Page 7

NATALIE

B ile bubbled up in my stomach. No one in the room had to ask why human women were being abducted.

First, I felt like a selfish asshole. My worry had been myself and my baby girl. Meanwhile, dozens of women were being kidnapped. Experimented on. Or raped by a squad of terrifying dinosaur super soldiers. And when that failed…

Kroktl made the soothing low rumble deep in his chest, but this time, it didn’t reassure me.

Because I knew the truth.

I turned in his arms, meeting his gaze solemnly. “One in a billion billions, remember?”

Lohr’s estimation of how likely it was for Kroktl to find me, a compatible mate, let alone give me Akylla.

Muscles tightened over Kroktl’s jaws, his cheek flexing. His eyes flashed with red symbols and circles, only this time I knew exactly what it meant. He was trying to find words to soothe me, but he couldn’t bring himself to lie.

“What does that mean?” Holly asked.

I let out a long, shaky breath, tears pooling in my eyes.

“Earth isn’t a compatible planet for dyni to find mates.

The only reason it worked for us is the fragmented Myrm cells I carried without even knowing.

The odds of Kroktl finding me here at the right time for us to not only meet, mate, and breed, were astronomically impossible. ”

“So what are they…” Holly’s words fell off into silence.

I wanted to be sure everyone in the room heard and understood the callousness and cruelty we were dealing with. “Humans are prey for dyni. I asked the squad not to eat other humans.”

Tears streamed down Holly’s pale cheeks. For the first time since she’d joined us, she looked scared rather than wanting a squad of her own.

Good. Because I couldn’t sense any Myrm cells in her. If she ran into a squad out in the jungle…

My stomach heaved again.

“Wait, wait, I don’t get it,” Snyder said.

Despite her upset, Holly rolled her eyes, and I had to bite back a grin.

Using his best clinical tone, Snryx laid out the facts for the dense professor.

“HQ is abducting human females as mate candidates for other squads in a vain attempt to recreate what Natalie has been able to do. However, they’re doomed to failure if none of these females carry Myrm fragments, which the odds of such a thing happening again are astronomically impossible.

” He paused for dramatic effect and then said dryly, “The squads are eating their offered human female not mating her.”

Snyder’s eyes widened but his voice remained calm and even. “How do you know for sure there aren’t any more humans like Natalie?”

“We don’t,” Lohr replied. “Certainly, there could be others present with trace Myrm cells. But finding them would be like looking for a pinprick of light in the deepest, furthest realm of the universe.”

“They were willing to exterminate the entire planet,” I reminded them. “Surely they wouldn’t kill everyone just to get rid of me.”

Axxol grunted. “The fuck they wouldn’t.”

“You did the impossible,” Snryx said gently.

“You’re a Mother, both in the definition of Myrm lifecycles and as a creator of offspring.

You generated complete Sirian cells from broken, ancient fragments.

You called a formidable killing squad to your side and freed them from HQ programming.

You sprung a DSC trap and retrieved an experimental BGR+ before he could be decommissioned. You can jump without any training.”

Kroktl breathed into my ear, making goosebumps race down my arms. “Don’t remind me that you jumped out of a motherfucking helicopter into the mouth of a beast.”

Axxol let out a low, rumbling snarl. “Even after I swallowed you whole, you were still trying to claw your way out of my throat. Feeling you squirm and struggle inside me was the fucking hottest thing I’ve ever experienced. Wanna do it again?”

“Fuck no,” the other three males retorted in unison before I could even open my mouth to reply.

Amused, relieved, and yet a little intrigued despite my common sense, I glanced over at the pallet to check on the baby. She’d been sleeping longer than usual.

I jerked upright out of Kroktl’s arms, eyes wild, looking around the room. “She’s gone! Where?—”

Giggles drew my gaze up—all the way up to the ceiling fan. Where my week-old infant sat grinning and clapping her little hands, obviously very pleased with herself. Waiting for us to notice her. Twelve feet or more off the floor thanks to the cathedral ceiling.

I clamped a hand over my mouth to keep from screeching, which might scare her into falling. :How did she get up there? Without any of us even noticing she was awake?:

“Look at our big girl.” Laughing, Kroktl stood and moved closer so he could catch her if she fell, which made me feel a little better. Until he opened his arms—and she jumped.

I couldn’t help the shrill scream that rattled the windows, though of course he caught her effortlessly.

Akylla let out an evil giggle the way only a cute toddler can when getting into trouble. “Mama funny.”

“Yes she is, baby girl.” Kroktl gave her a little toss, making her laugh harder. “Though maybe you shouldn’t be climbing so high when you can’t walk yet.”

She stuck her bottom lip out and gave him a glare. “I run.”

He set her down on her feet. “Run to Mama, then, and give her a big kiss and hug for scaring her.”

As soon as he let go of her, she took a wobbly step toward me and almost sat down on her bottom.

Screwing her little face up with intense focus, she righted herself enough to stagger-walk-run the last few steps to me, where I caught her up in my arms and hugged her.

She fisted her hands in my hair and held me back, letting me breathe in her sweet scent.

It stirred something in me. A protective urge.

A fierce surge of love so overwhelming and furious it made me shake.

My heart hammered so hard I felt dizzy. She smelled like baby lotion, sweet and innocent at first, but then deeper, she smelled feral.

Wild. The strange, alien scent I’d caught in the jungle when Kroktl’s raptor was stalking me.

The kind of scent that would make a prey animal freeze in terror, hoping the predator didn’t see it.

My baby. Barely a week old. Climbing onto a ceiling fan. Walking. Running. Talking.

Developing scary fast. So fast my mind reeled, staggering just like her first wobbly steps.

I couldn’t even begin to think of all the things she might get into. The dangers I needed to plan for. Impossible.

A normal human baby would still be sleeping the majority of her hours, not climbing twelve feet off the floor and learning how to walk. How could I possibly keep her safe?

Especially knowing the dangers awaiting us both. If DSC came after her…

The screech I’d bellow would burst every eardrum on this entire planet.