ARRIVAL

A SCI-FI ALIEN INVASION ROMANCE

A.G. WILDE

Arrival

Arrival © 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

Arrival

Before you read!

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Epilogue

Next in the Series

Other books by A.G.

Acknowledgments

Keep In Touch

If you enjoyed this book…

About the Author

For Mom

I’m still here.

I’m fighting too…because I know you would expect nothing less.

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.

ARRIVAL

You think Earth is a safe haven?

You think the world couldn’t end tomorrow?

Think again.

Our world is no longer our own.

It’s been taken by beings we could never have imagined.

And we are weak.

Helpless.

…hopeless.

Hunted.

They have divided us into groups: Harvesters, Gatherers, and Breeders.

I am but one of the dispensable.

My name is Adira Mosely

…and I am a Breeder.

**

Arrival is a full-length apocalyptic sci-fi alien invasion romance featuring a resourceful heroine and a badass alien hero who  changes her world forever.

There are triggers in this story: graphic scenes involving violence and death, dark themes, and scenes of a sexual nature.

Contains forced proximity and aliens with interesting tools.

This book/series is not for the easily offended.

BEFORE YOU READ!

This note is a trigger warning of sorts.

When starting this series, I decided not to put a block on the things the books in this series will cover.

That means there are topics that some readers might not want to read about.

I will try to give adequate warning of this beforehand, and if you decide to pass on this book/series, that is completely okay!

This particular book sets the tone for the rest of the series.

There is death. Torture. Graphic scenes.

Violence. Terror.

Raw emotion and raw, hot sex.

These alien heroes have miraculous tongues—a gift from evolution—and they’re not afraid to use them where their human women like it most!

But despite this alien goodness, there is the backdrop that the world is ending.

If you haven’t picked up yet, this series begins at the start of an apocalypse.

It’s not butterflies and roses, but I hope that if you do continue to read, you will enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Happy reading!

<3 AG

CHAPTER ONE

ADIRA

A meteor shower.

That’s what we all thought it was.

We were wrong.

But we couldn’t have known…

How could we have?

Most of us thought we were alone…

Earth.

The only planet we knew of that had sentient life. Us.

Aliens were a thing we imagined and placed in sci-fi movies and cartoons.

Or so we’d thought…

So I’d thought.

The fireballs that came down from the sky were a spectacle at first. There hadn’t been any media reports about a meteor shower. It had been a pleasant, wondrous, surprise.

Meteor showers were rare, and this was one you could see in the daytime, no less.

I’d been jogging that day. Headphones in my ears. Music blaring.

The sun had been warm. The streets not too busy.

I had an hour before I had to report to the veterinary clinic where I worked.

I had a surgery to perform that day. On a rabbit.

Poor little guy was going to get neutered.

That’s what I’d been thinking about as I jogged—my furry little patient. I hardly saw the traffic on the road beside me…hardly saw the faces of the people on the sidewalk as I jogged past them.

It was a normal day like any other—

People were going about their shopping. Some were hurrying back to their jobs after getting lunch.

Off to the side, a mother grasped her son’s hand and pulled him along as she picked up pace, hurrying to wherever she was going.

—normal…until I looked up.

My steps faltered. I staggered a little as I stopped running.

Fireballs.

Lots of them.

Shooting through the sky at incredible speeds.

At first, my mind couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing.

There were so many of them. Like massive asteroids falling down.

I didn’t even notice other people stopping what they were doing to stare as well. I couldn’t take my eyes away from the spectacle.

I’d never seen anything like it before…

As I pulled out my earphones, my ears perked with the sudden silence around me.

Cars had stopped.

People had stopped.

Those inside the shops were slowly coming out to stare up at the spectacle.

Time stood still.

I couldn’t take my eyes away.

Looking back now…I should have run from that very moment.

It wasn’t until the first fireball came close that we, I, realized what was happening.

They were coming right at us.

They weren’t burning up in the atmosphere. They weren’t disintegrating.

They were going to crash into the surface.

We all began running then, the silence suddenly interrupted by the first scream.

And then…chaos.

Turning, I began to run.

But the street was suddenly filled with people.

Getting away wasn’t so easy.

Instead of being a clear-cut path down the sidewalk, I bumped into bodies and people bumped into me as we all scrambled to get away.

And amidst the confusion…the fear…the cries…the screaming…there was another sound.

The searing sound of the fireball itself.

Like the air around us was heating up. Crackling.

A loud boom like a bomb going off hit us hard, the impact sending a shockwave that threw us off our feet.

My body hurtled through the air. I landed on my face.

Pain exploded in my skull, my arms, my knees.

Car alarms went off in unison and there was the sound of glass shattering as the store windows blew outward.

Screams.

Sounds of agony.

All mixed into chaos.

People were trying to get away.

Someone stepped on my leg and tripped before scrambling forward and breaking into a run.

In the back of my mind now…I could feel the pain from my fall…the blood running down my forehead.

But all that was like a dull ache in the recesses of my mind for when I glanced behind me…everything else was forgotten.

The meteor was shrouded in dust and smoke.

It had landed on my favorite sandwich shop and I gulped back the immediate sense of distress that rose within me.

There’d been people inside…

I could have been inside.

Gripping my head with one hand, I leaned on my other elbow as I tried to rise.

What the fuck just happened?

My eyes remained on the impact site, watching the dust and smoke settle to reveal a large…

I don’t know what I expected to see.

A huge, black space rock with rough edges maybe.

But this…this wasn’t rough…or black.

It was…a metal orb, glistening in the sunlight.

It was smooth and reflected everything around it like a mirror.

For a moment, I don’t think any of us knew what to do.

There was silence again. Or maybe I just couldn’t hear what was going on around me.

It all felt like it was happening in slow motion.

Me getting to my feet and turning fully so I could stare at the thing.

And then…

The air vibrated.

There’s no other way to describe it.

A sound almost too low to hear, but one that I felt across my skin.

The hairs on my body stood on end.

The sound alone sent a chill down my spine.

Some baser instinct within me told me I should run, yet…I could not move.

The air vibrated again, the sound passing through us all, and I staggered backward as the orb moved.

Dust billowed from the building it had leveled and something came forward.

A long, winding, metallic…arm.

A metal claw.

It closed around a man standing right beside me.

Screams punctuated the air as people began running once more. Yet, I stood.

Unable to comprehend what I was seeing.

Unable to believe.

The old sandwich shop shook, what was left of its walls crumbling as the orb stood, rising through the dust and ash to stand on three legs.

It kept rising, and rising…and my gaze followed it.

What was this thing?

It was as tall as a tower. Taller than anything else around it.

It dwarfed us.

The man it held in one of those metal arms screamed as he struggled to release himself from its grasp.

He was screaming for help, his arm stretching toward me.

But he was too high.

I couldn’t reach.

Even if I could, I couldn’t move.

And then…that chilling sound. That deep boom.

Liquid wet my face as the man’s screams suddenly stopped.

Even as it ran down my face, my body, staining my arms red…my mind refused to accept what it was.

Someone bumped into me as they ran.

I don’t know who they were, I don’t know if they survived, but I owe them my life.

For if they hadn’t collided with me, I might have stood there as that bloodied metal arm descended again.

But I was awake now and fear pushed me to turn.

And run.

CHAPTER TWO

ADIRA

I lost everything that day.

Everything that mattered.

Family.

Friends.

Me.

I lost myself.

Who I was…

Who I am.

What do you become when everything you know is ripped apart?

What do you do when an unbeatable enemy comes to destroy everything you’ve ever known?

We tried to fight.

For once, humanity had a common enemy and all other human problems seemed minuscule in comparison.

We were miniscule.

Governments got on the ball pretty quickly.

Missiles.

Bombs.

Air raids.

Nuclear bombs.

All for…

Nothing.

Nothing we did worked.

Whole cities were leveled.

Bathed in death.

Blood.

Destruction.

Nowhere on Earth was safe.

At least, that’s what I heard before the phones stopped working. Before radio stations were cut off. Before communication was lost.

New York fell.

Los Angeles.

Paris.

London.

Sydney.

Berlin.

My own city was leveled…and then, no more help came…

The fighter jets slowly reduced in number till there were no more.

Tanks lay abandoned in the streets.

The sound of fighting slowly died.

In the recesses of my mind, I want to imagine there’s somewhere safe out there…but even as the aftermath settles in my consciousness, I know this isn’t true.

The orbs…their huge metal legs…they trampled…everything.

And they just kept on going.

It seemed their only purpose was to destroy the single planet we call home.

We were like ants to the metal beasts—for that’s all we know them as.

Giant, metal beasts.

No one knows what’s inside them.

No one knows who controls them, or if the orbs themselves are sentient.

They have no faces. No one has gotten close enough to see inside them.

At least, no one has gotten close enough to survive and tell the tale.

These…machines.

All we know is that they kill us all.

One way or the other.

But maybe those who died in those first few moments were the lucky ones.

They didn’t live to see the horror of what life has become.

It must have been days that I’d been hiding, but it felt like weeks.

Hiding anywhere I could. Alone.

Cellars were the best bet. They were underground.

If the building above crumbled, there was a chance of survival.

But when you find a good shelter, the next thing you have to find is food.

Resources were scarce; it was everyone for themselves.

The other humans I managed to come across, those still surviving, those still free, they were usually only looking out for themselves.

So I did too.

By some miracle, I survived.

I was going to survive.

Again, I was wrong.

It happened one night.

I was sleeping.

The machine…it found me.

I still do not know how.

Something woke me from my sleep.

A noise.

Nestled in the cellar, wrapped in some poor child’s old blanket, I squinted into the darkness.

It only took a second. One second for me to see the reflection of starlight against metal.

But it was too late.

It took me.

A scream tore from my throat as the metal arm closed around me.

I was whipped from my hiding spot, the feel of the ice-cold metal chilling my bones as I was pulled from my hiding spot and brought high into the air.

I’d always known the orbs were huge.

Tall.

Taller than towers.

But being lifted by one sent newfound terror through me.

There hadn’t been any orbs close by when I’d fallen asleep.

They were so big you could see them for miles.

But somehow…this one had found me.

The wind was knocked out of me as it swung me, my body flailing like I was a ragdoll.

It lifted me high in front of itself, as if it was looking at me, and for a moment, I stared back at it.

Tears blinded my vision but hatred burned through.

Pure, raw, hatred.

A scream filled with frustration left my throat as the orb swung me downward.

This was it. It was going to trample me.

Squish me like it did that man in those first few moments.

…but it didn’t.

Instead of killing me, the orb brought me toward itself.

Maybe I was dreaming… Maybe the blood loss had affected my perception of things…but the metal softened and I went right through it.

The machine let go of me and my head hit something hard as I fell.

Soft bodies broke my fall. Some with sharp edges I vaguely realized were bones sticking through skin.

Where was I?

I had no idea.

All I knew was that I should be dead…but I wasn’t.

For some reason, the universe was sparing me.

Or maybe I was being punished.

For what? I do not know.

That’s when I heard it.

Someone talking beside me…to me.

I heard the word “breeder,” but I had no idea what it meant.

My head was hurting now, but as the blood rushed to my skull and I lost consciousness, I heard the words again.

This time, they registered into my reality.

“It’s found another breeder.”

CHAPTER THREE

ADIRA

Present day

? days since captured by the machine

I’ve become accustomed to the sway.

It lulls us as this thing moves.

One can almost forget where you are, in the belly of the machine.

There’s four of us…but…there’d been more.

When it had first put me inside itself, the small space had been full.

Now, not so much.

Every four weeks or so, one of us is taken away.

And I have been in here for more days than I can count.

There’s space to move, but nowhere to go.

It’s surprisingly bright inside the machine, like being behind a glass window.

This high up, we can see everything beneath.

We can see the world from its view.

And boy…are we little.

Insignificant.

“I think he’s going to die soon.” The voice of the woman beside me. Sam.

Maybe short for Samantha. I never asked.

“Who?” My voice sounds detached. Filled with apathy. Hearing it sounds like a stranger using my mouth and not me.

Sam jerks her chin to the other side of the orb. Through the barrier there.

For there are two compartments in this belly of the beast.

We are simply in one.

On the other side are people.

Humans.

Men.

And they are…

My throat moves as I pull my gaze away.

You’re a coward, Adira.

Maybe I am.

But I don’t need to look to see what’s going on in the second compartment. The image is already burned into my brain.

I’ve stared at it, even when I didn’t want to see.

The men are cocooned by…vines…

Only…

They aren’t vines at all.

They pulse, move…as if alive.

All across the wall…the floor…the vines are everywhere.

It is like a jungle in there, wrapping around the bodies…piercing them.

If I go close enough, I can see blood moving through the vines as the machine feeds.

“I think he’s trying to say something,” Sam whispers.

My eyes move to the male she’s referring to.

He is facing us. His face pressed against the transparent barrier that separates our compartments.

Everything but his face is covered with vines—veins—and as I stare at him, I realize that Sam is right.

His lips are moving, but we can hear no sound.

There’s a deathly pallor to his skin. He’s gone pale as the machine drains his blood. How long has it been feeding from him?

For some reason, I move closer, brushing past the three other women in the compartment with me.

My body feels weak as I move over and the man’s eyes lock on mine as I near.

Hope flares in his gaze a little as I draw close.

His lips move again and I can just about make out the words he is mouthing.

“Help…me…please.”

I stare at him. Maybe, before all this, I would have been able to cry. To grieve for what I’m witnessing before my eyes.

But no tears come now.

Instead, I press my hand against the barrier. I’d be touching his cheek if not for the separation between us.

“It will be over soon,” I whisper.

Maybe that’s all he needed.

Some kind of comfort.

I don’t know how long I sit there, watching him, until his eyes finally close.

And then, he is gone.

His body is ripped away as the last drop of blood leaves his veins.

I see what’s left of him fall as the vines release him and the orb expels him from itself.

Every bone in his body will be broken when he lands.

But he is already dead.

He’ll feel no more pain…

I pull away from the barrier and slide back to sit between Sam and one of the other women.

Mina her name is.

She hardly speaks.

Across from her is another female.

She rests away from us. Her belly is swollen and it presses against her torn dress.

It’s grown even more. It wasn’t that big yesterday.

I remember when the machine took her.

When she’d been bred.

That was about a month ago.

She groans, her eyes flicking open, and pain registers on her face.

I can’t imagine what it feels like, having something unknown growing within you.

But I’ll know soon.

Soon, it will be my turn.

“Do you want some?” Sam stretches the fluid-filled sac toward me and I shake my head.

“Eat it, Adira. You know the orb won’t feed us again for the rest of the day.”

And she is right.

The fluid-filled sacs appear through the wall on rotation.

Sustenance in the form of some kind of pulp that keeps us alive.

I shudder to think where it comes from.

I want to tell Sam no.

Maybe if I refuse to eat, starve myself, the machine won’t try to breed me.

Even as I think this, my gaze flicks to the woman resting on the floor across from my feet.

She is bone thin. So thin, her massive belly looks out of place.

Her belly moves as whatever is growing within her writhes underneath her skin and the little appetite I had is suddenly gone.

Sam jerks me with her elbow. Her arm shakes as she holds the thing out to me.

She is so thin too, I can see her bones. My gaze moves up her arm, knowing what I’m seeing is a mirror image of myself.

But there is one difference between us.

There is still hope in Sam’s eyes.

Her arm shakes again and I know even the mere act of holding out the sustenance sac to me is draining her energy.

Hating myself, I reach toward her and take the sac.

It’s an unappealing light-brown color, like dirty milky water.

Bringing it to my chapped lips, I nip a hole into it and force down the contents.

It’s more like gulping rather than drinking.

I throw it down my throat, the liquid only hitting the back of my tongue as I take it down.

It’s sickeningly sweet and once again I divert my mind from thinking of where it must have come from.

To my left, Mina watches us.

She says nothing, but her gaze speaks volumes.

Pure hatred.

The same that I feel toward this thing that is carrying us.

The gentle sway continues as the machine makes its way across the landscape below and for a moment, my gaze falls beneath us.

It’s funny how quickly things can change.

Down below doesn’t look like the Earth I knew anymore.

More like a world ravaged by war and natural disasters.

How long has it been since the machines arrived?

I don’t remember now.

Days meld into each other. I only know that time is passing because night comes and the sun rises.

Somehow, it feels like time is leaving me behind.

Below is a dry barren land.

Dust has settled over everything.

Buildings have been burned, crushed, destroyed.

Vehicles sit in what were once roads.

Vines and wild plants have started to reclaim what used to be a small town.

Whatever water, trees, vegetation that had dotted the landscape before are now all gone.

Earth has been captured.

It is their world now.

And we are mainly insects in their way.

Sometimes, we spot other machines in the distance, but they are never close to each other.

Even then, one is enough to decimate everything around it.

And humans…I haven’t seen another human below in a long, long time.

As I cross my arms, the woman on the floor groans and grips her stomach.

Oh no.

I don’t realize I whisper the words until they reach my ears.

“Shit,” Sam whispers too.

Her wide eyes meet my own and I am dimly aware that Mina is crawling closer to us.

The woman is left alone on one side as she groans louder.

There is movement in her stomach.

Something large presses against her skin from the inside and my heart drops.

It is time.

As if on cue, the inside wall pulses and I hear the sound we all dread.

The smooth surface above us whirs open and one of those mechanical arms appears.

It’s different from the ones on the outside—the ones it walks on.

This one is smaller but it has no trouble grasping us just the same…if it catches us.

But it’s not coming for us.

We know what it wants.

The woman…she is ready to give birth.

I watch as the arm grasps her around the neck and for a moment, I’m frozen.

One by one, it’s done this.

Taken us.

Bred us.

At first, we’d fought back, tried to get it to stop.

When had we stopped fighting?

The thought energizes me and I’m moving even before I can reconsider.

“Adira!” Sam’s scream doesn’t register. All I can see is the mechanical arm closing around the woman.

All I can feel is my own hatred.

I reach it in a matter of seconds, my arms closing around its claw.

I pull. With all my strength, I pull. But it doesn’t budge.

“Let her go! She deserves to live. We all deserve to live!” The words leave my lips in a scream that echoes in the little chamber. “Haven’t you done enough?!”

I’m hanging on to it and I swear the metal claw goes still for a moment.

And then I’m flying backwards like a fly.

My back collides with the wall behind me and pain shoots up my spine as I fall forward on my face.

I’m dimly aware of Sam rushing over to me, of Mina’s scream, and I lift my head.

Through my blurred vision, I see the arm retreat with the woman.

And then her screams…

We won’t see her again.

But the machine will come back, and it will be one of us next.

CHAPTER FOUR

ADIRA

Night has come.

The sun has risen once more.

My body still aches from the latest attempt at autonomy. Freedom.

My gaze adjusts to within the orb as the empty food sac slips from my fingers.

It lands at my feet and I watch as it…disappears into the metal wall.

“Do you think it will ever stop walking?” Sam asks.

Her voice is distant.

She is staring outside the orb too and I wonder if she is having the same thoughts I am.

“I’d like to think so,” I reply, but even that thought makes a strange feeling go down my spine.

When the machine stops walking…what then?

Will any of us be left?

Will humanity, by some miracle, have survived?

Walking. Walking. It always heads towards water. It’ll spend several days sucking it all up, and then it will be off again.

In the time I’ve been in the belly of the beast, I’ve seen it drain seven lakes.

Seven…all gone.

I don’t know what it does with all that water.

I wonder if it takes it all, evaporates it somehow.

Destroys it.

Something tells me that’s not what it’s doing.

But with the water disappearing down below…so is life.

The Earth is becoming dry.

Parched.

We built all basis of life on the single pairing of two chemicals. Two parts hydrogen. One part oxygen.

Water.

When searching distant stars, it was what we looked for.

And I wonder if that’s what they were looking for too?

Is that why they came here?

Is that how they found us?

I stare ahead at nothing.

Not looking at the other side where the Feeders are.

Not focusing on the two other women around me.

Just three of us left.

It is going to end soon.

For hours, the machine walks.

There is nothing to do but sit and be swayed within it, my gaze focused in the distance.

My mind…my emotions…blocked.

I only rise when I spot greenery.

Life.

We are near a forest…or at least, what used to be one, and the machine leaves trampled trees in its wake.

The trees will die soon. Just like everything else.

Sam sees me move and glances down below.

“Recognize where we are?”

“No idea.”

Nothing looks the same out there.

I don’t even know if we are in the same state anymore.

“Me neither,” she says. “I wish…”

She doesn’t continue.

It makes no use to say it.

I know what she wishes.

To see some form of life down there.

Hope.

Her dark hair is dirty and she runs a hand through it.

We all are dirty, despite the strange way the machine cleans this compartment.

It sucks up the waste we leave behind. Bodily secretions disappear into the metal wall as if it wasn’t there at all in the first place. But it can’t wash away the filth that has settled on our skin over time.

“Do you think anyone’s left out there?” Sam is still looking down below.

I shake my head.

“I don’t know.”

“What about the animals…”

Her voice has hope in it and even though Mina doesn’t speak much, I hear her scoff.

Since being within the machine, we’ve seen no life below.

Not even a flicker of it.

I spent my whole life taking care of animals… To think so many have died too…

It’s something I leave untouched in the back of my mind. Like a safe sort of place I can go.

I imagine the animals are all hiding down there.

Somewhere.

That all life isn’t being snuffed out little by little.

And even though we don’t talk about it, about the other women who’d been in the beast’s belly, what happened to them, we all know our end is coming soon too.

There’s no use talking about it.

Especially when…

As if my thought summons it, there’s movement.

The walls pulse. The hole in the top opens and the arm descends.

Instinctively, we all jerk and scramble away.

Sam lets out a scream as the arm brushes her foot and my mind goes into panic mode.

It’s ready to breed another of us already?

Sam collides with me, her elbow digging into my gut as I scramble backward too.

But Mina…Mina isn’t fast enough.

The metal arm closes around her belly and she screams, her gaze locking with mine.

Panic floods through me.

We have no weapons. Nothing to fight with except our sheer will.

But that is never enough.

Before I realize what I’m doing, I’m struggling from underneath Sam, trying to release myself.

Attacking the thing never works.

But maybe this time…

Mina screams as the arm pulls her toward itself, her hands grasping at the smooth surface beneath us, trying to grip on to something to no avail.

The pure terror in her eyes hits me deep.

It’s like looking into a mirror.

That could have been me.

It will be me.

And that’s the thought that pushes me forward.

My hands close around hers, and I pull, screaming.

It feels like my joints are going to be dislocated as the claw retreats into the machine, pulling Mina, and, in extension, me, with it.

She screams again, hanging on to me for dear life, and in the back of my mind, I feel skinny arms wrap around my legs.

Sam.

She’s helping too, trying to pull us back.

But it’s useless.

Mina doesn’t budge. The arm keeps retreating, and it is too strong for the strength of all three of us combined.

“Let her go!” I scream, the words leaving my mouth with all the force I can muster. “Let her go!”

If it hears me, I know it doesn’t care.

“Please,” I beg, and a part of me wishes my plea will be heard.

But nothing stops the thing.

Mina’s gaze locks with mine.

I see the moment she gives up like a fire dying in her eyes.

And then, she slips from my grasp.

The force of the pull is lost and I collapse, but my eyes remain locked on Mina’s as she disappears into the dark hole.

I want to go after her.

But before I can move, the hole closes, as it always does.

It closes, but not before Mina’s screams reach our ears.

ADIRA

When Mina returns, Sam and I are waiting.

There is movement. The wall pulses and the hole opens.

Mina’s body is a blur as she falls through and we rush to break her fall.

She is choking, her body heaving and shivering at the same time, and she is wet.

She clutches her belly, and I swallow hard.

We don’t need to speak.

We all know what’s happened.

It’s the same thing that happened to all the others.

“Kill me,” she chokes out. “Kill me now.”

I glance at Sam and my heart slams against my chest. I can feel Mina’s pain.

“Do it!” she screams.

Her eyes are on us now, red, bloodshot and she chokes again, spitting blood.

The fluid promptly disappears into the wall of the orb.

She claws at her stomach and a lump forms in my throat.

I can’t see clearly and it takes me a moment to realize tears have clouded my eyes.

I try to hold them back as I watch her claw at herself, trying to remove it.

Because what’s inside her is like a death sentence.

It is a death sentence.

Mina’s belly is going to swell.

And then the machine will take her again.

Mina continues to clutch at her belly and a wail leaves her lips that shatters me at my core.

Hopeless.

Desperate.

Forlorn.

It will kill her like it’s killed the others.

And then…then it will be my turn…

Or Sam’s.

My chest heaves with huge breaths as I pull my gaze away from Mina to stare through the wall before me.

In the back of my mind are Mina’s cries.

We can’t help her. Even if we wanted to.

There is nothing we can do.

Sam and I made a pact.

If one of us gets taken…the other will have to do a horrible deed.

Asphyxiation is our only weapon.

But what would happen to the other once the deed is done?

We don’t know.

We don’t talk about it.

The last woman who came close to killing herself was crushed by the metal claw.

“There’s water ahead,” I whisper. The thought comes almost like an afterthought whispered in the back of my mind.

I can see it.

A great lake.

The machine will stop. Suck it up. And then it will move on.

Mina’s wailing slowly turns to low sobs as she settles back. Her chin is on her chest and through her ripped clothing, I see deep welts across her abdomen from where she’d clawed at herself.

I take her hand and settle back too.

Sam follows, sitting on Mina’s other side, and we rest in silence, lulling ourselves with the sway as the machine moves.

For the next few minutes, my gaze is focused on the lake as the machine heads toward it, and when it gets there, it steps into the water and pauses.

Mina’s sobs feel like my own.

No one is coming to save us.

No one is out there.

The thought registers like a hurricane and I gulp back a sob.

I’m not allowed to cry.

I feel guilty for wanting to do so when Mina is facing death much sooner than I am.

I can’t look over at the Feeders either—the men on the other side.

Thankfully, the vines cover most of what we can see.

I don’t know which side has it worse.

Them or us.

So I force my gaze ahead, my eyes glazing over with unshed tears.

I cannot do anything to help Mina, but I can be strong.

I can be strong for her.

Through my blurred vision, I think I see something, and I frown a little as I force the tears away.

With the back of my free hand, I wipe my eyes and squint for I…I think I see movement in the distance.

Something black, moving toward us through the sky.

It’s dusk and I haven’t seen any sort of bird in so long.

I blink again and my vision clears, but the bird is still there.

Bigger now.

For a moment, I don’t know what I’m seeing.

It seems to be getting bigger the closer it comes.

Out of nowhere, a bright light erupts in front of me. Far too bright. As bright as the sun.

The sudden brightness blinds me and I hiss as I shield my eyes.

Something moves over my skin like an invisible web. I feel it move all the way through me and it’s such a strange sensation that I let go of Mina’s hand to clutch at myself.

There’s nothing there.

As if whatever I feel is invisible.

Like…energy.

Pure. Raw. Energy.

And as the light dims and my eyes begin to adjust once more, there’s a loud boom.

The air vibrates.

It’s the same sound I’d heard on that first day and it sends a chill down my spine that has everything within me falling.

I know what that sound means now.

It means the orb is about to attack something.

“What’s happening?!” Sam’s voice is high, panicked, but I can’t even look her way because all I can see is that bird still approaching.

Something moves in my peripheral vision. It’s on the outside. One of the machine’s walking arms. But before it can do anything, the entire orb jerks.

We’ve been…hit.

The blast is so strong, it sends us hurtling to the side.

Sam screams. My eyes widen.

There is a pain in my shoulder from where I connect with the smooth interior, but my gaze somehow finds the bird again.

My heart skips a beat.

For the first time in weeks, hope flares within me.

For what I’m looking at isn’t a bird.

It’s a ship.

And it’s firing at the machine.

CHAPTER FIVE

ADIRA

There’s no time to prepare for what happens next.

We’re thrown upside down, gravity disturbed.

Like ping pong balls in a glass jar, our bodies slam against each other.

Screams pierce my ears. I do not know whether they are my own.

All I know is that chaos has suddenly erupted.

I try to grab and hold on to something.

Anything.

But nothing is there to hold on to in this smooth, featureless prison.

Something collides with the machine once more and it shudders hard, swaying wildly.

It feels like my bones crack each time my body slams against the inside of the orb and then, the swaying stops.

There is another jerk, as if something heavy lands on the orb and as I struggle to right myself, I see movement.

Something black.

A man.

A man on the orb?!

He’s so fast, I barely glimpse him and I wonder if I imagined it.

I try to rise but the machine is suddenly moving again.

Correction: we’re falling.

Fast.

Fast enough for me to feel the pull of gravity as my blood rushes into my head.

I clutch on to Sam and Mina both, gritting my teeth with the force of the pull.

And then it hits me.

Something is happening that I didn’t know was possible.

The machine is going down.

The calm water of the lake below is approaching fast and hope has my heart in my throat.

Help has finally come.

Somewhere, somehow, humans have found a way.

The fight isn’t over yet.

But beneath me, the surface of the water is approaching and a new terror fills my veins.

Two things become clear.

1. The indestructible machine isn’t indestructible after all. It is falling. It is being destroyed; and 2. It’s going down and we’re stuck inside of it.

A shout leaves my lips as determination I thought I’d lost flares.

Slamming my fists on the metal orb, I pray it breaks. But of course, nothing happens.

Sam and Mina are scrambling, trying to do the same, even though we know we can’t break it.

We’d tried many times before.

But right before the orb slams into the water, that man appears again.

I cannot see his face and it’s all happening so fast, I’m not sure I’m even seeing him for real at all.

His fist lights up and it smashes into our compartment. The glass-metal, the barrier to the outside world…cracks.

And then he’s gone. Thrown off the orb as it smashes into the lake.

“There!” Sam shouts, her gaze on the crack.

I wonder if she saw the brave man too but there’s no time to ask her. I’m already moving.

I slam my fist at the crack and pain tears through me. I’m pretty sure I just broke my wrist. But the crack splits and then…it gives!

Somehow, I’ve punched a hole in it.

“Adira!” Sam’s shout is almost drowned out by my own blood rushing into my ears.

I made a hole in it!

But my elation is short-lived. For as soon as the orb hits the water, it begins to sink and I am faced with a whole new terror.

Water rushes in through the hole I just made, desperate to fill the space.

It’s coming in so fast, it hits me hard and I’m thrown back.

Sam scrambles to take hold of Mina, who’s gone limp, and she screams. Or maybe I do.

Mina isn’t moving.

Unconscious.

I pray she isn’t dead.

I do not know.

I slip as I try to rise again.

The water is cold and the ripped dress I’d found in someone’s house is now soaked.

Still, I manage to push myself forward.

“Help Mina!” I shout back. “I’ll get us out!”

I hope I can.

Pressing forward against the sudden torrent feels like I’m fighting against every law of physics, but somehow, I reach the hole I made.

Maybe the weakened area will yield to my fist again. And so I try.

I punch it, fighting the pressure of the water as the orb fills up.

Pain explodes in my fist again and I inhale sharply.

The glass seemed to be even harder than before.

Each time I slam my fist against it, more pain ricochets up my arm, but the fear of what will happen if we don’t get out is worse.

So I keep going.

I don’t stop, even when the water reaches my knees…my waist…my shoulders.

It reaches my lips in no time and I take a deep breath, hoping it won’t be my last as I continue hitting my fist against the orb.

The water is murky, I can hardly see, but I don’t stop.

I can’t stop, even when the most likely scenario is staring me right in the face.

Is this how we die?

Behind me, Sam is trying to keep Mina’s head above the water. High above me, she swims, fighting her own waning energy to save the woman she’s pulling upward with her.

But the air pocket above me is barely big enough for them both.

Sam realizes this and places her body underneath Mina’s, supporting the woman’s head.

She’ll run out of air soon.

We don’t have much time.

So I pound on the barrier. I pound on it even as my skin breaks and my blood begins to fill the water around us.

I feel my eyes burning…my lungs…my entire body feels like it’s protesting.

I need air.

We need air.

But the barrier isn’t breaking.

No matter how hard I pound on it, I can’t get us out.

I do a mini somersault and aim my boot at the barrier instead.

Nothing.

My lungs feel like they are about to explode and there’s pressure in my head as if my veins are about to burst.

I raise my leg one more time, but my strength is gone…

I can’t even kick forward one more time.

We are about to die.

I stare outside the orb, outside the barrier at the water surrounding us.

Freedom…so close…

As the last of my strength leaves me, something large and dark moves in the water.

A fish, or reeds maybe…I’m not quite sure.

Vaguely, I realize my body is drifting away from the barrier, floating away and I have no strength to stop it.

And Sam…Mina…they’re drifting too.

The dark shape draws closer and somewhere in my mind a thought comes forward.

That’s not a fish.

Far too large to be one.

It feels like a dream. Like time has ceased to exist and I am simply just…floating.

A sort of peace settles over me as the dark form materializes into a man.

That man.

I hadn’t imagined him.

He comes close, his hands pressing against the outside of the orb, and his eyes lock with mine.

Liquid gold…like molten lava, they pierce mine, and I wonder if he’s real or a figment of my imagination.

His features are indiscernible.

He is faceless. He is all black.

All I can see are those eyes.

He raises a hand and I imagine his fist shining with the same sort of white energy that had crawled over my skin.

As my consciousness wanes, the barrier of the orb breaks apart and he is suddenly before me.

Eyes that aren’t human look down at me but I’m too far gone to react.

I think…

I think this is the end.

CHAPTER SIX

FER’RO

There is movement within the Scrit.

It has passengers.

I climb down its outer shell just in time to see them inside.

It’s pilot is dead. I made sure of that.

Our missiles had aimed straight for the central core that held the Gryken.

It had been unaware of our arrival, walking with its shields down.

But even with its shields up, it stood no chance.

A whole world had been destroyed while we’d discovered how to kill the Gryken, and we aren’t afraid to use that knowledge now.

What we hadn’t known though, was that the Scrit had been carrying passengers…

I’m thrown off the vessel as it hits the water and I have to backtrack to find it again. I reach it just in time to see the creature, the passenger, inside.

Long brown filaments float above its head. It is floating backward, its limbs outstretched, but I note one thing.

The calmness in its eyes.

It sees me and for a moment…I pause.

My symbiotes, my ba’clan, writhe over my skin.

They can feel it too.

The being’s cry for help, though no sound comes from its mouth.

It is dying.

We have to save it.

My ba’clan charge as I aim my fist, slamming into the Scrit’s dome.

The vessel is no longer invulnerable, and it shatters before me.

As the being floats away, I reach for it.

The first thing I notice is how small it is. Frail.

The body is weak as I take it into my arms I realize it is also…limp.

And there are more of them.

Two others within.

Also unconscious.

I sense one of my brethren approaching and signal to him.

I cannot save the others, or this one will perish.

It is obvious this species cannot breathe under water. If I do not bring this being to the surface, it will die.

A simple mental command is all I need and my ba’clan activate, aiding me toward the surface.

A message thrums from my throat, the vibrations carrying through the water to my brethren.

“More below.”

I hear a response as more of my brethren dive.

If we’d known anything about this species, we would have been better able to strategize.

But they are unknown to us.

A distant species—one we have never seen nor made contact with before.

From a world, far, far away we came to save them.

To help.

The last set of Vullan warriors committed to one final task.

After travelling across the stars for so long, seeing the Scrit made us thrum with rage pent up for what felt like eons.

The scourge we had chased across the galaxy was here.

And…we were late.

The planet was already destroyed.

Even as I think about the Scrit sinking below me, my arms tighten around the being I’m holding as anger floods through me.

My ba’clan writhe, sensing the rising emotion but I cannot help it.

We left Edooria with a sole purpose.

To reach the next target before the Gryken did.

To warn them.

To save them.

To stop the same thing that happened to us…to Edooria…from happening to them.

But…we failed before we even had the chance to begin.

Neither had we known the Scrit had passengers on board. If we had known, would we still have attacked?

But what feels like eons in the cosmos, travelling across the stars to get here, had only created a burning need to destroy the Gryken…as they had destroyed us.

It is possible we acted too quickly. Frustration can do that to a Vullan.

But the satisfaction of seeing the Scrit fall was worth it.

I grip the being to me as I rise through the water.

I can feel the liquid even though not an inch of my skin is touching it. I can feel their reaction to it—my ba’clan. They are as happy to see it as I am and there is an urge to decompress and feel it against my bare skin.

When was the last time that I felt pure water like this?

The next thought slams into me hard.

Water.

There is still water here.

Maybe we are not too late after all.

My legs sink into soft earth as I bring the being to shore.

It’s still limp, its head hanging back to reveal the soft, pale skin of its neck.

I climb away from the water and set it down on the damp earth.

Behind me, I’m aware of my brethren moving toward the Scrit’s wreckage. Above us, our ship camouflages, blending into this planet’s strange blue sky.

The being is still limp as I set it down and for the first time, I get a good look at it.

Brown filaments cling to its head. Its face is smooth with a narrow nose perched above strangely plump lips.

Its lips are cracked and bruised and I can already see the beginnings of other dark bruises forming on the being’s face.

My gaze slips down and I pause.

It is so…small.

Frail.

Weak.

Its body is so thin that I cannot tell whether it is male or…

Its strange suit is ripped in several places revealing more soft skin underneath.

Round mounds settle on its chest, and one of the pert buds peek through its suit.

I am no fool…

It is obvious what I am looking at.

I have no doubt the being before me is female.

A female.

I kreen, the sound vibrating from my throat to culminate in a roar.

A female.

My brothers respond to my kreen; I hear their clicks when they hear my message.

We have found a female.

All is certainly not lost.

This world, this species, still has a chance.

ADIRA

I regain consciousness with a violent heave of my body.

I can’t see anything. My vision is blurry and everything burns.

I choke, coughing up water as I fight for air.

What’s happened?

Where am I?

And then it all comes rushing back.

The machine.

It fell.

We were drowning.

How did we escape—

The eyes.

Molten lava.

I cough again, pulling huge breaths into my lungs, but it feels like my airway is blocked even though I’m fighting to breathe.

As the tears in my eyes finally recede a little, fear grips me instead.

All I see is black.

It’s over my mouth, in my nose…

The dark suit.

The man covered in black.

He’s here.

He’s real.

My gaze locks with those fire pits of his and I forget to breathe.

They’re abnormal.

Slitted.

Like a reptile’s.

Alien.

A scream barrels through my throat, rocking my body and I realize the black thing that’s in my nose, my mouth—it’s coming from him.

It retracts like ferrofluid back onto his body and my eyes widen as I scramble backward.

Alien. Alien.

It’s all that repeats in my mind as I scramble to get away.

The alien doesn’t move.

Those slitted eyes are trained on me.

Vaguely, I am aware of more of them rising from the water. They have Mina and Sam—both limp. Both unresponsive.

At the sight of me, one of the alien’s lips pulls back to display sharp fangs.

For a moment, I’m caught between not wanting to leave Sam and Mina but all I can think of is that I need to run.

And so I do.

My body feels like a sorry excuse of flesh and bones but somehow I rise on my feet and begin to run.

