Текст книги "Arrival"

Автор книги: A.G. Wilde

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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 15 страниц)

Chapter Twenty-Five

ADIRA

I’m warm and snug when I wake and I realize I must have fallen asleep.

It feels like someone is hugging me all across my body, holding me tight in a comforting hold.

Fer’ro.

My eyes flick open and I squint a little.

But as I come awake I realize there is someone standing before me.

Fer’ro…which means he’s not the one holding me.

My eyes jerk open fully then and my head flashes to the side as I look behind me. But I am alone on the bed.

As soon as I turn back to look at Fer’ro, I know something is wrong.

There is alarm in his gaze. Confusion. Wariness.

In the back of mind, I’m surprised at myself for being able to identify his emotions so clearly but the fact they are there concerns me more.

I almost do not want to follow his gaze but I do so anyway, tipping my chin so I am looking down at myself.

The skin along my arms crawls as soon as I see myself and I shoot upright into a sitting position.

My entire body right up to my neck is covered in black.

The ba’clan.

My eyes are wide as my heart hammers against my chest.

“What’s happening? They weren’t like this before I fell asleep.” I am almost afraid to move, as if doing so will cause something bad to happen, but my voice shivers anyway. “Did more of them migrate from you while we…”

I trail off, my cheeks growing warm at the thought.

My center still feels pleasantly sore.

“No,” he says. “Those are the same batch that migrated to you from the start.”

I’m shaking my head before the words form in my throat. “But…there weren’t so many before.”

“Correct.” His gaze roams over my body.

I’m naked…but not.

The ba’clan hide everything like some kind of skin tight latex suit.

“You have created a new colony.”

I blink at Fer’ro. “I’ve created a—what now?”

I heard him fine. I just don’t think I understand.

I don’t think I want to understand.

“A colony,” he repeats as he leans down and kneels before me, his gaze a little wider than usual.

“What do you mean?” My heart is starting to slam so hard against my ribs, I’m sure he can hear it. “You have to break it down to me like I’m a child. I don’t—”

“A new colony from the ba’clan that migrated to you.” His voice holds a note of wonder. “This only happens when…”

I gulp. My mind is screaming that I should get them off me but it’s a strange experience.

I can’t really feel them.

The sensation of being hugged it slowly going away.

I’m looking at myself, noticing that not an inch of skin is free, when I realize Fer’ro stopped talking.

My gaze flashes to his and he is staring at me as if I’m the fifth wonder of the universe.

“Fer’ro…is this a bad thing?”

The ba’clan haven’t harmed me yet but back then, they’d simply been on my arm.

If I’d had to lose an arm because of them, that could have been something I got used to. But now they’re over my entire body and, well, there’s no me if I have no body anymore.

“I…do not think so,” he says. “They will not harm you.” His gaze is moving over my skin—or, at least, the ba’clan that have fastened themselves to me.

“How do they feel?”

I try to calm my breathing and focus.

I can’t really feel…anything and that makes me nervous.

The aches that had been all over my body from the cuts and scrapes…I can’t feel even one of them.

I feel as good as I’d felt before the orbs crashed down from the sky.

“I feel…good.”

Fer’ro’s ears twitch a little and as his gaze continues to move over me, it pauses at the center of my thighs.

My cheeks warm and I feel the ba’clan pulse against my skin, as if they can sense my embarrassment.

They’ve covered me there fully too, hiding my nakedness.

I blink at them.

I couldn’t manage to get them off my arm before…what if I need to pee?

Fer’ro must have read my mind because he answers my question without me speaking.

“Tell them to move,” he says.

I blink at him. It can’t be that easy.

If that was the case, why hadn’t he suggested that from the start when they were on my arm?

“Just…tell them to move?”

Fer’ro isn’t focused on me. His gaze is still roving over the blank ink that’s all over me now.

“Move,” I say, but my brow furrows when nothing happens.

There’s a soft sound. A soft trill that comes from Fer’ro and when I look back at him, his ears twitch a little.

“With your mind. Tell them to move.”

I’m frowning at him now. Surely, that won’t work, but I do it anyway.

Move.

Nothing happens.

“I don’t think they work with me the same way they do with you.”

