Page 54 of Rebirth

“Hey, who’re you talking to?”

I turn, a growl rising in my chest immediately, as the corroded male appears at our back.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

HE’ROX

Soh’fee stiffens, pulse quickening as she slowly turns to face the male.

“Oh, Bert!” she says.

His gaze skates over her, lingering on her throat, and the soft flesh there. When his tongue darts out to wet his lips, I rise.

He cannot see me. Cannot sense me. But he wants what is mine.

I have no claim over Soh’fee. This is madness.

But I have never been quite sane.

She is mine. Whatever the rek that means. My ba’clan know it. I am not a fool to not comprehend why they have woken up after so long of being silent. Using their last energy reserves to reach out. To survive.

Soh’fee is mine.

The word echoes in my mind, ba’clan raging. I clench my claws to keep from attacking the male before us. From tearing into his flesh and spilling his tainted blood.

Soh’fee blinks up at the male. Bert, his name is, and I detest that he is causing her eyes to go wide with uncertainty. Her knuckles are white where they grip the plants in her hands. “I—I was just talking to myself. I do that while working.”

The male grins, taking a step closer. “All alone out here. That’s not safe.” Another step. “You should come back to camp. We’ll keep you protected.”

Soh’fee shakes her head. “I’m fine. Just collecting some herbs for—”

“You’ve collected enough.” His smile slips, impatience clear. He reaches for her arm. “Come.”

A snarl rumbles in my chest as I move to stand between them. Though he cannot see me, the male pauses. His dull eyes narrow as his head tilts, like an animal trying to catch an elusive scent.

Soh’fee’s breath catches and I urge her back with a brush of my claw against her chest. My ba’clan react at the contact. Wanting to go to her yet not having the power or energy to do so. We both know why I have been able to camouflage for this long. Why I’ve been able to power such an energy-sucking part of myself, and they are not happy.

They wish to survive against the part of me that is slowly growing stronger.

But even as they roil at my back, stretching to get to Soh’fee, in its pouch my sazi grows impatient. It swells and bunches, fighting to extrude. To take her. To claim her. Even in the midst of this danger before us.

Because my senses are clouded.

Opening myself to that conduit…I am no longer sure what is Vullan instinct and what is simply a need to control. To compromise. To take.

At my back, Soh’fee takes a hesitant step away from the male, then another. She is smarter than I think. She may not have instincts to scent the heightened danger here, but she somehow feels it. She watches me though she cannot see me. Trusting that I am here. Protecting her.

The male’s jaw clenches. “What’s wrong? Why are you moving away?” He takes another step, hand outstretched, and slams into an invisible barrier. Me.

A growl slips past his lips at the contact.

Hello. Catalyst.

The evil that lurks within him has made contact with its natural enemy. The part of me that is still pure. My Vullan blood. And it will know now it is not safe here.

As I expect, right before us, the male begins to change. The process within him catalyzed. Accelerated. He is morphing.

The veins along his neck pulse, dark threads spreading into his face. His pupils dilate until his eyes are nearly black, fixated on Soh’fee. The desire to feed, to corrupt, grows stronger within him with each passing second.

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