wanes in and out.

Every time I open my eyes, I catch glimpses of him.

Pitch black skin. Pointed ears.

He’s lifted me and he’s moving, a snarl contorting his face and wicked white fangs pressing out over his lips.

There are ridges all over his face, his body… I can feel them against me as he moves.

They make a pattern over his forehead, down his cheekbones, his jaw, his chin…

I don’t know where to focus, what to look at… Only fear keeps me from completely passing out.

He’s moving far too quickly for it to be possible. Everything around us is a blur and I’m not sure if it’s my failing mind that’s imagining it or if it is real.

That doesn’t matter.

All that matters is that I have to get away from this…thing.

I look up at him through lids that are too heavy to lift.

I’m so tired.

Weak.

Lifting my arm to beat against his chest is futile.

So, I stop.

I have to conserve my energy so I can fight back somehow.

The earth shakes behind us and suddenly it’s like my senses spread out and I’m aware of more than the alien gripping me.

A machine.

One of those machines is near.

My heart thumps, hitting against my ribs as fear spikes within me.

If he’s bringing me toward the thing…

If he’s taking me to die…

But as the earth shakes again, this time farther away than last time, I realize he’s not taking me toward danger.

He’s taking me away from it.

Tilting my head back so I can look up at him, my head lolls a little, and it feels like I have a weight tied to it.

I’m barely conscious, but not even my imagination could construct slitted eyes of the darkest cobalt, so dark they look black, that glance down at me.

If I had the strength, I would shiver.

But all I can do is stare up at this nightmare.

If he’s taking me away from the giant machine, where the heck is he taking me…and what the hell does he want?

My vision blacks out and I’m dimly aware that we’re still moving.

I have to…get away…somehow.

But even as these thoughts swirl in my head, I can feel myself disconnecting from reality.

I can’t fight this thing.

My only option is to run away as soon as I can.

And I’m good at that.

Running away.

I just have to heal a little.

I just have to…

Movement stops suddenly and I’m only aware because the wind that was rushing against my skin cuts off abruptly.

The alien lowers me and soft grass, moss maybe, hits my skin.

It’s cold against my bare back and I shiver without being able to stop myself.

My eyes flicker open, and I’m once again looking up into darkness.

The alien is staring down at me and with eyes like that, I have no idea what he is thinking.

He looks like a demon about to consume me, and when he inhales, his nostrils flaring and blades rising all across his back, I see the end.

Is this it?

Run away from one nightmare to be captured by another?

Escape one alien to end up in the arms of another?

Hatred mixed with fear fills me as I struggle to rise, to get away, to run, but even as I try, I know I won’t be able to.

Pain…pain erupts in my side, making my body curl.

The tears at the corners of my eyes blur my vision as I look up at the devil, and he simply stares back at me.

“Female,” I swear he says.

Funny. I thought if I was going to hell, the devil would have at least known my name.

Maybe it's God forsaking me because I ran away from camp and left all those other people to die.

My body curls again as I choke on air, pain rocketing through my side like a lightning bolt that renders my body useless.

I’m going to die.

“Do it,” I croak.

I knew I was on borrowed time. From the moment those blazing orbs fell from the sky, I knew sooner or later it would happen.

“Do it!” I choke again and fluid rises in my throat.

It tastes like blood.

I’m hurt bad. Worse than I first realized.

But I was going to die out here in the wilderness, anyway.

It had only been a matter of time.

My vision wanes and the demon becomes a dark outline, but he isn’t killing me.

Instead, his hand hovers over me.

Wicked, dark claws stem from each finger and one of those claws grip the shirt I’d tied around the wound.

He slips the bandage off, exposing the hole, and there is nothing I can do.

I am at his mercy.

Sweat dampens my brow, my body feverish now.

I try to raise my hand to stop him, but it simply falls back to the ground.

Make it quick, I beg.

But instead of burying his claw into my wound and finishing what that other creature started, the alien dips his head.

His fangs appear.

Long, wicked, and pointed; I see them just as his head lowers. My mouth opens, but I do not have the strength to scream.

This is…

This is the end.

Chapter Four

FI’ROX

I do not know how this female has survived this long.

She has no ba’clan to heal her. No regenerative ability.

The wound on her side is deep. The result of a Gryken attack.

She should have collapsed from the moment the beast pierced her. Yet, she made it all the way out here.

As I lower my head to her wound, I hear the Scrit still moving far off in the distance.

I evaded it successfully, and it didn’t sense her presence. But now that I look at her, I am not sure it would have bothered to capture her, anyway.

Her life force is weak.

She is almost dead.

As I deposit some saliva to her wound, a soft palm slaps against my head as she tries to stop me.

Weak. There is no power in her fist, but she hits against me, anyway, wasting energy.

Another soft slap lands on my jaw.

I could ignore it, but I have to be precise about what I am doing.

I have no choice but to grasp her hand and pin it to the ground below.

She struggles for a few moments more still.

I ignore her, depositing as much saliva as I can into her wound, and when I lift my gaze back to her face, fear shows through the pain in her eyes.

Fear and…defiance.

It isn’t hard to recognize that emotion. It shines through her eyes even more than the fear.

She is losing energy fast and with a wound this deep, I cannot imagine the pain going through her system. Yet, she looks at me as if the only thing stopping her from killing me is the fact she has no weapon.

She thinks I am about to harm her.

Eat her, maybe?

My lips curl at the thought.

I may look like something otherworldly to these feeble hyu’mans, but I am no savage…at least, not when I don’t want to be.

Does she truly believe I would have carried her all this way just to make a meal out of her?

I snarl at the thought. I cannot help it.

The hyu’mans we’ve encountered think we are beasts. Demons they call us and our assimilation of their language paints a picture that a demon is something bad. Something to be feared.

That is not what we are, but there is no way to convince them otherwise.

It is a wonder two of us have found mates with this kind.

That is only a dream for the rest of us.

For good measure, I dip my head once more and deposit more saliva into the female’s wound.

Her arm tenses as she tries to strike me, or release herself, but I can feel the energy draining from her limbs.

This wound is extensive.

My healing enzymes can only do so much.

I watch as my saliva reacts to her cells, fizzing as it seeps into her wound, and glance up at her. If she can feel the tingling, she does not respond.

She fastens her weak gaze on me, and her eyes roll back, showing a disturbing amount of white. A few seconds later, she focuses on me again.

She is fighting to remain conscious.

Good.

“You fucking aliens…” Lifeblood coats her teeth and her voice is so weak it is almost indiscernible. Water wells in her eyes. “Just do it…If you’re going to kill me…make it quick.”

My ears flick as I stare down at her.

She speaks differently from the other hyu’mans back at the base. Her words flutter across my ears in a way that makes them perk.

“I will not eat you, little fire.” I watch as her consciousness wanes, then returns. “Not yet.”

The last thing I see is the sliver of fear that passes through her eyes before they close, and I am almost sorry for teasing her.

For a few moments, I continue watching her.

Her eyes don’t open again and my life organ does one hard thump.

But there is movement in her chest.

She is not gone yet, but losing consciousness is a bad sign.

Her body is taking too long to heal the worst of the damage.

It won’t be able to react in time to save her. My ba’clan bristle against me, already knowing what I need to do.

There is only one way I might save her.

My saliva will not do much. The only thing that can protect her now must come from another part of me.

My ba’clan.

They bristle again, but I hesitate.

Two of my brethren have mated with hyu’man females by sharing their ba’clan.

If I share mine with this female…

My ba’clan bristle once more and I push the thought out of my mind.

If she was my mate, I would know already.

Something would pull me to her that I could not ignore.

But for this female…I feel nothing.

I want a mate. But she is not mine.

Then…there is nothing to worry about.

So I stretch my hand toward the female’s wound and my ba’clan leave my skin like a thread of dark fluid moving through the air. They seep into the wound, burrowing into the female to the deepest part of her injury, flowing from me in a continuous stream.

And I watch them go.

When enough of them have transferred to her, my gaze falls to my now bare arm.

She needed a lot more than I thought.

It will take a while to regenerate more ba’clan to cover my now bare arm.

That puts me in danger, as well as the female.

My bio-signature is no longer fully cloaked.

I am not afraid of the scourge that walks these lands, but I gave my brethren my word that I would return with this female alive.

That she would be safe.

In that case, heading back to the base now is out of the question. Travelling unprotected with only bring trouble.

I will have to wait.

My gaze moves over the female’s face.

It is lax and expressionless now. Peaceful, as she rests.

The rays of the stars that break through the leaves above us play against her skin, making it glow.

Her skin is darker than the other hyu’mans I have met…but not nearly as dark as mine.

She is the first dark hyu’man I have encountered and I lean closer to peer at her.

I wonder if she is a special kind. Different breed?

From a different region?

Apart from subtle differences, she looks just like the other hyu’mans. But her lips are plumper, her nose not as peaked.

The filaments on top of her head…

I pause, my ears twitching as I lean even closer to the female.

Her locs are small, but similar to mine. Twined on top of her head and adorned with trinkets at the ends like a Vullan warrior priestess.

My ears twitch again at that realization and my gaze slides down the rest of her.

She is also thicker than the other females back at Base Zero. Large mounds on her chest press against the flimsy covering she wears to hide them.

I want to look away…

I should…but…my gaze slips lower to the softness of her belly and lower still.

I’ve seen my brethren mating with their hyu’man mates, but I have never looked at one this closely.

The covering that she wears to cover her lower region does nothing to hide the outline of her thighs.

They form a neat curve that leads down to her legs.

I imagine she is very attractive among hyu’mankin.

My ba’clan bristle against me, bringing me back to the present and I immediately growl at myself…at where my thoughts have gone.

Rek. It.

My gaze falls back to her wound and I see the ba’clan I transferred have settled there.

It’s the best I can do to save her now, but I should cover the area.

Gripping the bandage she’d made, I hold it limply between my fingers.

It is soaked with her lifeblood. Unusable.

But there is that flimsy fabric she wears across the mounds on her chest.

That will do.

Reaching forward, I hook a claw underneath it and try to lift it from her skin.

But some hyu’man magic I cannot understand fastens the contraption.

After three tries, I hiss and split it in two down the middle.

The female’s mounds spring out immediately, brushing against my hand.

Soft. Plump. And heavy.

They bounce with their weight before settling on her chest, one resting against the side of my hand.

I freeze at the sensation, my ba’clan shivering along with something deep within me.

It takes me a moment to regain focus and my ears flick as I growl underneath my breath and pull the fabric from beneath her.

It is hooked over her arms and I have to lift them to release it, those mounds moving as I do.

I try not to look their way, but that is proving difficult with each passing moment.

The fabric is a dark narrow thing, but it will just have to do.

Pulling my gaze away from the mounds on her chest, I tighten the garment around her waist, covering the wound as best as I can.

For good measure, I take out a little disk He’rox, the medic, gave me along with the prototype.

It’s supposed to hide the female’s energy signature and I hope it works as I slip it underneath the bandage and tighten it.

We still have to wait till I regenerate.

Brushing my finger over her new bandage, my gaze falls back to the hyu’man’s face.

I will allow her to distract me no longer.

I must focus on the danger at hand.

Chapter Five

DEJA

It feels like I’m coming out of a deep, deep sleep.

My mind feels foggy, my body aching and weak.

A gentle breeze brushes over my skin and I shiver.

It’s enough to wake me up.

I’m…alive?

As my lids lift, enough for me to see the orange tint of the sky peeking through the leaves above, the weight in my head lessens a little.

I feel frozen in a web of pain. I try to move, to get up, but my body isn’t responding.

My heart thumps against my chest as it all comes back to me.

Images of the alien creature. How it lifted me in the air, one of its limbs piercing my side as it opened its mouth to devour me.

The screams from the other people at the camp.

How the creature let me go and all I could think of was to run.

And then…

The demon.

My throat feels dry and I swallow hard as I blink up at the leaves above me. Through my lashes, they look like an oil painting swirling in the sunset.

Sunset?

My eyes open further.

It wasn’t sunset when I was running.

Time has passed. A lot of it.

Yet…I am alive.

I try to rise, but the pain is almost too much.

The wound is on my side, but every muscle in my body protests and tightens with the movement. I have to breathe in deep, grit my teeth, and force myself to ignore the pain enough so I can see around me.

Bracing on my elbows, I lift my upper body to get a better sense of where I am.

A cool evening breeze moves through the trees and brushes over my skin once more.

I’m naked.

Or, at least, partially so.

My bra is…gone.

It should concern me more, but as soon as I glance around me, what catches my attention is the fact that I appear to be alone.

How long have I been lying here?

And the wound…

My gaze falls to my side, and I blink a few times. The grogginess wears off a little, but I don’t understand what I am seeing.

My bandage is gone, replaced by my bra, of all things.

My head snaps up too quickly, causing it to pound as I peer through the bushes.

The demon.

It must have been him.

He did this.

My ears perk as I look around, squinting through the leaves and bushes around me, expecting to see the dark figure lurking close by.

But the only sound is that of my breaths as they rattle my chest.

The forest is silent.

The alien is gone.

I release a breath, my shoulders sagging, but that doesn’t stop the hammering of my heart against my chest.

This seems all too good to be true.

He didn’t kill me.

I blink at that thought before my gaze falls back to the makeshift bandage.

Why?

I pry the bra down so I can get a better look at the wound, but as I move the fabric, I’m faced with a flat black…thing.

I stare at it for a few moments, my heart hammering harder and harder.

A trembling finger reaches toward the dark barrier and I poke it.

It’s like tar—some kind of thick, almost solid substance that resists when I poke at it but doesn’t stick to my finger.

I’ve seen nothing like it before.

It’s not like mud or any other material I’ve ever encountered.

My heart hammers harder as I look at it.

I have no idea what this black thing is, but whatever it is, I’m not bleeding anymore.

It has to be from him.

I gulp, my gaze darting to the bushes again.

Still no sign of the alien, but every hair on my skin has risen with the knowledge I now have some sort of alien goo on me. Inside my open wound.

Fuck.

Fixing back the bra-bandage in place, I struggle into a sitting position. The movement takes the breath out of me.

“Shit,” I breathe out hard and my throat aches.

I’m in a bad position. A really bad position.

I need to find water. And I need to get out of here before the alien returns.

* * *

FI’ROX

My gaze pulls from my scouting to the female the moment her eyes flutter open.

Her fear scent spikes as soon as her consciousness returns, and even though I am high in the trees, I can scent it.

I slam my nostrils closed.

For all she knows, she is alone. But her gaze darts around anyway as she searches

for something, or someone.

Me perhaps.

I camouflage seconds before she looks up into the trees and her gaze flicks right past me.

Hyu’mans confuse me.

In the dying light, her vision is even worse than usual.

I watch as she investigates herself and when she pokes the part of my ba’clan that’s covering her wound, the others pulse against my skin in response.

Though not together, they are all connected.

Do not worry, I project to them. You will be reunited soon.

The female’s fear scent leaves her in waves as she stares at my ba’clan.

They have fully plastered her wound, stopping loss of her lifeblood, and the fact she’s awake means the healing process has begun.

But she does not know that.

Few of the hyu’mans know or understand the ba’clan.

There is nothing like them in this world.

It’s a curious occurrence for a species that is so ill-suited to its natural environment.

As the female sets the flimsy garment back over the wound and tries to rise some more, my nostrils flare.

I should focus on my scouting.

She cannot go anywhere and even if she tries, I will find her.

Yet, I cannot pull my eyes away from her because she is not lying still.

Why is she moving?

She is injured. Weak.

She should barely have the strength to lift her eyelids.

Still, against the odds, she crawls onto all fours, her round backside turned in my direction as she breathes hard, trying to get the strength to rise to her feet.

I pull my gaze away from her.

I will not let her distract me.

Casting my gaze over the trees, I scan for any movement, hyu’man or otherwise, but when the female below me grunts, I can’t help but look in her direction once more.

She is almost on her feet now, her hands bracing against a tree for stability.

One shaky step forward and then another, I’m caught with two warring emotions: awe and annoyance.

I need her to stay put.

Her presence will be like watching a fledgling while I focus on regenerating so I can get back to the base. But I cannot deny the sliver of respect that winds its way within me.

Begrudgingly, I tilt my head as I watch her take another step.

She is either strong…or foolish.

She’s heading through the trees slowly. Her legs are stiff as she moves, but she takes her time, breathing in measured breaths as she makes her way.

Never stopping, even when her jaw clenches as pain rockets through her.

I watch her go, knowing my ba’clan are numbing most of that pain, but I can feel the remaining symbiotes pulse against my skin with each step that she takes.

One step. And another.

With each step, I expect her to collapse and, even though she is unaware of me, I’ll be there in a second before she falls.

But she keeps on going.

Her grunts are low and almost silent. It is not long before she disappears behind foliage and I lose sight of her.

I move through the trees, careful not to rustle the branches, and soon, I catch sight of her once more.

There is a small water source nearby and through some form of luck, she is heading right toward it.

She pauses and looks up into the trees, her gaze flicking right past me again.

My ears twitch at that fact, but she huffs out a breath, grits her teeth, and continues going.

It’s an arduous journey and I follow her all the way, surprised when she finds the stream through pure determination.

“Thank God,” she whispers, her jerky steps hastening a little.

Her hands tremble as she bends down and scoops up the liquid, washing the lifeblood from her fingers.

Her body quakes and she pulls in a sharp breath, her shoulders shaking as she scoops more water and cleans her fingers.

Quietly, I slip to the ground and walk toward her.

Now I know this is what she needs, I will bring her water.

But I am almost upon her when I realize one thing.

She has bent now, her hands cupped as she brings water to her mouth. She has made no indication she is aware of my approach.

This stops me in my tracks and I glance below me.

A few branches are near my feet and I step on them to make them crack.

As soon as the sound echoes in the stillness, the female whips her head around, her eyes going wide.

A strangled sound cuts off in her throat as she scrambles back, almost falling into the stream as her hands search for something.

Her fingers land on a rock and she grips it, her eyes wild.

They are a deep, deep brown. Almost black, like mine, but without my nightmares swimming within them.

“You,” is all she says, and my ears twitch again.

Her shock wears off quickly and she’s suddenly moving, darting into the bushes.

I bite back a groan.

How the rek does she even have the strength to flee?

She’s gone a few meters before I go after her.

I do not have to run, so I walk, following her path through the trees.

I can hear the grunts of pain that she tries to silence as she forces her body to do what it cannot, and I realize quickly that if I do not intervene, she will hurt herself.

Rek.

I hasten my steps, and a second later, she is in my sights.

As if she senses this, her head snaps around and she catches sight of me.

A scream cuts from her lips as her eyes grow even wider.

She throws the rock at me at the same time that she stumbles over a root, and I move to catch her, dodging the projectile in the process.

She is in my arms before her head can hit the ground, but the feel of my arms around her sets off another reaction.

Her legs shoot out and she kicks, her hands slapping against my chest as we tumble to the ground.

I pull her against me and twist so my back hits the hard surface.

My ba’clan pulse, absorbing most of the shock, but now I have a wriggling hyu’man on my chest.

“Let me go, you abomination!”

Ah’boh’mih’nay’shon.

The word has no meaning in my tongue. The closest I get is…horror.

Ah…she is just like the other hyu’man females at the camp. Fearing what they do not know.

But she is right.

She should fear me.

I am very different from her.

Even now, her fear scent and the fight she is putting up make me want to set her free only so I can chase her down and catch her.

Her wriggling doesn’t slow down, even though I have grasped her tightly and I bite back another growl.

“I am not here to harm you, female.”

She freezes.

The only thing that moves is the heightened rise and fall of her chest.

“You speak English.”

I assume she means I speak a dialect of hyu’man, so I ignore her statement.

“I will release you if you do not try to flee.” I lower my lips to her ear and she stiffens some more. “Because no matter where you run, I will find you.”

I find out at that moment that hyu’mans have a unique ability to vary the size of their eyes greatly because hers grow even wider than before.

Her throat moves and she shudders against me.

“Understand, hyu’man?”

Her throat moves again and she jerks her chin to her chest once.

I study her, but she remains frozen in my grasp and when I slowly release her, she suddenly springs away from me.

Still on my back, my ears twitch as I watch her grasp a fallen branch and point it at me.

She holds it as if she wants to strike me with it.

My ears twitch again as my gaze bores into hers.

That is exactly what she wants to do.

It is easy to read hyu’man emotion. They wear it on their malleable faces, their skin twisting to tell their deepest thoughts.

She shuffles, moving farther away, but she does not run, though I can see every muscle in her body wants to.

Her fear scent is like a perfume floating around her and I remain on my back because any other motion will have me crouching before her, as if I am about to spring on her and attack.

That scent of hers makes me want to hunt something.

Her…and I cannot give in.

“What do you want from me?”

My gaze moves down her body and her breath catches. Fear streaks through her eyes and she uses one arm to grip the mounds that shake on her chest.

Whatever she is doing doesn’t hide them. It only makes them more pronounced.

Confusion mixes in with her fear as she studies me, her gaze moving down my form, lingering on my bare arm before darting back to my face.

The branch in her hand shakes. “Answer me.” It shakes again. “What do you want from me? Why am I here? Why am I alive? Why didn’t you kill me?”

I resist the urge to growl.

She thinks I am a savage. Some horror.

“Do you not want to live?”

Her eyes widen a fraction as if she cannot believe my question and then her brows dive, her gaze becoming like fire pits.

“Do you?”

My ears perk off my head, a jolt of humor—an emotion I haven’t felt in years—striking through me.

Did this hyu’man just…threaten me?

My pupils narrow on her and I sit up.

The movement makes her jerk back and she almost stumbles again but manages to keep standing.

“You did this, didn’t you?” She touches the bandage at her side.

My ears twitch again and I keep my gaze on her.

She is ready to dart off at the least moment. I do not trust that she has heeded my warning.

“You put this bandage on me.” A pause. “Why? What is it?”

She is as suspicious of me as I am of our enemy.

She is wise.

“Ba’clan.” I watch as her confusion mounts. “You were badly wounded.”

Her throat moves again and the branch in her hand trembles.

I do not know how she is still standing.

“Everything comes at a cost.” She whispers before her voice rises. “Why are you helping me? What do you want?”

She points the stick at me and it comes close to my head.

“You’re not human.” Her tone becomes accusing. “You’re one of them. One of those things that came here in their big machines.”

My hackles rise immediately and a snarl rips from my throat, one that has her stumbling backward into a tree.

I rise to my full height, not bothering to disguise my height or make myself look small as I take a step toward her. Her fear wafts into my nose and I struggle to control my reaction, but even my lips have pulled back, my fangs visible.

To be compared to that scourge that has consumed this planet.

Those beasts, the Gryken…

“I am nothing like them.”

She’s not convinced. Her fear says so.

I have to turn away from her as I block my nostrils from the offending scent.

I don’t need to smell her fear right now. Not now, when she is already afraid of me.

My reaction will only get worse and I am already at the edge of my control.

“I am not your enemy, female.”

I hear the bushes rustle and when I look back, she is gone.

Rek.

Chapter Six

DEJA

I am going to collapse soon and I do not doubt that the demon will find me.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck!

If I didn’t have this injury, maybe I could go faster, but every step I take feels like it is killing me, too.

I don’t know where I’m going or which direction I’m heading in. I just know that I have to get out of here.

My breath comes in deep huffs as I run.

I can’t let him catch me again.

He is terrifying.

The blades.

Those fangs.

I saw them. Long and sharp as he towered over me.

The fucking alien is well over seven feet tall and even though I played it like I wasn’t afraid of him, every organ was withering inside me by the second as I faced him.

He could slit my throat in an instant.

He’s faster than me.

Stronger.

There’s no way I get away from him if I face him head-on.

So I have to do the next best thing.

I have to hide.

Only God knows how he escaped that creature at the camp. But he is alone now.

That could only mean one thing.

All those other humans are dead and somehow, he’s come after me.

Fuck!

Hide.

I need to hide.

But the forest is large and open. I don’t know what I might run into.

I glance behind me and terror shoots through me, but I do not see him.

Without a doubt, I know he’s coming after me, though.

I grip my side, trying to hold back the pain as tears gather in my eyes, almost blinding me.

Why am I running?

Why am I trying to live?

My memory shoots back to half a decade ago and images of the car crash, my little coupe mangled on the freeway, the pink and black car seat lying crushed inside the vehicle.

She’s gone…and for the last five years, I’ve wondered why my life was spared.

Why did I get to live, but she didn’t?

Her life had only just started.

The thoughts make me convulse with pain that isn’t physical, and I almost stop running.

She was taken away from me, and I’ve prayed to die.

I just never had the guts to do the job myself.

Even at the end of the world, I have somehow survived when so many others have not.

But now the option is coming behind me.

I could go now. I could let him kill me.

I’d see my little angel again.

So why am I running?

But I push on.

I tell myself I’m doing this for her, because she’s looking down and wouldn’t want her mama to be weak.

I push on.

But the terrain is my greatest obstacle. My legs bend and twist. I fall several times over roots and fallen trees. Branches swat me in the face, in my side, and against my exposed skin.

But I keep on going.

Another breath chokes from me as I try to hurry.

Night is coming.

Literally.

And I’m being fucking chased by the darkness.

I’m surprised I’ve made it this far without him catching up to me.

Maybe he lost his way…and I will soon lose mine.

As the sun goes down, the forest becomes dark.

I can hardly see my way and my strength wanes. My vision blacks out for a moment and I almost collide with a tree.

I have to stop.

Hide.

Ahead, I can barely see it in the lessening light, but there’s a hole in the ground.

Like a cavern that once held a huge boulder.

I head toward it, my head snapping back as I check behind me.

Nothing.

Not even the air moves.

I want to believe I’ve gotten away. I want to believe it with everything within me.

As I approach the hole, it’s clear it’s big enough to fit me. It’s in the side of the mountain and it isn’t hard to climb into it.

Once inside, I see it wasn’t made by a boulder at all.

A large tree root is overhead.

Gripping my legs to my chest, I hold my breath, my ears ringing with that strange white noise you only hear in complete silence.

For it is silent.

Not even the leaves in the trees move.

Eerily quiet.

A few minutes pass by and nothing.

I’m just about to let my shoulders fall when something lands on the root above me.

Thin streams of dry dirt rain down on me and I squeeze a hand over my mouth.

It’s him.

I can’t see him, but I know it’s him.

He inhales deeply and I hear him snarl, a hiss leaving his lips that makes me quake.

For a long, terrifying moment, I wait.

I almost run out from my hiding place. Only fear holds me still.

And then…he is gone.

I don’t dare to breathe.

Did I really just escape him?

* * *

Morning.

It’s here.

My eyes flutter open and I wake with a start as I force the dimness of sleep away from my vision.

At some point, I fell asleep, despite trying my best to stay awake.

Awareness fills me as a sick feeling develops in my stomach.

I’d kept watch for as long as I could. Eventually, the weakness won.

I try not to make a sound as my gaze darts around me.

I’m still in the nook under the tree root. Still in the same position I’d bundled myself in.

I am safe.

By some miracle, I am still alive.

And the alien…

My gaze searches the bushes before me as I strain to listen for any sound.

He is nowhere to be seen.

I send a silent prayer to the heavens for my good fortune, but now that it is morning, I have to leave this place.

Stretching one leg out of the hole, I test the state of my muscles.

I’m cramped and the pain in my side is still there, but not as bad as the day before.

That black goo is still over it, though.

As soon as I’m healed enough, I have to remove it.

Now, though, I need to focus on getting the hell as far away from here as is possible.

That and finding some water and something to eat.

As I crawl from under the root, I move slowly, my ears still perked for any sound. But all I can hear is the noise I am creating. The almost silent shuffling. My breath as it comes through my open mouth.

I’m almost out of the hole when something catches the corner of my eye and I freeze.

There, not far from me, is a…fish?

It’s impaled on a stick that goes right through its mouth and out its other end.

Fresh, by the looks of it, as if it was just taken from the water.

Alarm goes through me and my head snaps from side to side as I look around.

Nothing.

My gaze slides back to the fish.

There’s a circular outline of rocks beside it and I creep closer, my entire body stiff with caution as I look around.

I get close enough to see the circle of rocks holds a large leaf with water in it—the rocks supporting the leaf so the water does not leak.

Another bolt of apprehension goes through me.

Someone clearly left this for me.

I want to imagine that by some stroke of luck, a kind human passed by in the night.

But since the day the world ended, my run-ins with humans have been less than great.

They’d have no reason to help me.

A lump forms in my throat as I stare at the food.

I don’t know why I look behind me. I just do. And fear shoots right through me.

He’s there.

I scramble away from him, my heart in my throat.

Where the fuck did he come from and how did he just appear so fast?

Again I try to find something, some kind of weapon, to hold in my hand. All that my fingers grasp is dried leaves.

The alien jumps from the tree in which he’s perched in one fluid movement.

He takes a few steps towards me, then stops moving.

He is so still, it’s like even the particles of air around him cease to exist.

Fuck. Was he there all this time?

My eyes widen as realization hits.

Last night, when he landed on the root above me, he didn’t leave like I thought he had.

He’s been here the whole night.

A strange sort of fear goes through me. One that I have never felt before.

I’m wounded and even if I try to run, he will catch me anyway.

There is no doubt about that now.

“What do you want from me?”

He never answered the first time. He just stood there, staring at me.

Those dark cobalt eyes of his are like deep pits I could fall into and perish.

They should scare me more than they do right now.

I am scared.

But I stand despite the pain in my side and the weakness in my legs.

I stand and face the demon before me.

My chest heaves as we face off.

If he’s not going to kill me, why won’t he leave me alone?

He still hasn’t answered my question, and he is so still, I wonder if I imagined asking it.

“What do you want?” I cannot imagine what it is. A part of me doesn’t want to know. My question does garner a response, though.

His suit moves. Like a wave over his skin.

It is strange and hard to explain.

Did he hear me?

I’m sure he did.

Does he understand me?

I’m sure of that too.

His English is good. Far too good.

Gravelly and spoken with a strange accent, but good enough that I know understanding isn’t his problem.

How he can speak our language, however…that’s something else.

He’s obviously not of this world.

He is other.

For the first time since yesterday, I stand and take a good look at him.

My five foot seven puts the top of my head at his chest.

He’s huge. Massive.

The muscles under that dark suit of his, bulging.

His suit is missing on one arm and his charcoal skin soaks up the light of the sun.

Ridges run all along that arm to disappear underneath the suit, and even with the pitch black of the suit itself, I can see there are more ridges all over his body.

Behind that suit, I can see his face is sculpted with sharp angles and as my gaze flicks over him, those eyes of his narrow on me.

I gulp.

This is what it feels like to be in the presence of a predator.

I should run, but I am frozen.

Running from him hasn’t done me much good.

I swear the ridges over his forehead shift as my eyes rise higher to land on his thick locs. Bound and secured away from his face, his hair is a few shades darker than his skin.

He is night.

Big.

Terrifying.

Angry.

Darkness.

He’s still not moving, but I have seen what he can do in the blink of an eye. How those blades can form on his body in an instant.

“What are you?”

Somewhere in the forest, a bird twitters.

So focused on him, the sound makes me jerk, but the alien doesn’t react.

“I am Vullan.”

He does not move over to me and I’m happy.

“Vullan,” I murmur. “That’s your name?”

His ears twitch.

They’re pointy at the end and just as dark as the rest of him.

“Eat,” he says.

I blink at him before my gaze flicks to the fish and the water.

I don’t know how to react to the fact that he’s brought me food.

“Eat,” he repeats.

I’m frickin’ dying of thirst and I eye the water, keeping him in my peripheral vision as I do.

He still does not move, so I move closer to the leaf and bend down enough to take a sniff.

I can’t tell if there’s anything wrong with it and if he’s laced it with position, there sure are a hundred other ways he could kill me much quicker.

Shit, he could have killed me while I slept in my hole, thinking I was safe.

That doesn’t mean I trust him, though, and I look back at him as I lift the leaf.

I don’t take my eyes off him as I tilt it and let the water drain into my mouth.

The liquid feels so good against my aching throat, I could cry.

I want more, but this will have to do for now.

As I lower the leaf, the alien watches my movement.

He brought me fish and water.

I do not understand.

“Why are you here? What do you want from us? From me?”

“Nothing,” he says. “We are not here for you.”

We?

I glance up at the sky and shiver a little.

Those big machines.

They’re certainly here for us.

When it all began, I was downtown. People were snatched right in front of me and deposited into the bellies of those huge metal things. They vaporized the rest. I was lucky to get away.

“We are here to destroy them.”

His words make my eyes snap to him and my whole body tenses.

He’s still standing so silently, unmoving, that even with the morning sun around us, he looks ominous.

“Them?”

“The Gryken.”

I immediately think of that creature that attacked me and I shift a little.

He doesn’t look like that species at all.

That one was gray. Its limbs long and jointed.

Its head big and bloated.

Like an octopus, but moving like a spider.

It was strange. Creepy.

Terrifying.

It is clear this alien before me is from a different species, at least.

An enemy to the gray ones, maybe?

But that doesn’t mean he is a friend.

“You are here to kill the gray ones…” I whisper.

“Correct.”

A sliver of anxiety, or maybe excitement, goes through my belly as I study him.

He still hasn’t tried to venture closer to me and I appreciate the distance.

“What about us? Are you here to kill us too?”

His nostrils flare. Visibly. And memory of how he transformed into more of a terrifying killing machine comes racing back.

“No,” he finally says, and my shoulders relax a little, tension I didn’t know I had releasing.

The pain in my side pulses and I glance down, expecting to see a fresh set of blood, but I’m greeted with that black coating.

No blood is there except for the blood that dried on my skin earlier.

I have so many questions.

“Who sent you?”

But when I look up, there is no one there.

Alarm goes through me as I glance around.

No one is there.

It is as if he was a figment of my imagination.

The fact he moves without me hearing creeps me the fuck out, and I move so my back is turned toward the hole I hid in.

He’s like smoke, drifting silently through the air.

One minute he’s there, and the next, he’s gone with the wind.

“Alien guy?” My voice moves through the trees in a sort of way that makes me know I’m alone. “Vullan?”

I rise a little but the pain in my side pulses and I have to settle back down.

I should keep still, but the alien’s sudden appearance and now disappearance have every single cell in my body on guard.

I don’t know what to think or what I should do.

If aliens are here fighting aliens, are we caught in the middle of some space war?

If so, why are those machines destroying everything we’ve built. Everything human society has ever known?

