Page 100 of Rebirth

“He’rox, you can’t—”

“What you believe I can or cannot do is none of my concern.” He growls hard enough that she backs off, gaze flicking to me.

I want to tell her it’ll be alright. I want to tell him it’ll be alright. But I’m not so sure anymore. Even as the seconds tick by, I feel like I am losing myself.

The moment He’rox reaches the center of the camp I hear the exclamations of the people standing there, weapons ready.

“Don’t fire!” Adira shouts, even as the Corrupted flood the camp behind us. “Don’t shoot unless they attack first. Stand guard!”

“What’s happening?!” one soldier asks and even in my state, I realize just how much power this woman holds. How much things have changed for humanity. This woman must have been just a regular civilian like me before our world changed. Now, she commands soldiers.

“Nothing,” she replies. “I hope.”

Her gaze flies to He’rox but he doesn’t see. His whole focus is on me.

As they step into the lift and it closes, I spot the Corrupted skidding to a halt, eyes on the device as it rises into the air.

They tilt their heads, watching us, an eerie stillness going through their ranks.

“Think they’ll just stay there like that?” Adira asks.

“They will do as Soh’fee commands.”

Me?

I blink at He’rox, my hand trembling as I lift it toward him. He grasps it tight and it’s all the communication we need. He’s here. I’ll be alright.

We move through the ship, the walls a blur until the familiar white walls of He’rox’s lab come into view. He steps in through the hole the others had blasted into the wall before heading straight for the other side. That wall opens, leading to the inner chamber, and I catch the eyes of the Gryken floating in the tank before He’rox sets me down on a table that materializes from the wall.

I lock eyes with the creature, as if I’m unable to pull my gaze away, and I swear I see a shimmer of light in its eyes.

Interest.

It is interested in me.

“Strap her down.”

My gaze snaps to He’rox the moment the words leave his lips.

“He’r—” I don’t get to protest. Whatever AI is in this room obliges immediately, and stiff restraints pin my arms and legs to the table.

My eyes widen at the same time that Adira’s do and she rushes before me, putting herself between me and the alien I’ve come to love.

Love?

My heart hammers in my chest at the word, and through blurred vision, tears forming in my eyes as I look over her shoulder at He’rox, I know it is true.

There is no other word for it.

I’ve never felt this way about anyone. He’rox is…

And that’s when I catch the look on his face. My unfathomable alien lover, stoic in all there is, looks pained. He’rox’s attention isn’t on Adira, even though her ba’clan have created spikes all along her arms as she aims them straight at his neck. His gaze is on me.

“Forgive me, my light,” he says, gaze locked with mine, and more tears spring into my eyes.

“It’s okay,” I say, and Adira looks back at me, eyes wide with disbelief.

“I don’t know if you know this,” she says, “but He’rox…he…the reason he’s not exactly like his brothers is because he experimented on himself. He mixed his DNA with Gryken genes. Letting him experiment on you… There’s a risk…”

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