Page 32 of Fractured Souls

Outwardly, she was calm.

She hadn’t been capable of that before, but now her demeanor reminded him of a soldier’s composure under fire—a feat of mental strength that could only be achieved through discipline and training.

Who was this female, really? Who had she been in her past life back on Earth? Military? Enforcement? She just had that feeling about her.

“What’s wrong?” He almost—almost—reached out and put his hands on her.

Frowning, she held up her right hand and pushed up her sleeve. “It’s spreading.”

The blue transformation had indeed spread, extending halfway across her forearm. There was a subtle iridescence to it, and at the point where it blended into her brown skin, startling cerulean blue gave way to a smattering of translucent scales.

Despite the dramatic changes to her body, Alexis was the calm one. Nythian, on the other hand, was ropeable. He uttered a particularly dirty Kordolian swear-word. “Anuk have anything to say about that? Is she doing this on purpose? Because if she is, I’ll—”

Alexis raised her hands in a placating gesture. “She swears she didn’t mean to do it. The medicine knocks her out completely, same as me. That was Zharek’s intent, wasn’t it? We both fell asleep, then I woke up because my arm started hurting. That’s when I saw this. She doesn’t know how to explain it. She’s never bonded with a human before. No Tharian has.” Maybe he was just imagining things, but Alexis sounded almost protective of her symbiote. She shrugged. “Looks like I’m turning blue. Could be worse. Could be a color I don’t like, you know, purple, orange… wouldn’t that be awful?” She made a face. Her composure cracked a little. Her heart began to pound.

Nythian had spent a reasonable amount of time around humans. He’d learned to read the rhythms of their bodies a little. Their heartbeats always sped up when they were frightened or angry or excited.

And sometimes, they tried to cover it up by laughing at themselves or making silly attempts at humor. Strange species, these humans.

“Alexis.” Gently, he took her transformed hand into his. She didn’t resist. He willed his armor gloves away, and she gasped as the obsidian nanites melted into his skin. Normally, he wouldn’t bother with this kind of thing, but he was trying to make a point.

“Y-you’re…” She took a deep, shuddering breath.

“A freak, even by Universal standards. You’re not the only one who has a strange thing inside of you. We’re still learning about your condition, but we’re well equipped to deal with this kind of thing.”

She stared at him for a while, her gaze traveling up his arms and chest, taking in his entire form. She appeared fascinated by him, and he liked that. Her glistening lips parted slightly. A shade between brown and pink, they were deliciously full.

Tempting.

He would kill to read her thoughts right now.

“Okay,” she said simply, after a long pause.

“Good.” He held her hand up to examine it. The blue surface was cool to the touch, and a little harder than her soft brown human skin. A sliver of horror shot through him as he imagined the Tharian’s blue skin slowly absorbing her entire body, erasing her beautiful features.

No. He wasn’t going to let it happen.

Alexis’s gaze became distant. “Anuk says the answers are on Tharos.”

“That’s what Enki said too,” he muttered. Getting information out of Enki was like trying to find a warm spot on Kythia. His brother was still touchy when it came to the topic of what had really happened on that remote desert planet. Too bad. If Nythian had to beat the information out of him in the training room, he would.

“I don’t want this thing to consume me,” she whispered, allowing him to see the true extent of her fear for the first time. Strong yet vulnerable. He’d always known humans were contradictory creatures, but this…

A powerful instinct stirred within him.

He didn’t want to see her like this.

“It won’t consume you,” he said at last.

“How can you be so certain?”

“Because you’re strong.”

“I don’t feel very strong right now.”

“Well, you’re here, aren’t you? After everything that’s happened to you…” Unable to help himself, he slid his fingers over hers, feeling her strange blue Tharian skin. She didn’t flinch, didn’t pull away. Instead, she simply watched his fingers in fascination.

He ran his hands up her arm until he reached the point where Tharian blue turned into deep human brown.

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