Page 17 of Reaper

Janelle had even touched me.

“He was changing me so that I could be a compatible mate for you, then?”

My breath caught in my throat, and my stomach did a backflip at the unexpected comment. Although she had worded it as a question, her tone had been more of a statement.

“Yes,” I said, tension constricting my throat.

She pondered for a second. “I think you would make a good mate, a caring mate.”

“I would certainly endeavor to do so,” I said a little too eagerly.

Janelle smiled, and her face softened. “Can I have some watermelon now? I can barely see them.”

“Of course, my darling,” I instinctively said, although getting a bit of a whiplash at the sudden change of topic. I stuck a fork in a plump cube before bringing it to her lips. Her moan of pleasure sent a delightful shiver down my spine. I loved seeing her happy and content. “But you need to slow down. You barely chewed that!”

Janelle pouted, clearly eager for another piece. “I’ll go slower with the next one,” she conceded, opening her mouth for more.

“Not yet,” I said firmly, but gently. “We need to wait a little to see how your stomach reacts.”

She glared at me. “I take back what I said about you making a good mate.”

I burst out laughing and shook my head at my mate. “Too late. You can’t take it back.”

I asked her a few more questions, dancing around the topics that needed answers, trying to find a way to ease into it, but she spared me the trouble.

“Just a few days after my eleventh birthday, the General decided to shut down the base because he couldn’t bend the Creckels to his will,” Janelle said bitterly. “He had reassigned my father to a new project involving Mimics, and he wanted the Soldiers to take me with them as well, I’m not sure what for. My mother was to stay at the base to ‘take care’ of the Creckels. I found out later that meant sending body parts and fluids to be used in other experiments.”

I slightly stiffened upon hearing the part about the Mimics. I hadn’t realized experimentation on the nearly extinct species had begun such a long time ago. Janelle then went on to describe how her parents tried to resist, and how the Creckels slaughtered the Soldiers to protect them before the Kryptids blew the place up.

“My father died in the explosion. His chances of survival had been slim anyway. Mom made it back inside the great hall and closed the door,” Janelle continued, a pained expression on her face. “The ventilation alveoli on the ceiling managed to filter the small amount of toxin that had made it into the room. But Mom had already breathed in a bit too much of it on her way in.”

“It killed her,” I said sympathetically.

“Yes, but not right away. It took nearly three months of her getting sicker every day and fighting it with what supplies we had left,” my mate said, her eyes looking up and sideways as she recalled her memories. “She spent those few weeks making me the optical aid,” Janelle added, absentmindedly touching the port on her temple. “And then she taught me everything she could, saying the most important things were to maintain the membrane and find a way out.”

“And you did. At such a young age, and despite all of those challenges, you survived and kept your companions alive as well,” I said with undisguised pride and admiration. “You are a true fighter.”

Janelle’s lips quivered with gratitude and sadness. “I was just scared and questioning everything. Brees and the others kept me alive. I wouldn’t have made it this long all alone.”

Careful not to bump into the hovering tray in front of her, I wrapped an arm around my mate’s shoulders and pulled her against me. She rested her head on my chest, and I gently caressed her hair.

“I just wish I could have helped the others, too,” she whispered miserably.

“The others?” I asked, slightly pulling away to look at her face.

“The original Creckels abducted from Dreija,” she said, looking up at me. “There were more than one hundred of them in stasis in the basement. My parents would take one or two as needed to pursue the experiments. One day, the Soldiers came to retrieve a couple of them at the request of the General. Something went wrong and a few of the Creckels woke up. They killed the Soldiers and tried to escape the base through the lift. The Soldiers gassed them, but the Creckels went into their ball form so the toxin didn’t affect them until the alveoli cleared the air. They then woke up the other Creckels in stasis. When more Soldiers went in, the Creckels slaughtered them again, so the Kryptids cut off the access to the basement and sealed it.”

My heart sank at the realization of so many lives lost. “When did that happen?”

“Almost three months before they imprisoned us inside as well,” Janelle said, her shoulders slouching. “We tried to get them out, but we didn’t have the tools to pierce through the thick metal plate they had placed over it. They’ve been stuck there for twenty years without food, water, or oxygen.”

I nodded sadly. “There was nothing you could do. Despite that, you still saved many other lives. And tomorrow, the rest of your friends will also feel the sun.”

She beamed at me, the beautiful dark brown eyes misting. “Can I see it again?”

“Tomorrow,” I promised. “Right now, let’s finish feeding you, and then you will rest while I work on your optical aid.

Janelle pursed her lips in that adorable pout that was totally growing on me, but happily opened her mouth to receive the piece of pear I was offering her. By the time she finished eating, with still tons of fruit left on her plate, my mate was once more struggling to keep her eyes opened. She only gave in after I promised not to leave her alone in the room.

---