Page 50 of Rebirth

Nathan stiffens slightly, jaw ticking slightly as Maisie sends her gaze to him.

“We’re fighting a war, love,” Bert says.

“A war?” My gaze bounces between the three. “The war has ended. We’ve been saved.”

Bert scoffs. “You’ve been listening to those brutes’ propaganda, have you?” He takes a few steps toward me, sidestepping the snarling woman reaching for his legs as he passes her, and levels me with his gaze. “Let me tell you something. There’s things out there you couldn’t even imagine. Horrible things. And they’re here to take everything we have and kill us all. You better wise up and join the resistance while you’ve still got blood running in those veins.”

My gaze darts back at the couple standing on the other side of the tent. “Resistance?”

“Around thirty-five of our strongest have gone to defend what’s ours,” Nathan says. “We aren’t letting ‘em win.”

I shake my head, closing my eyes briefly as I try to understand just what the hell they’re saying. “Gone? Gone where?”

Nathan grins at me, but his smile is filled with worms and spiders that skitter down my spine, telling me I shouldn’t trust him or this place. As if the snarling woman on the floor wasn’t warning enough.

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten already, sweetheart,” he says. “They’ve gone to Unity. They’ve gone to kill those fuckers.”

A chill goes down my spine.

Over thirty most-likely infested individuals are headed to the one place on this planet where I know there’s some hope.

I have to return to Unity.

I have to warn them.

Turning, Bert hazards lifting a blanket and throwing it over Kara, who settles down and stops snarling as if we’re no longer in the room.

“She doesn’t attack if she can’t see you…”

“The darkness calms her,” he says.

I nod, flashing a smile I hope is genuine in Nathan and Maisie’s direction. “I’m glad I found you all,” I say. And I mean it. Because now I understand what’s happening here. It’s all coming together now.

Nathan smiles, eyes skating down my frame. “Likewise.”

I resist the urge to barf.

Well, look at you now, Sophie. The alien turns you on more than the human male who’s obviously checking you out.

Adjusting my pack on my back, I head toward the exit. “You need to quarantine this tent. No one in or out. Rahzer’s is highly contagious. It may already be spreading through the camp.”

Bert reaches for me, hand closing around my arm in a way that makes me cringe, jaw clenching. “What do we need to get rid of it?”

“It will take a while for me to figure out the dosage of…” I begin, but his smile stops the words on my lips.

“Well, good thing Nathan found you, huh? You’ll have all the time in the world while you stay here. With us.”

My gaze flies to Nathan who is looking at me with an air of possession that I don’t miss, even as his arms encircle Maisie and she melts against him.

They’re not going to let me just walk away from here.

I have to be smart.

I nod at Bert. “Sure thing.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

HE’ROX

---