It makes little sense and my apprehension won’t let me believe it.

I can’t trust him.

But since it’s obvious I can’t get away from him, I might as well take another tactic.

If you can’t beat them…you join them…until you can beat the shit out of them.

And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

Chapter Seven

FI’ROX

I stayed guarding the female all night, not daring to leave her alone.

I told her not to run.

She has no idea how close I came to…

To what?

I climb the tree quickly, turning the thought over my head.

I have to check on our surroundings and the best way to do that is from high in the trees.

I reach the top and look out over the forest.

All seems fine.

The Gryken have not destroyed this section of the planet like others I have seen.

There is still some wildlife here…sea creatures in the small body of water I found during the dark cycle.

Last night, when I found her hiding in her hole, it took everything within me to turn away.

For the first time in many moons, I hunted.

I sated the need suddenly coursing through my veins, set alight by the scent of the female’s fear.

A need to hunt and to claim.

It is only through that hunt that I came upon the small body of water with the sea creatures.

It is only because I was far away from her that I cleared my head.

Far below, I know she remains. Not running this time.

Good.

I need to return to the base. Deposit her so I can investigate the meaning of the Scrit I saw with the red veins spreading across the ground.

But my ba’clan have not regenerated yet.

My arm remains bare.

Why?

They pulse against me. A comforting squeeze. But that doesn’t answer my question.

It doesn’t take me so long to regenerate.

It never has.

Slipping down the tree, I land loudly. Loud enough for the female to hear me, and her head snaps in my direction.

She has eaten the sea creature…or, at least, parts of it.

There is no fire for her to kill it a second time. I am surprised she has even eaten it at all.

Her arm wraps around her mounds as soon as she sees me, and I resist the urge to let my gaze fall to them.

She is a very suspicious female…that is what she is.

And why is she…

My ears perk off the sides of my head, flicking in the air as her lips twist into a smile.

She is experiencing joy…directed at me?

My ears flick again.

“Thank you,” she says.

My lips pull back and I snarl. What sort of deviousness is this?

Her smile falters, but not all the way. “Thanks for saving my life.”

My nostrils flare as I inhale deeply.

Fear scent still present though not as much as before.

“I am sorry about earlier, too. I’m just not used to…your kind…but it’s clear that you mean me no harm.”

The last few words aren’t said with as much confidence, but she meets my gaze. Unfaltering deep brown eyes.

I can’t help but tilt my head toward her.

Maybe she has come to her senses and realizes I am not planning on eating her.

Good.

The sooner she—

“Vullan,” she says.

“Hyu’man?”

“Let’s make a deal.”

* * *

DEJA

I am in no position to strike up a deal here.

I am obviously the disadvantaged one, but when the alien merely twitches his ears, I get the confidence to continue.

Those dark eyes are on me, as if I am his complete focus, and it’s utterly unnerving.

I don’t break his gaze, though.

The last thing I want is to show fear around this…thing. Whatever he is.

Humanoid enough that he could pass for a freakishly big man wearing some sort of suit with special effects. But even that description cannot trick my mind that he is anything but other.

“What happened to the rest of them? You’re friends with the girl, right? Sam? I saw you at the camp. Why are you here with me and where is she?” I gulp, hoping he doesn’t say the most likely explanation.

Before that alien creature attacked the camp, there was a short woman there. Sam, she’d said her name was. She’d mentioned her soldier friend.

I had no idea she was talking about a fang-baring, blade-wielding, well-over six-feet-tall alien built from dark matter.

“That doesn’t sound like a proposition to me.” His voice is so deep, I have to focus on what he is saying and not the tone that vibrates through the air.

“Well, I can’t make a deal until I know what I’m working with.”

Translation, I can’t keep running away from you because you’re going to catch me.

Essentially, I’m a prisoner without chains.

“Sam is at Base Zero. Safe,” he says.

That deep voice of his. The strange accent. The way he pulls out the words in that unnatural way. It catches me off guard again.

“Base Zero?”

“A haven.”

I blink at him, my mouth opening a little but I have no words.

“A haven for humans…and my brethren too,” he continues

“There are more of you?” I whisper.

He doesn’t answer for a few moments. “If I tell you no…will you be less afraid?”

I gulp, my shoulders stiffening some more. “I am not afraid.”

He tilts his chin upward as his gaze scans through the leaves before he focuses back on me.

Unless he can read my mind, he can’t know I’m lying, so I harden my gaze and meet his.

“There are several of us,” he finally says. “And I am not a friend of your Sam. She is my brethren’s mate. They sent me to track you down.” His gaze falls to my side. “I will return you to the base when it is safe to travel. For now, we must wait.” His gaze pierces mine. “And you must not run.”

He takes a few steps in my direction and suddenly he’s right before me.

I stiffen as he crouches before me and reaches for what’s left of the fish.

Eating it raw was hard. I had to swallow and try not to taste the rawness.

As I watch him, though, he uses a claw to pluck some of the flesh from the bones.

The claw stretches toward me and my eyebrows shoot upward.

“Eat,” he commands. “This creature has died for your sustenance. Do not let its sacrifice go to waste.”

I blink at him, my gaze flicking back to his claw.

I reach toward him and take the meat from his fingers.

In one movement, I throw it into my mouth and swallow before the rawness spreads across my tongue.

He does it a few more times, taking everything except the guts and skin and I’m surprised at how deftly he can work his claws.

They’re sharp, no doubt.

I’m sitting stiffly. With him so close, I don’t even want to breathe and I can’t help but stare at him.

So this base that woman was talking about…it’s real?

And they survived the attack of those creatures.

There’s a funny feeling in my stomach.

Maybe I’d been a fool to run away.

“So…what you’re saying is that you’re a good guy…”

His gaze snaps to mine.

This close, I wonder what he looks like underneath that mask.

It’s so dark, it creates shadows, and I’m not sure exactly what I’m looking at.

But those eyes…

It’s like he’s stripping me naked and reading my soul.

It’s hard to keep his gaze, but I somehow manage to.

“Good?” He pauses, reading me. “I said no such thing.”

My brows shoot up immediately.

I’m supposed to make a deal with this guy?

The fuck have I gotten myself into?

Chapter Eight

FI’ROX

She is wary of me.

I admit I am not helping in that regard.

In some part of me, there is an urge to tease the female. She gets heated and something deep inside me flutters with every interaction between us.

But, despite this strange feeling, I cannot lose focus.

I am a Vullan on his own outside the base. I cannot let my guard down. The fate of my people and the female depend on it.

My ba’clan pulse against me as I move through the trees.

I have not gone far from the female, just far enough to find some more prey for her to consume.

Unlike in the night, when I found myself near the waters, I cannot go that far this time.

She is stronger today.

She might run again.

I climb one of the taller trees so I can see over the forest and when I reach above the undergrowth, my ba’clan bristle.

It’s easy to see why.

Far off in the distance is a Scrit.

So far that its massive size is skewed.

A tremor goes through me, a fire igniting within as I focus on the central thought that has dominated my mind for what feels like eons.

A need burns within me.

A need to kill.

Destroy.

I am sorry it was Ga’Var who got the chance to kill the beasts that destroyed the female’s camp.

I would have liked to soak my claw in Gryken blood.

But the Scrit in the distance is not moving.

Just like the one I passed on my way to find the female, this Scrit stands still.

Another bristle moves over my skin.

Something is not right.

Slipping down the tree, I make a move in the machine’s direction when I pause mid-step.

I cannot just leave the female here.

She will die without me.

My ba’clan pulse this time, as if agreeing.

I am not a savage.

Even I, who will possibly never find a mate on this world, understand the need to protect females.

I will simply have to investigate the Scrit later.

I’m about to head in her direction when I hear movement in the undergrowth.

It’s the discreet shuffle of a small creature hurrying to get away.

Perfect.

It seems I will not have to go far to find the female food.

I catch the creature with little effort and hold it up by its long, skinny tail.

It squeaks at me and wriggles, trying to get away.

It is a tiny thing. But plump.

Plump enough to give the female some sustenance.

I would kill it now, but possibly the female will want to do the honors herself. So I head back her way with the creature’s tail held firmly in my hand.

This time she hears me coming, thanks to the creature’s squeaks, and her eyes do that widening thing when she sees what I have in my hand.

Her mounds are no longer bare. She has removed the garment from her wound and tied it around her teats, hardly covering them, but somehow preventing them from bouncing every time she moves.

When I stretch the meal toward her and she jerks back.

“Wha—What do you want me to do with it?”

I thought it was obvious.

“Eat, female.”

Her face scrunches, the lines on her lips coming together most peculiarly.

“Mm-nhm.” She shakes her head and the trinkets in her hair jostle, making a tinkling sound.

The word does not translate. I do not understand it.

Possibly, she would like me to kill it for her?

She has no claws.

“I can’t eat that rat—mouse—whatever it is.” She sticks her short tongue out and her chest heaves as if she is about to empty its contents. “I can’t eat that.” She shakes her head again and glances at me. “You can have it.”

Her chest heaves again, but she tries to hide it this time.

This is…displeasing to her.

For some reason, that displeases me, and I crouch, releasing the little creature, which scampers away with haste.

“Thank you,” she says and when I look at her, I note her chest is no longer heaving.

“There is nothing to thank me for, female.”

Her attitude has changed. Just last night, she would have struck me with a branch.

I narrow my eyes as I regard her. I do not trust her.

“Dey-jah,” she says, her brows twisting a little. She’s still looking at me strangely, caution in her eyes, but now there is something else too. Curiosity. “My name is Dey-jah.”

Her designation is…beautiful. Two parts, like a Vullan name.

It is not hard for me to say. “Dey’jah.”

Her eyebrows lift a little and she jerks her chin slightly.

She’s looking at me now as if waiting for something and moments pass between us in silence.

“It is nice to meet you, Vullan.”

“Fi’rox,” I say, and my ba’clan bristle.

Visibly so.

I am sure she notices, but somehow she keeps her gaze trained on mine.

“Fi’rox is my designation.”

Telling her my name feels almost too…intimate.

All this time around the hyu’man females back at the base, I have watched from afar but never approached them.

They call us “demons”, whisper it, unaware that we can hear them as loudly as if they were shouting.

I had gotten used to that moniker.

Just as this female thinks of me as the “horror”.

“Fi’rox.” Dey’jah jerks her chin toward her chest one more time and I mimic the action.

Her lips twist a little. A smile.

It catches me off guard and I growl.

The small twisting of her lips disappears and I turn away from her as I stand.

I do not think a female has found humor with me in a long, long time.

Twice now, this Dey’jah has.

I do not…know what to think of it.

“We must move,” I say. “We cannot stay in one spot.”

And I need to find out what the rek the Gryken are plotting.

“Okay,” she breathes and rises slowly.

She smiles at me again and my nostrils flare as a sliver of something sparks within me.

My pupils narrow as I regard her.

Another smile?

I do not trust this new Dey’jah.

Chapter Nine

DEJA

We’re making our way through the forest. I have no idea where we’re heading, but if I know one thing, I know the alien, Fi’rox, is right about not staying in one place.

Unless it’s a particularly good spot, we have to keep moving.

We need shelter. And food.

Or, at least, I need food.

I still haven’t seen the alien eat anything. Nobody can blame me for thinking he might have wanted to eat me.

I’m still not certain he doesn’t.

Progress is slow. We pick our way through the bushes and now and then, the alien stops and listens.

It’s all silent to me, but I get the sense that he can hear much better than I can.

No, I don’t get the sense. I know he can.

Whenever he pauses to listen, I do the same.

I’m walking behind him, a stick in my hand to help me make my way.

I’m pretty sure we could be moving much more quickly. Before we set off, I’d gotten the feeling he was about to lift me again. So I’d promptly stood on my feet.

The more distance I put between us, the better.

I still don’t trust this dude. A little more than before, yes, but still not entirely.

I want to ask him how he came to our planet and why the war between his kind and the gray ones is happening here.

Why Earth?

Why not somewhere else?

But I don’t say a word.

He is silent as he walks. Impossibly silent. Not even the bushes rustle as he passes them.

Meanwhile, every twig that snaps under my foot sounds like a loud firework broadcasting our location, and my gaze darts in his direction.

But even though those dark eyes don’t look back at me, it feels as if he’s still aware of my every movement.

So, I focus on his back.

The muscles there flex as he walks, and I frown as I watch them move.

I can see every groove under that suit. This close, every contour is available for my eyes to digest.

If he was human…he’d be a frickin’ sexy specimen.

He has the type of muscles most men dream about.

I’m staring at his back when he stops abruptly.

If I was walking normally and not limping along, I might have collided with him.

His head turns slightly as he glances back at me.

“Shelter,” he says.

My gaze darts around him, but I can’t see anything I’d class as shelter.

In front, all I see are bushes.

“If you see shelter, then we should go. It’s going to rain soon.”

The chill in the air and the skies growing increasingly gray are enough indication that it is going to rain pretty hard.

But the alien doesn’t move.

He’s still looking at me as if weighing something.

“It is human shelter.”

Human shelter?

Does he mean like a house?

My heart thumps and not in a good way.

Few humans are left roaming and most of them that are free aren’t the good kind.

If he’s found some sort of abandoned house that has nobody in it, that would be like winning a jackpot.

He’s still looking at me. It’s the longest he’s looked at me since we set out. “It might attract more of your kind.”

He’s right about that too, but a chilly wind passes over us and I know we don’t have a better choice.

We have to go to the house.

He must see the decision in my eyes, for he turns and continues walking again.

I follow, hastening my footsteps now and in the next few minutes, the forest just stops and we’re on a road.

Well, in a parking lot. An empty one.

Across the parking lot and wide road is a wooden cabin-type house.

A visitor center.

The sign at the front is still standing, but hesitation fills me.

If there are humans in there…

I should go first.

I take the first step from the forest edge and I just pass the alien when a hand tightens around my arm.

My eyes dart back to meet pits of darkness and I feel Fi’rox’s skin, or suit, or something, shiver against my skin.

“You stay here.” He steps in front of me before glancing back. “And do not run.”

He still has his hand on my arm, and I simply nod before he releases me.

I’m about to tell him it would be better for me, a human, to enter the building first, but he’s already gone.

I can only stare at his wake.

He doesn’t go straight to the building. Instead, he moves back into the forest.

I’m confused until I see him appear about a kilometer down the road.

He crosses it and disappears into the forest on the other side.

Smart.

Better to approach from the back than to walk right up to the front door.

I can’t see him anymore and I wait nervously, my eyes on the visitor center.

He’s left me alone.

I could go now.

Head back through the forest.

Lose him.

The pain in my side isn’t so bad anymore. It still twinges when I walk, but it’s way more manageable than it was the day before.

I don’t know how and I’m not going to question that good fortune.

I could go.

But head where, Deja?

I have no idea where the fuck I am.

Now isn’t the time to be an idiot, and I’m no fool.

So I wait.

I step back into the cover of the forest edge and I wait for that demon pain in my butt to reappear.

Chapter Ten

FI’ROX

The female better not run.

I cannot see her from my vantage point behind the structure, but if I approach from any other way, I risk being seen before I can determine whether we are alone.

So I creep toward the back of the structure.

I could camouflage. I will if I need to. But I am taking enough time regenerating. I do not want to waste energy on something that can be done the old way.

Hyu’mans are not very aware of their surroundings. I can creep up on them and they would not know of my presence until it is too late.

I rely on that assurance as I creep forward, my eyes on the building.

The structure is crude.

Old.

Its walls made from dead trees found in this same area.

I can still scent the sap that lingers in the fibers.

As I get nearer, I open my senses, but nothing comes to me.

No beings, hyu’man or otherwise.

That is not to say all is clear.

The entrance to the structure is open and I slip through it, my eyes adjusting quickly to the lack of light within.

It appears we are not the first to have ventured into this building.

The inside has been pillaged.

Strange hyu’man items are strewn about the floor everywhere.

I step over them, careful not to disturb a single one, and move till I am standing in the center of the room.

I sense movement close to me and a blade forms on my arm without me needing to send a mental command.

But it is simply one of those plump forest creatures—the one the female refused to eat.

I stare at it and its beady eyes study me before it scampers away.

At least she will not have to go far to hunt.

There is a second room at the back and I creep toward it, but there is no one there.

The structure appears to be safe.

I must tell the hyu’man.

No sooner am I out of the building than my ba’clan bristle, my hackles rising immediately.

Dey’jah is running.

Troublesome female.

But the thought cuts off the moment I realize she is not alone.

A snarl leaves my lips as I crouch, pushing power into my legs as I leap into the air.

For Dey’jah is not running away from me. She is running to me.

And behind her, the predator that’s chasing her is going in for the kill.

* * *

DEJA

It came out of nowhere.

All I had was the split second when it snarled behind me.

The sound startled me, and I fell, tumbling down the short incline to land into the parking lot.

That’s the only reason the creature missed when it pounced. But as it turns toward me again, I know my luck is about to run out.

I’ve never been face-to-face with a mountain lion before, and it turns out they are way bigger than they look on TV.

“Shoo!” I swipe my stick at it, scrambling backward, trying to get on my feet, but all the animal does is hiss at me.

“Shoo” doesn’t work on large cats. It doesn’t even work on flies.

The mountain lion doesn’t flinch. Instead, it bares its wicked fangs, and I get the impression it hasn’t eaten in days.

I’m not about to be its next meal.

I make it to my feet as the animal stalks me and when I swipe at it again, it pauses and hisses at me once more before taking another slow, stalking step toward me.

I know it’s about to pounce. I can see it in the way it’s set its body, and dread fills my soul.

Whether there’s someone in that building, I have to get my ass in there.

I don’t have to question that decision when the animal suddenly attacks.

All I can do is swipe the branch in its direction one more time as I try to run away.

The branch snaps as wicked teeth sink into it and the creature grips the wood and pulls, almost yanking me to the ground.

Letting go of the one thing I have to fight this animal, I turn toward the building, and I run.

I can hear the creature behind me. Each slap of its paws against the concrete is silent, but its growls aren’t.

It’s so close. So very close. But I’m almost across the road now. I just need to get inside that building.

Terror, not adrenaline, fills my veins, pushing me forward and I don’t know what I expect to see, but the tall dark figure of the alien I’ve been travelling with appears on the building above the road.

“Fi-roxxxx!” I scream his name just before the fear coursing through my veins closes my throat and all I can do is run toward him.

I can make it. I can—

But I don’t get the chance to.

I stumble. Somehow, I fucking stumble and it feels like slow motion as my body is thrown forward. My arms are the only thing I can outstretch to break my fall, and I don’t even feel the pain as they connect with the asphalt below me.

Shit.

I try to rise. I don’t have much time. The mountain lion…

But a dark blur suddenly materializes through the air, stopping my thoughts. It passes right over me like a shadow, and it takes me more than a second to realize just what—or, rather, who—it is.

The alien collides with the creature in mid-air and they both go rolling across the asphalt, a yelp piercing the silence as the animal hits the ground.

I’m on the ground too, but I scramble to my feet, my chest heaving as I turn to look behind me.

Fi’rox is on top of the mountain lion, his back and his arms all filled with dangerous, sharp-tipped blades.

He roars into the animal’s face and I swear I hear the mountain lion whimper as it struggles to free itself.

I have to help Fi’rox.

Glancing around me, I look for something to use to defend us, but another glance in Fi’rox’s direction tells me he doesn’t need my help.

I stop, transfixed at the scene before me.

Fi’rox is now all spikes.

All of him.

A sharp-tipped spike grows from every free space on his back. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.

He growls now as he pins the animal down, an arm raised with a spike longer and more lethal-looking than the rest pointed at the mountain lion’s head.

And then…he freezes.

He stares at the animal, and when I turn my gaze to the creature, I can see the fear in its eyes.

It’s an emotion I know well. To see it so pronounced in the eyes of a wild animal…

As if it knows that in one move, Fi’rox could slice its head off clean.

He’s had no trouble subduing something that would give any human a hard time to pin down.

It’s clear the strength, the danger that surrounds him, and I feel the mountain lion’s panic as it struggles to get away. The animal lets out soft whimpers I’ve never heard any animal make before, as if it knows this is the end, that it’s about to be killed and it’s begging for mercy.

It creates a conflicting feeling within me. I should have no pity for this thing when it just tried to kill me.

Fi’rox glances my way, his gaze moving over me as if he’s checking that I’m alright, and the fact makes a surprising tingle of warmth go through me.

“Did the creature hurt you?” he growls. His voice is deeper, more gravelly than usual, and I stammer as I try to form a coherent sentence.

“N—No. I’m fine.” My heart is running a marathon but apart from the injuries I had before and the scrapes along my elbows from falling on the asphalt, I’m happy I’m still alive.

Fi’rox presses into the animal a little more and the mountain lion lets out a loud whimper so heart-wrenching I can’t admit I’m not sorry for it.

“Don’t—” I pause. “Don’t kill it.”

I’m not sure he hears me.

He isn’t moving and he doesn’t turn to look at me either. So, I remain transfixed, staring at him.

The mountain lion gives another attempt to free itself to no avail, another heart-wrenching whimper leaving its throat.

It was just hungry. Like I am. Like we all are.

I gulp, waiting as the seconds tick by until one by one, the blades all along Fi’rox’s back disappear, leaving only those along his arms and that deadly one he has pointed at the mountain lion’s skull.

Slowly, he rises, releasing the animal.

Apprehension shoots through me, but the cat doesn’t attack.

Instead, as soon as he releases it, it scrambles to its feet and runs away, dashing across the parking lot and back into the forest.

I don’t know what to say as I watch it go. My heart’s still thundering in my chest as I turn my gaze to the alien.

The last of his spikes flatten as he approaches me, those pits of his engulfing mine.

He sniffs the air as he approaches, his nostrils flaring as he comes to tower over me.

“Your words were not true,” he growls. His voice is still gravelly, coarse, like he’s fuming inside and when he grabs my arm, it’s so sudden, a little yelp escapes me.

It’s a reflex, pulling my arm away, but he holds me fast as he turns my arm enough to reveal my elbow.

He inhales again and his suit ripples as a snarl appears on his lips.

My eyes are wide, my mouth suddenly dry as I stare up at him. But his gaze is focused on my arm and when I look down, I’m greeted by the redness of my own blood.

I stripped off my elbows when I fell.

“You lied,” Fi’rox growls and I swallow hard.

“I…didn’t. You asked if the mountain lion hurt me. It didn’t. This was just because of me falling.” I try to pull my arm away again but he doesn’t let me.

For some reason, the way he’s looking at my blood with those wicked fangs of his exposed makes my heart skip a beat.

“It’s fine. Really. It’s just a surface wound. I’ll fix it once we get inside.”

There’s silence as Fi’rox’s gaze slowly slides to mine and once again, my heart skips a beat.

I can see my reflection in his eyes and I don’t like what I see.

I look small. Weak.

My heart continues to hammer against my chest as I keep my gaze on his, a lump forming in my throat at every second that he says nothing but continues to stare down at me.

Slowly, and I think almost carefully, he releases my arm, his gaze still on mine.

“You should enter the structure now.”

I blink at him.

“Why?” Stupid question. I don’t know why I asked. I guess I’m trying to understand what the hell’s happening and my mind can’t process it.

“Rain,” he says.

And sure enough, at his utterance, the skies upon up as if they have been waiting for his command.

Chapter Eleven

DEJA

The rain shoots down in heavy drops that make a satisfying drumming against the roof.

It’s been trashed in here.

Whoever passed by before us took any and everything they could find.

I don’t put it against them. I would have done the same.

The only thing I found were several tins of tomatoes, a few tins of sweet corn, and one tin of baked beans. They’d all rolled under the counter, so I assume the last person simply missed them.

I’m holding the tin of beans, searching for a tin opener and chewing my lip as I try to take my mind off things.

Meanwhile, Fi’rox isn’t helping in that regard.

He stands in the center of the room watching me and I wish I had the space to think.

Since those orbs fell from the sky, it’s felt like the world is moving too fast, and I don’t understand what the fuck is going on.

My body aches, my elbows burn, and it’s hard to ignore the pain as I search for the tin opener and any other useful items.

As I move around, I’m aware of Fi’rox’s gaze tracking me like a predator watching prey. And it’s clear he’s even better suited at hunting than a frickin’ mountain lion is.

He’s built like a predator. There is no doubt that if his kind existed on Earth, they would have been the master race.

We humans would never have reached the top of the food chain.

“What do you need?” He suddenly speaks and the deep sound of his voice makes me jump out of my thoughts.

“Nothing.” I shake my head at him before I rest the tin on the counter.

He sniffs loud enough for me to hear it, making my gaze slide to his.

Those deep eyes of his engulf me immediately and I feel like he knows I’m lying.

I dart my gaze to the tin on the counter before I release a breath.

“Okay. I need a tin opener.” I gesture to the tin. “This is food, but it’s no use to me if I can’t open it.”

Maybe if I find a rock outside I can bash it till it opens? That might work.

His gaze slides to the tin, and he stalks forward, lifts his hand, and pokes a claw right into the top.

My mouth opens and I slam it shut as he uses his claw to cut a hole in the tin.

I can only jerk my chin at him to say thanks as he pushes the now open tin gently toward me.

See? I think to myself. He’s like some superhuman.

Yet, with all this power, he hasn’t hurt me. Not even once. Not even by accident.

I pause at that thought, my gaze flicking back to the alien before me.

“You let the mountain lion go,” I say, and in his usual form, Fi’rox does not respond.

“Why?” A pause. “I thought you were going to kill it.”

I don’t know when I moved from trying to kill this demon to trying to understand him.

His ears are flat against the sides of his head, but they twitch a little.

“It was not evil. Merely hungry.” He pauses. “And you requested it.”

My brows lift.

“So you spared its life…because I asked you to?”

He doesn’t answer.

I really don’t understand him.

One moment he’s telling me he’s not good. The next, he’s acting…humane.

“And what if it had attacked me? Killed me?”

I want to take back the question the moment I ask it, but the words are already out of my mouth.

This alien owes me nothing, and he has made it pretty clear that we’re not friends. He’s simply “escorting me to the base” because it’s some duty of his. Nothing else.

“I would not have let it kill you.”

“Yea…but if it did…would you have still let it go?”

He studies me for a moment, and his ears twitch again before he pushes the tin of beans closer to me.

“Eat,” he says.

I do not think I will get an answer out of him today.

* * *

One thousand, four hundred and forty minutes.

It sounds like a lot.

But it wasn’t nearly enough.

One thousand, four hundred and forty…

That’s all it took for the Earth to fall.

I pull my legs toward me as I sit on the floor of the back room.

The place is quiet.

I am alone, and these are the thoughts that rise.

I never imagined this was how the world would end.

But then again…five years ago, my world ended in another way.

A breath shudders through me and I push back the rising emotions.

I’ve gone over it many, many times.

Over and over again…

There was nothing I could do to stop that man from falling asleep at the wheel and swerving into my car.

Nothing I could do…

Just as there’s nothing I can do now.

The world’s ending a second time, and once again, it is out of my control.

Absentmindedly, I swirl my finger in the tin of beans before bringing some to my mouth.

My elbows ache with every movement of my arm and I grit my teeth against the pain.

There’s nothing I can do about it. I could make a bandage, but ripping more clothes when clothing is scarce seems like a stupid idea.

Taking some beans into my mouth, I chew as I pull my legs closer to me. It’s cold in here.

Below me is a layer of new t-shirts I spread over the visitor center’s flyers. I found both in the main room, knocked to the floor by whoever was in here last.

I’ve pulled a t-shirt over me as well, but it does nothing to keep out the chill.

So I remain in the corner, curled up, eating my beans, and thinking.

Fi’rox is right. There’s a high chance that any humans who come close will check out this place.

I assume that’s why he’s outside.

In the rain.

Keeping watch.

I shiver against the cold and focus on eating the beans.

I need energy to heal so we can head to that base he was talking about.

If there is really such a place.

I can’t decide what to believe with this alien.

If there’s somewhere to hide from these machines, somewhere they can’t find us, it would be the only haven on Earth.

It is almost too good to believe…because there is nowhere else to go.

You can run, but they eventually find you.

The thought makes a lump form in my throat.

I’ve really just been one of the lucky ones.

My hand brushes over my side, over the dark patch the alien put over my wound.

Merely touching the spot doesn’t hurt anymore and I wonder about the dark substance.

…I wonder about him.

I wonder what he’s doing out there.

Thunder rolls and the rain continues to beat down on the aluminum roof. The steady pitter-patter repeats in my ears as I stand and head slowly toward the back, setting my tin of beans on the counter.

The door that leads out back is still slightly open and I pull it back just enough for me to step outside.

The rain is beating down hard and the roof overhang is the only thing protecting me from the torrent.

It’s a thick gray sheet in front of me and I wrap my arms around myself as I step into it.

The ice-cold of the raindrops jolts me at first, but I adjust quickly, tightening my arms around myself as I look around.

He’s not out here.

I can’t see him anywhere.

There’s a staircase that leads to the roof of the building. Maybe there’s a viewing platform up there. I might as well go look.

Blouse now soaked, my body shivers as I head in that direction.

At some point during this ordeal, I must have gone mad.

I don’t know why the fuck I’m seeking the alien out, but when I get to the platform and look through the gray haze, there is no one there.

I should have stayed the hell inside.

But despite the ice-cold, there’s something nice about the rain. Something cleansing.

I tilt my head up and the raindrops beat against my face.

For the first time since this all began, I stop for a moment.

I stop thinking.

I stop worrying.

I simply close my eyes and…feel.

“Deja.”

My eyes fly open and I spin to find Fi’rox directly behind me.

My heart thumps at the sight of him so close and I’m once again reminded of how silently he moves.

“You are wet,” he says, his gaze slipping down me and when he pauses at my breasts, I look down too.

I’m wearing a white t-shirt in the rain and it's plastered against my skin. For the first time, I wonder what I look like to him.

I’ve been so concerned with what he is…I forgot that to him, I’m an alien too.

“You must go back to the shelter.”

I shake my head. “You’re keeping watch. I don’t mind doing the same.”

If he wasn’t here, there’s no way in hell I’d be just sitting in a back room curled up and eating beans.

I’d have been perched at a vantage point, too.

I shrug to disguise a shiver. “Plus, you’re wet, too. It’s nice to feel the rain on your skin sometimes.”

I turn away from him and head toward the front of the platform that looks out over the road.

If the rain wasn’t falling so hard, I might be able to see out far into the forest from here.

I don’t know Fi’rox is following me till he appears by my side.

I glance up at him, rivulets running down my face, and his dark gaze meets mine.

I’m getting used to this alien, aren’t I? He doesn’t scare me as much as he should anymore.

But he’s staring at me so intently, I only realize he’s watching the raindrops on my skin when his gaze follows one running down my cheek.

I wasn’t wrong about it feeling good.

Despite the chill, this is the most alive and at peace I’ve felt since the world fell.

But as he watches me, Fi’rox’s suit suddenly cracks at the top.

No…cracks isn’t the right word, but even as I watch it, I can’t describe what the hell is happening.

At his crown, the suit opens and sort of…dissolves into his skin.

It happens slowly, moving down over his forehead, his ears, his nose…down, down…

I stand speechless as it reveals his face to me and…

“God…”

Fi’rox’s lips twist a little. “No,” he says. “Demon.”

I blink at him.

Does he know I call him that?

But I can’t even speak.

I knew the pitch black of his suit would distort the lines of what’s underneath, but good God…

Fi’rox is…devilishly striking in a strange otherworldly type of way.

Like…I know I’m staring at something, no, someone who is much more advanced than I am physically and someone who isn’t Earthly at all.

He is sculpted like God took time making his species, while he played with putty while making ours.

I can’t pull my eyes away from him.

Ridged chevrons form paths across his entire face.

Down his slightly flattened nose, down his high cheekbones, down his firm chin. They have a lighter underside that makes it look like he’s wearing war paint and without the ultimate pitch-black of his suit, his eyes don’t look like soulless pits anymore.

He’s caught me off guard and my mind scrambles to find something to say.

I can only stare as he tilts his head to the raindrops in much the same way that I did.

I blink at him, watching as the raindrops run down his perfect, charcoal skin.

Unlike me, he doesn’t close his eyes and when he looks back down, an almost-see-through membrane disappears into the sides of his eyes.

Caught staring, I snap my head around and look through the haze in front of us.

“Why did you come here to fight? Who sent you?”

Maybe he won’t answer my questions aga—

“They destroyed Edooria. We could not let them destroy another world, too.”

Edooria?

I look up at him, but he is staring off into the distance as if he’s looking at something out there.

I look in that direction as well, but all I can see is the haze.

“Your planet?”

“My home.”

I’ve never heard emotion in his voice before; yet, something about his tone makes my heart clench a little.

“We came here to stop them,” he says. “We were too late.”

“Stop them?” A wry smile twists my lips. “We tried stopping them. Missiles. Bombs. Air raids. I heard that Russia and China even launched nuclear weapons.” My chest twists at the thought.

How many people died while we tried to stop the invasion?

My life was already hanging by a string, but I lost everything I ever knew.

Everything.

Home and family are no longer things I allow myself to think about.

Thinking about the past only brings pain.

Why am I alive and not them?

“What makes you think you can stop them?”

I’m glad it’s raining. Glad the pure raindrops are disguising the tears that have suddenly come into my eyes.

“This.”

I sniff as I look up at him and when he gestures with his hand to something on his side, I finally see the thing he’s talking about.

His suit moves away from over it, revealing what looks like a weapon of some sort.

A gun, maybe.

“This is a prototype,” he says, “but it means we are moving toward winning this war.”

He looks out into the haze, in the same direction he was looking before, and his lips pull back, his fangs becoming visible.

His entire body tenses and small blades form along his arms as his suit suddenly moves upward to cover his head once more.

His eyes are murderous as his nostrils flare.

Whatever is out there is what he’s after. And I know exactly what that is.

Those horrible, gray creatures.

I have no doubt now they’re the ones controlling the huge killing machines.

I stare into the distance as well. The world out there is being destroyed and in this alien’s hand is the thing that will probably put a stop to all this.

I don’t know why I trust what he says, but…I do.

“We will not let this world fall.”

His words are like a promise.

We are standing in the rain together. Two beings from different worlds, but right now we’re on the same plane.

I’ve wondered why I’ve been kept alive. Why I’ve survived.

Maybe this is the reason.

What other purpose do I have? Everything I’ve ever cared about is gone.

