Page 26 of Rebirth

All eyes are on me again and I suddenly feel under the spotlight. “What?” I whisper. “What is it?”

Adira locks eyes with her mate before he nods slightly and she stands.

I stare at her, wondering what she’s doing or about to do. Moments pass and nothing happens.

“What is it?” I laugh, but I hate how nervous and unsure it sounds. And then time stops for a moment. Because Adira’s body shifts.

No. Not her body. Her suit.

It stretches from her hand like dark ink curving up from her palm in a small whirlwind. My eyes widen as the ink rises. So much of it, yet her body remains covered. The small whirlwind spins before settling and taking form. A black rose.

I…don’t know what to say.

“How…did you do that?”

She doesn’t answer, simply looks at Deja, who stands, eyes locked with mine before she stretches her hand in my direction. Something forms in her fist. A spike and she pulls her arm back before throwing it forward.

I react, jerking back, but if she meant to hurt me, I would’ve been too slow. Beside me He’rox growls, as if in some warning, his gaze locked with hers at the same time that her mate, Fi’rox, growls back at him. I don’t even have the mind space to contemplate the fact that some male aggression is taking place. All I can focus on is the spike that’s embedded in the table before me. It’s sharp. Sharp enough to pierce the hard material and I’m sure if she wanted it to, it would have gone right through me.

My wide eyes fly to her. “You made that out of thin air. Your suit…the technology…”

“They…are more than a suit,” Fer’ro says.

My gaze falls back to the spike in the table, my breath hitching as it slowly…disintegrates. It turns almost fluid once more before shooting through the air and right back to Deja.

Looking back at her, the spike or whatever is nowhere to be found. Her suit is intact. Smooth.

“They?” I ask.

“Our ba’clan,” Fer’ro responds and Adira releases a sigh, pressing her hands down on the table.

“I know this is a lot to take in. Think of it as a crash course about the Vullan. Just so you know who they are before you get any deeper into this. They are much more powerful than they appear.”

My eyebrows shoot up. Clearly, she isn’t seeing the same males that I’m seeing here. They already look more powerful than any walking being I’ve ever seen.

“And the ba’clan, they are also an entity,” she continues. “They live alongside us…alongside them.”

My throat feels dry as my gaze moves from one Vullan to the other, trying to reconcile this new information with my preconceived notions about this species.

But now it all makes sense. The slight ripples I’ve seen going over their skin. It’s been the ba’clan all along.

When my gaze lands on He’rox, it almost appears as if he stiffens.

He’s different from the others, but I already knew that. His ba’clan are white and they’re not as obvious as the others.

“You cannot take her with you.” Fer’ro’s words sound so final they snap me back to the task at hand.

“Fer’ro…” Adira begins.

“He is not equipped…” Fer’ro stops, eyes boring into He’rox and when my gaze lands on him too, I wonder why he doesn’t defend himself. “He is our best warrior. Even better than I. Completely committed to whatever cause he fights for.”

I blink at him, brows furrowing. He’s not making sense. “Would that not be a good thing?”

They’re all looking at me now, the humans with a note of withdrawal and sadness in their eyes.

“No,” Fer’ro almost growls.

“I might not protect you if we go out there together. My ba’clan…are no longer operational. And…” He’rox pauses, eyes unreadable.

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