Page 16

NATALIE

E ven though I was scared, I had to take a moment to appreciate the fact that none of them doubted me or questioned my perception of the grid, the stars that were other squads, or the pod rushing toward us that might carry a multitude of Myrm.

They trusted me. Even if I didn’t fully understand my new gifts or trust myself to use them correctly.

I reached out to the purple mass, trying to sense how many Myrm might be coming. If they were full-sized drones or the microscopic mrion cells the squad used to hunt before Earth.

Pure energy pulsed from them at my mental touch. A surge of frenetic excitement and urgency made my heart hammer. :We’re coming, Mother.:

One voice, but many, echoing through my skull. Vibrating my teeth. My pulse skyrocketed even higher. Mother.

:HQ is sure to detect such a large pod, especially given its unusual velocity,: Lohr warned. : If they scan them and detect mrions, they’ll neutralize them long before they can reach you.:

:It’s too dangerous,: I told them. :You’ll be killed by DSC.:

Undeterred, they replied, :We will reunite with Mother or be obliterated. Yet a remnant may still reach you in time.:

:Time for what? What’s coming?:

:Death. Death. Death.: Echoed all around me. :The full might of Draco. Sirius. Syndicate. All pathways converge on you.:

:What does that mean?:

Blue waves of fire pulsed through my mind, blinding me. So powerful I jerked and would have fallen out of the chair without Rizan’s and Kroktl’s arms around me. Huge rolling waves crashed into me, whipping my head back, blasting my hair as if hurricane winds tore through the house.

Visions rippled through my mind. Jungles leveled, mountains torn apart as if devastated by bombs.

Acrid dust and smoky chemicals in the air, burning my lungs.

The stench of dying animals and people for miles and miles in all directions.

Towns turned to rubble. Oceans rising, lightning and winds howling along the coast.

Complete and utter devastation.

:They’ve done it before,: the Myrm said. :Many times. Even on your world. Nothing will survive the destruction this time.:

:We’ll jump through a dozen fucking worlds again,: Axxol retorted. :They won’t find you or the youngling.:

:Wrong, wrong, wrong,: echoed on the grid. :They can and they will.:

My teeth chattered with dread, my stomach roiling with nausea. : What can we do?:

:You are Mother.:

Desperation sharpened my tone. :But what does that mean ? How does that ? —:

A buzzing static filled my mind, rising to a shrieking metal-on-metal screech that made me shudder.

:They’re jamming the signal,: Rizan said grimly. :Counteracting with a different frequency, cycling….:

:Mother,: the Myrm whispered, their voices faint and stretched out as if they were calling me from galaxies away rather than rushing toward us.

:Use us. Beware. Close.: The signal garbled, words skipping, syllables stretched out oddly.

I couldn’t be sure what they were saying. Maybe “game?” A close game?

Something zapped through the grid, killing the connection entirely. My ears throbbed, my vision blurry. It took me a moment to realize it was tears. Not blood. Why would I be worried about blood…?

I whirled around, pushing up out of my chair toward Rizan. Blood dripped from his eyes and the tiny nostrils in his triangular beak. Wavering back and forth drunkenly, he gave me a tired grin. “I bought you a little time.”

“Oh, Riz.” I caught him as his knees folded, though Kroktl and Snryx were right there with me, the medic already pumping him with medication.

“Okay,” Rizan mumbled, his eyes fluttering. “Grid intact.”

“You should have protected yourself from the blast and let the grid fall,” Snryx said sternly. “Then your inner membranes would still be intact.”

“Important. Had to get it all.”

I cradled his head in my lap, stroking the delicate feathers over his skull. “I didn’t even understand the last part. Did they say something about a game?”

Rizan opened his bloodshot eyes. “I’ll analyze?—”

“Later,” I cut in gently. “You need to rest and heal first. Lohr, could you estimate how long until the pod reaches us?”

“Based on the data before we lost their signal, I would estimate eighteen to twenty hours.”

I was used to the slow, measured way he spoke—but there was something else in his tone. Not hesitation or concern, exactly, just… reservation. “But?”

He let out a long, slow breath before answering. “Their signal was detected—and blocked—by HQ.”

I was getting sick and tired of this sinking feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. “So they know where the pod is and what it carries.”

“Exactly.” Kroktl lifted his head, breathing deeply, his nostrils flaring. Very much the wild predator on the hunt, sniffing for his prey. “Which means they could have detected where our signal originated.”

