Page 13 of Reaper

I shrugged but said nothing.

Reaper caressed the back of my hand with his thumb. “I’ll be nearby. You can mind-speak to me at any time if you ever feel scared or panicked, okay?”

My throat tightened, but I nodded. To my utter shock, he leaned forward and gently pressed his lips on my forehead. I liked that, a lot. Before I could recover enough to say a word, Reaper turned around and walked away. I stared at his blurry silhouette until he fully disappeared.

Chapter 6

Reaper

Isettled down in the meeting room, surrounded by the rest of the crew. My eyes kept flicking towards the door as I felt antsy with the need to go be by my woman’s side. My face heated at the sympathetic look from Doom and the teasing one from Reklig. Clearing my throat, I straightened then gave them a quick summary of what I had seen below.

“There are two dozen Creckels down there, including a handful of young,” I said. “They are all significantly undernourished. Even if we ration our current food supplies, we won’t have enough to make the journey back to their homeworld with all of them.”

Doom nodded with a slight frown. “We can go hunt some Zebiers and stock up on their meat. It’s not prime cuts, but it will be fresh and should be nutritious enough for them.”

He cast a glance at Stran who growled his approval with a nod. I repressed a smile. I couldn’t recall seeing the Creckel so excited or happy, even when rejoicing at the prospect of killing Kryptids.

I turned to Thanh. “We have enough to last until after we’ve gotten them out of the base?” I asked her.

She gave me a sharp nod. “Yes,” our pilot responded, flicking her long, straight black hair over her shoulder. “We have enough to last us a week.”

“Good! We should be opening the way first thing in the morning,” Doom said. He hesitated, then gave me an assessing look, immediately setting all my senses on alert. “How is your female doing?”

“She’s fine,” I said cautiously. “Jessica is taking good care of her. Last she mind-spoke to me, she was starting a nanobot treatment to cleanse Janelle’s blood and system from all the bacteria from her implant infection and the bad food she’d been eating.”

Doom nodded slowly again, the intensity of his stare telling me there was more he wanted to say.

“Spit it out,” I said in a semi-growly tone. “You know I don’t like beating around the bush.”

Doom snorted, and Reklig smirked.

“I am wondering why she’s the only human survivor,” Doom said carefully. “Where are the others? How did she survive the gassing of the base? What did they live off of this whole time?”

I frowned, not liking one bit the unspoken implication. And yet, they were valid concerns that I, too, would have expressed had we rescued someone who wasn’t my soulmate.

“I am sure there is a clear explanation, but I was too busy tending to her urgent medical needs to interrogate her,” I said, regretting immediately my snarky tone.

Doom didn’t get offended and smiled instead sympathetically. Although he looked no older than twenty-eight and would only start showing signs of aging once he reached one-hundred and fifty, at sixty-five, our team leader truly possessed a wisdom far beyond his age. He always instinctively seemed to know how to handle whatever tension or emotional distress others felt.

“I would have personally spanked you if you had handled the situation otherwise,” he said mockingly, defusing the tension, and sparing me a well-deserved chastising.

I snorted and gave him a sheepish grin.

“I peeked around when I went down to bring food and water to the Creckels,” Reklig said. “The good news is that they haven’t eaten your corpse. That would have been creepy. But they did consider it...”

My eyes widened in shock. Although the thought had crossed my mind, picturing my woman cannibalizing me sent a very unpleasant shiver down my spine. I couldn’t have blamed her for it but…

“Relax, Dragon,” Reklig added tauntingly. “Your woman was horrified at the thought and wanted no part in it. So much so that the Creckels decided not to upset her further and left your remains intact. I guess the membrane can get fat on you.”

The relief on my face must have been obvious as my team all chuckled at my expense. But Reklig was the first to sober.

“There’s a lower floor in that base. We need to find out what’s in there,” the Scelk continued. “The Creckels don’t like me much. I suspect my appearance reminds them too much of the bugs. Then again, it might have been that they really do not appreciate anyone attempting to read their minds.”

Stran emitted the short growling sound that served him as a snort, then gave Reklig what could only be a superior look. I cast an inquisitive glance towards Doom, but Thanh answered my unspoken question instead.

“It’s not just the Creckels’ IQ that is off the charts, so are their psychic abilities. Unlike us, they can sense the minute anyone attempts to read their minds.”

“And my dear mate got psychically bitchslapped for trespassing,” Madeline said teasingly while affectionately caressing Reklig’s bald head covered in chitin scales.

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