Page 12 of Sy (Alien Berserkers of Izaea #2)

12

T he cave system stretched before them like a serpentine labyrinth, its winding passages lit by patches of luminescent fungi that clung to the slick stone walls. Sy watched Ashley navigate the tunnels, her movements fluid and certain as she picked paths even his enhanced senses hadn’t immediately identified as viable routes. They’d already walked for miles, but she showed no signs of slowing down. Unfortunately, they’d also found no sign of their prey. But… this was the only way they could have gone.

“Watch this ledge,” she called back, her voice bouncing off the walls. “The rock’s not as stable as it looks.”

The Rage symbiont within him stirred, its presence focused intently on Ashley but radiating none of the concern that churned in his gut. The disconnect bothered him. Its calm observation felt almost… amused.

Why aren’t you worried about her? he silently questioned the entity that shared his blood.

You Izaeans, the symbiont’s thoughts carried a note of derision, always assuming females need protecting. Look at her—really look. She knows exactly what she’s doing.

His boots scraped against stone as he processed this rebuke, studying her with new eyes. The confidence in her movements, the surety of her decisions… he’d been so busy trying to protect her that he’d nearly missed seeing her strength.

A cool draft whispered through the tunnel, carrying with it the promise of open spaces ahead. The bioluminescent moss on the walls cast her profile in an ethereal blue glow, highlighting the determined set of her jaw. Something shifted in his chest, his protective instinct transforming into something deeper… respect, admiration, and a growing attraction that had nothing to do with shielding her from harm.

“It opens up again about twenty feet in,” she turned to say over her shoulder, already moving to slide through the gap. “Just follow my lead.”

His breath caught as he watched her navigate the narrow channel. Even in the semidarkness, his enhanced vision picked up the fine sheen of perspiration at her temples, the slight flush in her cheeks from exertion, the way her lips parted slightly as she concentrated.

“Here,” she said, reaching back to guide him past a particularly tricky spot. Her fingers wrapped around his wrist, warm and sure, sending a jolt of awareness straight through him. “The rocks shift a bit here. I’ll help you through.”

The contact was brief, professional, but his skin burned where she’d touched him. When she turned her head to check his progress, her face was so close he could see the flecks of gold in her eyes and feel the warmth of her breath on his cheeks.

“How did you get into exploring caves?” he asked, the question safer than what he really wanted to ask.

She paused to check her bearings on her handheld scanner, the beam of her headlamp cutting through the darkness. “When I was a teenager, my uncle used to take me caving during summer breaks.” She gestured toward a narrow crevice. “This way should lead us to the lower levels.”

“Lila’s father…” he started but then stopped, uncertain how to continue. Perhaps he shouldn’t have said anything.

Coward , his Rage mocked.

Her movements stilled, but she didn’t turn around. The silence stretched between them, broken only by the steady drip of water somewhere in the darkness.

“What about him?” Her voice was carefully neutral.

“Are you… is he still…”

“He’s dead,” she said quietly, finally turning to face him. The harsh beam of her headlamp made him squint. She quickly angled it away. “But we’d separated long before that. Lila was barely walking when he left.”

“Thank gods,” he blurted out and then horror replaced relief as the words hung in the damp air between them.

“I… that was…” He stumbled over his words. Then sighed. “I apologize. That was incredibly insensitive.”

She watched him for a long moment, her face hidden in shadow. She studied him with an expression he couldn’t quite read with her light half-blinding him. “Why did you say it then? You don’t seem the type to mince your words.”

“I was relieved that I don’t have to kill anyone to claim you.”

A startled laugh burst from her throat, bouncing off the cave walls. “You can’t be serious.” She lowered her hand, revealing a bemused smile. “You’d actually kill someone just because they’d been with me before?”

He drew himself up, pride stinging. “I am more than capable as a warrior. My combat skills?—”

“That’s not what I meant.” Another laugh escaped her, softer this time. “Humans don’t kill people just because they used to date someone we’re interested in.”

“Date?” The unfamiliar word stuck in his mouth.

“Court?” she suggested. “Have a relationship with?” She leaned against the cave wall. “Is that really what Izaeans do? Murder any previous partners?”

“If they pose a challenge to our claim, yes.” He frowned. “How else would we prove our worth as mates?”

Her laughter echoed again, but this time it was warm, almost affectionate. “Oh, Sy. There are so many other ways to prove your worth than killing people. Okay, I think this is a good place to rest for a while, eat and rehydrate. We need our strength.”

The chamber she indicated was more of an alcove, but it was dry and defensible. She sank down against the wall, pulling supplies from her pack. Her movements were slower now, heavy with the exhaustion she wouldn’t admit to.

“Here.” She offered him some kind of bar wrapped in silver foil. “Not exactly gourmet, but it’ll keep us going.”

“Sleep,” he said softly. “I’ll keep watch.”

She curled onto her side, using her pack as a pillow. Within moments, her breathing had deepened and evened out.

