Page 105 of Rebirth

I sense no life in this space.

The Gryken is dead and He’rox… Sophie…

The three large gaping wounds in He’rox’s chest are so big, they practically form one, his blood seeping out to settle in a pool around him.

This male who has given so much for my world, my people, lies right here, broken. The woman who is obviously his mate, unmoving at his back.

I have never seen his true form. All this time, he’d hidden. How he must have loathed himself. And I know, because I know how much the Vullan despise the Gryken.

It was their only reason for leaving their world, chasing the scourge that destroyed Edooria.

To be the very thing he hated most in the universe…

I turn my gaze away.

This is a scene I wish I didn’t have to witness, and yet, here I am, grieving loss above the grounds that should be the beginning of a new Earth. A new world. A rebirth of the planet I once knew.

“I’m sorry,” I say softly, not knowing what else to say. “You saved her…in the only way that mattered.”

I stand there for a few moments, unwilling to believe this is really the end for this brilliant being. He’rox has always been different. Strange. But he was integral in everything we accomplished.

I have never seen a Vullan die, and it almost doesn’t feel real.

I stretch my senses again.

If there is even the slightest heartbeat, we could rush him to a regen tank and hope for the best. But even as I hope, even as I wait, there is nothing.

He and Sophie both… are lifeless.

Pushing past the lump in my throat, I move toward the door as a noise outside the room draws my attention.

It opens for me, bypassing He’rox’s commands now that his presence is no more, and I swallow hard, knowing I will have to face the others and give them the news.

As the door opens, I raise my hand to stop them. Fer’ro, Mina, and San’ten stand there. Ba’clan all raised. The blades only lessen in sharpness once they see it is me standing there.

“Adira.” Fer’ro rushes to me, pulling me into his arms as San’ten storms into the lab.

“Sophie?” Mina asks.

I shake my head and her eyes widen as she rushes in.

Fer’ro holds me. No words are necessary between us. He can already feel the grief pulling me down. And as he turns, pulling me against him as he enters the room, I dip my head to his neck.

“He’s not dead.” I hear Mina say, and my head snaps up.

Hope rushes into me as my gaze snaps to find her on her knees in front of He’rox.

“I can still…feel him. Not his life force…but that other part.” She gulps, gaze dipping before her eyes meet mine, uncertainty brimming there.

She’s never quite liked relying on the powers…or rather, the effect of the trauma she’d endured at the hands of the Gryken. Carrying a Gryken spawn within her changed her biology. Made her senses more heightened.

A bit like with Sophie. And yet completely different.

“It’s faint, but I can feel him. He’s alive. Barely, but alive.”

San’ten and Fer’ro’s gazes lock and I don’t protest when he releases me to rush toward his friend. They hoist He’rox up, lifting him together as they bring him to a section of the floor that has a faint circular outline on it. Setting him down, Fer’ro activates something and a cylinder rises from the ground, enclosing their friend and slowly filling with fluid.

I swallow hard as I watch his body begin to float. His tentacles and most of his body are colored black with the Gryken’s slick blood.

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