I look up at Fi’rox and his gaze shifts to mine.

“How can I help?”

Chapter Twelve

DEJA

Fi’rox crouches across from me on the floor in the little room.

The rain is still beating down hard outside, the haze blending in with the night.

I grip the tin of beans in my hands as I draw my knees up under the fresh t-shirt I pulled over myself, my wet clothes discarded and hung over hangers in the front.

My gaze slips to the alien as I hook my finger and bring some more beans into my mouth, trying not to wince because of the ache in my elbows.

It got too cold for me so I had to head inside. He followed shortly after.

It’s not safe for us here, but he said he’d know if anyone comes near.

I just have to trust that is true.

“You have made a nest,” he says.

A nest?

I wouldn’t call it that.

He’s crouched across from me, and I wonder why he doesn’t sit, but he looks comfortable crouching the way he is. Everything about him is so…different. Even the way his suit looks dry while my clothes were completely soaked.

He watches me eat, his gaze following my hand as I hook my finger and get more beans before depositing them into my mouth.

It dawns on me that he may want some.

I stretch the tin out in his direction and he jerks a little, his ears coming off the side of his head in such a way that I almost laugh.

He’s surprised I’m sharing with him?

I jerk my hand again. “Here. Take some.”

His ears twitch and he sniffs the air, but he doesn’t move to take the tin.

He must be hungry. It’s been two days.

“It’s only beans.” I move toward him and it’s not till I’m right in front of him, hooking my finger to get more of the beans from the tin, that I realize how close to him I’ve come.

I pause, my previous reservations resurfacing. But Fi’rox doesn’t move.

I don’t even hear him breathe.

Clearing my throat, I lift my finger and hold it up to him.

He doesn’t even look at it. His gaze is completely focused on mine and for a second, I see the folly in what I’m doing.

I just assumed…

Earlier, he offered me the fish in much the same way. Maybe that’s how they do things on his planet?

“You probably don’t eat beans.” I try to cover my blunder and move away, but a strong hand suddenly closes around my wrist, stopping my movement.

He’s touching me with his bare arm, the one not covered by his suit, and I could swear the bandage on my side pulses and ripples. Or probably it’s just my beating heart because it’s suddenly thundering in my chest.

“You do not know what you offer.”

Beans?

I’m offering beans.

But I don’t think it’s wise to talk. I’m not sure my throat will even work.

And the way his eyes are boring into mine…

He inhales deeply again and a little shiver goes through his ears.

“Look, you don’t have to eat it.”

“I am not sure I’m supposed to want it.”

My brows furrow a little and I swallow a hard ball that forms in my throat. Well, I’m not so sure he’s talking about beans here. “You’re not sure if you’re supposed to want the beans?”

“No.”

What the hell’s that supposed to mean?

“You mean human food? What do you usually eat?”

I have yet to see him ingest anything and the longer he goes without eating is making me nervous, to be honest. What if I was right about him wanting to e-eat m-me—

His tongue slides out so slowly that even my thoughts stutter.

It’s not how slowly it’s moving either…

It’s just that…

My gaze becomes frozen in place because his tongue…it just keeps on coming.

Unnaturally long and unnaturally thick—for a tongue—, Fi’rox stops just as the tip of his tongue reaches the few beans on my finger.

He’s still not looking at the beans. His gaze is still focused solely on me.

And I’m spellbound.

As if that pause was him giving me a chance to pull away, he suddenly closes the distance, and the tip of his tongue curls around my finger.

I jerk.

There’s no way I could keep still as the warmth of the thick organ spreads right through me.

He licks the beans off clean before slowly releasing his grasp on me, and I force myself to react normally.

“Well, that’s one way of eating it,” I chuckle, one that comes off more high-pitched than I wanted, as I avert my gaze and clear my throat. “You can have the rest of it if you like.”

I jerk the tin toward him, but a low rumble that mixes with the heat I’m still feeling around my finger is all that meets my ears.

When I lift my gaze to his, his ears flick again and with his face so hard to read, I wonder what that singular movement means.

Averting my gaze once more, I move back to my spot across from him and clear my throat again.

He doesn’t say a word and I pull my legs up under the t-shirt to gather some warmth.

The silence is almost deafening and as I open my mouth to speak, Fi’rox beats me to it.

“This is your nest…and you offer me sustenance.”

I glance up at him. “Yeees…?”

My eyes dart to the side. Is there something I’m missing here?

“Do you want me to rek you?”

“Huh?”

“Fuh’k, you humans call it.”

My gaze widens and I blink at him a few times. “What?”

“Do you want me to mount you?”

He’s not using the right words, yet it makes something tingle inside me I didn’t expect.

Mount?

God knows that shouldn’t peak my interest. I’m not an animal.

“What?” I repeat, stupidly. “No, I do not want you to fuck me.”

Why would he even think that?

But what’s worse is I’m suddenly aware of something I’ve conveniently ignored till now.

Fi’rox is male.

A big, strong, seven foot tall hunk of alien male and I am a woman that’s been half-naked around him from the start.

Could we even have sex? The thought didn’t cross my mind.

A sense of mortification fills me.

“My God,” I whisper.

Fi’rox growls but I can’t bring myself to look at him.

“Even though my sazi demands it, I will not mate with you.” He pauses. “We are not bonded.”

Everything he’s said is so loaded, I blink several times as I take a few moments to unpack it.

“Sah…zi?” I glance at him.

His ears twitch.

“What’s your sazi?” I’ve never heard that word before. It’s certainly not English.

Fi’rox’s ears flick again as he slowly dips his head.

I don’t understand what he’s doing till I realize he’s staring at his crotch. Head still tilted down, his pointed gaze abruptly finds mine.

“Oh…” I slap a hand over my mouth, my eyes wide as my gaze falls to where he was looking.

Because of the shadows, I can’t see anything and I’m not sure I want to.

Shit.

He’s talking about his…thing. No doubt that’s what he means.

I don’t even know how to respond. I never thought we’d be discussing sex—a day ago, I thought he wanted to kill me—but now that the seed is in my mind, my gaze slides down his form, and a flutter forms in my chest.

HOW?!

No.

Nooope.

We’re not going there.

I won’t even let those thoughts take root in my mind.

“Tell me about the base. Tell me what I need to do to help,” I say, quickly changing the subject.

Lucky for me, that was the exact question Fi’rox needed to start speaking.

For the next few minutes, I listen to him.

He tells me about the base and the mining they’re doing. Of the weapons like the one he carries that they’re developing to take down the machines.

He tells me that the number of humans they’ve rescued is growing and that with the prototype, the retaliation will soon begin.

But throughout his speech, I can only think of a single thing.

The fact he just alluded to “mounting” me.

Like from behind or…?

When he tells me of the two humans who’ve mated with his kind, how one of them helped take down a machine even before they had the prototype, my ears perk.

“Wait…mated? You mean…two of your kind have…done it with two of my kind? Two humans?”

“Yes.”

I blink at him.

I want to ask him how, but again, I’m not sure that’s a road I want to go down.

“You should gather what you can from this shelter. Your human brethren will be thankful.”

I nod at him. I was going to do that, anyway.

“Rest now,” he says, rising. “We leave for the base as soon as we are fit to travel.”

I watch him go, even more questions than before in my mind.

Pushing the now empty tin of beans away from me, I curl up on the floor, my eyes on the half-open door that Fi’rox just stepped out of.

He’s become more humane to me in the last day. Talking to him…he’s not the monster he seems to be at all.

He’s…intelligent.

I’m safe, I’m fed, I’m sheltered and there is hope for the future. A base with other humans where I’ll be safe and more of his kind there to help protect us.

It almost seems too good to be true.

Lifting my finger, I stare at it.

I can still feel the warmth left from when he licked me, and the sensation of his tongue as it brushed against my skin.

Shaking my head, I brush away the intrusive thoughts and pull my legs closer to my body.

Focus on healing.

The faster I get better, the sooner we can go to that base.

Chapter Thirteen

FI’ROX

I do not know what has come over me, so I head back outside the building to stand in the rain, climbing up on the roof as we were before.

The darkness is here now, and it envelops me.

I welcome it.

Maybe it will remind me of what I am. Of the reason I am here.

No mate has called to me, and I tell myself I do not need one.

So why did the female’s innocent offering of sustenance create a sliver of pleasure within me?

When I took her finger against my tongue, why did the feel of her skin make me want to taste more?

As I stare into the darkness, images of Edooria’s fall replay in my mind.

That is why I am here.

I failed to protect my kin. My home.

I watched it all fall.

And my punishment is to do everything I can, even if it means giving up my life, to make the Gryken pay.

The pleasure of a female…a mate…is off limits until I serve my sleekt and fulfill this task.

But Dey’jah…

I growl as I think of her.

I should not be surprised. A female who goes against the odds to remain alive is obviously one that will test my strength. My faith.

And at some point, I have gone from thinking of her as just a task I have to complete to thinking of her as…

As what?

I know the moment it happened.

It was when that furred creature chased her.

She did not run toward the cover of the bushes.

She ran toward me.

The fear in her eyes, the surprise as she saw me come to her aid…

At that moment, the dynamic between us shifted.

And…I do not know what I am supposed to do about it.

She offered me food while in her nest—a custom Vullan females perform when in heat and they wish to mate.

But I scented no arousal.

Interest, but not arousal.

She did not know what she was doing.

I should have denied her.

My ba’clan bristle against me, disagreeing with that thought, but I know I am right.

Dey’jah is not my mate.

If she was, the ba’clan would have told me so.

That’s reason enough to put distance between us again.

And…reason enough for me to push her from my mind.

Yet…I see her there. Those large mounds and their dark teats are imprinted in my vision.

The way they move…the weight of them…the softness…

She is soft all over.

My sazi throbs again and I hiss.

Unacceptable.

I am reacting like this because Dey’jah is the first hyu’man female I have had such close contact with. And she will be the last.

Once I bring her back to the base, she will join the hyu’man nest and keep away from us like the rest of her kind does.

I try to push her from my mind again as I stare out into the darkness.

The heavens are still raining down and the haze reduces the visibility even more.

But I know what is out there.

From here, I could see it clearly.

The Scrit I spotted earlier.

The one not moving.

Dey’jah is unaware.

In this hyu’man shelter, she would almost seem…safe.

But I’ve spotted the enemy. I know safety is simply a facade.

We must move soon.

I glance down at my arm. Still not regenerated.

It is worrisome.

It is taking too long.

I might have to take the chance and head back without being fully cloaked.

Slipping from the roof, I head back inside.

I’ve been gone for several hours now.

Dey’jah should be resting. Unconscious, hopefully.

I do not want to face her again. Embarrassment fills me from my behavior earlier.

When she looked at my crotch, my sazi was so hard I almost extruded.

I am relieved when there is no sound when I enter, and I believe I am right. She must be resting.

When I creep toward the nest she’s made, I spot her in the corner.

My ears twitch.

She looks so small.

She’s tucked her body into a ball wrapped within her garments, but even doing so, she shivers in her sleep.

A growl threatens to leave my lips.

She is cold.

I turn back to the larger room, my gaze searching the darkness for some form of warmth-giving item.

But there is none.

There are archives strewn across the floor, strange artifacts against the walls, but nothing that will give her warmth.

Heading back to the room, I move to stand over her.

Her eyes open suddenly and her breath hitches in her throat. She winces as she jerks upright—a sure sign her body aches—but in the next moment, her shoulders relax.

“Why the fuck are you creeping up on me?”

There’s that word again.

Fuh’k.

I thought I’d made it clear my sazi will not join with her suu’ci—even though it’s throbbing again at the mere sound of her voice.

“I am not here to mate with you.”

Her eyes widen as I crouch before her.

“What? I didn’t say—”

“Be still.” I settle beside her and freeze.

I am not sure what to do now.

I never cared to watch how Fer’ro and his hyu’man, Adee’ra, comfort each other, but she seems to crave his touch all the time.

Right.

Dey’jah has no ba’clan. Nothing to regulate her temperature and keep her warm.

I will have to share my warmth with her by taking her into my arms.

I stretch toward her and pull her to me, but she jerks against me and, as expected, she pushes back, wriggling and wincing as she fights me.

“Let me go! Just what are you doing?!”

“Be still. I will not harm you. I have not and I do not intend to.”

Those words make her pause, but she’s still stiff against me and those disturbing whites of her eyes are huge as she stares in my direction.

“So…what are you doing? Why are you grabbing me?”

“You are cold.”

An eyebrow raises. “And you are…”

“Trying to keep you warm. But you are a stubborn female. From the start.”

She rolls her eyes. I cannot explain it any other way. The whites turn over, and the pupils disappear for a moment. It makes my ba’clan shiver in a disturbing way.

“I don’t need you to keep me warm.” She looks away from me. “Maybe we should stay away from each other.”

It is my turn to stiffen, but even though she tries to hide it, another shiver goes through her and she winces as she tries to release herself from me.

She is in pain, uncomfortable, cold, and is hiding it.

Even if she is not my mate, I am doing a terrible job of caring for this female.

“Are you going to let me go?” she asks.

There’s a tone in her voice that I recognize well.

I am not the only one battling this changing dynamic between us.

Dey’jah does not want me as much as I know she is not mine.

Then, we must compromise.

“We will make a trade.”

Her eyebrows move again. “What trade? I have nothing to give you.”

“I will give you my warmth. All you have to do is comply.”

“That doesn’t seem like much of a trade at all. What do you get out of it?”

I do not know how to reply to that. I simply want to ease her discomfort. So I remain silent.

Dey’jah shivers again and stares at me. Even this close, I doubt she can see me well. Her eyes are so wide, it’s clear she’s having trouble picking up any light.

“Fine,” she says, and stops trying to escape my arms.

I grunt.

I’ve gotten her to acquiesce.

Leaning back against the wall, I pull her with me.

She is still as stiff as the bark of a tree but she allows me to move with her and when I settle, she remains with her head and back arched off my chest.

For the next few minutes, we sit like that in silence and I watch the thoughts and hesitation flick across her eyes.

I am not a monster. Not a demon.

My kind is not as terrifying as she thinks. Not to those we wish to protect.

I want to tell her this, but a part of me knows saying such things will be in vain.

So, instead, I stay as still as possible and it pays off. Slowly, her weight settles on me as she relaxes, as if the thought of coming close to me still makes her uneasy and she wants to stay away.

She finally makes it though, and tentatively rests against my chest. She is still stiff, so I do not move and it takes more than a few minutes before her soft body completely relaxes.

It feels like she melts into me.

It’s an unnatural sensation, very different from how she felt when I was carrying her.

“I’m beginning to think you are like the Night Fury,” she whispers suddenly and her voice makes my ears perk. It is soft. Like her.

“Night Fury?”

“Yea. A black dragon in an animated film.”

“Dragon?”

“Yea, like a big lizard that breathes fire.”

“I do not breathe flames.”

She chuckles.

It makes her body jerk against mine and I’m suddenly aware of every curve of this little human against me.

“Yea. You haven’t done that yet but you’re all big and bad and dangerous and terrible…and mysterious…”

I wonder where she is going with this. Her compliments don’t sound like compliments at all.

“But inside you’re just a softie.”

I growl. “I am not soft. You are.”

And she chuckles again.

It’s a lovely sound. One that makes something flutter within me.

All my senses are telling me to push her away. She is getting too close.

But another part of me…

She’s settled against me, and I finally tighten my arms around her to keep her close.

I’m only keeping her warm.

Nothing else.

Nothing…else.

Chapter Fourteen

DEJA

I wake with a start, my body jolting into consciousness and the aches make me wince immediately.

Strong arms tighten around me and then I remember where I am.

In Fi’rox’s arms. Against him. His hard body underneath mine.

His suit feels like velvet and he is warm. Really warm.

I don’t feel so cold anymore.

Or alone.

I can still hear the rain outside. It’s a comforting continuous beat that’s probably the reason I dozed off.

I certainly didn’t intend to fall asleep in his arms. My plan was to get warm enough to cuddle by myself.

But here I am.

He’s unexpectedly comfortable, and I don’t want to move.

I shift a little though, pulling up my legs so I’m in fetal position on top of him.

He’s not moving and there’s a steady rise and fall of his chest.

He’s asleep.

The longer I spend around him, the more I think that maybe he’s not so different from me after all.

He certainly isn’t the demon I thought he was.

And maybe, he and his people are the exact secret weapons we need to help us survive this.

He said he’s not good…but I don’t think he’s bad either.

Holding me like this, he’s certainly not terrifying.

Maybe that’s why two humans have mated with his kind.

My mind flicks back to that short girl we found at the camp. Sam.

I wonder if she’s one of the one’s that’s mated with his kind.

If some of us can go as far as to have sex with his people, how bad can they be?

My palm is resting against Fi’rox’s chest and I can feel the ridges underneath his suit. I trace them without thinking.

They’re carved into his flesh.

I expected them to feel coarser than this.

I can feel them running in a path up his chest and my fingers follow with light touches to the top, right to his collarbone, where they skim over the taut muscles in his neck.

I pause, but he’s not waking up, and my curiosity about this being, this male, is rising the more time I spend with him.

The hesitation I feel is quickly pushed back as my fingers skim over his throat and upward.

His jaw’s as firm as it looks, and I ease up as my fingers move higher to reach those pointed ears of his.

They’re firm too, like a harder version of the cartilage in my own ears, but velvety.

I’m just about to pull my hand away when Fi’rox grabs my wrist.

My breath hitches in my nose. I’ve been caught.

But he says nothing and each second that passes between us has the breaths in my chest coming harder and harder.

There’s no light in here.

I can’t even see his expression—not that I’d be able to read it, anyway.

“You’ve been awake all along, haven’t you?” Embarrassment makes my stomach twist.

Fi’rox shifts and I realize at that moment that in my search to satisfy my curiosity, I’ve turned around so much I’m basically straddling him.

I quail and try to slide off him when his other hand settles on my bum, holding me in place.

My eyes widen. “Um, Fi’rox…?”

“Don’t move.”

The darkness shifts as he leans closer to me. I only know because I sense movement.

“I can’t see you and it’s kind of…” Unnerving?

There’s a rumble in his throat.

“Do you want me to bare myself?”

My eyelids flutter.

I’m not so sure what that means.

Is he asking if I want to see him naked?

The straightforwardness of that question is jolting, but I have to remember that not everything is as it seems with this alien.

His customs, his understanding of things, are different from what I’m used to.

“You’ll take off your suit?”

He shifts again and I move with him, my body swaying on top of his.

“You are interested in my form.”

My cheeks heat. So he was awake. Of course, he was.

Why did I think he was sleeping when he blends into the night and I couldn’t see a thing?

“Here.”

I feel it move.

His suit.

Like a wave underneath me that undulates.

I can barely make out the lines of his face, but his ridges seem to get brighter as my eyes adjust.

“Your ridges,” I whisper. “They’re glowing kind of. Are you doing that?”

“Yes.”

I’m in awe, and without thinking, I lift my other hand to touch his cheek. But I pause just before my fingers make contact.

“Do you mind if I touch you?”

There’s a rumble in his chest and he doesn’t reply immediately.

“No.”

I gulp as my fingers make contact.

“You’re…beautiful.”

He freezes.

His body, his hands that are holding me, everything is rock, and I know I’ve made some mistake.

He leans closer to me, close enough that our noses almost touch before he releases my wrist.

I’m staring into the darkness of his eyes and my breaths refuse to form.

He’s almost…too much.

I was terrified of him not long ago. Now I’m caressing his cheek.

I don’t understand what’s happening to me. And whatever it is, it’s happening quickly. Much more quickly than my mind can keep up with.

As if my body knows it, the wound in my side pulses. Or rather, the dark substance plastered there does.

My heart thunders in my chest and a fluttering begins in my belly as I inadvertently lick my lips.

There’s another rumble in Fi’rox’s chest and I know he just watched me do it.

The thought makes a strange flutter go through me.

Ok. Whatever this is, it needs to stop.

Wincing, I slide off him and this time, he lets me go.

I can feel his eyes on me as I scramble a few feet from him and place my back against the wall.

The cold doesn’t hesitate to envelop me immediately, and it just reminds me of how warm and comfortable it was in his arms. Biting my bottom lip, I shiver and wrap my arms around myself, wincing again at the pain in my elbows.

My skin feels tight there, and every movement makes me aware of the injury.

It’s more annoying than the more serious wound on my side.

“You will become cold again.” Fi’rox’s voice echoes in the dark.

It sounds like he is all around me, even though I know he isn’t.

“Yea, but it’s okay. You can’t be comfortable holding me like that for hours.”

The only response I get to that is a low rumble that could mean anything.

“And you ache.” His voice has gotten even deeper.

“It’s really nothing. I’m alive. That’s all that matters.”

There is silence on his side, but then the darkness moves and suddenly he’s before me.

The sudden movement causes me to inhale sharply.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

“Let me heal you.”

Without another word, Fi’rox lifts my arm, and I let him.

He’s noticeably gentle with the way he touches me. I know, because I’ve seen what he can do. This hand touching me now doesn’t feel like the same one that wrestled with a frickin’ mountain lion.

He touches me as if he’s afraid I will break.

It makes me gulp and remain silent, my eyes wide as I try to see what he’s doing.

I sense when he moves and I don’t know exactly what position he’s in until something warm runs along the wound on my elbow.

A breath hisses up my nose as I jerk my arm away, but Fi’rox pulls back gently, preventing me from pulling my arm all the way back to my side.

“Deja,” he growls, pulling out my name in that strange way he does. “Let me soothe you.”

I open my mouth to answer but I am speechless. I can only freeze again when that warm thing runs along my elbow again.

I know what it is. I’ve felt it before.

His very long, very thick, very warm tongue.

“W-why are you licking me?”

“I am healing you.”

I blink and force down the lump in my throat as he releases my arm and lifts the other one. Not a muscle in my body moves but I jerk as soon as his tongue runs along my other elbow too.

The warmth of it. The slight coarseness…

No way is this appropriate.

“You’re healing me by licking me?” It sounds ridiculous but the elbow he just finished licking is tingling and is already not hurting as much as it was before.

“My enzymes will heal you,” Fi’rox murmurs.

He releases my arm and I think he is done when he suddenly grasps my thighs and pulls me forward. It’s disorienting in the complete darkness and a little yelp escapes me. I’m suddenly on my back, my thighs straddling his and I feel when he braces over me.

“What are you—”

“Healing you,” he murmurs low. “I wanted to do it before.” He pauses and I can’t not be aware of the fact that he is settled between my legs. I’m not wearing any panties!

“I was concerned you might think I was trying to eat you.”

My cheeks warm. I did think that. But this…

“This doesn’t feel like you’re healing me,” I whisper.

Fi’rox grunts and he appears a little clearer before me as the undersides of his ridges light up.

I don’t get any warning before his head dips, my thigh is lifted, and that warm tongue of his makes its way down the length of my leg.

It takes everything within me not to squirm.

It feels good. Really good.

It shouldn’t feel so good. Should it?

Fi’rox growls, sending vibration straight up my leg and my entire body heats.

This is surely not right.

“M-my leg doesn’t n-need healing.” I stutter as he runs his tongue along my skin again. He’s making it really hard to focus.

“You have many small abrasions. I hear you wince each time you move.”

True but…does it warrant this?

“Yea but…”

“Hush, Deja. Be still.”

I gulp and squeeze my eyes shut, my palms turned into fists as I struggle not to squirm at each swipe of his tongue.

And when he lifts my other leg and does the same thing, it takes everything within me to keep myself from quivering.

Each swipe sends a tiny lightning bolt straight down to my core and I realize with dread that what he’s doing is…turning me on.

I’m silenced at that, my eyes wide as I stare at him.

And when he growls against my skin before finally setting my leg down, all I can do is continue to stare at him.

Fuck.

I’m frickin’ glad he can’t read minds, because not even I want to face the thoughts circulating in my head.

But as if he can indeed read what’s on my mind, his tongue swipes out of his mouth in a long slow lick as he licks his lips, his eyes on me and a heat within them I’ve never seen before.

Chapter Fifteen

DEJA

Fi’rox leaves me alone for the rest of the night, even though he’d noted I’d be cold. But I can’t complain.

There is no way I could rest in his arms after he’s had his tongue running across my body.

I can still feel it, as if he’s still licking me and sucking against my skin, and my eyelids flutter at the memory.

And the aftermath? Amazing.

It’s like I’ve taken some paracetamol and the pain that was causing me to wince with every movement has been dulled.

He really has healed me.

My gaze slides to the partly open door and I wonder how far he’s gone. Light is slowly seeping into the room and it’s clear we’ve survived the night—mostly because of him.

He’s spent the greater part of the night outside. Watching. Waiting.

Keeping me safe.

Pulling myself to my feet, I head out the door.

The visitor center’s main room is just as it was yesterday—a blend of chaos. Everything disturbed.

I glance around, but the alien isn’t anywhere to be found and with the constant shower of rain still coming down outside, it would be stupid to go out there once more and get myself wet.

My clothes from yesterday are still soaked and I don’t have many options.

Wrapping my arms around myself, I note the fact that my body doesn’t ache with every step, and when I look at my elbows, I see they’ve already scabbed over.

My eyebrows lift as I run a finger over the scab.

Fi’rox is…utterly amazing.

Everything about him.

It makes me curious about him. His species. Where he’s from. What it’s like there.

But those questions will have to wait because I’m alone.

Moving over to the counter, I take up one of the tins of sweet corn. As with the baked beans, I have nothing to use to pry the lid open. When I check the other tins, I realize they all are like that.

Maybe the last person didn’t miss them. They simply left them behind.

I’m biting my lip, wondering how I’m going to open the tin when there’s movement in the corner of my eye.

Fi’rox stops as soon as I snap my head in his direction and then he stalks slowly toward me.

I can feel my cheeks warming as he comes close. That gaze of his is unnerving, as if he can read my every thought and I’ve never been subjected to such intensity in any man’s eyes.

Without a word, he takes the tin from my fingers and pries off the lid before sliding it back to me.

I lick my lips, “Thank you,” and Fi’rox follows the movement of my tongue, making me even more aware of the tension between us.

“See anything out there?” I ask, trying to change the focus between us but his eyes don’t leave my mouth and I’m aware of that as I bring some corn between my lips and chew.

“Danger is always close by,” is all he says, and my shoulders droop.

“When can we leave for the base then? I feel better with your…healing.”

Fi’rox’s gaze flicks to mine and I’m once again arrested by it.

“Not yet.” He looks down at his arm, the one that’s still partly bare and my gaze follows.

“How much longer do we stay here?”

“That is a question I wish I could answer.”

He seems confused about something, in the way his ears flick a few times as he stares at his arm. So I decide that since he’s in a talkative mood, I might as well ask the questions on my mind.

“What’s your planet like? How far away is it? How did you get here? A spaceship? Did you know about us before you came? Is everyone on your planet like you? Or are there like other apex predators that give you competition? And how can you speak English? Have you been to Earth before? How did you learn the language so quickly?”

Fi’rox’s head snaps up from my first question and his ears flick with every other question that blurts from my mouth.

I know I asked a lot, but he doesn’t answer even the first one.

Instead, his ears flick again and a weird sound emanates from his chest.

It starts low before getting louder. Like the deep purr of a cat…only…it’s coming from him.

My eyes fasten to his chest but I can see nothing moving on it, and as he leans forward on the counter till his face is right before mine, my breath stops in my throat.

“You are curious,” he says.

I gulp. “I find you interesting.”

“Me?”

I gulp again. “Yes?” I whisper.

His eyes do a strange thing. That membrane I saw the other day slips across his slitted eyes and his ears shiver at the sides of his head.

He stares at me for more seconds than are polite and I wonder if it’s just an idiosyncrasy of his or if all of his fellow men are like that.

“Edooria is a dark planet,” he suddenly says and I try to hide my excitement at the fact that he’s speaking. “Our star is not as bright as the star this planet follows. Our world not as thickly populated with plants on the surface.”

He pauses, his gaze moving over my face.

“Like you, my kind, the Vullan are the only apex predator on our world. But like your planet too, we have…creatures. Dangerous ones like the furred creature that tried to eat you. And large, deep bodies of water with even more dangers.”

I remain still, captivated with the picture he’s painting.

“Edooria is many, many systems away from this world. After this war…we will not have the resources to return. Our ship is not equipped for a journey back.” His nostrils flare. “But there is nothing to return to. Everything is gone.”

I study him, waiting for him to continue. Not wanting to interrupt now that he’s being so talkative.

“We did not know of this world when we chased after the Gryken.” He pauses again. “After they landed on our planet, after they destroyed us, they simply…left.” His gaze bores into mine and he grows silent again. But behind his eyes, I can see that he’s not staring at me anymore. He’s reliving whatever horrors he saw.

I can imagine exactly how he feels. I’ve lived through similar, and without thinking, I reach forward and touch his arm that’s resting on the counter.

His suit moves under my palm and he jerks a little, his gaze landing on my hand.

“You no longer fear me,” he says.

I blink at him before shaking my head slowly, the beads at the ends of my braid jostling against my back.

He’s right. I’m no longer do.

Like the mountain lion. Like every human and animal on this planet. Like me…he is a victim too.

A victim of these monsters that have descended upon us.

I give his arm a little squeeze urging him to continue and when he meets my gaze once more, than intensity is there again.

“Your species,” he says, “is…unlike anything we have ever encountered. You are soft all over. Weak. Ill-suited to the very environment you adapted to conquer.”

I can’t help but frown at him and he watches the lines on my forehead move as if it’s a strange phenomenon.

“But you are tenacious.” His ears flick as his gaze falls to my lips, and his focus makes me lick my lips.

Bad move.

Wrong move.

There’s that purr again. Low and deep, coming from his chest.

Fi’rox jerks away from the counter and the low purr suddenly cuts off.

“What’s that sound mean?” I whisper.

His shoulders are rising and falling and I realize he’s breathing harder than usual.

“Deja,” he whispers back. “I feel the need to hunt.”

The way he’s looking at me, a tingle goes down my spine.

He’s looking at me as if I’m the thing he wants to hunt.

Shouldn’t that make me afraid?

Instead, that tingle is making every nerve ending in my skin hyper aware.

“Hunt what?” I whisper back.

Fi’rox stares at me and I know I’m right about the answer.

Me.

He wants to hunt me.

My eyes widen a little at the realization.

But before I can react, he’s gone. A dark blur as he moves out of the room, through the back door, and back into the rain.

I’m left blinking at the half-open door, not sure if I should rejoice or be disappointed that he’s gone.

Chapter Sixteen

DEJA

The day moves slowly and Fi’rox does not return.

I busy myself with searching every nook and cranny of the visitor center.

There’s a bathroom I didn’t notice before and I’m lucky the water still works in there. I take the time to clean and relieve myself.

Soon, dusk comes and I grab another tin of sweetcorn and head to the back room.

It’s awfully quiet and a part of me wonders if Fi’rox has left me.

He’s gone to hunt. I remind myself. I don’t know how long that takes. Best not to worry.

So I try not to and curl up in the corner of the back room as the light of day slowly dies.

It’s still raining cats and dogs and with the night closing in, I’m already getting cold.

Setting the tin down, I wrap my arms around myself and try to retain as much heat as I can.

I’m rocking back and forth when Fi’rox suddenly appears in the doorway.

His sudden appearance makes my heart lurch. I wouldn’t have even known of his arrival if I hadn’t positioned myself in the corner so I can watch the entrance. Regardless, the sudden joy that goes through me at seeing him makes my face light up immediately.

“You’re back.”

“I never left,” he says as he enters the room. He moves till he’s standing not far in front of me and I have to tilt my head back to look up at him.

“You didn’t hunt?”

His ears flick and he crouches before me.

“I am not allowed to hunt the thing I want.”

Cryptic…but the way he’s looking at me…suddenly we’re back in the front room again and the tension is great.

It’s the same way he was looking at me earlier and I get the sense that…he’s talking about me.

I shake some logic into myself.

What if he’s talking about literally hunting you? Hmm? Have you thought about that?

I clear my throat. “Have you eaten?”

Fi’rox does that weird blink thing that he does. “I do not need to. Not yet. I consumed sustenance before I left to locate you.”

Ah…so he doesn’t need to eat every day. That’s kind of creepy, a lot strange, but I can’t deny that it’s handy.

He doesn’t have to sleep. Doesn’t have to eat.

Before the world ended, I could have gotten a lot of work done with superpowers like that.

While the world slept, I could have completed my PhD in half the time, spent more time on my hobbies and doing things that made me happy…

I smile a little at the thought.

“Come.”

I don’t get a chance to protest before Fi’rox is grasping me around the waist and moving to the other wall where he settles on the floor with me straddling him.

I stiffen, squeeze my eyes shut, and try to calm the thoughts rising in my head.

They’re bad, inappropriate, and completely wrong.

But they’re there.

“Fi’rox, what are you doing?”

He makes a sound in his throat. A deep rumble, and I chance opening my eyes so I can look at him.

Fuck.

We’re close. Face-to-face and close.

And as I watch, he does that thing with his suit. It slowly disappears from over his face and I’m looking at him directly.

A lump forms in my throat that I try to gulp down.

“I’m on your lap.”

“Yes. It is easier for me to keep you warm in this position. The night cycle is here. You must rest.”

I clear my throat and nod.

“Okay. Totally um…chivalrous. But…humans don’t usually rest together in this position unless…”

I trail off.

I don’t want to get into any sort of sex talk again but our conversations seem to increasingly be going there.

“Unless what?” This time, that deepness of his voice has my gaze flicking down to his lips.

They’re thinner than mine, but supple enough for me to have something to stare at.

And I’m staring…

Staring so long, I’m licking my own lips and I can’t look away.

I want to…kiss him?

The thought hits me like a bullet train and my eyes widen at the realization.

I’m…I’m going mad.

Fi’rox sniffs and growls a little, the sound much like that of the mountain lion that attacked me earlier.

Wild.

Animalistic.

It shouldn’t make need grow between my legs.

Fi’rox inhales deep and growls again. He’s so close to me, I feel the vibration against my lips.

What the fuck am I doing?

This is wrong.

But as if pulled by some invisible thread I lean forward, my lips touching his.

Neither of us moves.

And then…

“Deyyy-jaaa.”

I gulp as Fi’rox growls against my lips, my breaths coming in hard gasps as I open my mouth to him.

“Fi’rox,” I whisper.

This is wrong. This isn’t right.

