Page 76 of Alien Rescue

“Natalie, Zacar’s breeder, has invited you for tea with her and the others five days from now.” She could hear the tension in his voice. Both of them knew she may not be alive in five days.

He took her inside the mountain and to another area in the opposite direction from where they’d been before. The infirmary was cold and clinical, and she shivered. “We will adjust the temperature for you,” Zanr said.

He laid her down on a solid-slab table that reminded her uncomfortably of a mortuary table in the TC movies. The doctor came and attached a silver band to her wrist and another one around her forehead.

Her left leg jerked and kept jerking, and then her whole body convulsed. The last thing Rose saw and heard before she lost consciousness was Zanr’s flashing teeth and his agonized roar.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Rose opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was Zanr standing next to the slab where she lay. He looked as if he stood guard duty. Her heart melted. How long had he stood there, waiting for her to wake?

Then she remembered. Her body ached and even her eyelashes hurt when she blinked them. “Zanr?” She could barely whisper the words but his eyes snapped to her, and he grabbed her and held her against his chest.

“You are awake, my breeder.” She heard relief in his voice.

“Did it work?”

Silence—and her heart sank. Then he said, “Viglar managed to get most of the nanos out of you.”

“Most of them?” she squeaked. She wanted to start scratching again. Could almost feel the little machines swimming inside her body.

“He is refining the process. You need to become stronger before he drains the last of the nanos out of you.”

“What if they kill me before he gets them out?”

“He will monitor you every moment until he can do the procedure again.”

“Can I go home to our dwelling?”

He picked her up and ran to the domed house she’d never have thought of as home months ago. Now it was the only place she wanted to come back to

***

Zanr went to the training grounds. He was a very lucky Zyrgin. His breeder was healthy with no more nanos in her blood. She’d met the other breeders a few days ago and had told him she liked them all though she’d said Margaret was not at all the way she remembered the human female when she’d still called herself Maeve. When he’d told her to keep away from that crazy one, unlike the other breeders, she had agreed.

He waited until his fellow warriors stopped to rehydrate before he approached Larz who handed out water and towels and other necessities. He hated seeing his friend like this, but Larz appeared calm and accepting.

“Greetings, my friend,” he said. For the first time since Larz chose that human freak for a breeder, he didn’t suggest he choose another. He understood now. No matter what Rose did, he’d never give her up. Even if she had voodoo, he wouldn’t give her up.

“I have hunted a second eduki for my breeder. Will you honor me by consuming the meat with me?” When he’d killed the first eduki, he’d assumed no one would want to share the tradition with a no-blood warrior.

“I would’ve been honored, but as a citizen, I cannot share an eduki feast with a warrior,” Larz said.

“Fuck that rule, you are my friend. Even if you never become a warrior again, I would be honored to have you share a feast with me. It will not be the same without you.”

Larz’s nostrils flared, the only indication of the emotion he felt. “I will be honored to share the meat of your breeder’s eduki with you.”

Two of the other warriors stepped closer. Zanr readied himself for a fight and saw Larz change his stance, as well. He’d beaten these two before and he’d do it again—as many times as it took for them to respect him.

“We will be honored to partake of the meat of your breeder’s eduki with you and citizen Larz,” Zoro said, and Zelka nodded his agreement.

Zanr swallowed, a strong feeling almost making him act like a human female with many emotions.

“I will meet you all tonight at the feasting grounds,” he said and walked away. His lack of blood was showing because he would’ve liked Rose to be at the feast. He was a deviant Zyrgin to want that, but if it wasn’t for the fact that she’d be repulsed at the way they ate the meat raw, tearing off large chunks with their teeth, he’d have invited her, too. For all their sophistication and genetic engineering, warriors still had to consume raw meat. Their digestive systems seemed not to have developed with the times. Ever since their females had died out, they’d been careful never to let their breeders see them eat.

Late that night, after a feast with many of his fellow warriors who had joined them, he went to his dwelling and found Rose still awake. She sometimes became difficult when he woke her for his hours in the sleeping place, and he was glad to see her still watching a program on the TC.

She glared at him, her dawn eyes shooting sparks at him, her mouth pulled into a strange line. “Is this the time to come home? What kind of warrior are you, going out and carousing with your degenerate friends and coming home drunk? Leaving me alone all this time? Who do you think I am that I will tolerate that?”

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