“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.