“They have bonded with you. To have formed a brand-new colony…” His gaze travels over me some more. “Tell them to move again. Do not say the thought,” he meets my gaze, “instead…think of them moving away.”

I nod at him a little as I try to understand what he’s trying to tell me to do.

Think of them moving away.

Like…imagine them?

I’m so nervous, it’s a conscious effort to calm myself.

I imagine the ba’clan moving away from my privates in much the same way I see them move like water across Fer’ro’s skin.

I don’t even feel it as they move away but my eyes widen as I see my skin being revealed.

I realize, belatedly, that I’ve just bared my privates in front of him once more.

Fer’ro growls and the seal closes, covering me again.

My heart slams against my chest.

I do not know what to think.

I just controlled an alien lifeform.

Fer’ro’s pupils are growing thinner as he rises and takes a step away from me.

He growls again and I barely see the tip of his tongue as he swipes it against the line of his lip.

I gulp, my heart slamming against my chest for a whole other reason now.

“I must fetch He’rox,” he says.

“No!”

I slip off the bed and almost stumble when my foot touches the floor.

Standing feels different. My weight feels different.

It almost feels like I’m floating a little.

I’m filing all this away in the back of my mind as I face Fer’ro.

“He’rox needs to tend to Mina. I can go to him. I don’t want him to leave the med bay for non-emergencies.”

“That is unwise.” Fer’ro isn’t looking at me and as I take a step closer I notice the most curious thing.

Within his nose is a membrane. I only see it now because he is using it to block his nostrils.

“My brethren have not seen you yet. They may be…alarmed.”

I glance down at myself then. Maybe I can tell the ba’clan to disappear like Fer’ro does, but when I try, nothing happens.

“They cannot seep into your skin the way they do for us. They have existed with my people for eons. We have evolved together. Our skin is thicker than yours. With you, they have no place to go.”

Makes sense.

Instead, I imagine them forming a narrow column along my spine and I’m amazed when they disappear from over my skin.

“How are they doing that? How do they know what I’m thinking?”

But I am naked again and Fer’ro doesn’t seem to have heard what I just asked.

Instead, he thrums.

It’s a sexy sound that makes my gaze dart to his and I can feel my center throb as images of what we did possibly only hours ago flood my mind.

“I do not wish for my brethren to cast their eyes on you when you are bare either.”

His voice is so low, almost possessive, and I have to strain to hear him.

But he is right.

It’s not like I want to walk outside this room naked either.

At that thought, the ba’clan spread over me again, covering me in a split second.

Fer’ro turns to face the door and I see his ba’clan ripple across his broad back.

“I will get He’rox.”

I don’t even protest this time.

Chapter Twenty-Six

FER’RO

There are many strange scents surrounding Adee’ra and one by one, I am noting what they mean.

That strange scent that had been faint before, the one Ga’Var had scented while in that forest, it is here again.

I know what it is now.

Need.

I scented it distinctly when she became bare and looked at me.

My chest puffs at the thought that maybe, just maybe, this small hyu’man being wants me as much as I now know that I want her.

But first, I must determine what is happening to her with the ba’clan.

No other beings in star systems close to ours have been able to bond with our ba’clan.

What makes the hyu’mans so special?

But then again, it is not all the hyu’mans that have this ability.

Only Adee’ra.

Sa’am and Mee’na did not attract any ba’clan.

As I pass some of my brethren along the corridors, they glance my way and click greetings low in their throats.

Their faces appear composed but I do not miss the way their ears twitch or the discreet sniffing that occurs as I pass.

They should be busy getting things ready so we can head to a location we found on this planet’s surface.

A place to create a base.

A place to hide while we gather resources to build enough weapons to take down the Gryken.

Our ship is cloaked. The Gryken cannot detect us yet and scans show there are none nearby.

But all is not as it seems. There is no time to become complacent.

They should not be concerned with where I’ve had my face recently, or what I do with my tongue.

But even as they walk away, clicks communicating curiosity low in their throats, I cannot deny that I…enjoy this.

I enjoyed sharing that time with Adee’ra.

I hope she wishes for me to lick her wounds again.

Soon.

As soon as I reach the med bay and activate the door, I am greeted with the serious, unfriendly face of He’rox.

Behind him, the med bay is back to normal. Nothing is out of place to signal the chaos that had been unleashed within it and the dead Gryken is nowhere to be seen.

