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.