It’s strange using my limbs after being stuck in the machine for so long and I stumble a few times before my legs finally begin to cooperate.

I have no idea where I’m going. All I know is that I have to get away from here.

There is chaos.

It’s like my mind is a frazzled wreck.

I cannot understand what is happening. All I can concentrate on is the emotions going through me.

My lungs are burning.

And so is the water.

I am dimly aware of this as my feet take me over the rocks and toward the only place in this barren wasteland that I have a chance of being safe.

A copse of trees that was spared from the destruction around us.

There’s another larger forest off to the side but if I change direction now, I don’t think I’ll make it.

I glance behind me and more terror fills my soul.

The red-eyed alien is looking at me as he rises to his feet. There are sharp blades on his arms now and his lips are pulled back to display vicious-looking fangs too.

Shit.

He doesn’t move and, for a moment, I think he is not going to chase me.

But then he puts one foot before the other, and another…and then he is running.

Terror fills me so much I can’t even scream.

Instead, I choke on my own fear as I pick up the pace.

Those vicious teeth of his is the last image I see before I slip beneath the cover of the trees, terror making my whole body quake.

I run and stumble, sharp rocks and branches tearing at my skin.

I am weak. Tired. But I continue on until I spot a tree.

It has a hole big enough for me to climb into and even as I run toward it, fear makes me question myself.

It’s not a good hiding spot.

It really isn’t.

But do I have a choice?

My breath hitches in my throat as I slip inside the tree and I don’t dare to even breathe.

If I make a sound…he’ll hear me.

A scream echoes through the air and I gulp down a sob.

It’s coming from near the lake and I wonder if it’s Mina or Sam.

As another sob jerks through me, I slam my hand over my mouth, my eyes wide as I stare ahead through the gap in the tree.

It’s quiet for a few moments, the only sound being my breath in my own ears.

And then I hear it.

A twig snapping.

My breath stops.

I know it’s not an animal.

I just know.

Another twig snaps and I press my hand down harder over my mouth.

He’s going to find me.

CHAPTER SEVEN

FER’RO

I stare at the female as she runs away.

For a moment, I cannot move.

All I can see before me is a replay of the war…images of our species dying…our females dying.

The memories are fresh, possibly because it’s like it happened yesterday.

To my mind, to my ba’clan, it was like yesterday. For even though it took many moons to get to this new world, I had been sleeping all along.

“Female.” I thrum. “The being is female.”

Ga’Var, my womb mate, lets out a surprised trill. He glances back at our brethren rising from the water and he stares at the beings in their arms.

“Females.” He thrums. “They are females.”

I can sense the heightened emotion that passes through us all.

Females. And one is so scared, she is running away from us.

She stumbles as I watch her and her frightened gaze turns my way. Our gazes lock.

She is afraid of me.

Her eyes are wide. The brown pits are much too big for her sunken face and they are full of expression.

She is not simply scared.

She is terrified.

I must go after her.

I rise and take a step forward, then another, and then I am jogging after the female.

I could catch her now. Speed is not a hindrance.

The gravity on this planet is slightly lesser than on Edooria.

I can feel it in the way I move across the surface—felt it the moment we broke into the planet’s atmosphere.

I can move even faster than I would on our planet.

But I do not want to scare the female more than I already am. So I purposefully slow down. I let her run.

Behind me, Ga’Var follows.

I click at him. “Be cautious.”

He responds with a click of his own.

We do not know this world. It is uncharted. And though I suspect there is not much that can harm us on its surface, we have just arrived.

We cannot throw caution to the wind.

As the female retreats, I extend my senses to the world around me.

The ground is soft, the atmosphere quiet.

Before us is a small gathering of large plants that the female disappears behind.

Trees, I realize, as I come upon them.

They are different from trees on Edooria.

Green leaves, not gray.

Short, not tall.

Thin and wiry, not thick and unmovable.

It is strange foliage.

Just as small and frail as the inhabitants of the world, it seems.

The star this planet orbits is also…bright.

Too bright.

Painfully so.

I can sense the high temperature about me even while my ba’clan cover me.

If not for them, the brightness would also be hurting my eyes, but I know I will adapt to it in time.

That is…if we stay here.

If this species accepts us. Accepts our help.

Small branches snap underneath my feet as I enter the undergrowth.

It is eerily quiet and the silence seems out of place.

No small animals are hiding here. Only small insects.

Bugs.

One catches my attention as it climbs over some fallen leaves.

“It’s quiet,” Ga’Var clicks.

I know he is thinking the same thing.

It’s quiet like Edooria was in the end. When almost everything had died.

But…there is a big difference between Edooria and this strange new land.

Despite that this planet is ravaged…I still sense…hope.

“There is still hope.” The message leaves my throat in a low tone.

It’s not just the fact that females are still alive on this world.

Glancing up, I notice the wind rustling the frail-looking trees.

Frail, but they still stand, reaching toward their star.

This planet hasn’t passed the point of no survival.

A soft sound, like the whimper of a small creature, catches my ears, and not far behind me, Ga’Var stills.

“There,” he clicks but I’m already looking in the direction the sound came from.

It’s a tree with a hole in its side, barely big enough for a small animal to slip through.

I sniff the air and I catch the female’s scent.

An unexpected growl starts in my throat that I promptly kill.

She is there.

Within the tree.

Ga’Var sniffs. I know he scents her too.

I motion with my hand that he should go the other way.

She is so terrified of seeing me, seeing both of us will only make things worse.

We need no words. He understands and I’m aware of him moving off to the side.

I sense the female’s eyes on me as I move in front of the hole. I’m still several lengths away from her location but that doesn’t stop the sweet scent that floats toward me through the air.

I stop in my tracks.

I know that scent.

It’s one I know well.

The scent of fear.

My lips pull back from my teeth a little and it is a conscious effort of mine not to snarl.

The scent is almost overpowering.

One that appeals to my baser instincts.

She is prey.

A lesser developed species.

No ba’clan.

No armor.

Basically bare, with no obvious ways of defending herself.

Off to the side, Ga’Var snarls and my eyes find him.

He smells the female’s fear too.

Rek.

I do not need him to lose control right now.

I click at him, pulling my lips back to show the tips of my fangs, and his gaze falls from mine.

She is prey. But not our prey.

I have to fight the urge to hunt even as I stare at my brother fighting the same.

His muscles are primed and I realize in horror that he must be the mirror image of myself.

We knew this was a possibility…that the planet the Gryken targeted next might have inhabitants that might clash against our senses…but it was a risk we had to take.

I can feel the tension in my body as I turn back to stare at the hole the female has hidden herself in.

Her fear scent intensifies and I pray she does not run at this moment.

For if she decides to flee when we are in this state…

I cannot promise control.

I will hunt her…and I will catch her.

“Fer’ro.” Ga’Var calls my name and I snap back to reality.

Now he is the one reigning me in and I watch his gaze fall to my arms.

My hackles have risen, the dangerously sharp ends pointing outward as if I am about to attack the female.

Realization sets them back down.

I would never do such a thing.

Even though her fear scent makes me want to hunt her, that is where my instincts end.

I would never harm a female. A male of her kind, however…I couldn’t promise the same mercy.

There is silence once more and I know the female is listening to us.

Taking a few steps forward, I crouch, my gaze searching the darkness of her hiding spot.

It isn’t hard to find her in the shadows.

She has no camouflaging ability even though her skin is so frightfully pale.

I would have thought she’d become translucent to mask herself…but no.

She is right there.

As soon as she spots me she jerks in surprise.

Her hand lifts. She is holding something.

Pointing it towards me in what should be a threatening manner if her hand wasn’t shaking so much.

It is…a stick.

“Su-tay ah-way fu-rom mee.” Her voice shakes as she speaks but her voice…

The melody catches me unaware.

It is like a flying creature whistling. Just like the small luu that lived on Edooria.

I glance at Ga’Var and note his surprise as well.

The female stares at me with those wide brown eyes of hers, her arm still extended with what she must think is a weapon.

Her other hand is over her mouth, the digits long and scrawny and that sweet fear scent of hers permeates the air so much I have to close my nostrils against it.

She is…helpless.

If this is any indication of the rest of her species, no wonder the Scrit walked without its shields.

How frightful had it been when the Scrits had fallen to the surface of this planet? How terrifying had it been for this species?

Edooria had fought.

Had this species even been able to put up a fight at all?

“It is okay,” I click. But my words only make the female retreat farther into the darkness even though there is nowhere to go.

“I will not harm you.”

I stretch my arm out to her and she inhales sharply, wincing as if she expects some kind of attack.

The horror in her gaze as her eyes rove over me is off-putting.

Am I really that terrifying?

I glance down at myself.

There is nothing visible of my true form. All she can see is the ba’clan.

Possibly, they scare her.

I imagine what I must look like to a creature that has never seen my kind before.

My ba’clan create a near impenetrable shield and coat every section of my body like dark fluid.

Maybe I should retract…

The symbiotes sense what I need before I can even send the mental command, and I feel them pulse against me.

I consider pulling them back from my face so she can see there is nothing to be afraid of, but I hesitate.

We know nothing of this planet except that it has water.

The three native lifeforms seem similar enough, outwardly, to Vullan-kind.

Smaller, similar, but not the same.

I do not know if I can breathe the air or if the ba’clan are the only things keeping me alive.

But as I look into the eyes of the female, the decision is easy.

I will take the chance. If anything happens, the ba’clan will prevent critical damage.

I close my eyes and send a signal to the ba’clan to retract from my face.

They do not immediately respond. Unsure themselves.

My eyes open when I feel them begin to move and I take my first breath.

I pause for a moment, waiting, but nothing happens.

Off to the side, Ga’Var clicks, pleased.

We can breathe the air. If not, the ba’clan would have moved back into place.

My gaze finds the female again but she does not move. Instead, her eyes are even wider now and I am amazed at their propensity to enlarge.

Her pupils are round and I wonder if she can see well.

Is that why her eyes are getting bigger by the second?

I retract the symbiotes from my hand, and motion to her again.

Immediately, her gaze grows suspicious.

I recognize the look in those strange eyes of hers.

She is a different species.

Emotive.

But her gaze communicates one thing.

She has seen too much pain.

I have as well.

From the corner of my vision, Ga’Var approaches.

His ba’clan have retracted too and I hear a thrum of pleasure in his throat while breathing in the fresh air.

But his movement causes the female to retreat even more and I click in annoyance at him.

I motion to her once more with my hand and her gaze drops to it.

She stares at my hand for so long that my own gaze falls to it too.

It is different to her own pale, bony one.

My four digits are longer, thicker, and it seems she is missing a joint in hers.

When my eyes meet hers once more, the suspicion in her gaze has only increased.

A click leaves my throat.

My tactic isn’t working.

She doesn’t trust us.

The little female is guarding herself with her stick, and she will not move.

She is not leaving her hiding place.

CHAPTER EIGHT

ADIRA

I don’t know what to think as I stare at the alien in front of me.

His strange skin has retracted and I realize it is not skin at all but some kind of…suit?

It seems to move without any external input from him, which is creepy enough because I am positive it was in my mouth—down my throat!—earlier.

What sort of suit can do that?

He is closer now but at least he hasn’t tried to force me out of my hiding spot.

And he is not alone.

Another of his kind is nearby. I caught sight of him with a fleeting glance.

They are large. Well over six feet tall and their actual skin is just a few shades lighter than the pitch black of their “suits.”

Their faces are…humanoid…but so, so different.

Their faces are filled with ridges.

The one in front of me, staring at me so intently with his arm still outstretched, has a set of ridges running down his forehead. They continue down his nose and another set runs along each prominent cheekbone and back toward his ears.

His ears are different too.

Longer.

Pointier.

The sides of his head are bald. Along the top runs a narrow section of thick, black locks that are secured together behind his head.

He is attractive.

Surprisingly so.

For a moment, I forget my fear.

I can only stare.

I snap out of it when the alien sniffs. His lips move a little as he does this and my gaze focuses on them.

They are thinner than human lips and there is a set of ridges running down his chin to disappear down his strange black suit.

I should be more terrified, but I feel my fear ebbing as each moment passes.

Still, I keep my arm up, the branch I found pointed in the alien’s direction.

It is the only thing that seems to be keeping him at bay. Though, deep down, I know this is not true.

He isn’t coming closer for some other reason.

I’ll take that as a win for now for he looks like he could snap me in two with one hand.

It feels like I’ve fallen from one bad situation right into another, but at least he isn’t attacking.

He’s not doing…anything.

Maybe I have seen too much horror over the last few months.

This should scare me more than it is.

My back is against tree bark. There’s nowhere for me to go.

I hadn’t expected him to find me so quickly. I’d thought he’d head farther into the trees and then I could run in the opposite direction.

Obviously, that plan hadn’t worked. He’d come directly toward my location as soon as he’d entered the trees.

As if he knew I was there.

That thought unnerves me but at least he remains frozen and a safe distance away.

He speaks every now and then to the other one.

Strange sounds. A combination of clicks, whistles, and hums.

Sometimes, there is a deeper sound that vibrates the air around them and when that sound occurs, both aliens look in my direction as if they are talking about me.

His friend has come into view now and I’m greeted with piercing burgundy eyes.

That’s the only thing that separates them visually. If not looking into their eyes, I would think they are clones.

Lava Eyes says something and my gaze shoots back to him.

He is speaking to me, I think.

He’s looking right at me, at least.

Good God…his eyes are intimidating.

It’s like staring into a fire that will engulf me if I get too close.

He says something again—a click followed by a thrum—but, of course, I cannot understand him.

He takes a step closer and I inhale sharply, my eyes darting to his friend then back.

A sharp click leaves his lips then and his friend responds with one of his own.

And then the friend is leaving.

I am alone with Lava Eyes.

I do not move.

I do not know how long I wait.

Hours maybe.

I only know a lot of time has passed when nighttime rolls in and the sky grows dark.

The alien moved from my view some time ago.

But he’s still out there.

Waiting.

Every now and then I hear twigs snap and I’m aware he hasn’t gone far.

What is he waiting for?

Surely, I can’t be that interesting.

I turn my gaze to the sky, watching the darkness swallow it, and I wait too.

It’s my only chance of sneaking out undetected.

Maybe the alien will fall asleep. Maybe he will get bored and leave.

I do not know.

But what’s worse, I do not know what he wants.

The giant walking orb was hostile. That had been clear from the very first moment when it landed.

I still remember the moment I realized that a catastrophe was beginning—when my body had been bathed in the blood of someone who’d been alive right beside me just moments before.

As I turn things over in my mind, I cannot ignore the fact that there’s a strong possibility the orbs and these beings are related.

Were they the ones controlling the orbs or are they fighting against them?

They destroyed one.

But why?

Who are they?

The chances of Earth being invaded by two separate species of alien in such a short time is highly unlikely.

That only brings me back to my previous conclusion.

The two are related somehow and I’ve seen enough shit in the past few months to just throw caution to the wind.

I know it’s a miracle I’m still alive.

I’m not about to throw that away.

And Sam…Mina…

I gulp hard and readjust myself against the tree trunk.

Everywhere aches and my stomach is empty.

My arm lies limp at my side and my wrist is throbbing.

I feel battered and bruised. The only thing I want to do is take a moment to rest.

To breathe.

But every cell in my body is still on high alert.

I’m not safe.

Not yet.

No more sounds have come from the lakeside since I heard that scream.

I wonder if Sam and Mina are still alive.

For one brief moment, I squeeze my eyes shut and think.

I can do this. I’ll get out of this somehow.

The stars are beginning to appear when I realize it has been some time since I heard any sound outside my hiding spot.

Maybe the alien has finally left.

I sure as hell hope so.

I need to head back to the lake, check on Sam and Mina.

I have to at least know if they are alive and maybe we have a chance of making it out of here together.

I can’t just leave. I have to check on them.

But I have to wait a little longer.

The darkness is my only ally.

Minutes tick by and it soon becomes so dark I can’t see my hand before my face.

Only starlight guides me as I ease forward, my ears perked for any sound.

I haven’t heard a twig snap in ages and though I assume the alien finally left, I’m not sure that’s the case.

For all I know, he’s out there close by.

Watching.

Waiting.

I lean out of the tree, gritting my teeth at the pain that ricochets up my back.

I have some pretty bad bruises. Healing is going to take a long, long time.

I wince, the pain causing me to hiss, and then I freeze, cursing myself for making any noise at all.

But there is no other sound.

Nothing, not even a slight breeze moves in the trees.

Gathering some courage, I squeeze the rest of the way out of the tree and pause, cocking my head as I listen.

Still nothing.

Twigs snap under my bare feet as I head in the direction I think the lake is.

A part of me prays the aliens have left and somehow Sam and Mina are still alive, but even as I think this, I know the thoughts are like those of a juvenile.

The world doesn’t work that way. It never did. And especially now, this world doesn’t work that way.

I break into a limping sort of jog, fighting the pain echoing across my entire body and the tears that spring in my eyes as a result.

I’m making progress and my courage begins to build when the darkness to my left moves.

My breath hitches in my throat.

There’s only a single second before something crashes into me.

Pain shoots through me but I am dimly aware of it. All I can feel is that I’m being encased by something, someone, much bigger, much stronger than I am.

A terrified glance behind me and molten lava eyes meet mine. I can’t breathe, choking on air, choking on the scream trying to barrel through my chest.

I’m in his arms somehow, his chest against my back. He holds me in place without much effort.

“No!” Oh God, please no!

I kick back against him, slamming my heels and my elbows back, but it’s like hitting against a wall.

It is clear I am having no effect on the beast that has me in its grasp.

My life flashes before my eyes.

I don’t want to be captured again.

I don’t want to be a pawn for another race once more.

Thoughts of my time within the orb, waiting for the day I’d be bred, the day I’d die, those thoughts flash across my mind.

Since the aliens landed, I’ve never been free.

“Please,” I beg, a sob tightening my throat. “Please, just let me go!”

The alien grunts and it feels like his arms tighten around me even more.

I can’t imagine what he wants to do to me.

But even as I struggle, I realize something.

He’s not…manhandling me.

As a matter of fact, his arms are simply like a cage. He isn’t moving.

I’m so terrified, my heart thumps so hard I swear I can hear it.

I can’t think straight but fighting against the alien’s strong grip isn’t working. I’m like a fly caught in a web, weak and overpowered, just waiting for the predator to devour me.

There’s a click above my head as the alien speaks, and then he does something else.

I can only describe it as a vibration that starts in his chest. It runs up my back as the alien lifts one hand from my waist and grasps my neck.

My head is forced back against him and as he leans down, it feels like I am being attacked by darkness itself.

He melds into the shadows as if he is a part of them.

His face is covered again but nothing can shield those eyes.

I grit my teeth, struggling to break free as I stare up into my end and the red-eyed demon holds my gaze.

I grasp the hand holding my neck and it’s almost as if I can feel his skin—no, his suit—writhe under my touch.

I lift my foot and kick backward. If he has nuts, I surely just made them retract into his body but this motherfucker is tough.

He doesn’t flinch.

I don’t even see any indication in his gaze that I managed to hurt him.

Reality is slowly sinking in as the seconds tick by, and I have to face it.

He’s bigger.

Stronger.

Before all this happened, before Earth was captured, I wouldn’t have stood much of a chance against him.

I sure as hell don’t stand a chance against him now in my condition.

Muscles flex against me as the alien adjusts his grasp and that deep vibration of his continues as he lowers his head to my neck.

I jerk and try to get away. I’ve seen his teeth.

It’s clear what they can do.

But the alien only holds me steady.

This vibration he’s emitting is interjected with clicks and the intensity increases as I lose the energy to fight back.

Outside of this situation, the sound he’s making would be almost…comforting. Calming.

I stiffen as my heart continues to hammer against my chest.

Is that what he is trying to do? Calm me?

The click-clicking and the thrumming purr don’t stop.

The alien continues to vibrate and I swear there is a strange sensation against my skin.

The throaty vibration seems to surround us even as the alien spins me to face him.

I’m suddenly lifted and a screech leaves my lips.

In one movement, he throws me over his shoulder in a sort of fireman hold and my front is crushed against the pure, hard muscle of his back.

I try to fight, slamming my lesser-damaged fist against him as I kick my legs.

But he’s moving now. Ignoring my pitiful attempts at freeing myself.

I choke on a sob before I roar at him—at the universe—at fucking everything!

But my actions have no effect.

Once again, I am helpless.

CHAPTER NINE

ADIRA

The alien clutches me as he heads through the trees.

If I lift my head, I can see where he’s going but that doesn’t help much.

I thought darkness was my ally.

I was wrong.

It’s his.

His suit melds seamlessly into the night. Even if I’d be fast and silent, I wouldn’t have spotted him before he caught me.

This had been his plan all along.

I shudder, my gaze flicking around through the darkness, as I try to think of a plan.

My senses are overloading and the more the seconds pass the more fear overcomes me.

I’m so terrified, my body is shaking and I cannot stop it.

The alien stops abruptly and I hear when he inhales. The intake of air sound loud in the stillness of the night.

I stop moving, desperately trying to prevent myself from shaking when the alien makes a sound that sends a new wave of terror down my spine.

It is a hiss, one like an alligator would make.

I know enough about animals to recognize it’s obviously a warning sound, though I don’t know what I’ve done to cause him to respond in such a way.

He has me at his mercy.

There’s not much I can do.

For what feels like painfully long seconds, the alien remains rooted in the spot.

His lack of motion doesn’t calm me in one bit.

“W—What do you want from me? From us?” I whisper.

There’s a lot of vibration in his chest and he clicks a few words.

I lift my head and squint. My eyesight isn’t the greatest but I don’t see any of his kind around.

He is talking to me.

Despite the hiss, his words don’t sound hostile, but I could be wrong.

I’m no good with languages. Especially, ones I’ve never heard before. Alien ones.

Abruptly, the alien starts walking again and we break through the tree line. Lifting my head, I strain as to look over his shoulder. He’s heading toward the water.

I can see it shimmer in the light of the moon.

Movement catches my eye and another surge of fear envelops me.

There’s more of his kind waiting there.

Like shadows in the night, I barely make out their shapes in the darkness as we pass them.

I count at least six and one thing is evident in the way the alien moves. He can see much better than I can in the dark.

From my position, I can’t make out much, but the others seem to be moving around.

There are a few thrums and clicks from the alien and some of the others respond.

He turns and my head flashes around as I try to get a sense of what he is doing.

I do not dare to speak, as if doing so will somehow alert the others to my presence.

I’m confused as to what’s happening when I’m suddenly moving again.

The alien hoists my body as if I weigh nothing and sets me down.

I scramble backward immediately, my eyes on the huge alien before me.

I don’t know where he’s set me down, I’m dimly aware of the hard dirt, pebbles, and twigs beneath me, but I don’t stop scrambling away till my back hits a tree and I can go no farther.

There’s a small fire here and…two bodies resting at the roots of the trees.

Human bodies.

“Sam!”

The word is barely out of my mouth before Sam darts a glance in my direction.

She’s lying on her belly but her gaze is on me. It’s obvious she’s been alert the whole time, watching us.

Watching him.

She doesn’t reply. Her gaze only flies back to Lava Eyes.

There’s tension in her shoulders and slowly, cautiously, she rises and moves over to me.

She grips my hand, her gaze still on the alien.

“Adira…” she whispers. “You’re alive.” She’s gripping my hand so hard, it disturbs the wounds already there. But I don’t push her away.

There is a bigger problem in our midst.

All through this, neither of us move our gaze from the alien before us.

He stands across the fire and light chases shadows across his face.

Those strange eyes of his move over us both before landing at where we’re gripping each other.

I don’t understand.

Sam is alive.

But the scream I heard…

“Is Mina…” I swallow hard.

“No,” Sam whispers. “She’s alive. She’s just… Her energy…”

Sam stops speaking but she doesn’t need to continue.

The parasite within her…that’s why Mina sleeps. She wouldn’t be asleep otherwise.

Our gazes remain locked on the alien and those pointed ears of his twitch a little.

He’s standing with his hands at his sides, but even without doing anything, he looks intimidating.

Firelight flicks over his chest, his torso…

With us on the ground, I can see he is more than a bit over six feet.

I’m thinking seven feet. Seven feet and a bit?

“What do you want?” The words come from my lips in a whisper but I know he hears. He doesn’t move. Doesn’t even blink, but those ears of his twitch again.

“What do you want?” I repeat, louder this time.

No response except for a sudden thrum that he begins in his chest.

I’ve worked with a lot of creatures, and to me that sound he’s making is almost like a cat’s purr.

Just…deeper and with a second low tone that I almost cannot hear because of how deep it is.

Why is he purring at me?

“Where did you come from?” I whisper.

At the sound of my voice a third time, the thrumming suddenly stops and the alien’s ears twitch again.

I don’t know how I’m able to pull my gaze away from him but I somehow do.

Sam’s gaze doesn’t falter though and as I look her over and then glance toward Mina, her eyes remain trained on him.

She’s a bit less dirty than before. I am too.

Almost drowning must have cleaned us a little.

“Are you ok? Did they hurt you? Has Mina…has she woken since…” My voice sounds so weak, I almost don’t recognize that it’s me that’s speaking.

“She’ll be…fine. It’s…like usual,” Sam whispers. “They revived us when they took us from the water.” Her hands tighten against mine as the other moves to her throat.

I assume they revived her the same strange way he revived me.

“Adira, I thought they’d killed you.” Sam sobs and my gaze darts back to the alien close by.

As she sobs and I reach for her, tears rising into my own eyes, I notice the alien’s ears are perked so much now, they are almost pointing in our direction.

His gaze flicks over our faces but I don’t let my tears fall.

I hold them back as I lean my forehead to rest against Sam’s.

I don’t have any words.

I thought she and Mina had died.

The coldness of it all. How I’d accepted it so easily. It chills me.

But that is life now.

You don’t get attached to things…anything. Nothing is permanent. Everything is temporary.

“They didn’t kill me,” I whisper as I stare into the red gaze of the alien who could’ve killed me so many times in the last few hours. “I’m still here.”

“I’m relieved.” Sam releases a breath that makes her shoulders rise and fall.

The alien doesn’t look away and apart from the slight twitching of his ears, you wouldn’t know he isn’t a statue.

His chest doesn’t even rise and fall like he is breathing.

He’s so silent, if I wasn’t looking in his direction I’d have thought he wasn’t there.

He’s just…observing us and I get the sense he is listening to every word we are saying.

“Have they hurt you?” I ask her again. I’m still confused as to what these aliens want with us.

The machines had made it clear.

Whether you were a Feeder or a Breeder, it didn’t wait around to put you in the group it wanted—or to make you cease to exist if it wanted.

But these aliens…what do they want?

Sam eases off me, wipes a stray tear from her eyes, and glances toward Mina.

“No,” she whispers. “They haven’t hurt us yet.”

Yet.

One of his kind clicks something down near the water and Lava Eyes turns toward the sound.

I take the moment to let my gaze rove over him. The suit he wears clings to him like it is a second skin.

Even as I stare at him, his back turned, I get the sense that he is aware of my every move even though his eyes aren’t on me.

That’s a ridiculous thought.

But I’m staring at him when something catches the corner of my eye.

There’s a spike in it…in his suit. A spike at his wrist.

Almost as if the suit is…stretching toward me?

But that’s…

The alien clicks, the sound snapping me back to reality and I blink.

But he’s not looking at me, his gaze is on the water, and when my eyes drop back to his wrist, there is nothing wrong with his suit.

The spike is gone.

I’m imagining things.

As he heads toward the water, I can only stare.

“Adira, are you okay? Where were you?” Sam’s gaze is searching my face and I blink again a few times.

“I—I’m fine.” I shake my head. “I was hiding. Or trying to. But…he found me.”

Sam’s gaze flicks toward the alien. “They took us from the machine. I think…I think they destroyed it.” Her voice drops as if she is exposing some secret.

No one has ever been able to destroy an orb.

“So you saw it too. I didn’t just dream about all of this.”

Sam nods, her eyes still wide as she looks at the aliens moving near the water. “They saved us.”

I want to believe that with every inch of my heart.

I want to believe these aliens came to destroy the other ones and as I stare at this strange being’s back, I want to think that Sam is right.

Off to the side, Mina makes a sound, pulling my attention away.

There’s light perspiration on her brow and her lids are low but she smiles at me.

She smiles.

I gulp as I move to squeeze her hand.

“Mina,” I whisper. I thought she’d been sleeping.

That’s what usually happens to the women that are bred.

The parasite takes everything from them.

They simply become a host.

As I touch her hand, Mina gives me another faint smile.

She’s fighting it. She’s strong.

I want to tell her it will be all right but I don’t know if I dare to believe that myself.

So instead, I move closer to her.

That’s when my gaze catches something in the trees nearby.

A form that moves in the darkness.

My heart skips a beat as it materializes into one of the aliens and I freeze.

He’s hovering among the trees behind us and his eyes are so dark that, coupled with his suit, he almost completely blends into the night itself.

Unease crawls up my spine.

How long has he been there?

I didn’t even notice him.

The fact that he is so close by and I had no idea…

Alarm shoots through me as my gaze darts around the darkness behind and around him, but I do not sense any others.

He looks at me for a mere second before his gaze lands on Mina again where his focus latches.

I swear I hear a hiss, much like the one Lava Eyes did, but the dark-eyed alien doesn’t move from where he is standing. I’m not sure if his intent was to conceal himself from us or if it is just an effect of the darkness.

“What are they?” I whisper.

“Very, very alien,” Sam replies.

“What do you think they want?”

Sam shrugs and moves closer to me and Mina.

Her gaze suddenly finds the one with the dark eyes and I hear when her breath catches.

“You didn’t see him there, did you?”

She shakes her head, her eyes wide.

“I don’t know what they want, Adira, but they scare the shit out of me.”

I settle back against the mound of dirt at the root of one of the trees and force some of the tension to leave my body.

They haven’t attacked us yet.

They aren’t even coming close to us.

I take a moment to allow myself to feel the extent of damage to my physical being.

Everywhere aches and the amount of energy I’m releasing just trying to stay this alert is quickly taking its toll.

It’s not as cold as it should be here out in the open. The fire helps.

And then it hits me that there is a fire.

I jerk back upright, staring at it.

“They made it after I commented that Mina was cold.”

My eyes widen a little, my gaze flying back to Sam.

“They can understand us?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. They haven’t spoken to us. They only stare.”

Even as she says this, I look down toward the water and I can see Lava Eyes.

He is walking back toward the shore and his eyes are focused this way.

Correction. They’re focused on me.

“They’ve just been in and out of the water. Bringing things up. I think…” Sam pauses, her voice falling low. “I think they’re dismantling that thing.”

My gaze shoots back to her. “The machine?”

She nods hesitantly.

For a few moments, we just stare at each other, afraid to even hope.

I swallow hard.

“Maybe they’re different from the other aliens,” she whispers. “Maybe they were sent here to help us.”

I stare at her. “If so, sent by whom?”

Sam shrugs.

I stare at her for a few moments, the implications flying through my brain.

“We don’t know,” I finally say. “They could still be our enemy.”

There’s a sharp click and a growl that makes me jerk in surprise and my head snaps up.

Lava Eyes isn’t even close to us, he’s several feet away and my voice was low.

There’s no way he heard me…

But those eyes are definitely locked with mine.

And I get the distinct impression that what I just said pissed him the hell off.

The night grows ever darker. But I remain awake.

I cannot sleep.

Even when Sam dozes off and Mina’s eyes close, my eyes remain open.

Around us, the aliens have kept their distance. Yet, they watch us with an intensity that keeps me alert.

There isn’t a second where a set of strange, slitted eyes aren’t directed our way.

They’re different colors, their eyes, but all are mostly dark or some variation of red.

The more I look at them too, I realize I’m differentiating between them.

It’s not only their eyes that are different. Some of them are bigger than the others.

But they all do one thing…

They watch us.

How Sam sleeps while being observed is beyond me.

Mina, I can understand.

As the minutes tick by, her body’s resources are slowly being depleted.

The parasite will keep her barely alive until it is ready to be extracted…and then what?

If these new aliens are really enemies of the machines, I shudder to think what they will do when they find out Mina is carrying a spawn.

This beats on my mind, along with the fact that we are once again in a precarious situation, and I fight sleep.

More than once, I doze only to jerk awake to find Lava Eyes looking my way.

His gaze doesn’t startle me anymore and I wonder if it is a good or bad thing that I am getting used to them.

To him.

CHAPTER TEN

ADIRA

My body jerks as I come awake and the first thing that shoots to my mind is the fact that I fell asleep.

I fly to an upright position, ignoring the aches in my body as I squint.

It’s morning…and we are safe.

We’re still alive?

But…

Every hair at the back of my neck stands on end as my eyes rise.

My gaze moves up dark legs, higher, higher, as if in slow motion, my eyes wide, my heart hammering against my chest.

They are standing all around us, some crouching, but all looking at us intently.

I pull my legs toward me as I scramble back, and the trunk of a tree slams against my spine.

Sam grunts and rises slowly, blinking the sleep from her eyes.

“Sam…” I whisper, my eyes moving around the aliens surrounding us.

Mina is still asleep, but I know it wouldn’t have mattered if she was awake or not.

I doubt she can run in her condition.

“Sam!” I hiss as my gaze darts around the group.

It is morning.

The sun is rising and the light only makes these beings look more intimidating.

Humanoid but not human at all. I cannot think of a human, bar The Rock and The Mountain, who would stand a chance against them.

The alien’s gazes are intent. So intent, a sick feeling begins to develop in my stomach and I find myself searching for…him.

The one with the lava eyes.

Why? I do not know.

But…he is not here.

Panic floods my soul and almost as if in unison, I hear the aliens sniff.

One of them hisses and immediately steps away from the circle.

Others stiffen and I can almost see the tension in their shoulders.

Their response confuses and frightens me a bit.

“Sam!” I put some urgency in my voice this time.

That’s when the circle around us parts.

For a moment, I am confused.

That’s when I see him.

He’s walking toward us from the lake and I do not know how I know it is him. I just do.

The morning sun reflects off his suit in a strange way. Almost as if the rays disappear into the fibers themselves, sucked into the ultimate dark void that is his suit.

His head is bent and my gaze moves to where he is looking.

He is carrying something and I can’t make out what it is.

It looks almost like a dead jellyfish.

Whatever it is though, it’s creating an unexpected response from the aliens surrounding us.

Another hiss begins and it rises, thrumming from each and every one of the aliens.

Their lips pull back, showing their fangs and their muscles tense.

Sharp blades, just as I’d seen the night before, appear on each and every one of their arms like magic.

Blades appear even along their backs as well.

“Shit!” Sam is suddenly by my side, gripping my arm as we both stare up at the beings in front of us.

“What—why are they acting like that?” Sam asks. She is suddenly fully awake, her eyes wide.

“I…don’t know.” But as my gaze falls back to the strange thing Lava Eyes is carrying, I get the sense the aliens aren’t acting so strangely because of us.

That thing Lava Eyes is carrying. It is the reason why.

As if he knows I am looking his way, his head lifts and his gaze finds me like a homing beacon.

The intensity of his stare makes my breath hitch in my throat.

He walks with purpose, heading in our direction and the aliens around us move out of his way.

Their hissing is now interjected with clicks and snarls that vibrate the air around us.

Lava Eyes comes to a stop a few feet away from us, his gaze still on me as he drops the thing he is carrying before me.

I stare up at him, trying to read those slitted eyes of his, but I have no idea what he wants—what they want.

The look on his face is identical to that of the others.

His lips are pulled back, his eyes even more fiery than the night before.

He stares at me before his gaze drops to the thing on the ground and I finally look at it.

My mind cannot comprehend what I am seeing.

It’s not a jellyfish.

It’s more like a…dead octopus?

Gray. Fleshy. Several arms.

It’s about three feet long from the top of its head to where its legs begin and it is obviously an aquatic species.

I frown as I stare at it, barely aware of Sam’s questioning whisper.

She has no idea what the hell the thing is either.

But it can’t be an octopus.

Octopi don’t live in lakes.

“Do they want us to eat it?” Sam asks and I can hear the horror in her voice.

I hope the hell not.

But when I glance at Lava Eyes, I still do not know what he expects of me.

What is this thing he brought?

What am I supposed to do with it?

A trembling arm stretches toward the thing, my trembling arm, and I hear an even louder hiss begin around us.

My gaze darts up and I freeze again.

I am speechless.

The utter rage on Lava Eye’s face is evident. The ridges that mark his features are even more defined and his arms…there are sharp spikes coming out of his arms now too.

They look like long dark blades capable of slicing anything they come in contact with.

“Doh-n’t. Toh-ch.”

I blink.

I didn’t imagine it. Did I?

He just spoke.

He spoke English.

Don’t touch.

The inflection is strange, as if his tongue isn’t used to forming such syllables and the words are almost unrecognizable.

“You…” My heart does a big thump, hitting my chest hard. “You can speak?” My whisper is near to being inaudible.

As I retract my hand, I watch in awe as the blades in his arms slowly lower.

“Noh-t…yoh-r…eh-nih-mee,” he growls.

Fuck.

His voice is so deep it is almost terrifying.

My mouth falls open as my gaze darts to the other aliens then back to him.

He is communicating with me but his words don’t register.

All that hits me is that he can talk.

“They can speak…” Sam’s voice reflects my shock.

“Noh-t yoh-r eh-nih-mee,” the alien repeats and I note how much surer the words sound on his tongue. “We are not your enemy.”

Lifting a leg, he kicks the octopus thing and it rolls closer to me on the ground. “They are.”

His words register but they don’t make sense till my gaze falls and I shriek.

The octopus has a face.

And I don’t mean a face belonging to an octopus.

This face is all wrong.

Large dark eyes look up at nothing. They’re placed above two dark holes, which must be the nostrils, but I see no mouth.

Lava Eyes kicks the thing again and it flips over to reveal three rows of sharp teeth in its center.

I shriek and scramble back. Sam follows.

Yea…this doesn’t look like any octopus I’ve ever seen.

And then it all becomes clear.

His meaning becomes clear.

This thing that I’m looking at…this thing isn’t from here.

What I’m looking at is another species of alien.

This thing is what has enslaved us all.

“That’s…” My eyes widen as I stare at it.

It starts with disbelief…then I feel fear…then…anger.

Hatred. Anger. They both fill me as I stare at the thing.

Somehow, I unwrap Sam’s arms from around my own as I crawl on my hands and knees., moving closer to the gray, fleshy being in the dirt.

I hear the hisses of the aliens around me. In the corner of my eye, I see Lava Eyes’ blades rise once more and I pause.

My gaze meets his but he does not stop me. So I slowly move forward again, closer to the gray blob.

I stare down at it when I get near.

This…this thing.

This is what was in that machine?

“Your enemy…” Lava Eyes speaks. “Our enemy…”

I can feel my heart thumping in my throat at his words.

I am understanding now.

Maybe Sam is right. Maybe these new aliens are on our side.