I should…I should pull away. I should stop this.

“Say it again,” Fi’rox growls. He sounds angry and that alone should make me pull away. Instead, I lick at his lips and another growl rumbles through him.

“Fi’rox?” I oblige.

I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing.

Someone is screaming at the top of their lungs in my mind, telling me I’m mental.

Why am I making a move on an alien?

When…how…did we get to this point?

But Fi’rox’s suddenly pulling me against him so hard my breath escapes me. His hand tightens on my ass as his tongue brushes against mine.

Fuck.

It feels like, like, like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.

Warm. A bit coarse.

And his body.

A flutter goes right through me as he pulls me tighter against his hard frame.

My arms wrap around his shoulders and I feel the strength within him.

He pulls me even tighter against him as the tip of his tongue tentatively plays with mine and I feel a throb between us.

My eyes widen as I pause.

He has a cock.

Of fucking course he does!

Fi’rox growls as he throbs again and I’m now suddenly wondering what the hell he’s working with down there.

“Only this once,” I hear him murmur. “Only once.”

I don’t understand what’s happening as Fi’rox moves, breaking the contact of our lips as I’m placed gently on my back.

“What are you do—?”

Despite the light lines that mark the underside of his ridges, the dark of night has come and I can hardly see him now.

I kissed him. What have I done?

When he slips his hand under my t-shirt, though, pulling it upward in one movement, I know I’ve definitely made a mistake.

I don’t want to fuck him.

I don’t even know how that would work.

“Fi’rox, I—”

But something wet and warm swipes between my legs, rendering me speechless.

Pleasure and shock shoot straight through me.

“There is no need to fear,” he says, his breath brushing against the insides of my thighs. “I will not mate you.”

I gulp, the reality of the situation taking a minute to settle in my brain.

“Let me soothe your ache.”

I feel like I am in a daze.

“Fi’rox, you just…your tongue just brushed against my…” I swallow hard.

“I can still taste your sweetness,” he growls.

My cheeks heat again.

Getting any sort of intimacy wasn’t something I’d thought about happening while the world was turning to ashes.

“Your taste is rich,” he growls more words. “And I want more.”

Chapter Seventeen

FI’ROX

Dey’jah is forbidden bliss.

She is wild. Unexpected. Temptation.

A soft whimper leaves her lips as I dip my head and swipe my tongue through her folds.

Yes…

Bliss.

A sort of dance with the gods that I did not know I would find.

A rumble leaves my throat as I thrum.

I’m thrumming for a female.

Something I have never done before.

She tastes exquisite. Like something I could have in my mouth on every rotation.

I do not know what we are doing or how we came to be here, but I have allowed myself this one lapse.

Dey’jah whimpers again, her legs tightening against my head, and I force them open to gain access to her.

I understand now why our leader yearns daily for his mate. Why he leans on the side of caution instead of heading straight toward the fight.

This is but a slice of what he has with his mating bond.

I’ve crossed the line here. Dey’jah is not my mate.

But I want more. I want her.

Dey’jah’s soft whimpers spur me on as the coiled fur between her legs brushes against my lips.

I bare my fangs, trailing them lightly over the soft flesh before I stretch my tongue to taste her.

Spicy sweetness bursts across my tongue and I have to delve deeper into her folds.

A moan makes her body shake and her arousal fills my senses. My nostrils flare as I soak it up.

It makes me heady. Intoxicated.

And I want more.

She is so soft here. Softer than the rest of her. My lips close over her as she trembles and I rumble against her, the vibration traveling across the bud hidden within her folds.

Her back arches and she whimpers again, her hands finding my filaments.

She grips them, pulling me toward her, and her anticipation thrills me.

I force her legs even farther apart as the tip of my tongue finds her entrance and she quakes.

But her entrance is small.

I wonder if it will…

Slowly, I push forward, piercing her as a fresh wave of her arousal spreads into my mouth.

The taste of it makes my sazi throb and I cannot take it anymore. I delve deeper, tasting her, feeling her little channel clench my tongue so hard, it would hurt if my own arousal wasn’t clouding my senses.

“Fi’rox,” she whispers, and I thrum.

My name.

When she says my name…the syllables on her lips make something snap within me.

Something buried.

Something hidden.

A part of me I’ve pushed away that’s trying to surge forward.

“Fi’rox,” she whimpers again. A plea.

Her hips thrust against me and I give her what her body asks for.

I answer her unspoken request as I thrust into her, filling her with my tongue as she jerks against my mouth, the little bud in her center pressing against my nose.

“Fi’rox!”

One word and she screams before biting down hard on her lip, her body shaking as tremors go through her. Her tight little channel clenches down on me hard as her body quakes and I hold her to me, not allowing her to escape as her spend coats my tongue.

She’s breathing hard as she falls from her peak, her eyes glassy as she looks down at me.

I have bared myself to her. I have tasted her juices.

I have eaten food she has offered in her nest, though ignorant of the consequences.

I know at this moment one thing for certain.

As my tongue still writhes within her and uncertainty about what we just did passes over her eyes, a sense of loss I didn’t expect goes through me.

We are not mates.

We’ve been brought together here, but eventually, we will have to part.

Soon.

I know this.

Yet, her taste is on my tongue and something has taken root within me now…

Will I be able to see her mated to someone else?

I know the answer even without thinking it.

Now that I’ve tasted her…I cannot let her go.

I may not be her mate, but Dey’jah will always be mine.

* * *

DEJA

He made me come.

I’m still shattered and shocked.

My mind is swirling with a myriad of thoughts that beat in my head as heavily as the rain is beating outside.

I’m back against his chest as if nothing just happened between us.

He made me come and then, without a word, he slid his tongue from deep within me, settled back against the wall, and pulled me against him once more.

That’s…that’s it.

No demanding that I return the favor.

No trying to force himself between my legs.

I don’t get it.

And I don’t know how to respond.

Time is passing, the heavy rain outside a perfect lullaby, but I cannot sleep.

I can only sit here, staring into the darkness around us.

At least this time, I know better than to think that he is not also awake.

I don’t think he sleeps.

We remain like that till morning, when the sun’s rays find their way into the room, brightening it.

A new day finds me warm and protected, in an alien’s arms.

The safest I’ve felt in a long, long time.

And he’s held me like this the entire time.

Whenever I dozed off, only for my eyes to fly open again, his arms remained around me.

It’s the most care I’ve had in…forever, and it warms something deep within me.

I’m not supposed to feel like this.

But I do.

As the room slowly gets brighter, I shift.

It’s still raining outside, though the torrent of last night seems to have passed.

It’s now a soft pitter-patter on the roof.

The rolling thunder is gone too.

I shift again, daring to look up, and I’m not surprised to find Fi’rox’s eyes on me.

“Morning,” I whisper.

A slight flick of his ears is all I see.

I pull air into my nostrils as I stare up at him.

His suit is still off and I’m once again greeted with his heart-stopping face.

My mouth goes dry as I stare at him, everything that happened the night before flooding back.

I was grinding on that pretty face last night.

The fuck…

“How do you feel?”

I clear my throat and pull my gaze away from him, trying not to stare at his chest…trying not to let my gaze fall to his crotch.

Last night I felt him throbbing there. I’m positive.

But with a glance now, I don’t see the tool he’s working with.

“Better.” I smile.

Shifting the t-shirt, I lift it to look at my side, trying hard to not let it expose all of me.

Not that it matters now.

He’s already been up close and personal with my most secret spot.

After my clothes got wet, I’d taken everything off.

I hadn’t been thinking that things would happen between us.

The dark patch he put over my skin is revealed in the next second, and I run a finger over it.

“It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Fi’rox makes a sound in his throat and lifts his arm.

Slowly, his suit reappears, sliding right over his entire body once more.

He turns his arm in the air, examining it.

There’s still a patch, from his wrist to his hand, that isn’t covered.

With that hand, he reaches down and brushes the tip of his claw over my wound.

Instead of hurting, it tickles. Surprising me.

It could not have healed already.

“I will remove them now.”

Them?

His terminology is a bit confusing but I nod.

I’m expecting him to hook his claw under the thing and pull it toward him, but that is far from what he does.

Instead, he simply holds out his hand toward my wound.

I blink at him, not sure what I’m supposed to do.

Maybe he wants me to remove it for him?

I’m about to do this when my gaze falls back to the wound and I see the dark patch…moving.

It lifts from my skin like a stream of ferrofluid that’s attracted to a magnet—the magnet being Fi’rox’s hand.

As soon as it touches his fingertip, it spreads over his hand, climbing up to meet the rest of the suit and blending with it seamlessly.

I’m so caught up in the technology that I don’t even realize when it has all left my skin.

Fi’rox turns his arm, studying it.

“They returned,” he murmurs, his gaze meeting mine. “They did not bond with you.”

I blink at him.

I don’t know what the hell…

“Was it supposed to?”

His ears flick, but he doesn’t respond.

Instead, his gaze falls to my wound.

My skin has come together, almost as if it was stitched, but the slight swelling and redness underneath show through.

“You stitched me up?” I ask.

Fi’rox moves in what I assume is a shrug. “They merely helped where you needed it.”

I run my fingers over the wound, amazed by the fact there’s no longer a gaping hole there.

Whatever he did, it’s a miracle.

That’s when my fingers bump over something else.

It’s so slight, I would have missed it because it blends into my skin.

A transparent patch of sorts.

It blinked a blue light as soon as I touched it.

“What’s this?”

“Protection.”

My gaze shoots to his and I wait for him to continue. “It masks your biosignal. The Scrits will not know of your presence as long as you remain hidden.”

My heart thumps at that. “You mean those machines?”

He jerks his chin toward his chest in an awkward nod, and my heart thumps again as my gaze falls back to the patch.

This thing…

It’s what I’ve been waiting for from the very start.

If I keep it with me, I no longer have to run.

I’d just have to find a good place to hide.

I could survive out there.

I gulp as I stare at it, but Fi’rox tilts my chin up so I have to face him.

His gaze studies me. His eyes bore into my soul as if he knows exactly what I’m thinking.

I remember my plan.

It was to stick with him until I get a chance to escape.

But now I’m looking at that chance right in front of me.

The question now is…will I take it?

Chapter Eighteen

DEJA

We rise and leave the room.

Fi’rox doesn’t speak, only once has he uttered words to tell me he is going outside to scout.

I don’t know if he saw the thoughts crossing my eyes.

Even now, they plague me.

But as I walk into the main room of the visitor center, my gaze falls on all the things in there.

The rest of the t-shirts.

The few tins of food.

I could bring them to the base, help the humans there who need it.

Then, after that, I could leave.

I tell myself that’s the only reason I’m going there. That it has nothing to do with the large alien who has been keeping watch over me, and I set to work.

Setting one of the t-shirts on the counter, I go about stacking the few items on top of it.

There are no boxes or bags in here. I just have to make do.

So I work. I spend the next hour going through every single cupboard and shelf a second time, trying to find anything I might have missed the day before.

Whatever I deem worthy is put on the pile, and I try to keep my mind clear as I work.

I ignore thoughts of the huge alien who’d held me in his arms. I ignore thoughts of his face. His body. I ignore thoughts of the feel of his tongue.

I ignore the clenching of my thighs.

Each intrusive thought only sets my heart on fire.

I have to stop whatever is happening to me.

T-shirt pile full, I take another clean shirt off a hanger and rip it in two.

It will have to be my skirt because my jeans are still soaking wet and they’re not going to dry soon.

I’m almost done tying the skirt together when I sense the air shift and Fi’rox is right before me.

I’m not as startled as I should be. I’m getting too used to him.

“Company,” he says.

“Company?”

“A female. Human.”

My heart thumps as I jump to my feet.

I’m heading to the window when Fi’rox’s hand closes on my shoulder.

It stops me in my tracks, and I look back at him.

His nostrils flare and his suit ripples as if the blades are threatening to come out.

“What is it?”

His head turns slightly and when I look to where his gaze is, my soul almost leaves me as a face appears at the glass door.

The woman’s face looks drawn, her hair pasted against her face as she stands in the rain.

She’s looking right at me, but it almost feels like she’s looking through me.

Something about her makes an uneasy feeling go down my spine.

“She is alone,” Fi’rox says, but just before he releases me, I hear the next words that he whispers. “But something is not right. Be careful.”

Chapter Nineteen

DEJA

The woman stares at me as I take a step toward her, and then another.

All through my approach, the door handle twists and creaks as she tries to gain access to the room, but I’d already made sure it was locked from the day before.

“Hi!” I try to sound cheerful and I smile at her, but there is no recognition in her eyes.

She looks…terrified.

As if she’s seen many horrors.

As if she’s lived through them.

I know that look.

It was in my eyes in those first days.

A feeling of being lost and desolate.

“Are you alone?” I ask. I know Fi’rox already said she was alone, but even that question doesn’t garner a response from her.

As I approach the door and we are face to face, her gaze looks right through me.

She is wearing a long, tan dress that’s stuck to her body because of the rain and she’s barefoot too.

She looks cold, hungry, and lost.

Wandering.

I glance back at Fi’rox and for once, his gaze isn’t on me. It’s on the woman.

“I’m going to let her in.”

I don’t know if I say it more for my benefit or his, but I undo the lock, my gaze still on the woman.

The entire time, she’s been twisting the lock, trying to get in, as if she can’t hear me speaking to her from the inside.

Maybe she can’t.

I don’t know how soundproof this door is.

At least, that’s what I tell myself.

There’s something about her appearance that makes a chill run down my spine, and that chill doesn’t disappear when the door opens and she steps in.

She walks straight ahead, almost bumping into me, and I have to shift out of the way.

It’s a bit of a stagger, as if she’s pulling her legs and my gaze falls to her feet. Chipped and cracked, she’s barefoot and one of her heels is bleeding.

She looks like she’s come from far…or she’s been walking for a long, long time.

I glance at Fi’rox again, thinking that maybe now that she’s inside she’ll realize I’m not alone, but she simply stands in the room, her head turning slowly as she takes it in.

She’s in shock, I think.

And I’m just standing here.

I move into action, grabbing one of the last t-shirts off the rack.

“Shit, sorry. You’re wet. You must be freezing.” I hold the t-shirt out to her. “You can change into this. Before you catch a cold. And we have food. Not a lot. Some corn, but it’s something.”

The woman’s gaze doesn’t even slide to the t-shirt in my outstretched hand.

Like, shit, I’m not a good host. Never have been and the friendliness thing isn’t my forte, but I’m not that bad.

But that vacant gaze of hers acknowledges nothing.

I’m not even sure she knows I’m in the room.

Without a word, she moves to one of the counters that hold all the gifts and trinkets the visitor center had for sale.

She picks up a snow globe, turns it over in her hand as if reading the label, and then it falls from her fingers.

The first one that falls and shatters to the floor could have been an accident, but when another, and another falls, I rush over to her, grabbing her hands.

They’re ice cold.

“Hey, are you alright?”

She’s clearly not, but she hasn’t said a word since she’s entered the room.

Rainwater still drips in streams from her and she looks like she’s seen a ghost.

Fuck, maybe she is a ghost.

She’s so pale…and thin.

“Hey, lady…”

I glance at Fi’rox for help, but looking his way only sends a fresh wave of anxiety through me.

He’s on edge, his blades all slowly rising.

I lift a hand in his direction to let him know he should calm down. I’ve seen him all bladed up and he is terrifying. I don’t need her freaking out as soon as she realizes he’s there.

I have to figure this out.

The woman is in shock. Clearly.

The world out there…it’s a frightening one.

I can’t imagine what she’s seen.

I just have to get her to calm down.

“Hey.”

No response.

She’s still pushing against me, trying to get to the next trinket on the counter, and I have to grip her shoulders and force her to face me.

“Hey!”

Nothing.

Her eyes…it’s like there’s no one in there.

I force her to face me just as Fi’rox growls, loud enough for her to hear.

I’m sure she’ll snap out of whatever daze she’s in now that she’s heard him, but she doesn’t. And when she turns away from me, slipping from my grasp, she comes face to face with my demon.

For a moment, no one moves.

Fi’rox is all spikes and even though I know him, even though I’ve seen him like this before, my memory didn’t serve me well.

He is a shocking sight—all seven-plus feet of him standing tall, blades everywhere, and a snarl on his lips.

But the woman doesn’t react.

Of all things, she walks toward him and then past him to the counter where I’ve been stashing things to take back to the base.

She finds one of the tins and grips it to her chest.

Then she takes another, and another, filling her arms with them.

I glance from her to Fi’rox and I wonder if he’s just as confused as I am.

Only, he doesn’t look confused.

He looks livid. As if he’s about to attack the woman and end her life at any moment.

She doesn’t seem to notice.

Rather, she doesn’t seem to care.

Arms now full, she heads back toward the door and I have a moment of surprise before I spring into action.

She’s almost reached it before I manage to block her exit.

“Sorry, you can’t leave with all that.”

Nothing.

She pauses, looks right at me, and tries to go through me.

She isn’t in shock.

This is something else.

She’s aware enough to know when she’s got food, has stacked up, and is now heading out.

A chill goes down my spine.

We’re missing something.

I trust Fi’rox’s instincts, but…maybe he was wrong.

“Do you have a group out there waiting for you?” I glance behind me down to the road, but I can’t see anyone. The fog and rain don’t help either. “Did they send you to scout on your own?”

There are clans out there. Men who’ve taken advantage of Earth’s situation to create little harems filled with women they’ve “rescued”.

I know, because I was once in one of them.

It’s the only reason I’m here now.

My clan found Sam’s camp. We were attacked. I almost died. But Fi’rox found me.

In the moments it took me to ask my questions, a dark shadow appears behind the woman.

Fi’rox.

He looms over her, his fangs bared, the blades all along his arms and back still fully extended.

Meanwhile, I’m having to brace both arms against the open door to prevent the woman, who is still pushing against me, fighting for an exit, from going through.

“She cannot hear you,” Fi’rox says, his nostrils flaring. “This female reeks of Gryken.”

Another chill goes down my spine.

Those gray aliens.

If there are more of them close by.

Fear suddenly spikes through me and my throat closes up.

Memory of how that beast lifted me and pierced my flesh, baring its rows of teeth as it was about to eat me…all those images come flooding back.

“What do you mean?” My voice is so quiet, I’m not sure if Fi’rox even hears me.

His gaze flashes out the window, straight in the direction he’d been staring at the day before.

“She is being controlled.” His suit bristles and his gaze slides back to the woman. “I am sure of it.”

My heart thumps.

She’s still pushing against me, determined to leave with the food.

I don’t understand what Fi’rox means by “she’s being controlled” but he doesn’t waste words.

If the gray aliens have something to do with the woman’s strange behavior, that means they’re somewhere near.

And that realization injects a dose of terror right through me.

“What do we do now?”

My wide eyes fly to Fi’rox as I push back against the woman.

For someone so frail, she has enough strength to be giving me a hard time.

Fi’rox growls and without a word, he reaches forward, his hand covering the woman’s nose and mouth as he pulls her backward.

The force sends the tins she’s holding scattering on the floor and she doesn’t even struggle against him as he cuts off her air. All she reaches for are the tins of food.

It’s a strange sight to see. One that has time slowing down as I watch her be pulled backward and away from me, the vacancy in her eyes haunting.

Chapter Twenty

FI’ROX

The female’s body goes limp in my arms as Dey’jah bolts the entrance to the room.

All of my instincts tell me I am right. That this female is being controlled by our enemy.

But even though this strikes me as true, the female’s condition is not like I have seen before.

Back on Edooria, when the Gryken landed and begin tearing our planet apart, draining our oceans, killing our people…we fought.

With everything we had, we fought to destroy them all.

We found a way to take down their great machines. An energy blast that renders the hull of the machine penetrable. We used all our resources to equip our ships with the new technology. It was our only hope of defeating the scourge that had fallen upon us.

And we were making progress.

When the first machine fell, a collective feeling of triumph went right through us.

But that was the beginning of the end.

The Gryken didn’t need the machines to destroy us. When we destroyed their orbs, forcing them to crawl upon the surface, they found a new weapon.

Us.

We still don’t know how they do it. Psionics is not something we had ever experienced before.

They went into the minds of our strongest warriors first and through them, the Gryken made us kneel.

As I stare at the female before me, her eyes now closed as she falls into unconsciousness, a tremor goes through my ba’clan.

I believe that is happening to this female.

I am sure of it.

Behind me, Dey’jah moves quickly, pulling large things in front of the door to block it.

There are some long coverings over the windows and she pulls them across, blocking out most of the light that was seeping in from the star.

I watch as she rushes to the back, doing the same to the entrance there.

She pulls it closed, locking it before she braces her back against a large wooden object. She grunts as she pushes it, gritting her teeth to get it in place.

She’s trying to secure the room.

I don’t want to tell her there is nothing she can do to prevent the Gryken from entering if they come.

She bends down behind a counter and I hear rustling before, “Fuck!”

Her head pops up, her dark-brown eyes wild and the beads in her locs swinging. “There’s nothing here. No knives. No guns. Shit.”

She searches some more before she curses again.

Again, I don’t want to tell her that none of her hyu’man weapons will work against the Gryken.

They are almost as impenetrable as the machines they walk in.

I turn my attention back to the female before me, right before there’s a loud smash.

It’s a seating apparatus. A wooden one. Dey’jah is standing over it with one of its broken legs in her hand.

There’s a sharp point where the leg split from the rest of the wood and she turns her wild eyes to me.

She’s found a weapon.

“She’s still alive, right?” Dey’jah’s chest heaves as she rushes back toward me.

“For now,” I reply.

She kneels on the other side of the woman, her gaze moving over the female’s body.

“She’s emaciated,” she whispers, her eyes flying to mine. “What do you mean by she’s being controlled? How do you know?”

My gaze falls back to the female.

I do not know how I know.

“When the Gryken took control of our warrior’s minds, they became senseless beings focused on a single command: to destroy us all. Nothing stood in their way. They fought against their very families…their kin…their mates…their young…as if in a trance.” My gaze flicks over the female. “A trance like this.”

“Only she’s not violent.” Dey’jah’s eyelids blink as if she is trying to understand, and she grips the sharp piece of wood in her hand. “She seemed purely focused on finding food.”

It is dark in here and I wonder if that makes Dey’jah more afraid, but she has done well to block out the light from the outside.

If the Gryken approach, it will give us a few seconds to react.

“Why would they control her to find food?” Dey’jah whispers.

I know. It makes little sense.

But that’s not the only thing that doesn’t make sense.

“They also have to be within a certain distance of the target to maintain control.”

Dey’jah jerks at that, her fear scent spiking as her gaze darts to the windows.

“Fuck,” she mutters, her throat moving as she swallows hard.

Her breaths come harder as her fear scent rises and a heavy feeling forms within my chest.

I do not like her fear scent.

Before, this same scent annoyed me because it awoke my instinct to hunt.

Right now…

Right now, it is creating a new feeling.

I do not want Dey’jah to be afraid.

I do not want her to fear the unknown.

It is at this moment that I realize one thing.

I will, without hesitation, give up my life so that she might live.

Her brown eyes hit me and my life-organ skips.

Dey’jah…

What is happening to me?

Her voice is low, but I hear the quiver on her tongue. “Do you think they’re outside somewhere? In the forest?”

I want to pull her to me. Tell her that everything will be okay.

Let her know of my promise that she will live.

“No.”

Her shoulders sag a little.

“They would have attacked already.” There would be no reason to wait.

And…I do not sense them.

Dey’jah gulps again.

“Then…how…how are they controlling her?”

“I do not know. But I am certain of it.”

With one finger, I hook a claw in the top of the female’s garments and split it in two all the way down.

Dey’jah’s wide eyes fly to mine, but she doesn’t say a word.

As the garment falls to either side of the woman, I hold Dey’jah’s gaze.

I do not want her to think I am baring this female for my pleasure.

“I must check her.”

I keep Dey’jah’s gaze.

I do not know why. But I need her to know that last night was…

That she has been the only female…

That she is the only…

“I know.” She jerks her chin to her chest, but her body quivers as she releases a breath.

Her fear scent still swims between us, and she grips the piece of wood in her hand even tighter.

My gaze falls to the female beneath us.

Her skin is a complete contrast to Dey’jah’s.

She is pale. Thin.

Weak.

There are spots of discoloration all across her skin, and I hear when Dey’jah inhales sharply at the sight of them.

Even the flimsy sub-garments that the female wears do not hide the bruises.

“Do you think those creatures did this?”

“No. This isn’t the work of the Gryken.”

The female’s entire body is bruised, as if she’s been beaten.

She should be in pain, yet she was moving as if she is not.

Even her feet are swollen and bleeding.

“Maybe she fell and hurt herself,” Dey’jah whispers, the look of horror in her eyes increasing. “A couple…dozen…times.”

I settle back on my haunches, my ba’clan writhing uneasily.

I am missing something.

I thought stripping the female would reveal a clue. But there is nothing here and her belly carries no Gryken seed.

It is unswollen and I sense no life there.

Rek.

“What do you think?” Dey’jah asks.

“There is something that is not falling into place.”

Dey’jah takes a deep breath and shakes her head.

“We need to prepare.” She glances toward the blocked entrance. “I’ve seen them right in front of me, and I know just how terrifying those creatures are. If we’re going to have to fight one soon, we have to prepare.”

Her gaze falls to the woman. “She’s just a victim like all of us.”

Dey’jah lifts a hand and smooths it down the woman’s brown filaments.

And then she freezes, her eyes widening, and her breathing staggering.

“Fi’rox?”

Her hand trembles against the woman’s nape as her gaze meets mine, and the utter terror in Dey’jah’s eyes makes every instinct within me scream to protect her.

“I think we should turn her over onto her belly.”

Chapter Twenty-One

FI’ROX

A visible shiver goes through Dey’jah as I flip the female onto her front and slice a claw through the garment covering her back.

It splits in two to reveal…

“Oh my God.” Dey’jah scrambles back, her eyes wide, her body shaking. “What the fuck is that?”

Every hackle on my body rises as I stare at the female.

All across her back is a network of veins that do not stem from her being.

Red and pulsing, they make a path from her head straight down her spine.

I lift my head to stare at Dey’jah, but I am not seeing her.

Those veins.

I’ve seen them before at the base of that abandoned Scrit.

Beneath them, everything green had died.

It’s all clear to me now.

This is how they have been controlling the female.

She is a walking puppet, controlled by some parasite that determines her movement.

“It’s under her skin.” Dey’jah recovers quickly and scrambles forward.

“Do not touch her.” I lean over the female to block Dey’jah’s approach.

She halts right in front of me, her face mere inches from mine.

I can scent the sweet smell of her skin and I fight to focus.

“Do not come near.”

Dey’jah nods, but there is no longer fear in her eyes.

Instead, resolution and determination are budding.

“You think it’s contagious?”

“I have never seen anything like this before.” I glance back down at the unconscious female. “The Gryken never did this on Edooria.”

Dey’jah shakes her head. “That’s not good.”

“No,” I say as I rise. “It isn’t.”

I have to go investigate it.

Far off in the distance, the Scrit I have been watching…the one that’s not moving…I’m sure it has something to do with the female at my feet.

There might not be enough time to return to the base but I cannot leave Dey’jah here alone.

Neither do I want to take her with me.

“Can we get it off her?” She uses the broken seat leg in her hand to lift the female’s hair and a gasp leaves her lips. “It’s in her hair, deep. I see it pulsing. I don’t know…” her gaze finds mine and worry passes through her eyes, “…I don’t know if it’s embedded into her skull.”

I crouch and use a claw to part the female’s filaments to reveal the pulsing red veins.

They aren’t soft and squishy like veins should be.

They are firm.

I do not believe we can remove them without killing the female.

“What’s that?” Dey’jah leans closer, her gaze focused on the woman’s hand. “There’s something in her hand.”

One of the female’s hands is formed into a fist and there is indeed something barely visible clenched within her palm.

Dey’jah reaches forward, prying the female’s fingers open.

In her unconscious state, there is not much resistance and the female’s palm opens to reveal…

I don’t know what the object is…

But Dey’jah does. She freezes, her hand pausing over the woman’s, a growing look in her eyes that I do not like.

She blinks, reaching forward to take the thing from the woman’s palm, her fingers trembling.

Her reaction to the object is unsettling and when she looks at me, she does not see me.

She is far away, something terrifying playing behind her eyes.

“What is it?”

Dey’jah blinks, her eyes zooming in on me as she travels back to the present.

“It’s…a shoe.”

My ears twitch as I watch her.

“A woolen shoe.”

The little pink object shakes in her hand as another tremor goes through her and her eyes go to that faraway place again.

I am not sure why a foot covering is having such an effect on her.

It is small—one that could not fit a grown human, only a tiny one…

My ears twitch again as the missing information appears in my mind.

The foot covering belongs to a hyu’man child. If this is the child’s mother, the child is most likely no longer alive.

And if I wait much longer, we might face the same fate.

There’s only one thing I can do.

“Dey’jah.”

Her gaze lifts to mine, a pained expression in her eyes.

She is mourning for a child that is not hers.

Like a warrior priestess once did when she found a young spawn abandoned in the Dunes of Unsa, face down and motionless.

She lifted the child and sensed all was not lost.

She took that child home, a spawn unrelated to her, and raised it as her own.

I know the story well.

I was that spawn.

As I look into Dey’jah’s eyes, I do not doubt that if she were Vullan, she would have been one of those rare females.

My respect for her goes up a notch.

She rises slowly, her eyes on me as she grips the shoe in her hand.

I want to give her time to process whatever she is feeling.

Maybe she will even speak to me about it.

But we do not have time.

“Dey’jah,” I call her name again to get her to focus on me. “I believe I know where this female came from.”

Dey’jah’s throat moves, but she waits for me to continue.

“I must return you to the base with haste.”

“Then what?”

My ears twitch. I do not know what she means.

“Then you’re going to come back and sort this out by yourself?”

Her voice has a tone I have not heard from her before, but I do not smell fear.

This emotion is new. It is not something I have scented on Dey’jah till now.

Her shoulders set, and she gestures to the female using the broken wood in her hand.

“This isn’t just your fight, Fi’rox. We don’t have time for you to take me back. It will take at least two or three days to get back to that camp Sam had. After that, I don’t know how far away your base is. If we’re going to win this fight, we can’t wait while the enemy is advancing on us.” She pauses, her fingers squeezing the little shoe in her hand. “You can’t take me to the base. We don’t have time.”

She’s not aware of how quickly I can move, even with her in my arms.

But I don’t get to tell her because a loathsome scent fills my senses just a second later.

Gryken.

My hackles rise immediately, my fangs baring.

Dey’jah has just a moment where her eyes widen before I grip her to me.

There’s not enough time to head to the small room where she made her nest.

So I go to the only place I can think of.

Up.

* * *

DEJA

Fi’rox moves so quickly, he’s a blur as he grabs me, and then we’re going upward.

He’s jumping, or flying, I do not know, but fear spikes through me so hard that it’s left me speechless.

My breath’s frozen in my nose as I grip on to him.

There’s only one reason he’d have reacted like this so suddenly, and that thought makes me forget my grief, my fear, and I die inside.

And then I hear it.

It’s so quiet, I’m surprised I pick it up outside of my heart thundering in my ears.

It’s the distinct sound of something sharp tapping glass. Like the tip of a needle or the prongs of a fork.

But I know it’s neither of those.

Everything within me knows it can only be one thing.

We’re somehow up in the rafters and a dark cloud surrounds us both.

I’m dimly aware that Fi’rox’s suit has sort of cloaked us, but I can still see through it.

I hope that doesn’t mean that whatever’s outside can see us too.

Fi’rox is above me, holding me against his chest as he balances and keeps us secure.

Down below, the woman lies in the center of the floor, the veins networking on her back still pulsing.

Fi’rox doesn’t speak. He doesn’t have to. But I can feel the anxiety, or is it anticipation, going through him.

There’s another tinkling on the glass windows at the front, then another.

It’s not a human doing that.

They would say something.

Or make some other noise.

I’m sure.

But this is one of those times that I wish I was wrong.

As a shadow appears behind the blinds, it feels like inside, my organs wither.

Six or so disjointed legs…

My body’s so stiff from fear, I can’t even cling to the beam beneath us, but against my back, Fi’rox holds me as if he’s never letting me go. And I’m glad.

If he told me to hold on right now, I don’t know if I could.

Nothing scares me as much as the creature that is outside. Not even Fi’rox did.

For a moment, no other sounds come through the room and the shadow disappears.

I want to think the creature is gone. That the Gryken has decided not to check the place out, and I bite my lip praying that’s exactly what has happened.

If it comes in here. We’re dead.

Fi’rox is great and all, but that thing…

I’ve seen what it can do. I’ve felt it.

If it comes in here. One of us is going to die.

I shudder at the thought.

I’ve always been running, but things keep catching up to me.

I grip the baby’s shoe in my palm.

It’s like an omen.

Pink…like the one my little girl had been wearing that day.

What are the chances this woman was carrying the exact type of shoe.

I grip it as I look down at her.

She’s still alive.

Still fighting and still holding on to something dear to her.

My heart aches for her. For what she’s been through. For what she’s going through now.

But she’s still fighting.

And so will I.

Fi’rox grips me with one hand and shuffles for something, but I’m too busy staring at the blinds, my gaze flicking back and forth across them, looking for a clue as to where that thing’s gone. I can’t pay any attention to him.

When something cool hits the back of my hand, it takes a few moments for me to look at it.

It’s the strange weapon he’d shown me.

He lowers me against the large beam below us so I’m straddling it and pushes the weapon into my hand.

I have a moment where I look up at him before he’s suddenly gone.

It’s hard to see him in the dim room and with how fast he moves, but I spot him when he stops in the rafters at the front of the room.

My gaze moves to the weapon in my hands.

I’ve never fired a gun before and this thing looks more like a weird half-circle boomerang than anything else.

I don’t know what the fuck I’m supposed to do with it.

And I don’t get the chance to learn either.

The loud sound of the windows shattering echoes in the room, followed by the blinds blowing in.

The dimness surrounding us is no more as light from the sun suddenly floods the space. And in the center of it…

Doom.

Chapter Twenty-Two

DEJA

I didn’t get a good look at the last one before it attacked me.

This one, however, is in plain view.

I’ve never laid my eyes on anything more hideous or more terrifying.

It pauses at the front of the room, the wind and light shower of rain at its back, as it takes the room in.

I pray it doesn’t look up. If God could grant me a miracle, it would be now.

