Page 38 of Fractured Souls

Normally, he would be gentle with the General’s mate, but the situation right now was dangerous. With the Tharian inside her, Alexis was unpredictable, and Tarak had expressly forbidden any of the humans from going near her until they had answers.

Nythian wasn’t going to be the one to break those orders.

“Seriously?” Abbey crossed her arms, spoiling for a fight. She looked up at Alexis. “Hey, Alexis. You okay in there? I’m sorry I didn’t come earlier. If I’d known…”

Nythian was on the verge of picking Abbey up and dumping her outside—she would get over the indignity eventually. The human mates of the First Division were treated better than Kordolian nobility most of the time, but really, there was a limit to his benevolence.

He understood that the human women were very protective of their own, but now was not the time to argue.

“Abbey,” he growled, “last warning. You can visit to your heart’s content once we have the all-clear.”

“Sorry.” Her hands flew up. “I didn’t know that you were in the middle of something so important…” To his surprise, the General’s mate folded her arms and quietly contemplated his words. When he’d first encountered the small human phenomenon that was Abbey, Nythian had wondered what the boss saw in her. She was reckless, emotional, and impulsive. She disobeyed instructions on a regular basis. She was almost—almost—as stubborn as Tarak himself.

But over time, he’d come to understand her a little better.

And over time, she’d changed, too. Motherhood especially had tempered that reckless nature of hers.

“Abbey.” Then Alexis spoke, and she was astonishingly calm. “It’ll probably be better if you don’t watch. I know I’ve been acting like a crazy woman these past few days, but I feel different now. Nythian, he’s…” She paused and looked directly at him, her gaze slow and deliberate. “He’s okay.”

“Oh yeah?” Abbey’s eyebrows rose. “Sure?”

“Yeah. Definitely.”

He’s okay. Why in the Nine Hells did that little comment warm his blackened heart?

Feh. Humans.

Strange beings.

Some silent communication passed between the two women, almost as if they were engaging in mindspeech. Nythian had seen humans do this from time to time.

“Can you two save whatever this is for latter? The nanites are getting cold,” Zharek grumbled.

Abruptly, Abbey nodded. “Okay.”

Okay? That was it? Nythian had expected at least a little more resistance.

Abbey rounded on Nythian. “Look after her, big boy.”

“Does it look like I’ve just been standing around twiddling my thumbs?”

“I’m just saying.” Abbey gave him a knowing smile as she waved at Alexis. “Okay, I’m off. Glad to see you’re doing a lot better, Alexis. I’ll come visit as soon as the Powers That Be officially grant me permission. Good luck, Alexis.”

She disappeared.

Nythian clenched his teeth. He was tense, edgy, wanting to get this whole thing over and done with.

He turned to Zharek.

“As I said before,” he growled in Universal, wanting to make everything better for her. “Explain.”

Ten

“Are you ready, Alexis?” Zharek’s voice filtered into her awareness, amplified by the pods that rested in her ears. Her entire head was encased in some sort of monitoring helmet; a soft, pliable thing that extended down her back. Various leads and sticky devices covered her bare torso, feeding information back to Zharek’s machines.

“Yeah.” She fought to keep her body from trembling but failed. Damn. When would this crazy shivering stop? Somehow, whatever Zharek was infusing into her veins kept her from slipping into hypothermia, but this feeling of weightlessness, of detachment…

It was rather disturbing.

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