Page 93 of Fractured Souls

In his past life, he’d probably been deeply superstitious like most of common-born Kordolians from the Flatedge.

But he’d seen too much of the Universe to believe spirits could have much power over him. Such things existed, and now he just accepted them.

“Let’s go, Alexis.” Following closely behind her, he watched his mate as she walked down the ramp and into the dark, damp cave, shining her bright crixa into the darkness. She clutched the powerful Veronian light-device firmly in her left hand, leaving her right hand free to reach for her gun.

They followed Lodan and the brown-robed Tharian called Rucha. At least the poor bastard had stopped trembling.

Ektans and his team spread out on either side, melting into the shadows as they covered the flanks and formed the rearguard. Lodan had done a bit of a recon run before they’d left the ship.

The path to the portal was clear.

Even if this was some sort of trap—which he highly doubted—it didn’t matter. They were packing enough firepower to blast through the walls of these caves if necessary.

He wouldn’t let anything happen to Alexis.

He couldn’t.

Goddess, she was beautiful. He couldn’t take his eyes off her body, admiring the way her light armor molded to every curve, accentuating the roundness of her butt as she walked.

He walked close, almost touching her but not quite, one hand on his plasma gun, ready to defend her against anything.

He would bleed for her. He would die for her.

She was his mate. He truly didn’t care if she had a symbiote inside her, if part of her had transformed into something not-quite-human. He was addicted to her appearance; her human softness, her strong, athletic body, her luscious face, but even if she grew scales or horns or a third eye, it didn’t matter.

He would love her even if she turned blue all over.

His tough, clever human.

“The green stuff is back,” she said quietly. “Look at that.” Her eyes became unfocused as she glanced into the darkness. Without light, she and Rucha were sightless.

Nythian and his brothers didn’t have that problem. He could see perfectly well in the darkness. The curving stone ceiling overhead clearly wasn’t natural. Thousands of alien glyphs were carved into the smooth pink surface, all perfectly formed, as if by machine.

There was that cold ripple across his skin again. This time, he couldn’t shake it off. The green glow at the edges of his vision intensified, and pressure built inside his head.

“Nythian. Wait.” Alexis put her hand on his arm. “I’m going have to switch again. Don’t do anything crazy… Don’t be afraid, Kordolian.”

Nythian bared his fangs as Alexis’s voice changed, becoming deep and resonant, clearly not human. Anuk. She’d switched again. It had happened in less time than it took him to blink.

“I thought I told you not do do that,” he growled. His anger wasn’t aimed at anyone in particular. Anuk was dying, for Kaiin’s sake. He just couldn’t stand it when his mate’s consciousness submerged, when her eyes glowed unnatural green, when there was even the slightest possibility that he might lose her.

It was the one thing he couldn’t fight.

Anuk chuckled. “Don’t worry, Nythian. I’m not going to take your human away from you. I’d fear for the Universe if that were ever to happen. I’m just enjoying the final few moments of my existence on this planet before I transcend. I need to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

Before Anuk could answer, the pressure inside his head grew stronger, and the faint green glow became brighter, brighter, until it nearly blinded him.

A thousand voices screamed at him, and he dropped to his knees, clutching his ears. Lodan did the same. So did Ektans and his men. A fierce gale of malevolent energy hit him square in the chest, bowling him over.

Whoosh. There it was again… and again! Hatred. Anger. Fear. Pure fury.

You killed us. Demon. Murderer. Kordolian filth! Coldlifelesssunnaturalfooldestroyer you don’t deserve to exist in that monstrous body… give it to us!

As the walls of Nythian’s fragile sanity began to crumble, he realized what was happening.

The phantoms were here; thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of disembodied souls, all ablaze with fury at his kind.

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