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“They weren’t in love?” I offered.

“They had love… but notlove. You know?”

I nodded. After years stuck together in the underground base, I could easily see how they could have sought comfort with each other.

“They were always alone except when the Soldiers came to bring supplies and take away some of the modified Creckels or their eggs.”

“Eggs?” I asked, slightly stunned. Unlike most reptilian species, Creckels were actually mammals and gave birth to fully gestated offspring, not eggs.

“The modified Creckels lay eggs,” Janelle explained before continuing. “When I was born, Mom said they tried to take me away, but Brees got angry and attacked the Soldiers. Mom said she thought the General would kill them all. But he didn’t.”

“He left you with your parents?” I asked, confused that the Kryptid General hadn’t taken her as leverage against her parents, like he had done with our younger brothers against us.

The door opening kept her from responding. Jessica walked in with a hover tray carrying a huge bowl filled to the brim with juicy cubes of watermelon, pears, and peaches, a plate full of cubes of cucumber—peeled and the seeds removed—and a large cup containing a liquid which, judging by the smell, was some sort of clear broth.

“Here you go, young lady,” Jessica said in a motherly tone that made me want to laugh, considering she was about the same age as my woman. “You drink the soup first. After that, andonlyafter that, you can eat anything on that tray. Just make sure you properly chew before swallowing or your stomach will make you pay for that eagerness.”

Janelle scrunched her face but nodded.

“And I hold you responsible if she gets sick,” Jessica added, wagging a menacing finger at me.

I grinned and bowed my head in submission.

After raising the bed so that my mate would be in a sitting position, Jessica placed the tray in front of Janelle, and checked her vitals one last time before taking her leave to go help the rest of the team opening up the cave.

I sat at the edge of her bed and helped her hold the cup while she drank, pausing in between sips to ask her more questions, thus pacing the speed at which she consumed the fluid.

“So, you were about to tell me why the General didn’t take you away from your parents,” I said.

“I don’t know why. I think it’s because the bugs didn’t know how to raise a little girl,” Janelle said with a shrug. “Maybe it wasn’t worth fighting the Creckels, or maybe I wasn’t valuable enough. I don’t know.”

I gave her another sip and waited a moment for her to swallow. “How come you have psychic powers? Did your parents have them, too?” I asked.

My mate shook her head. “No. When I was five, the Soldiers brought an enzyme and said we had to put it in the water we drank, especially for me. Mom thought it was bad, but Dad said it wasn’t. He knew what it was because he worked on it with Dr. Xi.”

“The enzyme for the ESP Program?” I exclaimed. She gave me a blank stare, and I chastised myself. Of course, she wouldn’t know about it. “Dr. Xi had developed a protocol to give humans psychic abilities so that females like Jessica could become Soulcatchers for the Xian Warriors. For a little over thirty years now, the enzyme has been added to all the water sources and food production on Earth so that the entire population develops those powers. Why would Khutu give you that ability?”

“The Soldiers said so that I could become a bride to the General’s sons. That didn’t really make sense to me,” Janelle said with a frown.

My hearts leapt at those words. I brought the cup back up to her lips while reflecting on my response.

“It actually does make sense,” I said cautiously, drawing a stunned expression from Janelle. “A couple of years after the General had kidnapped your parents, he also abducted a large number of human females with psychic abilities—the first humans to have taken the enzyme. He forced those females to have children with him, not Soldiers, but hybrids.”

Janelle’s jaw dropped. She stiffened, and her pale skin became even paler. She squinted, her damaged eyes locked onto my Deynian horn as she put two and two together. I held my breath, my chest constricting at the thought that horror or disgust might descend upon her features.

“What happened to those sons?” she asked, her voice no louder than a whisper.

“They revolted, rescued their mothers, and fought in the war against General Khutu,” I said forcefully, hoping she would hear the sincerity in my voice.

She nodded slowly before licking her lips in a nervous gesture. To my complete shock, she lifted her hand towards my face, her movements still shaky from her weakened state. I leaned forward and swallowed hard as her hand roamed over the chitin scales on my cheek and my forehead before her fingers traced the curve of my crescent-moon horn.

“That’s why you have a Kryptid horn,” she said softly. “You are one of his sons.”

“He sired me, but he wasnotmy father,” I said with undisguised hatred.

She nodded again, her hand lingering a moment longer on my horn then on my face, before dropping back towards the cup. Hearts pounding, I helped her drink the last of the broth, then put the cup back down.

She hasn’t condemned me or shown revulsion.

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