Page 79 of Rebirth

I nod. Leaning into him as his arms tighten around me. “And your ba’clan?” I whisper. “That is why you don’t use them anymore…because of the sacrifice you had to make…”

“They are dying.”

My head snaps up, wide eyes on him. “What?”

“The Gryken genetic material warred with mine. The ba’clan fought to keep me alive. Keep me Vullan. They fought until they were almost depleted.”

I stare at him for a few moments. “What happens if they die?”

For a few moments, he says nothing. And then…

“Then, Sophie, I will die too.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

HE’ROX

Soh’fee looks stunned. She blinks at me with eyes that are too wide before they unfocus, her gaze moving all over my ba’clan.

“What—” Her throat moves, bobbing as she takes a deep breath. “What are the chances that will happen?”

As I gaze at this strange female who has defied all the odds and found a place at the center of my world, I wonder if I should reveal the exact truth. The care in her gaze awakens something deep within me that calls to protect her at all costs. Even from myself.

“A Vullan’s ba’clan are tied to him from the moment he takes his first breath…and his last. When mine die…” I stare at her, unsure of how I want to continue.

“You will die too?” she whispers it, gaze dipping as if she’s heard terrible news.

An answering thrum begins in my chest to comfort her.

“He’rox the Vullan will die.”

Her chin lifts as she pierces me with her gaze again. “What does that mean?”

But I will have to answer her some other time, for my senses tingle.

“Beings are approaching.”

Soh’fee stiffens, head turning in the direction in which I’m focused.

“Hyu’mans?”

She has a right to ask, and opening my senses further, I sniff.

“Three beings. Moving swiftly.” Too fast to be purely hyu’man. But there is no time to warn Soh’fee as one of them breaks into the small camp we’ve made.

I camouflage, resting Soh’fee on the wet earth, and I hope she understands why.

We must be careful.

“I am still right here,” I growl near her ear and she gives a discreet nod as she rises to her feet to face the beast of a hyu’man before her.

Tall. Male. Twice Soh’fee’s size. I dislike him immediately—and that is before I catch the full extent of his scent.

Rotten. Corrupted.

Another growl slips past my lips for a whole other reason, and I can see when Soh’fee clenches her jaw. For she can see it clearly. There’s no guessing this time.

Dark veins thread up the man’s neck, traveling over his jaw to network over his face.

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