I look up at Lava Eyes and take some courage in the fact that not one of his kind has interacted with us…yet.

They certainly look like a hostile race…not the saviors we prayed for.

But why would this alien lie to me?

Him and his kind have the upper hand.

They can do whatever they want…

Which leads me to the conclusion that…Lava Eyes is telling the truth.

As the thought settles, my gaze falls back on the crude face and strange body of the dead alien before us.

What I thought were octopi-like limbs turn out not to be so.

It had about six arms and they aren’t boneless. Its limbs have more joints than I can count and they are pretty long.

A shiver runs through me.

I cannot imagine what this species looks like alive and walking.

But what catches my attention the most is the face.

The dark eyes look back at me and even though there is no life within them, I can feel the soullessness of the creature’s gaze.

This thing has sucked our blood? Destroyed my world?

Impregnated us?

This what I’m looking at is responsible for so much?

I stare at it without breaking focus.

It is taking some time for my mind to comprehend that what I’m looking at is responsible for all the death and destruction I have witnessed.

My whole world is gone because of this creature. The machines hadn’t been some sort of advanced AI race. This creature had been its pilot.

They’d come here and taken everything.

Everything I’d known.

My whole family.

My friends.

My world.

“Why?” I whisper, the word almost inaudible before my voice rises. “WHY?!”

The word tears from my throat with as much emotion as I’m suddenly feeling.

My body shakes with the heartbreak of what I’ve witnessed over the past few months. Pain racks through my body, shaking my frail form.

I don’t know when I reach for it, but there’s a rock in my good hand.

I raise it and slam it down on the dead alien.

Once.

Twice.

Three times my arm rises and falls as I scream.

“Why?!”

Tears choke me as everything I have lost comes pouring out.

Sam appears beside me, her eyes wide. She doesn’t stop me but tears are streaming down her face too and only when my arm rises and doesn’t fall once more do I stop.

Someone is holding my arm and I know it is him even without looking up.

His suit writhes against my skin a little but the strangeness of it is dim compared to the heartbreak killing my soul.

I stare at the battered being in front of me, still choking on my own emotions.

All my family is dead.

Humanity is hanging by a thread.

And this thing is responsible for it all.

I hear some clicks and thrums and the alien’s body is kicked so hard, it sails toward the water.

I look up, my eyes clouded with tears to meet the unreadable lava eyes of the alien above me.

I cannot read emotions in that alien gaze of his. His red eyes…dark skin… He looks like the exact thing I am taught to fear.

The world has really turned upside down.

Nothing is the same. Nothing will ever be the same again.

Because I am torn.

Destroyed.

Speechless.

And the devil is holding my hand.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

FER’RO

The little female’s aggression makes us thrum with pleasure.

As she slams the small rock into the Gryken’s body, I do not stop her.

None of us do.

We can sense her distress. Her pain.

Her anger.

It mirrors ours.

She crushes the Gryken in the same way it has crushed countless worlds.

It deserves every blow she puts on it. It is only a pity it is not still alive to feel the pain.

I kick its battered body toward the water and it lands not too far from it.

The female has released some of what aches her inside, but she is spent.

I can see it in how her body sags.

“Plant it,” I say, and Ga’Var clicks in agreement.

He and some of my brethren move away toward the Gryken’s body but others remain.

My gaze flicks over them.

None have returned to our ship. Possibly, they are awaiting my command to do so.

Unofficially, I have become their leader. A role I do not want, but one I will perform with great honor.

If my race can help rid the universe of the Gryken, I will do all that is in my power to make sure that happens.

I hear Ga’Var hiss as he lifts the Gryken’s battered body. One of his hackles pierces right through it.

Both female’s stare with wide eyes as he impales it with a metal pole and slams the pole into the earth below.

A barbaric act, but one that sends a message nonetheless.

They are our enemy—ours and these beings before us.

My gaze flicks back to the female and I hope she understands the message.

We are not her enemy.

San’ten clicks sharply from behind them and they jerk.

I can tell their sense of perception is not very good. They are not very aware of the movements around them or how my brethren struggle to fight their instincts because of the scent of their fear.

“This one,” he clicks, his gaze falling on the female lying flat on the ground. “This one is infested.”

A hiss leaves my lips that I’m too slow to hold back.

I knew as much.

That is what the Gryken’s do.

They forcefully breed, cloning themselves in the wombs of other species.

In their short life-span, they kill many, many females, oftentimes tearing the female apart in the process of their birth into this world.

I saw it happen with my own eyes to the females of my world.

My hackles have risen again without me realizing.

I only know the image I’m projecting when I see it reflected in the brown-haired female’s eyes.

She lets go of the other and scrambles over to the infested one as if she understands we are speaking about her.

She is not capable of fighting us, yet she attempts to guard another.

Does she even know what the other female harbors? What is growing inside her?

We have to kill it.

San’ten clicks at her and makes to move toward her but the female shrieks and kicks at him.

I hear a low thrum from someone else—impressed by the female’s will.

It reflects my own feelings.

She’d impressed me from the moment she pointed her stick weapon at me.

I set my hackles down and click at San’ten.

“Wait.”

He casts his gaze my way, his symbiotes writhing a little. Annoyed.

“It is growing by the day,” he clicks. “Why wait? We should kill it now.”

“There is still time.” My gaze bores into his dark eyes till his ba’clan settle down and his hackles flatten.

The brown-haired female is looking between us now and I notice she meets my gaze more often than not.

Perhaps I am becoming less terrifying.

Taking a step forward, I crouch to her level and her dark-haired friend scoots away and almost backs into Ga’Var, who has returned from the water.

“The Gryken is planted. The message clear.”

He clicks at me and I click approval back.

The brown-haired female’s gaze is darting between Ga’Var and me now and at her attention to us, I hear him thrum.

Immediately, I hiss at him.

I do not know why.

He blinks at me, but his thrum stops.

For a moment, I blink at him too before pulling my gaze away.

She is still staring at us, those expressive eyes of hers confused and a little frightened.

But her fear scent isn’t as strong as the night before.

It is bearable now.

“What is your designation?” I rasp. Her language is strange on my tongue. Too many syllables.

She blinks at me, those wide eyes getting a little bigger.

“M—my name?” She glances at the other female who has moved slowly away from Ga’Var. “You want to know my name?”

My ears twitch at the sound of her voice. A thrum starts in my throat that I stop before the others can hear.

“Yes.”

She glances at the other female again. “My name is Adira. Adira Mosely.”

The name is surprisingly short for the amount of syllables in her language. I turn it over in my mind.

“Adee’rah’mohs’lee.”

She blinks at me as if she cannot believe I am speaking to her and her lips twitch and turn up a little. “Just Adira is fine.”

Adee’ra.

“And you? What is your name?”

I pause for a moment. She has given me the shortened version of hers. So I will do the same for her.

“Fer’ro.”

She blinks at me but her eyes are not as wide as before.

She glances at the other female and they exchange something in their gazes that I do not understand.

Hope?

“Nice to meet you, Fer’ro. Welcome to Earth.”

ADIRA

They did not let the dead alien rest on the ground for long.

With hisses and snarls, clicks and thrums, they pierced the octopi-like alien thing with a sharpened pole and planted it near the edge of the lake like some sort of effigy.

It is like a ritual, one celebrating the death of the thing, and I do not know if they do it for me and Sam or for themselves.

One thing is for sure though, they seem to hate the thing as much as we do.

It is drying out even as I stare at it, shriveling under the morning sun like a raisin.

Mina is awake now, her eyes barely open and I notice the alien with the charcoal eyes watching her.

He’d approached her earlier with those spikes of his rising and his fangs bared.

I’m sure he and Fer’ro had been talking about her.

Maybe they know what’s inside her.

Maybe they were going to hurt her.

I’m not sure, but the dark-eyed one had stopped when Fer’ro spoke to him and I’m getting the sense Fer’ro has some sort of rank over the others.

I watch them now, trying to figure out where me and the rest of humanity stand, when Mina leans against me.

She is so weak, she cannot rise.

She needs to eat if she has any chance of surviving this for much longer.

We all need to eat.

I look toward the lake and wonder if there are any fish in it.

Maybe, if I could catch some…

But the aliens around us still have the hairs at the back of my neck standing on end.

They don’t scare me as much as before. They seem intelligent and it doesn’t appear that they mean us any harm.

I am still hesitant to trust them though.

They are not from this world after all and I still don’t know why they are here or what they want from us.

None other except Lava Eyes, Fer’ro, has spoken to us and my gaze searches the shore for him. I catch him as he rises from the water and his eyes find me immediately.

It is somewhat disturbing, the way his gaze seeks me out and I find myself glancing away quickly.

He doesn’t stare at Mina and Sam like that, and I wonder why.

When I look up again, he’s setting down a piece of shiny metal into a pile, his gaze still on me.

They seem to be dismantling the machine piece by piece and it hits me that…their ship, the black bird, is nowhere to be seen.

I wonder if it sank during the attack too.

I stare back at him as he rises and, either I’m getting used to the stares or I’m getting used to the fact that he and the others have mostly left us alone.

Apart from that strange circle they’d formed around us while we slept, they haven’t come close again.

They watch us though.

Always watching and I know there isn’t a chance of us escaping without being noticed and caught immediately.

I’m still looking at Fer’ro when he takes a step toward us.

My heart skips a beat and I hold my breath.

Is he going to speak to me again?

I have a lot of questions I want to ask.

But as he nears, my stomach takes that moment to growl and he pauses suddenly, his ears twitching underneath his suit.

“We’d be getting that nasty food sac around now, wouldn’t we?” Sam whispers.

She was right. As much as I don’t want to think about the time we spent in that machine, now would be when we’d be eating. The orb…no, the thing controlling the orb fed us on rotation. Once every day and at the same hour.

My stomach growls again and I press my palm against it.

I will have to try and find us food.

It’s clear these aliens aren’t going to let us go, not that we could get far anyway, in our condition.

That means there isn’t much of a chance to forage—not that this is the ideal location for foraging either.

I know nothing about living in the wild.

Sam moves toward us and presses the back of her hand against Mina’s forehead.

She takes her temperature like this at different intervals, making sure it’s stable and hasn’t risen.

While she is taking care of Mina, that means I need to find us food.

I’m not sure how I’m going to manage it.

I have my broken wrist curled toward my body and every fiber within me aches.

I’ll have to hunt one-handed and limping.

There’s a click close by and I realize it’s the burgundy-eyed alien. I didn’t notice his approach and that makes me stiffen a little.

They’re big, huge, but move so fluidly and silently.

A few more sharp clicks come from his mouth and several of his kind look our way.

Fer’ro steps toward us.

I don’t know where he gets it from, but something appears in his hand.

A pouch.

He stretches it toward me, his gaze studying my face as if he’s watching for my reaction—no, as if he’s afraid I will scream and run if he comes closer.

Watching me, he moves closer and his suit retracts.

Sam gasps.

It’s the first time she’s seeing one of them without the dark suit covering the entirety of their body.

He doesn’t take his eyes off me but his gaze is earnest, if I could call it that.

Clicking at me, he stops mid-click then speaks so I can understand.

“Sustenance,” he says.

My gaze falls back to the pouch in his hand.

The pouch wriggles and my stomach immediately turns.

Pulling it back toward himself, he raises the pouch toward his mouth and nips the side with his sharp teeth.

Whatever is inside begins wriggling even more.

I watch him as his mouth opens and, for the first time, I see his tongue.

I don’t know whether it is me that gasps or Sam.

“Fuck…me…” Sam mutters.

Indeed.

Fer’ro’s tongue sweeps across his lips before he dips it into the pouch.

It is so long and thick, I can only stare at it with wide eyes.

I’m transfixed as his tongue retreats from the pouch’s entrance with long strings of dark spaghetti in its grasp.

For the tip of it has curled around them, holding them as he pulls them into his mouth.

“Did you just see that?” Sam grips my shoulder, her eyes also wide. “Tell me that’s not his tongue.”

I gulp as I stare. I don’t fucking know what the hell that thing was but it has got to be his tongue.

What else?

Fer’ro closes his mouth, his gaze on me as he chews.

There. Are. Popping. Sounds.

Like something fluid-filled being crushed by those sharp teeth of his.

Spaghetti doesn’t pop and as he chews, a dark line of fluid appears just at the edge of his lips.

Stomach acid comes up into my throat and I force it back down.

Once more, he stretches the pouch toward me again.

“Looks like spaghetti,” Sam whispers.

She obviously hadn’t seen the pouch wriggle.

“That,” my stomach lurches again, “that isn’t spaghetti.”

As if to prove that it’s edible, Burgundy-Eyes makes a click and reaches for the pouch. He dips a sharp claw inside and takes out the black “spaghetti.”

It wriggles between his fingers and I definitely puke into my mouth as he throws his head back and drops the thing in his mouth.

“Oh…God,” Sam groans. “That’s disgusting.”

Both aliens’ ears twitch at her words and I stiffen, bracing myself if they retaliate at her offensive words.

But all Fer’ro and Burgundy Eyes do is glance at each other, their ears twitching as they look at the pouch.

He gestures to me again but I swallow hard, pulling on the little bravery that I have left, and I shake my head.

“We can’t eat that,” I say.

Well…we technically could but no matter how hungry, I don’t think I can eat alien worms.

Fer’ro looks at the pouch.

“I can find us food if you allow me to.”

My suggestion makes the large alien stiffen. I can almost see his muscles harden in his shoulders.

He knows it’s a test.

Are we prisoners here? Or are we free to go?

“I won’t run again.” I do not know why I say that. Desperation maybe.

I couldn’t run even if I wanted to. I’m too weak and the bruises I’ve suffered are very much still there.

Fer’ro studies me for a moment. “Where will you hunt?”

Hunt?

Surely, I don’t look like I’m any good at doing such a thing. Do I?

But maybe this is the first time they’re encountering our kind. Maybe we’re just as strange to them as they are to us.

I don’t know about hunting, but I can think of something.

If humans aren’t good at anything else, we’re good with adapting…coming up with ideas.

“I can find us food,” I repeat, surer this time.

“Where?” he repeats. “Where will you hunt?”

I lick my lips.

Is this a test for me now?

Jerking my chin toward the water, I swallow hard. “There. In the water.”

Fer’ro studies me for a few moments before he glances at Burgundy-Eyes.

There’s a click and a thrum between them.

He looks back at me and clicks as well. Then, as if realizing I have no idea what he just said, he speaks. “Come. Show me how.”

Sam grips my arm, her voice low and insistent. “You can’t go off with him.”

I don’t know if she realizes, but even though she just whispered those words, I’m pretty sure the aliens heard what she said.

But I force a brave smile at her.

I’m not scared.

I’m trusting my instincts here. Leaning on them.

And I…

I trust him.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend…right.

Right?

CHAPTER TWELVE

ADIRA

My steps are shaky as I rise. I’m much weaker than I thought.

So much so that I almost stumble. But I catch myself in time.

I dart a glance at Fer’ro and he pulls his arm back.

He’d been about to touch me. To stop my fall, perhaps.

Those intent eyes of his are on me now, they never left, and I have to pull my gaze away as I face the water.

He’s not the only one watching me either.

They all are and I feel like some sort of spectacle as I walk on shaky legs toward the lake.

I stare out across it.

The surface glistens in the sunlight and you wouldn’t know what lies beneath.

The wreckage…the bodies…what’s left of the Feeders.

My lungs constrict at that thought and I glance behind me.

A chill goes through me at the many eyes directed my way.

At Fer’ro.

He’s still watching me too.

He’s so focused on me, I don’t know if he is aware of anything else around him.

This is a test.

He is testing me as much as I am testing him right now.

My so-called “hunting” skills are about to be graded. A sure indicator of my species’ strength—of what we’re capable of.

If I appear too weak…will they turn against us?

Will they judge us as unfit for…whatever they are here for?

I gulp at the thought and put one foot in front of the other and then another.

It’s silent as I walk. Eerily so.

Those of his kind along the shore stop to watch us go and the silence is unnerving.

There are no birds in the small amount of trees nearby. No signs of life anywhere.

Still, I continue on, my gaze averted as I keep my focus in front of me.

If the fate of humanity really depends on my hunting skills…

We. Are. Fucked.

I’m walking, or rather, limping for maybe a few minutes when I glance behind me and I jerk a little.

Fer’ro’s eyes bore into mine.

He’s still following me.

How can someone so big be so quiet?

I glance away quickly, suddenly aware of his gaze on my back.

Did I say I trusted him? Cautiously so?

I’m not so sure what I feel anymore.

But I’m a rational woman…right?

They haven’t hurt us yet. They could have harmed us while we all slept.

I gulp as I turn my head to the side a little and catch Fer’ro’s huge form in the corner of my eye.

I feel like prey with the way he looks at me. Not just him either…all of them.

It’s like looking into the emotionless gaze of an apex predator.

Some deep-set instinct within me is telling me to run.

Run, right now!

But my mind is wrestling with the logic of it all.

A breath shudders through me as I try to lean on the arm of reason.

Even if I run, he’ll catch me, and if he wants to hurt me, there’s nothing I can do to stop him.

I’m not in a power position.

Forcing away the fear that’s giving me heart palpitations, I continue putting one foot in front of the other.

I can focus on what I can control, and right now, I’m being given the chance to find food.

I’ll do my best to procure some for the three of us.

So, I focus on walking.

The shore of this lake is a bit rocky, which doesn’t help, but when I glance in the direction I’ve come, I’m surprised at my progress.

I’ve walked some distance away from Sam and Mina and, it may have been a subconscious effort, but I’ve walked away from where I think the orb fell too.

There’s a rocky area near the shore that leads into the water. Broken wood sticks out of the surface and some of the planks are still nailed together.

The remnants of an old pier.

I head toward it, searching for something I can use to try and catch some fish.

Shit.

I don’t even know how to fish with proper tools much less with what nature provides.

But my brow furrows as I search the ground.

I spot a branch as I hobble along and I grab it.

It’s about as long as a walking stick and thin.

I don’t have a knife so I use the next best thing I can think of.

My teeth.

Lifting the edge to my mouth, I bite and gnaw at the branch to sharpen the end as best as I can.

I huff as I work.

It’s hard doing things with one hand.

Behind me, Fer’ro watches. I see when he moves toward me to help but when I stiffen, he pauses.

I don’t know if he was trying to help or not.

I’m not so sure I want to get unnecessarily close to him.

By the time I reach the pier, the branch is pointy enough to poke something.

As I step upon the rocks and begin to hobble across the pier, there is a click behind me.

I pause and turn my head to the side so I can see him.

Fuck. What’s gotten over me?

I can’t even face him fully.

“That does not seem like a stable hunting spot.”

His voice is such a deep baritone that the inflection makes the words sound foreign to my ear.

But I nod. “You’re right. It’s not really. But it will hold.” I think.

He clicks at me again and this time I meet his gaze.

Secondary eyelids slip across his eyes before disappearing again.

The sight has me frozen as I stare at him.

“And if the female falls in?”

For a second, I don’t realize he’s speaking about me.

I blink at him.

He’s not moving at all. And I realize now that when he does move, his movements are measured and calculated.

As if…as if he is being cautious around me.

I frown a little as I glance down at the water.

It laps against the wooden pier peacefully and the sound is calming.

“If I fall in, I’ll survive.”

When I look back, those fire eyes are still on me, studying me, and his ears twitch as I turn and continue along the pier.

He doesn’t follow.

Guess he’s going to stay there then.

No problem. Having him so close unnerves me still.

I can get it done quicker too if he doesn’t come any farther.

Something moves on the rocks behind me that makes me pause, my gaze snapping to the location of the movement, and I turn to look just as a small bird hops on top of the rocks.

A robin.

Surprise makes me hold my breath.

“Oh my God,” I whisper. It’s the first animal I’ve seen in so, so long.

It’s a tiny little thing and I wonder what it’s doing all the way out here.

It looks at me, twisting its head in that strange way birds do, before it tweets at me.

Happiness fills me so much I choke on it.

But that happiness quickly diminishes as I see a dark shadow in the corner of my eye.

Fer’ro moves toward the bird, his arm outstretched.

“No!”

He pauses.

“It’s just a bird. Leave it alone.”

He eyes me.

“Please.”

“A…bird?” he says in that strange way of his.

I nod.

“A bird,” I repeat.

“Not sustenance?”

I gulp at that. “Yes…but no. I don’t want to eat it.” I couldn’t imagine killing and eating such a beautiful thing.

The bird tweets again and I watch the alien’s ears twitch with bated breath.

The little bird must have suddenly gotten the cue because it flies off.

I release a sigh and watch it go.

When I look back, the alien is staring at me so intently, I forget what I was doing before.

Oh.

Right.

“Hunting.”

Turning, I continue making my way gingerly across the broken pier.

The wood is rotten in some parts and a bit slippery but I will not allow Murphy’s law to get the best of me now.

As soon as the thought crosses my mind, I slip.

There’s a single moment of my eyes widening as I realize I’m going down and the next, there’s a strong hand against my back, steadying me.

My surprised gaze shoots to the alien who’s suddenly by my side.

How the hell did he move so fast?

My heart does a big thump.

I was right. He’s calculating his movements so he doesn’t scare me.

Why else?

If he can move like this…

Fuck.

Well, there goes my instinct to run away.

Now I just want to hide.

I straighten as soon as I have my footing, but not before his touch sends a lightning bolt down my spine.

“Th—Thanks.”

He doesn’t reply but his ears twitch toward me almost comically.

I turn from him and continue moving along the pier. More careful this time.

The wood creaks as Fer’ro follows close behind me.

I can still feel his eyes on my back and it’s making the hairs along my arms rise.

The pier leads into the water a fair bit and soon we’re standing over water deep enough for sizeable fish to be lurking in.

I crouch and Fer’ro watches me for a second before he copies me.

I find myself staring at him in disbelief.

He’s so huge, he looks funny crouching the way I am.

A nervous laugh huffs from my nose and his ears flatten against the side of his head.

It’s almost…adorable.

I snap my gaze away from his at that thought.

This is a being whose people destroyed a machine not even our missiles could take down.

There’s nothing adorable about a demon.

Trying to ignore him as best as I can, I eye the water.

It’s murky. I can hardly see anything.. But I grasp my stick and I wait.

And wait.

And wait.

My bones are aching and I’m about to give up when I see a fish.

It darts through the algae and disappears for a moment, it’s silvery skin appearing catching the light.

Grasping my stick tighter, I hold my breath, waiting to see it again.

And then I do.

There!

I’m so excited, too excited, that I shriek and stab my stick in the water too quickly.

There’s a hiss behind me.

Fer’ro.

One glance over my shoulder and I jerk back so hard I almost fall into the water.

Fer’ro has risen over me, his blades are out, spiking along his arms, and his lips are pulled back.

Wicked fangs are bared at me.

Shock, fear, has my breath stuck in my throat.

How stupid was I to venture away from Sam and Mina?

Right now, in this moment, I can see just how foolish that was.

Was this what he had intended from the start? Had he just been waiting till we were alone to attack me?

To eat me?

But the aggression the dark alien is expressing lasts only a second.

He stills, and the blades retreat but it takes a few more moments for his mouth to close and conceal those wicked teeth of his.

Gulping hard, I don’t move.

What the fuck was that?

I’m almost too scared to look away from him.

If I look away, will he try to attack me again?

But something flicks at the end of my stick so hard, I almost lose my hold on it.

A fish.

A small one but a fish nonetheless.

I…I caught it?

The little victory catches me unaware and I realize I’d had no faith I was going to catch anything at all.

I’m not sure if I want to laugh or cry. What happens is a sob of happiness and fear that lodges in my throat.

Through the corner of my eyes, I notice Fer’ro’s blades rise part way as he watches me and I promptly silence myself.

I can’t tell if he’s about to attack me or not.

Maybe he’s like one of those predators that attack when you’re not looking.

For that reason, I keep my gaze on him as I pull the branch toward me.

It’s pierced right through and the fish flaps, trying to get off it.

Fer’ro watches the fish move.

“Sustenance?” he asks.

“Yes.”

He stares at it before he stands.

“You are a good hunter,” he says.

That sob that’s lodged in my throat constricts the muscles there.

Is that it?

Have I passed the test?

FER’RO

The fire crackles under the morning star that blesses this planet.

Er’th they call it. Hyu’mans they call themselves.

Strange designations that Adee’ra exposed when I asked them of her.

They required the fire once more, though their star has risen.

I obliged.

I lit it for them on top of the embers that had died the night before.

I am as surprised as my brethren when Adee’ra pierces the sea creature with another stick.

At first, I think she is simply doing so to make it easier for her to tear into its flesh.

But then, she stretches it over the flames, turning it periodically.

Ga’Var bristles and I hear a few discontented clicks from the others.

They have gathered near to watch her…prepare the meal.

At the sounds we’re making, Adee’ra glances up at us and pauses.

She looks back at the meal then at us again.

“Do you want some?”

Not one of us moves.

We cannot respond.

She is asking…all of us this?

Every single hackle on me itches to rise.

For a moment, I forget that she is not Vullan. She has no idea of our customs.

But it seems Ga’Var has completely forgotten for he thrums and I hiss at him.

Adee’ra pales and I am immediately regretful.

I do not mean to scare her.

I scared her earlier too, while she hunted.

But that time, I was simply surprised by her battle cry.

I reacted involuntarily.

Ga’Var ignores me and takes a step toward her.

Anger flares within me immediately and my hackles rise.

“No,” I click.

He stares me down. “Why rekking not? She has offered.”

My teeth clench so hard I have to ball my fists to prevent my hackles from rising farther.

If Adee’ra sees me in my true fighting form, any progress I have made with her so far will be lost. And…I do not know why I care about losing this progress so much.

“She does not know what she offers. Stand down.”

Through the corner of my eye, San’ten steps closer. “It doesn’t matter. We cannot oblige anyway. Look at them. They are weak, feeble, beings. A mating with one would certainly break its bones and kill it.”

Ga’Var glances at Adee’ra and the mere fact he is looking her way, contemplating it, sets me on edge.

“She is not Vullan. She is not inviting you to her feathers.” I pause, waiting for my words to sink in. “Adee’ra does not know that offering you sustenance is an invitation.”

Why should I have to explain this?

It should be clear to him.

I sense that Adee’ra stiffens at the sound of her name.

She and the other female exchange glances but Ga’Var isn’t backing down.

“Um,” her voice seems to still the air around us. “We can share. It’s not a problem.”

My gaze falls to her then to the sea creature. Its outer skin is being roasted by the flames and I cringe a little at the loss of nutrients.

It is already dead.

Why is she killing it again?

But what I focus on is the fact the thing is so small.

It will hardly feed her and the two other females, yet she is innocently trying to share it with us.

I sense when Ga’Var backs down the moment his shoulders relax.

“It is fine, little female.”

Adee’ra pauses a little.

It is the first time someone other than myself has spoken to her. I hide my surprise. Ga’Var’s ba’clan have assimilated the language too. Shortly, the others will follow and we will all speak the language of this land.

“You eat, Adee’ra,” I say to her as I grip my womb mate by the shoulder and pull him away.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

ADIRA

I don’t know what the hell just happened.

I stare at Fer’ro’s back as he almost hauls his friend toward the water.

The others still sorta hover around us but I am getting used to their presence.

Slowly.

It doesn’t seem like they want to share the fish. I never expected them to, but because they are hovering, watching, it was rude not to offer.

Either way, more for us.

The fish is small anyway, but it’s better than nothing.

“It looks so good,” Sam murmurs, her mouth practically watering.

Mine is too. I have to swallow several times so I don’t drool over myself.

“It smells even better,” I almost moan.

One of the aliens, the dark-eyed one, makes a click that’s sort of high-pitched and I’m beginning to sense it means disbelief.

I’d heard it when I offered them some of the fish in the first place.

I almost chuckle.

It’s obvious they think the fish is gross.

Well, their live spaghetti is worse.

“Think it’s done?” I ask Sam. I was never a good cook but the way I feel right now, I could have probably eaten the fish raw.

“It smells done.” Sam literally drools and a small laugh bubbles within me.

It withers on my lips.

When was the last time I laughed?

I freeze, staring ahead but not seeing anything.

It almost feels…wrong to feel happiness.

“—dira. I think it’s burning.”

Sam’s voice snatches me from the void I was entering and I pull the stick back.

The fish is smoky and I cough as I try to blow on it and breathe at the same time.

Sam had found a big leaf earlier and I put the fish on it.

We both lean over it, staring at it.

It’s even smaller than it was before.

It seems to have shrunken in the fire.

“Well…” Sam begins, “it’s better than nothing.”

We wait for the food to cool and slowly pick at it with our fingers.

I keep my bad hand tucked toward me as I eat, and my eyes close as the flavor from the fish bursts across my tongue.

I can almost forget the aches and pains in my body.

The source of my injuries seems like it happened so long ago now but the events replay in my head as I watch Sam crush some of the fish and hand feed Mina.

Mina swallows and grants us a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.

She’s in pain. I just know it.

But either she’s hiding it from us, or she’s hiding it from the aliens around us.

There’s movement on the shore and I squint at it.

Fer’ro is rising from the water. Funny how I know it is him now without seeing his eyes. The water sluices off his suit like the material can’t get wet, but that’s not what causes me to stare.

He’s carrying something.

Over his shoulder, in much the same way he carried me, he’s carrying the biggest catfish I have ever seen.

It is still alive too and it struggles, its tail slapping against Fer’ro’s back.

“Oh…wow,” Sam breathes.

Wow, indeed.

He heads straight toward us and all I can do is stare at him.

“Sustenance,” he says before his gaze drops to the fire.

His nostrils twitch.

The fire isn’t big enough, is what I assume he is thinking but all I can do is stare at his catch.

“Y—you caught that for us?” How the fuck?

He glances at Sam then, as if she was an afterthought.

“Yes,” he says. “Food. You must eat.”

His gaze moves to Mina then, and I stiffen a little.

“She must eat too,” he says, and his nostrils twitch again, the ridges above them folding a little. “I will kill it then make a bigger flame for you so you can kill it again.”

FER’RO

The sea creature is much too big for the females to finish on their own and after they’ve had their fill, Adee’ra once again suggests that we share.

“It is not an invitation to mate,” I growl at my brethren, annoyance riding all along my back.

I do not like that she is offering.

It is innocent but it annoys me just the same.

“The hyu’man does not wish to breed.” I meet their gazes and some of them flatten their ears, signaling shame…signaling they were considering it.

I growl at the thought.

Even as I speak, Ga’Var is leaning against a tree, his ba’clan bristling almost unnoticeably as they sense his annoyance too.

Annoyed at me, perhaps.

Too bad.

Even if Adee’ra wants to invite a male to her bedding feathers, the thought angers me.

I do not know why.

I do not care to know why.

We are not here to mate.

Though, I am not sure if that is the true source of my anger.

That is something I will have to contemplate later.

In private.

When the females are resting and most of my brethren return to the ship.

We have almost completed dismantling the Scrit.

We won’t stay here much longer after that.

One of my brethren, Fi’rox moves forward toward the sea creature meal.

The others bristle as he stops and glances at the females.

Adee’ra looks from him to me and then back. “Go ahead,” she says. “It’s still warm.”

Fi’rox is the bravest of us all.

Once we intake sustenance, we do not have to do so again for several days.

So I know he is not hungry.

I watch as the others glance from one to another.

The sea creature does not look delicious at all.

Its flesh is white. Bloodless.

I imagine it tastes like water.

Fi’rox pokes the flesh with one of his claws and his ba’clan shiver a little.

I can sense he wants to retreat and not eat the thing, but he’s gone too far. Turning back now would be cowardly.

So he picks a part of the flesh and lifts it into his lips.

We all watch him with bated breath.

For a moment, he does nothing, he simply freezes, his gaze on the females.

And then, his ba’clan bristle again.

I can tell their movement alarms the females, Adee’ra, when she stiffens a bit, her eyes going wide.

Then Fi’rox chokes. Somehow, he manages to swallow the thing.

He slaps a hand against his chest as he rises, his gaze darting to me for a second.

“So?” Ga’Var clicks. He’s leaned off the tree now, his focus on Fi’rox.

Fi’rox’s lips pull back a little before he answers.

“It’s…disgusting. How can they eat such a thing? Even now my innards are trying to expel it.”

His back arches a little as he says this.

I believe him.

But…

“We should not anger the females.” My gaze moves over my brethren. “They are being generous.”

Our gazes flick back to the “meal” and an audible groan leaves one of us.

“Fine,” Ga’Var clicks. “For the females then.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

ADIRA

They have settled around us in much the same way that Sam and I have stooped on the ground.

One by one, they reach forward and take a piece of the fish and though they all put it into their mouths and chew, I get the sense they think it is awful.

I watch them for a few moments.

None except Fer’ro have removed that strange suit from over his face. The others have simply removed the part where their mouth holes are and it amazes me that this suit of theirs is so reactive.

Fer’ro is to my right and I watch him with guarded eyes.

I don’t want him to know I am staring, but I can’t help it.

Now that it’s clear they don’t mean us any harm, I have even more questions.

“That thing…” Fer’ro stiffens at the sound of my voice as if his focus had been on me the whole time, even though he strangely hadn’t been looking my way. I gulp and continue. “That thing by the water. The alien…”

I lick my lips when his lava gaze meets mine. They’re aliens too. That probably wasn’t the right word to use. “That thing that was controlling the machine…”

They all stiffen now and I realize every single one of them is listening to me.

Gathering my courage, I push forward. “What is it? What does it want from us?”

Fer’ro’s mouth moves as he forces down the fish and the ridges along his cheek contract and expand with the movement.

His suit bristles as he swallows as if a bunch of sharp knives just went down his throat.

“They are called the Gryken,” he finally says and I am hushed. I wait for him to continue and after a few moments he finally does.

“They are from a world far away. One that was destroyed eons ago.”

I blink at him. “Their world is destroyed? Is that why they are here. They want to capture ours to make it their own?”

Fer’ro stares at me. He doesn’t blink. “No,” he says.

“What?” Sam speaks up. “What do you mean?”

“They are here to harvest and move on.”

I glance at Sam then, the dread of the past few months still too vivid in my mind.

“So there is hope right?” Sam asks. “When they take what they want then they’ll leave. Then we can start over. Rebuild.”

The burgundy-eyed alien steps forward and I notice the blades on his arms have risen a little. “There is no rebuilding once the Scrits land.”

His voice is so harsh, Sam jerks back. But the alien continues. “They destroy everything. Your world will be barren before the Gryken leave. They will destroy your planet as they have done Edooria.”

There is hissing from the others and my gaze flicks around the group.

They all seem bigger somehow. Agitated. And I realize it’s because the blades on all of them are risen slightly.

“Edooria?” I whisper.

Fer’ro finally pulls his gaze away from mine. “Our home.”

I glance at Sam.

These…Gryken destroyed their home? Even though they seem so much more capable of fighting than humankind is?

“That is why we came,” Fer’ro continues. “To warn your kind. But…we were too late.”

My eyes widen at this and I sit up a little bit straighter. “You came to warn us? So you are here to help.”

Fer’ro clicks and I assume that means “yes.”

“But…why?”

Don’t get me wrong. Humanity needs the help. But even though they’ve been kind to us, their motive is still unclear.

“Why come to warn us?”

Fer’ro doesn’t respond. The one with the burgundy eyes does.

“Because if Edooria had been warned, maybe we would have been able to save our species.”

We fall into silence after that.

Even though they don’t say it, it’s as if I can feel their anger writhing underneath their skin, so I don’t ask any more questions.

One by one, the aliens move off, back to the water to finish dismantling the machine.

Fer’ro goes too and every now and then I look up to see them bringing pieces of the machine up from the lake.

My questions seem to have created a dark cloud over us all, for I do not hear them speaking even among themselves in their language.

Thinking on what they disclosed is also bringing me down, so I try to keep busy.

Taking what’s left of the fish, I mash it as much as I can.

While I work, Sam heads to the lake with a broad leaf and brings some water back. She uses it to wash Mina’s face while I turn the fish into a paste as best as possible with the tools I have—my one good hand, a stick, and another leaf.

More of the Scrit is slowly removed from the lake as we work. I recognize bits of the huge walking legs and I shudder and turn away, choosing instead to focus on feeding Mina the pulp I made.

She’s so exhausted, weak, that it’s hard for her to swallow.

But she tries.

She even smiles at me bravely even though I know she’s in pain.

She doesn’t complain.

There’s fear in her eyes too. I see it whenever she meets my gaze…whenever she looks at the aliens around us.

I can’t imagine the terror she’s feeling inside.

“It’ll be okay, Mina.”

A blatant lie.

She knows it.

I know it too. But I swallow hard and continue feeding her anyway.

I’m feeding her when her eyes widen and focus on something behind me.

That’s when I hear a hiss that sends a shiver down my spine.

When I whip around, the dark-eyed one is there.

His blades have risen, his teeth are bared, and his eyes are on Mina’s midsection.

Dropping the fish pulp I made, I scramble back on my elbow and put myself in front of Mina, meeting the alien’s gaze in the process.

I don’t know what’s gotten him so worked up, but out of all of these aliens, he’s the one that makes me the most uneasy.

And even though I’ve placed myself in his view, he’s still snarling. He hisses again and his blades rise even higher.

I feel the blood draining from my skin.

Had I said Fer’ro was adorable?

I was wrong.

His kind is utterly terrifying.

There are now so many blades across his body that I’m pretty sure he’s slicing the air itself with every heave of his chest.

He looks as if he’s about to launch himself at us, but he’d seemed fine just a moment before.

What has cha—

And then I feel it.

Against my back.

The part that’s pressed against Mina’s belly.

I feel it under her skin.

It writhes against me and I freeze, a gasp lodging in my throat as I try to remain frozen while I face the alien in front of me.

That thing inside her…

He’d seen it moving.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

FER’RO

I’m under water when I hear the shrill sound.

Dampened by the liquid around me, but shrill nonetheless.

I don’t know how I do, but I know it is her.

My ba’clan activate, pulling me through the water to the surface, even before I can send the mental command.

Adee’ra’s fear scent almost knocks me over when I break the surface and my gaze finds her immediately.

She is so small, San’ten’s large body almost blocks her from my view.

She has her back to the infested female, her thin arms splayed as she projects herself as a shield.

And San’ten…even to a Vullan, he is a terrifying sight.

He is in full battle form.

His ba’clan have extended from his body, hackles rising everywhere.

A deep hiss and a roar leaves my lips as I shift into battle form as well, the ground beneath my feet disappearing as I launch myself from the shore toward him.

He only has a second to turn before we collide.

In a cloud of dirt and dust, we roll a few lengths away.

Adee’ra’s fear scent intensifies and I am only dimly aware that she is scrambling away and trying to take the other female with her.

My whole focus is on San’ten.

He roars, struggling to get away from me and I realize in horror that while my focus is on him, his focus is still on the retreating females.

“Release me!” San’ten’s roar echoes across the Er’th trees. “We must kill it!”

He speaks in the hyu’man language and I am sure the females hear.