“Negative.” Rizan tried to lift his head, but I pressed lightly on his chest, keeping his shoulders down, his head on my lap.

“Our grid is secure and safely wrapped up in so much interference they can only determine we’re in the general vicinity of this solar system.

I’ve even got some chatter from Mars’ Rover and NASA’s Deep Space Network to muddy our location. ”

Lohr snorted. “Deep Space Network. Nice name when humans can barely reach the next planet over.”

A loud clash of teeth made me jerk my head up. Axxol snarled at Snyder, warning him back away from me. He and Holly had both left their seats and hovered nearby.

“What’s going on?” Holly asked, her voice low but steady.

Beware echoed in my head. Close.

I had no reason not to trust her, but I chose my words carefully. “We made contact with someone who might help, but DSC detected the connection and shut it down. Riz got hurt as a result.”

She paled and swallowed hard. “Do they know where you are? Can you jump to a new place?”

“When we go, we’re not taking you two with us,” Axxol said. “It’s too risky.”

I fought to keep my face smooth, though on the grid, I gave him the equivalent of a narrowed stare. Along with a pinch on his ass just because I could. He didn’t get to decide what happened with my friend.

His eyes flashed cobalt and he bared his teeth in the closest thing I’ve seen to a grin on his arrogant, harsh face.

Holly’s shoulders slumped and she nodded. “I figured as much. When you need to make a run for it, we’ll just slow you down. Maybe you can use us as a decoy to lead them in the wrong direction."

Use us. I nodded slowly, replaying the Myrm’s cryptic message in my head. “Maybe. We’ve got a little time to come up with a plan.”

Though I couldn’t help but wonder how much DSC already knew.

Would they fall for such a trick if Holly pretended to be me?

I didn’t want her to end up in even more danger just to save my own skin.

Besides, they surely had an image of me from my brief jump into the strange laboratory to free Axxol.

With super-soldier alien technology, they had to have captured all kinds of information about me in those few minutes.

They knew I was pregnant. In the brief interaction, the scientist portrayed as a jovial grandfather had studied my every move. Enough to sense that Kroktl was more important to me than the BGR+ he’d captured.

:Well fuck me I guess,: Axxol retorted in my head. :I don’t know why you even bothered to come and get me.:

He glared at me, hands fisted at his sides, eyes blazing, nostrils flaring, chest heaving. Furious. No. Hurt.

Because he wanted to be as important to me.

I held my hand up toward him, even though Kroktl was closer, silently asking for a hand up off the floor. :Don’t you remember what I told him?:

Lips twisted in a vicious snarl, Axxol stomped closer and seized my hand, jerking me up to my feet so fast I lost contact with the floor. :No. I was a little occupied at the time.:

I allowed myself to stagger against him. Then I stayed there. My head on his chest, listening to the frantic thudding of his heart. I spoke aloud so everyone could hear, even the other humans. “I never said I didn’t love you too.”

AXXOL

I’d never been injured by mere words before. Pain lanced through me, stilling my breath. The rex swelled inside me, responding to my erratic emotions. Almost slipping free. An unforgivable loss of control for an alpha.

I wanted to swallow her whole again. Just to have her inside me.

:I’m already inside you,: she whispered in my head.

“Well.” Snyder cleared his throat roughly. “I’ll head into town in the morning and see if any new local sightings have been reported. Do you want to go, Holly?”

“No thanks. It creeps me out knowing that they’re actively looking for women our age in the area. I’ll stay inside and do some brainstorming with Nat.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Natalie replied. “I know you’re an early riser, but I probably won’t be up until eight or nine.”

“Oh, that’s totally fine. Is there anything you want me to start looking into beforehand?”

Natalie still touched me, her arms loosely around my waist. Her cheek pressed to my chest. What did that mean?

Her warm, lithe body against mine was so damned tempting. I couldn’t help but lower my head toward hers so I could smell the lush scent of her hair and skin. Though I was careful not to even breathe on Red’s mark through the thin cloth she wore.

“The Myrm said that DSC has destroyed Earth before, only they implied it would be even worse this time. Maybe look for cataclysmic natural disasters.”

“How far back? Like Cretaceous Period asteroids?”

Her head popped up so fast she almost snapped my teeth together like the youngling had done to her earlier. “That’s it! Yes!”

