Page 51 of Rebirth

Soh’fee has disappeared from view and my ba’clan hate it.

Getting used to feeling them again has come as a surprise. And I know it’s all because of her.

Keeping to the tops of the trees, I scan the small settlement below.

Hyu’mans are so easily tracked. Hunted. I have been within their presence for so long, watching their every move, and none have become wiser.

But it is not only these hyu’mans’ lack of awareness that works in my favor.

I move from my perch in the tree high above the center of the camp, climbing higher to improve my vantage point.

The place reeks of death and illness.

These hyu’mans will all die soon. They are rotting from within.

And Soh’fee is in the midst of them.

The moment before she met the male and female in the woods, I camouflaged. I saw the uncertainty, the confusion in her eyes when she turned and looked right at me, but couldn’t see me standing right there, looking back at her.

That male and female mean to use her. This camp reeks of more than just disease and death. There is an underlying current of malice here. Selfishness. They will try to keep Soh’fee here. Use her for some purpose.

I will not allow that.

Dropping silently to the ground, I move through the camp unseen. The stench this low is overpowering. Deep-seated fear mixed in with decay.

This entity that plagues my being is corroding theirs. Tainting them. Putrefying them from the inside out.

It is difficult to maintain my camouflage. All I want to do is cleanse the area of the necrosis. But the ailment affecting these hyu’mans is not like the one affecting the female who floats in silence in my lab. It has evolved.

But I knew that already.

I saw the effect right before my eyes in the hooved creature that tried to sink its teeth into Soh’fee.

I cannot stop the growl that goes through me, and a female sitting close by turns, widened eyes pointed in my direction. She stares right at me, hand moving to a weapon by her side, before she returns her attention somewhere else.

I can already see the corrosion spreading in the veins along her collarbone, rising up her throat to reach her ears. Not enough for Soh’fee to notice. Not yet.

But Soh’fee is smart. If she hasn’t yet realized something is wrong in this place, she will do so soon.

Tilting my head, I catch her scent. I’d decided on distance. I must break that vow now. They’ve taken her to one of the large tents at the center of the camp. The flaps are closed, but that poses no obstacle. I move across the damp ground, wind barely catching my scent before I slip inside, claws emerging as my ba’clan rise at my back.

Soh’fee stands with her back to the entrance, shoulders tense.

“Sure thing,” she says in response to something I already missed.

The scent in here is worse than that on the outside. Something has been festering in here. Something that needs purging. And I see what it is just a moment later.

There in the center of the floor. The source of the spoil.

Hyu’man judging by the visible limb. Skeletal. Near death.

And the male before Soh’fee. My gaze snaps to him. He is standing too close. Instilling fear and exerting control. The male’s hand rests on Soh’fee’s arm, his grip too tight.

A low growl rumbles in my throat and Soh’fee’s head jerks up. She stares right at me, pale eyes widening slightly, the intelligence behind them moving like clockwork. And though she cannot see me, I can tell the moment she realizes the sound must have come from me. Her free arm reaches back, covertly reaching out to me, and that soft palm presses against the ridges leading down to my pelvis.

My sazi pulses in its sack and I almost reveal myself.

Another reason to keep distance from this female.

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