If it looks up, it will be looking right at me. Fi’rox’s no longer here to cloak me with his suit.

But I guess that’s the difference between predator and prey.

The Gryken steps over the broken glass as it walks farther into the room.

It doesn’t look up or to the side or anywhere, for that matter. Only a creature that has nothing to fear behaves like that, and that’s a thought that chills me.

Its legs are shaped like a spider’s. Long. Multiple joints and they click on sharp points as the creature walks toward the woman on the ground.

High above, in my peripheral vision, the darkness moves and I know Fi’rox is positioning himself, maybe to attack, I’m not sure, but I can’t take my eyes off the gray alien beneath us.

It walks slowly until it is right above the woman and its large, dark eyes take her in.

Its head is huge, like that of an octopus, and it tilts it slightly to the side as it looks down at the female.

I hold my breath. I don’t want to even breathe.

I don’t want it to know I’m here.

It stares at the woman before one of its front legs comes forward, the sharpened end of it heading straight to the woman’s midsection.

My stomach clenches, my wound pulsing at the memory of what the last Gryken did to me, and I grit my teeth as I wait for it to pierce the woman, too.

But…it doesn’t.

Those sharp tips look like they’ll pierce anything they touch, but the Gryken is…gentle.

I don’t believe what I am seeing.

It pushes the woman softly till she is on her back again and then it stares down into her face.

She’s still unconscious, her eyes closed, and the creature bends down so close to her that I’m happy she’s not awake.

Its face almost touches hers as it observes her before rising once more.

I don’t understand what it’s doing and my gaze flashes to Fi’rox.

As the creature walks farther into the room, Fi’rox follows it along the rafters, all his blades out.

He doesn’t make a sound and once again, he appears to me as the deadly being he really is.

But he’s on my side.

And I couldn’t be happier about that than now.

His blades look just as sharp as the Gryken’s pointed limbs.

One very deadly-looking one has formed on his arm, and I know he is ready to attack.

I grip the weapon I have in my hand and the broken chair foot I still have in the other.

I’m balancing on my belly and if I try to move, I’ll definitely make a sound, so I remain frozen, following the creature with my gaze.

It walks so slowly, every step it takes increases the tension in the room.

What the fuck does it want?

Why is it here?

And, as if it can hear my thoughts, it suddenly stops moving.

It’s right underneath me now, and my blood freezes in my veins.

It knows I am here.

My heart thumps as the thing moves in slow motion, tilting its head backward to look right at me.

Time stills.

I’ve heard people say they’ve looked death right in the eye.

I thought I knew what that meant.

I didn’t.

But I know now.

* * *

FI’ROX

The moment the Gryken looks up at Dey’jah, something inside me snaps.

I can see nothing but the rage flowing through me.

It has dared to come near her nest.

Dared to threaten her.

Dared to threaten what is mine!

It lets out a screech that shatters the remaining windows to the shelter.

So loud, Dey’jah slams her hands over her ears, a scream leaving her lips.

The broken wood she held falls and the Gryken sidesteps it, its total focus on her.

For the first time, fear goes through me.

But she’s not unprotected.

She still has the prototype. And she has me.

The Gryken launches itself toward her and I see the past all over again.

Watching my entire bloodline be wiped out before me.

A roar escapes my lips as I pounce, my blade pointed at the central node of the Gryken’s head.

Its weak spot.

I land on the beast at the same moment that it wraps its arms around the support beam that Dey’jah rests on.

It has a moment of shock at my arrival, one in which our gazes lock, and I roar down at it.

My whole body weight is on it, but it is not letting go of the support.

Dey’jah screams again and I realize in horror that the beast has wrapped its legs around her, pinning her to the support as it clings to it.

I have to move quickly. I have to take it down before it—

But even as I think this, I can feel a throbbing in my mind.

It’s an ache that grows in mere seconds as the beast tries to take away my control.

I push against the pain in my head as I look up at Dey’jah.

No.

I cannot. Let it. WIN.

With a roar, I swing my arm with all the strength I have, depositing my blade deep into the creature’s skull. But I know I need more than that to kill it.

“Now, Dey’jah!”

There’s a moment of shock, confusion, and fear in her eyes, but she grips the prototype and struggles to point it at the Gryken.

Nothing happens.

“I don’t know what to do!”

My grip on the creature is weakening.

My hold on reality…

For a moment, I want to release the beast and go after Dey’jah instead.

But those are not my thoughts.

I know that’s the beast talking.

I have to retain…control…

“Think it,” I manage to say through my clenched teeth.

I force my blade deeper and the Gryken screeches again.

I see when it tightens its hold on her…when the pain materializes on her face as she chokes.

Her gaze meets mine and I think we are lost.

But then…

A white light erupts from Dey’jah right at me.

It hits the Gryken straight in its open mouth as it gets ready to screech once more and then, time stops.

It goes limp, its legs loosening from around her as it falls, and that throbbing in my head, that pain, it disappears.

My back hits the floor as the creature falls on top of me. But it isn’t moving anymore.

We…we did it.

I’m pulling my blade from the beast, my eyes on Dey’jah when a new fear shoots through me.

“Dey’jah.”

She isn’t moving.

Her limp body suddenly topples, her center of gravity shifted by the hold the Gryken had on her, and she slips from the support beam.

Her body is so slack as she falls and a sickening feeling develops in my chest.

But I’m right there to catch her.

“Dey’jah.”

She’s limp in my arms and I let out a roar, pain I never expected filling me to my core.

I jostle her, but nothing.

Pesky female.

I would rather she open her eyes right now, smile at me with that devious glint in her eyes, then dash for the exit as soon as I turn my back.

She better not die on me now.

Chapter Twenty-Three

DEJA

My eyes flutter open to darkness.

Where am I?

I cough and choke on air as I try to rise, but an arm suddenly envelopes me and I’m pulled into a warm chest.

Fi’rox.

Relief I never expected floods through me.

Fi’rox!

We survived?

“You’re alive,” I croak, and something cool touches my lips.

Water.

I drink in huge gulps as my eyes adjust to the dark.

“Did we kill it?”

Fi’rox makes a clicking sound as he removes the container from my lips.

“It is dead.”

Another wave of relief.

“Thank God.”

He pulls me into him again a rumble in his chest that vibrates against my skin.

He’s held me before, but this time feels different. Almost as if he’s afraid to let me go.

“What’s wrong? Why are you being like this?”

I try to move away so I can look up at him, but he isn’t allowing me to.

“You were not responding,” he says after a few moments.

I grunt. “I don’t die so easily.”

For the first time, I feel his chest move as if he laughs.

“No,” he says. “You do not.”

I don’t know what happened.

One moment, I was looking into Fi’rox’s eyes as he forced his blade into the creature’s skull and the next moment, I was trying to fire that strange gun.

I only remember him telling me to “think it” and as stupid as that sounds, that’s exactly what I did.

I imagined pulling the trigger and the bullet going right into that abomination’s mouth…and a trigger formed beneath my hand.

Well, the gun formed around my hand.

That doesn’t sound right. It all feels foggy in my head. I might have imagined it.

At least it’s over now.

“It’s really dead? We really killed it.”

“Yes.”

We killed it. Wow.

There’s no way I’d have survived that if Fi’rox hadn’t been there.

“Where are we?”

“In your nest.”

I glance around. It’s dark as hell. Darker than usual, but when I brush my hand across the floor, I feel the magazines and t-shirts I’d put down.

A shiver goes through me.

We’re still in the building?!

“Where’s the thing? The body?”

“Not in here.”

Well, thank God for that, I guess.

“And the woman?”

“The female is secure.”

I gulp. I don’t know what he means by that, but there’s an ache in my head that won’t go away, and thinking too hard makes it worse.

I move into him, and it doesn’t take more than a moment before Fi’rox’s arms pull me closer still.

I don’t know how long we stay like that, but letting him hold me feels good. Comforting.

Right.

We killed a Gryken together. I can’t imagine how much more we could do.

“We should go.” I try to release him, but he doesn’t budge.

Instead, he growls low. “Not yet.”

A flutter grows in my chest.

“We should leave before another Gryken shows up.”

“Another will not come looking for it. It didn’t have time to send a message to the collective.”

I blink into the darkness surrounding us.

The more he reveals about these creatures, the more there is to fear about them.

“How do you know?”

“Because it was busy trying to invade my mind.”

I freeze against him, but he doesn’t take back what he said.

He doesn’t say he’s joking.

If that thing had gotten control of him out there…

Fuck.

I don’t even want to think about it.

“We should leave anyway.” I glance toward where the door should be. It’s all black. I can’t see anything and my ears perk for any sound. But it is all silence.

“Not yet.”

I’m confused. “Why?”

“Not until I know you will be okay.”

His words startle me.

He...cares about me that much?

“But—”

“We are protected. Outside there, this room does not exist.”

I don’t understand what he means by that.

In my world, I was just face-to-face with a Gryken again.

The terror hasn’t gone yet.

I thought I was going to die when that thing squeezed the life out of me.

I felt my ribs crack and then it became hard to breathe.

At that thought, I ease off Fi’rox to touch my chest.

It doesn’t hurt anymore…

That’s not possible.

I felt my bones crack.

But as I touch my chest, there’s that same feeling as when I’d first touched my side.

He’s patched me with his suit again.

“You’re healing me.” I look up at him.

He’s not wearing his suit anymore and I’m getting better at seeing in the dark because I can see his strange, handsome face looking back at me.

Fi’rox doesn’t respond, but even with those dark eyes, his gaze feels warm.

I lean into him again, and he doesn’t hesitate to let me sink against his chest.

He holds me in his arms as the silence envelops us and we stay that way for a long time.

“You’re sure we’re safe in here?”

“We’re safe,” Fi’rox replies.

Whatever tension I was still harboring in my shoulders melts away with each passing minute.

As the terror of our encounter slowly fades, I finally glance up at him to find he’s watching me.

“Thank you,” I whisper. “For everything.”

I lift my hand so I’m touching his jaw and I swear he tilts his head so he can rub his cheek into my skin.

That gives me an idea and I move my hand higher to touch the base of his elvish ears.

His entire body shakes and that strange purr fills the room.

My eyebrows rise as I watch him.

I have no idea what he is doing, but I like it.

A lot.

It makes me warm.

The sound is like a deep vibration that coats my skin, relaxing me, and as Fi’rox leans closer, I clench my thighs without thinking.

He sniffs the air and growls.

I bring my other hand up to his cheek as I stare into his eyes.

How could I have ever thought that he was evil?

How many times now has he saved me?

He settles me on my back and tries to release me but, this time, I’m the one not letting him go.

I hold him tight, my gaze searching his, as the reality of what I’m feeling comes to light.

I can’t deny it.

I’ve got a crush on this alien.

More than a crush.

I want to—

Fi’rox’s nostrils flare and whatever he smells makes a growl rumble in his chest.

His gaze falls to my lips, and he stares at them for so long, I begin to get self-conscious.

“I gave myself only one lapse,” he suddenly says.

“One lapse?” I whisper.

“You tempt me, little human.”

A ball forms in my throat as I hold my breath, a delightful shiver going down my spine.

“I tempt you?”

A growl leaves his lips and his ears twitch as he lowers himself over me, bracing on either side of my body with his arms.

I shouldn’t, but I…I want him to say more. “What do I tempt you with?”

I swear I see a spark in those pits of his.

“Everything,” he whispers. “All of you.”

I…

Something sweet and good quivers and blooms inside me.

“I want to eat your mouth,” he suddenly says.

The feeling suddenly disappears.

“What?”

His ears twitch. “I’ve seen my brethren do it with their human mates.”

“Eat their mouths?” The image isn’t a lovely one in my mind.

His tongue slips out a little, just the tip of it, and I am immediately reminded of what we did—how he felt between my thighs.

“They enjoy the human custom,” he says.

I frown, trying to gather my thoughts.

“Oh!” It dawns on me. “Kissing.”

I look at him in silence, that feeling strange blooming inside me getting stronger.

“You want to kiss me?”

Fi’rox growls again. “And your suu’ci, too. I want to kiss it again. Like last time. I need to feel you. I need…”

My thighs clench at his words, my heart beating with a thunderous sound.

Maybe it’s the after effect of the adrenaline, this feeling.

This need.

For he isn’t the only one feeling it.

I need him too. I need to feel…

I need to feel alive.

Fi’rox growls so loud, it vibrates against me as he comes closer, his body pressing into mine.

“My sazi throbs at the thought of sinking into your soft flesh,” he says. “I want—”

He pauses, his ears flicking.

“What?”

“You, Deja. I want you.”

My lids fall slowly as I soak up his words.

My clit throbs at the thought of him sinking within me and I shiver as he runs his tongue along my cheek.

It’s so hot and wet, it makes my clit throb.

I’m already breathing hard as I open my eyes to look up at him.

The undersides of his ridges are glowing more now and he is just so…beautiful.

As I tilt my head, angling so my lips meet his, there’s no hesitation.

It’s like he was only waiting for me to indicate I wanted it, too.

Fi’rox’s mouth crashes against mine, pressing my head back as his tongue dives into my mouth.

He rolls it around mine and, fuck me to hell, it shouldn’t feel so good, but it does.

This is…this is something else.

He withdraws, running his tongue down my bottom lip as his hands move down my body.

I’m mildly aware of the t-shirts I’d fashioned being ripped to shreds as Fi’rox undresses me, but I can’t think about anything else but the feelings he’s inciting in me.

My breasts are suddenly in his hands and he squeezes them gently, letting out a low rumble against my tongue.

He’s so different from everything I’ve ever known that I wonder if I am strange to him, too. But that doesn’t seem to matter.

If he thinks my body’s weird, it doesn’t show, because his lips crash against mine once more before he traces a path down my neck. He licks and sucks on my skin as he moves lower, straight to my breasts. I can only jerk at the feel of his hot mouth covering my nipple, a high-pitched whimper leaving my lips.

The sound startles him because he stops to look up at me, his ears twitching, and I realize now that it’s a sign he’s surprised or unsure of things.

“Did I hurt you?” There’s almost a note of torture in his voice, and I smile at him.

“No.” I’m breathless. “I like it.”

A low purr rises from his chest as he takes my nipple into his mouth again.

My eyes roll back as he cups my breast with one hand while the other wanders to my center.

His large hand palms me as his fingers brush against my wetness and he pauses again, this time to bring his hand up to his nose.

My eyes widen in horror, but all Fi’rox does is inhale deep before growling.

He runs his tongue over his fingers before releasing my breast and heading straight south.

I know what’s coming, but as he grips my legs, opening me to him, I’m still not prepared for his tongue swiping between my folds.

A wave of pleasure goes right through me, I’m left speechless.

My head falls back as Fi’rox takes me with his mouth and my legs quiver, going weak.

He nibbles and sucks, swirling his tongue over and around my clit before taking me whole in his mouth.

I’m shaking so hard, I can’t keep still, but Fi’rox keeps me put.

There is nowhere for me to go.

I am lost to this pleasure.

And when his tongue slides inside me, I lose all semblance of thought.

He pierces me with it, going deep as his mouth covers me again and the orgasm that tears through me is so powerful that I have to bite down hard on my arm as I scream.

But my demon doesn’t stop.

He remains, growling, that deep purr vibrating against my clit as my hips buck against his lips.

It is only when I am shivering that he finally releases me.

Fuck.

My whole body is shaking as I gaze up at him.

I’m so intoxicated that the warmth of something hard and heavy slapping gently against my center doesn’t register.

Fi’rox’s own body is heaving much like mine as he releases me, his gaze unreadable as he stares down at me, but his ears are cocked off his head.

Something throbs hard against my clit and that movement finally wakes me up.

I glance down. Cloaked in the shadows, his huge rod throbs so hard, it lifts off my mound in a huge jerk before it falls against me once more.

My eyes widen.

I can’t believe what I am seeing.

He’s fucking big, and hard.

“Fi’rox?”

“Do not mind it. It will withdraw soon.”

Where the hell does he hide that thing?

In his suit, it doesn’t look like he has a penis at all.

His lips pull back as his fangs bare in a soundless snarl, and I realize just what he is doing.

He’s trying to get rid of his erection.

But…

I don’t want him to.

It’s not something I have to consider.

I wrap my legs around his waist, causing his shaft to surge upwards against my clit.

It’s so warm.

So fucking warm and the throbbing in it…

A moan barrels through me as I jerk my hips and force him to slide against me again.

“Dey…jah.” His voice is a mix of pleasure and pain as he suddenly leans down over me, one hand grasping me at the neck as the other grips my hips tight enough that I cannot move anymore. “Stop.”

Disappointment isn’t the only thing that rises inside me.

His rejection is jarring.

He’ll give me pleasure with his mouth, but he doesn’t want to go all the way?

“Why?” I challenge him.

“Because,” his chest heaves with heavy breaths and I feel his cock throb against my clit again, “you do not want this.”

I grip the hand at my neck. I can feel the muscles straining in his arm, even though he’s not hurting me one bit.

He’s trying so hard to hold back.

I almost died today, and the day before that, and the day before that…

I don’t give a fuck about reservations or holding back.

“How do you know what I want?”

Fi’rox lets out a shuddering breath and his whole body trembles.

“When you go back to the base, you might find a mate. You will hate me,” he says, his gaze engulfing mine. “I am already hated there. The hyu’man females call us demons. I—” His body shudders again with his restraint. “I do not want you to hate me too.”

I’m not so sure about that.

If he means hate him as in “won’t be able to get him out of my mind” then he’s right.

But from the way he’s looking at me, I know he is dead serious.

And this is…this is important to him.

“I’m giving myself one lapse,” I say. I use his exact words and I see when realization dawns on him. “You don’t know what I want.”

“What do you want, Deja?”

“I…want you.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

DEJA

Fi’rox does the deepest growl I have ever heard him utter as he surges forward, his cock rubbing against my clit.

The feeling lights me up, my pussy aching, clenching on nothing.

I want to feel him inside me.

He pulls back and surges forward again, letting out another low growl that makes me ache some more.

“I have not pierced you get,” he groans, “but I feel I might spill.”

Oh?

I think he’s exaggerating, but a warm liquid suddenly coats my belly as Fi’rox shudders above me.

My eyes widen at the sheer amount of it. I can feel it running down my side and I expect him to stop moving now and flop down beside me, but that doesn’t happen.

Instead, a deep fire starts in his eyes as he grips my hip even tighter and positions himself at my entrance.

He’s still hard…even after letting out so much semen…

“Wild fire,” he dips his head and his lips hover right over mine. “You’re too small for me. This won’t work.”

I gulp as I feel his head brush against my entrance and my breath becomes uneven.

“I’ll manage.” I breathe. “I want to feel you.”

My pussy clenches again, the anticipation enough to make me drip.

Fi’rox moves slowly, pushing the head of his cock forward.

It’s tapered.

I can’t see. I can only feel, and it feels tapered. It’s getting increasingly thicker the more he pushes into me, and it’s not long before I feel like I’m at my limit.

Fi’rox pauses, his chest heaving as he looks down at me.

His hand at my neck tilts my head up and I join my lips to his.

He purrs, deep and low, as he slides himself from me, only to press forward again.

It is slow agony.

He doesn’t move more than an inch at a time, but each slight movement has me clenching, my belly quivering as bolts of electricity shoot through me.

Fi’rox pulls back, only to move forward with that slow torture again, until he’s filled me.

I tighten my legs around his thighs as he pulls back to surge forward again.

My hips are pushed back as he takes me, spreading me for him, and I reach up to hold his face between my hands.

As Fi’rox moves back then surges forward, repeating the motions over and over again until he has a rhythm that has us both moving in unison, my whole being feels like it transcends to a different plane.

I stare into his eyes, my body jerking as I scream against his lips.

His fangs brush against my skin and I am not even bothered.

He is mine.

This alien is mine.

I cannot go back to normal after this.

Nothing has felt more alive than now as he fills me, his thick cock throbbing with each thrust.

I’m spread to the point that I can be filled no more, and each thrust makes my clit stretch and fold against him.

The peak up ahead comes too quickly and I’m screaming the effects of my release into his mouth.

He takes it all, absorbing my energy, only to reach his own release.

Fi’rox grips me harder, a roar barreling through him as his cock throbs within me. Hot spend bursts through the tight seam between us as he says my name.

“Deja,” he groans. “You will be my end.”

No, Fi’rox.

I believe…you will be mine.

* * *

FI’ROX

I have to release Dey’jah far too quickly.

I do not want her out of my arms.

I do not want to slide my sazi from her warmth.

But I cannot take her a second time while in this wilderness.

I only gave in to my weakness this once because…after I take her back to the base, I will leave…and…I might never return.

It is selfish of me to want to experience the one thing that has given me joy since the Gryken invaded Edooria.

I did not expect a hyu’man to become so important to me.

But Dey’jah has.

She’s limp as she looks up at me and I wonder if I was too rough.

Holding back was the hardest thing I have ever done. I did not even mount her in the correct position, too eager to feel her warmth.

But she smiles at me, a languid look on her face.

The look in her eyes is one of warmth.

I’ve never…no other females look at me like that.

Her hands fall back off me to rest on her chest, and I wonder if she is hurting there. I had tried not to grip her too hard.

“Your chest. Does it ache?” I ask.

She glances down, her brows furrowing, and I use her ripped garments to clean my spend from her belly.

I’d meant to put every last drop inside her, and that thought makes my sazi throb again.

Rek.

I have to force it back inside my mating pouch before it becomes too hard for me to control.

“Sore,” she answers before lifting her gaze to the darkness above us.

Falling on my back beside her, I look up, too.

What we just shared…

It is a unique experience I might never have again.

Dey’jah moans and snuggles up to me, resting her head on my chest.

The movement surprises me.

Vullan females do not like attention after the mating deed. They prefer the male to leave.

But as Dey’jah snuggles closer, her yearning for my warmth makes a comforting feeling rise within me.

She throws an arm across my chest. “I know you say we’re safe in here…but we should probably get ready to go, shouldn’t we?”

“When you are well…”

“I am well enough to travel.” She tilts her head to look up at me and I have no choice but to tell her the truth.

“I do not know what we might encounter once we leave.”

She stiffens, her chin jerking to her chest. “And that woman. You said you secured her, but we need to deal with her too.”

I can feel the distress, the sadness of beforehand returning to her.

But she is right.

There’s only one problem.

If we head to the base, we have to leave that female here or set her free.

I doubt Dey’jah will want either of those options.

That is the reason I released my ba’clan. Allowed them to coat the entire walls of this nest, hiding our energy signatures and cloaking this room while I tended to Dey’jah.

“What? What is it?” Dey’jah leans closer to me, her gaze searching mine.

I am surprised she can even see me in the darkness, as if her eyes are adapting.

“The other female out there…we will have to leave her.”

Dey’jah is shaking her head and I already know what is coming. “You can carry her. I can walk.”

I’m already growling before she can finish.

If she thinks I’m about to let her walk through the forest all the way to the base, especially while injured…

A breath shudders from her. “We can’t leave her.” Then she freezes. “Do you think that thing came looking for her?”

That is a good question, but not one I have an answer for or something I want to take a chance with.

“You should carry her. I will walk.”

“Nonsense. We will do no such thing.” My nostrils flare as I glare at her. “You are injured.”

“So is she.” And at the look in my eyes, she smiles and places her hand against my cheek. Her skin feels soft and warm against mine.

Comforting.

“Look, I’m not injured as badly as you think. I’m not feeling any pain.”

“That’s because my ba’clan are inside you. You are much more injured than you realize.”

She blinks at me. “Your suit is inside me?”

Her voice has a tone of incredulity as she eases back and looks at me.

“My ba’clan…they are inside you.” I glance around us. “Some of them, at least. The others are coating this nest.”

She looks around. “Ah, so that’s why it’s extra dark in here.”

She runs a hand over her chest. “I don’t feel any different. I mean, I can feel the suit on a patch on my chest but—”

“They’re not just a suit, Dey’jah. They’re…me.”

Her eyebrows shoot up high and I wonder if I’ve started something I should have kept to myself.

If she rejects the ba’clan when she finds out what they really are, it will be like rejecting me.

I had accepted that I might never claim a mate as my own. But the thought of Dey’jah outright rejecting me…I realize now that I am not prepared for this.

I am not prepared at all.

Chapter Twenty-Five

DEJA

“What do you mean ‘they’re you’?”

Fi’rox’s not telling me something. I can feel it in the way he pauses before answering.

“Like an extra skin,” he says. “I control them the same way I control my limbs—with little conscious thought.”

“What…do you mean?”

He hesitates again, not answering, as if he’s reading my response and has to break something to me slowly.

“It’s alien tech, isn’t it? The way you can make it disappear and appear. The way it forms those blades on you when you want.” I wait for him to continue, but he does not.

What am I missing?

“They’re like that gun you gave me. I just thought about it and it formed around my hand. I didn’t imagine that, did I?”

“No. You did not.”

“Okay, so that tech is…inside me right now?”

“They’re not technology. The ba’clan are a part of me. Like my own cells. They formed a life bond with me at my birth.”

I tilt my head to the side, my eyes narrowing as I try to understand.

“You talk as if your suit is alive.”

Fi’rox doesn’t answer.

If anything, he stiffens.

My eyes widen. “It is alive.”

“Yes. As alive as you and I.”

Well, that’s a shocker I didn’t expect.

“What?”

“Do not be afraid, Dey’jah.”

I gulp and at that moment, right underneath my hand, the patch on my chest pulses.

My hand flies away, my eyes widening even more.

Something that’s alive that can do the things I’ve seen it do? That can move and interact with its host?

That is a…parasite.

My heart speeds up and I want to hit my head against the wall. I didn’t even ask about it. I’d just assumed.

“And…it’s inside me now?”

Fi’rox leans closer, his gaze searching mine. “I am inside you.”

My cheeks warm a little as I struggle to focus.

Fuck.

It shouldn’t creep me out at all.

Another part of him was just inside me too, and I welcomed it with open legs.

It’s not so bad.

This…parasite or whatever, it is has healed me before.

The only difference is now I know it is alive.

“Sentient?”

Fi’rox’s ear flick. “They are.”

“They?”

“Symbiotes,” he says. “My ba’clan are millions on nano organisms that live as one.”

Wow. Shit.

“Can they feel? Are they conscious?”

I glance around the walls. To think I’m surrounded by alien organisms I didn’t even know exist…

“Yes,” Fi’rox answers.

“How are you so sure they won’t harm me?”

“Because, Dey’jah. I never would.”

His utterance is calming, and I release a heavy breath.

I’m not scared. Just shocked. But the fact I’m now a host for some alien life form is jarring.

I’m supposed to be in pain right now.

Instead, apart from the nice soreness between my legs, I feel…fine.

My hand hovers over the patch on my chest and I swear a string of the dark patch reaches out to touch my palm before pulling back.

Calm, Deja. Calm. It’s on your side…literally. Has been from the start.

I gulp as I try to settle my thoughts.

“We should still leave this place.” I brace my hands on the floor beneath us in an effort to rise.

Fi’rox’s ears flick again, as if he’s surprised by my reaction.

But stranger things have happened today.

I’d rather have an alien inside me that’s healing me than face another that tries to kill me by breaking every bone in my body.

I’m on my feet, standing before him now, and I glance around the room.

“You know as well as I do that we need to leave.” I face him. “We have to get the hell away from here. The longer we wait, the more we put ourselves in danger.”

Fi’rox stands and towers over me. Slowly, the darkness in the room lessons as his suit—his symbiotes—travel back to him.

I expect those on my skin to head back to him as well, but as I touch my chest, they pulse against my fingers again and remain there.

He really has unique control over them.

“They are pulsing against my hand. I’ve felt it before, but this time it’s stronger.”

Fi’rox’s ears flick again. “They are hoping you don’t reject them…me.”

I frown up at him. “Why would I ever reject you?”

He freezes, looking at me with those dark eyes, and I don’t know what I’ve said to cause that reaction.

We just had sex.

Surely, it’s clear to him that it’s a little too late for rejection now.

“We are no longer cloaked in this room. Anything outside of this space will know this room is here,” he says suddenly. “We have to move.”

I nod and as he turns and walks toward the door, I follow behind him.

* * *

As soon as we reach the door, Fi’rox stretches an arm toward me without looking back.

Wait.

I stop in my tracks, my heart thumping as he slips from the room.

With each second that passes, my pulse increases and the dead silence of the main room is the only indication a fight is not ensuing.

It is the only reason I don’t bolt from the room to ensure my alien is okay.

He returns shortly after, his head popping from behind the half-open door.

“Come. It is clear. I do not know for how long.”

I step from the room, my bare feet brushing over the dusty floor with as much silence as I can manage.

The first thing I notice is the Gryken’s dead body is missing, but not the outline on the floor where it fell with Fi’rox. The wooden flooring broke where they fell.

“Where is it?”

“I discarded it. I did not think you would have liked to witness it again.”

I nod, my gaze moving over the broken glass and then around the room.

There is not much light in here. Evening has come.

I was unconscious for a while.

But that doesn’t keep me from seeing the woman secured to an overturned table.

My breath hitches as my gaze lands on her.

Fi’rox’s tied her to it so she can hardly move, yet her hands stretch toward the door, a soft eerie moan leaving her lips as she tries to head to whatever she’s trying to reach.

“My God…”

Her back is turned to me and I’m walking slowly to her when Fi’rox blocks my path.

“It may be best that you do not look upon her.”

I search his gaze, my brows furrowing a little. “Why?”

He doesn’t answer, so I step around him, careful of the splinters of glass on the floor until I am standing before the woman.

My hands fly to cover my mouth as I stare at her.

Her face is strained, her eyes bloodshot, and her skin stretched against her bones.

More dark bruises have appeared all over her skin, and I shudder in horror as I gaze at her.

“Fi’rox, she’s—”

“Dying.”

“But how? At least, how does she look so much worse so soon?”

“The veins the Gryken have embedded within her. She needs sustenance to maintain the flow of lifeblood. They are drawing from her body.”

Tears well in my eyes as I look at the woman. No one deserves to die like this.

She lets out another eerie croak, still fighting against the restraints, her hands stretching toward the entrance.

She’s like a zombie and I shudder as I realize that’s exactly what she is.

My gaze follows where she’s pointing and I see the tins still scattered on the floor.

“She wants the food.”

My heart thumps.

Maybe she’s still alive in there somewhere. Maybe her mind’s not been taken completely.

“She’s starving.” I rush back to the counter where I’d left a half-open tin of sweet corn and bring it back to the woman. I wave it at her, but there is no recognition in her eyes. Not even when I bring it to her nose.

“I do not think she wishes for the food for herself, Deja.”

I know Fi’rox is right. I just don’t want to believe it.

“What does she want it for then?”

Fi’rox doesn’t respond and I don’t expect him to.

Neither of us knows what objective has been planted in this woman’s brain.

I’m moving with purpose as a plan hatches in my mind.

“She’s still human. The least we can do is give her an honorable death.”

I move through the carnage in the room and grab a dry t-shirt, pulling it on before climbing into my wet jeans. I’m putting on my sneakers when my gaze lands on the little pink shoe on the floor.

It’s right where it must have fallen from my hand after I went unconscious.

I move over and lift it, holding it in the center of my palm before my gaze moves back to the woman.

The emotional pain of before returns.

The whole time, Fi’rox watches me, his ears flicking as if he’s trying to read my mind.

It’s silent as I head back to the woman and crouch before her, but inside my heart is screaming.

“You had a baby,” I whisper, my gaze moving over her face.

There’s still no recognition there.

“You were holding on to this.” I lift the shoe in front of her face, and for a moment, I swear something changes in her gaze.

I wait but maybe it’s just my imagination.

I’m about to rise when the woman suddenly grips me by the arm and Fi’rox is immediately by my side.

He’s about to tear her off me, but something makes me tell him to stop.

“Wait!”

She’s looking at me.

Not looking through me, but…looking at me.

And a soft wail leaves her lips as she struggles to speak.

I lean closer, my pulse thundering.

“Saaave…herrr.”

I reel back, my eyes wide.

I’m sure I heard correctly.

Save her.

My eyes fall back to the shoe in my hand and realization dawns.

No.

It can’t be.

I move closer to the woman, gripping her hand in mine, my gaze searching hers.

“Save who?!”

But she’s gone again. Her gaze vacant.

My chest’s heaving as the thoughts fire in my mind.

It’s impossible…but I know what the woman meant.

I know who she wants me to save…and I know what I have to do.

I would never forgive myself if I don’t even try.

I grip the little shoe in my hand as I turn my gaze to Fi’rox.

“You have made a plan,” he says.

“Yes.” I have to do it. I can’t run to safety without knowing. Without trying. “And you’re not going to like it.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

FI’ROX

Dey’jah is about to embark on something I already know I’m will object to.

I can see it in the way her shoulders are set and how that troublesome look has grown in her gaze.

“No,” I say even before she tells me of her plan. “If it involves putting you in danger, my answer is no.”

I advance on her but she doesn’t even flinch.

I am leagues taller than her. Stronger. More terrifying.

But she simply lifts her gaze to meet mine. Her hands ball into fists at her sides and her brows dive to her nose.

“You’re planning on taking me back to that base and then coming back out here on your own, aren’t you?”

My ears flatten against my head, my pupils widening almost imperceptibly.

How did she know?

“I’m not an idiot, Fi’rox. I’ve seen your preoccupation with whatever is in the distance that’s too far for me to see, especially with this fog. I’m no fool. I know there’s only one thing that would have you snarling and murderous like that.” She pauses, taking a step closer to me. She is so close now, only a breath separates us, and she tilts her head to glare up at me.

“One of those machines is out there, isn’t it?”

My jaws clench as I try to hold back a growl.

I had planned to keep this information to myself but now this little hyu’man is challenging me.

If it were any of the males back at the camp, I would have attacked him already.

But it is Dey’jah.

I cannot even move.

Half my size, she has humbled me before her.

“Answer me, Fi’rox,” she whispers.

“Yes.”

Her breaths pick up, her fists getting tighter at her sides.

“I knew it. How else would one of those things find us in the middle of nowhere? And where the hell would she have come from?” She motions to the female I have secured. “There has to be a machine somewhere out there. Close.”

“Not close. A far distance for a hyu’man.”

Dey’jah’s jaw clenches. “But not for a Vullan.”

I do not need to answer. That is obvious.

I can return her to the base and head back to the parked Scrit all in the same rotation.