“Not until you regain control!” I twist my body into his, pinning him down and San’ten hisses. But instead of yielding, he claws at me.

He only misses because I release him.

But now we are crouched, facing each other.

His eyes have bled to black and I know he is crazed.

“Control yourself!” I repeat and he hisses in response.

I sense my brethren approaching but they keep enough distance to not get into the fight.

From behind, I sense my womb mate, Ga’Var, but San’ten does not realize he is approaching. His complete focus is on me.

“We must kill it,” he repeats.

“I agree,” I say. “But not yet.”

San’ten bares his fangs even more. “You will let it grow?”

I am disappointed.

San’ten knows better than to react like this.

His hackles rise even more as he prepares to launch himself at me and I know that if I allow him to, we will fight to the death, or until one of us yields.

I am bigger than he is. Stronger.

But I know, without a doubt, that San’ten is not in the frame of mind to yield.

He will die.

“Now!” I shout and there is only a moment of surprise on San’ten’s face before Ga’Var crashes into him.

The force sends them backward and Fi’rox joins in to restrain the crazed male.

San’ten is struggling and cursing in our native tongue but my focus is no longer on him.

Instead, my gaze sweeps toward where the females were resting.

We had tumbled quite a bit away from where they were, but even with the star going down and visibility lowering, my ba’clan bristle.

The females are not there.

“Restrain him and head back to the ship. We are done here,” I say as I head toward where the females had been.

We had finished scavenging the Scrit earlier. The plan had been to leave anyway.

“Where are you going?” Ga’Var clicks, and that’s when he realizes too. “Where are they?”

“Gone,” I say.

No one was guarding them.

There are a few concerned clicks as more of my brothers rise from the water and head toward us.

But the females couldn’t have gone far.

“I will find them.”

ADIRA

I have one of Mina’s arms draped across my shoulders while Sam has the other.

Together, we support her weight as we hobble away.

I’m still aching from all the injuries I’ve received. I don’t think Fer’ro and the others realize just how wounded we are. We hide it well. But, supporting Mina’s weight, we’re feeling it now.

Sam winces as much as I do as we try to hurry under the cover of the trees.

“Shit. They’re going to find us aren’t they.” Her voice comes out with a hiss of pain.

I grunt before answering. “Most definitely.”

I don’t have any doubt they will. “But maybe we can buy some time while we come up with some sort of plan.”

I glance behind me but there’s only the growing darkness and even though we’re supposed to be in a forest, we’ve already ran into two spots of trampled trees from where the machine had walked.

I’m just lucky I’m wearing boots.

I’d found them in that same cellar I’d been hiding in when the machine had taken me. They’d been better than the running shoes I’d been wearing on D-Day.

Mina and Sam aren’t so lucky.

They’re both wearing flats.

I glance behind me again as we try to hurry away. That dark-eyed one had scared the shit out of me and if Fer’ro hadn’t appeared when he did, I shudder to think what would have happened.

“He said he wanted to kill her,” Sam said, glancing behind her too. “We have to find somewhere to hide her at least.”

“No,” Mina croaks. “You don’t…” She takes a breath. If not for me and Sam, she’d have collapsed already. “You don’t have to do this. I’ve accepted my fate. I did so a long time ago.”

There’s that tone in her voice, one I’ve had many times.

That tone you get when nothing matters any more.

But I refuse to let her give up.

I don’t know if that makes me selfish. If I was in her shoes, I’d have wanted her and Sam to allow the dark-eyed alien to kill me.

I gulp as I force my gaze forward and scan what’s left of the forest around us.

I’d felt the thing against my back.

It’s grown so much in just over a day. No way is that normal.

Before, in the machine, the others didn’t grow so fast.

Or did they?

I never touched their stomachs to find out.

Mina shudders against us and we stumble.

She pulls her arms from our shoulders and braces on the ground as her body heaves.

She’s going to throw up, trying to at least, but nothing is rising from her stomach.

“Let him,” she says between breaths, “let him kill me.”

No.

I stare at her stomach before my wide eyes find Sam’s.

Something unsaid passes between us.

Understanding. Realization.

“We could try and take it out,” I blurt. My own chest is heaving with the rough breaths I’m taking but now with the words out my mouth, my heart is hammering for a whole other reason.

We could.

We could take it out.

“We have to at least try.” I stare at Sam.

Her dark hair is curly and a hot mess on top of her head. She nods, her hair bobbing and her eyes wide as she stares back at me.

It’s a ludicrous idea. A dangerous one. But I think I can do it.

My gaze drops to Mina and she lifts her head to meet my gaze.

There’s hope there. Hope that hadn’t died.

“Are you sure you can do it?” It’s Sam that’s asking that instead of Mina.

For as I hold Mina’s gaze, I know she knows the risk.

She’s just hopeless.

And…she believes in me.

“I’m a vet. Was a vet,” I say, but it’s more for my own benefit than theirs. As if I’m convincing myself that I can do this. That this isn’t a crazy idea. “I’ve never operated on a human before, but I’ve done surgeries.” My voice quivers a bit as I take a breath. “I can do it.”

Mina’s body heaves once more as her stomach tries to expel nothing.

“I can do it.” My voice is surer this time and I glance at Sam, unable to meet Mina’s gaze for what I’m about to say next. “But there won’t be any anesthetic…she’ll feel everything.”

I wait for Mina to protest. To tell me this is a bad idea and that she’d rather not.

But she doesn’t.

“Do it,” she croaks as she slowly raises her head to look at us. “Do it.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

ADIRA

The darkness comes in quite quickly.

One moment, we’re trying to get Mina to a safe spot in the forest and the next I can hardly see my hand as it moves in front of my face.

I struggle through the woods, an arm gripping my stomach as I walk alone.

I left Sam guarding Mina as I headed back to camp. Hopefully, I can get a knife or something and talk to Fer’ro.

Hopefully, they haven’t all turned against us.

My body aches as I walk and though the fish I’d eaten has given me some energy, that energy is fast waning.

I worry I will collapse before I reach my destination.

As I pause to lean against a tree, I remind myself that I’m not doing this for myself.

This is for Mina.

She is counting on me.

I’m just about to lean off the tree again when the darkness moves at my side.

Terror tears through me like a spike of ice up my spine and I freeze just before lava eyes come into my view.

Fer’ro.

My shoulders relax a little but my breathing is still coming hard.

He doesn’t say a word, he simply approaches me and I freeze again for a whole other reason.

This isn’t like the first time that he came after me in the woods.

He’s not keeping his distance, watching for my reaction anymore.

He comes right up to me till there’s no space between us and I suddenly forget to breathe.

I hear him sniff, his gaze moving down my face, and although I can hardly see a thing, I’m once again reminded that he is different.

It feels like he can see every line on my face. Every detail, even with the darkness around us.

I do not dare to blink.

“You are…” His voice vibrates the air around me, and at the back of my mind, some small thought says I should be afraid. But I am not. “…not afraid anymore.”

I swallow hard at that but I do not respond.

“Where are the others?” he rasps.

He towers over me.

My head is well below his chin, yet he leans down and I can feel his breath brush over my forehead.

“If I tell you…what are you going to do to Mina?”

He’s so close I can feel the heat radiating off his skin…his suit.

“Mee’na?”

“Oh…you don’t know their names.”

I stare straight ahead as I force myself to breathe normally, and I’m staring straight into his chest.

“You speak of the infested one.”

I swallow hard at that.

He’s too close.

It’s hard to focus on what he’s saying, what we’re discussing when I’m becoming more and more aware of him.

“She’s not infested,” I manage to get out. “That thing, the Gryken, it forced itself…”

At the sound of the creature’s name, Fer’ro growls, but he is so close to me, I feel the vibration move down my skin.

I never considered it till now, but he is male. Not just an alien, but a big strong male one.

One that could force us just like the Gryken had.

“The Gryken bred her.” His voice is so harsh, it pulls me from my thoughts. “She is infested with its spawn.”

I gulp again at his words. “There’s still a chance we can save her. She was only bred over a day ago.”

“Even as we speak, the Gryken is growing. Its former is dead. There is no longer a neural link. The life cycle has been disturbed.” His growl sends another shiver through me. “It will grow speedily to take its former’s place and continue its role in its species.”

I do not understand a word he is saying. I want to ask more.

He obviously knows a lot about them.

“Tell me where she is.”

I tilt my head back finally and his lava eyes meet mine.

Why is he asking me this when something tells me he could find Sam and Mina on his own if he wanted to?

“She’s scared. Terrified. But I think I can help. I can take the thing out of her.”

He freezes at this, his gaze boring into mine.

“You have no idea what the Gryken are.”

I can’t stand for much longer and my knees buckle as he says those words. Without thinking, I reach out and grab his arm and pain shoots through my hand.

I’ve grabbed him with the wrist that’s broken.

Pain makes tears swell in my eyes but I couldn’t move my hand now even if I wanted to.

I can feel his muscles flex underneath my touch, but Fer’ro doesn’t move.

So I hang on to him for a little while as I gather enough strength to straighten my back.

“What do you mean?” I breathe through the pain in my hand.

That’s when I feel it.

It’s like a tickle, almost a whisper, moving up my arm. Like water—and for a moment, I’m fighting against the pain and sudden dizziness to focus on the sensation crawling up my skin.

It’s at my wrist now, moving higher and I cast a confused glance in Fer’ro’s direction.

“What—what’s happening?”

Releasing him, I slip to the ground as I bring my arm up to look at it.

I can hardly see anything, but what alarms me the most is that I can’t see my arm either.

It’s like it’s…melded into the darkness.

“What’s happening to my arm?” There’s urgency in my voice, fear, and I am dimly aware that Fer’ro is now crouching beside me.

He makes a sound I’ve never heard him make before.

It’s a different kind of purr from the others.

“They like you,” is all he says.

They? “Who is they?”

I swing my arm in front of me.

I can feel it, but I can’t see it, and I realize slowly, my eyes widening with each second, the reason why.

My arm melds into the night like Fer’ro does, as if he is a part of the darkness itself.

His suit is on me.

FER’RO

Adee’ra shrieks and the sound hurts my ears as she flashes her arm in front of her face.

“What’s happening?”

My ba’clan writhe against me and I sense their distress at her reaction.

“Do not be afraid. They will not harm you.”

I hope the last sentence is true.

I have never seen them do what they are doing now.

Never have they left my being since I was birthed.

They are as much a part of myself as my eyes, my ears, my limbs.

But Adee’ra is becoming more panicked.

I can hear her blood organ thumping in her chest.

“Tell me I’m not imagining this,” her words are shaky. Disturbed. “Part of your suit is on me.” She glances up at me and I scent her fear rising. “How?”

She is scrambling away from me now and I can feel the shroud of her fear surrounding me.

“What are you doing to me?”

The accusation in her tone stings.

I want to tell her that I’m not doing anything. That we, the Vullan, would never harm a female, regardless of her species. But with San’ten’s recent lack of control, I doubt she will see my words as truth.

And…I do not know what the ba’clan are doing.

I did not even consider that they could connect with her species.

Hyu’mans.

Maybe they are more similar to us Vullan than I first realized.

“Do not move,” I say as I close the distance she has put between us.

Her eyes are wide but at the sound of my voice she stops throwing her arm about. Instead, now she is staring at it as if she cannot see it and her fear scent intensifies.

I clench my teeth and stifle a growl, closing off my nostrils to her scent.

After engaging with San’ten, my instincts are still in fight mode.

I told Ga’Var these beings are not our prey, but my body isn’t listening.

Adee’ra is still staring at her arm and her blood organ continues to hammer hard.

She is completely unaware of my state and I am thankful for the darkness.

She has no idea that her instincts to protect herself make me want to chase her.

But not to kill…or to eat…

At least…not in the way a predator would deal with its prey.

I have never seen another being like her before.

I want to know more about her species. More about her.

There was another scent earlier. Before my ba’clan decided to migrate unto her skin.

The scent had been faint, but there nonetheless.

A scent that made me want to…taste her.

The thought registers and my cells constrict.

I have to stop myself from thrumming.

If she knew what was crossing my mind, would she fear me again?

“Fer’ro…what is it?” Panic is rising in her voice, reminding me of why I approached her. “What’s happening to my arm?”

Moving closer, I take her arm in my hand, ignoring the way she flinches from me.

“Do you feel pain?”

She is shaking her head but I do not know whether that means the affirmative.

“No pain,” she says, her breaths coming fast. “It’s the arm that’s hurt. My wrist is broken. I hit it too hard while trying to break free from the orb. It was hurting really bad earlier, but now it’s just…tingling.”

Her eyes flash to mine and I can still see the panic there.

“What’s happening?”

My gaze falls back to the ba’clan that have transferred to her arm.

They are a stark contrast to the paleness of her skin.

“I do not know.”

Wrong answer, for her blood organ picks up pace.

“But you need not worry. I believe my ba’clan are…mending you.”

She blinks at me. “Your what? What?”

I meet her gaze again. I do not know how to explain it.

She probably has no idea what ba’clan are.

“Your suit…” Her gaze moves over me. “You put part of it on my arm, right?”

I pause, contemplating how much I should reveal to her.

“I did not.” I wait for her panic to rise more, but it is stable. “They ventured to you of their own volition.”

She gulps. It is audible and I watch her throat move.

The skin there is so thin, I can see her skeleton beneath.

She needs more sustenance. I will catch more sea creatures before we leave.

“It…ventured to me…?” She’s repeating my words as if she did not just hear them and I do not know how to respond to this, so I wait for her to continue.

“Your suit…is alive?”

“The ba’clan are…sentient…yes.”

Her arm jerks in my hand and her chest is heaving now.

“You mean…it’s not like some cool technology you’re wearing. Your suits are…they’re aliens too?”

I think for a moment. She is right, I suppose. But no Vullan thinks of the ba’clan as that.

They are us.

We are them.

“They are not parasitic. Our symbiosis is…mutual. We provide a host and nutrients. They protect us…among other things.” I glance at her arm once more. “Right now, they are healing you.”

She gulps and looks down at her arm again.

“Okay.” She swallows again. “Okay, but…why? What do they want from me?”

I study her. She is still terrified. I keep my nostrils closed.

“What do they want?”

“Yeah, like…they’re not trying to get inside me or anything, are they?”

The tips of my ears twitch. What she says is humorous but it also tells me that though her species is not as evolved as ours, they are intelligent.

She is still thinking of them as parasites.

The ba’clan are nothing like the Gryken.

“No. They will not enter your being.”

My ba’clan are fused with my being, but I do not tell her that. It is a more complicated process than something invading the body.

Though…this is new territory. Ba’clan have never transferred from one Vullan to another.

At birth, a spore is chosen for the young. A single symbiote that will multiply as the spawn grows. They will share experiences, memories, life, all together. Just as my ba’clan have done with me.

For them to transfer of their own volition to Adee’ra…a fully grown female of an alien species…it is something I will have to discuss with Ga’Var and our medic on board the ship.

I know they will not harm Adee’ra, because I know myself, and they are me. But I do not know what they are doing.

I’m focused on my arm when the ba’clan on her skin begin to writhe.

Adee’ras breaths pick up immediately. “What—what’s happening now?”

Her arm is shaking. “What are they doing?!”

She’s shaking so hard, I know it is a conscious effort of hers to keep from waving her arm in the air again.

But nothing she does will get them to remove themselves from her.

Like a wave, they writhe on Adee’ra’s arm.

“They are trying to communicate with you.”

“Wh—what? They talk?!”

“Not with words.”

I place a palm over where the symbiotes are writhing and they calm a little.

I know what they want to do, but I am positive Adee’ra will not oblige.

“They want to heal your whole being,” I say.

She is shaking her head again almost immediately.

No.

“I’m not comfortable with this,” she pants. “Can you take them off?”

The ba’clan across my body bristle at her request.

They do not like Adee’ra’s suggestion.

They do not like rejection.

I decide to try anyway.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

ADIRA

He can’t get the suit off my arm.

I know even before he raises his gaze to mine, studying me.

It’s been at least an hour of him trying to no avail to call the ba’clan back.

They refuse to move back to him.

Sharp clicks leave his lips every now and then.

Nothing.

“Can’t you just tear them off?”

“No,” he replies.

I want to ask why, but I get the sense these things are stuck to me and that forcing them to move will be a painful experience.

What’s worse, and even partly terrifying, is the fact that my hand already feels better.

I can flex my fingers now without feeling that jabbing pain.

Don’t get me wrong, it still hurts like a motherfucker, but it’s more of a steady pain now.

They are healing me.

What worries me is what they might want in return for their assistance.

Nothing is ever free.

I let out a breath as my shoulders sag and my mind flashes back to Mina and Sam.

Except for a slight tingle every now and then, I hardly feel the…ba’clan on my skin.

My situation isn’t an emergency. At least, not yet.

I need to focus on Mina.

“I need to go.”

Fer’ro eases back a little and rises as I do.

God, he’s so big.

As soon as he’s standing again, I feel…vulnerable.

I glance at my arm once more.

I still can hardly see it in the star light, but if I don’t look down at it, it will feel normal, as if I don’t have an alien sentient liquid thing on my skin.

“Where are the other females?”

Of course, he hasn’t forgotten about them.

“They’re safe.” I hope. It would be bad for the first wild animal we come across to be a starving bear or something. That’s why I need to hurry back to where I left them.

“Not for long.”

His words chill me and I jerk my head back as I search his gaze.

It is as it usually is—revealing no thoughts. No emotion.

“What do you mean by that?” I force myself to stand still but everything within me wants to take a step back from him. “Not safe from who? You? That dark-eyed one?”

For the first time, I see a flicker of emotion pass through his eyes.

“I would never harm a female,” he almost growls. “San’ten would never harm a female either.”

I do not believe him.

I saw what I saw.

I heard what this, San’ten, said.

He’d transformed into something terrifying right before our eyes. His body…no, his suit, the same thing on my arm right now, completely distorted. His whole body had spikes all over it and he was ready to come at us if Fer’ro hadn’t intervened.

“I do not believe that.”

There’s a flicker across Fer’ro’s flaming gaze.

The first I’ve seen.

“We are not like the Gryken.” He almost spits the word. “We have never and will never hurt females.”

I swallow as I stare up at him.

He’s all darkness before me.

Again, I’m faced with trusting what’s before me or going with my instincts.

It’s hard trusting something that looks like a demon from hell.

“Can you…can I see you?” For some reason, my heart kicks in my chest and I feel a shiver of anticipation. “Can you retract the suit? Is that even possible?”

Fer’ro blinks at me in the strangest way. His eyes are open, but that inner eye-lid slides across his eyes. It happens in a split second. I would have missed it if I wasn’t staring into his eyes.

Nictitating eyelids.

I’m in awe just like the first time he did it.

I’m almost holding my breath as the darkness moves from him in a smooth wave.

Down his head, his shoulders, and my eyes widen as I notice it slipping lower.

I didn’t expect him to take it all off but curiosity has me silent. I don’t stop him.

Not when the suit melts away to reveal a sculpted chest and arms or when it goes lower, passing his waist.

There are ridges everywhere.

All across his dark skin they run, giving him a strange textured appearance.

I find my throat going dry as the suit slips over his torso, his pelvis, his…

There’s a bulge. A large one underneath what I assume is his genital flap.

My cheeks grow warm when I can’t pull my eyes away.

It’s still dark. I can’t see much but I can see enough and that “enough” is making me feel strange inside.

“Um,” my lips are dry and I have to flick my tongue over them to wet them. Fer’ro’s gaze is locked on everything I do and my heart skips a beat again. “Um, I didn’t know you could do that.”

“We rarely do. Like this, we are vulnerable.”

My eyebrows shoot up as my gaze moves over him, trying my best not to look at his crotch. Nothing about him looks vulnerable to me.

He still looks like he can bench press a tiger without sweating.

My lips are so dry, I have to lick them again, and the way he is looking at me makes my cheeks blaze.

“You are naked now, aren’t you?”

“Naked?”

“Yeah, you don’t wear clothes.” I grip what’s left of mine. The dress is ripped in several places, the threads hardly hanging on.

It’s not a great example of clothes at all.

“There is no need to wear garments. Underneath the ba’clan, all Vullan are bare.”

“Vullan,” I whisper, my gaze moving down him again. His people are called the Vullan.

They are magnificent.

He is magnificent.

I have to blink to get out of the trance I’ve fallen in.

I’d told him to remove the suit so I could relate to him better.

But seeing his true form isn’t helping with that.

He’s something carved by the gods themselves.

Something forbidden.

I clear my throat in an effort to clear my thoughts.

I don’t know where my head’s going but the thoughts are clearly inappropriate.

“Okay, talk to me now. If you’re not going to harm Mina, what are you going to do to her if I take you to her?”

His ears twitch. “We will extract the Gryken.”

I blink at him. “Can you do that? Without harming Mina, can you do that?”

“Our med bay will have to learn about your species before the operation, but that should not take too long. You appear similar enough to the Vullan.”

“Med bay?”

He glances to the dark sky.

“Our ship waits. As we speak, my brethren are returning to it.”

Ship?

I look up into the sky as well, but I can’t see anything.

I’d thought their ship had sunk or something, but now that I think about it, that’s a stupid thought.

I hadn’t seen them bringing up anything except the machine from the water. Surely, they’d have tried to retrieve their vessel too, if that was the case.

“You have a med bay,” I whisper, hope making my heart beat fast again.

But Fer’ro doesn’t reply.

He doesn’t get the chance to.

There is a sharp high-pitched sound, one that makes me jump and almost immediately, Fer’ro’s suit slips over his entire form.

I realize in the next second that one of the others is nearby—has been nearby the entire time!—and I hadn’t realized, but before I can even ask what the hell is happening, Fer’ro grips me.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

ADIRA

My legs are wrapped around his waist, my arms around his neck as he runs.

He’s moving so fast, the darkness itself is a blur.

“What’s happening?! What’s wrong?”

He clicks in response and I want to tell him I don’t understand, but that’s when the darkness moves to my left and I realize he’s not clicking at me.

I only get a glimpse of burgundy-eyes as we move through the trees and when I look to the other side, I get the sense someone else is running with us as well.

I have no idea where we’re going but they’re not slowing down.

If anything, they are starting to go faster.

Not human.

Definitely not human.

No human can move this fast.

Fuck, I don’t even think a cheetah can.

We break through a clearing, one of the areas the machine had trampled, and cool night air presses against my face.

That’s when I see it.

It’s only a glimpse as we dash across the clearing, but nothing could have prepared me for the sight.

A machine.

Off in the distance is a machine, the orb reflecting the starlight.

My heart stops beating.

It was just a glimpse, but I know it is heading this way.

They always head toward water.

Shit!

I grip Fer’ro tighter. Now I know why they are running.

It had only been a matter of time before we faced another machine, but I’d hoped we’d had more time.

More than a few days at least.

And then I hear it.

That sickening sound that makes the air vibrate. The one I’ve learned the machine does before it is going to attack.

I don’t realize how tight I’m gripping on to Fer’ro until I feel his suit move against my fingers.

My face is buried against it and I can feel it against my skin.

And even though I now know it’s sentient, it doesn’t scare me half as much as that orb does.

The night is so silent, I hear the distant thump as one of its metal legs slams into the ground and the trees splitting and falling beneath its weight.

It’s going to catch us. I’m terrified that it will.

No matter where you hide, it’s like it can sense you.

I thought we had more time!

Fer’ro is suddenly slowing down and I grip him tighter.

“Mina,” I say. “We have to go get Mina and Sam.”

“Done,” he replies and his words don’t connect till I hear Sam’s voice.

“Adira? Is that you?” Sam sounds hesitant, scared, and as Fer’ro puts me down, I realize that he and the others have run directly to where Sam was hiding with Mina.

So I was right.

He’d known how to find them even without me telling him.

Why had he asked me anyway?

I scramble away from him and through the little group of bushes I left Sam and Mina behind.

“It’s me,” I whisper. “And we’ve got company.”

“I heard it,” Sam’s voice shudders and when I part the bushes, I see the utter terror in her eyes. It shines through even the darkness around us.

She’s referring to the machine and even as understanding passes between us in that second, we hear another distant thump.

Trees split and fall.

It is far away. We might have a chance.

I hope we do.

I do not feel strong or capable.

As a matter of fact, my insides are jelly and my legs are rubber.

Still, I try to keep my voice level as my gaze slips to Mina.

“They’re here too,” I whisper. “Fer’ro and two others.”

Fuck. Mina looks even worse than when I’d left her not long before.

“She’s unconscious,” Sam whispers and I nod.

We can survive this.

We’ll be fine.

I try to believe in those words as I somehow sense Fer’ro behind me.

I don’t know how, but when I turn and look up, there he is and behind him is the burgundy-eyed one and San’ten.

San’ten.

“What’s he doing here?” My voice quivers a little as I glance from San’ten to Fer’ro.

Fer’ro clicks something at him and San’ten steps forward. His gaze is not on me…it is on Mina.

“I will not harm the female,” he says, but even as he speaks, the darkness spikes around him a little as his suit reacts. He growls in his throat and his suit flattens again. “I give you my oath.”

I gulp as I glance back at Fer’ro. He’s the only one I trust, but there’s no time for deliberation on this.

There’s another distant thump and I know the orb is one step closer to our location.

If it finds us…I know we are dead.

Fer’ro is clicking again…but it sounds different.

Lower.

Deeper.

He’s not looking at us either. His gaze is focused somewhere in the darkness ahead.

Burgundy Eyes replies and so does San’ten.

What follows is a sharp series of clicks and Fer’ro’s lips pull back as his gaze suddenly shoots to me.

His anger isn’t directed at me though, somehow I can sense that, but whatever they are talking about obviously has all their emotions rising.

Fer’ro ends the conversation with a sharp click and I’m left glancing from one to the other.

I have no idea what’s about to happen now.

“Ga’Var will take the tiny one,” he finally says.

“Who?”

“They are all tiny,” Burgundy Eyes says, but he moves toward Sam.

“Oh, you’re talking about m—me?” There’s a tremor in Sam’s voice and we hear another distant thump that makes her shiver beside me. “My name is Sam.”

Ga’Var doesn’t respond. He simply reaches down and grasps her. Sam stifles a yelp as she’s lifted as if she weighs nothing.

Fer’ro reaches for me at the same time.

“Take her where? Where are we going?” As I ask this, my eyes are on Mina.

San’ten reaches for her and alarm goes through me. But he simply lifts her limp body toward his chest.

He’s all darkness but there’s a snarl on his face. I can see his white teeth in the dark.

I hesitate as Fer’ro lifts me.

“He will not harm her,” Fer’ro speaks low near my ear before lifting his head once more.

“We go away from here,” Fer’ro says before clicking a command to his friends. “We leave. We hide.”

FER’RO

Adee’ra is against my chest and I can feel every beat of her blood organ.

Her fear scent is almost overpowering but I hardly notice it now.

Every instinct within me is focused on the great danger in our midst.

The Scrit is steadily approaching…and we are running toward it.

I don’t think Adee’ra realizes this yet, but it is the way we have to go.

The Gryken is not likely to return from whence it came. Safety is behind, not in front.

Keeping to the trees, we move quickly over the surface and I sense the big machine around me even before I catch sight of it once more.

Every symbiote on my being bristles.

Ga’Var growls his frustration but we cannot attack.

Not yet.

Our ship is not ready to.

And so, we will have to let the Scrit go. We will have to watch it walk away while hiding like cowards.

Small hands grip me and I glance down at the hyu’man in my arms as we move.

Her wide eyes are focused far ahead. Her gaze rising to the Scrit.

Her chest heaves in distress.

“You’re heading the wrong way!” She grips me tighter. “It’s in front of us!”

There is no time to explain as I slow down, my gaze darting around to find a good spot.

There’s a little area that’s without many flora.

“Fer’ro,” she’s staring at me now, “tell me you know what you’re doing.”

Her gaze is frantic as I put her down so she’s laying on the ground, back against the dead leaves.

The Scrit sounds again; its warning call.

It senses the hyu’mans.

But it doesn’t sense us.

“Adee’ra,” her name slides off my tongue easily, as if I have been saying it for eons. Her breathing staggers as she stares up at me. “Do you trust me?”

Off to the side close by, Ga’Var and San’ten are also putting their hyu’mans down.

“Are you leaving us?” she asks and I cannot read the look in her eyes. “Are you leaving us here?”

The Scrit sounds again and trees split and break as the ground shakes far too close to our location.

It will be right above us soon.

“I’m about to do something that might…terrify you.” I sense her fear rising but I continue. “Do not raise an alarm. It already knows you are here.”

At my last line, her blood organ palpitates.

There is no more time.

I only see her eyes widen as I settle over her and the shroud covers us.

Suddenly, the world around us is no more.

The dark sky, the trees, my brethren close by…everything disappears.

We are…cocooned.

Adee’ra glances around but she doesn’t move. “What is this? What’s happening?”

“Hiding,” I say. “It will not sense us like this.”

The ba’clan thin a little so I can see and the moment the Scrit comes into view above us, a breath hitches in Adee’ra’s throat.

My ba’clan bristle but keep their form around us.

It has been a while since I’ve had this sort of view. Small and looking up at the terror towering above us.

I am reminded of just how mighty the Gryken make themselves appear.

The shiny orb hovers above as it raises one of its legs and for a moment, the light of the stars is blocked out as the leg descends.

It’s coming straight at us.

“Fer’ro!”

The earth shakes, shockwaves going through it as the leg slams down around us and Adee’ra grips me, her small hands digging into my skin.

Her eyes are the widest I have ever seen them as she stares at the leg that’s now beside us.

We are in between its claws. So close.

If I stretch, I can touch it.

But I am not focused on that.

What catches my attention is the sudden silence.

The Scrit is not moving.

The ridges across my body are slowly rising as the seconds tick by.

The Gryken should not be able to sense us. They can sense the hyu’mans but now all three are protected by our ba’clan.

In the last days of the war, it had been by mere chance that a Vullan child had somehow removed its energy signature as a Scrit had approached.

It is a useful effect of the ba’clan, one we discovered far too late, one that might have saved us if we had discovered it earlier.

Now, I am praying it saves the last few beings alive on this planet.

But the Scrit is still standing still.

My ba’clan ripple as energy passes over them.

Scanning.

The Gryken is scanning.

It would have picked up energy signatures of three humans that have now suddenly disappeared.

An impossible occurrence as far as it knows.

But I wait, hoping it thinks it’s been a mere error.

Across the clearing from us, I can see my womb-mate stiffening underneath the cover of his ba’clan.

I can almost feel his tension…

Something is wrong.

I am seconds away from mounting an offence when I sense movement.

My ba’clan bristle as another loud thump shakes the earth again.

One huge leg of the Scrit rises and falls.

It is continuing on.

Heading to the water.

It is a good thing the body of the one we killed is no longer there—transported to the ship along with the materials we scavenged.

We will be okay for now.

But I remain cocooned.

Not one muscle in me moves till the Scrit has gone far away from us, and then, I breathe.

My eyes meet Adee’ra’s.

There is water in hers, but she blinks it away.

“Thank you,” she whispers.

I want to ask her what she is expressing gratitude for when she inhales sharply.

Her gaze flicks down me and catches.

I do not have to look down at myself. I already know what she is seeing.

In order to create the cocoon, my ba’clan are no longer wrapped around my being.

I am bare.

Adee’ra’s throat moves and her body warms. I can feel the change in temperature beneath me, against my skin.

There’s a curiously strange scent coming from her.

Faint.

Very faint. But there nonetheless.

It is different from her fear scent. Sweet as well, but not as powerful.

Instead, there’s a spice to it and I sniff, trying to determine where it is emanating from, for it doesn’t seem to be coming from her pores.

She makes a grating sort of sound in her throat that makes my ears perk and she shuffles against me a little.

“Is it gone now?” She isn’t meeting my gaze. “Are we safe?”

There is something wrong with her.

Her skin is warming even more and her cheeks are flushed.

It is a healthy color, one that makes her skin glow in the star light and I wonder what she looked like before the Gryken invaded.

Is this a preview of what she is supposed to look like all the time?

“You are warming up…”

Her gaze darts to me and then away, the warmth in her skin increasing.

“Um…it’s just that…you’re naked and you’re on top of me.”

I don’t understand what she is trying to say.

If she were on all fours, it would be more understandable.

That is the mounting position.

Or…it could simply be because I am bare.

I call my ba’clan back to me and the shroud around us disappears.

I’m left looking into those strange brown eyes as she stares at me.

“You’re going to take some getting used to,” she whispers, before her gaze turns to the area around us.

That’s when she rises up on her elbows.

I already know what she is seeing before I take a look.

It’s what’s always left behind after the Gryken pass through.

For they take. They destroy.

They leave nothing.

As I focus on Adee’ra, the terror that had just been in her gaze repeats in my mind.

I will fight for this small being.

I will fight for her freedom as I would have liked others to fight for mine.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

ADIRA

Fer’ro rises and I follow him.

We’re in a clearing and despite the darkness, I’m aware of the sudden space around us because everything is flat.

I can’t believe how close the Gryken came to crushing us.

I can’t believe we survived.

I look behind me in the direction that’s it gone and it is still close enough for me to make it out clearly against the starlight.

Like a huge dark tower of doom.

Seeing a machine standing there so close makes me quake inside.

But I don’t get to stand and look at it for long because Fer’ro is grasping me by the hand and we’re running again.

He cuts to the side, back toward the cover of the trees and it is only because he is holding my hand why I don’t stumble as we move through what’s left of the forest.

“There’s water ahead, somewhere. A small source…and shelter too. We will rest there till the Gryken leaves this place.”

I open my mouth to ask him how he knows this but I don’t question it.

He is the only reason why I’m still alive.

The only reason we are still alive.

Off to the left, Sam is running, but when my gaze settles on her and then flicks to Ga’Var, I see his gaze on me.

My spine stiffens a little as I run. I didn’t expect him to be looking my way.

But he’s not looking at me.

He’s looking at where my hand meet’s Fer’ro’s, and it must be the darkness, the shadows, but something unsettling moves across his gaze.

Behind us, San’ten carries Mina.

She’s still unconscious. Limp. And I wonder how much time she has left.

The parasite is growing at a rate that isn’t “normal”—if you could call any of this normal.

We’re heading to what looks like a craggy hill and I glance back in the direction of the lake.

The machine is still there, standing tall in the night.

I wonder if it has people inside it.

No, I don’t wonder.

I know it does.

And we can’t help them.

My heart clenches and I have to pull my gaze away as I focus ahead.

If Fer’ro could help them he would have. Wouldn’t he?

He said they’d come to save us.

And I’m beginning to believe it.

We’ve slowed to a walk now, maybe because they’re being cautious, or maybe because they are tired.

But I doubt it’s the latter.

My legs are weak, I’m still limping, but I push forward.

“This will do.” Fer’ro’s voice takes me from my ruminations and I realize we’ve stopped walking.

Before us is a dark open space.

A small cave.

San’ten is the first to enter, disappearing into the darkness and Fer’ro turns to look at me.

“Go in. It is safe.”

I don’t ask how he knows. I’m past thinking his capabilities are anything like mine.

Sam grabs my hand and we make our way into the dark hole but right before we enter, I glance behind me.

Fer’ro is facing Ga’Var.

There are no words passing between them—at least, none that I can hear—but there’s an obvious aggression in the air. Like two separate charges of electricity facing each other.

We don’t go far inside and as I slide down on the ground, my eyes remain on both of them.

I can hardly see them out there, but a low hiss followed by another tells me that I was right.

“Did we miss something?” Sam whispers. “What’s wrong?”

San’ten speaks from so close behind us, I nearly jump. “He has shown you himself. His womb mate is concerned.”

He’s put Mina down and is crouched over her, and even though he’s talking to us, his focus is still on her…on her belly.

“What?” Sam whispers.

“He has shown you himself bare.”

My eyes widen a little as my gaze darts back to where Fer’ro and Ga’Var are standing.

They are so close together now, starlight almost merges their bodies into one as they snarl into each other’s faces.

I have no idea what is happening.

Was it taboo for him to show me his naked form?

It was strange but I didn’t…mind it.

At that thought, the ba’clan on my arm pulse a little and I’m once again reminded of their presence.

I slide that arm underneath me and away from the others.

I don’t want Sam concerned about me. We have Mina to worry about.

So much has happened, I can’t wait until morning to take a good look at it and assess what the hell it’s really doing to me.

With a growl that pulls my attention away from my arm, Fer’ro stalks toward us.

His voice is gruff.

“We rest here till the Scrit moves.”

“Then what?” Sam asks.

“Then our ship will come and we will go.”

FER’RO

Ga’Var is my womb mate, but at this moment, I dislike him.

We stand across from each other in this dark hole while San’ten crouches over the infested female.

“You said her invitation to eat was not about mating,” Ga’Var clicks in a tone that is too low for the hyu’mans to hear.

“It was not,” I hiss.

“Yet, you show her yourself bare.” He almost snarls but manages to keep his expression blank.

“It was not a proposition to her.”

“Good. She is not yours to claim.”

I bristle at that.

The implication is obvious.

Ga’Var wants Adee’ra and…I despise the thought.

“Neither is she yours to claim.”

Now he snarls and I sense when the two hyu’mans glance at each other.

Ga’Var has always been the one to yearn for female attention but on this planet, those instincts have to die.

“Mating is not our mission,” I remind him. “And they are too small and frail. You can see that. They cannot take us. They would break.” I pause then add, “They do not want us.”

He clicks in disagreement before his gaze falls on Adee’ra. Her eyes flick across both of us and she shivers a little.

I rumble in annoyance at myself. Loud enough for her to hear.

Thin skin.

She is cold. But we cannot make a fire lest the Gryken spot it.

So I do the only thing I can think of doing.

Moving to the ground beside her, I sit and extend my arm.

She glances at it.

“I do not know what you want me to do…”

“You are cold. Touch me. I will share my warmth.”

There’s a growl from Ga’Var and I ignore him.

If Adee’ra is anyone’s, she is mine.

That thought rocks me as she takes my hand almost nervously and the ba’clan on our arms pulse.

What will he do when he finds that out? That some of my ba’clan have transferred to her of their own free will.

A few minutes pass and my gaze is locked on my womb mates’.

He is not breaking his anger-filled stare and I will not either.

Neither of us budge till Adee’ra speaks and then we are both focusing on her.

“Where is your ship?”

I raise a hand and point above, forgetting that her vision is not the best in the dark.

“It is above. Near the large body of water. Hidden.”

“You mean like some sort of stealth mode?”

I guess you could call it that. “Correct.”

“It’s always been above us?”

“Yes.”

She digests that for a moment.

“And when the machine moves…your ship will come then you will leave.”

“Yes.”

She stiffens a little at my answer, as if my words worry her.

“Rest,” I thrum.

She doesn’t resist. Her head comes down against my arm and another thrum starts in my chest, only to be matched by a growl from my womb mate.

I ignore him.

He can be angry but I will enjoy this moment, for this is possibly the only time I will get to rest.

Once the ship comes, everything changes.