He’rox is probably responsible for that.

He possibly has the body preserved somewhere.

For…studying.

“I have been waiting for you,” he says and my ears twitch a little.

He says nothing more, but I know exactly what he means.

He’d seen Adee’ra’s arm earlier.

I am sure of it.

Nothing ever seems to pass him.

“Where is the female?” He glances behind me and realizes Adee’ra is not there.

“Come.” I turn and the only indication that the male is following me is the almost inaudible hiss of the door as it slips back into place behind him.

“Have the others seen…the anomaly?” he asks.

“I am not sure.”

If Ga’Var and San’ten noticed, they haven’t commented on it. That in itself is curious.

“What do you make of it?”

My ba’clan writhe a little, sending a tickle up the back of my neck.

There is a certain tone in his clicks and I stop in the middle of the corridor to turn and look at him.

“She will not be one of your little experiments, He’rox.” My gaze slips down his pale body. “We already know what happens when you get…overzealous.”

I see the moment his pupils narrow and immediately regret my words.

But they need to be said, lest he’s forgotten the past.

His jaw clenches as his teeth bare a little as he clicks a response through them.

“Understood…captain.”

My ba’clan bristle a little at the sudden formality in his tone.

We walk the rest of the way in silence, everything about the past few clicks, of Adee’ra, repeating in my mind.

When we arrive at the entrance to my quarters, I pause.

Inside is filled with the beautiful scent of suu’ci and mating—like the small, perfect little hyu’man female I have locked inside.

It is suddenly a bad idea bringing He’rox here.

He clicks behind me, sensing my thoughts.

“I already smell the mating on you. Don’t be stupid. I do not want for any female. I never have.” He pauses. “I never will.”

There is bitterness in the last few words and I am left with no choice but to open the door.

So I do it.

Adee’ra’s sweet scent flows through the air as soon as we step in.

It is a surety. It no longer smells like my quarters anymore. The scent is almost alien. But…I like it.

I thrum low, ignoring He’rox’s presence as I catch sight of her.

She is standing by the feathers, her wide eyes moving from me to He’rox.

“By the gods…” He’rox steps forward. “Impossible.”

Adee’ra’s gaze darts to me. She cannot understand him for he speaks in our tongue.

His ba’clan need more time to assimilate the human language.

Either that, or he doesn’t care to learn it.

“He is surprised,” I translate for her.

“Good surprised? Bad surprised?”

He’rox is standing in front of her now and he is so large, she looks frightfully small beside him.

The size difference catches me off guard.

Is that what she looks like beside me?

He’rox and I are almost the same size.

I am aware she is small, but…

Suddenly, my womb mate’s concerns don’t seem to stem from jealously only.

Possibly, Ga’Var is genuinely concerned about Adee’ra’s safety.

There is no way Adee’ra could take me if we mated.

She is not only too frail. She is too small.

“When did this happen?” He’rox clicks, his gaze moving over Adee’ra’s symbiote-clad body. “Tell me everything.”

ADIRA

They’re discussing me as if I’m not standing right here.

Every now and then, Fer’ro will translate something so I can understand but I can sense he is leaving out a lot and that the conversation is getting heated.

Apparently, these…things that have now covered my entire body don’t usually attach themselves to new lifeforms, not even on their planet.

The ba’clan have always coexisted with the Vullan and the Vullan only.

The medic wants to run tests and Fer’ro is against it.

They argue about this for several minutes, with the white one getting so heated, that his tentacles begin to curl.

“She is fine. Healthy. Unharmed. The ba’clan will not harm her. They would have done so already.” Fer’ro speaks in English and I know he does this for my benefit. But his words chill me.

They would have done so already…

A sliver of fear runs up my spine at those words and the ba’clan on my back bristle as if they can sense what I am feeling.

It’s not the first time they’ve reacted to me…my emotions.

I’ve seen what they can do too. They seem to be able to react, transform themselves on a whim.

I’ve seen them move from dangerous sharp blades to creating a cocoon that we hid beneath.

Fer’ro is right. If they meant to harm me, wouldn’t they have killed me already?

As the two aliens before me argue, sharp clicks echoing in the room, I turn away from them, my gaze on my hands.

