Page 161 of Star Marked Warriors

I gripped his shoulder back and nodded.

He was right. For the first time in my life, I could do that. I could be the warrior I was, the one I could be, not just the pitiful imitation Crux demanded. I would bring him back to the king for justice, and then, my life could begin.

CHAPTER29

BEAU

Keep it viable.

That was such a soulless way to say all these samples, possible future children of Thorzan, that Crux had left in his laboratory, might not make it. And sure, I was attached to little more than an idea, but it was mine. And the thought that I couldn’t take care of it was screaming in my head worse than the faint alarm that’d started going off in the lab soon after Crux left. There was a beeping coming from a console by the wall, and it sounded so much like immanent doom.

The hair on the back of my neck was beginning to stand on end by the time I got it to turn off, but like every time the fire alarm had blared back home, I didn’t trust that the issue was really solved just because the wailing quieted. It was only a matter of time before I smelled smoke. Or, you know, lost my best chance at a kid with Vorian.

Because fuck, they called Crux the Progenitor for a reason, right? He was the guy who knew how to do this, and now, he’d left. I was alone in his lab. And inevitably, I was going to ruin everything.

Did I try to do something, or wait for someone more competent to come along? I mean, shit, it wasn’t like I was some kind of biology prodigy. I hadn’t even finished high school.

A cold sweat had broken out under my arms by the time the lab door slid open behind me and I spun, expecting Vorian, and with him, answers. Because Vorian was capable. He’d have solutions or knowledge or—

It was Wesley.

Wesley who’d been gone, missing for weeks, without anyone knowing where to start looking for him. And he was right there, the answer to every prayer I’d ever had, because Wesley was a fucking genius.

He stood outside the door, dwarfed by all the tall blue aliens around him, but somehow looking in control. Thank god somebody was.

“Hey,” I rasped, my hands floating uselessly to my sides now that someone else was there to take the reins.

Wesley tipped his head to the side. “Hey. I didn’t expect you to be... out?”

Right. When Wesley had left with that smiley warrior to throw Crux off the trail of the other humans, I’d still been determined to stay in my little cell. And if I were roaming free, whywasn’tI somewhere better than this awful laboratory?

My gaze drifted to the tube that contained my, well,sample. The hope I’d keep coming back to, no matter what nightmares Crux hid it behind.

“Me either,” I mumbled. But I wasn’t up for filling Wesley in on all the details of my grand escape before I knew everything was okay here.

When I looked back at Wesley again, the aliens were already funneling past him into the lab. Their long hands flew over the machines, over different screens I couldn’t begin to make sense of.

The aliens were as tall as Vorian, but they were slighter, thinner, and a lighter blue than the other lab workers, or in fact any Thorzi I’d seen. They wore actual clothes, unlike my over-the-top shirtless alien, and their hair was stark white, giving them the look of creatures who didn’t often see sunlight.

“Who are these people?” I asked, leaning into Wesley’s arm. He pressed back against me, and I realized he looked thinner than the rest of the humans had. Like me. Like he’d been living off of those white Styrofoam nutrition bars. After weeks in the palace, everybody else looked hale and happy, but Wesley had been through something hard.

I wished I could hug him close and make everything okay, but I sure as shit didn’t know how to make anything okay for anybody, and before I could worry too much, Jax, that big warrior guy, came up behind Wesley and settled his big hands on Wes’s shoulders. He pulled Wesley back against his chest, and Wes sank into him happily.

So yeah, he definitely didn’t need my help. He had a big strong warrior of his own.

“These are the Zathki.” Wesley smiled. Tired as he looked, at least that was genuine. “They’re our new allies. Marex?”

When Wesley called, one of them separated from the group. As he approached, he nodded low, his silvery hair falling over his shoulder.

“I am Marex of Zathkar,” he said in a low, soft voice. There weren’t many Thorzi who spoke so quietly. Sometimes Vorian, but he rarely sounded so gentle.

“Beau of Earth. Nice to meet you.” It was way too easy to drop my surname, Todd. Beauregard Todd, actually. But I’d always hated my full name, and the second my dad turned me out, I’d stopped bothering with the whole last name thing. Better to be like the Thorzi who earned their own honorifics. Xyren the Imperator, Crux the Progenitor, that kind of thing.

I’d be Beau the Useless Lump.

I didn’t even dare to hope to be Beau the Tailor yet.

I nibbled my lip. “So you all know what you’re doing with the, um, tube thingies?”

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