Page 34 of Saved By the Alien Hybrid (Hybrids of Yulaira #1)

Sophia leaned heavily on Cordelia as she directed them back into the forest, retracing her steps toward the place she’d left Thalen, the leader of the revolution, for dead.

“What did you hit him with?” Cordelia asked.

“…A big stick,” Sophia muttered. “Look, I didn’t know who he was! I was lost on an alien planet, and he looked like something out of a horror movie.”

They got turned around twice before Sophia recognized a huge, rotting log, reorienting them. Just a few yards beyond, they found Thalen lying face down in the bracken.

He looked like a broken doll—or maybe an action figure was more apt. Rentir rushed to his side, kneeling and prodding him over. Thalen was similar to Rentir in his alien aspects, but he was nearly twice as broad and a head taller. His breathing was labored and wet in a way that sounded agonizing.

“Jesus, Soph.”

Sophia bowed her head sheepishly, hugging her elbows. “I really thought he was going to hurt me,” she said softly, shifting from foot to foot. “I didn’t know they were on our side.”

“It’s okay,” Cordelia murmured, wrapping an arm around Sophia’s bare shoulders. “No one blames you.”

“He needs medical treatment,” Rentir said in frustration, picking over Thalen in search of further injuries. “He’ll die if he stays out here.”

“Oh, God,” Sophia said, pressing a hand over her mouth as blood bubbled from Thalen’s lips.

“Tell the female it was not her doing,” Rentir said, his gaze flicking to Cordelia. “He was badly injured long before she struck him—she would not have been able to land the blow otherwise. It is his other injuries that I fear he will succumb to.”

Cordelia relayed as much to Sophia, who didn’t look comforted at all by the sentiment. She moved to kneel beside Thalen, her doe eyes sweeping over him guiltily as she gnawed at the cuticle of her thumb.

She didn’t look much better than Thalen, covered head to toe in dirt and scratches as she was.

She was naturally willowy, but over the last few days, she’d grown gaunt.

The shadows under her cheekbones and in the hollows of her eyes were too deep.

Her light brown skin was tinged red over her nose and her shoulders by a sunburn.

It was nothing the medpod couldn’t heal, but the sight of her suffering still twisted a knife in Cordelia’s gut.

“Who were those other aliens?” Sophia asked, breaking Cordelia’s morose reverie.

“The guys at the lake?”

Sophia nodded.

“They’re the Aurillon. Rentir and Thalen here are hybrids, purpose bred by the auretians for labor. They’re in the middle of a revolution.”

“So, they’re slavers?” Sophia asked numbly.

“Yeah, pretty much. Eugenicists, too.”

Sophia winced. “What do you think they were going to do to me?”

“I have no idea, but we’re going to find out. They have Thea, and I’m not going to stop until we’ve got her back.”

“Thea? They got Thea?” Sophia echoed, her eyes widening.

Cordelia could see the cogs turning in her head, knew exactly what she was thinking—if they could get the drop on Thea, none of them stood a chance. Sophia’s attention drifted to Rentir. Gratitude blossomed on her face.

“Maybe I could bring the hoverbike,” Rentir muttered, looming over Thalen. “If I could find some way to secure him…” He looked between Cordelia and Sophia. “But I can’t leave you two here. You’re too vulnerable.” He cursed, mussing his hair in frustration.

Both their comms beeped at once.

“Fendar,” Rentir breathed. He tapped frantically at the device, pulling up a message that Cordelia had no hope of deciphering. “It’s an all-clear. Comms are safe again.”

Rentir tapped the device a few times, and it trilled—an alien ringtone, she realized. Someone picked up.

“What?” they barked.

“I’ve got Thalen,” Rentir said in a rush. “I need an immediate retrieval. He doesn’t have much longer.”

The male on the other end cursed, then shouted distantly at someone in the background. “Stay where you are,” he commanded, and the line cut out.

They sat around Thalen and waited for rescue. Rentir busily sent messages on his comm device as his tail traced soothing patterns over her back.

“I cannot hail Melam,” he whispered, glancing at Sophia. She had curled up against a log and closed her eyes, and her chest was rising and falling in the slow rhythm of sleep.

“Do you think his battery’s dead or something?”

“Unlikely. They are solar-powered. They’re only simple devices; they don’t draw much.”

“So, you think something happened to him?” The thought saddened her.

“It’s possible.” Rentir sounded just as dismayed by the possibility, though he’d bristled around the male nearly the entire time they’d been together.

The unmistakable sound of a hovercraft reached them, steadily increasing in intensity until the craft was directly over them. It maneuvered deftly, lowering as far as possible without catching the foliage in its propellers. The door popped open, and a hybrid leapt down with agile grace.

“Ven,” Rentir said, uttering the name like a curse.

Cordelia studied the male as he approached. She blinked in realization, looking down at Thalen and back up at his perfect doppelganger.

“What the hell?” she murmured. They looked like… twins.

“Rentir,” Ven called, jogging over to kneel beside Thalen. His hands moved over his mirrored self, checking vitals and probing at injuries. When he was done, he turned a vicious glare on Rentir. “What the hell happened?”

“I don’t know.”

He didn’t mention Sophia bashing him over the head, much to Cordelia’s relief.

Sophia had roused at the sound of the hovercraft and moved to stand beside her. Cordelia worried the guilty look telegraphed in her big eyes was going to give away her sin, anyway. She squeezed the woman’s shoulder.

“You don’t know?” Ven echoed mockingly, his eyes narrowing. “My brother is beaten half to death, and I am meant to believe, what? That you just happened upon him?”

Rentir crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s right.”

Ven rose to his feet, bowing his chest out as his nostrils flared. “I’m not buying it. Not from you.”

Cordelia frowned. Just what was he trying to imply? “Hey, tough guy,” she chimed in, stepping between them. “Rentir is the one who called this in. What the hell kind of sense would it make for him to beat the shit out of him first?”

Ven stared down at her for a long moment before his gaze flicked back to Rentir. “An excellent question. Tell us, Rentir, why would a hybrid turn on his kind?”

Rentir… couldn’t meet the male’s eyes. A thread of uneasiness tugged within her.

“He needs help,” Sophia said softly, kneeling beside Thalen again. She took his big hand between her own. “How long are they going to argue?”

Ven’s throat bobbed at that. His thick tail sagged against the ground.

A second male came jogging over from the transport, this one a bright shade of red and lacking any horns. “Fendar says they’re priming the laser,” he called.

Rentir and Ven both swore at the same time.

“Grab his arms,” Rentir said, stooping to grab Thalen’s ankles.

Awkwardly, they rushed his limp figure over the uneven terrain and loaded him into the capacious storage area at the back of the transport. Ven leapt in after him, yanking the back door shut.

“This way,” Rentir urged.

When Sophia stumbled, he caught her by the elbow. Together, he and Cordelia boosted her up into the second row of seats in the transport.

“Hurry,” their driver said over his shoulder, his meaty tail slapping against the back of his seat.

Rentir all but tossed Cordelia into the hovercraft before leaping in behind her.

The door slammed shut, and they hurtled up over the tree tops.

The sudden silence of the cabin was eerie.

Thalen’s labored breaths seemed amplified in the small space.

Sophia curled in on herself, and Cordelia could virtually feel the guilt pouring off of her.

She reached out and found her hand on the bench, squeezing it reassuringly. Sophia turned it over, latching on hard as their eyes met.

“You’re safe now,” Cordelia murmured. “It’s over.”

Tears welled in Sophia’s eyes. She slid closer along the bench, rested her head on Cordelia’s shoulder, and let her eyes drift shut.