Page 6 of Aura Awakened

A current of feeling tackles me, a sensation so intense it sends me to my knees. I gasp and set her down, trying to understand what has come over me. Do the Malifects have new technology? Something that attacks theemotions?

It takes a moment before I recognize the sensation for what it is. A turbulent mix of guilt, shame, and regret. However unintentionally, I caused harm to my star-mate, and now I’m feeling the consequences.

Fuuuuuck.

Has our star-bond already begun to activate? So quickly?

This is bad.

Emotions are a weakness. And I’m swimming in them.

AURA

I wake to twin sensations: something cold and hard, metallic, beneath my back. And the slight burn along my arm that suggests I’ve scraped up against something, irritating my flesh even more than that damned spinning wheel of light did. I groan and will my eyes to open, although all that I can manage is a sluggish blink.

It’s enough.

I’m still in the same enormous room as before, though no longer in that weird pod thing. The fleeting glance I managed confirmed that my pod wasn’t the only one; there are hundreds more just like it, all filled with sleeping captives.

What is this place?

I open my eyes again and give my head a little shake to clear it, immediately realizing my mistake. A spike of pain shoots from behind my temples and engulfs my entire brain in white-hot agony. I press my hands to my forehead to try to relieve the pressure.

After a few seconds, the pain lessons to an intense but manageable throb and I risk opening my eyes a third time. The creepy spider-lobsters are nowhere to be seen, but in their place is a thorn-covered mountain with thunder on his face.

He’s crouching, but even so, I can tell he’s a giant, at least seven feet tall. He’s also very spiky; every visible inch of his skin—except for his face—is covered in five-inch-long thorns. Not the troublesome prickles of a rosebush, but fierce things that look like they could kill you if they penetrated the right spot.

Less icky than the bug critters, but no less terrifying. No less weird.

He glances at me and realizes I’m awake. “Are you injured?” he asks.

I don’t know how I know what he says; it’s not like he’s speaking English. I can tell by the way his mouth moves. But just like before, my brain is somehow able to translate his speech.

“My head,” I mumble.

He grimaces. “Yes, it’s a side effect of the gas. From the pod.” He gestures at it, in case I’m not sure which pod he means. Like, duh. I was just locked in the thing. “It will pass. I meant your skin.”

I glance at my burning left arm and notice several raw, red scratches. “I’ll survive,” I say wryly, and then it dawns on me. “Wait, did you do this to me?” I point to his thorns.

Something like sorrow passes over his face, transforming his harsh features. “Inadvertently, yes. I’m sorry. I would never mean to cause you harm.”

“Okaaayy,” I drawl, uncertain what he does mean to do.

He extends a hand, as if to help me up. “If you can walk, come with me. We must hurry.”

I tentatively shake my head, risking the pain, and he sighs, exasperated. He mutters something under his breath that sounds very much likehumans.

“Do you hear that alarm?” he asks.

“Of course.” It’s like a malfunctioning smoke detector turned up to eleven and then multiplied by a hundred. It’s horrid.

“That’s an alert that your pod was breached. The Malifects will be here any minute to retrieve you.”

“What’s a Malifect?”

“Intergalactic slavers. Trust me, you don’t want to be here with them.”

“Trust you?” I say. “I don’t even know you. For all I know, you’re working with the creeps who kidnapped me!”

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