Page 30 of The Edge of Dawn

How the hell did this even happen?

“I can sense your mistrust, human, but now is not the time for indecision. Understand that this conversation exists in the void between the real world and your dreams. In reality, you’re lying unconscious at the bottom of a deep hole, exhausted, with broken bones and a damaged body and no way of climbing out—unless your human body can surpass the limits of its endurance. In addition, as per your request, I held back from killing those men against my better instincts. Eventually, the sedative poison and the effects of my assault will wear off, and they will come looking for you, and now they will want to seriously hurt you.”

“They’re bound by a professional code,” she retorted, the words sounding hollow as they escaped her lips. For deep down, she knew his cold, hard pragmatism was the truth.

“Professional code?” His lips curved in disdain. “Meaningless drivel. If they’re like most sentient beings in the Universe, they’ll desire revenge. They will hurt you. But if you tell me your exact coordinates, I’ll come and get you.”

“You’ll come?” Her unconscious heart flipped inside her chest.

“Personally.”

“W-wait.” He might have saved her once, but she had no idea what his true intentions were, and she definitely couldn’t trust him. “Answer me. What do you want with me?”

She’d heard the rumors about Kordolians. Pretty much everyone on Earth knew by now unless they’d been living under a rock. The aliens were facing a mass population calamity. Nobody knew how or why, but there was a severe imbalance of males to females.

But impossibly, humans were able to have babies with Kordolians.

They wanted Earth’s women.

How bloody convenient.

The alien stared back at her, his pitch-black gaze giving away nothing. His eyes unnerved her. She didn’t quite know whether he was looking at her or through her.

If he could speak in her thoughts, what else was he capable of? Could he read her mind?

“The mere fact that you’re able to exist in this place with me is reason for us to want you. We won’t allow you to fall into their hands.”

“You don’t even know why they’re after me.”

“I think I have an idea.” His tone hardened. “This isn’t a negotiation, human. You’re coming with us. If you refuse to tell me where you are, we’ll track you down eventually, even if you fall into the hands of your pursuers. I’m just giving you the option of a fast, efficient retrieval. I’m sure you understand the potential consequences of your indecision.”

Jade understood perfectly well. The MWA goons would find her.

The Kordolian’s logic was brutal, forcing her to accept this sudden reality.

She could go with what she knew—and she knew that things were about to get bad—or she could take a wild chance and go with him.

“How do I know that you and your people aren’t going to do terrible things to me?”

“You don’t,” he shrugged, his tone laconic. “You can only believe what I’m telling you, which is that I—we—won’t. Of all my kind, my masters are the least problematic for you and your species. Were you aware that the leader himself has claimed a human as his own? That he has a child with this female? Do you even understand what that means?”

“Obviously, I don’t,” she grated, growing increasingly annoyed in spite of her surprise. Some human woman had a child with the infamous Tarak al Akkadian? Had she done so willingly? It was almost unthinkable. “I’m not an expert on alien-human relations. I’m guessing your leader is the General.”

“He’s the one I’ve pledged to serve—for now. Amongst my kind, he currently holds the greatest amount of power and influence.”

Jade kept quiet. Dragek’s words weren’t exactly reassuring. According to the Federation, the Kordolians lurking in Earth’s orbit were dangerous oppressors—enemies that were going to take over Earth and turn them all into helpless minions.

They were cruel and illegitimate rulers. They’d waged a bloody revolution on Kythia. Anyone who followed the Universal News knew that.

So she had a choice—not much of one, but she had to figure something out. Either she could take Dragek at his word or refuse to give him the coordinates. The second option would result in her being detained by the MWA—and she would probably get beaten up in the process.

Then, according to him, they would come after her, anyway.

She could only imagine it—a bunch of heavily armed, menacing Kordolians forcibly busting their way into a secure facility and taking her out of there.

It would be a disaster.

“I’ll go,” she grated. “I’m near a place called Coober Pedy. In the Opal Fields. I can’t give you the exact coordinates of this mine, but you should be able to identify it. There’s a white vehicle with four wheels parked at the top.” She’d taken the old electric buggy that had belonged to her grandfather. It was old and beaten on the outside, but that thing was damn near indestructible. The battery had a huge capacity, and it could go for weeks without needing to be recharged.

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