Have I somehow caused them to want to live on me like some parasite? What do these things want with me?

What do you want?

It’s a thought, but the ba’clan bristle against me anyway.

For a moment, I pause, not sure if they are reacting to something else or the question I asked in my head.

Do you want to kill me?

There’s a pulse against my chest, over my heart, and my gaze falls to the spot.

It’s a comforting sort of pulse. I don’t know how I know this, but I get the distinct feeling that the answer is no.

Then what do you want? Why come to me?

I do not get any pulses this time. Maybe my question was too complicated.

If you don’t want to kill me, what do you want? I swallow hard and lick my lips. I’m almost scared to project the next question.

Do you intend to harm me in any way?

Nothing.

Do you want to help me?

Pulse.

My chest heaves as I slowly settle on the thought that the ba’clan are communicating with me.

I am speaking, communicating, with a faceless alien entity that has cloaked me entirely.

An entity that wants to help me.

I wonder what they mean by that but, instead of the fear that should be there, I am…calm.

I turn toward Fer’ro and He’rox, about to tell them what I’ve just realized when time slows before me.

My eyes widen. My mouth falls open as air leaves my lungs.

Something is coming toward me through the air.

Something metallic.

Something sharp.

Straight for my chest.

I only have a moment of realization before a wall of black suddenly appears before me, catching the object within it.

My heart stops.

I don’t know what the fuck just happened until I hear a roar and the shield before me falls. The object drops to my feet with a dull sound.

My brain must be slow because everything is happening too quickly.

Realization dawns in the slow seconds that I watch the sudden chaos unfold.

Fer’ro is airborne, his arms around He’rox’s throat as they both slam into the wall.

My gaze drops to the object that had been coming toward me and I realize it’s one of those strange metal instruments I’d seen in the med bay.

It dawns on me then.

He’rox…attacked me. And the ba’clan…they created a wall. They stopped the attack. They saved me.

Fer’ro is all spikes and fire as he throws the other male across the room.

He glances my way, probably to check that I am okay, before he launches himself at He’rox again.

But what is strange is that He’rox isn’t in his battle form at all.

He is staring at me and I’m no pro at reading their expressionless features, but he doesn’t look hostile in the least.

What in the actual hell?

“I was right,” he says, IN ENGLISH.

He’s answered by another roar that echoes against the walls as Fer’ro grasps him once more, lifting him off the ground.

“Don’t you dare speak to her after what you just attempted!”

A large blade forms in Fer’ro’s suit and he plants the tip at the base of He’rox’s neck.

He’rox doesn’t look fazed in the least.

His gaze is still on me and what looks like awe shines in those slitted blue eyes of his.

“Wait,” I whisper.

It is so low, I’m surprised Fer’ro even hears me over his own snarling.

I take a step forward and Fer’ro voice booms. “Don’t come any closer, Adee’ra.” He presses He’rox into the wall some more. “I cannot promise you his blood will not spill on you after I slice him in two.”

I stop in my tracks, my gaze on He’rox.

“What do you mean by ‘I was right?’ What do you mean by that?”

He’rox’s tentacles move a little. “I didn’t mean to scare you, little hyu’man, but I knew they would protect you.”

It feels like his blue gaze is boring through my soul.

“This is a—” he clicks the rest of the sentence and I’m left wondering what he means.

But Fer’ro stiffens a little and growls. “Impossible. A—” he clicks the same word “—is impossible.”

“A what? What are you talking about?”

When Fer’ro drops his blades and releases He’rox, the male falls to the floor but he doesn’t take his eyes off me.

He’rox’s stare is unnerving, as if I am some strange specimen he has just discovered.

“The start of a new Vullan era,” he says.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

FER’RO

He’rox almost lost his life energy this day.

To pull such a stunt on my Adee’ra…I should cripple him anyway.

I keep my back to Adee’ra as I focus all my rage at the male in front of me.

I do not want her to see me like this because I know what I look like.

Death.

So I force my hackles down as He’rox’s words repeat in my mind.

A new era…

“You are special,” He’rox clicks to Adee’ra. “Maybe you all are.”

I growl at him. “Quiet. You do not get to speak to her.” I feel my ba’clan harden, ready if I choose to attack once more. “You do not get to speak to her after what you just did. You are lucky I do not erase you from her presence permanently.”