“You were planning to leave me there while you went out on some mission to take it down.”

Her tone is accusatory and my ears flick again. I am not sure what to make of her change in mood.

“You will be safe at the base.”

“And what about you?”

My jaws clench again.

“I must do what is best for us all. While the others work to create more weapons, I must return and gather information on the enemy.”

“Alone?”

“Only a few of us came to this world. We do not have many fighters to spare.”

“Why?” She’s clenched her flat teeth as she glares up at me. There is water gathering in her eyes now and that is another thing I am not sure how to read.

“Because, I made an oath to destroy this scourge!”

“Do you think you’re the only one who has made an oath to destroy them?! Do you think you are the only one who has lost everything!”

Water runs down her cheeks and she ignores it.

Her words though, they shake me.

Of course, she is right.

It is not something I have considered.

I have only been consumed by my need to make the Gryken pay.

“I’ve lost everything too, Fi’rox. Everything. I have nothing left. I do not want to lose y—”

Her words end and she looks down, finally wiping the water from her cheeks. She sniffs and looks up at me, blinking away the water in her eyes.

“And then this.” She looks back at the woman and rubs the foot covering between her fingers. “When you lose something dear to you…something that changes your life…the grief…the pain…it makes you hold on to the slightest thing that touches your heart and you don’t dare let go.” Her throat moves. “This woman’s baby is out there somewhere.”

Her words make me hesitate.

A child on its own out there is probably dead.

But I cannot say this. The pain in Dey’jah’s eyes is already too real.

And…it might not be true.

I would not be here now if a female like Dey’jah did not find me.

“Do they know you’re here?” she asks.

“The Gryken? They do now.”

Dey’jah swallows hard as she looks toward the broken window.

“We can’t wait. We can’t wait till you take me back to that base to figure out what the hell is happening here.” She glances at the woman, her fingers still moving over the foot covering in her hand. “And…”

She doesn’t say it, but I know what is going on in her mind.

And…if there’s a child out there somewhere, she wants to find it.

“You say this is different. It’s not something you’ve ever seen before.” She meets my gaze. “That means time isn’t on our side.”

Again, I know she is right, but I already hate where I know she is heading with this.

“And this woman…her baby…we can’t just let them die. Not like this.”

Dey’jah’s gaze sets again.

“We’re going to let her go. And we’re going to give her the food.”

My nostrils flare.

“That’s not the end of your plan. Is it?”

Dey’jah’s silent as she shakes her head. “And…”

“And?”

“And we’re going to follow her.”

A growl tears through me and my hackles rise halfway before her.

“No.”

“Yes.” She presses. “This isn’t up for discussion. You know I’m right.”

Rek her.

She knows she’s right.

“And if we encounter a Gryken?”

“You can shield us with your symbiotes like you did before.” She worries her bottom lip in her mouth but doesn’t move her gaze from mine. It’s like her plan is being formed as we speak and she’s adding in the details. “When that Gryken entered this room, it wasn’t aware of you. Me though, I think it smelled me or something.”

My nostrils flare again at the memory.

“You could die.”

She bares her teeth at me in the very hyu’man fashion that shows glee.

But there is nothing to be happy about.

I hate her plan.

“I don’t die so easily, remember?”

* * *

DEJA

He doesn’t like it at all.

As I pick up the tins off the floor, Fi’rox stands in the middle of the room, growling like some beast that’s been leashed and wants to escape but can’t.

A small smile tickles my lips and I somehow manage to hide my nervousness.

I’m terrified of this plan but I can’t just run to safety without doing something.

My gaze slides to the woman who’s still struggling toward a mission she did not agree to.

She’s fighting for two things.

To free herself and get back to her child.

I grip the little shoe in my hand.

If there’s a baby out there somewhere…

Judging from how fast the woman’s deteriorating, I’m guessing those veins on her neck act fast.

That could mean they recently captured her.

If her baby is out there, maybe she’s still alive.

I grip the shoe tighter.

I’m praying she is.

As my gaze slides back to the woman, I have to face the truth.

I could have been her.

And…I’d have wanted someone to do what I’m doing now. I’ve had wanted them to try to save the most important thing to me: my child.

Images of the firefighters trying to pull the metal away to get into my car come rushing back.

I remember the hopelessness I felt. How I looked to them as my saviors. How I prayed they could get my baby out and save her.

I didn’t care about myself.

And now this woman is depending on me.

Taking a deep breath, I set my shoulders as I bring one of the tins to the woman.

Her shaking hands grasps it and she raises her head, her gaze still looking right through me.

Something wrings inside me again.

I wish I could see even a sliver of consciousness there once more.

“We’ll kill them,” I say to her. “We’re going to kill those fuckers that have done this to you, and we’re going to find your baby.”

For a moment, it’s as if she sees me again.

I don’t know if I imagine it.

Maybe I have.

But I take that look and I move away before her eyes become vacant once more.

“Release her, please.”

Fi’rox growls.

I know he hates this plan and his hesitation warms my heart.

To think he was planning on investigating this on his own…

He’s not thinking about his own safety, but someone has to.

I don’t want to lose him either.

The thought hits me deep and I don’t question it.

He’s the only thing I’ve clung to since this nightmare began, and I’m not ready to let him go. Alien or not. Different species or not.

All of that does not fucking matter.

“Fi’rox—”

But he’s already cutting the vines away from the woman.

Even before she’s free, she’s trying to get to the open window.

She ambles there, walking across the broken glass.

Splinters pierce her bare feet and she doesn’t stop.

My heart cracks as I watch her go.

But I snap out of it quickly when she climbs up on the broken window, causing her hands to bleed.

Not once does she utter a grunt of pain.

“Let’s go,” I say to Fi’rox.

He growls at me, his angry eyes piercing through mine.

He looks the way he did that first day I saw him.

Angry.

Annoyed.

Dangerous.

But gone is the fear I felt toward him.

“Me first,” he says.

Unlike the woman, Fi’rox doesn’t go through the window.

He moves the stuff I’d stacked in front of the door instead, making a path I can follow too.

I grunt as he pushes them away with ease.

Some kind of deterrence they were.

They didn’t even hinder the Gryken from getting in.

He appears at the broken window shortly after.

Letting go another breath, my shoulders rise and fall as I nod at him.

It’s time to go.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

DEJA

The woman walks ahead of us, her feet and hands bleeding in fresh places from her walking across the glass.

She seems to know exactly where she is going, heading toward a singular destination.

The rain is still falling, and it’s picked up again.

It slides off Fi’rox, but I am soaked. A shiver goes through me, but I keep pressing forward.

We have to see this through.

There’s a growl at my back and when I glance behind me, Fi’rox’s livid gaze scorches me with deep cobalt fire.

He’s pissed. He doesn’t need to say a word for me to know.

But I refuse to let him carry me or for us to stop for shelter.

The woman isn’t slowing down.

She isn’t going to stop and time isn’t on our side.

We have to press on.

We move through thickets and the undergrowth for hours, the only thing keeping me going being my will.

There’s a faint ache in my chest when I take deep breaths and I whisper a silent prayer.

If Fi’rox wasn’t here, I’d be dead already.

I tell myself I’m doing this because his sacrifice to save me must mean something.

I can’t go back to that base when there might be a child out here somewhere.

I couldn’t save my own…maybe I can save another.

And…

And, well, even if Fi’rox took me back to the base, there’s no way I could sit there knowing he’s heading out here on his own either.

It’s a tough decision, but I can’t let him do this alone.

I might not be able to fight like he can, but maybe together we can understand what these beasts are doing out here.

So I swallow my fears and try to calm the racing beats of my heart as we trudge on.

The rain’s falling so hard, I wonder how the woman knows where she’s going.

But whatever’s directing her isn’t visual.

She seems drawn by instinct…and she just keeps on moving.

Not the rain, not the trees, not the terrain…nothing is hindering her from pushing forward.

We reach an area of fallen trees and the woman trips over one and falls face first.

I hear something crack and alarm goes through me.

I’m rushing forward when a strong arm holds me back.

“No. I will check.”

Fi’rox brushes past me as I nod.

I understand why he doesn’t want me too close to the woman.

I, too, wonder if those veins are contagious or if they were implanted.

But I’ve touched her several times now.

If they’re contagious, it’s a delayed reaction.

Still, I stay back a short distance, blinking through the rain as I look around us for any movement before I turn my gaze back on Fi’rox.

He’s helping the woman back on her feet, but she stumbles again.

All through this, she’s doing that eerie moan, gripping the tin of food as she tries to crawl forward.

I see the awkward set of her ankle as she tries to rise once more and my heart clenches.

It’s broken.

There’s no way she can walk.

Yet, she rises, putting weight on the broken ankle as she pulls herself forward.

It’s such a harrowing sight that I have to turn away, blinking back the tears that rise in my eyes.

She was someone’s sister. Wife. Friend.

Mother.

And now…now she’s a mindless shell.

My shoulders lurch as I slap a hand over my mouth to push back my emotions.

When I turn to face them again, she’s gone a few meters ahead, almost disappearing through the trees, but Fi’rox remains in the spot where she fell, his eyes on me.

“I can end it,” he says, and I swallow hard.

I wipe my tears and walk toward him.

Ending it isn’t my decision to make.

Who am I to decide that she should die?

“She could still survive. We don’t know that yet.”

He studies me for a moment. “She is in pain. She can feel her broken limb…the wounds in her legs and hands…the bruises on her body. She can feel the life draining from her.” He pauses. “She is only unable to react to it.”

His words make me stop dead before him, my eyes widening in horror.

“What?”

“When the Gryken took control of our warriors. We took some of them down. They came back to their senses before their spirits left.” He pauses and glances in the direction the woman went. “They felt everything. They knew exactly what they were doing. Could feel every blade we thrust into their flesh to take them down. But they could not react. The Gryken’s coding took precedent over their very need for survival.”

His words chill me to the core, adding to the mounting horror I am already feeling.

“She is in much pain, Deja.”

I choke as a sob lodges in my throat.

How can a species do this to another?

This…this is pure evil.

“She will continue until her body expires on its own.”

The thought of allowing that to happen to the woman…I can’t.

I don’t know her. She’s a stranger to me. But I can’t.

If it were me, I’d have wanted someone to spare me from that end.

I nod at Fi’rox, averting my gaze from his.

“Do it.” My throat tightens up on the words and I clench my fists. “It’s better than letting her suffer.”

Fi’rox pauses, looking down at me for a few moments.

He doesn’t tell me what he is thinking or feeling, but I can tell he senses how hard of a decision it is for me.

I feel the air move and when I look up, he is gone.

I turn my gaze upward, to the leaves above me as they shiver and sway with the torrent of rain coming down on us.

The little shoe in my hand is soaked, but I grip it nonetheless, my heart breaking into a thousand pieces.

I stand like that for the next few minutes until Fi’rox returns and I am suddenly in his arms.

His warmth envelops me and I lean on him.

“Did you do it?” I ask.

He doesn’t answer. He simply holds me in his arms.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

FI’ROX

Even though we are in the open, I take the time to hold Dey’jah.

Hyu’mans like the comfort of touch and it is all I can provide her right now.

Her body quakes against me and I see water in her eyes that’s not from the rain pouring around us.

Eye water means sadness…and my Dey’jah is very, very sad.

So I hold her, the rain falling around us in thick sheets, and she settles into me.

I hold her for as long as she wants till she presses her hands against my chest.

“We should get moving.” Her chest heaves with a breath and I know she is forcing herself to stop mourning, but I jerk my chin to my chest anyway.

“Where do we go now?” She glances around us and I take her arm in my hand, turning in the direction I know the Scrit lies.

“Okay,” she says and continues picking her way through the trees.

I could lift her now, carry her in my arms, but we’ve been walking for much longer than I think she has realized.

We’re close to the Scrit and I am sure we will see it towering through the trees soon.

For that reason, I will continue our slow approach.

I have to keep my senses open, for I cannot rely on scent with this rainfall.

And I am not going too close to those beasts with Dey’jah in my midst.

So I let her set the pace in front of me.

This female…

She is so different than I expected her to be.

When Ga’Var told me a female had run away during the Gryken attack, I expected a scared little weak thing hiding in the bushes.

Not one who’d made it out of the forest alive while nursing an injury, and certainly not one who would try to fight back after I caught her.

…Not one who would make me long for something else other than revenge.

My ba’clan have given no indication she is my mate. But Dey’jah is mine.

She will always be.

I just have to figure out how I will live knowing that she is mine, but I cannot fully claim her.

This thought dominates my mind when something flicks in my senses.

I stop abruptly, pulling Dey’jah against my chest.

A twig has snapped far ahead of us.

Apart from a sharp gasp, Dey’jah doesn’t make any other sound and she doesn’t move.

Her chest heaves as her breaths come quick and her gaze darts around just as mine searches the forest around us.

I do not think she has heard the sound. The pouring rain almost dampened it, but there is no denying what that sound was, so I pull Dey’jah down to the ground as I crouch above her.

Her wise gaze darts up at me, a question in her eyes.

I want to tell her it is not a Gryken. That they are not so careless as to make noise as they walk. But I don’t want to make her let her guard down.

Instead, I take the prototype from my hip and put it in her hands.

She trembles a little as she looks down at it but when her gaze meets mine again, there’s a firm resolve in them.

I keep her crouched with me, ready to camouflage with her when I see the cause of my alarm.

It’s another hyu’man.

Female this time, too.

But I do not need to get closer to see she is in the same condition as the other was.

Her face is sunken, her garments torn, and her eyes see nothing.

“Another hyu’man,” I whisper low.

Dey’jah’s head pops up from beneath me, her locks brushing against my chin.

“Same as the other,” I murmur.

She gulps but I do not scent her fear. “Must be close to it then? Right?”

She glances up at me and those brown eyes envelope me with warmth.

“Yes.”

“Okay. Let’s go.” She grips the prototype and rises the same as I do.

The hyu’man female approaching us does not stop when she sees us. She simply looks right through us and carries on.

“God, that’s so creepy.” Dey’jah watches the female go, and another shiver goes through her, but she gives herself a shake, her eyes coming to me again.

“You think I’ll have to use this?”

My gaze falls to the prototype.

“I hope not.”

* * *

DEJA

Nothing prepares me for what I see when the forest suddenly stops.

There’s a clearing ahead of us and even the pouring rain and fog cannot shield the sight before me.

Huge towering legs planted in the earth rise high above.

A shiver goes through me and I almost turn around and head the other way.

But we’ve come this far.

This is what we’ve been hunting down.

Here it is.

One of the very machines that have decimated my world.

High, high above, I know an orb stands on those legs and I know that within that reflective round piece of metal, the cause of this chaos lies.

I gulp, my whole body shuddering as I try to make sense of what I’m seeing on the ground in front of me.

All through our journey here, we moved through green forest.

The trees were alive.

The rain…the natural beauty…it all seemed relatively normal outside the circumstances.

But here…

My gaze moves over the clearing as my horror mounts.

Those red veins that were embedded into the woman’s skull and spine…they’re here. Everywhere.

They spread across the ground, covering every inch of space, and underneath them, everything they touch has…died.

Fi’rox growls as he stretches an arm in front of me, as if to stop me from going farther.

His symbiotes grow larger, getting sharper by the second as his muscles tense at the sight before us.

I couldn’t move even if I wanted to.

I’m frozen.

What’s before my eyes is…

My gaze moves up along the metal legs of the towering machine, following the network of veins that run straight up along it.

Like Jack’s beanstalk, they wind higher and higher until they disappear into the fog.

A shudder goes through me.

This is…

An infestation.

I don’t know what those gray aliens are doing or what their plan is, but it’s clear that it’s nothing good.

The world and everything within it will die if we let them win.

Gripping the gun in my hand, I glance up at Fi’rox.

What now?

His fangs are bared as he stares off into the distance.

“There,” he says.

I turn to look in the direction he’s indicating but all I can see is fog.

The lessening light as night approaches isn’t helping, either.

I squint, a shiver going through me as I see movement.

Another woman, walking as sluggishly as the others and, as the fog clears, I see what Fi’rox is looking at.

A strange structure is revealed as the wind disperses the fog. A crude square-shaped object completely infested by the veins that cover the ground.

The woman brings an object in her hands and she enters the structure and disappears. Something tells me that if we want to find out what the hell is happening here, that’s where we need to go.

And if we want to find the baby…that’s our best bet too…

My mind’s set.

We’ve come this far and I’m tired of running.

“How many of those gray assholes can you sense?” I whisper to Fi’rox.

“None.”

I glance up at him, surprised.

“They are within the orb or somewhere far in the forest. Too far for me to sense them.”

I gulp, turning my attention back to the machine before us.

“We have to go in there.”

Fi’rox growls in response.

“I might be wrong but, this machine seems pretty rooted. I don’t think it’s moving anytime soon.”

Fi’rox growls again. “I do not like this plan.”

“I know.” I give him a wry smile. “But we’re cloaked, right?”

I pull up the t-shirt and glance at the patch he’d put on my belly. It blinks a dim blue and I look up at Fi’rox for confirmation.

“Yes. Mostly.”

I nod, worrying my lip between my teeth. I can’t believe I’m considering this.

I should run away.

But I’m fucking tired of running.

“Good. And you said you can’t smell so good in the rain?” My gaze runs up the machine’s legs. “What about them?”

“The same,” he says.

I meet his gaze, my mind set.

The fate of all humanity depends on us getting this information and acting on it quickly.

We’re doing this.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

DEJA

Waiting meters away from our enemy, chills go through me, and it’s not because of the rain.

More than once, my confidence wanes and I want to head to the safety of the base and forget about this.

But humanity is already at a disadvantage.

I can’t in my right mind not do anything while I’m out here.

So, we wait.

Nightfall comes quickly, shielding us, and with the torrent of rain continuing to fall, I hope we have enough cover to get close to the structure of veins.

Fi’rox doesn’t speak and neither do I, but there’s an unspoken assurance between us.

We’re going to get in there, get the info we need, and get the fuck out of there.

He’s completely on edge, and so am I.

But the forest is silent apart from the occasional female that wanders past, far from us.

I want to know what they’re doing. Where are they going? Who are they bringing back food for, and why?

The moment for our move comes when the darkness around us completely closes in.

Fi’rox rises and reaches for me, helping me up.

“I wish for you to stay here,” he growls, and for a moment, I think he’s going to force me to wait out here. “But you’ll be safer by my side.”

He sniffs the air, checking once more for any faint scent of our enemy, but there is none.

“This way.”

We move slowly and quietly, cutting through the forest to get as close as we can to the structure with the veins without revealing ourselves.

When Fi’rox brings us to the forest edge once more, right before the structure, my eyebrows shoot up.

In the starlight, I can see it’s much bigger than I thought it was, and this close, even in the dim light, I can see the veins pulsing.

The sight makes my skin crawl.

“Ready?”

I nod before whispering. “Yea. Let’s go.”

Fi’rox moves so stealthily, even though I’m right beside him, I have to look at him to know he’s there.

He picks his way toward the structure, moving through the veins covering the ground, and I follow in his footsteps, careful not to step on any.

As soon as we reach the structure, he pauses.

I’m so close to him, I feel his symbiotes bristle.

“Humans,” he whispers low. “Many of them.”

My heart thumps.

The baby. She might be in there.

“We have to go in,” I whisper.

Fi’rox doesn’t growl this time, but he glances back at me.

I grip the gun and nod at him.

As we enter, the darkness encloses us.

There’s a path in here on the dirt where the veins don’t run, but that doesn’t reduce the creepiness of what’s around us.

I can almost hear the veins pulsing along the walls of this structure they’ve made.

It’s large inside. Large enough for me to turn around, but with no light, it’s hard to see what’s going on.

I squint, wishing my eyes would adjust to the darkness faster, but when Fi’rox utters a low snarl, I know that whatever is around us is not good.

Something sinister is going on here.

I can feel it, like a thin veil of evil brushing against my skin.

We’ve walked into something that is even more terrifying than we first realized.

I squint harder, trying to make out something, anything, around us, and my gaze lands on a singular thing.

A chill goes through me that almost makes me piss myself.

Across from me is a face.

A man.

And he’s not dead.

* * *

FI’ROX

It’s worse than I thought.

I count seven hyu’mans, all restrained by the veins that pulse around us.

They wind around the bodies like cocoons, holding the hyu’mans in place along the walls.

Four males. Three females.

The veins have pierced the flesh of the males, pulling directly from their lifeblood while the females appear to simply be cocooned.

I cannot be sure.

They are too entwined to be certain.

My ba’clan bristle in agitation, my hackles getting sharper with every second that passes.

I am happy Dey’jah’s eyesight isn’t as good as mine, happy she cannot see the details as clearly as I can, but as a soft gasp leaves her lips, I know she can see enough to be horrified.

This is…a nest.

Movement behind us has me reaching back for Dey’jah, my ba’clan shielding us both and I feel when she stops breathing, her eyes wide as she tries to see in the dark.

It’s one of the female hyu’mans that are being controlled. She brushes past us as she enters, not noticing our presence.

There’s something small in her hand and she heads directly to one of the cocooned males.

She pauses before him before she lifts her hand and forces its contents down his throat.

He gags and chokes, but she does not stop.

This forceful feeding continues for far too long, until whatever she brought is down the male’s throat, and then she ambles off again, her eyes vacant, her body close to breaking.

My gaze moves over the network of veins, a chill going through me as my eyes land on the cocooned females.

How did I miss it before?

My ba’clan pulses around us as my gaze falls to the female’s bellies.

Big. Swollen.

INFESTED.

They are hosts to Gryken spawn.

This is not only a nest…it is a nursery.

And…we are no longer alone.

Chapter Thirty

DEJA

The Gryken appears at the entrance to the structure, its gray skin reflecting the starlight, and a part of me dies.

I don’t even breathe.

Those soulless dark pits it has for eyes scan the interior where we hide and time slows down when the creature does not move.

We’re covered by Fi’rox’s symbiotes. I can only hope the beast doesn’t know we are here.

But it’s so close…

Too close.

My heart thumps an erratic beat, and I grip the gun in my hand.

I feel the moment it forms around my fingers, the trigger ready for me to pull.

If that fucker comes in here, I’m going to shoot.

But the Gryken moves. It simply disappears as if it wasn’t there in the first place.

A breath shudders through me as Fi’rox pulls me closer, his lips coming down to brush over my ear.

“I know what the Gryken are doing here,” he says. “It is time for us to go.”

Good news, but I hesitate.

The baby.

He seems to feel the tension rising within me because he brushes his lips against my ear again.

“There is no human young here.”

Another part of me dies, a deep-seated sorrow rising.

It had been foolish to hope.

“Wait here.” Fi’rox’s ba’clan slip from around us and he’s but a shadow as he moves toward the entrance, blocking the little light that was coming in.

At the same time, the pouring rain outside lessens, only to be replaced by another sound, and I turn in horror to look at the man caught within the veins.

It’s an almost silent groaning that seems to be joined by a chorus of others.

Like someone who can’t breathe trying their best to do so.

We can’t save them.

Not now.

Not with the enemy so close.

I comfort myself with the fact that at least we got something from coming all this way.

Fi’rox has the information he needs.

But when I glance his way, I sense when he turns from the entrance and looks at me.

Another chill runs through me.

Something’s wrong.

A screech cuts through the air, so loud, so close, that I have to slam my hands over my ears.

My eyes widen as Fi’rox is suddenly ripped from the entrance of the structure, a barely visible gray arm wrapped around his torso.

He lets out a roar, his blades extending even farther as he slices through the leg and the beast screeches again.

“Dey’jah!”

I rush to the entrance, lifting the gun in my hand, but I can’t shoot.

The darkness and the lightly pouring rain inhibit my vision, but I can see enough to tell that Fi’rox and the Gryken are ripping each other apart.

They move across the surface so fast, one smashing the other into the earth before the roles reverse and it happens all over again.

Fi’rox roars as he rips two of the creature’s legs off clean and the Gryken grips him with another two, piercing his flesh as it presses him into the earth beneath.

There’s a singular moment where its bulbous head is in my view, and I grit my teeth.

I fucking HATE THEM.

A blast of white light illuminates the space as I pull the trigger, my aim way off…but the world stops before me as the darkness around the clearing is dispelled.

Time stills and the world moves in slow motion.

Even the raindrops slow down.

Oh shit.

Ohshitohshitohshitohshit!

Out there, all around us…

They’re everywhere.

It’s not one.

There are more of them. Many, many more.

The gun almost falls from my fingers as I see death before us. It is only the sick squelching sound behind me, the sound of something being released from a wet sac, that jolts me.

They’re in here too!

As Fi’rox’s blade goes through the Gryken above him, my consciousness returns.

I push away the fear and I only see him.

We are alone in this.

And we’re going to survive.

I don’t see or feel the veins around me as I rush toward him.

In the back of my mind, the sound of hundreds of legs traveling across the earth, heading in our direction, registers in my head, but I keep my focus on Fi’rox as I lift the gun and fire again, illuminating the clearing.

As the Gryken above him falls, Fi’rox rises to his feet, his murderous gaze flicking all around us.

“Let’s go!” I grip his arm, ready to cut back toward the forest.

The only thing on my mind is to get away.

I’m running again.

Funny that it all came back to this.

But I lose my footing and I’m suddenly being thrown in the air.

Fi’rox’s strength to lift me so easily amazes me. I land on his back as he moves with blinding speed and only my reflexes save me from falling.

My heart is in my chest as I glance behind us and, at that moment, lighting lights up the sky, illuminating the clearing once more.

I see them like an infestation coming toward us. Too many to count.

Like a nest of giant spiders, and we are the prey.

“Go!” I shout to Fi’rox as I grip his neck with one arm and turn, pointing the gun behind us.

I don’t even try to aim. I simply depress the trigger.

Beams of light leave the gun, lighting up the terror chasing us.

They dodge the bullets and each time the clearing lights up, I see too many to count.

We’re surrounded. Maybe by hundreds of these things.

I look in front, hoping to see the cover of the forest, only to realize Fi’rox isn’t heading for it.

He’s running along the perimeter of the clearing and for a second, I don’t understand why.

Then it dawns on me.

We can’t outrun them.

There are too many.

The wind rushes against my face and my braids whip against my back as Fi’rox moves.

He’s heading toward the legs of the machine and I wonder what his plan is.

I don’t question it, though.

Instead, I turn and I fire.

They’re dodging the bullets, but soon I figure out a pattern.

I don’t try hitting any of them. I depress the trigger and sweep my arm, sending the bullets in a wide arc that takes down more than one.

By the time Fi’rox gets to the machine’s legs, I’ve cut down a few, but not enough.

Terror and urgency flood through my veins as he begins to climb. I cling on to him, my arm wrapped tight around his neck as I point downward and shoot.

They’re following us, the veins that pulse along the leg of the machine giving them leverage to climb.

But they’re all bundled in one spot now, trying to get to the top. “Motherfuckers!” I scream as I aim and shoot, the blinding light cutting through the darkness and the enemy beneath us.

Several fall, smashing into the ground below, but more come.

“Hold on!” Fi’rox shouts as he picks up speed.

He’s reached a section of the leg where the vines stop and I don’t know how he’s holding on to the smooth surface but I’ve never been more thankful for his unique abilities.

“They’re creating a colony.” His voice cuts through the air. “An army. I do not know for what reason.”

An army?

I glance back down, chills going through me.

We’re high up. I can’t see the ground anymore because of the darkness and the fog.

I try not to think about one of them controlling Fi’rox at this moment.

I have to hope he’s put enough distance between us and them for that to happen.

My gaze turns above as the giant orb comes into view.

“What are we going to do when we get up there?”

Fi’rox seems to move faster with every word and the large orb looms over us as we get close.

“We’re going to take this thing down.”

Chapter Thirty-One

FI’ROX

Dey’jah grips on to me and I can feel her life organ thumping in her chest with every beam of light that fires from the weapon in her hand.

It will run out of power soon.

I have to reach my goal.

I can hear the Gryken behind me. Hear them ascending in chase of us and that pushes me harder still.

Just a little more…

I’m at the orb, the tendons in my mind threatening to break as I feel the pull of the Gryken within it.

“Fire!” I shout.

I don’t have much time left.

“I am firing!”

“No! Fire here!” I pound a fist at the orb, the force going through it like a wave without effect.

Dey’jah’s breaths come quickly as she turns to the orb and, without question, fires at it.

The whole outer structure shivers. It’s a momentary weakness and I slam my blade into it, cutting an opening.

Water gushes out and I have just a moment to brace with Dey’jah still on my back.

I can barely see the Gryken inside but Dey’jah doesn’t need to hit it directly.

Once the charge hits the water…

But I don’t even need to tell her what to do.

I feel when she senses movement within. Her body stiffens, her hand shakes, but she points and fires.

A blast of blinding light sears past us, into the orb, electrifying the water within and temporarily rendering the Gryken helpless.

“Hold your breath!”

It’s the only warning I get to give Dey’jah before we dive within the Scrit. I have to move quickly before the machine repairs itself and the opening closes.

She falls from my back, sinking into the fluid as we descend and my gaze searches frantically for the floating Gryken. I spot it in the next second and my ba’clan push me in its direction.

I feel when its gaze locks on me. When it tries a final attempt to get inside my head.

But it’s too weak.

I do not hesitate.

Now, even more than before, time is not on our side.

I reach for the beast, gripping its head and in the next second, faster than it can react, my blade sinks deep into its skull.

The feel of my blade piercing the enemy, rendering it lifeless, should give me much pleasure.

It is all I dreamed about as we travelled from Edooria. It is all we yearned for.

But the triumph of killing the Gryken doesn’t take hold.

I have to find Dey’jah.

Dark fluid pools in the water around us and I rush back to Dey’jah. Gun still gripped in her hand, she’s swimming, trying to reach the surface of this chamber.

But there is no surface.

The Scrit’s shell has already closed.

There is no breathing hole.

My arms close around her and for a moment, she fights back against me before realizing it is I who holds her.

It’s a single mental command that I send toward her before my ba’clan move through the water to cover her face.

Breathe.

Her body heaves as she takes her first breath.

We made it inside. But we don’t have time to rejoice.

I grip her to me as I propel myself over to the Scrit’s controls.

I have a plan. One I made up as I climbed the orb.

And just like when Dey’jah told me of her plan, I know she isn’t going to like mine.

But we have no other choice.

I reach the control panel and grip her tighter to me.

By now, the hundreds of Gryken on the outside of the machine will have almost reached us.

There is only one way to survive this.

Wide brown eyes search mine.

Hold tight, Dey’jah.

My fist slams into the control panel, the blade in my arm going deep, injecting some of my ba’clan into the machine’s system.

It does exactly what I think it would do. The Scrit powers up immediately, lights illuminating the water.

Dey’jah jerks against me as the body of the Gryken floats directly before us and a vibration goes through the water around us.

The Scrit has activated its defenses.

It should recognize my ba’clan as enemy DNA and think I am trying to take control of it.

The vibration tells me as much.

This shouldn’t take long.

I pull Dey’jah toward me, extending my ba’clan around us both.

It’s just enough time before the water vibrates so hard, the molecules feel solid, before—

The blast is powerful. I’m only aware of us shooting through the air as the Scrit self-destructs.

I brace myself for impact, keeping Dey’jah above me and my back to the approaching forest below.

Thick liquid mixes with the rain around us, the bodies of our enemies being incinerated by the blast, just as I hit the surface.

We crash through several trees and they break beneath the force.

We did it.

We did—

Pain shoots through me as my ba’clan slips from over Dey’jah and race back to me.

I see the terror in her eyes as she lifts her head, and when the ba’clan over her face rush back to me too, my whole being constricts.

This pain.

My body moves without my input as I am lifted high and Dey’jah falls from my arms.

The pain…it spreads…

I only see the cause because it pierces me deeper, coming straight through my back to appear at the front of my chest.

The arm of a Gryken.

It’s gone through my…life organ.

The knowledge hits at the same time another arm pierces right through me…then another.

Reality wanes before me and I’m dimly aware of Dey’jah choking on something.

More of my ba’clan shoot forward from her mouth and head to me. The same ba’clan that were healing her.

There’s only one reason they would return to me now.

They are trying to save me.

I am…dying?

“Fi’rox!”

No, Dey’jah.

Run.

Get away from here.

I twist on the arms that are within me enough to face the beast that has pierced me, and we lock gazes.

Rekking, filthy, Gryken.

Pest, it answers in my mind.

I grip one of the arms that have pierced me and with the last effort I can manage, I slice it in two.

The Gryken screeches, its head rearing back, and it releases me. As I fall, I swipe at another arm, too.

That should slow it down.

Give Dey’jah a chance.

But she isn’t running.

This pesky female of mine.

Why the rek isn’t she running?!

Chapter Thirty-Two

DEJA

Fear is absent when you know you’re about to die.

You feel…nothing.

And…nothing matters anymore.

It’s the only reason I stand unwavering before the beast in front of me.

I stand in front of the scourge that has taken my planet, and I look into its dark eyes.

Teeth grit, I raise my gun and point it right at the creature’s face.

It doesn’t even flinch.

Balancing on its remaining legs, it leans down over Fi’rox’s unmoving body.

It pauses as it looks at me, and I meet its gaze.

My head pulses, a pain I’ve never felt before going through my brain and I have no doubt what it is.

Brave? Or foolish? a voice asks.

It’s a strange one. Like a whisper in my head and I know it’s the alien before me speaking.

For the first time, I’m face-to-face with one of them when it’s not trying to actively kill me, and it feels as if the world has stopped as I look into those eyes.

I answer the creature.

“Foolish,” I say out loud.

The Gryken’s head tilts a little. It’s studying me.

But I am a fool.

Foolish to stand before it.

Foolish to not high-tail it the hell out of here.

But I’m not leaving the one person I can trust in this whole world.

I’m not leaving him to die out here alone.

Then you will die for your folly.

“No,” I say to it. “You will.”

My finger goes down hard on the trigger and I expect to see a blast of bright light shoot away from it, but nothing happens. I press again and again and nothing.

No.

Not now.

A thousand whispers fill my mind, making my head hurt and I fall to my knees before the beast.

The gun slips from my fingers, but I refuse to die like this.

I can’t—

From deep within me, I know that even though I’ve wished for death many times, it’s not my turn to go yet.

I’m missing something.

Something that can save me right now.

Fi’rox’s body jerks just one moment before the Gryken bares its teeth and lurches at me.

And then, I got it.

