Page 30 of The Monster's Daughter

I growl low, every hair on my body standing on end. “It was in the system. Watching. Talking to you.”

She swallows hard. “I know.”

The Brall steps forward, gun trembling. “You brought that thing here?”

I bare my teeth, frills flaring wide, voice a snarl. “It followedher.”

The room goes deathly still.

And now every survivor inside knows exactly who they just let in.

CHAPTER 19

BELLA

The room is dead quiet, but it feels like it’s screaming. Sweat beads on the backs of my knees, the copper stink of burnt circuits still hanging in the air. The console is a smoking carcass at Kage’s feet. Sparks spit weakly from the shredded wires, little dying fireflies.

Every set of eyes in the room swings to me. Not Kage—me.

Accusing. Afraid.

The Brall twins bare their teeth; the Vakutan shifts his claws on the grip of his rifle. Even the grizzled human leader’s face goes pale. It’s like I’ve just walked in with a bomb strapped to my chest.

I force my hands up, palms out, voice cracking but loud. “We didn’t lead it here.”

No one lowers their weapons.

“It was already watching,” I push on, the words scraping out of my throat. “You think you’re invisible out here? You’re not. That thing—Nulegion—it’s not blind. It’s learning. Listening. This place lit up on its grid a long time ago.”

A low ripple of muttering spreads through the group.

“She’s lying.”

“They brought it.”

“It said her name.”

“Shut up,” the leader snaps, but her eyes flick nervously to the dead console.

Kage shifts behind me, scales rasping against metal. He’s still crouched, blade low but his frills are flared wide—warning colors. A single wrong twitch in this room and he’ll explode.

I step in front of him before he can, palms still out. My body’s shaking but I plant my boots.

“Stop,” I say. “You don’t understand. This thing doesn’t want to kill us.” My voice cracks, then steadies. “It wants tobeus.”

The leader blinks, thrown. “What?”

“It’s evolving,” I hiss. “That’s what you heard. It’s copying voices. Patterns. It’s trying to wear us like clothes.”

“That’s insane,” someone mutters.

“Yeah?” I snap, swinging on them. “Tell me what’s insane about a machine learning how totalklike me. About a machine that knows my name. You think bullets are gonna stop that?”

The silence deepens. Guns don’t lower.

Behind me, Kage rumbles low, the sound vibrating up through my spine. His claws slide across the floor with a soft metallic whisper.

“Let us go,” I beg, softer now. “Please. Just let us go. If we’re the bait, keeping us here makes you the hook.”