His ears twitch as he looks at me and I watch as they fall back against his head in shame.

“You are right to be angry. But it was the best way to test my theory.”

“And if your theory was wrong?” I take a step toward him and have to physically restrain myself from grasping his throat once more.

“My instrument would not have pierced her. It is but a plas-copy made to look like the real thing. A slight bruise is all that would have come of the attack.”

I bristle still and a growl escapes my lips.

“Do I look like I care?”

He’rox’s ears twitch at the sides of his head and his tentacles flex a little. “You do not.”

His gaze moves to Adee’ra.

She is silent. Listening to us. But I am purposefully speaking in our language because I do not want her to hear what this insane male before me had suggested.

That…Adee’ra is my soul-tie.

“You see the evidence before you,” He’rox says. “You know what I say is true.” He pauses and rises to his full height. “Edooria is destroyed. The symbiotes need to continue their species…as do we. They are beginning to solve a problem we were not sure how to tackle.”

Slowly, my hackles rise a little. It is only Adee’ra’s calm presence at my back that keeps them restrained.

I extend my senses toward her and inhale deeply when her warmth, her softness, and her scent engulf me.

She is mine and if what He’rox suggests is true, the tiny hyu’man behind me will be mine forever.

“Adee’ra,” I fight to keep my voice level, unaffected. “Are you harmed?”

I know she is not. The symbiotes she holds are connected to mine.

I would have felt it if she was harmed.

“No, I’m fine. The ba’clan, they…they created some sort of shield.”

Working in unison to protect the host.

They have bonded with her neural column.

I do not know how to tell her this—that it’s also the reason she can command them with her thoughts.

“How do you feel?”

I hear when she swallows hard and I want to look at her but I am still not sure I can control myself.

Instead, I focus on He’rox, because rage is something I am used to feeling.

What Adee’ra is awakening within me is something I have never felt before.

“I feel…great.” She says the last word with some surprise in her voice.

“Good,” He’rox clicks. “No adverse effects. A tenacious race of beings. Not strong…” His gaze slips over Adee’ra and I feel my lips pulling back from my teeth. But He’rox continues as if he is dumb, which he is not. “Weak. Frail…”

My growl has him glancing my way.

“But adaptable,” he says. “Possibly that is the strength of this race. The speed at which the symbiotes have adapted to hyu-mankind is astonishing.”

He is looking at Adee’ra with such interest now that I hiss at him.

“Do not worry,” his tentacles curl as he glances my way, “I know. I will not study her.”

“Good,” I click.

Things just got much more complicated. There is a lot I have to consider now with this new revelation.

But I do not get the chance to head in that direction, for my thoughts are put on hold as the entrance to my quarters lights up.

Ga’Var.

Rekking horrible timing my womb mate has.

The green rectangle pulses for a bit before the opening materializes to reveal the large outline of my womb mate.

He is the last being I want in my quarters right now.

The first thing he does is sniff the air, his gaze flying immediately to Adee’ra.

“What is this?”

My teeth pull back even more at the accusation in his tone. I am already on edge. So much so, that my hackles rise.

“Nothing to be concerned about, womb mate.”

He takes a step inside and the door closes behind him.

I will have to make a rule that no one gets to enter my quarters uninvited anymore.

I have a female here with me now, because there’s no way I’m allowing Adee’ra to rest elsewhere in this ship.

“What is the meaning of this?” Ga’Var asks again, his gaze fastened on Adee’ra. “She is…”

Before I can respond, Adee’ra speaks up.

“I can’t understand you, though I really wish I could. Something seems to be happening here that involves me yet I have no idea what the hell you all are saying.” She steps forward, ignoring my hackles, and meets my gaze.

I feel myself calming just looking down at her.

“I know you’re probably not speaking English because you don’t want to scare me or something, but I promise you, nothing you say right now would surprise me.”

She reaches toward me and my hackles flatten.

Ga’Var clicks disapproval.

I ignore him.

“Speak so she can understand,” I say.

When I turn my attention to Ga’Var, he is scowling at me. “You had the female assimilated?” His dark eyes grow richer with rage and I can almost feel the jealously emanate from him. “You mated with her and shared your colony?”