What I haven’t told the hyu’mans is that we’ve been scanning the surface. We have intel and we have a plan.

And even though I would like to see just how similar our species are, Adee’ra is not a part of that plan.

CHAPTER TWENTY

ADIRA

I don’t see it until far too late.

It’s as if it materializes out of thin air. A huge black bird, hovering over us and soaking the light of the morning sun.

I’ve never seen anything this big.

It’s bigger than any plane or ship I’ve ever seen.

Had it really been this big when I’d seen it that first day?

“Shit,” I breathe.

I managed to get some rest last night. But maybe I’m still so tired I’m hallucinating for an opening appears underneath the ship and something slips out.

It looks like a floating box and it comes directly at us.

“What the fuck is that?” The way Sam says it almost makes me chuckle nervously.

“Our lift.” Fer’ro steps forward as my eyebrows shoot up.

A lift?

I imagine us having to climb on top of the thing to get into the ship and the nervousness I’m feeling surges.

This is a sure case of ‘what could go wrong.’ I’m pretty sure I’d slide off the edge of the thing without even trying.

We’re going to go into an alien ship.

The dark square floats closer, swerving through the trees till it reaches us. Then it lowers itself till it is almost touching the ground.

Fer’ro reaches forward and touches it.

Suddenly, an opening appears within the square.

My eyes pop.

It is like a room inside and Fer’ro steps in, his gaze landing on me.

With bravery I don’t have, I walk forward, followed by Ga’Var and then the others.

It’s like a Doctor Who telephone box—it’s bigger on the inside, because, somehow, we all fit.

My nervous gaze meets Sam’s as the box seal begins to rise.

I stagger a little with the sudden movement, my hand grasping Fer’ro’s arm.

Dimly, I’m aware of his muscles tensing but I’m too busy getting the shock of my life as we rise higher.

The walls of the box are transparent from the inside giving the appearance we’re floating on thin air.

And the view…

Awe changes to sadness as my heart breaks at what I am seeing.

The lake is now dry and apart from the small forest we’d been hiding in, all around us, the world is brown.

I’m staring at it, reality sinking in when the view slowly disappears to be replaced by dim light.

We’re inside the ship.

The view below us is replaced by dark metal and the floating box comes to a stop.

Soon, the “door” opens once more and Fer’ro strides forward.

It takes me a minute to realize the box has disappeared from around us.

There are more Vullan here. Quite a few, and I wonder if they are the same ones who had worked on scavenging the dead Gryken’s machine.

They stand still, but there is growling as we pass.

Some of them pull their teeth back and sniff the air and I find myself moving closer to Fer’ro.

There’s a definite sense we are not welcome here.

Fer’ro clicks something sharp and some of the Vullan pull their teeth back, but that doesn’t take the utter ferocity in their gazes away.

“Fer’ro?”

I glance from one of them to the other and I can even feel Sam’s breath against my arm as she’s moved closer to my side.

“What’s happening?” she whispers.

Fer’ro glances at me before clicking again and behind us, Ga’Var clicks too.

His gaze falls on Mina who’s still in Santen’s arms.

“It’s the infested female,” San’ten almost growls. “They can smell her. They can smell it.”

My gaze falls to Mina and then to her belly.

“There’s no more time to waste,” Fer’ro’s voice reaches my ear. “We must remove it now.”

Mina looks even worse than she did the night before.

Her skin is so pale, it’s see-through.

I don’t think we have a choice. So I nod.

“This way,” Fer’ro says and then we are walking through the wide room, passing the still-snarling Vullan.

That’s when I realize their eyes aren’t on me or Sam.

They really are all completely focused on Mina.

Some even have their blades pointing outward.

I’m happy when we finally pass all of them and reach a corridor.

Fer’ro continues on and my gaze darts around the interior of what is something I didn’t ever think I’d be aboard—an alien ship.

The light is so dim in the ship though, that even when my eyes adjust, I can’t pick up much.

All I know is that the walls are covered in the same dark metal that is everywhere else.

Fer’ro walks with purpose, turning down corridor after corridor and I manage to keep up until he comes to a stop in front of a wall.

I glance around him confused.

That’s when a rectangle of green neon light forms within the wall.

It hisses and I realize it’s a door when it…disappears.

Fer’ro steps into the room that’s just been opened and clicks something.

A click is returned and when I glance around him I’m met with the coolest blue eyes I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

The Vullan in front of us stares back at us from behind a table.

There are instruments there. Dark metal ones that look like strange torture devices from the middle ages.

“This is He’rox. Our medic,” Fer’ro says before resting his gaze on San’ten. “Bring the female forward.”

He’rox’s eyes are on me. They’re so…different from the others that I can’t help but stare.

And his ba’clan…his suit is white.

He stares. Not snarling. No blades rising, but his gaze makes me nervous.

But it’s not just his color that makes him different.

This He’rox has…tentacles. They are thin. Just one on each side of his mouth, hanging to just below his chin, and I watch them move as he stares at me.

He continues to watch me, those ice-cold eyes searching my soul, as San’ten approaches with Mina and rests her on the table.

As the lights brighten in the room, that’s when I realize the medic’s gaze has moved to my arm. The one where Fer’ro’s suit lies.

I glance at it too and my own eyes widen before I snatch my arm from my side and place it at my back.

The ba’clan look like thick oil over my skin.

I can’t even feel them there anymore and my hand, which had been pounding and swollen feels like it’s almost back to normal.

“It’s progressed quite quickly.” Fer’ro is speaking to the medic and finally, the male pulls his gaze away from me. “The former was killed. There is not much time.”

The medic looks down at Mina and then at her belly.

He stares at it for so long before looking back up at Fer’ro.

Fer’ro stiffens and I get the sense they are having some sort of conversation that I cannot hear.

“What’s happening?” Sam whispers. “Why is everyone just staring at each other?”

“I think they’re talking to each other,” I whisper back.

Fer’ro’s ears twitch at my words. I think I’m right.

“Do it,” he says and my gaze flies back to the blue-eyed one.

I watch as he glances at me and Sam and then back at Fer’ro and I don’t need a translator to guess what he’s saying.

“We want to stay. We’re not leaving her.”

The medic looks at me then and he clicks something at me.

“It is…dangerous, Adee’ra.” Fer’ro’s voice washes over me like a thick wave and I don’t realize I’m holding on to his arm until I feel his muscles flex. “For your safety and for Sa’am’s, you should wait outside. Ga’Var will take you to private quarters until the med bay is free again. You also need medical attention.”

I shake my head at him. Nothing’s been more dangerous than the past few days, weeks, months?

I trust Fer’ro. I know he will do what’s best for Mina, but like every other human on this planet, all we have left are each other.

I cannot leave her.

Sam senses when I stiffen and she steps beside me. “I’m not going anywhere either.”

Her eyes are wide as she stares at the medical tools and I see when she gulps.

The medic clicks again, his gaze on Fer’ro and even in his slitted alien eyes, I get the sense that he is saying, “fine, it’s their choice. I tried to warn them.”

I grip Fer’ro tighter as the light brightens some more and the medic takes out something that looks like a sharp blade.

With a quick movement, he sets the blade against Mina’s skin and flicks his hand upward.

What’s left of her dress rips in two and falls to the side.

Her belly is exposed for all of us to see.

There’s a growl and a hiss to the side, and San’ten’s blades rise.

Mina’s belly is even bigger than I realized and I slap a hand over my mouth. Her skin is stretched so much that I can see the network of veins underneath it.

Something moves underneath her skin.

Something big. It distorts her belly somewhat, as it swims.

Knowing what’s in there, I don’t know how I do it, but I manage not to throw up at the sight.

I feel Fer’ro stiffen again and then he is turning and sweeping me off my feet.

“Wait!”

A sense of utter betrayal suddenly sweeps through me as Fer’ro moves out of the room.

Before Sam can respond, Ga’Var is doing the same to her.

“I am sorry, Adee’ra,” is all I hear as Fer’ro moves far too quickly into the corridor.

The last thing I see before the doors close behind him is the medic lifting his blade.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

ADIRA

I’m slamming my hands against him, my curses echoing in the hallway as Fer’ro moves into another room and sets me down.

“What are you doing? I’m not leaving her in there all alone!”

With that psycho, I want to add.

I try to brush past him but he holds me still.

“No,” he growls. “We have waited too long. It is far too mature to expose you to it.”

My shoulders heave as I look up at him.

“What do you mean?”

“There is no time to explain.”

He hits something on the wall and the wall disappears into a transparent shield.

“Whoa,” Sam mutters.

Across the shield, I can see Mina on the table, the medic still over her.

I step forward, pressing my hand against the shield. It’s solid, like glass.

He’rox hasn’t cut her yet. He is looking in our direction and I realize it’s not a one-way mirror.

He can see us too.

Off in the corner of the room, is a tall being with so many spikes I almost do not recognize San’ten.

He is completely distorted with the multitude of blades around him.

My breaths are still coming hard as my heart thumps against my chest.

“Are you sure it’s okay for him to be in there?”

Fer’ro bristles beside me. His suit actually moves.

“No,” he says.

Not the answer I expect and my eyes widen. “What do you mean? Why is this so dangerous?”

Fer’ro’s gaze flick to me. “I have to go back, Adee’ra. One or both of my brethren in that room will not be safe.”

I blink at him. I don’t understand why they’re being so ominous.

What could be so dangerous about something that should, essentially, be a baby?

“You stay here. This room is secure. You will be safe. And…when that thing comes out…do not let anyone who has been in that room inside.” He pauses. “Even if we beg.”

I glance at Sam but she is now as terrified as I am.

I manage to nod at Fer’ro and he pauses again as he looks down at me.

At that moment, I want to hang on to him because I feel something is about to happen that I won’t like.

I open my mouth to say as much when he pulls his gaze from mine and turns.

Ga’Var follows him out the door and as I watch them leave, the ba’clan pulse against my arm.

It’s a warm feeling, as if they are trying to comfort me and I brush my other hand against them.

“Adira?” Sam calls my name and I move over to where she is standing, arms crossed, in front of the barrier.

Fer’ro and Ga’Var are back in the room and their focus is on the medic.

I wish I could understand what they are saying because they’re obviously discussing something critical.

That’s when Fer’ro’s blades suddenly rise all around him. So does Ga’Var’s and I know enough now to understand that means they feel threatened or are about to attack.

The medic brings his blade down, slicing through Mina’s skin and blood fills the table.

I’m frozen as I watch.

It’s too much blood.

They can’t let her bleed out.

There is a sick pulsing in her stomach and I hold my breath.

“What are they waiting for? Why don’t they take it out and kill it?!”

I can’t take the suspense. It feels like I’m about to go into cardiac arrest when something moves fast, so fast I almost don’t see it.

It falls to the floor and I have a moment where I see gray.

The Gryken.

It’s huge!

There’s a moment where I see its blurry form before chaos explodes in the room.

The medic is wheeling Mina away to another room whose door was an invisible rectangle in the wall, while Fer’ro and the others…

Someone smashes into the barrier right in front of me and I jump.

“Fer’ro!”

His back is to me while San’ten is to his front, his teeth bared, his blades all extended.

I don’t understand what’s happening.

And where is that fucking thing? The Gryken.

Somewhere in the back, Ga’Var is tearing the room apart. I think he’s trying to find it, while Fer’ro is desperately trying to hold San’ten off, even though San’ten looks like he’s about to rip his throat out.

Every slash San’ten aims his way, Fer’ro dodges but without aiming an attack on his own.

He’s playing defense, but San’ten looks crazed.

His claws extend and he swipes at Fer’ro, drawing blood.

A scream leaves my throat as that blood splashes against the barrier, painting it a deep, dark red.

I can’t see anything, but it’s not because of the thick blood slowly dripping down the wall in front of me.

I can’t hear Sam’s deep intake of breath as she stares transfixed. I can’t see Ga’Var ripping the room apart in the background.

I can’t even see San’ten as he aims another strike.

All I can see is Fer’ro.

I watch as the scene plays in slow motion before me.

He dodges another attack as San’ten aims for his throat.

The sharp blade misses by an inch and pierces the wall in front of us.

Fer’ro.

Against my arm, the ba’clan pulse in a rhythm that beats with my heart.

Fer’ro!

He manages to throw San’ten across the room and the dark-eyed male collides with the wall.

San’ten falls to the ground but he’s not down yet, for he’s rising again.

I’m staring at them, wondering what the hell is happening, why San’ten is trying to kill Fer’ro, when something comes sailing through the air, right at me.

I jerk backward instinctively but whatever it is doesn’t reach me.

Instead, it lands on the barrier right in front of me and all I see are sharp teeth sticking into the barrier itself as huge dark eyes meet mine.

I’m staring into the eyes of the enemy and God knows, it’s terrifying.

The Gryken screeches at me.

Even with the barrier there, the sound dampened, I can still hear it.

Its six limbs are extended and it catches itself as it slips to the floor to stand on them.

“Holy fuck…” Sam whispers.

Its rows of teeth clamp down and open again.

Its face is wicked.

All I can see is pure evil.

I want to look away, but…I can’t.

There’s a dark blur in the background as San’ten rises once more and rushes toward Fer’ro.

I only have a moment to scream his name before Fer’ro moves in the opposite direction, away from the male charging at him.

He moves so fast, it’s hard for my eyes to keep track.

Smooth. Efficient. He flips in the air, going airborne as he dodges San’ten.

At the same time, one of the blades on his arms extends as he descends.

The Gryken screeches again, just before Fer’ro’s blade pierces through its skull.

The body goes limp and dark blood splashes against the barrier, mixing with the blood already there.

My heart is in my throat now.

What the hell just happened?

Fer’ro is staring at me through the barrier, those lava eyes of his engulfing me. And then he…collapses to his knees.

I don’t know what gets into me.

I just have the sudden urge to get to him.

My arm pulses, as if his ba’clan are telling me something, and then I’m darting from the room.

“Adira?”

I can’t even pay attention to Sam. I just have to go.

I press my good hand against the side wall where I assume the door is but nothing happens.

Something tells me to try the other, the one with the ba’clan, and I do.

The door materializes and disappears. In the next second, I’m running through the opening, heading back to the med bay.

As soon as I enter the med bay I stop in my tracks.

The whole room is destroyed and San’ten is standing before me.

But his blades are retracted now and he’s standing, staring at Fer’ro.

“What have you done?!” My scream hits him and he turns to look at me.

I should be afraid.

I know I should be. Instead, I’m running into the room, my feet taking me toward the one thing that’s calling me.

This strange alien male who in on his knees facing the barrier.

Fer’ro’s blades are still out and the Gryken is still pierced on the end of one of them.

“Fer’ro?”

I crouch before him, but his gaze is unfocused.

“What have you done to him?!”

At my words, San’ten takes a step closer.

“Stay away! Don’t you come any closer!”

My hands hover over Fer’ro’s face.

He isn’t responding at all.

His eyes are open, but it’s like he’s not there.

San’ten clicks something but I’m too filled with emotion to care to try and understand what he’s trying to say.

“It’s the Gryken,” Ga’Var finally says and I realize he’s bloody too.

He’s covered in his own blood.

The Gryken must have attacked him when I wasn’t looking.

“What do you mean it’s the Gryken?”

At the thought of the thing, I glance at it and swallow hard.

It’s hideous.

But it’s dead now.

“The moment it detached from its host, it sensed danger. It needed to protect itself.”

“I do not understand.” I’m still staring at Fer’ro, my gaze falling down his face, his body…

When I glance back at his face, he blinks and I feel a sense of relief.

“Fer’ro?”

I didn’t realize tears filled my eyes till my gaze grows blurry.

“San’ten was not himself,” Fer’ro says. “Forgive him.”

His voice sounds so strained that the anxiety within me doesn’t calm. “This,” and he shakes his arm and the Gryken’s dead body moves, “this was controlling him.”

The Gryken falls off Fer’ro’s blade and slips to the floor with a sickening wet slop.

“What?”

San’ten takes another step forward. He clicks something at Fer’ro.

“It’s only a small wound. You couldn’t help it,” Fer’ro says.

I look at his chest. I cannot see the wound. The suit covers it but the blood against the barrier told me enough.

My chest is heaving as my breaths take a while to slow down.

“Mina,” I whisper.

As if hearing me, the door off to the side opens and He’rox stands in the way.

He clicks something to Fer’ro and Fer’ro answers back.

For a few moments, their conversation fills the room until He’rox disappears behind the door again.

A lump forms in my throat.

“Where’s Mina?”

“Mee’na is well. But it will take days for her body to heal, even with our technology.” Fer’ro’s gaze engulfs me once more. “He’rox says your kind does not heal as quickly as we do.”

A breath I didn’t know I was holding shudders through me.

“I want to see her.”

Fer’ro rises and he staggers a little.

Whatever San’ten did must have hurt him a lot.

I cast an angry glance in San’ten’s direction and his ears twitch before falling back to press against the sides of his head.

Fer’ro moves over to the wall He’rox is behind and presses something in the wall.

Another transparent barrier appears before us and I see Mina…floating above a table.

She is completely naked but there’s not a wound in her belly anymore.

Just a line where her skin has been stitched together.

“Mina…” I whisper.

“She will heal,” Fer’ro says. “We got the Gryken out just in time.”

I stare at her and I feel myself relax a little as I see her chest move.

She’s breathing.

“Just in time,” I whisper. “What would have happened if we…weren’t so lucky?”

“That thing would have birthed itself and used her for its first meal.”

The thought makes me shudder.

What sort of being birthed itself?

Only something extremely terrifying.

I’m still staring at Mina, my hands pressed against the barrier when Fer’ro turns and clicks orders to Ga’Var and San’ten.

He moves away from the barrier and I hear him talking to them before the room goes silent.

I don’t realize we are alone till I glance behind me to find Fer’ro blocking my way.

My gaze moves up his chest to meet his eyes and his ears twitch when I meet his gaze.

“Thank you,” I say and his ears twitch again.

“He’rox will examine you next,” he says.

I glance back at He’rox and I find him watching me through the barrier.

It’s unnerving how the Vullan stare and my spine stiffens a little.

I don’t trust any one of them enough to be alone with them.

Fer’ro is the only one…

I turn back to him, turning this over in my mind.

“I feel fine. These,” I lift my arm with the ba’clan still attached to it, “seem to be helping. I know they’re only on my arm but my whole body feels a little better.”

His ears twitch again. “He’rox will need to look at that too. It is not…usual.”

I gulp as I nod and glance back at He’rox.

“Maybe later. I want him to focus on Mina. She needs all the attention she can get.”

“Then you should rest.”

“What about Sam?”

I’d rushed out of the room, leaving her behind, but when I cast my gaze to that side, I can’t see her waiting there.

“Where is she?”

“My womb mate has taken her to private quarters to rest.”

“Ah.” I nod again and end up folding my arms across my chest.

It’s been so much high-anxiety over the last few hours that now that it’s slowed down, I feel at a loss.

“Come,” Fer’ro says, and then he’s leading me from the room.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

FER’RO

Adee’ra’s scent has changed.

I do not think she is aware of the change at all and I do not know what it means.

The moment she rushed into the room, I’d smelled it.

She rushed in…for me.

Despite the danger San’ten had posed, she’d come anyway, fierceness on her face and in her voice.

Just like a Vullan female when protecting a nest.

I do not know what this new scent means but even while in pain, I have to focus on stifling the thrum threatening to burst from my throat.

I wonder if Ga’Var and San’ten smelled it too.

It wasn’t her fear scent.

That scent is mostly gone.

She doesn’t fear us as much as before.

She doesn’t fear me.

Again, I have to stifle a thrum at that thought, and as I lead her to my quarters, I try to focus on what is ahead of us.

This planet is filled with raw resources. We scanned and found enough of such.

But these resources are not readily available.

They are deep below the surface.

It’s a primitive world, this Er’th. Our technology is not compatible.

Setting up an offence will be difficult. We need the resources to build more weapons and we need to do so soon.

One Gryken node is dead. The hivemind will know now that a threat is in their midst.

They will think it is the hyu’mans though. At least, we still have the element of surprise.

As we head to my quarters, Adee’ra a slight step behind me, we walk past several Vullan. Despite that my mind is on many things, I sense my brethren’s curiosity as their eyes flick to Adee’ra.

I want to shield her from their eyes.

Some of them must see the ba’clan on her arm as well.

That is something I am sure will spread across the ship.

Something I do not know how to address.

As I stop walking abruptly to activate the door to my quarters, Adee’ra almost bumps into me.

Her soft body brushes against my back and my ba’clan shiver a little before every muscle in my being refuses to move.

I can feel them stretching toward her.

I’ve never…I’ve never felt anything like it before.

“Fer’ro? Are you all right?”

Her soft musical words tickle my ear and I turn to look at her.

She isn’t looking at me though. Her gaze is wide and on my back.

My ba’clan snap back to my skin the moment I look down and realize it hadn’t simply been a feeling.

They had physically been leaving my being, going toward Adee’ra in spikes.

Reaching toward her.

“Do you feel threatened right now?” she whispers, her gaze darting around us as her fear scent begins to grow.

“No,” I growl in her language.

“Your suit was…your spikes…the blades…”

I’m both impressed by her level of observation and her fortitude for standing so still while she thinks danger might be near.

She has already realized our hackles rise when we feel threatened.

“Those were not my hackles…”

Her brow knits in the most curious of facial expressions, and for a moment I find myself trying to mimic it.

I cannot. My ridges do not allow my forehead to move so freely.

“What was it then?”

I do not know.

“In time I may be able to tell you.”

Her brow knits farther and she glances behind her down the empty corridor.

Around the bend, I sense several of my brethren.

They are listening to our conversation.

Adee’ra is looking past me now, into the dark room that is my private space.

“Where is Sam? I thought we’d be sharing…”

“No. You will not be sharing.”

Not with the other female, at least.

“Ah,” she says and looks around me into my dark room. “So…these are my quarters?”

Her words are hesitant as if she finds it out of place to be asking such a thing.

“No,” I reply. “They are mine.”

I turn and finally step into the room. The light activates enough for me to see clearly but I’m sure Adee’ra is still mostly blind to what is inside.

I click an order to the onboard computer and as the light brightens, I hear her gasp.

It is a singular room but it has everything I need. A cleansing area and a resting space.

Adee’ra takes a single step inside, leaving half of her body out the door. She is particularly staring at the geometric lights forming patterns in the walls.

“Wow,” she whispers.

I assume it is a good thing.

“You should rest.”

I click a command and the floating sleeping area descends from the roof. It’s filled with feathers from great flying creatures from Edooria and should be comfortable enough for her.

I do not know.

Only Vullan women sleep on the feathers.

Adee’ra’s eyes bulge out a little, her cheeks growing warm, but she nods and steps forward, allowing the door to close behind her.

Now that she is in my space, a feeling envelops me that I did not expect.

Her scent is already invading my quarters and my ba’clan begin to react again.

I shut them down and head to the washing station.

I must prepare myself for the work ahead and tend to my wounds.

Anything to take my mind off this hyu’man being that my whole body is drawing toward.

ADIRA

I sit on the edge of the strange bed, my eyes on Fer’ro as he moves toward the corner of the room.

I have so many questions for him, I do not know where to start.

And everything is so different now. It’s moved in a direction I did not expect.

I thought I was going to die in that orb…

Now I’m in an alien spaceship as a guest staring at an alien who is…

My breath stops in my throat as I watch Fer’ro.

He’s n—naked.

Completely.

And this is a whole different situation than when he’d been in that forest with me in the dark.

Now I can see everything clearly. And my God…

The ba’clan seem to have disappeared somehow, as if they melted into his skin.

His body is like sculpted charcoal magnificence.

There are more ridges down his chest, his back, his arms, his legs and his skin seems to glisten in the light.

He’s not aware of me staring at him and I’m glad, because I can’t pull my eyes away.

There’s a circular ring on the floor and he sits within it, his back turned to me.

There are deep gnashes in his skin and I see dark blood seeping through.

He’s hurt. Much more than I realized.

I thought the ba’clan protected him but apparently not?

There is so much that I have to learn about these things.

Even as I think about them, I feel them pulse against my arm and I look down at myself.

My arm looks alien to me but it’s quite obvious my hand is no longer swollen. It doesn’t hurt anymore either.

It feels…normal.

There’s a blast of air and when I look up, Fer’ro is standing.

As he faces me, like magic, his ba’clan crawl back over his skin.

It takes just a second to happen but I’m staring at him in awe.

The only thing he leaves uncovered is his face.

“You should cleanse yourself then rest,” he says.

I glance around the room. I would gladly take a bath but I don’t see a bathroom anywhere.

“Where?”

He pauses for a second before turning to look at the ring on the floor.

“What?” So that’s what he’d been doing? Taking a bath? So quickly and without water?

“Sit or stand here,” he says, gesturing to the circle as I slip off the bed.

My tentative steps toward the circle are met with patience on his part. He’s just watching me move and as soon as I get to the edge of the circle, I pause.

I will have to get naked.

I glance at Fer’ro, contemplating this.

Maybe it’s okay.

He’s been nothing but respectable so far and despite that he is male, I doubt my pale, bruised, fleshy human body appeals to his kind.

Now is certainly not the time to be modest.

The world is ending.

My nakedness doesn’t matter.

As my clothes slip to the floor, I watch them fall.

Stained. Dirty. They are as every bit a reminder of the last few days as my scars are and I realize I never want to see them again.

I’ll just have to find a new way to cover myself.

I slip off my shoes and leave them in the pile too before stepping into the circle and sitting the way Fer’ro did.

I’m about to ask what I should do next when the ring of light moves up from the floor and passes over my entire body. A blast of warm air follows before the light settles back in place.

A moment passes where I’m wondering what’s next. I look down at my body and it looks…clean.

The dirt and smudges that were all over my arms and legs are gone.

“Tha—that’s it?”

I turn a questioning glance in Fer’ro’s direction and my breath catches in my throat.

His gaze is like fire as he stares at me and his ears are perked off the side of his head.

But what’s more alarming is his ba’clan.

They are stretched off the front of his body toward me, like dark fluid contorting.

My eyes widen as I scramble to my feet and I watch as they snap back in place.

This is the second time I’ve seen them do that.

It happened at the door too.

“Fer’ro?”

He is staring at me and his pupils have become so narrow that the slits look like lines.

“I should take you to He’rox,” he says. “You need to be…checked.”

I swallow at this and wrap my arms across my chest.

“Is there something wrong? Do you think something is wrong?” I glance at the ba’clan still on my arm.

I’m getting so used to them there now. I keep forgetting they’re on my skin unless they pulse or I look directly at them.

“You have wounds.”

His gaze is moving over my skin and I shuffle on my feet. I have several scratches, bruises, and cuts, but I feel fine.

The thing is, I should go to He’rox, just to be sure everything is all right.

But I don’t want to…

“I don’t want to be around the others. I don’t…”

I don’t trust them.

But somehow…I trust him.

“Can I just stay with you for now? Until I get used to all this?”

His ears twitch and I wonder what the action means in this instance.

He studies me for a moment and he’s standing so still, it feels like the air in the room doesn’t move.

“Rest on the feathers. I will heal you myself.”

My eyebrows shoot up a little but a sense of relief flows through me.

I didn’t know he could do that and I release a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

It’s a much better option. I’d rather only deal with him and him only.

Apart from San’ten, the others don’t seem hostile but…the more time I spend around Fer’ro, the safer I feel.

As I walk back to bed, I allow myself to relax a little.

It’s a huge thing and it has a soft wool-like layer on top of it.

I feel small as I climb up, the thought that I’m completely naked lingering in my mind.

I should be more concerned about that.

But Fer’ro doesn’t make me concerned.

That’s until I turn around and notice he’s climbing up on the bed behind me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

FER’RO

Adee’ra’s fear scent appears as soon as she turns around and sees me behind her.

Maybe she’s changed her mind about me healing her.

I was surprised she agreed to it in the first place. Vullan females don’t usually allow males who are not their mates to give such healing.

It can be an…intimate act.

Adee’ra is on all fours and I have a clear view of her center.

Her sweet scent wafts into my nose and I inhale deeply, unable to pull my gaze away from her.

She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

I know her skin is pale. So much paler and thinner than mine.

But until she discarded her strange outer suit, I did not realize that all of her was pale and soft.

It is a strange hue I’ve only seen on young hubri.

She is thin, frail, I can see her skeleton underneath her skin, but she is mesmerizing still.

I cannot stop staring and only when a gasp pulls from her throat does my gaze rise from that strange triangle at her center.

She sits back on her legs and grabs those mounds on her chest that stand out with twin peaks.

My gaze fastens on them and I see the skin against them prickle.

“Fer’ro?”

Her fear scent tingles a little and despite that I want to scent her some more, I snap my nostrils shut.

If I smell her fear right now, in this state, I will want to chase her. Hunt her.

Her eyes are wide as she stares at me and when I glance at myself, I realize why.

My ba’clan snap back as soon as I notice what they are doing.

They’d been trying to touch her again.

I am losing control.

The thought registers and echoes through my mind.

Losing control?

Vullan never lose control of their ba’clan.

I need to figure out why that is happening now.

Maybe it has something to do with this planet.

The atmosphere. Something microscopic that I cannot see.

Or maybe it has nothing to do with that at all.

My gaze meets Adee’ra’s and her wide round pupils are still on me.

Maybe it has something to do with her.

I make the decision immediately. I recall my ba’clan within me and they disappear beneath my skin like water seeping away.

I am bare for the fourth time in her presence.

If Ga’Var knew…

A sliver of pleasure fills me.

Adee’ra is with me, not him.

He does not get the pleasure of her presence.

Adee’ra shuffles on the feathers and glances around me.

Her legs are still crossed and even though I am not her mate, I wish to ask her to open them once more.

Behind my fold, my sazi throbs.

It is erect.

It always is.

But right now it throbs so hard I want to release it.

For a moment, I consider moving away from Adee’ra.

My senses are overloading.

I really am losing control.

But the sound of her musical words have me frozen.

“Where is the first aid kit?”

What aid kit?

“You know, with the bandages and alcohol…if you have that?” She glances around again. “For my wounds?”

Ah.

“A med kit?” I click to her in my language and confusion floods her gaze.

“We don’t have a med kit,” I say so she can understand. “I will heal you.”

Her brow furrows in those lines that look like they’re etched permanently into her skin before they smooth out as if they were never there.

“I don’t understand, you will have to explain to me.”

“I will show you.”

Her eyes widen a little more but she doesn’t protest as I come all the way onto the sleeping feathers.

She’s still sitting in a guarded position though, so I focus on the wound that is closest to me.

One by her ankles.

“It will not hurt,” I say as I take her foot into my hand, stretching out one of her legs.

Five toes, not four. And small too.

Her foot is soft and delicate like the rest of her and her skin feels so smooth against my own.

I wonder what I feel like to her.

My body is filled with ridges. Plated bone that rises and falls underneath my skin.

I am hard where she is soft.

I turn her foot in my hand as I examine it.

It’s cracked in several places underneath and the one I hold looks slightly bigger than the other.

Swollen.

It must hurt, and I do not believe that what I’m about to do will help her in that regard.

My “treatment” will mostly soothe her until she is comfortable enough to let He’rox see her. A sort of temporary fix to what ails her.

Bending, I give her one final glance before I dip low, my tongue slipping from my mouth as I run it over the skin at her ankle.

Adee’ra yelps, and if not for my hold on her leg, it would have slid from my grasp.

“Um…what are you doing?” Her eyes are wide before they fall on her ankle.

My tongue is still there and I lick her again.

Her leg jerks again.

I take her lack of resistance as consent to continue and I run my tongue over another wound close to her ankle.

Her breath hisses into her nose as she inhales deeply.

“Relax,” I say, “I will not harm you.”

“Y-yes, I know that, but what the hell are you doing?”

I pause then and blink at her.

This is obviously not something hyu’mans do.

“My saliva has enough healing properties to soothe these wounds,” I say. “It will help you until you are ready for He’rox to see you.”

“Oh,” she says and her throat moves but she doesn’t pull away.

There are several tiny wounds on her legs and I tend to them one at a time.

Adee’ra tastes like sweet food and I resist the urge to thrum. I could lick her skin for eons.

For a moment, I slip my nictitating membrane across my eyes so I can relish in her flavor without scaring her.

Without making her withdraw from me.

For I know my eyes have bled completely, my pupils invisible.

I want to thrum loudly at the taste of her skin on my tongue, but I doubt she will understand that I am not being aggressive.

For what’s suddenly coursing through my being is not aggression.

It is the exact opposite.

I want to engulf her…

But I am not her mate.

I thrum a little at that thought.

There is just one problem.

I am not her mate…but I do not care.

I want to taste her still.

Each time my tongue flicks over her skin, I hear Adee’ra’s breath shudder in her chest but I focus on what I’m doing.

The number of small cuts and scratches run all the way up her leg and there are so many, I might as well suck on her skin.

So I do.

Her breath makes her belly shudder and she suddenly falls back, staring at me down her body.

It takes everything in me not to bury my face into her skin and I am happy I recalled my ba’clan.

There is no way I’d have been able to control them now.

They would have been crawling all over her.

Scaring her.

I do not want her to run away from me like she did on that first day.

I move higher, licking wounds on both of her legs and when I reach her knees, I pause.

Right before me is that strange triangle of fur.

I shouldn’t…but I open my nostrils.

Adee’ra’s sweet scent hits me like a star storm and I growl a little.

Her scent is even stronger here but she is holding herself so rigidly, I wonder if I have harmed her.

I remember she was alarmed when she’d first seen my tongue.

It is a bit coarse compared to the smooth perfection that is Adee’ra.

But her absolute lack of movement is concerning.

I slip my nictitating membrane away so I can see her better.

“Adee’ra? Do you live?”

A sing-song sound escapes her lips that makes my ears twitch. It takes a moment for me to realize what it is.

She is trilling.

She is happy?

Happiness makes her trill.

This is the first time she has trilled in my presence and it makes something heavy and big grow and swell within my chest.

“I, uh, I’m alive all right. Thanks to you. You saved me. Saved us. But um…”

She covers her face with her hands and casts her gaze up at the roof of my quarters. Try as I might, I cannot pull my eyes away from her to look at what must have her attention.

I know there is nothing up there except dead space.

“Humans don’t usually do… Our saliva doesn’t do what yours does.”

As I thought.

Maybe this is making her uncomfortable.

“I am almost finished.”

Her throat moves and she jerks her chin downward a few times.

Still, her gaze is fastened to the roof.

She refuses to look at me.

But I cannot resist the meal that is in front of—

I have to shake the thought from my head.

Adee’ra is not a meal. She is not something for me to consume…

My sazi throbs in disagreement as if it knows exactly how it wants to consume this soft being before me.

It feels even more erect than usual.

“Fer’ro?”

I have paused for too long, staring at her, and Adee’ra pulls her gaze from the roof to look at me.

“Just…just be careful ok. I trust you but…”

And that sweet scent, the one I am drawn to. Sweet with hints of spice.

It grows as I stare at her triangle of fur.

Ignoring my urges, I foolishly bend toward that sweet scent and run my tongue over a scratch that goes up her inner thigh.

By the Gods…

A thrum builds within me so hard I’m unable to hold it back and I thrum against her leg, so close, so so close to the fur that this scent seems to be emanating from.

Her core.

Adee’ra gasps and jerks a little beneath me.

“Fe—Fer’ro?” My name shudders on the breath that comes from her lips.

But I can’t stop myself now. I want more.

I know what this intoxicating scent is now.

It’s her mating scent.

Adee’ra is fertile and it is calling me to hunt her, to catch her, to claim her, to fill her with my seed.

Another growl escapes me and my sazi throbs almost painfully as I lick Adee’ra’s inner thigh again. This time she squirms.

I wonder if she will let me…

I wonder if she is hurting there too…

There’s a wound even closer to the source of that sweet, sweet scent.

“Okay, maybe we should sto—”

Before she can finish speaking, I lick the wound and the tip of my tongue brushes against that triangle of fur.

“Fuck!” Her body arches off the feathers but she doesn’t get to thrash around because my arms are over her legs.

I do not remember climbing up between them.

But her taste…

Ecstasy bursts across my tongue and I thrum again.

“That’s my—! Fer’ro, that’s not a wound!” She wriggles and pants but that spice I now taste on my tongue has intensified.

I inhale deeply again and bury my nose into the fur.

I can feel the gods calling me home, back to Edooria.

“Fer’ro, that’s my—Your face is buried in my—”

Her skin is warm now and a whimper escapes her lips as I thrum again.

“Your suu’ci,” I say.

“My soosie?” Her throat moves and when I look up at her, her gaze darts away from me as if she is scared to face me.

But I do not smell fear.

What I smell is sweet, spicy, and inviting.

“I guess you mean that’s my cunt. I mean, you don’t seem to have a cock in the same sense as humans do but I assume you realize where your face is currently so close to right now and that you licked it by accident? That’s fine. We can pretend it never happened and we can—”

“Do you want me to stop?”

I do not want her to say no.

I’m an idiot for asking that question because if she says no now, I will be forever haunted by what could happen if I continue.

But she hasn’t answered my question.

Instead, that sweet scent emanating from beneath her fur increases and her small pink tongue flicks out of her mouth to wet her lips.

“I mean…this isn’t appropriate,” she whispers, her gaze locked with mine and her cheeks turn such a warm rosy color, it’s like her paleness is gone.

I ease back a little.

A Vullan woman is always the one to initiate if she wants a male’s attention.

She offers him food as invitation to visit her nest or she thrums to him if she is more direct.

But Adee’ra has done none of this.

She is not Vullan. I do not expect the same behavior from her.

But, in her hyu’man way, I think she is telling me she does not want this.

“Is that a no?”

Her throat moves again and her cheeks heat.

“No,” she whispers. “It’s not a no…”

Thank the gods.

Her gaze darts away from me for a second and I swear her skin gets warmer.

The room darkens as I close my eyes and a thrum vibrates from my chest.

“Good.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

ADIRA

My entire body shivers as I watch Fer’ro lean down between my legs.

I’m already aching there and when his tongue flicks over my center, my entire body jerks.

This wasn’t what I expected to be doing right now…

The morally upright person within me wants to tell him to stop, but the person right here, right now, doesn’t want him to.

His hands slide up my legs to rest at the junction of my thighs as he opens my legs, spreading them as he stares at me.

At that moment, I want to pull my legs together.

No man has ever looked at me the way Fer’ro is looking at me right now…

No man has ever observed me with such focus.

Do Vullan females even have vaginas like mine?

The thought that maybe his intense gaze is because I look strange to him has me attempting to pull my legs together.

But there is a grunt of disapproval and the vibration that fills Fer’ro’s chest and spreads through his body has me frozen, my chest heaving as I look down at him.

He makes a sound that comes off almost like a deep moan before that wicked tongue of his flicks out of his mouth again.

The sight of it makes my pussy clench and I really feel like a dirty bitch for suddenly wanting this so bad.

Fucking hell…

All I want is for him to touch me with it again.

