Page 15 of Rebirth

“And thirst…” he says, his gaze flicking to my neck.

I gulp again.

He’s so close, I can smell him.

It is a sweet scent. Like I walked into the kitchen after my dad finished baking vanilla cake. Not the scent I expected to come from him.

His teeth bare, so sharp it’s hard to stop myself from trembling. Yet, I remain unmoving as this creature leans forward, pushing me back until I’m bracing on my elbows and he’s leaning over me on all fours.

There’s a chittering sound that comes from his throat as he leans closer, fangs baring over my face.

I expect violence. An attack to rend flesh and shatter bone. Yet he remains motionless, scenting me as a beast might assess vulnerable prey. The strange scent of vanilla clings to him, a soft fragrance at odds with the primal fear he’s stirring inside me.

A tremor seizes my limbs as moments drag endlessly by, his fangs gleaming wet and sharp mere inches away. But the strike does not come. The alien simply inhales again, slitted pupils dilating, then pulls abruptly away.

The loss of his looming presence comes as a relief, my lungs dragging in air as I scramble to my feet. He paces several steps away, then turns to face me. And in place of violence, I find intense focus. A kind of wordless knowing. As though in those endless seconds, eternity flickered past between us.

“Do not return to the camp until you have controlled your fear,” he says.

I force down the lump in my throat, fist tangled in the checkered button-down shirt I’m wearing over my jeans.

“It is sweet,” he says. “Tempting.”

I blink at him, his words not making sense. Until they do.

“You can smell me,” I whisper. “You can smell that I’m afraid.”

He doesn’t answer. Those intelligent eyes tell me all I need to know.

And as he turns to stalk away, I reach a hand out to him, not knowing why or what the hell I’m doing.

“Wait!”

He halts.

What now, Sophie? And what the fuck has gotten into you?

“What’s your name?”

His head turns to the side, but he doesn’t glance over his shoulder.

“He’rox,” he says.

And then before I know it, he’s gone.

CHAPTER FIVE

SOPHIE

He’rox. The strange name repeats in my mind as I stare at the space he occupied moments before.

Fingers still clenched, my knuckles go white where I grip my shirt. The sweet scent of him still haunts the air, cut only by my apprehension.

I don’t know how long I stand among those trees. How long I remain rooted in the spot, trying to calm my beating heart, trying to quell the fear that only seems to rise the longer I wait here.

Taking a few steps backward, I stumble into a tree, the solid trunk pressing into my spine as I take deep, haggard breaths.

Staring into those alien eyes…

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