Page 32

NATALIE

I was honestly a little disappointed that Snryx didn’t lop off the scientist’s head.

:I would gladly chop off his head if that would make a difference,: Snryx replied grimly. :He’s an agent, as fake as this empty laboratory.:

The man didn’t even struggle, only tipped his head sideways quizzically. “What do you hope to achieve?”

“A way out of here,” I muttered, looking around frantically.

The walls and floor were smooth silver, supposedly tungsten, the only metal strong enough to cage dyni. The room itself was circular, which made sense if we were inside the BGR’s jump ring. How long could he hold it? I didn’t recall Axxol’s being so large.

:The diameter of this particular jump ring is larger than approximately ninety-eight percent of all recorded jump rings available in my databanks.

: Lohr’s mind still churned through research data on the KORE, so deep that his bond seemed thin and distant.

Almost like he was on another planet, or back on Earth.

In fact, if I allowed my eyes to unfocus…

I could see the ghostly imprint of the giant Jacuzzi tub behind him where I’d been hiding before the alpha tore through the roof.

The construct weakened. Because we had the agent controlled—for now?

Or maybe some other reason. Surely the T-rex couldn’t hold the jump indefinitely, especially with the rest of my squad pressuring them. Probably killing them.

Axxol could hold the cave in Gioiello without even being there physically, but I’d assumed that was his BGR+ skill, not something a standard pilot could do.

I focused on him. Remembering the way he smelled, raw, wild and feral.

The promise of violence darkening the blue fire in his eyes.

The growl of his voice. I didn’t have a mating mark with him, but if the jump ring was weakening, hopefully he’d be able to hear me on the grid.

:How do I make him drop this jump ring?:

Axxol locked onto my mind with vicious jaws, seizing me like he never intended to let me go. Static and interference roared in my head, but I could make out his words. :You fucking kill him.:

:I can’t see him. He’s not physically here.:

:He is. You just can’t see through the turbulence he’s using to jam your location. Adjust the frequency. Rip his fucking jump to shreds.:

“There is no way out,” the scientist said calmly. “Not until DSC allows you to leave. I have my orders.”

“The hurricane will make land soon.” Mr. Smith white-knuckled the handle of his briefcase. “We must deploy the weapon to stop it.”

:No!: Lohr suddenly roared so loudly in my head it made me flinch. :We mustn’t let that crystal anywhere near the KORE.:

“My people know where we are,” General Waverley said. “You can’t hold us here indefinitely. We came prepared to nuke all of you if necessary.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block them out. Their rising tension, the shrillness in their voices as they began to fear for their lives. Holly clutched my entire arm, her body pressed against me, shivering. But that only made me wish I had Kroktl’s arms around me.

:I’m here, baby,: he whispered, gently tucking my hair behind my ear. :Our youngling’s safe. Come home to us.:

No doubt or anxiety threaded his words. Only one-hundred percent faith and confidence.

In me. Our love. Our bond.

I exhaled, long and slow. Eyes closed, I envisioned the bathroom around me. White marble floor beneath my feet… No. That wasn’t right. Rizan had ordered a huge, ridiculously thick bath mat for the floor so my feet wouldn’t be cold when I got out of the tub. My favorite color, purple.

A faint, hazy blue light flickered in the corners of my vision. The air shimmered slightly like heat rising from a fire. The jump ring’s edge.

An arm locked around my throat. Something hard jammed into my ribs. I gasped, my eyes flying open, losing the vision. He jerked me backward, away from Snryx and Lohr.

“This has been extremely entertaining.” Dr. Snyder’s face pressed close enough to my ear that I could feel his breath on my cheek. “But all fun and games must end eventually.”

Released from all DSC programming and constraints, Lohr shifted to his Nodo form, his long fangs glistening.

Snyder jerked me back another step. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, XNT. You know what I have pressed to your frail human’s body. It’ll be interesting to see if she can withstand the pain of losing all of those lovely Sirian cells now that they’re fully integrated into her biological systems.”

Damn. One of those extractor pens. But where’d he get it?

Furious tears burned my eyes, but I wasn’t going to give him the pleasure of watching me cry. “I should have let Axxol eat you when he had the chance.”

“You were supposed to be the smart one, remember?” Snyder laughed, squeezing my throat so hard I could barely breathe. “Maximus.”

The agent’s jovial face shifted to pure silver. “Override accepted. Awaiting new orders.”

“Wipe all logs and evidence of this incident,” Dr. Snyder said.

“Completed.”

“You’re dismissed.”

The agent melted into a puddle like mercury and disappeared into the smooth silver floor.

“You’re one of them,” I wheezed out.

But how? I knew the man. I’d taken regular classes with him over the years, both undergraduate and graduate studies.

He’d published numerous articles in his tenured career at the University of Texas.

Why would DSC bother masquerading as a human college professor for more than a decade?

Unless a few years were nothing more than the blink of an eye to them.

“Not all the time,” he replied. “Sometimes Dr. Snyder lives his own meaningless, mundane human life with only very basic and boring programming required. But when he travels in the field, especially in South or Central America, then I take over for a little fun.”

Your backward planet has been a sort of playground for millennia.

I could suddenly see it all so clearly. His skeevy reputation for always taking female students into the field.

Many of them left the archeology program—or simply dropped out entirely for one excuse or another.

How many hadn’t even come back? How many had met some scary monster in the jungle that simply ate them?

Over and over and over.

He didn’t care. He had no empathy. No basic compassion.

He’d left me in the tent with the mercenary soldier, fully intending for me to disappear. Fuck, that seemed like a lifetime ago. Had that been the man programmed to pretend to be human? Or the DSC agent?

