Page 37 of Wrath

“Correct,” I answered. “This way, the condition of the creatures below would not be disturbed, and they would remain unconscious while you traipse about taking care of business.”

“Meaning placing the incendiary bombs,” Wrath said.

I shook my head. “No. Or rather, yes and no.”

He looked at me with confusion, which made me chuckle.

“What I mean is first you want to flood the entire place with the virus,” I explained. “You can place incendiary grenades at the same time, but the idea is first and foremost to release as many virus canisters as possible in both the open areas and inside the stasis room. Since we have no idea what kind of state that room is in, that part of the mission remains the big question mark.”

“What do you suggest?” Wrath asked.

“We know that after the explosion, a number of Jadozors were still able to fly out of the stasis room to chase the others,” I said. “That means that the opening is still accessible. Dread could fly you both inside to see what it looks like. It would be faster than trying to pierce through that second set of doors. If there is too much rubble, you could use a drilling stick to reach as deep below the piles as possible to drop some canisters. Ditto with the incendiary grenades. We just need to determine how much exposure time is required for the nanobots to complete their task when there is a full Jadozor instead of just a severed head.”

“That sounds simple enough,” Wrath said with a grin. “And I’ll even be back in time for dinner.”

I laughed and playfully elbowed him. “I wouldn’t put too much hope in that,” I said in a sympathetic voice. “Somehow, I suspect that getting through the first door is going to be a major pain in the you know what. And second, I’m sure you’ve heard of what a jerk Murphy was when he wrote his law.”

“He was merely a man of experience talking about the realities of life,” Wrath said with amusement. “His law has kicked me in the teeth more times than I can count.”

“I believe it,” I said, scrunching my face. “Before you leave, you’ll even be able to double check that the Jadozors in the main area have indeed kicked the bucket thanks to the virus. Once all of that is done, you both strut your stuff out of there, and we blow this shit up.”

“Sounds like we have a plan then,” Wrath said with a very pleased smile on his face. “Good job, my mate,” he said before kissing me.

I purred and snuggled against him. “It wasn’t that hard to figure out,” I said with false humility. “The real work is what those crazy smart ladies of the Vanguard are pulling off. Myriam, Nathalie, and Liena are frighteningly smart on top of being badass. Well, okay, Nathalie is a bit squishy, but she’s still crazy smart.”

Wrath burst out laughing. “She is squishy,” he conceded with a nod. “She’s the first one to admit it. That’s why I never understood her insistence on going out on missions. Normally, Nathalie would work with Victoria and Liena at the research lab at the HQ. She spearheaded several of our projects there. But I guess she got tired of hearing her sister Tyonna talk about all the crazy and wild adventures she experienced during her missions.”

“Well, whatever her reasons, I’m glad we have her on board,” I said wistfully. “I’m glad to have everyone on this team on board. They’re freaking amazing.”

“They are,” Wrath said, his face softening with an almost paternal expression. “I have gone to hell and back with every single one of them. The Vanguard only recruits the best. It always amuses me when the new cohort of Aspirants arrive on Khepri, their eyes full of stars and in complete awe at the sight of us, Xians and Dragons. But they don’t understand that we are similarly in awe of them.”

My eyes widened at this unexpected comment. Why the hell would these incredible killing machines be in awe of squishy little humans like us?

“The galaxy considers Earth as a primitive planet,” Wrath explained. “And yet, before human females joined the Vanguard, our death rate and mission failures were frighteningly high. Humans may not be as strong, as fast, or as resilient as many other advanced species out there, and your technology may be behind in comparison, but your determination, passion, devotion, and fearlessness compensate beyond their comprehension.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, fascinated to hear a Warrior’s perspective on our value.

“Our original Soulcatchers, the Hulanians, were physically much faster and stronger than humans, but they didn’t have a tenth of your psychic power. Rebirth sickness could last for well over a week, often up to ten days of horrible nausea, pain, tremors, and burning fevers,” Wrath said with a haunted expression on his face. “Human Soulcatchers not only cut that down to three days but also significantly reduced the symptoms of rebirth sickness to something far less debilitating.”

“That must have been a major relief,” I said with sympathy.

“You have no idea,” he said, giving me a funny look that made me laugh again. “But our human girls could do a lot more. You were not afraid to pick up weapons to fight, to learn hand to hand combat, to join us directly on the field, facing the onslaught right there by our side. It completely changed the face of the war. The Hulanians couldn’t have done what any of you do. They weren’t fighters or pilots. They were closer to Nathalie: nurturers, not soldiers—and it wasn’t for lack of trying.”

“They must have been heartbroken when they were replaced,” I said, my heart filling with compassion for them.

Wrath snorted. “Not at all, in fact. They knew their limitations. They are a peaceful species. This war was very hard on them, but their loyalty to us kept them by our side,” Wrath said, a tender expression descending on his stunning features. “We loved our Hulanian Soulcatchers. They were our sisters. They rejoiced for all of us when the human psychic program proved successful. No other species but humans combined the psychic power, the physical skills, the intellectual chops, the mental fortitude, and the devotion required for this task. We were genetically conceived for that. You were all just born that way.”

My face heated while a pleasant warmth spread through me. Humans were so starstruck by the Vanguard, I doubted any of them realized our heroes felt the same about us. I wondered if even Linette knew. She had often told me how much their Warriors loved the women of the Vanguard, but I didn’t think she was aware of them being such fans.

“Think about it,” Wrath said. “Every single female in the Vanguard is a rank four or five psychic, an expert marksman, a high-ranking martial artist, a skillful pilot, a dauntless soldier,andgraduated with honors in her respective field of studies, most of them with a Master’s or Ph. D. in some very challenging fields. I couldn’t do the scientific research that Victoria and Liena do. I couldn’t do the supernaturally intuitive strategic analyses that Tabitha does, or hack or decipher shit like Myriam, or design weapons and defense systems like Sabra. Not only do you ladies save our souls, you are the brains and driving force of the Vanguard. We Warriors just kill shit, get our butts handed to us, and wait to be reborn to do more of the same.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his dejected expression. “You know, when you put it like that, wearekind of badass,” I said, starting to feel a little impressed myself.

Wrath chuckled. “Yes, you are, my love.”

Myriam calling us to run the second half of the virus test put an end to our banter. We all gathered back at the brig. To our relief, none of the three Jadozors we had experimented on in the morning had shown any signs of coming back to life. Even though we had been as confident then as we were now that these creatures were done for, we would keep their remains under observation for a while longer.

For now, though, we used Myriam’s improved nanobots on the third pituitary gland from our earlier tests: the one that had only been exposed to the virus and not the incineration chamber. Less than a minute after the enhanced nanobots were released on it, the hard shell of the gland began collapsing, exposing its soft insides. To our joy, the soft tissue of the gland had effectively been drained of its zogesterone with the initial virus it had been exposed to. Now, we had the confirmation.

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