Page 77 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Stars

Kanzex

I should’ve known something was wrong the moment they called me away.

The crew’s urgency was almost palpable as they had pulled me from the only place that truly mattered to me—the observation chamber. The only place where I could sit and truly feel everything other than the cold emptiness of this sterile ship. It had been days since I last had a moment alone with her, and I was growing increasingly uneasy.

Something was off.

The captain had dismissed my concerns, of course. "We need your expertise elsewhere, Dr. Scil," she had said, her tone sharp and insistent. They always did, didn’t they? Never mind that every second I spent away from her felt like an eternity, like the ship was suffocating me, slowly robbing me of my clarity.

And now I was on my way back, almost running down the narrow, sterile halls of the ship, my pulse quickening with every step. The quiet hum of the ship’s machinery felt louder than ever, almost suffocating, and I could feel a gnawing sense of urgency in my gut, a sensation that this wasn’t merely about the research anymore. It was about her .

I rounded a corner sharply, my boots echoing against the cold metal floors.

And there he was.

The new crew member—the one who had arrived in such an odd manner, almost out of nowhere. The one who had been filling in the gaps in our missing crew, as if by chance. He had kept to himself for the most part, but I had noticed... a strangeness. His mannerisms were too stiff, too practiced. His smile too cold, too fleeting. He didn’t sit right with me, especially after that last meeting.

But I hadn’t pegged him for this.

He was standing there in the hallway, directly between me and the chamber door, his eyes narrowing as he saw me approach. His posture was relaxed, but I could feel the tension radiating off him. As though the air itself were charged in anticipation.

For a moment, neither of us spoke. The silence stretched between us like a taut wire, thick with unspoken words. My heart began to pound louder in my chest, and I could feel my fingers curling into fists.

I didn’t trust him. There was something wrong with his presence, it was unsettling, but I had long ago learned to trust that gut feeling, that nagging whisper in the back of my mind.

“You’ve been gone for quite some time, Researcher.” His voice held no warmth.

“Are you insinuating you’ve been waiting here the entire time?” I replied, forcing a thin smile onto my lips. “Or are you just enjoying the silence of the halls?”

His lips curled upward, but it wasn’t a smile. It was a bare twist of amusement, cold and calculating. “Perhaps a bit of both.”

I felt a shiver crawl down my spine, but I ignored it. “I’m not in the mood for idle conversation,” I said, stepping forward.

But he didn’t move. He just stood there, as if he had all the time in the world. “I think,” he said slowly, his gaze locking onto mine with an unnerving intensity, “that you and I need to have a little chat.”

I halted, narrowing my eyes. His stance was predatory as well as his words, the way he was watching me like I was the prey. But I wasn’t a fool. No, I wasn’t going to let this male—this thing —intimidate me. I had more than enough reasons to doubt his intentions, to suspect him of motives I couldn’t quite place. I had dealt with dangerous minds before, but this felt… different.

I wasn’t sure what he was. But I was certain of one thing: he wasn’t just another crew member.

“What do you want?” I asked, the tension in my voice barely concealed. The question hung between us, sharp and biting.

He tilted his head slightly as if savoring the moment before speaking. “You think you can claim her, don’t you?” His voice was low, almost a growl now. “You think you’re special— chosen to unravel her mysteries. But you’re just like the rest of them. Blind to the truth.”

I didn’t flinch, even as the words sank into me like daggers. “And you think you know the truth, don’t you?” I retorted, stepping closer. “You think you have some kind of power over me?”

There was an unsettling glimmer of an ancient sort of darkness flashing behind his eyes. He was so close now that I could smell the faint scent of cold iron and something older and wrong clinging to his skin.

“Power?” he repeated, voice dropping lower, the words coated in venom. “I don’t need power over you, Dr. Scil. I only need to watch you destroy yourself.”

My spinal spikes rose. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to remain calm. “I won’t let you near her,” I said, my voice steady, but the words felt hollow even as I spoke them.

His smile grew.

How long had he been here? What exactly had he tampered with while I was gone?

He chuckled darkly, his fingers twitching as if he were controlling some unseen force. “There is so much beyond your simple understanding. You’re already too far gone.”

I made a move to pass him, to get to the door, but he stepped in front of me, blocking my way. There was no escape.

“You think I don’t know what you’re doing? You think you can hide it from me?” His voice slithered through the air, cold and jagged. “A Gheket?”

My scales changed colors toward anger.

He took a slow step forward, closing the distance between us with an almost predatory calm. The oppressive weight of his presence crushed the air, each movement of his body making the shadows in the room grow darker, thicker. “Obsession,” he sneered, his words dripping with malice, “is the least of your worries.” His eyes locked onto mine, burning with a twisted intensity.

I clenched my jaw, refusing to let him provoke me. But my heart hammered in my chest as the weight of his words sank deeper. He was right about one thing—I wanted to claim her. My obsession with her was growing, the desire to know her, to possess her, eating away at my sanity.

But I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me break.

“Get out of my way,” I said, my fangs growing with agitation.

For a long moment, he didn’t move, just stared down at me with those cold, hollow eyes, as if watching me struggle with my own thoughts.

When he circled me, I flicked my gaze to Astraea who remained calm behind the glass, watching us both. Finally, he stepped aside, his lips curling in a mocking smile. “You’ll come to realize the truth soon enough,” he said, his voice dripping with wickedness. “We all do in the end.”

I didn’t say another word, just watched Astraea tilt her head as if she was telepathically speaking to Karrus whose back instantly stiffened before leaving the room. Without looking to see if the coast was clear, I walked toward her. Karrus’ words echoed in my mind, the weight of them settling over me like a cloak of impending doom.

What was it about her that had drawn us both?

And why was I so sure that this was only the beginning?