Page 42 of Monstrous Baby
DNA inherited from her mother. Not human.
Myrm.
NATALIE
Stunned horror washed over me,followed immediately by wrenching guilt and shame.
My baby girl. I loved her without hesitation, regardless of what she did or looked like. Nothing would ever change that. But seeing the bug wings—that she’d inherited fromme—gave me an instantaneous ick. Although the negative feeling was already fading away, I still felt guilty for that momentary knee-jerk reaction.
The Myrm DNA had blended with Kroktl’s to change her appearance. I hadn’t even known I carried fragments when I got pregnant. What did this mean for her?
My heart twisted into a knot and my stomach quivered with dread. She’d be hunted and hated by DSC even more. We weren’t just a rebel squad now, or even a random one-off successful breeder in the wild. We were MyrmMothers. Both of us. Capable of breeding not just wild dyni but also mrions and drones.
It’d never really connected in my head until I saw her shift.
The combination went beyond appearance with special abilities from both species. I had no idea what Myrm powers we might have, or how they differed from the squad’s. I’d been able to use Axxol’s jump and Rizan’s echolocation technologies instinctually. No training, no real understanding. When I’d needed those powers, they were there and saved us.
What else are we capable of?
Shaken and more frightened than I cared to admit, I watched Kroktl interact with his raptor daughter. Racing each other in the night, letting her win, of course, though she was already surprisingly fast despite only recently learning to walk on her two human legs.
Rizan swept lower, letting the air flutter his feathers enticingly. Her wings lifted, flapping awkwardly, hopping her up and down off the ground.
:Fuck,:Axxol grumbled on the grid.:The little menace is going to be able to fly too.:
Despite my correction earlier, he referred to her as a menace again. This time, though, I sensed a fondness in the word with a touch of awed appreciation.
Fuck yeah. My baby girl will be able to fly too. She needs to be a menace—to stay alive.
:Even more impressive, she can ghost the grid entirely,:Rizan added.:We’d still be looking for her without Kroktl’s specialized vision.:
:How she’d figure that out?:Snryx asked.
:I hide,:Akylla bragged.:I hide good.:
:Yes you do, sweetie,:I told her.:Though you scared us by disappearing. Especially at night when little girls should be sleeping.:
:Sleep is boring. I hunt.:
:Night time is the best time to hunt, at least here on Earth:Kroktl agreed.:Though we should still know where you are.:
:Okay.:She heaved a grunty little sigh.:Hungry, Daddy. Show me hunt.:
Chills crept down my spine but I didn’t say a word. Akylla might only be a few weeks old, but she was dynos.
Which made her a killer.
She needed to hone her skills. She needed to be as fast and strong as possible if another squad attacked. If that meant kill or be killed, then I wanted her to kill. I didn’t want her to have my delicate human sensibilities. As long as she didn’t kill for sport—and I already knew she didn’t have a single malicious cell in her body.
It still made me sad to watch them disappear into the trees while Rizan spun in slow, lazy circles overhead to keep watch. She’d had not quite three full weeks of innocence. Mothers probably always thought their babies grew up too fast but I’d only had days with her sleeping in my arms, milk drunk and cute.
:Just wait until she comes home blood drunk from her first kill,:Axxol said.
Snryx’s implements rattled together like swords. “It’s a very good thing you’re too far away for me to skin alive.”
Lohr made a surprisingly fierce growl from his turtle-like throat.:And I’m too slow to run you down.:
A silent, dark shadow swept past the window. Axxol’s giant T-rex head snapped at the blur but Rizan twisted away, dipping one of his barbed wings low enough to tear across his shoulder. I smelled blood.