The texture of it, the feel against my legs and my thighs as he’d licked my wounds, had made it almost impossible to lie still.

And now as I watch him run the thick pink of it over his lips, I shudder at the thought of it touching me again.

Fer’ro makes a click and a trilling sound that reminds me of a rainforest bird before his head dips.

My eyes roll back into my head as his tongue flicks over me.

It’s warm and wet, velvety but firm. There are tiny ridges running down the center and I feel each and every one of them as they move over my sensitive skin.

His tongue flicks tentatively, as if he’s tasting me. It moves through my inner lips slowly, as if he is exploring every inch of me and I fight to keep my back straight. I fight to stay still, to not move.

I grip the bedding and bite down hard on my bottom lip.

I can’t breathe and my body is stretched so taut, I can feel my muscles protesting.

It’s all I can do to not scream and thrash around. My hips strain to buck, and when he finds my clit, my body jerks upward.

The movement only slams my hips into his face and he thrums again.

And then…he’s pinning me down.

Even if I wanted to squirm now, I couldn’t.

His tongue is everywhere on my sex. Hot. Wet.

Fer’ro thrums against me and the sound, the fact he seems to be enjoying this as much as I am, makes me clench as a fresh wave of warmth spreads through me.

Fer’ro growls against me as he laps at my juices and this whole thing is so unexpected but so deliciously dirty, that I clench again.

He’s thrumming so hard that his tongue vibrates with every swipe as he licks and sucks on me.

Or maybe it’s the fact that he’s also groaning into my pussy each time he pulls his tongue back.

My hips buck against him once more and he groans again.

I can feel the pressure building within me, tumbling through my being like a freight train.

I want to warn him, but I can’t.

The words don’t come.

I open my mouth to say something but only a moan escapes.

This is wrong.

This is so very wrong.

But it feels so. Fucking. Good.

I’m panting as I reach down to touch him, my hands brushing over the thick locks at the top of his head, and Fer’ro thrums harder.

I—I’m going to come.

My legs clamp hard, squeezing tight and there’s a momentary worry that shoots through me that it might be uncomfortable for him. But Fer’ro groans against me as my mouth opens in a moan of my own—one that turns into scream as I lose control when I feel it.

Thick and wet, Fer’ro pierces me with his tongue.

The orgasm that hits me sends me into orbit.

My upper body vaults off the bed but I can’t go anywhere because Fer’ro is still holding me down.

And he’s not stopping.

I can feel his tongue inside me, digging and twisting as his mouth closes over me.

He’s lapping at my juices as I lose control of my body, my entire being, and fall back, my midsection convulsing as I jerk.

“Fer’ro.” I want to tell him to stop. That I can’t take any more. But all that escapes my lips is a moan.

The orgasm is still making my body shake. It isn’t ending and Fer’ro isn’t slowing down.

I begin to whimper as my body shakes. My pussy feels like it’s leaking hot sugar and Fer’ro isn’t hesitating to lick every drop.

“Fer’ro,” I moan again and, finally, I feel his tongue slow down.

When he looks up at me, I can’t even see his pupils anymore. It’s like looking into fire and I release at this moment, that is exactly what he is to me.

I’ve always been attracted to things that might burn me, but none like him before.

Sudden shame washes over me.

What have I just done?

Fer’ro’s tongue runs over his lips, licking the remainder of my juices from his skin and my cheeks blaze.

The fuck is wrong with me?

The world is ending. Meanwhile, Adira Mosely is getting fucked by an alien tongue the size of a grown man’s cock.

Fuck!

The object of my pleasure, and my mortification, disappears behind Fer’ro’s lips but his strange lava gaze is still on me.

I can’t tell what he’s thinking and I wonder if he’s regretting what just happened between us.

Or…does he want me to return the favor?

I clench again at that—a response that surprises me as much as what just happened between us.

The room has gone silent.

What should I say?

I open my mouth to…apologize? But the rectangle that is the door suddenly lights up, shining green.

“I must go,” Fer’ro says and his ba’clan appear again, slipping over his skin in a split second. “They need me.”

My mouth slams shut and all I can do is nod.

As Fer’ro slips from the bed, I watch him go.

He looks just as composed as he was on the first day that I met him.

But as he turns to look back at me before leaving the room, I notice his pupils are still invisible, his eyes still blazing fire.

Maybe not as composed as he seems.

Shit.

My heart is thumping in my chest as I squeeze my thighs shut to try and stop the throbbing there.

I must be a horrible person because an excited shiver is now running through me.

Is it bad that I want more?

FER’RO

My entire being is thrumming and my ba’clan pulse against me as I exit my quarters to face Ga’Var.

My womb mate sniffs and his gaze grows livid as his teeth pull back from his lips.

“You did not.”

I pretend I do not know what he is referring to and begin making my way to the bridge, but I know he can smell it too.

Even with my ba’clan back in place, Adee’ra’s scent is all over me.

There had been no time to cleanse myself before exiting my quarters without Ga’Var walking in.

Privacy isn’t something shared between us Vullan.

But as soon as I sensed his presence outside my quarters, I knew I did not want him to see Adee’ra.

Not with her bare…

Not with that pink flush all across her body…

Not with her body still quivering from the feel of my tongue against her treasured bits.

So, I had to leave hastily, without first visiting the cleansing station.

Rek…I do not wish to remove her scent anyway.

“You mated the female?” Ga’Var’s steps sound beside me and I stop in my tracks.

“She is not just the female.”

She is mine. I know that now.

But that’s not something I want to disclose just yet.

We are still on an unknown planet and confusing things are happening, like my lack of control, the fact some of my ba’clan have migrated from my being to Adee’ra…

Ga’Var steps closer. “I thought we agreed to not advance on the females. They are not like Vullan women. They are not as aggressive. Not as strong. They cannot take us. For you to force yourself on one when she does not want you…”

My womb mate takes a step closer and it is like he wants to kill me.

I sense his aggression even without facing him.

“What has gotten into your head, Fer’ro? When the others hear of this, and they will hear—her scent is all over you—they will be enraged. You of all people know we do not force—”

“I did not force her.”

Ga’Var nictitates at me, his ears twitching as he sniffs again.

“It is a mating scent I smell. I am positive because it makes me want to find the female and—”

A growl leaves my throat.

One moment, I am standing non-threateningly, and the other my hackles are out and Ga’Var is pinned against the corridor wall.

Surprise widens his features.

“Adee’ra,” I click, “is mine.”

So much for not disclosing that just yet.

“She has not chosen you,” he growls back and my hold on him loosens a bit.

He is right.

I practically held her legs open so I could have her.

So I could taste her.

I stifle a thrum at the memory of her soft folds, but her scent is still on my skin, my lips.

I want more.

“You are my womb mate, Fer’ro. But if you have forced the hyu’man…”

I let him go and he staggers a little. “I did not take her,” I say as I put my hackles away.

At least…not with my sazi. But I rekking wanted to.

“You are my womb mate. Why lie to me? I can scent her on your skin.”

“It is not what it seems,” I turn away from him. “There are more important things anyway. We must deal with those first. It won’t take long for the Gryken to realize we are here. We can’t linger.”

I can feel him watching me as I walk away but his words remain on my mind.

Adee’ra did not choose me.

I can only hope that she will.

Because I know now. I want her and nobody else is going to have her.

She is mine.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

ADIRA

I’m warm and snug when I wake and I realize I must have fallen asleep.

It feels like someone is hugging me all across my body, holding me tight in a comforting hold.

Fer’ro.

My eyes flick open and I squint a little.

But as I come awake I realize there is someone standing before me.

Fer’ro…which means he’s not the one holding me.

My eyes jerk open fully then and my head flashes to the side as I look behind me. But I am alone on the bed.

As soon as I turn back to look at Fer’ro, I know something is wrong.

There is alarm in his gaze. Confusion. Wariness.

In the back of mind, I’m surprised at myself for being able to identify his emotions so clearly but the fact they are there concerns me more.

I almost do not want to follow his gaze but I do so anyway, tipping my chin so I am looking down at myself.

The skin along my arms crawls as soon as I see myself and I shoot upright into a sitting position.

My entire body right up to my neck is covered in black.

The ba’clan.

My eyes are wide as my heart hammers against my chest.

“What’s happening? They weren’t like this before I fell asleep.” I am almost afraid to move, as if doing so will cause something bad to happen, but my voice shivers anyway. “Did more of them migrate from you while we…”

I trail off, my cheeks growing warm at the thought.

My center still feels pleasantly sore.

“No,” he says. “Those are the same batch that migrated to you from the start.”

I’m shaking my head before the words form in my throat. “But…there weren’t so many before.”

“Correct.” His gaze roams over my body.

I’m naked…but not.

The ba’clan hide everything like some kind of skin tight latex suit.

“You have created a new colony.”

I blink at Fer’ro. “I’ve created a—what now?”

I heard him fine. I just don’t think I understand.

I don’t think I want to understand.

“A colony,” he repeats as he leans down and kneels before me, his gaze a little wider than usual.

“What do you mean?” My heart is starting to slam so hard against my ribs, I’m sure he can hear it. “You have to break it down to me like I’m a child. I don’t—”

“A new colony from the ba’clan that migrated to you.” His voice holds a note of wonder. “This only happens when…”

I gulp. My mind is screaming that I should get them off me but it’s a strange experience.

I can’t really feel them.

The sensation of being hugged it slowly going away.

I’m looking at myself, noticing that not an inch of skin is free, when I realize Fer’ro stopped talking.

My gaze flashes to his and he is staring at me as if I’m the fifth wonder of the universe.

“Fer’ro…is this a bad thing?”

The ba’clan haven’t harmed me yet but back then, they’d simply been on my arm.

If I’d had to lose an arm because of them, that could have been something I got used to. But now they’re over my entire body and, well, there’s no me if I have no body anymore.

“I…do not think so,” he says. “They will not harm you.” His gaze is moving over my skin—or, at least, the ba’clan that have fastened themselves to me.

“How do they feel?”

I try to calm my breathing and focus.

I can’t really feel…anything and that makes me nervous.

The aches that had been all over my body from the cuts and scrapes…I can’t feel even one of them.

I feel as good as I’d felt before the orbs crashed down from the sky.

“I feel…good.”

Fer’ro’s ears twitch a little and as his gaze continues to move over me, it pauses at the center of my thighs.

My cheeks warm and I feel the ba’clan pulse against my skin, as if they can sense my embarrassment.

They’ve covered me there fully too, hiding my nakedness.

I blink at them.

I couldn’t manage to get them off my arm before…what if I need to pee?

Fer’ro must have read my mind because he answers my question without me speaking.

“Tell them to move,” he says.

I blink at him. It can’t be that easy.

If that was the case, why hadn’t he suggested that from the start when they were on my arm?

“Just…tell them to move?”

Fer’ro isn’t focused on me. His gaze is still roving over the blank ink that’s all over me now.

“Move,” I say, but my brow furrows when nothing happens.

There’s a soft sound. A soft trill that comes from Fer’ro and when I look back at him, his ears twitch a little.

“With your mind. Tell them to move.”

I’m frowning at him now. Surely, that won’t work, but I do it anyway.

Move.

Nothing happens.

“I don’t think they work with me the same way they do with you.”

“They have bonded with you. To have formed a brand-new colony…” His gaze travels over me some more. “Tell them to move again. Do not say the thought,” he meets my gaze, “instead…think of them moving away.”

I nod at him a little as I try to understand what he’s trying to tell me to do.

Think of them moving away.

Like…imagine them?

I’m so nervous, it’s a conscious effort to calm myself.

I imagine the ba’clan moving away from my privates in much the same way I see them move like water across Fer’ro’s skin.

I don’t even feel it as they move away but my eyes widen as I see my skin being revealed.

I realize, belatedly, that I’ve just bared my privates in front of him once more.

Fer’ro growls and the seal closes, covering me again.

My heart slams against my chest.

I do not know what to think.

I just controlled an alien lifeform.

Fer’ro’s pupils are growing thinner as he rises and takes a step away from me.

He growls again and I barely see the tip of his tongue as he swipes it against the line of his lip.

I gulp, my heart slamming against my chest for a whole other reason now.

“I must fetch He’rox,” he says.

“No!”

I slip off the bed and almost stumble when my foot touches the floor.

Standing feels different. My weight feels different.

It almost feels like I’m floating a little.

I’m filing all this away in the back of my mind as I face Fer’ro.

“He’rox needs to tend to Mina. I can go to him. I don’t want him to leave the med bay for non-emergencies.”

“That is unwise.” Fer’ro isn’t looking at me and as I take a step closer I notice the most curious thing.

Within his nose is a membrane. I only see it now because he is using it to block his nostrils.

“My brethren have not seen you yet. They may be…alarmed.”

I glance down at myself then. Maybe I can tell the ba’clan to disappear like Fer’ro does, but when I try, nothing happens.

“They cannot seep into your skin the way they do for us. They have existed with my people for eons. We have evolved together. Our skin is thicker than yours. With you, they have no place to go.”

Makes sense.

Instead, I imagine them forming a narrow column along my spine and I’m amazed when they disappear from over my skin.

“How are they doing that? How do they know what I’m thinking?”

But I am naked again and Fer’ro doesn’t seem to have heard what I just asked.

Instead, he thrums.

It’s a sexy sound that makes my gaze dart to his and I can feel my center throb as images of what we did possibly only hours ago flood my mind.

“I do not wish for my brethren to cast their eyes on you when you are bare either.”

His voice is so low, almost possessive, and I have to strain to hear him.

But he is right.

It’s not like I want to walk outside this room naked either.

At that thought, the ba’clan spread over me again, covering me in a split second.

Fer’ro turns to face the door and I see his ba’clan ripple across his broad back.

“I will get He’rox.”

I don’t even protest this time.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

FER’RO

There are many strange scents surrounding Adee’ra and one by one, I am noting what they mean.

That strange scent that had been faint before, the one Ga’Var had scented while in that forest, it is here again.

I know what it is now.

Need.

I scented it distinctly when she became bare and looked at me.

My chest puffs at the thought that maybe, just maybe, this small hyu’man being wants me as much as I now know that I want her.

But first, I must determine what is happening to her with the ba’clan.

No other beings in star systems close to ours have been able to bond with our ba’clan.

What makes the hyu’mans so special?

But then again, it is not all the hyu’mans that have this ability.

Only Adee’ra.

Sa’am and Mee’na did not attract any ba’clan.

As I pass some of my brethren along the corridors, they glance my way and click greetings low in their throats.

Their faces appear composed but I do not miss the way their ears twitch or the discreet sniffing that occurs as I pass.

They should be busy getting things ready so we can head to a location we found on this planet’s surface.

A place to create a base.

A place to hide while we gather resources to build enough weapons to take down the Gryken.

Our ship is cloaked. The Gryken cannot detect us yet and scans show there are none nearby.

But all is not as it seems. There is no time to become complacent.

They should not be concerned with where I’ve had my face recently, or what I do with my tongue.

But even as they walk away, clicks communicating curiosity low in their throats, I cannot deny that I…enjoy this.

I enjoyed sharing that time with Adee’ra.

I hope she wishes for me to lick her wounds again.

Soon.

As soon as I reach the med bay and activate the door, I am greeted with the serious, unfriendly face of He’rox.

Behind him, the med bay is back to normal. Nothing is out of place to signal the chaos that had been unleashed within it and the dead Gryken is nowhere to be seen.

He’rox is probably responsible for that.

He possibly has the body preserved somewhere.

For…studying.

“I have been waiting for you,” he says and my ears twitch a little.

He says nothing more, but I know exactly what he means.

He’d seen Adee’ra’s arm earlier.

I am sure of it.

Nothing ever seems to pass him.

“Where is the female?” He glances behind me and realizes Adee’ra is not there.

“Come.” I turn and the only indication that the male is following me is the almost inaudible hiss of the door as it slips back into place behind him.

“Have the others seen…the anomaly?” he asks.

“I am not sure.”

If Ga’Var and San’ten noticed, they haven’t commented on it. That in itself is curious.

“What do you make of it?”

My ba’clan writhe a little, sending a tickle up the back of my neck.

There is a certain tone in his clicks and I stop in the middle of the corridor to turn and look at him.

“She will not be one of your little experiments, He’rox.” My gaze slips down his pale body. “We already know what happens when you get…overzealous.”

I see the moment his pupils narrow and immediately regret my words.

But they need to be said, lest he’s forgotten the past.

His jaw clenches as his teeth bare a little as he clicks a response through them.

“Understood…captain.”

My ba’clan bristle a little at the sudden formality in his tone.

We walk the rest of the way in silence, everything about the past few clicks, of Adee’ra, repeating in my mind.

When we arrive at the entrance to my quarters, I pause.

Inside is filled with the beautiful scent of suu’ci and mating—like the small, perfect little hyu’man female I have locked inside.

It is suddenly a bad idea bringing He’rox here.

He clicks behind me, sensing my thoughts.

“I already smell the mating on you. Don’t be stupid. I do not want for any female. I never have.” He pauses. “I never will.”

There is bitterness in the last few words and I am left with no choice but to open the door.

So I do it.

Adee’ra’s sweet scent flows through the air as soon as we step in.

It is a surety. It no longer smells like my quarters anymore. The scent is almost alien. But…I like it.

I thrum low, ignoring He’rox’s presence as I catch sight of her.

She is standing by the feathers, her wide eyes moving from me to He’rox.

“By the gods…” He’rox steps forward. “Impossible.”

Adee’ra’s gaze darts to me. She cannot understand him for he speaks in our tongue.

His ba’clan need more time to assimilate the human language.

Either that, or he doesn’t care to learn it.

“He is surprised,” I translate for her.

“Good surprised? Bad surprised?”

He’rox is standing in front of her now and he is so large, she looks frightfully small beside him.

The size difference catches me off guard.

Is that what she looks like beside me?

He’rox and I are almost the same size.

I am aware she is small, but…

Suddenly, my womb mate’s concerns don’t seem to stem from jealously only.

Possibly, Ga’Var is genuinely concerned about Adee’ra’s safety.

There is no way Adee’ra could take me if we mated.

She is not only too frail. She is too small.

“When did this happen?” He’rox clicks, his gaze moving over Adee’ra’s symbiote-clad body. “Tell me everything.”

ADIRA

They’re discussing me as if I’m not standing right here.

Every now and then, Fer’ro will translate something so I can understand but I can sense he is leaving out a lot and that the conversation is getting heated.

Apparently, these…things that have now covered my entire body don’t usually attach themselves to new lifeforms, not even on their planet.

The ba’clan have always coexisted with the Vullan and the Vullan only.

The medic wants to run tests and Fer’ro is against it.

They argue about this for several minutes, with the white one getting so heated, that his tentacles begin to curl.

“She is fine. Healthy. Unharmed. The ba’clan will not harm her. They would have done so already.” Fer’ro speaks in English and I know he does this for my benefit. But his words chill me.

They would have done so already…

A sliver of fear runs up my spine at those words and the ba’clan on my back bristle as if they can sense what I am feeling.

It’s not the first time they’ve reacted to me…my emotions.

I’ve seen what they can do too. They seem to be able to react, transform themselves on a whim.

I’ve seen them move from dangerous sharp blades to creating a cocoon that we hid beneath.

Fer’ro is right. If they meant to harm me, wouldn’t they have killed me already?

As the two aliens before me argue, sharp clicks echoing in the room, I turn away from them, my gaze on my hands.

Have I somehow caused them to want to live on me like some parasite? What do these things want with me?

What do you want?

It’s a thought, but the ba’clan bristle against me anyway.

For a moment, I pause, not sure if they are reacting to something else or the question I asked in my head.

Do you want to kill me?

There’s a pulse against my chest, over my heart, and my gaze falls to the spot.

It’s a comforting sort of pulse. I don’t know how I know this, but I get the distinct feeling that the answer is no.

Then what do you want? Why come to me?

I do not get any pulses this time. Maybe my question was too complicated.

If you don’t want to kill me, what do you want? I swallow hard and lick my lips. I’m almost scared to project the next question.

Do you intend to harm me in any way?

Nothing.

Do you want to help me?

Pulse.

My chest heaves as I slowly settle on the thought that the ba’clan are communicating with me.

I am speaking, communicating, with a faceless alien entity that has cloaked me entirely.

An entity that wants to help me.

I wonder what they mean by that but, instead of the fear that should be there, I am…calm.

I turn toward Fer’ro and He’rox, about to tell them what I’ve just realized when time slows before me.

My eyes widen. My mouth falls open as air leaves my lungs.

Something is coming toward me through the air.

Something metallic.

Something sharp.

Straight for my chest.

I only have a moment of realization before a wall of black suddenly appears before me, catching the object within it.

My heart stops.

I don’t know what the fuck just happened until I hear a roar and the shield before me falls. The object drops to my feet with a dull sound.

My brain must be slow because everything is happening too quickly.

Realization dawns in the slow seconds that I watch the sudden chaos unfold.

Fer’ro is airborne, his arms around He’rox’s throat as they both slam into the wall.

My gaze drops to the object that had been coming toward me and I realize it’s one of those strange metal instruments I’d seen in the med bay.

It dawns on me then.

He’rox…attacked me. And the ba’clan…they created a wall. They stopped the attack. They saved me.

Fer’ro is all spikes and fire as he throws the other male across the room.

He glances my way, probably to check that I am okay, before he launches himself at He’rox again.

But what is strange is that He’rox isn’t in his battle form at all.

He is staring at me and I’m no pro at reading their expressionless features, but he doesn’t look hostile in the least.

What in the actual hell?

“I was right,” he says, IN ENGLISH.

He’s answered by another roar that echoes against the walls as Fer’ro grasps him once more, lifting him off the ground.

“Don’t you dare speak to her after what you just attempted!”

A large blade forms in Fer’ro’s suit and he plants the tip at the base of He’rox’s neck.

He’rox doesn’t look fazed in the least.

His gaze is still on me and what looks like awe shines in those slitted blue eyes of his.

“Wait,” I whisper.

It is so low, I’m surprised Fer’ro even hears me over his own snarling.

I take a step forward and Fer’ro voice booms. “Don’t come any closer, Adee’ra.” He presses He’rox into the wall some more. “I cannot promise you his blood will not spill on you after I slice him in two.”

I stop in my tracks, my gaze on He’rox.

“What do you mean by ‘I was right?’ What do you mean by that?”

He’rox’s tentacles move a little. “I didn’t mean to scare you, little hyu’man, but I knew they would protect you.”

It feels like his blue gaze is boring through my soul.

“This is a—” he clicks the rest of the sentence and I’m left wondering what he means.

But Fer’ro stiffens a little and growls. “Impossible. A—” he clicks the same word “—is impossible.”

“A what? What are you talking about?”

When Fer’ro drops his blades and releases He’rox, the male falls to the floor but he doesn’t take his eyes off me.

He’rox’s stare is unnerving, as if I am some strange specimen he has just discovered.

“The start of a new Vullan era,” he says.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

FER’RO

He’rox almost lost his life energy this day.

To pull such a stunt on my Adee’ra…I should cripple him anyway.

I keep my back to Adee’ra as I focus all my rage at the male in front of me.

I do not want her to see me like this because I know what I look like.

Death.

So I force my hackles down as He’rox’s words repeat in my mind.

A new era…

“You are special,” He’rox clicks to Adee’ra. “Maybe you all are.”

I growl at him. “Quiet. You do not get to speak to her.” I feel my ba’clan harden, ready if I choose to attack once more. “You do not get to speak to her after what you just did. You are lucky I do not erase you from her presence permanently.”

His ears twitch as he looks at me and I watch as they fall back against his head in shame.

“You are right to be angry. But it was the best way to test my theory.”

“And if your theory was wrong?” I take a step toward him and have to physically restrain myself from grasping his throat once more.

“My instrument would not have pierced her. It is but a plas-copy made to look like the real thing. A slight bruise is all that would have come of the attack.”

I bristle still and a growl escapes my lips.

“Do I look like I care?”

He’rox’s ears twitch at the sides of his head and his tentacles flex a little. “You do not.”

His gaze moves to Adee’ra.

She is silent. Listening to us. But I am purposefully speaking in our language because I do not want her to hear what this insane male before me had suggested.

That…Adee’ra is my soul-tie.

“You see the evidence before you,” He’rox says. “You know what I say is true.” He pauses and rises to his full height. “Edooria is destroyed. The symbiotes need to continue their species…as do we. They are beginning to solve a problem we were not sure how to tackle.”

Slowly, my hackles rise a little. It is only Adee’ra’s calm presence at my back that keeps them restrained.

I extend my senses toward her and inhale deeply when her warmth, her softness, and her scent engulf me.

She is mine and if what He’rox suggests is true, the tiny hyu’man behind me will be mine forever.

“Adee’ra,” I fight to keep my voice level, unaffected. “Are you harmed?”

I know she is not. The symbiotes she holds are connected to mine.

I would have felt it if she was harmed.

“No, I’m fine. The ba’clan, they…they created some sort of shield.”

Working in unison to protect the host.

They have bonded with her neural column.

I do not know how to tell her this—that it’s also the reason she can command them with her thoughts.

“How do you feel?”

I hear when she swallows hard and I want to look at her but I am still not sure I can control myself.

Instead, I focus on He’rox, because rage is something I am used to feeling.

What Adee’ra is awakening within me is something I have never felt before.

“I feel…great.” She says the last word with some surprise in her voice.

“Good,” He’rox clicks. “No adverse effects. A tenacious race of beings. Not strong…” His gaze slips over Adee’ra and I feel my lips pulling back from my teeth. But He’rox continues as if he is dumb, which he is not. “Weak. Frail…”

My growl has him glancing my way.

“But adaptable,” he says. “Possibly that is the strength of this race. The speed at which the symbiotes have adapted to hyu-mankind is astonishing.”

He is looking at Adee’ra with such interest now that I hiss at him.

“Do not worry,” his tentacles curl as he glances my way, “I know. I will not study her.”

“Good,” I click.

Things just got much more complicated. There is a lot I have to consider now with this new revelation.

But I do not get the chance to head in that direction, for my thoughts are put on hold as the entrance to my quarters lights up.

Ga’Var.

Rekking horrible timing my womb mate has.

The green rectangle pulses for a bit before the opening materializes to reveal the large outline of my womb mate.

He is the last being I want in my quarters right now.

The first thing he does is sniff the air, his gaze flying immediately to Adee’ra.

“What is this?”

My teeth pull back even more at the accusation in his tone. I am already on edge. So much so, that my hackles rise.

“Nothing to be concerned about, womb mate.”

He takes a step inside and the door closes behind him.

I will have to make a rule that no one gets to enter my quarters uninvited anymore.

I have a female here with me now, because there’s no way I’m allowing Adee’ra to rest elsewhere in this ship.

“What is the meaning of this?” Ga’Var asks again, his gaze fastened on Adee’ra. “She is…”

Before I can respond, Adee’ra speaks up.

“I can’t understand you, though I really wish I could. Something seems to be happening here that involves me yet I have no idea what the hell you all are saying.” She steps forward, ignoring my hackles, and meets my gaze.

I feel myself calming just looking down at her.

“I know you’re probably not speaking English because you don’t want to scare me or something, but I promise you, nothing you say right now would surprise me.”

She reaches toward me and my hackles flatten.

Ga’Var clicks disapproval.

I ignore him.

“Speak so she can understand,” I say.

When I turn my attention to Ga’Var, he is scowling at me. “You had the female assimilated?” His dark eyes grow richer with rage and I can almost feel the jealously emanate from him. “You mated with her and shared your colony?”

He is speaking in Adee’ra’s language and she understood every word.

Her eyes widen a little.

“We didn’t—” Her skin is warm again. “We didn’t mate.”

“Not yet,” He’rox clicks and I am glad he didn’t speak so she can understand.

Ga’Var sniffs the air again. “Smells like mating to me. The whole ship can smell your activities.”

Adee’ra’s eyes widen so much and then she is staring at me. “What?”

My symbiotes flutter a little with the sudden pleasure I am feeling just remembering the feel of my tongue in her slit. But she does not seem to like the memory.

The thought of what we shared. She wishes to hide it.

My ears flatten at the realization and that thrum of pleasure that was building within me dies.

Adee’ra is ashamed of what we shared.

“Everybody knows?”

Ga’Var sniffs again. “Everyone that came in contact with my womb mate knows he’s been feasting on suu’ci and now they are wondering if the other female is seeking a mate too. Now, everyone is wondering—”

I growl, stopping the words in his throat. “Enough. Why did you come here? I left you on the bridge.”

Ga’Var doesn’t pull his gaze away from Adee’ra even though he is speaking to me.

There is disappointment in his eyes.

“We are in trouble,” he says.

I wait for him to go on, impatience making my ba’clan rise a little.

“We have spotted a Scrit.”

Silence falls in the room.

“How far?”

Ga’Var clicks the distance and I bristle again.

It is close. Close enough to see if we go and stand on the bridge.

“We don’t have enough power for another beam,” he says.

“I know that. Even still, we cannot attack another Scrit. Not yet. We have killed two Gryken. That should sate the crew’s need for blood for a few days. We need to set up a base first.”

“Affirmative.”

“We have to stay cloaked.”

“Affirmative.”

I bristle again. He is being difficult.

“Then why did you come here? Do not engage.”

Ga’Var turns to me then and I finally see the extent of the anger and jealousy in his eyes.

“We have no choice. We have to do something. The Scrit is scanning.”

The air freezes between us and through the corner of my eye, I notice He’rox moving toward Adee’ra.

She does not retreat.

Instead, I notice her symbiotes bristle.

They are ready to attack if she chooses to—even if she chooses not to. They do not trust He’rox now after his little stunt.

Still, I growl at He’rox and he stops in his tracks.

“A node has died nearby. Of course, they are scanning,” he says. “Gryken don’t just die. We know this.”

“That doesn’t mean they will detect us,” I say. My voice deepens in anger as I speak to him and I click a warning tone too low for Adee’ra to hear.

Don’t you rekking go any closer to her or you will lose one of your limbs.

He pauses. Watching me.

“But…” Ga’Var says.

I growl once more, this time at my womb mate.

I know what he is suggesting.

If we do not do something, the Scrit will realize what happened to the node sooner or later and it will inform the others. We are not ready for such a situation

“We can keep it here,” He’rox suggests as if reading our minds and I glance his way. His tentacles are almost shivering with glee.

“Keep it here?” Ga’Var almost roars at him and from the corner of my eyes, I can see Adee’ra glancing from one of us to the other in confusion.

“That would mean capturing it alive. No one is that stupid.” Ga’Var looks my way for support in his statement but I cannot provide it.

He’rox is correct.

If it sends a signal to the hive mind, we can squash our hopes for a quiet, calculated, attack.

We have to capture the thing.

Ga’Var’s hackles rise as he steps toward me, his lips pulling back but they fall in the next second.

I don’t understand why until I sense Adee’ra standing in front of me.

She is staring up at him with a look I’ve seen in those wide eyes of hers before.

Resilience.

“I’m with, Fer’ro,” she says and I don’t know what emotion I should feel.

“This is my planet. Earth is the only home we humans know. If we have to catch one of these fuckers to allow you guys to do your thing, then we’ll have to catch one of these fuckers,” she says.

We are all taken back for a moment because none of us say a word.

She just suggested the Gryken mating with us…with them.

Fuckers.

The horror she must have seen while stuck in the Scrit’s belly.

Images from Edooria flash in my head.

I know what she experienced. What she saw.

It fuels the same hatred I feel for the Gryken that emanates from her now.

But then she says something that makes my blood organ halt.

“Tell me what needs to be done. I want to help.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

ADIRA

I walk toward the door before any of the males can protest because I can feel it on the tips of their tongues that they are about to tell me no.

That I should stay in the safety of Fer’ro’s quarters.

That I should sit back and watch how this plays out.

No.

I refuse to.

I had family.

Friends.

A life.

Lived on a beautiful planet I took for granted.

That’s all gone now because of those bastards walking the surface, destroying everything.

The door slides open as soon as my ba’clan interact with it and I step into the corridor.

It is dim, as it was when I first entered the ship, and it takes a moment for my eyes to adjust.

I head in one direction without knowing where I am going.

I’ll find the bridge somehow.

I want to see this thing.

I don’t know where this bravery is coming from. I don’t know if it’s the now constant, comforting pulse of the ba’clan against my skin, but I feel the most empowered that I’ve felt since this whole ordeal began.

I feel like I have the chance to fight this thing.

Footsteps sound behind me, almost silent, and I know the three males follow.

I am in the lead and as we come upon a set of Vullan, they stop in their tracks and stand to the side as we pass.

My heart flutters in my chest.

I can feel their eyes on me.

The question in their gazes.

The only thing I wear are the ba’clan and I get now what Fer’ro said about them.

They feel like they are a part of me—an extension of myself.

As if I can now do things I couldn’t before.

We are coming up on an intersection of corridors and my steps falter.

“Left,” Fer’ro says.

I jerk my chin in a nod and continue in the direction he indicated.

We pass more Vullan.

More confused stares.

No one says a thing.

Or, if they do speak, I cannot hear.

It’s not long before I come upon a flat black wall.

It looks like a dead end.

Fer’ro finally steps forward. His hand hovers above the wall as he looks down at me.

Our gazes lock and I have to swallow hard.

There’s a lot we need to talk about and as his gaze slips over my face to fall on my lips, images of him between my legs spring up like a jack-in-the-box.

I have to pull my gaze away.

I can’t think about that now.

Especially since I now know they can smell my arousal.

I’m a vet. Was a vet.

Such an idea isn’t alien to me…or strange…

Lots of animals are scent-based.

It’s just that…such a small difference between us highlights that these beings, the Vullan, are nothing like us humans.

An opening materializes and like a bell rang, everyone on the bridge turns to look our way.

It’s a vast room with a flat black control panel at the front.

Dim lights string the roof and the walls.

There is a wide viewing screen at the front and a single seat in the center on a raised level above the controls.

But even though the room is amazing, I find myself meeting the gazes of the Vullan there.

Their ba’clan had been rising before we entered but as soon as we step into the room, each and every one of them lower their blades, their eyes on me.

My heart thumps against my chest.

It is clear to me now that I am an anomaly. Me and the ba’clan that coat me are not normal.

But that is something we have to focus on at another time, for straight ahead, through the fog of cloud cover the ship floats between, I see the terror that landed on planet Earth and seeks to destroy it.

I take one step forward, and then another.

The Vullan move out of my way.

I hear clicks in their throat. Hums. Thrums. But none of them stop me.

I keep walking till I’m in front of the dark control panel, my gaze ahead of us.

The Scrit is steadily making its way toward us, its huge metal legs lifting and falling, crushing everything beneath it.

I sense Fer’ro at my side. I don’t need to look. I know it is him.

“So,” I continue to stare forward, “how do we catch this thing?”

No one has any idea.

No one says a word until He’rox comes to stand at my other side.

“There’s only one way I can think of,” he says. “One way to capture a living Gryken while still keeping our presence here a secret.”

I glance up and the blue-eyed Vullan is looking down at me.

By my side, Fer’ro hisses low.

“No,” he says.

He’rox doesn’t lift his gaze from mine. “There is only one way,” he repeats.

I get the sense that he is saying I’m the only way. But I have no idea how I can take down that huge machine.

Nothing we ever tried had been capable of doing it.

I didn’t even know the machines could be destroyed till the Vullan came. They know that right?

I lick my lips even as Fer’ro’s hiss becomes louder beside me.

“I guess that involves me, right?”

Well, I’d said I wanted to help.

That wasn’t a lie.

I turn my gaze back to the Scrit as it walks in the distance.

There’s not a lot of time to think about this. I’m either going to do something or not.

As I turn my gaze back to He’rox, I steel myself against whatever he is going to say.

Whatever I have to do, I will do it.

The moment I look at him, I know he understands my will.

His hands appear from behind his back as if he’d been hiding something there all along.

Two small balls of swirling blue and white light.

I swallow hard as I look at them.

“What are those?”

“The key,” he says.

“And you,” he continues, “you are the deliverer.”

I stare at him, his words settling in my mind as I try to understand exactly what he’s getting at.

Meanwhile, behind me, a large shadow is looming.

Fer’ro.

He leans over me, his snarl directed at He’rox. “You have got to be rekking insane.”

He’rox looks back out of the view screen, his gaze landing on the Scrit.

“It is the only way. How else will we prevent it from knowing we are here?”

I gulp as I watch the thing approaching.

There is so much tension in the room, I can feel it all around me.

“What do you want me to do?”

FER’RO

This is a stupid, stupid, stupid idea.

I clench my jaw as I watch Adee’ra walk forward through the rocky terrain.

I am camouflaged, hidden against one of the large boulders and so are some of my brethren.

She is bare.

Barefoot.

Vulnerable as she walks toward the towering monstrosity that is the Gryken vessel.

I clench my fist as I watch her move bravely forward. I clench it so hard, the rock cracks underneath my hand.

Her hands are behind her, holding the two things, the energy bombs, that we hope can take down the Scrit without destroying it completely.

For we need its pilot alive.

And that is the only reason Adee’ra is heading toward it.

She shivers and glances back, her hair blowing in the wind.

She is looking directly at me but I know she cannot see me.

My ba’clan have taken the form of my surroundings.

I am invisible.

I see the fear in her eyes, I can smell it, yet she continues to walk forward.

For herself.

For her people.

For us.

If this goes wrong…

The thought almost makes me shift from my position to go after her.

This was a stupid idea.

I should never have agreed to it.

But a hand on my arm stops me.

Ga’Var.

He clicks low in his throat. “Wait.”

Wait?

Wait?!

Wait while I watch the one good thing I’ve found in all this chaos to sacrifice herself?

But Adee’ra’s spine is straight and her fear scent is disappearing.

The Scrit is almost above us and I sense the moment it spots her.

My ba’clan writhe in agitation, almost losing their camouflage.

There is a moment when the air stills, and all I can see is Adee’ra. Her small, pale frame stands out against the brown of her planet.

She looks up at our enemy with a fierceness that makes my brethren thrum low in battle song.

I sense her strength and for a moment I want to believe in it.

That this stupid, stupid plan will work.

But then the Scrit sounds.

The air vibrates around us as its leg descends and grabs her.

There is a high-pitched scream as Adee’ra is lifted into the air and for a long second, my world begins to crumble once more before my eyes.

The Scrit brings her toward itself and she is suddenly facing the dome.

A single small being against the monster.

Adee’ra stares at it, and I don’t need to smell her fear. I can feel it.

My blood organ lurches in my chest.

I do not hear it till seconds later.

My name in the wind.

As if she can sense my growing anxiety. The fact that everything within me wants to disclose our location, our presence, to come and take her from the enemy’s grasp.

“Fer’ro!” Adee’ra shouts my name. “Wait!”

She knows me better than I assume.

Ga’Var’s hand tightens on my arm as we watch the Scrit deposit her within its belly.

Immediately, I know this is a mistake. I should have taken her place.

But no Vullan can trick a Gryken into thinking they are human.

Our life signatures are different.

