Page 79 of Shattered Silence

“Layla,” he whispered, drawing her attention to the human.

Deep brown eyes fluttered open, and for a split-second, so briefly Layla almost missed it, they glowed green, before returning to their natural brown-black hue.

She was awake. She looked around, taking in the dark curving walls of the room, and thank the stars Abbey had brought in some decent lighting, because the Kordolian station was truly a thing of spooky alien fantasies; a black behemoth carved from the fabric of the Universe itself.

And as far as Layla knew, she, Abbey, and now Alexis were the only living humans onboard.

“Hey, it’s me.” Layla reached out and placed her hand over the woman’s. “Layla, from the Malachi. It’s okay, Alexis. You’re safe now.”

She responded to her name, turning to study Layla’s face with great intensity. True to form, Enki stayed hidden, a silent, unwavering presence in the background. Menacing, even, if you were on his bad side. “What happened to you, Layla Rose?” she croaked, and her question definitely came from Alexis Carter the human, not Anuk the Tharian.

Somehow, the Tharian had brought her back. A cold ripple ran down Layla’s spine. This was some necromancy-level shit. How was such a thing even possible? And what had happened to Anuk?

“Me? Don’t you worry about me,” she said gently, her heart hammering as she looked into the eyes of a dead woman who had come back to life. “This might sound crazy, but we’ve both been rescued. We’re on a Kordolian ship in the Ninth Sector.”

“Kordolian?” A look of pure horror crossed Alexis’s face. She sat bolt-upright, gathering her robes around her. “So that really happened? N-no, it can’t be possible. You can’t trust these people, Layla. They’ll skin you alive and eat your fucking heart out if you give them the chance. We have to get out of here.” Her eyes darted around the room, taking on a paranoid hardness.

Layla discreetly put one hand behind her back, giving Enki a signal. Wait. She could almost sense the tension radiating from him; he would be standing there in the darkness, poised and ready to move between her and Alexis at the slightest hint of danger.

Wait. Please. I’ve got this.

“Alexis,” she said slowly, forcing herself to sound as calm as possible, “I know these people. They have nothing to do with the Kordolians from the Empire. They fought the Empire. They aren’t going to hurt you.”

“Y-you don’t understand,” she whispered, clutching the sheets against her chest. “The reason I left Earth was because of them.”

“Something happened on Earth?” Layla asked sharply. “Did a Kordolian do something to you?”

But Alexis refused to answer, shaking her head, her eyes wide with terror. She wasn’t entirely… all there. “I can’t say,” she whispered. “They could be listening.”

Shit. Layla was at a loss. If Alexis encountered a Kordolian now…

“We do not spy on our passengers.” And just like that, Enki emerged from the shadows, materializing at Layla’s side like a goddamn wraith.

“Oh my god!” Alexis scrambled backward, pulling the sheets with her as she shrank back into the dark recess of the sleeping pod. “Don’t you fucking touch me!”

“Stop it,” Enki snapped, his voice taut with irritation. “We are not going to hurt you.”

Layla squeezed his arm. Relax. Whatever had happened in the lab had obviously been traumatic, because Alexis was totally incoherent… damaged.

“He’s not going to hurt you.” Intentionally, Layla threaded her fingers through Enki’s; a gesture of affection, of possession. Alexis’s eyes widened.

“You must be famished,” Layla said instead, taking a leaf out of Abbey’s playbook. “What about if I leave you to rest while I go and rustle something up from the kitchen-bot? They’ve got a pretty high-tech one. It makes some wicked cinnamon croissants.” She glanced at Enki. “He’s not your enemy. Trust me. I’ll come back with a nice lady friend of mine, a human, of course. You think we’d be walking around here eating cinnamon croissants from a kitchen-bot if these guys were scary vicious killers?”

Well, they were scary vicious killers, and heart-eaters too, but Layla wasn’t going to tell Alexis that.

Oh, the irony.

Alexis blinked. She stared at Layla and Enki for a long time, her eyes dropping to where Layla and Enki’s fingers intertwined. “I’m hungry,” she admitted. “I could eat a horse right now.” Although the prospect of food seemed to have calmed her a little, she still kept stealing wary glances at Enki, as if he were a wolf that might turn on her at any moment.

Don’t worry, honey, he ain’t gonna bite. Well, maybe only sometimes. Layla’s other hand drifted to the base of her neck, where Enki had left his mark.

“I’ll get you something, Alexis. You’ve been through a lot. Maybe you’d prefer a moment alone, to process everything.”

“I-I’d appreciate that.”

Well, it was a start. At least Alexis didn’t have that wild-eyed look anymore; as if she were a rabbit trapped by a wolf’s mesmerizing gaze.

“Be back soon,” Layla reassured her, turning toward the exit. Enki led the way, his face an expressionless mask. “Oh, and Alexis?” Layla couldn’t help it; she looked back over her shoulder, a question burning inside her mind.

---