He is speaking in Adee’ra’s language and she understood every word.

Her eyes widen a little.

“We didn’t—” Her skin is warm again. “We didn’t mate.”

“Not yet,” He’rox clicks and I am glad he didn’t speak so she can understand.

Ga’Var sniffs the air again. “Smells like mating to me. The whole ship can smell your activities.”

Adee’ra’s eyes widen so much and then she is staring at me. “What?”

My symbiotes flutter a little with the sudden pleasure I am feeling just remembering the feel of my tongue in her slit. But she does not seem to like the memory.

The thought of what we shared. She wishes to hide it.

My ears flatten at the realization and that thrum of pleasure that was building within me dies.

Adee’ra is ashamed of what we shared.

“Everybody knows?”

Ga’Var sniffs again. “Everyone that came in contact with my womb mate knows he’s been feasting on suu’ci and now they are wondering if the other female is seeking a mate too. Now, everyone is wondering—”

I growl, stopping the words in his throat. “Enough. Why did you come here? I left you on the bridge.”

Ga’Var doesn’t pull his gaze away from Adee’ra even though he is speaking to me.

There is disappointment in his eyes.

“We are in trouble,” he says.

I wait for him to go on, impatience making my ba’clan rise a little.

“We have spotted a Scrit.”

Silence falls in the room.

“How far?”

Ga’Var clicks the distance and I bristle again.

It is close. Close enough to see if we go and stand on the bridge.

“We don’t have enough power for another beam,” he says.

“I know that. Even still, we cannot attack another Scrit. Not yet. We have killed two Gryken. That should sate the crew’s need for blood for a few days. We need to set up a base first.”

“Affirmative.”

“We have to stay cloaked.”

“Affirmative.”

I bristle again. He is being difficult.

“Then why did you come here? Do not engage.”

Ga’Var turns to me then and I finally see the extent of the anger and jealousy in his eyes.

“We have no choice. We have to do something. The Scrit is scanning.”

The air freezes between us and through the corner of my eye, I notice He’rox moving toward Adee’ra.

She does not retreat.

Instead, I notice her symbiotes bristle.

They are ready to attack if she chooses to—even if she chooses not to. They do not trust He’rox now after his little stunt.

Still, I growl at He’rox and he stops in his tracks.

“A node has died nearby. Of course, they are scanning,” he says. “Gryken don’t just die. We know this.”

“That doesn’t mean they will detect us,” I say. My voice deepens in anger as I speak to him and I click a warning tone too low for Adee’ra to hear.

Don’t you rekking go any closer to her or you will lose one of your limbs.

He pauses. Watching me.

“But…” Ga’Var says.

I growl once more, this time at my womb mate.

I know what he is suggesting.

If we do not do something, the Scrit will realize what happened to the node sooner or later and it will inform the others. We are not ready for such a situation

“We can keep it here,” He’rox suggests as if reading our minds and I glance his way. His tentacles are almost shivering with glee.

“Keep it here?” Ga’Var almost roars at him and from the corner of my eyes, I can see Adee’ra glancing from one of us to the other in confusion.

“That would mean capturing it alive. No one is that stupid.” Ga’Var looks my way for support in his statement but I cannot provide it.

He’rox is correct.

If it sends a signal to the hive mind, we can squash our hopes for a quiet, calculated, attack.

We have to capture the thing.

Ga’Var’s hackles rise as he steps toward me, his lips pulling back but they fall in the next second.

I don’t understand why until I sense Adee’ra standing in front of me.

She is staring up at him with a look I’ve seen in those wide eyes of hers before.

Resilience.

“I’m with, Fer’ro,” she says and I don’t know what emotion I should feel.

“This is my planet. Earth is the only home we humans know. If we have to catch one of these fuckers to allow you guys to do your thing, then we’ll have to catch one of these fuckers,” she says.

We are all taken back for a moment because none of us say a word.

She just suggested the Gryken mating with us…with them.

Fuckers.

The horror she must have seen while stuck in the Scrit’s belly.

Images from Edooria flash in my head.

I know what she experienced. What she saw.

It fuels the same hatred I feel for the Gryken that emanates from her now.

But then she says something that makes my blood organ halt.

“Tell me what needs to be done. I want to help.”