Is this real? The question gnawed at him as he watched Ashley sleep. Everything felt genuine… the way his heart raced when she was near, how her scent made him dizzy with want, the consuming need to protect her despite her obvious competence. Or was it… could it be down to his Rage?

The symbiont’s laughter rippled through his mind. You think I want her? Let me show you what I find attractive.

The image slammed into his consciousness… a massive creature, its form towering and alien. Four arms extended from a body that seemed carved from living crystal, each limb ending in wickedly sharp points. The face was dominated by a maw filled with translucent, razor-edged teeth.

Now that’s a female, the symbiont purred, its satisfaction tainted with an ancient longing.

“So that’s what you look like,” Sy whispered into the darkness.

Sleep, the symbiont commanded. There are two of us. I don’t need rest.

He tried to resist, to argue, but consciousness was already slipping away. His last coherent thought was the realization that the symbiont could take control at any moment, had always been able to?—

Darkness took him.

Heat wrapped around Ashley like a lover’s embrace, chasing the bone-deep chill from her muscles. She burrowed closer without opening her eyes, savoring the cocoon of warmth that promised safety and comfort. A wall of solid muscle pressed against her back, a heavy arm draped possessively over her waist anchoring her against the large body behind her.

Reality hovered at the edges of her mind, but she pushed it away. Just a few more seconds of peace.

A scent tickled her nose. Not unpleasant, but definitely not human. Like ozone before a storm mixed with something wild and metallic. Sy. The name filtered through her consciousness, dragging with it the memories of why she was here, why everything ached, and why she absolutely shouldn’t be using an alien warrior as her personal heater.

Lila.

The thought of her daughter shattered the last remnants of peace. Her eyes snapped open to find the emergency lights still casting their harsh, unforgiving glow across the cave walls. Shadows writhed in the corners, deep and menacing, while moisture dripped somewhere in the darkness with a steady plink, plink, plink.

Every muscle screamed in protest as she tried to move. Hours on the unforgiving rock floor had left her feeling like she’d gone ten rounds with a cargo loader and lost spectacularly. Sharp edges of stone dug into her hip, and her neck had developed a kink that would probably take a week in medbay to work out. But none of that mattered. What mattered was finding Lila, Kal, and Tor.

She pushed away from Sy’s warmth, immediately regretting it as the cave’s chill wrapped around her. Her hair had come loose while she slept, falling in her face in a tangled mess. She shoved it back, grimacing at the gritty feel of dried sweat and dirt on her scalp. God, what she wouldn’t give for a shower right now.

Guilt gnawed at her stomach like acid. Here she was, thinking about creature comforts while Lila was lost somewhere in these godforsaken caves. Some mother she was, falling asleep instead of searching.

A dark trail marked the sleeve of Sy’s shirt where her cheek had rested. Perfect. She’d definitely drooled on him. The thought of apologizing for that particular embarrassment had her turning to face him, only to freeze mid-movement, her blood turning to ice in her veins as he opened his eyes.

He looked the same—all chiseled features and that almost-blond hair pulled back from his face, dark stubble shadowing his jaw. Every alien she’d met seemed to be heart-stoppingly handsome, like they’d all stepped out of some romance vid, but something was different about him now. Something in his blood-red eyes had her heart rate kicking up and her instincts screaming danger with every beat.

She skittered backward, rocks scraping against her palms as she moved. “You’re not Sy.”

The words escaped before she could think about them. She didn’t know how she knew, but this wasn’t Sy. Not the Sy she knew, anyway. This was something else. Something that wore his face but moved with predatory grace as he rose to his feet, fluid and deadly.

Her heart slammed against her ribs as she pushed herself up, keeping her movements slow and careful, like facing down a wild animal that hadn’t quite decided whether to pounce. The emergency lights caught the red in his eyes, making them glow with an eerie intensity that hadn’t been there before. He tracked her every movement, his head tilted slightly as if studying particularly interesting prey.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

This must be what they meant about ferals being different. The warnings she’d dismissed as exaggeration suddenly felt very painfully real. The air grew thick with tension as they faced each other across the small space. Her gaze darted to the nearest tunnel entrance. Could she make it? Did she even know which way led back to the surface?

Not-Sy took a step forward, and her muscles coiled tight enough to snap. She’d worked enough construction sites to know when to trust her instincts, and right now every nerve ending in her body screamed at her to get the hell out of there. This wasn’t the protective warrior who’d insisted on rest stops, who’d shown genuine concern for her well-being. This was something else entirely. Something ancient and deadly.

Another step. His movements were fluid, graceful in a way that seemed wrong for his large frame. No wasted motion, no hesitation. Just the steady advance of a predator that knew its prey couldn’t escape. The cave suddenly felt smaller, the walls pressing in as her options dwindled to nothing.

The sound of her own heartbeat in her ears drowned out the steady drip of water. She could hear her own breathing, too fast, too loud in the confined space. Her back hit rough stone. When had she backed up against the wall? The texture of the rock pressed through her shirt, grounding her in reality even as her mind raced through increasingly desperate escape scenarios.