I know what to do.

I throw my body forward, gripping Fi’rox’s arm with the huge blade on the end.

The Gryken screeches to a stop, completely missing me. Turning, it launches itself at me again.

But this time, I’m ready.

I lift Fi’rox’s arm, pointing his blade upward.

But the Gryken is coming fast. Unable to stop its forward momentum, it impales itself on the blade.

A deafening screech fills the air, threatening to burst my eardrums. But I don’t let go.

The Gryken struggles. It tries to pull back, but I push forward with everything that I have in me, pushing the blade deeper.

My body feels like it's breaking in two with the pain in my ribs, but I keep going, a roar leaving my lips.

I feel when Fi’rox responds, using his last energy to push too, but it is not enough.

We’re not strong enough.

That’s when the strangest feeling envelopes me.

Like a warm wave, I feel it moving over every inch of my skin and then…a pulse across my entire body.

The symbiotes.

They want to help me.

And Fi’rox’s voice comes into my head.

“Think it.”

Think it.

So I do.

The blade that forms on my arm goes straight through the beast’s head and energy I didn’t know I had bursts through my being.

With another roar, I push the beast back, burying my blade deeper, until the creature’s body lies limp at the end of the weapon.

It’s no longer moving.

We did it?

It’s almost too good to be true.

I turn, my gaze moving through the darkness to spot if any more are close by, but I see nothing.

But it’s not over yet.

Turning to Fi’rox, my hands hover over his form.

He’s not moving either.

My heart lurches in my chest.

He can’t be dead.

No!

I’m shaking as I grip the severed Gryken legs that are still stuck inside him and pull them out one by one. They release from his body, coated in his blood, to reveal large holes.

I’m shaking as I move my palm over one.

He can survive this.

I know he can.

He just needs his symbiotes back.

I shake my arm over him, trying to get them to go back to him, but they won’t.

They’re stuck to me.

Help him, I beg, and I feel a pulse.

Obeying my command, some symbiotes flow from my arm like water, moving into his skin, filling the holes in his chest.

“We did it, Fi’rox. Don’t die on me now.”

I hope he can hear me because…

I need him to live.

* * *

It feels like hours pass when I know, realistically, it’s just been minutes.

I’m kneeling over Fi’rox, hoping, praying to see some change.

It doesn’t help that there’s darkness all around us and the rain is still pouring down.

It doesn’t help that I know I’m in a graveyard filled with our enemies.

I still can’t believe we survived this, but I need Fi’rox to wake up.

“I need you to survive.” I hold his face in my hands, but he doesn’t respond.

There’s a pulsing all over my skin and I know his symbiotes are still coating me.

Only some of them went back to him.

I don’t want to consider what that might mean, so I take it as a good sign.

Maybe he doesn’t need all of them to heal him.

I don’t know.

“Fi’rox,” I whisper before I lift my head, my gaze searching the darkness.

The hairs on my arms stand on end, and I swallow hard.

I don’t like being in the open like this, but there’s no way I can move Fi’rox on my own.

I swallow hard again as a breath shudders through me.

I have to try.

Grabbing his arm, I throw it over my shoulder and I heave.

His symbiotes pulse over my skin as I strain and heave, the pain in my chest shooting through my whole being.

It takes several tries, but with each attempt, I hoist him a little farther over my shoulder, and the symbiotes keep pulsing.

They’re helping me.

But I only stagger a few feet before his weight is too much to bear.

Collapsing, I lean him against a tree.

At least we’re not at the edge of the clearing anymore.

* * *

The rain is slowing down now; enough that it’s just a drizzle.

Time passes slowly when you’re in a rush.

All I can do is keep my ears peeled, my eyes open even though I can hardly see a thing.

At that thought, the symbiotes coating me pulse and I feel when they move slowly up my neck and head to coat my face.

I don’t move as the sensation tickles over my skin, and when they fully cover my face, it’s like they have lifted a thin veil from the darkness.

The raindrops roll off me as I squint.

It’s as if the light from the stars is magnified, making the surroundings brighter, and I can see everything much clearer.

They can understand me.

They’re reacting to what I need.

I blink at that realization and my gaze flies back to Fi’rox.

Help him, please.

I stretch my hands toward him, but nothing happens.

They do not migrate. Instead, they pulse against me as if to comfort me.

But I don’t want comfort.

I want Fi’rox to live.

“C’mon, Fi’rox,” I murmur, grabbing his hand.

His fingers twitch and my heart flies against the cage of my chest.

“Fi’rox?” I lean down, searching his gaze, and his eyes suddenly open.

Relief doesn’t explain what I feel.

He stares up at me for a few moments, his gaze unreadable.

“I don’t…die so easily,” he growls and tries to move.

I choke on a sob as I push him down.

“Don’t move.” My fingers move over the hole in his chest to feel it’s smooth now. There is no longer an opening there. “You were hurt pretty badly.”

He grunts a little but still eases up enough to look around us.

“You did it, Little Fire.”

I smile at him, tears welling in my eyes. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”

I don’t bother to mention that none of this would have been possible without him.

I don’t expect it and I inhale sharply when he suddenly grips me and pulls me down to him.

“You should have run.”

I grip him, too. “I couldn’t leave you.”

“My life is not important.”

I ease off him at that. “It’s important to me.”

His gaze flicks over my face for a few moments and I wonder what he is thinking before he glances around us.

“Took them all out with the blast,” he grunts. “But we must move.”

“Your wound…”

“You’re wounded as well.”

I can’t even feel my broken ribs now that his symbiotes are back on me again. It’s like the injury isn’t there.

“You protected me from the fall,” I reply.

Fi’rox looks at me and his ears suddenly flick off his head.

He stretches a hand toward me and stops just before he’s about to touch my skin.

I know. I’m covered with his symbiotes. My entire body.

I must look strange to him.

“They came to me at the last minute to kill that Gryken.”

His ears twitch a little more.

“I tried sending them back to you to heal you, but only some returned. The majority wouldn’t budge.”

“That’s because they’re not—” He stops speaking suddenly, his ears twitching uncontrollably.

“Oh, Deja.” His hand brushes against my chin before he rises to a crouch.

“We must move. We just destroyed a whole nest of Gryken and foiled their plans. We cannot stay here.”

I know he is right, so as he rises, I follow him.

This place gives me the creeps, and the sooner we are away from it, the better.

As we head back through the forest, walking around the clearing, the veins that were pulsing on the ground pulse no more.

“Dead,” Fi’rox said, noticing as well.

“You think we destroyed it all?” I glance toward where the structure of veins was. It’s no longer there.

And the machine, only the legs remain in pieces on the ground.

“We destroyed it all,” Fi’rox says before his gaze slides to me. “But this was only a small part of it.”

My heart constricts at the thought of the people that were imprisoned inside. It clenches even more for the child we didn’t find.

“The child,” I whisper.

This is a nightmare.

But then Fi’rox stands taller, his nostrils flaring as his symbiotes bristle.

“It reeks of Gryken,” he growls.

My head snaps as I glance behind me, searching the shadows for any movement.

“But there is a scent…faint. I did not scent it before because of the heavy rain.”

My heart thumps one massive beat.

I don’t want to hope, yet hope is all that rises within me.

“What type of scent?”

His nostrils flare again and he freezes as he stares in one direction.

“Hyu’man.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

FI’ROX

It is only by the gods that I am moving so quickly.

Somehow, my ba’clan regenerated whatever injury the Gryken caused much quicker than normal.

I am in a vast nebula; reality seems unreal.

Dey’jah…my female Dey’jah is the reason I am alive.

I look back at her, disbelief clouding my vision.

The trinkets in her hair, their similarity to the ones the warrior priestesses of my people…it is no coincidence.

I have stumbled upon a fighter.

“Do you still smell it?” she whispers.

Despite her soft voice, I do not scent her fear, and when I tilt my chin to the air and inhale, I only get a whiff of her impatience.

She wants to be out of this forest as much as I do.

“Yes, it grows stronger.”

“Maybe one of those women who was being controlled by the Gryken?”

I sniff again. “No.”

There’s a change in Dey’jah’s breathing as we continue picking through the undergrowth.

The scent is faint. Very faint.

I would not have scented it had the rain been falling as hard as before.

Still, it is taking several tries to get close to the source, but the farther we go, the stronger it becomes.

I stop when the scent becomes overpowering and glance around.

“The source is somewhere here.”

Dey’jah spins in a slow circle, her eyes squinted, but even I who can see much better than her cannot sense any hyu’mans hiding in the bushes.

“Are you sure?” Dey’jah whispers as she turns to the darkness, her back against mine.

My ba’clan pulse at the feel of her pressed against me, bristling against the ba’clan on her skin.

The connection makes me jerk, and I glance over my shoulder at her.

She does not seem to notice.

I’m staring at her, that nebula I’m floating in becoming disarrayed, and my ba’clan bristle without my control.

The ba’clan coating her body are not mine.

I sensed that when I tried to touch her face.

My ba’clan do not recognize them as kin.

They recognize them as…mates.

My life organ gallops at the thought.

I can’t deny it…but I cannot believe it either.

Something changed once again between us when she stood by my side instead of running.

I knew it the moment I tasted her suu’ci that she was mine.

But now my ba’clan have confirmed it.

They have chosen her too.

My life organ thumps again.

What do I do now?

Dey’jah jerks behind me and freezes for a split second before she begins walking slowly off to the side.

“Oh my God…” she whispers, glancing back at me. “Fi’rox…I think…I think we found it.”

She crouches next to a small box on the ground and tries pulling on it to open it.

“It’s a dog crate, and it’s locked, but…” She peers inside, her eyes widening and her efforts to open the thing double.

I can neither hear nor see what she is speaking about. All I can think about is the fact that the female before me is truly mine.

I have a mate.

“Your claws,” she looks my way, her gaze anxious and I snap back to reality for a moment. “You could rip this open, right?”

Opening the strange box is no trouble. I burst the door with one claw, my eyes on Dey’jah the whole time.

She does not know yet.

Will she still want to be by my side when she finds out we are fated?

Her hands tremble as she reaches into the crude compartment to retrieve something swaddled in wet pieces of cloth.

“Oh my God,” she whispers again, her hands trembling even more.

My eyes move over the thing and my ears flick when she opens the cloth to reveal a small, pale face.

“It’s a baby.”

Her whisper brushes through the drizzle and tickles over my ba’clan.

The hyu’man young is small, possibly less than a full cycle old.

“It’s a baby.” Dey’jah’s eyes are wide as they look at me and even in the light rain, I can see the water gather in her eyes. “We found her.”

My gaze moves back to the hyu’man child. The child that spurred my mate to embark on this dangerous mission.

Small and pale, it is not moving, and Dey’jah shakes as she swallows a cry.

“She’s not moving,” she chokes again.

“But she lives,” I whisper.

Dey’jah’s head snaps to mine, hope filling her gaze.

“Use your ba’clan.” I grip her hand and place it over the young’s chest. “Let them feel for you.”

My ba’clan pulse at the contact of our bodies.

I still do not believe what I am seeing.

But if Dey’jah can control the ba’clan…then I am right. They are hers. And she really is mine.

But as she rests her hand on the child and closes her eyes, I know there is no disputing it.

I feel the energy of her symbiotes.

Strong.

Defiant.

Like fire.

And when her eyes snap open suddenly, I can see it in her gaze.

It’s the wonder of sensing life through one’s ba’clan.

It is one of the first things we learn to do as young back on Edooria, and Dey’jah is experiencing it now.

The wonder in her gaze ignites a fire within me.

“Her heart’s still beating.” Her words escape her chest in choked sobs. “It’s faint but I can somehow feel it. She’s not dead.”

She grips the little female to her as she rocks back and forth.

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.” She presses her lips against the little hyu’man’s head before looking up at me.

“We have to go, Fi’rox. We have to get to that base now.”

She glances behind her, fear finally creeping into her gaze of the unknown that we will encounter ahead.

But we just did the impossible. I have no doubt we will persevere.

Chapter Thirty-Four

DEJA

She’s cold.

So, so cold.

The baby’s skin is freezing and I have nothing dry to cover her with.

All I can do is grip her to me as we hurry through the bushes.

Fi’rox sent some of his symbiotes to her. I can only hope they keep her alive long enough for us to get help.

We have to go through the clearing again and this time we do not pause.

We hurry across the space, eyes and ears alert until we get to the other side.

She’s so soft in my arms.

So small.

She reminds me of…

A lump forms in my throat as I think of my child, and a sob escapes me.

Five years…and I haven’t allowed myself to speak or think about her freely.

But as I grip this baby, I realize mine deserves more than that.

She deserves to be spoken about. Her memory should be kept alive even though they rip me apart.

“She’s so small,” I whisper, gripping the baby to me. Fi’rox glances back at me, his ears flicking.

“You must be wondering why I almost got you killed for this. It’s that…I…”

I don’t know how to say it, and when Fi’rox suddenly stops walking to look back at me, I think I owe him an explanation.

“I had a baby once.” I swallow hard. “Small like this.” I pause, fighting back the rising memories that make me want to curl into a ball and die. “She…she died. It happened so fast, I—”

I’m suddenly in Fi’rox’s arms.

“Fi’rox, I tried. I really tried. I tried to save her. I wasn’t fast enough. The other car swerved. We hit the barrier and spun out of control. I…”

I choke. I can’t go on.

Fi’rox doesn’t respond.

He only holds me, and as sobs rock through me, I realize that’s exactly what I need.

No judgment.

No advice.

Just comfort. Understanding.

“Your child’s spirit helped you to save another,” is all he says and I know that’s his way of telling me I did the right thing coming out here.

“We should keep moving,” he says, “she’s near here.”

“She?”

“The mother.”

The baby’s mother…her body.

I follow behind him.

Maybe I can pay my respects. Let her know her baby will be okay.

That I will take care of her as if she is my own.

In her place, I would have wanted the same.

When Fi’rox suddenly stops beneath a tree and looks up, I follow his gaze.

At first, I don’t know what I’m looking at, but then it quickly dawns on me.

My breath hitches.

The woman.

She’s there, tied up high in the branches by vines.

He didn’t…

He didn’t end her life…

“Fi’rox,” I whisper.

I watch as he scales the tree, going far up to where he’s secured the woman, and cut the vines.

She sags onto his shoulder and I wonder if she’s still alive.

My heart thumps hard as he descends with her in his arms, and when he finally hits the ground again, he turns to me.

“You didn’t kill her,” I whisper.

I can’t believe it.

This ruthless, ruthless alien isn’t as ruthless as I thought.

He has heart.

“She lives,” he says. “Barely, but her body struggles to remain alive.”

I move closer to them and grip the woman with one hand while I balance the baby in the other.

“We have her,” I say to her. The woman’s eyes are closed, but I continue speaking, anyway. “We found your baby. She’s alive.”

Maybe she can hear me, anyway. Maybe the news will help her keep fighting.

Eyes meeting Fi’rox’s once more, I nod at him.

“Let’s go. We’ve gotta get them to that base. There’s a clinic there, right?”

“Med bay,” he nods. “And He’rox.”

I don’t know what a He’rox is, but as Fi’rox turns to continue walking, he pauses again.

“They’re coming.”

My heart stalls.

The Gryken?

Not again.

We can’t fight them again.

But I hear it shortly after. A low hum approaching.

My gaze searches through the canopy, but I don’t spot anything.

“That’s not the Gryken, is it?”

Fi’rox shakes his head. “No.”

* * *

The leaves above us part, as an unknown vessel whips wind around us.

The symbiotes against me pulse and I grip the baby closer to me.

I can feel her little heart thumping against my chest. Its little beats pulse through the symbiotes coating me and I know I will do everything I can for her to survive.

As I look above, a box that blends into the night comes floating down.

I only see it because it blocks out the light of the stars and everything it passes, but one look at Fi’rox and I don’t freak out.

He stands slightly before me, but he does not move.

And unlike the Gryken’s tech, the huge, silver machine, I take comfort in the darkness of this object.

Something tells me this is help.

The Vullan are here.

The box floats down in front of us and opens.

It is empty and I glance at Fi’rox again.

He jerks his chin at me. “Come,” he says and as he steps forward into the box, I grip the baby to me and follow.

As soon as we’re inside, the box closes and starts moving like a strange, wireless elevator.

What’s the most surprising about it is that I can see the dark shapes of the forest outside, as if we are not in a box at all.

But that view is all cut off a few moments later when we are surrounded by more darkness and the box suddenly stops moving.

I glance at Fi’rox, but he simply faces forward. Waiting.

Soft lights blink on, and I squint hard, trying to get a sense of my surroundings.

We are in a small room, and at the front, an opening appears.

I can’t call it a door. More like an oval hole in the wall that a huge male, identical to Fi’rox, steps out of.

I stare at him in awe as he approaches.

Another Vullan.

Seeing another of Fi’rox’s kind only underlines one thing for me: this whole thing has not been a dream.

There are really different species out there in the cosmos.

There are unearthly species here.

The male approaches and a series of clicks leave his throat.

Fi’rox responds in same and I realize that must be his native tongue.

The other male’s eyes are a shade of dark chocolate and they pierce into me when he finally looks my way.

His gaze pauses on me before flashing back to Fi’rox, and his ears stick off his head as a series of sharp clicks leave his throat again.

This exchange happens for a few seconds and I can tell they are arguing.

“What’s he saying? What’s wrong?”

The male speaks up then. “Welcome, female. I am Dri’ro. Your friends have been worried about you.”

I blink at him. At my side, Fi’rox is frozen, his gaze murderous, but he says nothing.

My friends?

I have no friends.

But I don’t dwell on that. I stretch my arms toward Dri’ro so he can see the baby.

“They need help.” I glance around. It’s clear we’re on some ship. “Is there a med bay or something?”

Planes don’t usually have med bays, but I’ve watched sci-fi movies. The alien ships always have a ton of shit on them.

“I am sorry, female. This is but a shuttle.” He glances at Fi’rox. “I was only sent to search for you…and to investigate a disturbance our scans picked up.”

“Disturbance?” I ask.

“A large blast.”

Oh…the Gryken nest we destroyed.

But all that feels like the distant past. All that matters right now is helping the baby and her mother.

He must see the panic in my eyes as my gaze flies back to the baby. I grip her closer to me now.

“We will arrive at the base shortly.” His gaze flicks to Fi’rox before landing back on me. “But in the meantime, come with me.”

Fi’rox growls as he moves to stand before me, his symbiotes rising along his arms and shoulders into vicious-looking blades.

When Dri’ro snarls, his symbiotes rising too, I know that something is happening here that I don’t understand.

“Her fear scent rises,” Dri’ro growls. “Let her go.”

But Fi’rox grows even bigger. I do not know how he manages it.

“No,” the deep power of his voice feels like it rumbles and shakes the ship. “Deja stays with me.”

His symbiotes bristle, and I glance nervously at the woman in his arms.

If he accidentally cuts her…

But she’s safe against his chest where no symbiotes seem to be going crazy.

“You have gone too far, brother,” Dri’ro says. “Let. Her. Come.”

“I would rather die first.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

DEJA

We can’t get to the base soon enough.

I don’t know how fast we’re moving—it doesn’t feel like the ship is moving at all—but when there is the sudden feel of gravity shifting, I know we’re going down.

My chest feels tight. I don’t know what to expect and Fi’rox and the other Vullan have been on edge, snarling the entire journey.

I’m too busy trying to rock the baby, rub her skin, and get some response from her.

Her skin is still so very cold, turning blue, and when I stretch my hand over her, I get the sense that her heartbeat is growing fainter by the minute.

What’s worse, her mother isn’t moving either.

She’s limp in Fi’rox’s arms.

There’s a soft jerk and the low hum of the ship dampens and I assume we’ve touched down.

I grip the baby closer to me.

She’s still dripping with the water that has soaked us, and I know the first thing we need to do is warm her up.

I’m staring down at her face, wondering what’s next, when the door to the shuttle suddenly opens.

“Fi’rox…”

The only reason I know he’s heard me is because his ears point towards me and his symbiotes bristle a little.

The other Vullan’s gaze shifts to mine as the door opens further, letting dim light in.

“Oh my God! Deja!”

I don’t recognize the voice and only when the woman rushes into the ship, gripping me and the baby, do my senses come back.

It’s one of the women who’d been at the camp.

Jillian.

She’s alive.

I knew Fi’rox hadn’t been lying all this time, but I guess a part of me still thought of them as dead.

When I’d run from the camp, it had certainly seemed that would be their fate.

Her worried gaze flicks over mine as more people come to the entrance to the ship and then she realizes what I’m carrying in my arms.

Her eyes widen.

I don’t even see or hear the other people around me. Their shouts of joy.

The tones of worry.

They hush as they catch sight of me and Fi’rox, their eyes wide as their gazes move over me.

It must be the symbiotes that still coat me, but all I can think of is the child in my arms.

I’m staring at Jillian and only when she touches me, tries to coax the baby from my arms, do I realize I’m shaking.

“You have to save her,” I whisper.

Jillian’s solemn gaze meets mine, and she doesn’t respond, only nods.

She touches the baby’s cool skin and her fingers pause, her gaze growing somber still.

“She’s still alive.”

Her gaze darts to a female who heads toward us, dressed in symbiotes like all the Vullan and myself.

Sam. The woman who’d told me about this base when we’d found her camp in the forest.

Her gaze looks troubled as she glances from Jillian to me before she touches the baby in my arms.

I see the moment she senses what I have been feeling.

The little faint heartbeat.

Her eyes widen and her voice lifts over the silence. “She’s right. The baby’s alive. Get her to He’rox.”

She tries to take the child from me, but I don’t let go, and before I know it, we’re being rushed from the ship.

I only get a moment to glance behind me, my gaze landing on Fi’rox.

He’s watching me go even as his fellow men surround him.

The woman is no longer in his arms.

One of them is rushing alongside us with her.

Fi’rox’s gaze pierces through mine and something within me calls out to him.

“He’s injured too,” I say to Sam, and she glances back, worry coating her gaze.

“He has to come with us,” I press.

She puts a comforting hand at my back, her gaze lingering over my skin, over the symbiotes, before she wets her lips.

“I don’t think that’s the biggest thing he has to worry about right now.”

* * *

I know it’s the med bay as soon as we enter it.

There’s a pristine white light that fills the space and as soon as the other Vullan sets the woman down on a flat white surface, a tall, white alien enters the room.

His appearance shocks me, but apart from his color, the resemblance to the Vullan species is undeniable.

“He’rox, see what you can do for this woman,” Sam says, “and someone call Adira. She’s down in the tunnels. Tell her we’ve got an emergency.”

“Already here.” Another woman, also dressed in symbiotes, comes rushing into the room, her eyes widening too when she lays eyes on us.

“Bring the child over here.”

There’s another table in the room and we rush over to it, resting the little bundle on top of it.

She’s so small…my heart clenches.

Memories of my little girl in the NICU come crashing back.

It feels like I’ve been transported back in time to relive it.

Adira moves with swiftness around the room, gathering things, and it’s clear she’s done this before.

She returns to the table with several objects I cannot identify, and I watch her strip the wet clothing off the baby.

“Are you a doctor?” I ask.

She doesn’t look up at me as she works, her complete focus on the baby. “Something like that.”

She applies some kind of clear jelly over the baby’s face. It inflates and pulses, causing the baby’s chest to rise and fall.

My whole body is shaking as I watch.

I can’t relive this.

Not alone.

“Where’s Fi’rox?”

Both females glance at me before looking at each other and a moment passes before Adira answers.

“Don’t worry about him. He’ll be okay.”

That isn’t the answer I want at all.

“Damage is too extensive.” The pure-white Vullan turns the woman on his table, putting her on her side.

He pauses as he sees the network of veins on her back. “By the gods…” he mutters.

“There must be something you can do.” I stare down at the baby. “I felt her heartbeat.”

She and her mother both have to live.

They have to fight.

They have to survive this.

Adira glances at the white Vullan. “The re-gen tank.”

He has tentacles at the sides of his mouth that move as he studies the woman for a moment. “It is still not completely calibrated to humankin…”

“I don’t think we have a choice. This baby is hardly holding on and that woman….” Her gaze slides to the woman. “We have to do it.”

There is a pause before the white Vullan stands back. “Very well.” He pauses. “But only you can enter the room.”

The symbiotes on Adira bristle but she gives a firm nod.

“No.” I’m speaking even as she lifts the baby, cradling the little body gently against her chest. “I want to go with you.”

There is pity in her eyes, but she meets my gaze.

“I’m sorry. The area is restricted for now. But it’s the best chance we have of saving these two.” She touches my arm. “I promise you. We will do everything we can.”

Without further hesitation, they’re moving out of the room—Adira rushing with the baby and the two Vullan behind her with the woman in their arms.

I take a step in their direction before a hand closes around my arm.

“You can trust them. I promise you, they’ll do everything to make them better.”

It’s Sam, and she squeezes my arm in reassurance.

I know this is different, that I’m not back there in that hospital NICU as the little cradle is rolled away for emergency surgery, but it’s like time has warped and I’m stuck in a loop.

I move with Sam as she tugs on my arm lightly.

“Let’s get you a room.”

But I don’t want a room.

I want to know the baby will be okay…and I want Fi’rox.

“Where’s Fi’rox?” I ask as she leads me from the room.

I feel when she stiffens against me.

“You’ll see him again soon.”

The symbiotes pulse against me as if they sense what I do, that she’s just lied to me.

She senses the pulse because she gasps but quickly hides it.

“We’ll get you a room down this way,” she says.

Chapter Thirty-Six

DEJA

They’re keeping him from me.

It’s been two days, and they’re keeping him from me.

I glance around the dim room.

It has a sleeping area and there’s a cleansing area that operates with some sort of dirt-zapping light, too.

In other circumstances, I’d be impressed by the alien tech in my new room, but not right now.

I’m worried about Fi’rox.

This feels like a prison, regardless that I can leave the room and move around the ship and the cave outside freely.

I do so now, sliding off the raised sleeping area and heading toward the wall.

The door materializes and I step out to find Sam there.

Her bottom lip is in her mouth, and behind her is the other woman, Adira.

“Oh, hi, Deja!” Sam is short and has to tilt her head to meet my gaze.

I don’t answer her.

I’ve asked for Fi’rox many times, only to be told some silly excuse like he’ll be in the ship soon, or he’s in the tunnels or something.

Each time, the symbiotes bristle against me.

They know these are lies. I can feel it too.

These people are hiding something from me.

My eyes narrow as Sam’s forced smile wavers.

I don’t know these people, any of them.

Fi’rox is the only person I trust.

He’s the only person I want to see.

Adira steps forward, a flat panel in her hand that lights up as she moves her palm over it.

She’s been bringing me the video feed of the baby and her mother every few hours and I grip the tablet as I stare at the image.

Apparently, access to the room with the regeneration tanks is genuinely restricted, so this is the only way I can see them.

I look at the image. They are in separate tanks of clear liquid, free-floating.

They look like specimens in a lab.

“They’re still critical, but we think we’ve passed the hardest stage,” Adira says.

My gaze flicks back to hers.

Despite the relief relaxing in my shoulders, that’s not all I want to hear.

“And Fi’rox?”

She glances at Sam, whose shoulders fall.

“It’s been two days, Adira. I don’t think she’s in shock anymore. We can tell her.”

The hairs on my skin stand on end—or, rather, the symbiotes do.

All across my skin, small blades form, the presence of which surprises me.

Since that night when we took down the Gryken, I’ve gotten so used to them, I hardly notice them most times.

And they’ve laid low.

This is the first time they’ve done something like this.

The coldness of my gaze cracks when I glance at the women before me to see the same response on them. Their symbiotes are rising too.

Sam stretches her hands toward me. “Deja, calm down. If they think you’re threatened, they’ll lash out and then—”

“And then ours will have no choice but to respond.” Adira meets my gaze. “Calm down.” She pauses. “Please.”

I grit my teeth, the stress of it all coming down to this fine point. “Don’t tell me to fucking calm down. You bring me here. You won’t answer my questions. And it’s clear you’re hiding something from me.” My palm clenches so hard, if the tablet wasn’t alien tech, it would have broken.

Adira does the same motion as Sam, stretching her arms toward me, palms down as if to appear non-threatening.

“Look, we’ll tell you everything. But we should talk inside.”

She gestures to the room, and a frown develops on my brow.

What could be so important they can’t just say it now?

My eyes narrow some more as I turn back inside the room.

They are silent as they follow me and when the entrance seeps back into place, Adira’s shoulders sag.

“You’re probably not going to believe what I’m about to say, but I think the best way is to dive right into it.”

I wait for her to continue.

“Fi’rox is in confinement.”

The symbiotes against me bristle again, and I try to control my rising anger.

“Why?” I grind out.

“They think he…” Sam glances at Adira before she sighs and her gaze pins me. “They think force mated you.”

Her words make the anger within me dissipate and confusion takes its place.

“What?”

“Force mated you.” She pauses and clears her throat. “I take it you two had sex?”

My cheeks burn. “How do you know that?”

She smiles. “It wasn’t hard to guess.”

I blink at her. Have I been that transparent with asking to see him so many times?

“Did he tell you what these are?” Adira motions to the symbiotes on my skin and I look down at them and nod.

“He did. His symbiotes.”

She nods slowly. “Yes.” She pauses. “Only, those are not his symbiotes…they are yours.”

My brows furrow again. “I don’t—”

“It happens when a Vullan finds his true mate, or, in extreme cases, forces a female to be his mate. His colony of symbiotes undergoes a sort of split, similar to meiosis.” She fumbles. “It creates a copy of itself. Like…the female half of itself when it finds a perfect mate for its host.”

“What?” I can’t process what she’s saying.

“It’s hard to explain. We still don’t know how exactly it works. It doesn’t work like this on their planet where everyone has their own symbiotes in the first place. But we humans don’t have any and it seems the symbiotes have adapted to that by splitting.” Adira takes a deep breath. “I’m rambling.”

“What Adira is trying to say is the Vullan think Fi’rox mated you by force and caused the division of his symbiotes,” Sam adds.

I’m frowning at them now, disbelief clouding my face. “They think he raped me?”

Sam nods. “That word gives me distress, but yes.”

“Why would they think that? I haven’t run to you guys complaining about him or anything. As a matter of fact, I’ve been trying to get you to let me see him!”

Adira nods. “We know, but they think it is because you are in shock. You seemed pretty shaken up when you came in.”

“Yes, because of the baby!” And the memories that haunt me because of my child. But that’s something I don’t feel like sharing.

I shake my head, still not believing. “He’s been nothing but good to me out there. Yes, we had sex.” My cheeks warm again, but it’s no longer a secret and I’m not ashamed of it. “But I don’t get why they would think he forced me.”

It just makes little sense.

Sam sighs. “My mate, Ga’Var, saw how Fi’rox was looking at us when he caught us in the act once, annnnd because most of these guys would kill for a mate, he may have thought Fi’rox didn’t have the best intentions when you returned wearing ba’clan.”

I blink at her several times. “Your mate?”

She smiles at me then, a full-on genuine one, and nods. “Ga’Var’s ba’clan chose me. Fer’ro’s chose Adira. And Fi’rox’s…his chose you.”

I glance down at myself.

I’m still wearing my t-shirt and jeans even though the symbiotes are over my skin. I’d cleaned my clothes in the cleansing unit during my first bath, but Adira and Sam are naked.

Well, not naked, naked.

The symbiotes cover them completely like a skin-tight suit.

“So, just to be clear,” Adira breaks my train of thought, “Fi’rox didn’t force you?”

“No, of course, he didn’t.” I shake my head, my brows diving at the ludicrous statement, but their words circle in the back of my mind.

Mate?

Chosen?

It should scare me more than it is.

Adira lets out a huge breath. “I thought as much, but the Vullan are hard-headed.” She smiles at me. “They think you are beautiful by the way. You remind them of their warrior priestesses with your gorgeous hair and skin. They cannot believe a female like you would even glance in Fi’rox’s direction. He’s the newest member of their sleekt—their regiment. They think you would have chosen someone of higher rank, maybe.”

“I disagree. He’s the only thing that kept me going out there.”

Sam smiles and reaches forward to touch my shoulder.

“I understand. Trust me.” She smiles again. “Come, we’ll take you to him and try to get this cleared up. Don’t worry, they also thought Ga’Var forced me too. Their planet is dead, most of their females lost. They never thought about finding mates when they came on this mission.”

I stiffen a little.

It doesn’t seem like much of a choice to me.

I glance down at my skin, at the strange symbiotes that have dwelled there for the past few days.

They’ve stuck to me all this time, only moving to allow me to bathe, and pulsing against me, moving over my skin, whenever I catch a chill in the air.

I’d thought they were doing all that on their own.

Now what Sam is saying is…I’ve been doing that?

They’re mine?

As if to say yes, they pulse against me now, and I turn this over in my mind.

I remember that day, the same day we had sex and we were in that little room, how insistent Fi’rox was that I understand the symbiotes were a part of him.

Was it because they’d started becoming a part of me from then?

Had he been trying to tell me that the symbiotes were choosing me at that moment?

Chapter Thirty-Seven

FI’ROX

I sit at the back of the holding cell, ensconced in darkness.

In front of me, across the invisible barrier that keeps me within my prison, one of my brethren paces.

Dri’ro, and from the snarl on his face, he likes this about as much as I do.

They’ve held me here, against my will, preventing me from seeing Dey’jah.

As soon as I get out, I will slice every one of them so deep, their ba’clan will not be able to heal them.

A trip to the regen tanks will be in order.

Dri’ro glances my way and stops pacing for just a moment. His ba’clan bristle in agitation.

He’d much rather be mining in the tunnels than staying up here, watching me like I’m some young that needs supervision.

His gaze finds me without hesitation. He has no problem seeing me in the darkness.

He walks forward and stops just before the point where the invisible barrier stands.

“You know,” he eyes me, “you wouldn’t be in here if you weren’t such a quu’mion.”

“And you wouldn’t have to stand guard.”

He snarls, his nostrils flaring. “Exactly. I could be mining the ore. Being useful.”

His ba’clan bristle again and I understand his agitation.

I told them about the nest Dey’jah and I uncovered. Told them of the fact that the Gryken were obviously building an army.

I told them of the structure, how the veins cocooned the hyu’mans. How I saw infested females, their bellies swollen with Gryken spawn.

Most of it we don’t understand, but there are theories.

None of them good.

“Then let me go.” I stand and approach him. I do not stop till we are face to face.

