Page 31

NATALIE

S udden silence filled my head. Lohr’s tongue dangled down his chest. Limp. Snryx’s coils slipped away from my body. For a moment, not going to lie, I was fucking terrified.

My bare skin crawled. Eyes on me. Exposed.

Naked. Vulnerable. All the men in the room stared at me—with not-so great thoughts.

Dirty, disgusting thoughts. Eyeing my heavy milk-filled breasts.

My rounded stomach, skin lax from carrying my baby.

My hair was crazy and unkempt. I probably looked like a wild woman living off green bananas in the jungle.

I am a fucking wild woman living in the jungle.

My chin tipped up, my jaws tight. Rage crackled inside me, a fire that burned away my momentary fear. How dare they lay hands on me, my daughter, or my squad? How dare they even look at me?

The marks twinged, still connecting me to my mates.

I could still feel the mrions.

Because they’re mine. My squad. My cells. Mine.

Don’t fuck around with the Mother.

:Don’t move yet,: I told Lohr and Snryx. :Pretend you’re still incapacitated.:

Snryx blinked, so I was sure he heard me. Then I focused on the mrions—the Sirian cells—inside of them. : Return all function. Destroy and ignore all DSC commands and programming.:

Beyond this fake silver room, I pictured the yard. Those poor chopped up space whales. The destroyed drones. All glowing purple with mrion power.

My power.

:Combine,: I willed them. :I need you. Rise. Find my squad. Protect them. Heal them, if necessary. Protect my daughter. Broken fragments and damaged alike. I need you all.:

I couldn’t see outside of the silver walls. Not exactly. But I could feel everything through the mrions. Waves of particles flowed together, first thin tendrils and wisps, then thicker vines like tentacles. Reaching up into the sky.

Rizan , I thought. He’d be in the air, scouting for the squad. An easy target. :Shield him. Give him whatever power he needs.:

Kroktl and Axxol. Fighting on the ground. Feasting. Tearing our enemies apart.

Akylla. I could almost hear her laughter and excitement. The way she hopped up and down with joy. :Keep her safe.:

:Kore,: the mrions whispered. :Incoming.:

I focused on the DSC scientist dude. “What’s Kore?”

He gave me a grandfatherly, indulgent smile. “It’s what they sold you for, my dear.” He winked at Holly. “She’s just a bonus, yet she may prove interesting once we expose her to some of your contamination.”

I jerked my head toward the military man. “The least you could do is tell me why you sold me to these monsters.”

General Waverley’s lips tightened, muscles ticking in his jaw. I glared at him and then the slick businessman. Back and forth. Willing one of them to break.

“They’re aliens,” the businessman finally said.

I rolled my eyes and snorted with derision. “No shit, Sherlock. I knew that much already. Why are you so scared of them?”

“You think your pet monsters are terrifying?” General Waverley snapped.

“The creatures in the sea are big enough to destroy entire cities. New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Sydney, all gone in the blink of an eye. First they hit with waves, earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis. Then they come ashore to finish us off.”

I stared at him a moment and then laughed, slowly shaking my head. “You’re afraid of Godzilla?”

“They’re not giant lizards, dinosaurs, or even…” Mr. Smith finally waved his hand at Lohr. “Whatever he is. They’re the size of oil tankers or even bigger. The Sirius Galactic Syndicate agreed to assist us with technological advances to defend ourselves.”

“Ah yes, right.” Nodding, the scientist reached into his white coat’s pockets with both hands.

Like a magician performing a show, he slowly pulled out his hands without revealing what he held.

Ever so slowly, he reached out and set a small black box on the table between us. It looked like an engagement ring box.

Mr. Smith immediately stepped forward, quickly laid his briefcase on the table, opened it, and gently lifted the box to put it inside a protective foam layer. “We’ll deploy this at once.”

“Indeed.” The scientist’s wide smile didn’t slip but alarm chilled the tips of my fingers. “Once the jump ring dissolves, you may do the needful.”

:What could be in the box?: I asked both Lohr and Snryx.

:I felt a buzz of energy on my tongue,: Lohr replied. :Tasted like Sirian crystal.: Unease trickled through his bond. :A powerful one.:

:But it was small.:

:No matter. A Sirian crystal that size could implode your Sun once enough gravitational force was applied. I’m not sure how they intend to use it against a lifeform.:

:If you touched it, would it harm you?:

:No, other than enduring the prickle of its energy. External force must be applied to release its core.:

:Core. Kore. Is that on purpose?:

A stunned, shaken gasp shuddered through my mind. :Possibly. In fact, very likely. Let me… Yes. Reference found. Ah.: His mind churned through data at a blinding speed. Too technical for me to follow the leaps and connections he made. :It makes so much sense now.:

“Your turn, my dear.” Holding my gaze, the scientist turned over his left hand and opened his fingers, revealing a silver pen.

I allowed fear to flicker over my face and flinched back, pulling Holly with me so we both stood a little behind Snryx, who was still frozen in place. I’d seen what that pen had done to Axxol. It’d stolen pieces of him. His Sirian cells.

“You may scream if you like,” the scientist said.

“But you should know that I’m fully protected from any echolocation or electromagnetic pulse.

You surprised us last time, I will admit, but we at DSC learn very quickly from even the most minor of mistakes.

With X192B’s BGR holding the jump ring steady, you cannot escape this time. ”

“The offspring may be even more important than the mother,” Dr. Snyder said.

His voice jarred me, something discordant in his choice of words.

I turned my head, looking for anything different in his demeanor.

Alarm spread through me despite his very normal appearance.

Something wasn’t right. I especially didn’t like his interest in Akylla.

Had he ever called her offspring ? Or been so dispassionate when talking about me?

“Dyni are easily created.” The scientist shrugged.

“Humans like this specimen, not so much. We’ve looked for something like you for a very long time, my dear.

Longer than you can possibly imagine. You’re very precious to us.

Why, your backward planet has been a sort of playground for millennia.

Human games turned out much more amusing than we originally expected. ”

Games. Playground. They were fucking around with billions of peoples’ lives for their own fucking amusement.

I allowed my voice to crack with fear. “Then why are you killing me?”

His eyebrows lifted with surprise. “Who said anything about killing you?”

“If you remove the Sirian cells inside me…”

“Oh, my mistake.” He chuckled, shaking his head.

“We do plan to relocate you, certainly. This won’t be a safe area with the KORE threatening.

” He put much more emphasis on the new alien species.

Moving around the table, he approached Snryx without hesitation.

“This isn’t for you, but for them. DSC always reclaims its property.

A shame, honestly. You were one of the finest SPXs we ever engineered. ”

:Now,: I told Snryx.

One of his implements whipped around the man’s hand, preventing the pen from touching him. Another went around his throat and a third around his other hand. “Still am, asshole.”