The other woman grinned at her. “Asteroids, of course! I’ll get started on mapping out some locations and basic research.”

“Perfect. Thanks.”

From the way the woman raced toward the door, I didn’t expect her to wait until morning to begin her research. “Goodnight, everyone.”

“Goodnight.” Natalie waited a few moments and then turned to Rizan, who immediately had a map on the grid dotted with yellow pins. “Oh wow, there’s one fairly close to us.”

“According to Earth’s scientists, this is most likely the asteroid that’s responsible for wiping out the non-avian dinosaurs on your planet,” Rizan replied. “Its epicenter struck just off the Yucatán Peninsula approximately sixty-six million years ago.”

Lohr’s tongue hung lower, unconsciously preparing to take a sample. “Humans detected high amounts of iridium, shocked quartz, and what your scientists labeled tektites.”

“What’s that?”

“Super-heated glass similar to volcanic glasses—but made from non-terrestrial material.”

“Do you think it could have been sent by DSC?”

He gave himself a sheepish shake and curled his tongue back up. “It’s certainly a possibility. I wouldn’t know for sure unless I sampled the area and found traces of tungsten.”

“Who gives a fuck if they sent the asteroid or not?” I fought to keep the bite out of my voice. Snryx was right. I needed more emotional capabilities than anger.

Though I wasn’t even angry right now, so why the fuck did I snarl and snap all the time? Perhaps I was frustrated because she’d lifted her cheek away so I couldn’t feel the touch of her bare skin on mine. Greedy to hear more words of affection from her. Starved.

Damned near desperate.

Fuck.

“I don’t know,” she said, staring off into space at nothing while she studied the map on the grid. “It feels important, though.”

“Then it’s important.” Kroktl looped an arm around her waist but didn’t pull her up against him—away from me. “Your instincts have never led you astray yet.”

They both stood so closely to me. Casual. Fearless. Unintimidated. Even her mate, despite the words she’d admitted out loud.

I never said I didn’t love you too.

Did she mean it? Was it physically possible for her to love me even a fraction of how much she loved Red?

Muscles twitched throughout my body, my spine snapping with the rex’s surge. I gritted my teeth, holding on to my self-control. By the time the rex subsided, I panted and sweat dotted my entire body.

Yet she never moved away in fear. Red hadn’t shoved her away to protect her. Even while I struggled to contain the most terrible monster DSC had ever created.

“Despite all your snarling and growling and biting and rude comments, I do.”

I blinked. Trying to remember what?—

“I want you to mark me too,” I snapped, my words ringing with command.

Inwardly, I winced at my harsh tone. Practically frothing at the mouth, bones crunching, scales popping up on my arms.

She fucking laughed and patted my cheek like I was a fucking toddler. “I promised Sn will be next?—”

“Whatever,” I retorted, leaning down to glare in her face, the force of my words blowing her wisps of her hair back from her face. “I’m next.”

She arched a brow and crossed her arms over her chest. “Snryx. Then Rizan and Lohr. You asked last. You go last.”

Talons shredded my intestines. My blood simmered, rage boiling like a supermassive black hole ready to explode. My teeth crunched like crystalline razor shards. Blue fire rippled around me, ozone burning the air. Yet she stared back at me steadily.

“Fine,” I muttered. Though I glared at Red, daring him to say something obnoxious like “that’s what I fucking thought,” so I could rip his fucking head off.

Kroktl merely leaned down and rubbed his nose into her hair, breathing noisily. Ignoring me completely.

“Sn, do you want—” She started to say.

“Absolutely.” The medic didn’t give her a millisecond to change her mind, as if afraid I’d still manage to muscle in and steal his turn. “Though only at your convenience, of course.”

Her eyes changed. Her pupils opened, darkening her irises, though the colored ring sparked like twinkling stars. “Nothing you could ever want would be an inconvenience to me.” Her lips quirked, and she darted a quick glance in my direction. “Except Axxol, of course.”

My face must have contorted into a mask of rage and jealousy before I could even gauge those emotions pulsing through me.

She reached up toward my face, and for a second, I thought she was going to pat my fucking cheek again. Which only sent my rage boiling higher.

Then her fingers settled on my nape, and she gave a tug, asking me to come down toward her.

Of fucking course I went like a damned idiot.

“I’m teasing,” she whispered.

And then pressed her lips to mine.