As soon as the Gryken spotted me, it would have known we are here and everything we have worked for so far, all our plans, everything would have been in vain.

So I watch my soul tie being deposited into the belly of the beast and somehow I keep myself from rushing to her.

I watch as she falls within it, feel my ba’clan stretch and pull against me, trying to get to her.

To help her.

Restraint, I tell myself. Restraint!

Just a few more seconds…

Adee’ra will enact the plan. She will detonate the energy bombs. And then I can go and get her.

Just a few more seconds…

But nothing happens.

The huge leg of the Scrit slams down around us.

Something is wrong.

That’s when I see it fall through the sky.

Like the signal that my world is indeed ending…

Realization hits.

The bomb.

The energy bomb is falling.

It must have slipped from Adee’ra’s grasp when the Scrit lifted her.

As another of its legs slam down around us, my pupils widen in horror.

The energy bomb fell from her grasp!

It was the only weapon we have that was small enough to get on board undetected.

The only thing we had to attack it with.

The one thing this whole plan rested on.

“Rek,” GaVar curses beside me.

I don’t think.

I act.

Symbiotes still cloaking me, I launch myself at the next leg that comes forward.

Rek the plan.

I am going after her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

ADIRA

I feel one of the bombs slip from my fingers the moment the Scrit lifts me.

Now I only have one.

Fear shoots up my spine as the Scrit drops me within itself and I fall on the hard metallic floor.

Pain is the next thing I feel. It shoots right through me and I grit my teeth against it.

Stay. Don’t move.

I have to use everything within me to tell the ba’clan to stay calm along the column of my spine.

If they rush to help me now, our cover will be blown and everyone is counting on me to do this.

To take this thing down from the inside.

But I only have one bomb.

Convincing Fer’ro to let me get this close to the thing had been hard enough.

The whole time, I was sure he wouldn’t let me off the ship.

But by some miracle, he did—on the basis that as soon as the Scrit drops me into its belly, I activate the bombs.

I grip the last one in my palm and lift my head to look around me.

Three women are huddled together, their faces drawn as they stare at me, hopelessness in their gazes.

My gaze flicks around the space and a horrible feeling develops in my belly.

I hate this place.

I hate it so much.

My stomach turns at the fact that I am once again within the belly of a machine.

But not for long.

I have to find a way to take it down.

The Vullan on the ground are counting on me.

We need this motherfucker alive and the only way to do it is to take down the Scrit without killing its pilot.

Fuck.

As I rise onto my knees, I look at the women.

None of them speak and I can see images of me, Sam, and Mina right before me. Three of us, like it is three of them.

Poor Sam. If something happens to me, she won’t even know it wasn’t the Vullan’s fault.

I’d had no time to find her and explain before He’rox came up with this reckless plan and I agreed to it.

“Where’s the pregnant one?” I ask and one of the females stares at me like she’s seen a ghost before she looks away. But not before I see the tears that brim in her eyes.

Her mouth quivers a little as she replies. “It took her a day or two ago.”

Two days.

It should want to breed someone else pretty soon.

Incubate its seed.

Wait for it to grow.

I bite my bottom lip as I scramble to the wall of the Scrit and look down.

All I can see is mud and dirt.

I can’t see the Vullan who are hiding among the rocks.

I can’t see Fer’ro.

Fuck.

I need to tell them I lost one of the bombs.

Signal to them somehow.

Shit.

I was feeling much braver when I had both of them.

According to the white Vullan, if I slam both charges against the Gryken vessel, they will create some sort of charge powerful to affect the Scrit and the Gryken within it.

I don’t know how he knows this. I didn’t ask.

But it is obvious the little bombs are something he invented.

The way he’d held them…the precise instructions he’d given me…

With both bombs, the charge would be enough to temporarily take the Scrit down and then the Vullan could make their move.

They could extract the Gryken. Put it in a sealed chamber. Take it back to the ship.

Disable it somehow.

But the plan is already failing.

My bravery is about to be for nothing, because one energy bomb cannot penetrate the Scrit enough to take it down.

At least, not from where I am.

He’rox had said I’d need both charges to create an energy bomb large enough to penetrate deep into the Scrit.

If I only have one…

My heart thumps hard, like a drum in the middle of a deep cavern. It echoes right through me.

I know what I have to do.

I need to get into the control room.

I need to get closer to the Gryken.

“Fuck!”

I slam my fist against the barrier to the outside as a lump forms in my throat.

“This is dangerous…” The words leave my mouth as a whisper that I think only I can hear. “Adira…you’re going fucking insane.”

I slam my fist against the barrier again as a groan of frustration leaves me.

I can’t believe I’m considering this.

“I know,” one of the women says. “It’s a lot to take in. Just…don’t fight it and don’t appear so…alive. It might take you.”

My head snaps around and I look at her.

“What?”

“Don’t fight it. It’s inevitable once you are taken. We just have to pray that death isn’t painful.”

“No, what did you say after that?” I turn toward her and note that her gaze slips down my nakedness.

I don’t even care.

“What did you say about appearing alive?”

She looks away from me and swallows hard.

“We notice it…takes those who fight. It’s the only reason we haven’t been taken yet. We do not hardly move. But…” her eyes tear up, “maybe our luck’s about to run out. It hasn’t been finding many females lately.”

Her gaze finds me again and I see a thread of suspicion. “I’m surprised it found you all the way out here.”

Her gaze moves over me her confusion and suspicion growing but I’m caught in the grasp of my own tangled web of thoughts.

“It takes those who fight?” I whisper.

The woman gulps and nods slightly.

“It takes those who fight.” I repeat the words as a plan hatches in my mind.

I’m standing now, my gaze travelling over the roof of the chamber.

Across from where the women sit, across the barrier, there is the usual tangle of vines.

I do not know if any Feeders are alive over there. I doubt it.

But my plan wouldn’t have included them anyway.

I don’t have much time left.

Fer’ro and the others must have realized something is wrong by now since the Scrit is continuing on its way.

I have to try and do something now before they blow their cover.

The entire human race depends on me.

This is pressure that I do not need…but I’m used to pressure.

“Back before you came, I was a doctor.” I speak loudly as I stand tall.

The sway of the Scrit does not even affect me. “I know pressure. I’ve dealt with pressure.” I’m not sure who I’m talking to, but hearing the words come from my mouth strengthens me somehow. “I wrestled a pet anaconda once.” I speak louder. “I snipped tiny rabbit bits!”

Pressure? This is no pressure.

I take a deep breath and feel the small energy bomb in my hand.

It’s about the size of a golf ball and warm.

I squeeze it as I look at the roof of the chamber and…I roar.

The sound echoes against the walls, bouncing back and forth, hurting even my ears, and I hardly note the alarm that spreads over the women’s faces.

I throw my head back and roar again.

But the Scrit walks as if nothing is happening within it.

I have to do more.

Something!

Taking a few steps back until my back touches the barrier to the outside, I take a breath and charge forward to land a kick on the other side of the compartment.

“Do something!” I kick the wall again before slamming my fist into the metal.

“I said do something! Do something you fucking asshole!”

My shouts echo as my labored breathing floods my ears.

Someone grabs one of my legs. The woman I spoke to. Her wide eyes are on me, terror etched in her features.

“What are you doing?! ARE YOU INSANE?!”

“She’s going to get herself killed,” one of the others says.

“She’s going to get us all killed!”

I shrug out of the woman’s grasp and rain a few more kicks into the wall.

“Am I alive enough for you?! Huh?!” I scream at the Gryken I now know is listening. “You might have taken everything I have, but I’m not dead yet! What are you waiting for you ugly motherfucker?!”

At the center of my back, my ba’clan pulse, and fear hits me like a brick.

The ba’clan continue pulsing and for a moment, I lose the fight within me.

This fear I’m feeling…it’s not my own.

It does not belong to me. It feels…secondary…like contracting the emotions of someone you empathize with.

My eyes widen as it hits me.

The ba’clan are pulsing so hard now, I have no doubt about it.

Fer’ro.

This is Fer’ro’s fear.

I don’t know how I know it comes from him but it’s as if I can see him in my mind.

Feel him.

But he’s on the ground out there somewhere, depending on me.

I have to make this work somehow.

“I know you are watching me!” I scream again. “I know you can hear me! I know what you are and I know why you’re here!” I turn in a half-circle as my gaze searches the roof of the compartment. “You came here and destroyed everything. Everything! You’ve taken everything from me.” I choke on those words.

It’s taken everything except my hope that we can survive this.

Before, I had nothing.

I have Fer’ro by my side now.

“Why don’t you finish the job you slimy piece of shit!” I slam my fists against the wall one more time. “Finish the job!”

Time stills as I hear a whirr above me.

My heart stops then slams against my chest as a hole in the top of the chamber opens and I see the long, all-too-familiar metal arm descend.

One of the women behind me screams and I hear them shuffle away, but I stand with my back straight, staring at the thing.

The ba’clan against my back bristle hard, as if they too are trying to get away, but somehow, I manage to stand and face the thing.

“Do it,” I say. “Take me.”

For the first time ever, I see the arm pause.

It doesn’t move to grab me immediately and fear creeps through my bones.

What if it knows?

What if it knows this is all a trap? That I’m attempting something incredibly dangerous but something that might take it down?

What if it can sense the ba’clan against my spine?

But the arm starts moving again and grasps me around the neck.

I don’t even flinch, even though my skin is crawling and every fiber of my being wants me to scream and fight.

This is a bad idea.

This is a bad, bad idea.

But I can’t turn back now.

I can’t back down.

This all depends on me.

The metal arm lifts me as the screams of the other women echo in the chamber and I swallow my fear.

I’m not fighting the claw.

I’m going willingly as my hand closes tighter over the last bomb in my hand.

I don’t know what’s on the other side of this hole.

I dread what the machine wants to do to me.

But I will survive.

I have to.

CHAPTER THIRTY

ADIRA

It’s dark where it takes me.

The hole, the tunnel the arm snakes through, seems to go on forever, but I know it can’t be that long.

But time is distorted as I move. Wrapped in terror. My own fear.

I clutch on to the claw as it pulls me forward, dimly aware that before me, there is light.

It’s dim, but enough for me to see.

It illuminates the entrance of the tunnel and the thin, clear plastic covering that seals it.

But as the arm snakes through the seal, I realize it’s not plastic at all.

It’s like thin goo.

It coats my skin as the claw pulls me through the tunnel and then…

I don’t get the chance to take a breath before I’m pulled into the water.

Water.

The entire chamber is filled with it.

I. Can’t. Breathe.

The claw releases me abruptly and snakes away somewhere, but I don’t care to watch it go.

My first instinct is to find air.

My arms flash out as I try to swim upward, but even as my body rises, fear fills my soul.

I don’t think there is a surface.

It’s clear, the water. So clear that a part of my mind realizes the dim light is actually coming from outside the Scrit.

There are lights dotting the interior too but they don’t look artificial.

They look like some form of bioluminescent plant life.

I push through the water upward. I need to reach the top. Hope there is an air pocket there. But as I move, something floats by me that stops my heart.

It’s encased in a thick membrane of what looks like the same goo that seals the entrance of the chamber.

A body.

Female.

Her belly is swollen. Movement within it.

My heart slams against my ribcage.

The other woman.

It’s the other woman.

I thought she’d be dead—I’m not sure she is alive.

There are things attached to her and I realize she’s not free-floating at all.

She’s hooked to the wall by some fleshy tendons that sway gently in the water around them.

Fear shoots up my spine and I try to move backward as I focus on where the tendons stem from.

I’m sure I’ll see the Gryken materialize there in the shadows but I am wrong.

Sudden movement comes from my right and there is no time to react.

Something thin and slimy wraps around my neck and I open my mouth in a scream.

Tentacles.

Instead of sound, all that escapes my mouth is the air my lungs desperately needs.

The bubbles float upward as I grab on to the tentacle with my free hand, but it’s incredibly strong.

And slimy.

My hand moves over it, catching no grip.

All I feel are several joints underneath the flesh of the long arm.

The Gryken.

I know it’s the monster even before its face appears before me.

Large dark eyes, bulbous in their sockets face me, and for a moment, I see death.

I forget about breathing.

I forget about life.

All I can see is this horror before me.

More of its tentacles appear behind it, fanning out into what looks like an arch of doom.

This is what hell’s gates look like.

As I grab at it, trying to find purchase, it pushes me downward.

It is strong. Stronger than it looks.

And this is its element.

More air bubbles escape my lips as we struggle.

There’s a pulsing in my head now as I’m pushed downward, as we stare at each other.

Me into the alien’s eyes. The Gryken into mine.

And then…

“You.”

In my mind I hear the word.

Like a thought.

A thought that isn’t my own.

The voice is like the hiss in my mind—one that frazzles my neurons and makes my head throb.

My eyes widen as I realize it is the Gryken speaking to me.

The pulsing in my mind doesn’t stop, and I feel my limbs going weak.

I sink, lower to the base of the chamber with the Gryken still holding on to me.

Distantly, I know my lungs are burning, but even if I want to breathe, I cannot.

I am…losing control of my body…of myself.

I’m losing control of my mind.

But I have to do this.

I cannot fail.

With the last energy left within me, I stop fighting against the arm around my neck and focus that energy toward the wall.

I push toward it, hoping the water will aid me.

We’ve sunken so low, we’re close enough for that last burst of energy to take me where I want to be.

There’s a singular moment where I know I’m going to be successful.

I meet the eyes of the Gryken.

Fuck.

You.

My arm connects with the wall and the bomb in my hand fastens to it. At the same time, there’s a surge of heat against my spine.

For a moment, the Gryken’s hold loosens a bit.

There’s a flash of clarity as I feel the warmth spread across my entire being.

Cloaking me.

The ba’clan.

I can no longer feel the water on my skin and the pulsing in my mind dims.

I can only feel them.

It is different from every other time they’ve been on my skin.

This time, I can feel their energy, and they pulse. They pulse against me as if to tell me it’s going to be all right.

Any moment now.

This has got to work.

My lungs are about to expire, but I fold my legs toward my body before pushing outward with a kick that lands in the fleshy body of the Gryken.

A hiss sounds in my head so loud that it feels like my brain cells are frying.

The Gryken releases me suddenly, just as the chamber lights up.

An energy charge so strong it’s like lightning through the water fills up the space.

I see the Gryken before me clearly.

Its body jerks within the water, its tentacles constricting, twisting, and turning as the charge goes through it.

I don’t have time to think. I push off the wall back toward that tunnel with the membrane over it.

But I don’t manage to get there.

The room turns in an awful semicircle and the hole is suddenly on top.

Gravity feels like it is pulling me down as I fight against it to swim upward.

But I’m hardly moving.

It feels like there is something pulling me back.

Because there is.

Behind me, a tentacle is wrapped around my leg.

The Gryken.

It isn’t dead.

But I knew it wouldn’t be.

The whole point of this is to capture it alive!

But there’s just one problem with that.

It’s not letting me leave here.

It’s taking me down with it.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

FER’RO

I grip on to the side of the Scrit as I climb upward.

I’ve climbed high and fast, hoping I am not too late.

But, I am.

I reach the orb the moment it takes my Adee’ra. I see her legs disappearing into the central vent.

A loud roar leaves my throat.

I’ve already blown our cover by climbing on top of the vessel.

I’ve wrecked our plans and probably our chances of saving this planet.

But the fact the Gryken hasn’t blasted me off and activated its shields…now I know why.

It’s too focused on Adee’ra.

It hasn’t noticed me.

There are other hyu’man females within the Scrit’s belly and when one of them turns and sees me, I see the moment her astral being leaves her core.

She screeches, her mouth and eyes going wide, but I cannot hear the sound.

I do not care that she is frightened.

At this moment, I only care about Adee’ra.

I scramble upward, my symbiotes preventing me from sliding off the Scrit’s smooth surface.

The Gryken within will sense me soon.

I have to hurry.

I have to rescue Adee’ra before…

I growl at the thought of the Gryken implanting its spawn within her belly and I hasten.

I reach the top of the Scrit in a matter of seconds and I can see within.

In the water the Gryken dwells. Within its chamber a being floats.

My blood organ lurches at the sight.

Adee’ra…

But it is not her.

It is another hyu’man female.

One that is bred.

About to bear young.

My gaze searches the liquid…

There is movement lower.

Pale skin fighting to get to swim higher.

Brown filaments floating behind her head.

My senses flare.

Adee’ra!

But she is not aware of my presence either.

Neither is the Gryken as it swims toward her.

It is solely focused on her and the sight of it makes my hackles rise.

It grasps her around the neck pushing her lower and another roar tears from my throat.

I raise my fist, my palm lighting up with the energy core I retrieved from the ground.

I’m about to connect my fist with the Scrit’s surface when someone holds my arm back.

“Wait!” Ga’Var clicks.

He followed me.

“No!” I cannot wait. Not this time. “She is in danger!”

“Wait!” He repeats. “Look!”

I turn my gaze back to the water when I see Adee’ra’s symbiotes activate, covering her entire being.

And then…

The interior lights up.

I’m frozen as I stare at her—at what she’s done, what she has managed to do against the odds set against her…

As the Gryken releases her and the Scrit short circuits and begins to fall, I am frozen in disbelief.

She’s done it.

The little female…

Adee’ra…has done it.

Shock tears through me at her bravery just before reality hits.

There is no time to waste.

I cannot let her efforts be in vain.

Pushing down hard, I launch myself upward, fighting the pull of the falling machine as it heads toward the ground.

I need to get to the spot above the inner core where the Scrit is the weakest.

There, I can send a final charge down through its sealed surface and get it to open.

But it is falling quickly and the moment it hits the ground, we will have only a few seconds before the Gryken regains consciousness.

I can sense my brethren on the ground below, rushing into position.

They are black streaks across the brown earth as they move.

No longer camouflaged.

Can’t waste the energy to do so.

Everything depends on catching the Gryken alive.

We have to do it now.

We have to do it quickly.

I reach the spot as I see Adee’ra swimming toward the inner vent.

But the membrane won’t open for her.

Not with the Scrit disabled.

She’s thrashing around, desperate to reach it as the Scrit flips, her cheeks puffed out as if she cannot breathe.

Because she doesn’t know that she can.

The ba’clan have sealed her entire being. Even her face and head are covered as well as her nostrils.

They will breathe for her.

But she does not know this.

A new sense of urgency fills me immediately and I activate the energy core in my hand as I slam my fist against the Scrit’s inner core.

The membrane wobbles for a moment as it absorbs the attack, before it weakens.

It’s enough for me to do the rest of the work.

I slice through it with one swing of my arm, my hackles moving through the weakened material.

Water gushes out and unto me as I dive within the machine, my focus on Adee’ra.

She’s still trying to get to the vent but she’s not going anywhere.

The Gryken.

It’s got one of its filthy tentacles on her.

The rage that fills me as I shoot forward, slicing the leg in two as I grasp Adee’ra, is rage that I have been harboring for many moons.

My arms close around my female and relief floods through me.

But all is not over yet.

As soon as my arms close around her, Adee’ra panics.

She kicks and struggles, her limbs flailing as she tries to get away from me and it is only when I spin her around and bring her toward my chest that she stops.

Her body stiffens as our eyes meet and then she relaxes against me.

But she is still trying to hold her breath and I can see the effect it is having on her.

As I hold her there, she begins struggling again, her eyes going wide.

Air.

She needs to breathe.

It is strange seeing those brown pools under the dark protection of the ba’clan and I suddenly realize how strange I must have looked to her from the start.

I spin, ready to take her upward when the entire chamber shakes.

The water shivers around us before it suddenly stills.

We’ve taken the Scrit down.

Gripping Adeer’a to my chest, I propel myself upward, back to the spot I just weakened.

It has already sealed again. It resealed the moment I slipped through it and the hackles on my arm extend toward the spot I weakened.

That’s when her body heaves against me.

Her lungs make one final attempt to pull in air, and I sense the moment she realizes she just took her first breath underwater.

Her blood organ hammers against mine as her chest heaves.

I want to share in this moment with her, this revelation, her new experience, but I cannot.

I focus on the job at hand.

Her life…the fate of her planet…depend on it.

As I slice the membrane open once more, I surge upward.

Someone grabs my arm and pulls us through.

Fi’rox.

I click at him, urgency filling my voice.

“Do you have the container?”

He clicks the affirmative as he slips through the hole I just made and into the Scrit.

I know he only has a few seconds remaining but my entire focus is back on Adee’ra.

She is limp in my arms.

Again.

But this time, I am not nearly as calm as on the first occasion.

This time, everything within me is screaming.

I jump from the Scrit, launching myself into the air and I land on my feet.

There is dust around us, kicked up by the fallen machine, but I trudge forward.

There is a soft patch of dead grass nearby and I rest Adee’ra on it, leaning over her as my symbiotes vacate my head and face.

“Adee’ra.”

As I touch her face, her ba’clan retract as if they sense I need them to.

She coughs, her gaze meeting mine as her ba’clan move away.

Her eyes are wide, her chest still heaving.

“Adee’ra?”

She is in shock.

“Fer’ro. The Gryken…it was—”

Something is building within me that makes my ba’clan writhe and I pull her to me.

It is a heat. An all-consuming heat that is pulling me to this female.

“You took a big risk.” Even as I speak, I am aware of the darkness surrounding us.

A new phenomenon again. One I do not care to observe or wonder about.

But Adee’ra notices. “What’s happening?”

She looks around us then down at herself.

The ba’clan are leaving her body as they are mine.

Surrounding us.

Creating a cocoon…melding together.

Two separate colonies, merging as one once more.

“You are safe now.” I look down into the gaze of this being who is turning my world on edge.

Her pale skin…

Her small body…

Her weakness…and her strength.

“Adee’ra…”

She stares at me as she pulls her gaze away from the swirling ba’clan around us, and I sense when her beating blood organ slows down from its erratic pace.

Deep brown eyes.

I see an image of myself in them. My own reflection.

A Vullan that has almost been ripped inside out.

Adee’ra…

A female I didn’t know I wanted…but one I know I need.

Never again will I let her out of my sight.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

ADIRA

I’m alive.

As the ba’clan swirl around us, covering us, protecting us, I realize something.

In this new world where I am the prey, where my life could be snuffed out at any moment…I am vulnerable.

It’s one thing living life like you have time.

That’s how I used to live before.

But now…

Now I’ve brushed fingers with death too many times.

I know what it is now to really be alive.

And I appreciate it.

I appreciate him.

The symbiotes aren’t swirling around us to protect me only.

They’re protecting him too.

I can see that as I look up at this strange alien before me.

He is…different from the others.

It’s as if I can feel him. Feel his heart beating.

Feel our lives becoming intertwined.

Despite what the Vullan can do, despite the sacrifice I just made, these aliens are offering an even bigger sacrifice.

They are here to save a world that is not their own.

My world.

My home.

I wrap my arms around Fer’ro’s neck and look into those fiery eyes.

“You came after me,” I whisper.

He shouldn’t have.

That was stupid.

But would I have done the same for him?

Yes.

Yes, I would have.

“You were stupid.” His words make me choke on an unexpected chuckle. “Tell me hyu’mankind is not all like you. You could have gotten yourself killed.”

“If it gave you a chance to save my planet, I would do it again.”

Fer’ro’s fangs bare before me but no fear spikes in my spine.

He is angry…at me?

No.

He is being nothing but gentle.

I am cradled in his arms on top of this soft patch of grass.

He is not angry at me.

I sense he is angry at someone else.

Himself.

“Did we do it?” I try to rise but Fer’ro holds me down. “Did we catch it?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?” I ache to think that all I just did could have been in vain.

“We caught it, Adee’ra. Otherwise, I would sense fighting right now.” He glances around us. “It is…calm out there.”

“And the other humans?” I glance around us.

I cannot see anything outside of this wall the ba’clan are creating.

“Rescued.” He pauses. “The ones that were alive that is.”

My gaze falls.

Of course.

I couldn’t have expected them all to survive that fall.

“What about the female…the woman that was in the water…”

Fer’ro simply looks at me, his gaze doesn’t wane.

“Right.” I gulp hard.

He doesn’t need to say it.

She is probably dead.

I gulp as I look away from him.

Death.

So much death around me.

I won’t ever escape it, will I?

Not until we rid our planet of the scourge that fell upon us.

But I am alive.

I am alive because of only one reason and he is before me right now.

A breath shudders from me and Fer’ro’s gaze moves down my arms.

At this moment, I want to feel that life flowing through me.

Before I can reconsider, I tilt my chin upward.

“Fer’ro…” I whisper. “Don’t be alarmed but…”

FER’RO

Adee’ra licks my face and shock tears through me so much that I stiffen against her.

For a moment, she pauses, hesitant, before her lids flutter closed and I watch that little pink tongue of hers stretch towards my mouth.

She licks me again and my sazi surges, fighting to extrude.

Just what is she doing?

Is this a hyu’man ritual?

She is cleansing me with her mouth?

I am not sure what she is doing, but I do not dare to move.

I could not move if I wanted to.

All my senses are focused on the warm wetness of the little organ flicking against my lips and with a groan, I dare to open my mouth.

She pauses for a second before her tongue darts in and…I THRUM.

It is so deep, the air within the little cocoon feels charged, and when Adee’ra mouth closes over mine every line of thought leaves my brain.

She is eating me.

Such a thing shouldn’t make me excited, but I find myself gripping her tighter, wanting her to continue.

I will gladly be her meal.

My fangs drip with need and when her tongue tentatively flicks over one of them, my sazi surges so hard it does extrude a little. Enough for me to arch away from her for if it touches her core, the little control I have left will not be enough to stop me from claiming her right here, by the corpse of a fallen Scrit.

That thought dims the urges somehow…but Adee’ra’s tongue is insistent.

Her mouth rubs against mine and a whimper leaves her lips.

I am already in love with this hyu’man ritual.

Whatever gods we are worshipping right now, I pledge to adopt them as my own.

As her tongue flicks into my mouth some more, I slowly move mine forward.

It is bigger than hers. Longer. Thicker. Coarser.

I do not want to scare her with it, but I want to…taste her everywhere.

She trembles against me when our tongues make contact and another whimper leaves her throat.

This scent…

This sweet, spicy flavor…

Adee’ra’s need.

As our tongues flick against each other I bask in her scent.

She might not know it yet and I don’t know if she will accept it…

I have left Edooria…but I think I have found my new home.

With her.

The symbiotes sensed it long before I did or even could.

That is why I was drawn to her from the very start.

Adee’ra is my perfect mate—a phenomenon that hasn’t happened among Vullan-kind for eons.

And as she opens up to me…as I taste her…I know He’rox was right.

He might be insane…a maniac…but he was right…

This is the start of a new era.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

ADIRA

As I break the kiss and open my eyes, there’s a fire in Fer’ro’s gaze that I’ve never seen before.

It feels like it is engulfing me but the flames do not burn.

Instead, they surround me with warmth and protection.

But I’ve done it again.

Something sexual when I have no idea what is happening between us.

The way this alien affects me…

Does he know I’m burning for him?

That between my thighs is hot and soaking wet just at the feel of his tongue in my mouth…just at remembering what happened between us in his quarters…

My cheeks grow warm and I pull my gaze away from the fire.

“They are waiting for us,” he says.

At the same time, the ba’clan slowly return to our skin and the sky reappears above us.

We are surrounded.

Several Vullan have formed a circle around us and I scramble to rise, my cheeks burning even hotter.

Fuck.

Had they been there all along?

Could they see what we just did?

Their eyes are on me, as usual, and as we stand, they do the most curious thing.

Each and every one of them kneels at our feet, their foreheads on the ground.

My eyes dart around.

Off in the corner of my gaze, huddled together, are the three women I’d seen within the Scrit’s belly, and very near to us lays the huge machine itself.

But I do not understand why the Vullan are kneeling.

It is the first time I have seen them so submissive.

We have won. Is that why?

“Why are they kneeling?” I whisper to Fer’ro. “Are they showing their respect to you?”

“No.” He turns to look at me and his gaze blazes through me so much that I hold my breath. “They are showing respect to you.”

My eyes bug out then and I grip my chest with one hand. “I’m sorry, what?”

“You have gained their respect. It is an honor to be under your command.”

I have to blink several times because this just went from zero to one hundred.

“My what?”

“You made a decision while in that Scrit. One that put you in danger. You went ahead with a plan even though it could have cost you your life. You faced the Gryken head on. You put your life on the line for all of us.”

And then Fer’ro does something that makes my heart lurch.

I watch, spellbound, as he falls to his knees before me too, his forehead touching the earth at my feet.

“For the Vullan,” he says, “you have made the ultimate sacrifice. We are forever indebted to you.”

I stare at them.

I really don’t know what to say.

I don’t deserve this—any of this—for doing something stupid.

Yes, it might have worked, but I’m no hero.

I open my mouth to say this when I pause.

My ba’clan pulse against me and I remember what I was thinking just moments before while cocooned with Fer’ro.

This is no longer just my fight. It’s no longer Earth’s fight.

It’s their fight too.

They’re not only thanking me for what I did, they’re thanking me for trusting them.

I swallow my pride, my preconceived notions, my doubt…

These big aliens need to know that they are accepted here.

“It is an honor to be seen in such a light by such brave warriors. I couldn’t have done anything without your help.” My gaze moves over each and every one of them. “Thank you.”

I don’t know if what I said is enough.

It certainly doesn’t encompass the weight of the feelings in my chest.

But as the Vullan rise, I do not feel so on edge by their stares anymore.

They see me as one of them.

And as I look from them to myself, to the ba’clan coating me…I realize that, maybe, I’ve become more like them than I first realized.

Maybe, I’m not entirely human anymore.

ADIRA

The three women we rescued huddle on the floor of the lift as it rises through the sky toward the still-cloaked ship.

Their gaze is on the tall aliens around them.

All of the Vullan have their chins tilted to the air, as if something reeks in here.

The females smell. They haven’t washed in a long time. But the scent isn’t that bad.

As their frightened gazes lock on to the aliens around us though, even I can sense their fear, and when they look at me, there is a definite distrust in their gazes.

I’m smaller, skinnier, obviously not alien, but with my symbiotes, I look like the Vullan.

And to them, the Vullan are the enemy.

They do not yet know they are rescued.

It was a good idea that they’d transported the Gryken to the ship directly after capturing it. Even I didn’t see the monster.

And that’s a good thing.

I can’t imagine how much more traumatized seeing the alien would have been to these women.

“You are safe now,” I turn and say to the one that had spoken to me first after I’d been dropped into the Scrit. “These men…these Vullan…they are on our side.” My gaze moves over the three of them before landing back on the one I focused on first. “You don’t have to worry anymore.”

Her eyes darts to Ga’Var then to Fer’ro at my side before she hastily lowers gaze. “How are you so sure?”

I find myself straightening my back a little. “Because I trust these males with my life.”

My ba’clan pulse against me and for the first time, I can make out the others’ symbiotes pulsing against them too—as if my words moved them.

It’s a comforting pulse as usual, a strange sort of communication among us that I never noticed the Vullan did before.

“We near the ship,” Fer’ro whispers in my ear and his hot breath sends a tingle down my spine.

I nod as I glance at him over my shoulder.

“We’re going to board their ship now. Do not be afraid. They will not harm you.”

The women jerk their chins at me as they nod but fear still shines in their eyes.

They are dirty.

Skinny.

Tired.

Frail.

I wonder if I still look like that?

I certainly don’t feel like that anymore.

As the lift docks and we enter the dim interior of the ship, Fer’ro clicks orders as the other Vullan file out.

“Ga’Var will take them to He’rox for healing and then show them to private quarters.”

“Oh.” I turn as Ga’var towers over the women.

He does nothing to make himself look smaller. Standing at his full height, he looks like the sentinel of death.

The women’s fear is palpable and I can see Ga’Var’s symbiotes ripple.

“Maybe I should stay with them. This has been a…nerve-wracking experience. I’m sure they’d be happier with another human there.”

“No.”

Fer’ro speaks so firmly I have to turn in his direction again.

“What? Why not?”

“You have done enough for today. You’re coming with me.”

When I turn to glance behind me, Ga’Var is already directing the women toward a door in the wall. It opens to another corridor and as they step in, the wall reforms behind them.

A lump grows in my throat and my heart picks up its pace.

It’s not that I don’t want to rest…it’s just that…I’m not sure what will happen if I’m around Fer’ro again…alone.

“Come, Adee’ra.”

This tall, dark alien is walking in front of me down the corridor, and as we walk, every other Vullan we pass makes eye contact with me before placing one palm on top of the other and bending their forehead to it. I quickly realize it’s a shortened, more informal version of what they did outside.

We’re at the entrance to Fer’ro’s quarters far too quickly and as he steps through the door, I pause on the outside for a little.

If I go in there…

My ba’clan pulse against me as if telling me to enter.

But if I go in there… If we’re alone together again…

My ba’clan pulse once more and my legs move almost of their own volition, pulling me inside the room.

Fer’ro is standing at the cleansing station and when I step in, his symbiotes retract, showing him bare.

I swallow hard, my tongue flicking out of my mouth to wet my lips as I stare.

He’s truly magnificent looking.

Those corded muscles under that dark skin look like they’re sculpted from metal and my hands itch to touch him.

I can feel my lungs starting to work harder as I stand there, unable to move, only able to stare like some creep.

Get a grip, Adira!

But the only thing I want to grip is standing right there in front of me, no shame in his nakedness…

Fuck.

It feels wrong to be having these thoughts. So carnal.

Outside of this room, this ship, the world is ending.

But…inside…inside me, something is being birthed. A seed I never knew was sown.

For I want this man…this alien. This Vullan.

In the Scrit, when I thought I was drowning, when his arms wrapped around me, I suddenly knew everything was going to be all right.

My gaze falls down his form, moving down his chest to the juncture of his thighs and my throat goes dry.

There’s a thick line there…like a fold…an opening… and beneath it, something moves…pulses.

My tongue feels heavy in my throat.

“Adee’ra…”

My name on his tongue makes me jump and I pull my gaze away from his…area, my heart beating harder than ever.

Fer’ro’s ears twitch but he doesn’t move, even though the light has already cleansed him.

Instead, he stands there looking at me, as if he is waiting on me to do or say something.

And the stupidest thing comes from my mouth. “You’re clean.”

His ears twitch again. “Yes, I am.”

There is a moment of silence where the air grows thick and I slowly want to begin sinking into the floor beneath me.

“It is your turn.”

His gaze flicks down my body so slowly, I become aware of every inch of me.

It lingers at my lips, my breasts, my stomach, the center of my thighs…

It’s hot in here.

“Right. My turn.” I take a step toward him. “And then…dinner?”

“Dinner…” He says it so low it sounds like a hum and the way he looks at me as he says the word…

As if I am the thing he wants to devour…

My thighs clench as I open my mouth to breathe.

I move closer, my ba’clan retracting to rest over my spinal column as I come to stand by Fer’ro’s side within the cleansing station.

I have to tilt my head as I look up at him.

Still, he does not move.

He is frozen as he looks down at me, his head turned to the side, and through the corner of my eyes, I see that same pulse in his crotch.

He has a cock hidden there.

I’m sure of it.

I’d thought…at first I’d thought he didn’t have one, but I should have known better.

I know enough about animals to know that various species have various dongs and though Fer’ro may look similar enough to us…he is not human.

Not all animals have their cocks on display like humans do.

Most reptiles don’t…

Reptile…

My gaze meets his and I utter a nervous laugh.

I should have guessed. His slitted eyes are a dead giveaway.

“You are baring your fangless teeth at me,” he says and I shut my mouth.

He sniffs the air then. “It is not aggression that I smell…”

That makes my cheeks grow warm. “No. No it isn’t. I was laughing. It means I am happy. Aggression is the last thing on my mind.”

He turns to face me fully then and his presence feels like it engulfs me.

“What is on your mind?”

My cheeks blaze harder.

What are the rules surrounding this sort of thing?

Are we even allowed to fuck?

Because I want to…

I just don’t know if it’s possible.

Fer’ro is a big guy…

“I’m sure you can tell what’s on my mind,” I whisper. “You keep sniffing the air.”

That elicits a growl that makes me clench my thighs again.

“I can,” he rumbles.

The light from the cleansing station moves over us, distracting me for a moment, and I get the chance to breathe.

I don’t think I can turn back from this now.

It is as real as the breath that flows through my lungs.

I want Fer’ro.

The thought makes me ache and Fer’ro suddenly inhales deeply.

He’s so close, I feel the pull of air against my skin, and then I’m being lifted off my feet.

I yelp a little as my arms automatically go around his neck.

Fer’ro’s large hands cup my naked buttocks as he pulls me toward him.

“You are intoxicating,” he rasps and the words vibrate against my skin.

Intoxicating.

I’ve never been called that before.

I yelp again as Fer’ro walks toward the wall. I am being lifted higher and it is only when my back hits the wall and my legs settle over his shoulders that I realize what he intends to do.

I only manage to squeal a little before his mouth closes over my center.

“Fuck.” How is he so good at this?

My eyes roll back in my head as his tongue invades me and I whimper.

It’s a soft sound. Almost like I’m begging him to stop but also begging for more.

Fer’ro growls against me, causing his tongue to vibrate between my lips and my hips buck.

His mouth is hot, wet, his tongue insistent as he laps at me and I start shivering as I grip his head, moving over the ridges that run all the way to the top where his locks are secured.

I grip them so hard, I feel when they become undone in between my fingers.

A sharp inhale has my back arching.

It feels like a flower garden is blooming between my thighs.

His mouth. His tongue.

Shamelessly, I buck against him and Fer’ro grabs my hips holding me there.

He moans against me again before his tongue teases my entrance.

I cry out against him, my body fighting to squirm as my legs go weak.

There is a moment when my consciousness leaves my body. That singular moment when I feel the thick, wet organ breach my entrance to slip deep inside me.

My eyes roll back, my back arches, my body goes limp as a moan barrels from deep within me.

There’s a sweet-flowing river that’s running through me and it shoots up into a geyser.

In and out he moves his tongue as his mouth closes over my clit. And then he moans.

It’s a deep vibration that has me stiffening. My toes curl.

I scream as the orgasm hits me so hard, I lose track of everything around me.

I feel rather than hear Fer’ro growl against my lips.

I can’t control my hips as I buck, tremors going through me, until I have to plant my hands against his head and push him away, for he isn’t stopping.

He’s lapping at my juices, still teasing that tender bud between my legs.

“Fer’ro,” I pant as he finally pauses to look up at me.

I could dive into those lava eyes. I can’t pull my gaze away as my body heaves and Fer’ro looks at me, his pupils so thin I can hardly see them.

He swipes his tongue over me again and I shudder.

“Please…”

His tongue pauses at my request.

“Please…I need you inside me…”

My entire body is flushed and I’m still shivering, my body jerking sporadically in the aftermath of my climax.

I don’t think I can handle more, but there’s a space between my legs, a hole that’s aching for something to fill it.

And I want to feel him…

“Fer’ro,” I say again, and then it hits me that maybe, just maybe, I’ve read all of this wrong.

Maybe he doesn’t want to have sex with me.

