Page 42 of Command

Threxin clasped his hand to the back of his neck. “Shoq, Renza,weare supposed to be the addictive ones, not them.”

“They can be… persuasive,” Silarra chimed in with a low drawl.

“I do not care!” Threxin shot up from his seat. Silarra and Renza exchanged glances, brows raised. Threxin’s hand rose instinctively to hover at his chest as his wound protested. “It does. Not. Matter.” He breathed, forcing his body to calm even as his mind worried. He had enough of a headache without the limiter. “You have your orders.Weare not the animals here. Has our history taught you nothing?”

“Most of us don’t even know our history, brother,” Renza sighed. “Most of us never cared to learn about humans because we weren’t fabled to be of some mythical ruling line.”

“Mythical?” Threxin spread his arms, gesturing at the command center around him. “Mythical like this ship in which you sit? Like this shoqing needle under my skin?” He turned his hand, thrusting his blood-crusted wrist toward Renza.

“Well, yes, now we know…”

“Now you know. And do you know if our finding our planet was not contingent on letting these humans live, I would have destroyed them all by now?”

“Perhaps all except one,” Renza smirked.

Silarra’s apertures widened from her spot in the pit. “Who?”

“No one,” Threxin snapped, baring his teeth at Renza. The limiter did churn then, late, dousing him with a chill that stabbed the backs of his eyes.

He sat back down and rubbed a knuckle between his brows. “How many humans are we talking about?”

“Not many,” Silarra played coy.

“How many?”

“Two that I know of. One voluntarily, both from this deck.”

“And the other?”

“If she is not a volunteer already, she will be soon enough.” Renza shrugged.

“And the uhyre?” he asked, turning to Silarra. “You?”

“Oh, no,” she bent her neck. “I heed your command.”

“Bring them to the rear dock.” It was the smallest space Threxin could think of that could accommodate all the humans on the command deck and all the uhyre at once. “Now. And the humans. Bring everyone.”

“Of course,” Silarra said and made for the exit, exchanging another worried glance with Renza.

“What are you doing, brother?” Renza asked in a low voice when they were alone.

“Teaching.”

CHAPTER 19

ALINA

The expanse of the rear dock seemed much smaller with fifty humans and two hundred uhyre packed within it. The humans crowded together on the lefthand side of the floor and Alina scurried toward them. The uhyre, in comparison, were giants milling about the space with either amusement or indifference. Orion looked tense, standing at the front of the separation between the species with Kaia by his side. Kaia scanned the aliens with thinly veiled disgust.

Alina understood her derision. The uhyre had invaded her ship, ousted her husband, and commandeered what was to be their new home planet. But part of her was a little confused at Kaia’s visceral reaction. She observed the way she leaned into Orion’s side when he snaked a long arm around her waist and drew her close. How she reached up to stroke down the slope of the short spikes running down the nape of his neck. Of all people,sheshould be able to see the uhyre as more than the monsters from their legends. Shouldn’t she? She was practically married to one!

Everyone tensed when Threxin appeared at the entrance with Renza behind him. They bunched closer together when they registered the two humans Renza was dangling in the airby their forearms. Only afterward did her eyes slide to the heavy chain in Threxin’s hand, three uhyre manacled to its clattering length.

He jerked them forward as he crossed the floor along the division line between their species. Threxin stood up straight and tall, broad shoulders pulled back as he took long strides and came to stand before the airlock. But something in the hitch of his step looked off. It was so subtle that Alina might’ve been imagining it—but he didn’t look so good.

Alina shouldered her way gently to stand behind Kaia. It didn’t require much shoving—everyone wanted to be as far back from whatever was happening as possible.

“What is this?” Kaia whispered to Orion, who shook his head with a shrug.

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