To anyone looking at us, it would seem we could touch each other, but the barrier prevents me from crossing into the other half of the room.

Rekking Ga’Var.

Just because we all thought he forced the female, Sa’am, that doesn’t mean I forced Dey’jah.

She is mine.

She gave herself to me willingly.

I did not force her.

Yet…

The thought of her rejecting me now.

I know Adira must have spoken to her about it already. About the fact her ba’clan are her own and not mine.

It was a conversation I had wanted to have with her myself in the privacy of our quarters.

That didn’t happen.

And she hasn’t come.

By my calculations, it has been two rotations.

Two full rotations…

“You must calm your energy,” Dri’ro says.

We have lived the same number of moons, yet he has always behaved as if he is my elder.

“When they bring your female here, you must calm your energy.”

My female…

A thrum rumbles through my chest.

I like the sound of that.

Dri’ro ignores me and continues. “You must remember, hyu’mans have seen nothing like us before. They do not know about ba’clan. It is likely she will reject it.”

“No.” My growl vibrates against the barrier, but Dri’ro looks bored. He does not flinch and my respect for him grows.

He may be a silent one, choosing to stay away from the hyu’mans and mine in the darkness of the tunnels, but he is a warrior worthy of standing on the front lines by my side.

“Your choice,” he says. “I am only warning you.”

His ba’clan bristle again, the wave moving over his entire body. “It is better to lose her now, before…”

He trails off, his gaze meeting mine before he turns away from me.

Right.

Back on Edooria, he had a mate and young.

They both died in the early stages of the war.

I cannot imagine how that must feel.

The thought of losing Dey’jah after having such a short time with her, it makes me want to tear the cell apart.

Imagine rotations with her, complete orbits…

Dri’ro’s advice is good.

It is better to lose her now rather than later…and if she does not come, it might mean I have already lost her.

Distress makes my ba’clan writhe as I move back, deeper into the cell and sit in the darkness once more.

If Dey’jah doesn’t come…

The lock to the main door clicks and my ears flick off the side of my head.

Unlike the other entrances and exits on this ship, the doors to the holding cells are archaic, made of unbreakable lock and key that not even my ba’clan can penetrate.

The door swings open and Fer’ro’s mate, Adee’ra steps in.

Dri’ro gives her the customary greeting of respect, bowing his forehead to rest on his upturned palms and I watch them with boredom until a scent passes by my nose.

I’m up on my haunches as it swims into the room, making my nostrils flare and my sazi throb in its pouch.

Dey’jah.

She steps into the room looking like a goddess.

She has grown even more beautiful in the two rotations I have not seen her.

She glances my way, her gaze searching the darkness before confusion furrows her brow.

“Where is he?”

I catch the moment Dri’ro collects himself and averts his gaze from my female.

I do not like how he was looking at her.

Like me, he has never seen anything so beautiful, but he should keep his tongue in his mouth or I will lodge it in his throat.

A growl of annoyance rolls through me and Adee’ra chuckles.

“There he is.”

Dey’jah looks toward me again and moves forward.

“Careful, there’s a barrier there.” Adee’ra warns, moving forward to touch her hand against the invisible wall.

Dey’jah’s eyebrows shoot up as she comes closer and presses her hands against it too.

“Fi’rox?”

Ohhh…

The way this female says my name.

I growl again, for a whole other reason.

My sazi throbs. I have missed the sound of her voice.

As I walk from the darkness and approach her slowly, the moment she sees me is evident.

Her eyes widen, moving over me, and her lips twitch. “Fi’rox.”

There she goes again.

My name.

“Dey’jah…”

I want to touch her. Pull her into my arms and squeeze her soft body against mine.

“Lemme get the barrier down,” Adee’ra says, moving across the room to the control panel.

“What about the female?” Dri’ro says and I realize his gaze is still on Dey’jah.

“She will be fine.” I can feel Adee’ra looking pointedly at me and I resist the urge to snarl at them both.

But I am not the only one who is annoyed.

Dey’jah makes a strange sound where she sucks her lips across her teeth. I have never heard her make that sound before but the curl of her lips displays her obvious annoyance. “Just lower the barrier. I’m not a child. If I was afraid, I’d tell you. I sure as hell would not be here.”

Dri’ro inhales, and I know he is scenting her.

I growl again and his ears twitch and lower against the sides of his head.

Adee’ra sighs, and I feel the moment the barrier goes down.

Dey’jah’s sweet scent is even stronger now with it not there.

“Leave.” The word comes out as a growl as I glance at Dri’ro and then at Adee’ra.

She chuckles and puts her hands up in the air. “Okay, okay.” But as she heads out of the room with Dri’ro following behind her, she glances at me.

“Sorry about the wait. But I hope you understand. We were just trying to protect her.”

Yes.

And I appreciate that.

Even if the threat was me.

I do not answer Adee’ra though and as if she is my kin who know me well, she does not press the matter further.

She smiles again, nodding at Dey’jah before she and Dri’ro slip from the room.

Dey’jah’s in my arms in the next second.

She wraps her arms over my shoulders and presses her head against my chest.

I can only grip her to me, her soft body melting against mine as a wave of emotions go through me.

A thrum starts deep in my belly and my ba’clan pulse. Hers pulse in response.

My female…

Mine.

But then, with her head still against my chest, Dey’jah calls my name and says three words that chill me.

“Fi’rox…we need to talk.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

DEJA

I try to pull away from Fi’rox enough so I can meet his gaze, but his arms tighten around me.

“Don’t move.”

A chuckle bubbles in my throat and my shoulders shake against him.

He doesn’t want to let me go. It is a warm thought.

“We need to talk about…us.” He stiffens at my words and I have to take a breath. “They’ve told me these symbiotes…”

“That they are yours. That they have bonded with you.” He looks down at me and I am lost in those deep cobalt eyes of his.

Only two days, but I missed him.

“Does it distress you?” He sniffs the air above me and I know that’s his way of trying to determine my emotions, my frame of mind.

“No, it doesn’t distress me.” I lick my lips and when his gaze follows the movement of my tongue, a tingle develops in my belly. “It’s the other part I want to talk to you about.”

He stiffens even more. “What other part?”

“The part where I’m now your mate?”

Fi’rox’s ears point outwards before going completely flat against his head and he does that strange statue thing the Vullan do.

Not a thing on him moves. Not even his symbiotes.

“They told me the symbiotes have chosen me to be yours.”

There’s a rumble in his throat. “It is not that simple.”

“It’s not? Then explain it to me.”

“Our souls have bonded,” he says, studying me. “The ba’clan knew you were mine before even I did. You are the perfect female for me. None other will ever be.”

My gaze flicks over the ridges lining his cheekbones before I meet his gaze.

It sounds like an enormous responsibility.

“Are you saying that if I agree to be your mate, you’ll be forced to stay with me because of the ba’clan?”

This time, his ears twitch and perk off his head. “Forced?”

“The symbiotes chose me. It doesn’t seem like either of us had a say in this.” I lick my lips again and once more, his gaze follows the movement.

“There was nothing to choose. It was fate.” He pauses, his ears perking even more. “Do you want a choice…now?”

It feels like the air stills and cracks under the weight of his question and I take my time before answering.

“No.”

I feel the moment he relaxes, but I take a deep breath before I continue. I’ve been wanting to ask my next question since Adira and Sam revealed this information to me. “Did you know?”

“Did I know what?”

“Did you know the symbiotes would bond with me if you made them heal me? Is that why…”

I trail off.

This is all somewhat confusing, but I do not want to accuse him of something he did not do.

“No. They did not bond with you even after healing you. Twice. I did not know you were my mate. I did not know until…”

“Until when?”

“Until you put yourself in front of a Gryken for me. I sensed it for the first time then…that you are truly mine.”

His words make my heart increase in pace and my breath quickens.

“Do—” I have to clear my throat because a bevy of emotions is suddenly blooming inside me. “Do you want me to be your mate?” I search his gaze. “I assume that’s like a girlfriend or something, right?”

The next question is hard to ask, but I press on, anyway. “Would you have chosen me if it weren’t for the ba’clan?”

Fi’rox growls and hoists me up, his arms coming under my thighs to grip my bum as he walks across the room and pins me against the wall.

“Even if you deny me now, Little Fire, you will always be mine. I want no other,” he growls. “I knew this from the first moment I tasted you.”

Heat travels through me and a breathless chuckle leaves my lips. “That you wanted me to be your girlfriend?”

Fi’rox growls again. “I do not want to be your friend.”

Huh?

“I want to be your everything.” He lifts my arms from his neck, pinning them against the wall behind me.

The only thing holding me up is his body pressed into mine and another wave of heat travels through me, making my legs quiver.

“I want you in my feathers, your teats between my lips as my sazi delves deep inside you,” he continues, his lips coming dangerously near to mine. “I want to fill your belly with my seed as you writhe underneath me. I want to fill that tight little suu’ci of yours with every inch of me until you shout my name.”

“Fi’rox,” I pant.

“Yessss, Dey’jah. Exactly like that…”

His words heat me like a pot over a flame and I have to force my thoughts to focus on what we need to talk about instead of the feelings he’s inciting within me.

“You are mine, Dey’jah. I will live to please you. I will live for your happiness.”

That sounds more than a girlfriend/boyfriend sort of thing and it dawns on me they weren’t throwing the word “mate” around carelessly.

I’m panting as I meet his gaze and Fi’rox sticks his tongue out just so the tip traces my lips.

Fuck, that slight touch feels so good the words dissipate from my mind, and I have to squeeze my eyes shut to focus.

“Fi’rox…”

He growls at the sound of his name, the rumble vibrating between us and making the room even hotter.

“How long do the Vullan mate for?”

“For life,” he growls against my lips.

Fuck.

Why doesn’t that scare me?

Why doesn’t the thought of being with this strange being from another world scare the shit out of me?

Because it’s Fi’rox.

The thought hits me like a brick.

It’s Fi’rox, and after all we’ve been through, I feel like I’ve known him forever.

The thought of spending the rest of my life with him offers me a sense of peace.

But there’s just one problem with forever…

I stiffen against him and he freezes, sensing my change in mood immediately.

“What troubles you, Deja?” He eases off me somewhat and releases my arms so he can lift me by the thighs.

My arms lower to rest lightly on his shoulders and I wonder how I am going to say the next words.

“Does…” I trail off, the pain of my past resurfacing. “I don’t know if it’s possible. Discussing it now seems hasty, even, but we’re two different species. Contraception isn’t a thing in this world anymore and…”

“Con-traception?”

“Birth control.” I gulp and decide to just push right into it. “Do you want children? In the future?”

My heart thumps as a tremor goes down my spine.

There is no right answer.

I want him to say yes.

But I also want him to say no.

Yes, because deep down, it’s an unfulfilled desire of mine.

And no, because I’m too scared.

Too scared of having to go through the pain of losing one again.

I realize at that moment it’s just something else I’ve been running away from.

“Not that breeding and kids is something we would do right now. The world is ending—”

“No. Not our world.” Fi’rox’s gaze pierces mine as if his words bring the judgment of truth. “We will beat the Gryken. We will kill every last one of them. Our world is just beginning.”

I nod, but he hasn’t answered the question I really need an answer to.

“Deja,” he says. “One day at a time.”

I rest my chin against his chest and Fi’rox presses his forehead against mine.

One day at a time.

“But right now,” he says, “there’s something I have to do.”

My head lifts, my gaze searching his. “What?”

A growl rumbles through him as his eyes fall to my lips and a fire ignites deep within me as Fi’rox’s lips crash against mine.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

DEJA

Fi’rox grips me to him as he runs his tongue against the seam of my lips.

He’s so hard and hot against me, I groan at the sensation his body creates.

I can feel every ridge along his skin, even with clothes on, and my body quivers in response.

Hands supporting my thighs, he eases off the wall and heads toward the door.

We’re in the corridor next and two Vullan stop in their tracks as they see us.

I don’t recognize them, and they say nothing. Only their ears perk off their heads as they watch us.

I’m not sure Fi’rox even notices their presence as he growls my name against my lips.

The corridors in this ship all look the same. Maybe that’s why Fi’rox’s completely focused on me as he walks in a direction he’s obviously taken many times.

I don’t know he’s taken me to a different room than mine until the entrance opens in the wall and we step in.

I break the contact of our lips as I look around, but Fi’rox groans as if he can’t get enough of me.

It’s been two rotations.

I spent all that time wanting him. Needing him.

I feel the tension of need, too.

He nuzzles the side of my face, his tongue moving over my cheek down to my neck, and I gasp as my head tilts back.

“Is this your room?” My voice is a harsh whisper, and my skin shivers as he bares his fangs and brush them across my nape.

“Ours,” he growls. “I want to take you. All night. For as long as you’ll allow me to.

I want you within my sleeping feathers. I want your scent everywhere.”

His words make me quiver and he groans against me again.

His tongue is already moving down my collarbone and, as my head tilts back farther, I feel when he lifts the t-shirt and his tongue brushes over my breasts.

Arousal seeps between my legs like warm honey.

“Your scent is divine,” he growls, and when the entrance to his quarters closes behind us, the darkness covers us.

I cannot see. I can only feel.

And I let myself go with abandon.

Fi’rox lowers me onto his sleeping feathers as he crawls over me on all fours.

Heavy breaths make my chest heave and even though I can hardly see him in this darkness, I know he’s focused on me.

The t-shirt stretches against my skin before it rips and falls across my breasts. He almost tears my jeans to shreds too, but I grab his hand just in time.

“Wait,” I whisper. “Let me take them off.”

Fi’rox growls a little, impatience in his tone, and it makes me hide a chuckle.

Rolling to the side, I slip from under him and slide to the floor.

I sense when he turns and looks at me and there’s that flutter in my belly again.

As I hook my fingers in the waist of my jeans, that deep purr of his makes my center clench.

I can see better in the dark than I could before—something I’m realizing now is because of the ba’clan—but as my eyes adjust, nothing prepares me for the look in Fi’rox’s eyes.

Pure lust…need.

No one has ever looked at me like that before.

My fingers pause in the waist of my jeans as I take him in, my breaths becoming shallow.

He rises to look at me, his ba’clan slipping from over his skin to reveal his nakedness, and I clench again, my center engorging.

Fi’rox’s nostrils flare, his fangs baring as he runs his wicked tongue over his lips.

He can smell how turned on I’m becoming and the way he’s looking at me now only sends more honey to my core.

I twist my hips from side to side as I pull the jeans down and Fi’rox watches every movement as if I am beguiling him.

“I want to see you bare.” The deepness of his voice rumbles through the room, caressing my skin, and my ba’clan pulse in excitement against me.

“I am bare,” I whisper, kicking the jeans to the side. But then I realize what he means.

The ba’clan.

I’m just not sure how to make them go away like before. Of course, I’ve made them move, but I wasn’t aware I was controlling them.

Fi’rox’s words come back to my mind immediately.

Think it.

So I do.

I imagine them flowing away from my skin as his do and I feel them move without even looking down.

They settle along my spinal column, leaving me naked and open to him.

The growl that leaves his lips is so loud, my heart should thump in fear, not anticipation.

But when Fi’rox suddenly advances, pulling me against him, fear is the last thing on my mind.

I don’t think I can wait.

I want him now.

My hand moves down between us to cup the slit between his legs and he jerks against me, his hand coming up to grasp my head from the base of my neck.

The beads in my hair jingle as he tilts my head back so I’m looking into his eyes, and when I feel a hard pulse against my palm, I plaster my lips against his.

One of his groans rumbles into my mouth and my nipples harden when my tongue brushes against his.

With another groan, he lifts me with one hand and turns toward the sleeping feathers once more.

I’m so close, my body is on fire. I know that as soon as he touches me where it aches most, I won’t last very long.

But I want this moment to go on forever.

“Wait.” I press a hand against his chest as he sets me down against the feathers, and before he can say anything, I’m sliding between us.

“Dey’jah?”

I’m stooping before him on the floor now, that bulging slit between his thighs at face level, and I lick my lips, my breaths coming faster.

“Turn on the lights,” I whisper.

I want to see him. I want to see every inch of him so I can imagine what’s going to fill me later.

The thought makes me whimper in pleasure and when the lights come on, a gasp escapes my throat.

He’s so swollen there that his slit looks like it’s about to burst open.

There’s a gap in the middle where the bulk of the strain is, and I can already see the throbbing red flesh within.

“What are you doing?”

I don’t know how I understand him when his voice has gone so low, but I do.

“Extrude.”

I don’t have to ask twice.

As soon as the word leaves my lips, his massive cock comes out so fast it ends up centimeters from my nose.

My eyes widen as I stare at it.

Fuck.

Thick dark veins twist and turn from the base to the tapered tip and the red skin underneath pulses with each second that goes by.

I reach forward without a second thought, grasping him with both hands, and he trembles underneath my touch.

The power I hold over this Vullan…

…The power he holds over me.

He’s already so moist with his own lubricant that my hands slide over him with ease.

The texture of the network of veins under my hand is giving me images of what it will feel like when this monster is inside me and I lick my lips as I watch my fingers move.

“You torture me,” he growls.

“Just a little,” I whisper back before I grasp him and bring him to my lips.

Deep moans escape us both as I swirl my tongue around his tip.

“Mother of stars…”

He’s looking down at me with a mixture of awe and need, and as I take more of him into my mouth, his head tilts back as he clicks a full sentence in Vullan.

I use one hand to steady him while the other slips down to my inner lips.

His natural lubricant has a faint taste of citrus and I bob my head on him, taking as much of him into my mouth as I can. He throbs against my tongue as a groan barrels through him, and I’m aching so much, I rub my other hand over my core.

My eyes roll back in my head as Fi’rox’s deep rumbles make the air electrify with tension.

My pussy feels like it’s a honey jar that’s about to break and flood the room as I slide my mouth over him. He’s pulsing and throbbing as my name rumbles from his lips.

I feel myself peaking and only have a moment to release him from my mouth as I come against my fingers.

The orgasm has me going blind for a second as Fi’rox’s shaft bobs beside my cheek.

I’m in a daze as I come back to Earth.

This is a first.

I’ve never orgasmed while giving head before, but when I cast my gaze upward, I know I’m far from finished.

Fi’rox’s nostrils flare as he takes in the scent of my orgasm and his cock throbs so hard, it brushes against my cheek again.

I want him to take me.

I want him to take me hard and deep, and make me cry his name like he promised before.

I rise, my hands sliding up the ridges along his body as I stand to face him.

Fi’rox pulls me to him, a rumble escaping his chest as our skin comes into contact and as I turn, he follows my lead until his back is to the sleeping feathers.

As I grip his arm, I can sense the control he is exercising to follow my lead.

His muscles are tense with restraint and a new level of appreciation goes through me for this alien being.

When I push against him gently, signaling that I want him to lie down, he does so without hesitation, his eyes on mine the whole time.

Between us, his cock brushes against my belly as he lowers onto the feathers and when I climb over him, his fangs bare as he looks up at me.

His gaze moves up my belly to linger at my breasts and I find myself gripping them.

There’s pure thick lust in his eyes, as thick as oil, and it coats me with its weight.

A new ache starts between my thighs as I straddle him.

I want more.

Chapter Forty

FI’ROX

Dey’jah straddles me and my entire body jerks with the contact.

I can feel the heat between her thighs. That inviting warm space that calls to me.

I want nothing more than to draw her higher above me to settle her center over my face so I can feast, but when she pins me down with one arm, I know she is taking the lead.

Her other hand reaches between us to grasp the tip of my sazi and her touch makes me inhale deeply as I throb against her fingers, my lubricant coating her hand.

She holds me there and brings my shaft to its full height against her belly, her hand stroking along my length.

Her touch is like sweet torture.

She holds me there, pressing me against her softness till my tip reaches the small button in the middle of her belly and her heat engulfs me.

She moves her hips, her soft warmth spreading over the base of my sazi as those soft lips between her thighs spread.

I can feel every hidden part of her folds and that little button in the middle rubs against my length with each movement of her hips.

“Fi’rox,” she pants my name and I grip the feathers beneath us.

Sweet, sweet torture.

The only type I do not want to end.

Dey’jah rocks her hips back and forth, grinding her suu’ci against me—something I would have never thought would give such pleasure.

I can feel the tips of my ears trembling as her heat moves up and down against my base and each whimper she makes multiplies my need a thousand times.

“Dey’jah…” There’s a note of pleading in my tone that I cannot hide.

I don’t care to hide it.

I have opened myself to this female many times now, and she has done nothing but prove that she is perfect for me.

But…if she does not let me mount her now, I will go insane.

I want to flip her over and plunge deep inside her warmth.

But as if she’s also dying to feel me inside her, she braces down with one hand and lifts her hips until she is right above my tip.

Her little pink tongue darts over her lips and memory of it against my shaft sends another hard throb through me.

Dey’jah pants as she lines me up with her heat, and at the first touch of her softness against me, it takes everything within me not to roar, spin her over, and rek her hard.

A strangled groan escapes me as her tightness grips me.

“Oh fuck.” She shudders and her tightness throbs, clenching me once, twice, three times as she goes lower, adjusting to my girth.

It is a beauty to see.

The Vullan do not mate like this, and I wonder why.

Dey’jah is the most beautiful spectacle as she slides down on me.

I am transfixed as I watch her lift her hips, only to lower them again.

They roll and turn as her tight sheath engulfs me with its warmth until she no longer needs to position my shaft with her hands.

She lets me go, slowly lowering onto my thickness until every inch of me is inside her.

Oh yessss…

The sweet torture that twists her face is sublime as her eyes turn completely white and her head tilts back.

For a moment, alarm courses through me, but then a moan barrels from her chest as she plants both hands at my sides and buries her knees into the feathers.

Her hips wind and sway as she grinds her suu’ci on me and I grip the feathers tighter, willing myself not to move, willing myself not to spill.

She is using me for her pleasure and it is the most spend-inducing thing I have ever seen.

Every moan she utters makes me go wild till all I can see is her.

How her brow knits as the juices of her suu’ci blend with my own…

How she bites her bottom lip, her entire body jerking as her hips roll.

I look down between us and see the most heavenly sight.

The lips of her suu’ci stretched to their limit by my shaft…and then I cannot take it anymore.

A roar barrels through me.

Dey’jah is mine.

As she screams her release, I can no longer wait.

I spin her over and I am suddenly on top of her, my sazi still buried deep within her warmth.

She’s like melted sugar as she seeps between the feathers, her body still shaking from her release, and when I grip her hips and push myself deeper, another whimper echoes from her throat.

“Fi’rox…”

The way she says my rekking name.

I pull back and thrust deep into her and her cries spur me to pull back and thrust deep again.

Her warmth is like a burning fire that’s filling me from within, and my sazi throbs hard as I pull back and pierce her once more.

Dey’jah screams my name, her head pushed back into the feathers as I pull back and sink deep inside her again, and as I create a rhythm, rolling my hips the way I saw her do hers, she cries out my name again.

I’m in that nebula again. I can only see stars.

I can only hear the cries of my female as I pleasure her.

My shaft is coated with our juices and when she cries out again, gripping the bedding as her body convulses with another climax, I surge to meet her.

My sazi throbs hard as spend shoots from my tip deep within her womb.

Dey’jah…

My sweet burning flame.

Chapter Forty-One

DEJA

I feel like putty as I lay sprawled out against the feathers.

Fi’rox lies in the same position beside me, his gaze fixed on the darkness of the roof.

I don’t know if I can move, but when I glance at him, heat fills me once more.

We’ve been locked in his room for at least six hours and he’s taken me three more times…I don’t know how I can still want more. But I do.

He’s still hard too, even though I’m sure we’ve covered the sleeping feathers with buckets of his spend.

I rise on my elbows and push myself to the floor.

I slide unto it like a length of melted marmalade and all but crawl over to the cleansing area.

The feathers shift and I know Fi’rox has risen to watch me.

“We should get cleaned up.” I glance back at him.

But his hand is at the base of his cock, those heated eyes of his focused on my bum as I crawl on all fours.

His appreciation of my body makes me blush and I remain on all fours till I reach the cleansing area and sit in it cross-legged.

He watches me as the unit activates and the light travels across my skin.

“C’mon big guy. We still have to brief the others. I told them all I could remember about what happened out there but there’s no harm in going over it again, together.”

His gaze shifts from my breasts to my face and I see the moment he does the equivalent of a sigh.

Slipping off the feathers, he heads my way and comes to stand within the cleansing area with me, one hand outstretched toward me.

I grasp it and he helps me to get to my feet.

“You are not well.” He eyes me and I blush again.

He fucking wrecked me, that’s what he did, but I am more than well.

I’m fucking fantastic.

I grin at him and squeeze his hand as the light moves over us both.

“I’m feeling great,” I whisper, moving closer to him. “I’m just happy we’re here together, now.”

His hand finds the nape of my neck, and Fi’rox dips his head to inhale my skin.

“I am too.”

My gaze flicks over the floor to find my clothes, only to see my shredded t-shirt and the jeans not far off.

“Oh no…” I groan, and Fi’rox glances in the direction I’m staring.

“My clothes,” I mutter.

When he looks back at me, his gaze is strange.

“You do not need them. You have ba’clan now.”

My eyebrows shift upwards a little.

I guess he’s right.

But…

“Yea, I guess I do but, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not lithe and skinny or petite. These thighs can clap.”

His ears flick as if he is confused. “Thigh clap?”

I can’t resist a giggle. “I mean, I have thick thighs.”

“Mm,” he growls and grasps me by the hips, pulling me into him. One hand is already snaking down my ass toward my center and I have to grab it, a fit of giggles bursting through me.

“We can’t do it again or we’ll be stuck in here all night.”

I swear he pouts.

“I wear ba’clan. I am not lithe and skinny either. Or small.”

I burst out with a chuckle. “Lie. You are lithe. Not skinny though. You’re lean.”

Fi’rox cups my face with a claw. “I do not see how it matters. The ba’clan will protect you much better than your Earth clothing ever will.”

I nod. He’s right. But…

“What I’m trying to say is that I’ve seen the ba’clan on Adira and Sam. It’s like wearing body paint. It reveals everything. It’s not so bad on you guys. All we see is muscle. But on them…you see everything.”

Fi’rox stills for a little while, then relaxes. “You are afraid of my brethren trying to become your mate once they see the form of your body.”

No. That was not where I was going with this at all.

He grips me to him. “You are mine. You always will be. I will cut my brethren to shreds if one dares to approach you.”

Vicious, but the surety in his deep voice makes me relax against him, and I nod.

“And you are right. We should go. They are already approaching.”

“Who?”

But no sooner have the words left his mouth than I see the outline of the door forming.

Visitors!

My ba’clan slide over my skin so quickly, I don’t remember thinking it and when I glance at Fi’rox, he’s covered from head to toe as well.

The entrance materializes to reveal Adira and a Vullan with a red gaze. Her mate, Fer’ro.

His nostrils flare and I die a little inside when he sends a knowing look in Fi’rox’s direction.

“Apologies for the interruption,” he begins, and Adira squeezes her eyes shut in embarrassment. “My mate was sure you would be occupied. But you do not seem to be.”

Adira sends an apologetic smile my way, and I grin at her.

“What is it, quayzar?” Fi’rox asks.

Fer’ro’s voice grows serious, as does his gaze. “We need to speak with you.”

* * *

As we exit the ship, we both notice the meeting has already been called.

All the Vullan stand in a wide semicircle and the humans in the base stand on the other side.

There is a projection in the middle, a hologram, coming from a disk that has been placed in the center of the rock floor.

“We know what Deja and Fi’rox discovered. Our drones have returned and there are several others of these…nests being built around Scrits that have stopped walking.” Sam gestures to the hologram and it spins, showing different images of Earth’s landscape with the standing machines with red veins going across the Earth.

There’s a collective gasp among the humans.

The Vullan however, growl in unison.

“The female that was rescued was…influenced by these veins.” The medic says. He towers beside Sam as he gestures to the hologram as well. “They are not contagious. That is to say, merely coming in contact with the veins does not cause a reaction.”

I do not want to know how he’s discovered that and as we draw closer, he and every one of the Vullan glance our way.

That causes the humans to glance our way too and I note their raised eyebrows.

I’m wearing ba’clan and only ba’clan.

We’re all hiding and planning this war together, but I wonder if that makes them think I am more on the Vullan’s side than theirs.

“How is she?” I ask, my gaze on the medic.

He’rox’s tentacles move almost imperceptibly as he studies me.

“She will live,” he says.

“And the baby?”

I don’t realize I’m clenching my fists until I feel Fi’rox’s hand covering mine.

“She will also live.” The medic pauses. “Thanks to you.”

A breath shudders from my shoulders and I realize that everyone is looking at me.

“You demonstrated great braveness out there, Deja.” It is Fer’ro who speaks and in the corner of my eyes, I see the humans rise.

There are many of us at the base. Our numbers are growing with each rescue.

Those that I had been stuck with at that camp, to others I have never seen before.

Jillian comes forward, a warm smile on her face.

I’d only known her a short while before the Gryken attacked me at that camp, but the way she’s looking at me now, with pure love that a stranger like me doesn’t deserve, it twists my heart.

“On behalf of everyone here,” she says, “we want to say thank you.”

I open my mouth to protest.

They don’t need to thank me for anything.

Jillian smiles and shakes her head as if she can read my mind. “You did what all of us here hope a stranger would do for us, if we were in that situation.” She pauses. “It takes a lot of bravery and strength.”

She gives me another warm smile before reaching for my free hand and giving it a squeeze.

Tears blur my vision, but I keep them from falling.

I don’t like to think about the shit we went through out there.

But knowing the mother and child are going to make it is the greatest reward.

“Now that you both are here,” the medic picks up again. “Tell us…what did you see?”

I glance at Fi’rox and grip his hand before turning my gaze to the beings, alien and human, around us.

This is my new family…our new family…and we’re going to fight until we can all live happily and safely again.

This is our oath.

It is our bond.

Epilogue

The baby smiles up at me from the cradle that was made specifically for her.

Her little hands reach up to touch me and I can’t help but grin as I press my finger against her palm.

She coos and my heart fills with joy.

Baby has been out of the regen tank for a week now but her mother needs more time.

Since then, I’ve taken up mom duty.

Well, not me only.

Baby is quite a hit with every single female on Base Zero. She has tons of mothers to take turns caring for her but I like to think she likes me best.

“Coochi-coo, Baby,” I whisper to her.

We decided to call her Baby because she likely already has a name. When her mother wakes up, we’ll finally get to know what it is.

In the meantime, Baby she is.

She doesn’t seem to mind.

She adores the attention.

Planting a kiss on her forehead, I give her one last smile before I head from the med bay.

There’s a war effort going on and though the base is safe, I know our safety can be threatened at any moment.

As I walk down the corridor, I pass several Vullan. They bow to me, their gazes flashing to my face before they continue on their way.

Things are busy here, or maybe it was always busy before I arrived.

The Vullan have modified the two shuttles they have on board, adding a new weapon similar to the one that was in the gun Fi’rox gave me, and are also busy building new ones.

Those two shuttles fly out to destroy any standing Scrits they come across.

It turns out the prototype is highly effective.

With three powerful blasts from a shuttle, a Scrit can come tumbling down without the Vullan having to enter to kill the Gryken pilot.

So far, they’ve destroyed seven and the Gryken threat has not come close to the base.

We still do not know why they are increasing their numbers when their machines can do the killing for them.

We also don’t know why they were building those human nests.

It is a mystery that troubles us, but we continue to fight.

I’m not far down the corridor when my ba’clan senses movement near my back and a smile creeps across my lips.

Fi’rox.

I keep walking, pretending I don’t know he’s there.

He’s taken to creeping up on me so he can grab a fistful of my ass or sink his teeth into it, literally.

I can feel when he closes the distance, looming over my shoulder like the devil he is, when I suddenly hear a coo.

Fi’rox growls.

“You are terrible at stealth, Baby.”

I burst out laughing as I turn on him to see Baby wrapped in her blanket in his arms, her little hands flashing as she tries to grab Fi’rox’s fangs.

“Fi’rox! The other women will be upset when they go to the med bay and Baby is gone.”

He looks at me as if he does not care and I know he doesn’t.

Baby flashes her arms again, reaching for Fi’rox once more and he lowers his head so she can smack him in the face.

“Getting stronger she is, Deja. A good fighter like her mother.”

I know he’s not referring to her real mother and my heart warms, but I roll my eyes. “I’m not her mother, Fi’rox.”

He gives me a look as if he doesn’t care what I think about that, and I chuckle again.

His ears flick at the sound, his gaze warming, and Baby takes the opportunity to grab onto his ear.

She pulls it hard and Fi’rox snarls.

Baby coos.

“That’s it. You attack where they are weak and you don’t stop till they are down,” he tells her with such seriousness I know he’s not joking.

That makes me chuckle again, and I step closer.

“Oh, so your ears are a weak spot, are they?”

Fi’rox’s ears flick, but he doesn’t get the chance to put up his guard before I grasp his other ear.

His entire body shivers and before I know it, I am against the wall.

He lifts Baby with one hand, placing her high above us, while the other hand grabs my free arm as his lips crash against mine.

“You tempt me, my fire.”

“Only a little,” I whisper.

But we both know I’m hot and bothered.

Even with the ba’clan, I know he can sense my growing arousal and when his nostrils flare and he thrums, I smile.

“Take baby back to the med bay.”

I don’t need to tell him twice. He eases off me, cradling the baby once more, and then he is gone.

I watch him go.

I still can’t believe I’m mated to an alien who came to Earth to destroy the same aliens that took my world and nearly killed me.

But it’s true

It’s my life…

And I wouldn’t do a thing to change it.

Next in the Series

WAR

Revenge. Need. Sacrifice. Passion.

Find it on Amazon

Other books by A.G.

Captured by Aliens

Xul

Crex

Yce

Kyris

Kyro

Riv’s Sanctuary

Riv’s Sanctuary

Sohut’s Protection

Ka’Cit’s Haven

The Restitution

Ajos

Captured Earth

Arrival

Base Zero

Cataclysm

Acknowledgements

This one is for everyone who has supported me through this journey. Those with access to my personal life know it has not been easy.

To my readers, thank you so much. Your love is what pushes me to continue writing. I love you all!

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About the Author

A. G. Wilde is an avid reader, a gamer, a lover of all things space, alien, and sci-fi.

She is addicted to intense romance, irresistible heroes, and deliciously naughty things.