Maybe his people don’t do it the way I think.

But then… “Adira…”

He’s going to deny me.

My heart sinks and my whole being flushes for a whole other reason as embarrassment fills me.

Just what the hell was I thinking?

“If I pierce you with my sah-zi…you will be mine forever.”

I blink at him.

Forever?

Gingerly, I move my fingers to brush over the ridges that run down his cheeks.

He is so serious, I sober for a bit.

I don’t know Vullan customs. Maybe they’re monogamous and mate for life.

“You mean as in…your wife or something?”

“You will be mine,” he repeats. “You are already mine. From the first moment I held you in my arms.”

His voice has gotten deeper and his eyes are now completely lava, no pupil visible.

“If any other male tries to take you away from me…I will kill them.”

He says it so seriously, I have no doubt that what he says, he will do.

But this is the end of the world and I can’t deny I’m drawn to him too.

“I want you,” he says.

My tongue feels thick in my mouth but I manage to answer anyway. “Then why don’t you take me?”

Fer’ro’s body shudders a little as he breathes evenly through his nose. His breath brushes against my clit and I jerk again.

“You are too small. I might hurt you.”

What? I want to chuckle and brush it off but how big are we talking about here?

“I’ve pierced you with my tongue. Your entrance is small. Tight.” He brushes his nose against the inside of my thigh. “I do not want to break you.”

His tongue flicks out and moves over my skin and the feel of it makes me gasp.

I’m on this alien’s shoulders, his face buried in my cunt, and not once have I felt concern.

Fer’ro isn’t going to hurt me.

“It’ll fit. We humans, we stretch.” I try to glance down him to see what I’m working with but I can’t see from this position. “Just be gentle, okay?”

Fer’ro tilts his chin to look up at me and it is almost as if his dark skin is glistening.

Adjusting his arms so that he’s holding my waist, he allows me to slide down him until our hips line up.

For a moment, uncertainty makes me hold my breath, but then he’s grabbing my legs and I’m positioned between them.

I can only reach up and wrap my arms around his neck.

He pauses there, holding me like that, my back pressed against the wall, my legs widened as they wrap around his torso, and Fer’ro looks down at me.

His gaze makes little shivers run across my skin.

We don’t need to speak.

We only need to feel.

I think I hear it.

That distinct sound of moist flesh moving against flesh and I stiffen a little.

With a gentle touch, Fer’ro raises a hand to clasp my cheek and I can only focus on him.

I don’t know what to expect, but the distinct feel of something hard and moist as it brushes over my inner lips has my mouth falling open as my eyes roll back a little.

It feels so good even though we haven’t even done anything yet.

Fer’ro groans, a rumble that vibrates through me, as his cock brushes over me again.

The tip comes to an apex, I can tell that just from the feel of it.

Maybe it’s not as big as he thinks—

With a deep thrum, Fer’ro finds my entrance and moves forward slowly.

His tip slides through my folds, piercing me as it makes way for the rest of him.

And I was wrong…

I was so fucking wrong.

I grip on to his neck, a cry leaving my lips as I feel the extent of his girth.

Thicker as it goes toward the base.

Way thicker.

There’s pain and he’s not even halfway in yet, but along with that pain there is so much pleasure.

The sensation is unbelievable.

I whimper his name as I hold on to him, my pussy clenching as it adjusts to this massive invasion, and it takes me a second to realize Fer’ro is not moving.

I glance up at him and in between the shocks of pleasure shooting from my center, I manage to process what I am seeing.

Fer’ro’s teeth are bared, his fangs visible and sharp in the dim light. His ridges are bunched up as he grits his teeth, and every muscle in his body is taut as he forces himself to hold still.

I don’t have to ask.

He’s doing this for me, so that he doesn’t hurt me.

But the last thing I want is for him to hold back.

This is…life.

I want to feel everything.

I want to experience it all.

I want to feel him.

Pulling myself upward, I whisper against his lips. “Fuck me, Fer’ro. Don’t hold back.”

A roar so loud it makes my ears ring fills the space as Fer’ro presses me into the wall behind me.

My lips fasten over his as he surges forward some more, filling me, stretching me as his cock invades me, sending rockets of pleasure from within.

Fer’ro pulls his hips back and with another growl, he surges forward again, filling me with one slow stroke.

Fuuuuck!

“Haaaaa…”

Fer’ro slides back slowly, and there’s another slow surge forward.

“Haaaa…”

And again.

And again.

Our bodies rock and surge against each other in unison and I find myself crying out his name against his lips.

It’s so wet. So fucking wet.

I can feel the mixture of our juices running down my thighs and I wonder if he’s cum.

But as he begins to pick up the pace, I know that can’t be possible.

My legs go weak and limp as Fer’ro takes us to the floor.

I’m on my back and he is above me, our bodies swaying as he fucks me slowly.

His gaze fastens on my breasts as they jerk with each thrust and his eyes become even more fiery, if that’s possible.

The moist sounds of our fucking is driving me on edge and my head tilts back as I give myself to him, my body jerking hard as he thrusts deep inside me.

I can’t see anything.

I don’t know if I’ve gone blind or if my eyes have rolled back completely in my head.

All I can do is feel…and when Fer’ro grasps my breast with one hand, right before his mouth closes over my nipple, all instinct, all senses, everything within me is lost.

I cry out as my body arches, a tidal wave rising and crashing within me.

The orgasm catches me off guard and my whole body jerks and shivers.

But Fer’ro doesn’t stop.

He is not done.

He growls against my breast as his thrusts pick up speed.

I’m being fucked out of my mind…

Now I get it.

Those women who I used to see do the walk of shame with their hair all messed up, their makeup history, and their clothes on backwards…this is what it feels like to be FUCKED.

“Fer’ro!” I scream as another orgasm crashes through me.

My pussy clenches around him and I hear him thrum hard.

And then he surges in me deep, pulling my hips toward him as he stiffens.

I only know he is coming because I can feel the pulses go through his cock from where we’re joined.

For a few moments, I am deleted from existence.

I am simply floating in an in-between as I stare up at the roof of Fer’ro’s quarters.

My vision is blurry but something blocks my view.

Him.

“Adee’ra,” he whispers, his voice still so coarse. “Adee’ra…”

Lava eyes search mine as I come back to reality.

He is backing away from me, his wide eyes on my body as he staggers backward.

My own eyes widen as I lean up on my elbows and my gaze falls to his crotch.

Fuck.

It’s bigger than I thought.

Big. Red. Veiny.

It has a thick dark line running down the underside of it and his spend is still dripping from his pointed tip.

I am shaken as I stare at it.

I can’t believe I just took all of that.

“Adee’ra…I am sorry.”

I blink at him, my gaze finally focusing on his face once more.

That’s not the sort of thing I expected to hear.

Sorry for what?

Sorry that he fucked me?

Disappointment starts to grow within me as my gaze meets his.

But he isn’t looking at me, per say. His eyes are moving over my body.

That’s when I finally look down at myself…and I pause.

My entire body is red, as if I had been rubbing myself against some hard carpet.

His ridges. The friction.

That’s what did this.

“Well, this is embarrassing.” I look like a tomato.

Not exactly what I’d call sexy.

I try to laugh it off with a low chuckle but Fer’ro is still staring at me as if he’d just committed some crime.

“It’s ok.” I rise into a sitting position fully. “It doesn’t hurt. You didn’t hurt me.”

He doesn’t look convinced in the least.

“It’s just how my skin is.”

“I was too rough.”

My gaze flicks back to his cock and I find myself staring again.

It jerks as I look at it and I find it hard to speak.

He wasn’t rough at all.

With that thing, he could have hurt me really, really bad.

“You didn’t hurt me. I enjoyed every second of it.”

I watch as his cock bends upward and slowly sinks back into that slit within his torso, still hard.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” I whisper.

Fer’ro is crawling back toward me now and his symbiotes are reappearing.

I kind of feel…bad about that.

Is he just going to leave now? Go back to his duties?

But instead, he picks me up from the floor and heads toward the bed.

“I should have taken you on the feathers,” he murmurs. “Vullan females prefer it that way.”

A spike of jealously shoots through me.

He sets me down before him and I suddenly feel naked and vulnerable.

Fer’ro sniffs.

“What is that scent? I do not like it.”

My eyes dart around. I don’t know what the hell he’s smelling now.

“You are…disappointed.”

My eyebrows lift. “You can smell my moods?”

His ears twitch a little. “Some.”

My eyes widen a little as I blink a few times.

Well, that explains their thing with sniffing so much.

“I have not pleased you,” he says and proceeds to open my legs once more, his head dipping towards me. I only manage to barely scramble away.

“No, trust me, I am well pleased.” I chuckle a little. And a little bit sore.

“Then…why are you disappointed?”

My mirth dries up as I sigh. “It’s just…it seems like you’re about to… leave.”

He rises and looks at me, his gaze studying me for a few moments.

“I have not fed you and you need medical attention for your skin. I was going to fetch both. I have no intention of ever leaving you.”

This time, I smile.

“I’m not hungry right now. I just…can you stay…here…with me?”

His nictitating membrane moves over his eyes as he blinks and I think he is about to say no.

Fuck.

If he turns me down right now, I don’t know how I could face him confidently again.

But without a word, Fer’ro moves onto the bed with me.

He takes me into his arms and pulls me against his chest.

His symbiotes disappear too and once again, we are naked together.

Silence envelops us and I allow myself to relax against him.

“This is the first time…” His words are low…mumbled against my hair.

“The first time what?”

“I have ever done this.”

“What? cuddled after?”

He takes a moment to think on this. “Yes. Female Vullan usually do not want such closeness afterward.”

“Hmm,” I mumble. Another spike of jealousy shoots through me and I realize…I don’t want to see Fer’ro with someone else. Ever.

I think on this as I settle back against him.

He’s comfortable. Warm.

I find myself drifting off.

“But…maybe it is different with you,” he whispers.

“Hmm? Why’s that?”

Fer’ro buries his nose against my neck and inhales deeply. “Because you are mine. My mate.”

My eyes open as I stare ahead but instead of panic, a comforting feeling fills my belly.

“Your mate?”

Fer’ro growls a little and brings me tighter against him. “Yes. Mine. Forever. Always. From this moment.”

A smile spreads my lips as a flutter goes through my belly.

I want to say something, but nothing seems to fill my tongue.

So I close my mouth and I bask in the feeling Fer’ro sends through me.

If I had to choose someone to spend the end of the world with, I couldn’t choose anyone better.

No one can replace the alien at my side.

The Vullan that has somehow made a place in my heart without me realizing.

I am his.

And he is mine.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

FER’RO

For several clicks, I hold Adee’ra.

Still, she is fast asleep.

Even when I move, rustling the feathers beneath us, she does not wake.

It is concerning, this total lack of awareness while she is at her most vulnerable, but I treasure the moment.

She wants me to be here.

So I stay, even though there is no hope for me to also rest.

The feathers are far too soft for sleeping and even though the light is dim, I cannot sleep in it.

So…I hold her.

I cradle her soft body against mine and reflect on the past few clicks.

Her scent has changed. It is now a blend of my scent, mixed with hers.

Between her legs, my spend still lingers, coating her inner thighs.

She surprised me…

I did not expect her to want to take me—had decided I would hold back because it was a surety that she wouldn’t.

But…she did.

Memory of the tight heat of her suu’ci makes me groan and my sazi throbs again.

Tipping my nose to her head, I inhale deeply.

My Adee’ra.

I came across the stars, seeking revenge, seeking to change the inevitable and through all that time, not once had I thought I would find…you.

She moans in my arms and turns to face me. I expect her eyes to open but the only thing open is her mouth.

A soft grating sound comes from her throat and my ears twitch as I listen.

She is still fast asleep.

How can something so vulnerable rest so unaware and so loudly?

I move my hands across her back, pulling her closer, and I can feel the column of symbiotes resting there.

She is even controlling them while she rests.

I do not believe she realizes just how integrated with her they have become…

She’s not so vulnerable anymore.

The ba’clan pulse against my hand and I feel the connection I once had with them.

“You knew this would happen, didn’t you?”

They pulse again.

I know they did.

“—ro?”

Adee’ra’s brow crinkles and so does her nose as her eyes squeeze tight.

She stretches a little and then as suddenly as she spoke, she bolts upright.

“I fell asleep.”

My gaze moves over her.

Her hairs are pointing every which way and there is a line of fluid that leaked from her mouth. It runs toward her chin and she wipes it away with the back of her hand.

I stare at her, transfixed.

She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen across the stars.

“Shit.” She runs a hand through her hair. “We should go. The others must be so worried.”

Her gaze moves down me, hesitating for a second at where my sazi hides, and her cheeks warm.

My sazi throbs again, enjoying the attention, and I have to force my thoughts away from it.

Adee’ra would not be ready again so soon.

But that sweet spicy scent is growing around us and my ears perk at attention.

Adee’ra pulls her gaze back up to my face and then she leans forward.

We’re so close now, her breaths brush against my skin.

When she leans lower this time, I am not surprised when her lips brush against mine.

I am hungry for her and I thrum immediately.

Laying with her in my arms had been the sweetest torture. I had been aching, and now, here she is.

She moans against me as I rub the tip of my tongue against hers and then she is pulling away far too quickly.

I don’t let her.

I move with her until she is falling backward.

Her head hits the soft feathers and I am over her once more.

Adee’ra shudders a little, her gaze moving up my torso and higher. That sweet spicy scent of hers fills the air.

But…she can’t be ready to take me again so soon…can she?

I open my nostrils and pull in as much air as I can, filling my chest with her scent.

I’ve never smelled something more intoxicating.

“Fer’ro,” she whispers my name so softly, it tickles my ears. “Do the Vullan mate for life?”

“We used to.” The words come out as a growl as I try to control the insistent thrum of my sazi.

It wants to bury itself inside this soft being beneath me. Memory of how good she feels is still far too fresh.

“Used to? So you don’t anymore?”

I force myself to focus on her words. To not open her legs and bury some part of myself inside her.

My fangs drip. I want to taste her.

“There hasn’t been a soul-tie in many, many moons.” I bring my head down and brush my nose against the side of her face. “Until now.” Her skin isn’t as red as it was earlier but I’m still careful not to irritate her more.

“What do you mean, until now?”

I pause a little and close my eyes, relishing in the feel of my female beneath me.

If she decides to run away now…life will have no meaning.

But I have to tell her the truth.

Maybe, she feels it too.

“Until you,” I whisper.

For a few long moments, Adee’ra doesn’t speak, and then, her small arms are stretching across my back, pulling me closer.

I did not know every muscle in my being was frozen until I melt into her at that moment.

“So that’s what He’rox meant,” she whispers. “The ba’clan…”

I ease up and look down at her, searching those strange white and brown eyes of hers.

“I figured something was strange. Sam and Mina didn’t get any ba’clan…only I did, and…”

I wait for her to continue, my blood organ constricting in my chest.

“And I think I know why.”

Adee’ra’s hand caresses my cheek as her other hand slides down my torso toward my fold.

Her finger slips over the opening and I groan.

A shudder goes through me.

“I can feel you,” she says. “It’s like I can feel how horny you are for me right now.” Her cheeks get rosy and she darts her eyes away as her hand stills against me. “I can feel other things too.” She glances at me. “I can’t explain it.”

“It’s the ba’clan,” I manage to rasp. “They are a part of you now, as they are a part of me.”

“Does that mean…” She glances at me again before looking away. “Is that why you said I was yours?”

I growl a little and her gaze finally snaps back to mine.

“Even without the ba’clan, you would be mine. I cannot bear the thought of you with another.”

My womb mate, Ga’Var jumps to my mind, and I growl again but my mind is quickly taken away from jealous anger when I feel Adee’ra’s soft hand cup right over my sazi.

I inhale deeply as my sazi throbs against her hand.

“You’re hard,” she whispers and that sweet, spicy scent intensifies, filling the room.

“I always am,” I growl. “I am here whenever you want me. Whenever you need me.”

My sazi throbs again as her hand moves over it, threatening to extrude.

“And if I want you now?”

I’m unable to give her warning as my sazi extrudes right into her palm.

There’s a gasp from Adee’ra as her eyes widen, but then her lids lower and she takes her bottom lip into her mouth.

She shuffles underneath me, spreading her legs open and I stare at her in wonder.

But…I cannot move.

There is nothing I want more than to surge deep inside her right now, and my sazi throbs insistently, jerking against her hand, pre-spill forming at its tip.

I want to taste her with my tongue, to inhale her intoxicating scent, to make her ready for me, but Adee’ra releases my jaw and grasps my sazi with both hands.

Words vacate my mind, thoughts disappear, and a deep thrum fills me as she moves both hands down my length.

“Fuck,” she mutters.

Translation: rek.

Fuh’k indeed.

I want to fuh’k her.

I want to fuh’k her so bad.

“I’m sorry,” she says, and I’m swiftly taken away from my trance.

She is apologizing.

I force myself to still, the muscles in my arms bunching on either sides of her as I resist the urges building within me.

I can stop now.

It will be hard, but I can pull away.

“I can’t wait,” she whispers as she brings my sazi toward her sweet entrance.

A strangled groan escapes me as she rubs my tip against her folds.

So. Soft.

Her mouth opens with a moan and I grit my teeth, my lips pulling back as my fangs bare above her.

Adee’ra looks up. There is no fear in her eyes.

She wants me, and she guides me over her softness, her juices coating my tip.

It is a fight for me to remain still, to not take control, but I do not want to trade the beauty I am seeing before me for anything else.

Adee’ra’s face constricts as my tip rubs over that small nub in her center—the one that made her cry out on my tongue.

She massages that spot for a few moments, her breaths coming hard with each pass.

“Haa…”

I am transfixed.

My sazi throbs and Adee’ra moans louder as she guides me lower.

I feel the heat of her entrance a second before my tip sinks inside her warmth.

Exploding stars…

I can no longer keep still.

I grab her arms and lift them, pinning them above her head as I ease forward.

She’s tight.

So unbelievably tight and spend seeps from me deep inside her.

The more of me that she takes, the wider her mouth opens till I can see her little pink tongue.

I dip my mouth to hers, tasting it as my length slides deep into her wetness.

A thrum barrels through me, riding on top of a moan of my own as I pull back and slowly move forward again.

I can feel her resistance around my sazi, know I cannot go as fast as I want to, but the sweet torture is worth it.

The look on Adee’ra’s face is enough to make more spill seep from my tip.

Adee’ra whispers something I do not hear over the wild beating of my blood organ within my ears.

“Say it again, my little bird.”

Her eyelids flutter at the moniker and I’m reminded of that day I saw the small flying creature. The day Adee’ra was hunting for sea creatures.

I remember the look on her face when she saw it, remember how it sounds just like her when she speaks.

I plunge deeper within her and groan as her suu’ci quivers around me.

“I said,” she pants, “I’m yours, Fer’ro.” Her eyes open and meet mine. Lids low, she looks at me. And I am bare. It is as if she can see me now.

I do not know when that changed.

When she stopped looking at me with fear in her eyes to look at me like she is looking at me now.

“I’m yours,” she repeats, and her words ignite something in me that is like a raging fire.

I surge forward and Adee’ra cries out as she grips me.

Her suu’ci clamps down on my length, pulling me deeper.

“You are mine,” I growl, as I pull back and thrust deeper, and when Adee’ra grips my hips, wrapping her legs around me, I know it is the end.

I burst within her, my hips thrusting forward with the torrent of my spend.

A deep roar comes from my throat, filling the room, and I am sure any passing Vullan now knows what I have just done.

My body shudders as I finally release her, easing up as I crawl down her soft body.

“What are you doing?” Her words come out on panted breaths and she lifts her head to look at me before it falls back on the feathers.

But I don’t need to speak. She only has to feel.

My tongue brushes over the nub hidden in her soft folds and Adee’ra jerks.

I rumble in pleasure as my mouth closes over her and she whimpers above me.

I will not stop until she begs me to.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

FER’RO

This is what bliss feels like.

There’s a glow on my face, the taste of my female on my tongue, and her soft body in my arms.

I made her cry out on my tongue many times, until she could not take it anymore, and nothing fills me with more joy than her sated body and the look of happiness on her face.

There’s a glow over her too. A warmth that hadn’t been there the first time I saw her.

I like it.

I take pleasure in her contentment.

“This is nice,” she whispers as she turns in my arms to face me. She runs a hand down my chest before her gaze wanders behind me.

I turn to look at what she’s focused on, but there is nothing there.

“I can almost forget bad things are happening out there when I’m with you.”

Time passes as we lie like this, our blood organs beating in tune with each other.

She breathes twice as quickly as I do, and I find myself enjoying the rise and fall of her chest.

I’m counting her one hundred-twentieth breath when she tilts her head and looks up at me.

She holds my gaze, saying nothing and I do not push her.

I believe she is not going to say anything.

That is, until water fills her eyes. She promptly blinks it away.

“You have a plan, don’t you,” she whispers. “You have a plan to take down the Gryken.”

The worry in her gaze has a scent similar to her fear.

I have the urge to dispel it.

“Yes.”

Adee’ra jerks her head downward a few times then.

“We should go eat and see if we can put that plan of yours into motion.”

Yes.

She is right.

I am sure my brethren are waiting to see where we stand.

And though I do not want to leave my quarters just yet, the faster we get rid of the Gryken scum, the sooner I can get more days like this with Adee’ra.

“Let’s go,” she whispers, her symbiotes creeping over her skin.

She begins to ease off me but I stop her.

“You can rest here. I will bring you sustenance.”

She licks her lips and sits upright. “I know you’re just trying to keep me in here, aren’t you?”

I look at her, dumbfounded.

“You’re going to feed me then leave again to go look at that monster we captured then make plans with your team, aren’t you?”

She is right.

“I want to see it.”

My eyes close as soon as the words leave her lips.

The Gryken is contained in a special tank. It cannot harm us.

It cannot harm her, but even having Adee’ra in the same room as it makes me uneasy.

I remember seeing its grasp on her in that Scrit.

I remember the utter terror I felt for her in that moment.

When my gaze raises to hers though, the ultimate determination in her eyes tells me this is something she needs to do.

“I want to be a part of this.” She reaches forward and runs a finger down my leg.

My sazi throbs immediately but I push it from my mind.

“You put your life at risk and I almost lost you. I disagree.”

A huff of air makes her shoulders rise and fall. “I know…but…I just can’t sit by.” She shakes her head and runs a hand through her hair. “I just can’t.”

For a few moments, she says nothing.

“Let me see it,” she says. “I don’t think I can ever do what I did again, but I’m going to help you fight for us.” Her gaze meets mine. “For our future.”

I get the sense she is also referring to our future—mine and hers together.

I study her for a few moments.

I know I can never deny her wishes.

“I’ll take you to it.”

ADIRA

Fer’ro walks beside me as we leave his quarters.

It turns out that they’d brought fish on board for us and after getting it roasted, I’d eaten till I was full in his room.

Now, each step reminds me of what else I’ve had inside me.

I’m a little bit sore but a feeling of bliss surrounds me like an invisible cloud.

I don’t think anything can change that right now. Not even the horrible face of a Gryken.

We’re heading toward the med bay, I assume, and when we step through the door, my first thought is Mina.

Fer’ro seems to read my mind.

“Your friend is here.” He walks over to the wall and presses something. It turns into a screen as it did before.

Across the barrier, in the other room, the light is dim, but I can see the form of a woman clear enough.

Mina is on the table, well, over it. Her body floats, and already there is some color to her skin.

The room looks quiet and she appears so peaceful, my heart lurches, thinking she is dead.

“She receives sustenance automatically,” Fer’ro says, gesturing to a tube that is attached to Mina’s body. “And regenerative ions.” He gestures to another tube. “We would have put her in the regeneration tank,” he turns to me, his heated gaze slipping over me, “but it is not yet calibrated to your species.”

I nod as I look up at him before turning back to look at Mina.

She’s going to be all right.

I don’t think she really expected to survive this.

My gaze flicks from her to move over the room, searching for that strange white doctor, but I don’t sense that anyone else is in there.

“She is alone,” I murmur.

Fer’ro makes a sound like a grunt. “He’rox has…” He pauses. “He will check on her momentarily. “Other things have his attention now.”

I grit my teeth and swallow as a sigh makes my shoulders rise and fall.

Other things.

He means the Gryken.

“Are you ready?” he asks.

I nod. “Yes. I think so.”

I’m suddenly not sure I want to face that monster again.

Just thinking about it, I can feel its slimy arm around my neck, feel it pushing me down in the water, hear its voice in my head.

A shiver runs through me.

You, it had said.

It had spoken to me.

I don’t think I will ever forget the feeling.

“This way,” Fer’ro turns and heads across the room and I follow somewhat behind him.

When another door materializes then disappears, I swallow my hesitation and step forward.

This room is brighter than the others, and it takes a few moments for my eyes to adjust.

In front of us in a large, bare, room, is He’rox.

His back is turned toward us and I’m not sure he has even heard us enter, for his focus is on what’s in front of him.

In a huge cylindrical tank, the terror I’d witnessed in that Scrit hovers in the water.

Dark eyes are focused on He’rox until they suddenly flick.

A shiver runs through me as the Gryken’s gaze finds me.

Staring into its eyes is like staring into a dark, bottomless void.

Its arms are splayed behind it in an arch and they move slowly, keeping it in place.

To think that what I am looking at is an intelligent being. One set to destroy my planet.

It stares at me, and I stare back.

I don’t realize I’ve moved forward until I’m standing beside the white male.

He’rox’s head turns as he glances down at me and his tentacles twitch a little, but I can’t focus on him.

My sole attention is on the monster before me.

“You,” I say to it.

It hovers, watching me, and its fleshy head lifts a little, giving me a glimpse of those wicked rows of teeth underneath.

“It cannot hear you,” He’rox says. “This tank blocks its brain signals. Nothing gets out.” He’rox moves his shoulders in what I assume is a shrug. “But nothing gets in either.”

There’s warmth at my back and I know Fer’ro is there. I ease back a little and our bodies touch.

“Won’t the others of its kind know something is wrong though? Won’t they suspect anything?”

He’rox’s tentacles move. “We don’t know all the intricacies of Gryken communication, but this Gryken is not dead. They can still sense it is alive and well. That will serve our purpose for now.”

I nod and pull my eyes away from the thing.

Looking at it sends all sorts of unease across my spine.

“We don’t have to stay any longer.” Fer’ro pulls me against him and in the corner of my eyes, He’rox remains rigid, only his head turns to the side as he watches us embrace.

I nod, allowing myself to relax against Fer’ro.

Seeing the Gryken right before me, I know time is not on our side.

There’s a sinister sort of intelligence in its eyes.

The longer we wait to take them down, the more we put ourselves in danger.

I hold its gaze for a few more long minutes.

It probably hates me.

Well, the feeling is mutual.

I risked my life to catch it so that we can have a chance.

I’m not about to let the opportunity go.

I hope it can see the determination in my eyes. I hope it can see that humanity is not giving up.

I will do everything in my power to give my world a second chance.

“Let’s go,” I whisper.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

ADIRA

We’re walking down the corridor, the med bay behind us when I grip on to Fer’ro and stop.

His ba’clan bristle and he pulls me to his side.

“You are safe, Adee’ra.” His low voice seems heightened with the walls on either side of us. “It cannot hurt you.”

I put a smile on my face as I wrap my arms around his waist. “I know.”

I don’t know why I stopped walking. I just need to feel grounded, I guess.

Even with the Gryken in the tank, hardly moving, just standing before it took all the strength I had.

A few Vullan approach on the other end of the corridor and pause when they see us.

I’m about to pull away when Fer’ro’s arms tighten around me.

I just know he’s glaring at the them when their ears hit the sides of their head and they avert their gazes.

They salute us, their foreheads hitting their palms, as they continue on their way, but I don’t miss the glances as they pass us or the low clicks that echo down the corridor once they are out of sight.

That’s another thing.

They’re all going to know about Fer’ro and me.

My eyes widen a little.

Sam and Mina…

How will I explain that I’ve fallen in love with—

Fallen in love?

I gulp as the words settle within my mind.

But they don’t feel wrong.

They feel…right.

And I realize something.

Missing is the anxiety and second-guessing I’m usually doing when I fall too quickly for someone.

I’m not scared about moving too fast with Fer’ro.

I’m not scared of him getting bored of me, or of him leaving me for someone else.

What I feel is calm security that I’ve never felt before.

I blink up at him as I realize this, my gaze searching his.

I’m still holding on to him when a door materializes to our right and a huge Vullan steps out, blocking our path.

Ga’Var.

I recognize him only because of his burgundy eyes.

“Oh, hi Ga—” I’m easing off Fer’ro to greet the other male when the words cut off in my throat.

A chill fills the air as Ga’Var’s blades appear across his entire body, his ba’clan on edge.

He isn’t looking at me, he is completely focused on Fer’ro.

In one movement, Fer’ro places me behind him and out of the way as his blades extend too.

My eyes go wide.

“What’s—”

There’s a low rumbling that fills the corridor and it takes me a moment to realize it is the two of them snarling at each other.

It’s a suddenly vicious scene.

Both look like they’re ready to fight.

Before I can say anything, Fer’ro launches himself through the air.

He’s so quick, he’s but a streak of flying black.

He’s airborne, pure rage on his face as Ga’Var charges forward as well.

But Fer’ro is faster.

He lands on Ga’Var and they both skid across the corridor.

My heart slams against my chest.

I don’t know what the hell is happening.

“Fer’ro!” I scream his name as Ga’Var uses one of his bladed arms to swipe at Fer’ro, almost slitting Fer’ro’s throat.

“You’ve mated with her!” Ga’Var roars. “Do not lie to me or I will rekking kill you right here, right now!”

Fer’ro snarls. His fangs look even longer than usual. His eyes blood red as he flips Ga’Var and throws him across the hall.

Ga’Var smashes into the wall but he doesn’t get to recover before Fer’ro is on him again.

A dangerously long blade appears on Fer’ro’s arm and with one hand, Fer’ro pins Ga’Var against the wall while the arm with the blade is brought to Ga’Var’s skull.

If either of them so much as move the wrong way, the blade will pierce Ga’Var right through the brain.

I’m running toward them without even thinking about it.

“You mated her!” Ga’Var roars again, his fangs also looking longer than usual, and his rage-filled gaze on Fer’ro.

“Yes,” Fer’ro answers. “I mated her. More than once I mated with her and I intend to do so many, many more times.”

Fer’ro’s words stop me in my tracks.

They are talking about me.

Ga’Var roars again.

“How could you? She does not want you!”

This fight…is because of me?

“She is my mate!” Fer’ro roars.

“You forced yourself on her!”

Fer’ro roars again and throws his brother to the side.

Ga’Var collides with the hard wall and I see dark fluid swell inside his mouth.

He coughs, but he staggers to his feet.

I…I can’t let this happen.

He’s heading for Fer’ro again when I step in between them.

“Stop!”

Ga’Var pauses. “Get out of the way, little female.” More blades seem to appear around him. “You do not have to fear my womb mate any longer.”

I blink at him.

“I don’t fear him. He’s done nothing but take care of me and…” My cheeks warm as I glance behind me at Fer’ro. His blades have still not retracted either. “And…he’s right. He didn’t force me.”

Fuck.

I don’t think I will ever get used to their sense of smell.

Ga’Var finally looks at me. Studies me.

And slowly, his blades begin to flatten.

“You gave yourself to him?”

There’s a note of regret there. I don’t know if I’m imagining it, but I nod.

“He didn’t force me.” I try to keep my voice level and calm. Despite that they aren’t pointing blades at each other, there’s so much tension between the two I could cut it with a knife. “You, of all people, should know he is not like that.”

Ga’Var’s gaze flicks down me slowly and Fer’ro growls at my back.

“But you are so small. Surely, you would not want to mate with my kind?”

The end of his words lilt in a question even though it sounds as if he is making a statement, and I wonder what is going on in his mind.

He’s looking at me strangely now.

“Your size doesn’t matter.”

My cheeks blaze.

It really, fucking, does.

Ga’Var studies me some more and as the seconds tick by, I feel Fer’ro relaxing behind me.

“Your kind is…compatible with mine?” Ga’Var’s gaze flicks to Fer’ro and then back to me.

I’m trying to understand where he is getting at but I answer his question in the affirmative anyway.

“Yes…?”

I glance up at Fer’ro for some help but I only catch him glaring at Ga’Var so intently, it is a miracle Ga’Var doesn’t combust.

“And your kind…wants to mate with my kind?” Ga’Var’s gaze sweeps down me again.

Fer’ro growls louder this time.

“I wouldn’t put it that way…” I answer cautiously.

“But…it is a possibility.”

My eyes narrow a little as I nod. “Yes…?”

Ga’Var straightens then, his gaze flicking from Fer’ro to me and back, and I wonder more than ever what he is thinking about.

“I see I may have been mistaken about what has transpired between you two,” he says.

Bending, he places one palm on top of the other before resting his forehead on them.

“Accept my apologies. I was merely concerned my womb mate had lost his mind.” He pauses. “But now I know.”

As he lifts his head, there’s still that strange look in his eyes, and he wipes a line of blood away from his mouth.

He gives Fer’ro one final look before he turns and does the strange bow again.

Then he is walking away down the corridor.

I watch him go, my eyes never leaving his back till he disappears around a corner.

My shoulders sag with pent up tension I didn’t know I’d been holding.

“What the hell was that all about?”

I turn toward Fer’ro but I’m suddenly being pushed backward till my back hits the wall.

Fer’ro dips his head to my neck and inhales deeply.

His hand finds my center and he cups me there.

Heat floods my soul.

“Fer—what are you doing? Anyone could see us right now!”

“Ga’Var wanted to mate with you.”

His words disintegrate everything I was about to say.

“Before, when we first found you, he wanted you for himself.”

I blink as Fer’ro rubs his nose into me.

“Would you have chosen him and not me?”

I shake my head, even though the revelation has me surprised.

“No.”

And it’s the truth.

The only Vullan I’ve been drawn to is the one before me.

I wrap my arms around his wide back as he pulls me into him.

“Good,” he whispers.

For a few moments, we stay like this and I find it curious that no one else passes through the corridor even though I constantly hear clicks of conversation of approaching Vullan.

“So no more fighting between you two?” I brace back so I can look into Fer’ro’s not-so-alien eyes. He blinks at me with that secondary eyelid and I smile. He looks a little different now, with his hair no longer caught together behind his head, and the locs fall to the side of his face. “Now that he knows I’m willing, there’ll be no more fighting, right?”

Fer’ro clicks at me and I assume it is a yes.

“And the others? Will they fight you too? Do I have to announce to everyone that it’s consensual between us?”

“No. They wouldn’t dare. Only my obstinate womb mate would dare attack me like this.”

I nod as I smooth one of his locs back.

“We should go,” I whisper. “I’m pretty sure everyone knows we’re pressed against each other in the corridor…and I’m beginning to feel guilty. We have work to do.”

Fer’ro breathes in deep as he eases off me and there’s a click somewhere down the corridor.

“See,” I whisper.

Fer’ro makes a slight trilling sound as we begin to walk again. “They are excited.”

I huff a laugh through my nose. “Excited for what?”

When I look up at him, his eyes are like fire again. “For the new era,” he says.

EPILOGUE

ADIRA

As we near the bridge, we pass several Vullan.

They do the same bow, their eyes flicking to me before they avert their gazes.

I get the sense that Fer’ro is glaring at them, but whenever I glance up at him, all I can see is that steady, expressionless, gaze of his.

I never thought looking into such devilish eyes would be comforting, but a warmth spreads over me whenever our gazes meet.

The door to the bridge opens and several Vullan turn to look our way.

I see the moment Sam turns and sees me.

Her mouth opens to call my name but then she is frozen in shock as she takes me in.

“Adira?” She’s suddenly rushing toward me.

She grips my arms as she looks me up and down.

“You got one of their suits?!”

I open my mouth to tell her that wasn’t the case when I hear a low click.

Fer’ro.

He’s right.

It’s too much to explain right now, especially when the Vullan don’t fully understand the details of it all.

I smile at Sam instead. “Yea, I did.”

“How?!”

“Just lucky, I guess.” My gaze meets Fer’ro’s and his ears twitch as he watches us.

“I was worried about you. I heard you went to the surface to help them and you got taken by the machine again. Oh my god, how did you manage to get out?”

My smile brightens. “Long story. I’ll tell you sometime.” My gaze averts to the front of the bridge where there’s a wide viewscreen. “Right now, we have to make plans for what’s to come.”

I take a few steps toward the viewscreen and look out.

I sense when Fer’ro moves to stand beside me. His warmth is like a comforting energy that flows around my ba’clan.

“There,” he says, gesturing with his chin ahead.

It looks like a rocky mountain.

“What am I looking at?”

“Scans indicate a series of large tunnels underneath.”

“A cave system?”

“Correct.” Fer’ro glances at me for a second before turning his gaze back to the view. “We will open it and hide our ship there. And then…operations will begin.”

I feel a slight ball of anxiety begin to grow in my chest.

“Operations?” Sam asks.

“There is only one way we know to kill the Gryken. A weapon we managed to create in the last days of the war, but by then it was too late for Edooria.”

I glance up at him, but Fer’ro doesn’t skip a beat.

“When we reached this planet, it is how we took the first Gryken down—the one that had you imprisoned inside it.”

Sam shuffles a little on her feet and I know the same images, the same terror of having been in the belly of the machine, is coming right back to her.

“But we need materials to fuel it. Unfortunately, that material isn’t easily accessible and we only have limited stores on this ship.”

Sam glances at me and I release a breath.

“We can do it,” I say. “Whatever you need, we can do it.”

“We will do it,” Fer’ro corrects. “Together.”

A smile spreads my lips as I cross my arms and look up at him.

I don’t realize we’ve locked gazes for more than a few moments till Sam clears her throat beside me.

I pull my gaze away from Fer’ro’s and focus outside the ship once more. It is the only thing I can do other than meet Sam’s questioning gaze.

There is so much I need to tell her.

“So this will be the base then, huh.” I stare at the mountain before us. I have no idea where we are right now, but the landmass I’m looking at is about to be my home for the foreseeable future.

“Well,” I say, “if it’s going to be home, we have to give it a name.”

Fer’ro thrums a little. It is so low, I know Sam doesn’t hear it even though she is right next to us.

“It has a name,” he says. “We call it…Base Zero.”

“Base Zero,” I whisper.

My ba’clan thrum as I look at the mountain and I reach out and grasp Fer’ro’s hand.

He stiffens a little before he relaxes against me and his hand squeezes mine.

We’ve done so much already…

But this is only the beginning.

NEXT IN THE SERIES

Base Zero

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This goes out to all the readers of my books and to everyone who has loved them.

Thank you!

I would not be able to do this without you and I am truly grateful I get to share the worlds in my head with 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.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Dedication

Disclaimer

Arrival

Before you read!

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Epilogue

Next in the Series

Other books by A.G.

Acknowledgments

Keep In Touch

If you enjoyed this book…

About the Author