Page 29 of Fractured Souls

Nythian’s rumble of approval warmed her cold, once-dead heart. “Maybe this is what you need right now.”

A cynical laugh escaped her. “Because everyone needs an alien symbiote in their heads, right?”

“You are stronger than your mind leads you to believe.” For the first time, Enki spoke. He was a striking looking individual, handsome but in a cold, cruel kind of way, with unnerving golden eyes and sharp features that would have been beautiful if not for their harshness.

In the beginning, she’d been utterly terrified of him, until she realized that he was Layla’s mate.

Alexis stared at him, not knowing what to say.

Don’t anger him, human. The Tharian was definitely scared of Enki.

“If you were not a strong-willed person, Anuk would have consumed you by now. The fact that she was unable to, even when you were in the throes of delirium, says a lot about your will. I give no guarantees, but I can explain to you how I used to keep the Tharian under control. Perhaps it will help you.”

No! Don’t listen to him. He knows nothing of the Bonding. His way is wrong. I can give you power, Alexis Carter. You do not have to feel afraid ever again… if only you will help me return to Tharos.

Power… Did she really want that?

Of course she did. She wanted to feel strong again; in control. God, it had been such a very long time since she felt that way.

“I’ll take it,” she said, and Enki responded with a sharp nod.

Don’t. What he will teach you is the opposite of the True Way. They are as far from us as any race in the Universe. Please don’t listen to him, human.

Alexis sensed the Tharian’s desperation, her horror, her helplessness… The very same emotions she’d carried since the attack in the woods.

Maybe Anuk wasn’t entirely sane, either.

“Hey,” she whispered, not caring that the Kordolians could hear her. “Just because I decide to learn from Enki, doesn’t mean I’m going to do things the same way as him. Let me figure this out in my own way.”

That was what she always did.

As a detective back on Earth, she’d been the first one to throw out the possibility of a Kordolian link to the human disappearances. Anyone else would have been dismissed as crazy, but when Alexis came up with a theory, her superiors in the HPA had sat up and listened.

Bloodhound. That’s what they’d called her. Deputy Chief Ramos had always half-joked that she didn’t care as much about getting results as she did about the process.

The search was her drug.

Now she had something to search for again.

She needed to crack a mystery that not even these Kordolians knew how to solve.

A mystery called Anuk.

She closed her eyes. Took a deep breath. Felt Nythian’s closeness, his warmth, the smooth alien texture of his armor…

And her own strangeness. She was still cold. She made her own skin crawl.

“Anuk wants to go back to Tharos,” she said at last. The Tharian’s sense of relief flooded through her, so powerful that she suddenly felt like bursting into tears. “She says she’ll co-operate with me if we make that happen.”

The three Kordolians went quiet, and Alexis wondered if she’d said something horribly wrong.

But then Tarak nodded. “I will consider it. Get the Silent One here,” he snapped to someone in the background—presumably Zharek. He turned back to address her. “Where my wife is from on Earth, it is now past four a.m. The humans on this ship are all asleep. For now, you rest. In your circadian equivalent of evening, you will start your training.”

“Training?” A new wave of apprehension washed over her, but there was a surge of excitement, too. She didn’t really know where that came from.

“Since the two of you seem to have come to some sort of understanding, Nythian will be your trainer.”

Trainer? What the…?

---