:He’s not an agent,: Snryx warned. :Not like the other one. He’s very real, though his consciousness is only projected into this human body.:

“Let us out of here,” General Waverley demanded. “Now. We have to stop the Kore before it’s too late.”

“Oh, no, I don’t think so,” Dr. Snyder replied. “I can’t allow you to deploy the gift the syndicate kindly presented to you. They have different priorities than I do.”

Mr. Smith backed away from Snyder, shifting the briefcase behind him. “We had a deal.”

“Not with me. Trust me, I’m doing you a favor.”

“Don’t trust,” I wheezed out, using my fingers to try and pry at his arm locked around my windpipe. “Never.”

“Oh, I assure you in this case you want to listen to me. In that briefcase, gentlemen, you hold a Sirian crystal large enough to detonate this entire planet if it comes into contact with the KORE.”

:It’s true,: Lohr said. :KORE are the antithesis of DSC technology, which is powered by Sirian crystals. It’d create a reaction like antimatter colliding with matter.:

Black spots danced in my vision, and my knees trembled. We’re running out of time. :I don’t understand.:

:Pure annihilation,: Lohr replied. :The larger the KORE, the more widespread the devastation will be. It could certainly be enough to destroy your planet and all life on it.:

Well fuck.

“I’ve spent entirely too long searching for you, sweetie.”

Ugh. I fought not to throw up. I’d forgotten the disgusting, demeaning, fake endearments he’d used.

“I can’t allow your planet to be destroyed now.

Not when there may be more like you out there somewhere.

” He dropped his voice to a whisper, his lips brushing my ear, making my stomach heave.

“Especially your little girl. Oh, she’s going to unlock incredible new research opportunities for DSC.

If you’re very, very good, Natalie, I may allow you to reproduce another dozen for us to study. ”

“Never,” I ground out, fighting to keep my eyes open. I met Holly’s terrified eyes, willing her to understand. “He’s still. Just. A man.”

A distraction. That’s all I need. In the darkness spreading through my vision, the blue flames still wavered, thin and dim but visible. The rest of my squad waited on the other side of those flames, just begging for a chance to get tooth and claw on our enemies.

All I have to do is bring that ring down.

:Take it from him, Natalie,: Axxol purred deep and low in my mind. :The power’s fucking yours.:

Threads of deep purple wound through the blue flames. Mrion fragments. Sirian cells. Change the frequency.

The color.

As soon as I made the connection, everything shifted and clicked into place.

Pale but determined, Holly reared back and kicked Snyder as hard as possible in the balls. His breath rushed out on a guttural sound of pain. If I could breathe, I would’ve laughed. Sucks to have a fragile human male body, huh, Snyder?

Lohr chomped down on Mr. Smith and swallowed the briefcase—along with most of his arms—in one big gulp.

While I pulled on the blue ozone, shifting it to the most beautiful shade of purple in the entire universe. My favorite color. Pure energy flowed into me.

Only a few feet to my left, the BGR jerked his head up with shock as his jump ring dissipated.

He opened his jaws and started to lunge forward to devour me—but his body staggered.

His Sirian—mrion—cells flowed to me. I tasted him.

Felt him. Knew him inside and out as his cells marched merrily into me.

Squad X192B, designation BGR, name Cazr.

I didn’t need an extractor pen to drain him.

I’m the Mother.

He threw himself backwards, scrambling frantically, falling onto his back.

Which made it extremely easy for two screaming Tri-Rs to leap onto his belly, slicing and clawing on either side of his big abdomen like they were racing to see who could get to the chocolate center first. While Rizan swept low and sliced sawtoothed blades across his neck so deeply his head flopped over to the side, barely attached by a few strands of skin and ligaments.

The Big Rig himself snapped mighty jaws shut on the man strangling me, his teeth passing so close goosebumps danced on my bare skin. Snyder didn’t even have a chance to scream.

Waving bloody stumps around, Mr. Smith opened and closed his mouth repeatedly but couldn’t make his brain work. Finally he toppled over, still looking for his precious briefcase.

General Waverley stood like a statue, his eyes wide, face pale, trying to remain completely still. Everything he knew about T-rexes came from Jurassic Park . Though I guaranteed staying still wouldn’t save him if Axxol decided to eat him too.

The arm was still around my neck. Lifeless fingers spasmed, still clutching at me. Revolted, I slung the severed hand aside. Snryx’s implements coiled around me, keeping me on my feet, his eyes narrowed with concentration as he checked me for injuries.

“I’m fine,” I gasped out. “Now.”

Kroktl swept me up against him, his chest splattered with blood, but I didn’t mind. Wait, there’d been two raptors. Surely not…

Stunned, I turned my head and stared at Akylla. Her head came up to my chest. She’d already gotten several feet taller while I’d been locked inside the jump ring.

:Younglings grow extremely fast,: Kroktl said. :Especially when they’re feeding well.:

Her wings were clamped down tightly to her sides. She came a step closer but couldn’t quite meet my gaze. Shy in a way my joyfully feral baby had never been.

I held out my left arm toward her, my other still clutching him. “My baby girl’s growing into a deadly beautiful dragon.”

Her head perked up, her eyes sparking like rubies. :Like Toothless? Only I have lots of teeth.:

I sent Rizan a silent mental hug of gratitude for immediately playing scenes of How to Train Your Dragon on the grid.

“Lots of great big teeth, the best for biting.” She butted her head playfully into my chest. I must have blinked. I didn’t even see her move. “I love you so much. All of you.”

:Um, guys?: Rizan said on the grid. :Incoming.:

Axxol let out an earth-rumbling roar that went on and on for what seemed like hours. :Round two, let’s fucking go!: