Page 96 of Command

Alina bit her lip, releasing a frustrated whine. “All of this!” She held out her arms at either side. “Us.”

“Us?” Threxin took a step toward her. “Our species, you mean? Forced to cohabit?”

“Yes, and…” She trailed off, backing up as he continued to advance, his icy gaze scalding her skin.

“And?” He was so close, the word came as a sigh that ruffled her bangs.

But Alina was done with this interrogation, her brain incapable of going there just now. She simply shook her head, staring at the dip between his throat and his thick collarbones that shifted as he swallowed.

“You are shaking,” he murmured, reaching out to take her bare shoulders.

Alina cleared her throat and edged around him, sitting back down in her chair. The things he was doing to her body were undeniable. She thrummed in his pulsing aura. His apertures were wide open, she realized, blue light swirling within.

I want to taste it.

Alina pushed herself back against the wall, hoping the space would stop the ache building in her lower belly.

Threxin sighed and sat back on her bed, lacing his fingers together between his knees. “Our communication affected you before. When did you receive your… Neurosync?”

Part of her unwound with the change of subject. She rubbed the spot between the thumb and forefinger of one hand with the other, working out the tension.

“When I was born,” Alina said. “That’s one of the first things they do.”

Threxin’s eyes snapped to her then, widening. “They drug infants?”

Alina frowned. “What?”

“To prevent rejection. What did they drug you with?”

“Nothing! They just give you a painkiller from what I know. It’s… a bit of a process if you’re squeamish, but they immobilize your eye and go through the tear trough.”

Threxin’s brows shot up. “And you accept this?”

“We do it so young that we can’t even remember anything. And the NS is more than worth it.” Alina paused for a moment, then decided to spill. “Communicating through an NS is special. I never thought of it as that because I’ve always had it. But when you took that away from us, it’s like… a hole. The NS is more intimate. We can understand each other better through it. Did you have anything like it on Apth?”

“Yes,” Threxin said flatly, but the bitter tone in his voice did not seem congruent with the technology they were discussing.

“What’s it like?”

Threxin hummed low in his chest, considering. Finally he spoke. “It is like being in shackles all your life.”

“What? Why?” Alina spun in her seat to face him. There was something pained beneath the twist of his wry smile.

“It is our ‘evolution’,” he said.

“Your evolution?” She shook her head, not understanding. But then… “Your rage…”

“Is leashed at all times.”

Alina stared at him. “You have an NS that manipulates your emotions.”

Threxin did not answer, and that was confirmation enough.

“That’s… that’s anatrocity, Threxin.”

“Do not be dramatic, human.”

“I’m not beingdramatic—I mean that is literally considered an atrocity according to Universal law. An NS can go as far as to communicate emotions and to an extent enhance appropriate signals. But inducing negative emotions against your will or blocking anything a person feels is a violation of all codes of ethics known to modern man!”

---