Page 69 of Rebirth

There is nothing for me to say.

No comfort to give.

No insight.

The network refused to reveal its plans to me before and even now that its intentions are clearer, I am still as lost as Soh’fee is. I watch her keenly, waiting for her questions. Her demands.

To her, I have revealed more than even some of my brothers have seen. And yet still, no questions come.

She…confuses me.

No. She intrigues me.

Soh’fee shivers, though whether from cold or the memory of what we witnessed at the camp, I cannot tell. I long to wrap my arms around her and ward off her fears, but I do not dare. I can never be what she needs.

“We have to stop this, He’rox.”

“Yes. We must.” Because I am going down a path, the end of which not even I can predict. It is not the way of a scientist. The variables here are not ones I can control. But as she continues speaking, I realize my own thoughts are clouding my senses.

Soh’fee isn’t considering what is happening between us, because to her, nothing is happening between us. Because I have forgotten one important thing.

Soh’fee has no ba’clan. And even though mine are almost dead, their base instinct to find a mate is still there. They have told me she is mine.

But to Soh’fee, I am nothing to her.

Her eyes blaze with determination, reminding me once more of why I find myself drawn to this small yet fierce female. “This threat, whatever it is…we have to contain it before it destroys everything.”

I make a sound in my throat for I cannot speak.

It appears it is enough, for Sophie smiles then as she turns her gaze to me. “Partners, then. In this crazy, impossible fight.” She extends her uninjured hand toward me.

I stare at it for a long moment, hardly daring to believe she means what I think. Slowly, gently, I extend my own claw and clasp her hand with the utmost care. Her warmth seeps into me, chasing back the dark voices whispering of my unworthiness. For this moment, I allow myself to hope.

“Partners,” I say, and her fingers tighten around mine.

But her touch is too much.

I release her hand as gently as I can before I am overpowered by it and exit into the darkening forest.

She is safe now.

She will be fine.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

SOPHIE

As He’rox shakes my hand, he abruptly releases me as if my skin were a poison that burns and I watch open-mouthed as he stumbles from the shelter.

Directly outside, he stands in the rain. The raindrops hitting his ridges run down his frame like water moving over a terraced landscape. I stare at him for a few moments, unable to pull my gaze away.

We still haven’t spoken about what happened out there. How he changed. Why he disappeared and left me alone right after—though now, I realize he mightn’t have gone anywhere at all, but simply camouflaged. But that only increases my confusion.

I gulp, forcing myself up on my good arm as I watch him.

Having him carry me, feeling his warmth as I waned in and out of consciousness, was the only thing that kept me comforted. He was here, and he was taking care of me. This alien creature I’ve already gone through hell with and survived it.

When I came to feel so much for this strange being, I don’t know.

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