Move, Ashley. Move now before it’s too late.

Her muscles tensed, ready to bolt for the nearest tunnel. She might not know exactly where it led, but anywhere had to be better than here. The rational part of her brain knew running would probably only trigger his hunting instincts, but rationality was rapidly losing ground to pure survival instinct.

Just as she gathered herself to run, something shifted in his expression. His eyes widened slightly, and he blinked. Just once, but it was enough to make her hesitate.

Recognition flooded his features followed immediately by horror.

“Draanth,” he swore, stumbling back a step. The predatory grace vanished, replaced by the careful movements she recognized. This was her Sy again.

“Ashley…” His voice was rough, strained with self-loathing. Sweat gleamed on his face as he raised his hands, palms out in surrender. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“What the hell was that?” Her voice emerged stronger than the trembling in her limbs suggested, though a tremor lurked beneath the surface like a fault line waiting to crack.

“The Rage.” He swallowed hard, keeping his distance like she was a spooked animal. “It lives in my blood. With ferals… sometimes it takes control.”

Her mind raced, processing this new information like a computer struggling to compile corrupted data. The whispers about symbionts, about how they changed the Izaean, hadn’t prepared her for this reality. “Takes control? Like possession?”

“Not exactly.” He dragged a hand over his face. “It’s more like… it becomes the dominant consciousness. Usually, it just lurks in the background. But sometimes…” He hesitated, his gaze sliding away from hers. “Especially when we’re protecting someone we care about, it surfaces.”

She forced air into her lungs, each breath measured and careful. “So that wasn’t you just now?”

“No. Well, yes and no.” His gaze found hers again, alien red filled with concern. “It was part of me, but not the part you know. The symbiont… it actually likes you.”

A bark of laughter escaped her, sharp and brittle as shattered glass. “Likes me? That’s what it looks like when it likes someone?”

“It was checking on you, in its way. Making sure you were safe.” His lips twisted, wry amusement ghosting across his features. “It’s been… vocal about my failure to take proper care of you. Apparently, I should have found better sleeping arrangements than a cave floor.”

The absurdity hit her like a physical blow—standing in a cave discussing an alien symbiont’s opinions about her comfort levels. A hysterical giggle clawed up her throat, but she choked it back down. “So there’s basically an alien backseat driver in your head? Critiquing your decisions?”

“More like a very opinionated copilot.” Tension bled from his shoulders like water. “One that’s particularly protective of you, for some reason. It doesn’t usually take such interest in… well, anything.”

Her muscles unclenched fractionally, though every movement he made registered like radar pings in her awareness. “And this happens often? The taking control thing?”

“No.” He shook his head, conviction hardening his voice. “This is the first time. But it might help us find Lila and the others.” He took a tentative step forward. “My symbiont can track Tor’s.”

“Tor’s symbiont? But he’s just a kid… Shit, can his do that as well?”

Horror crawled up her spine like ice water. Lila was down here with a feral teenager. Her legs gave out, and she slid down the wall, the rough stone catching at her clothes. All she could focus on was her daughter, trapped in the dark with creatures that could lose control at any moment. Just like Sy had.

Cold sweat broke out across her skin despite the cave’s chill.

“Ashley.” Sy’s voice came soft as shadow, closer now. She looked up to find him crouching before her, one hand extended but not quite bridging the gap between them. “Listen to me. Tor’s symbiont… it’s different. One of the oldest, most powerful. I think it might even be some kind of leader among them.”

She tried to focus past the panic clawing at her chest. “How… how can you know that?”

“Because I can feel it.” He moved closer. “My symbiont knows. It’s why we came this way.”

A shudder racked her frame—cold or fear, she couldn’t tell anymore. Sy made a sound low in his throat, almost a growl but lacking threat. Before she could process it, he closed the distance between them, pulling her against the solid wall of his chest.

She should have fought. Should have pushed him away after seeing what lurked beneath his skin. Instead, she pressed closer, seeking his warmth like a moth to flame. His heartbeat thundered strong and steady under her ear, the scent of ozone and metal wrapping around her like a familiar blanket.

“They’re safer with Tor than anyone else down here,” he murmured, the words vibrating through his chest. One large hand stroked down her back. “His symbiont understands more than most. Has more control.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, letting his warmth seep into her cold-locked muscles.

“I can’t lose her, Sy.” The words emerged barely above a whisper. “She’s all I have.”

His arms tightened, his face pressing into her hair like he could shield her from reality itself. “You won’t lose her. I promise.” He pulled back just enough to meet her gaze. “We’ll find them. All of them.”

She nodded, drawing in a deep breath that tasted of stone and water and him.

The moment stretched between them, intimate as a secret in the cave’s bloody light until a distant sound echoed through the tunnels like a gunshot.

Her head snapped up. “What was that? Was that them? Come on. We have to go!”