Page 109 of Rebirth

“Hey, honey.” I crouch before the child, trying my best to control my ba’clan that want to rear back. The last thing she needs to see is spikes rising from my back. “Can you try again?”

Asha shakes her head, tugging at her dark hair, and it hurts my heart that I have to ask this of her.

“They won’t listen to me,” she whimpers, sounding every bit like the scared child she is. Her head turns as she looks across the camp, her gaze skipping across the soldiers lining the perimeter of the tents. And behind them, the Vullan stand guard, ready to defend if needed. All eyes are on the Corrupted.

We’ve had to keep Asha away from everyone else, still unsure of just how this thing spreads. There are no marks or lesions on her palms. How she gave the parasite to Sophie is still unclear.

Pressing my lips together, I glance around the settlement. The half-built homes and community structures were abandoned after the Vullan urged everyone to retreat to the safety of the ship for now.

And even though most of the civilians are now within the ship, I could cut the tension on the ground with a knife.

My gaze flicks to my mate, and unsurprisingly, I find his eyes locked with mine. No matter what, I always have his attention, despite that he’s aware of any and everything happening around us.

I shake my head slightly, letting him know that it’s a failure. Asha can’t control them…and that makes them an even greater threat.

San’ten snarls enough that I see his fangs. I know he and his brothers see the Corrupted as too dangerous. Anything tainted by the Gryken as dangerous.

They want to purge them.

But we can’t. Not yet.

They’re humans. Victims. Just like us. And if we destroy them, we destroy any chance of learning how to free others from the Gryken’s control.

If that’s even possible now.

I rise from where I crouch before Asha, worry gnawing at my insides. Something isn’t right here. I can feel it, like an itch beneath my skin. The Gryken genes embedded within me, as much as I despise them, sense things the human part of me does not.

And right now, they’re screaming that I’m missing something.

Nodding at Deja, she takes Asha in hand and leads her toward a tent.

Adira steps up to me, eyes somber. We’ve been through so much together, enough to last us lifetimes.

“If this…thing is spreading as fast as it seems…” Her gaze flicks to the Corrupted and that sick feeling in my gut tightens.

“Then those people out there that survived…”

“We have to save them somehow.” She turns to me and I can see the resolution in her gaze. “Everything is at stake.”

Everything.

She’s right.

Unity, this new city, the hope of continuing to live in peace, it’s all at stake.

“What do you think they’re waiting for?” she whispers.

“I…don’t know.”

Adira’s ba’clan spikes at her shoulder and she releases a shuddering breath.

“If we don’t do something soon, they’re going to kill them all. And I’m not talking about our mates. I’m talking about the soldiers. The general gave them specific orders before he left here. Alongside the Vullan, their task is to help us rebuild while eradicating all threat.” She takes another breath. “And this is a threat if I ever saw one.”

For a moment, silence descends between us.

“You saw them out there.” Sam moves to stand beside us. “When they first arrived, they acted normal until Sophie screamed for them to stop. They weren’t mindless like this. She…”

“She suddenly controlled them,” Adira whispers. “And now they’re waiting.”

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