They would have done so already…

A sliver of fear runs up my spine at those words and the ba’clan on my back bristle as if they can sense what I am feeling.

It’s not the first time they’ve reacted to me…my emotions.

I’ve seen what they can do too. They seem to be able to react, transform themselves on a whim.

I’ve seen them move from dangerous sharp blades to creating a cocoon that we hid beneath.

Fer’ro is right. If they meant to harm me, wouldn’t they have killed me already?

As the two aliens before me argue, sharp clicks echoing in the room, I turn away from them, my gaze on my hands.

Have I somehow caused them to want to live on me like some parasite? What do these things want with me?

What do you want?

It’s a thought, but the ba’clan bristle against me anyway.

For a moment, I pause, not sure if they are reacting to something else or the question I asked in my head.

Do you want to kill me?

There’s a pulse against my chest, over my heart, and my gaze falls to the spot.

It’s a comforting sort of pulse. I don’t know how I know this, but I get the distinct feeling that the answer is no.

Then what do you want? Why come to me?

I do not get any pulses this time. Maybe my question was too complicated.

If you don’t want to kill me, what do you want? I swallow hard and lick my lips. I’m almost scared to project the next question.

Do you intend to harm me in any way?

Nothing.

Do you want to help me?

Pulse.

My chest heaves as I slowly settle on the thought that the ba’clan are communicating with me.

I am speaking, communicating, with a faceless alien entity that has cloaked me entirely.

An entity that wants to help me.

I wonder what they mean by that but, instead of the fear that should be there, I am…calm.

I turn toward Fer’ro and He’rox, about to tell them what I’ve just realized when time slows before me.

My eyes widen. My mouth falls open as air leaves my lungs.

Something is coming toward me through the air.

Something metallic.

Something sharp.

Straight for my chest.

I only have a moment of realization before a wall of black suddenly appears before me, catching the object within it.

My heart stops.

I don’t know what the fuck just happened until I hear a roar and the shield before me falls. The object drops to my feet with a dull sound.

My brain must be slow because everything is happening too quickly.

Realization dawns in the slow seconds that I watch the sudden chaos unfold.

Fer’ro is airborne, his arms around He’rox’s throat as they both slam into the wall.

My gaze drops to the object that had been coming toward me and I realize it’s one of those strange metal instruments I’d seen in the med bay.

It dawns on me then.

He’rox…attacked me. And the ba’clan…they created a wall. They stopped the attack. They saved me.

Fer’ro is all spikes and fire as he throws the other male across the room.

He glances my way, probably to check that I am okay, before he launches himself at He’rox again.

But what is strange is that He’rox isn’t in his battle form at all.

He is staring at me and I’m no pro at reading their expressionless features, but he doesn’t look hostile in the least.

What in the actual hell?

“I was right,” he says, IN ENGLISH.

He’s answered by another roar that echoes against the walls as Fer’ro grasps him once more, lifting him off the ground.

“Don’t you dare speak to her after what you just attempted!”

A large blade forms in Fer’ro’s suit and he plants the tip at the base of He’rox’s neck.

He’rox doesn’t look fazed in the least.

His gaze is still on me and what looks like awe shines in those slitted blue eyes of his.

“Wait,” I whisper.

It is so low, I’m surprised Fer’ro even hears me over his own snarling.

I take a step forward and Fer’ro voice booms. “Don’t come any closer, Adee’ra.” He presses He’rox into the wall some more. “I cannot promise you his blood will not spill on you after I slice him in two.”

I stop in my tracks, my gaze on He’rox.

“What do you mean by ‘I was right?’ What do you mean by that?”

He’rox’s tentacles move a little. “I didn’t mean to scare you, little hyu’man, but I knew they would protect you.”

It feels like his blue gaze is boring through my soul.

“This is a—” he clicks the rest of the sentence and I’m left wondering what he means.

But Fer’ro stiffens a little and growls. “Impossible. A—” he clicks the same word “—is impossible.”

“A what? What are you talking about?”

When Fer’ro drops his blades and releases He’rox, the male falls to the floor but he doesn’t take his eyes off me.

He’rox’s stare is unnerving, as if I am some strange specimen he has just discovered.

“The start of a new Vullan era,” he says.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

FER’RO

He’rox almost lost his life energy this day.

To pull such a stunt on my Adee’ra…I should cripple him anyway.

I keep my back to Adee’ra as I focus all my rage at the male in front of me.

I do not want her to see me like this because I know what I look like.

Death.

So I force my hackles down as He’rox’s words repeat in my mind.

A new era…

“You are special,” He’rox clicks to Adee’ra. “Maybe you all are.”

I growl at him. “Quiet. You do not get to speak to her.” I feel my ba’clan harden, ready if I choose to attack once more. “You do not get to speak to her after what you just did. You are lucky I do not erase you from her presence permanently.”

His ears twitch as he looks at me and I watch as they fall back against his head in shame.

“You are right to be angry. But it was the best way to test my theory.”

“And if your theory was wrong?” I take a step toward him and have to physically restrain myself from grasping his throat once more.

“My instrument would not have pierced her. It is but a plas-copy made to look like the real thing. A slight bruise is all that would have come of the attack.”

I bristle still and a growl escapes my lips.

“Do I look like I care?”

He’rox’s ears twitch at the sides of his head and his tentacles flex a little. “You do not.”

His gaze moves to Adee’ra.

She is silent. Listening to us. But I am purposefully speaking in our language because I do not want her to hear what this insane male before me had suggested.

That…Adee’ra is my soul-tie.

“You see the evidence before you,” He’rox says. “You know what I say is true.” He pauses and rises to his full height. “Edooria is destroyed. The symbiotes need to continue their species…as do we. They are beginning to solve a problem we were not sure how to tackle.”

Slowly, my hackles rise a little. It is only Adee’ra’s calm presence at my back that keeps them restrained.

I extend my senses toward her and inhale deeply when her warmth, her softness, and her scent engulf me.

She is mine and if what He’rox suggests is true, the tiny hyu’man behind me will be mine forever.

“Adee’ra,” I fight to keep my voice level, unaffected. “Are you harmed?”

I know she is not. The symbiotes she holds are connected to mine.

I would have felt it if she was harmed.

“No, I’m fine. The ba’clan, they…they created some sort of shield.”

Working in unison to protect the host.

They have bonded with her neural column.

I do not know how to tell her this—that it’s also the reason she can command them with her thoughts.

“How do you feel?”

I hear when she swallows hard and I want to look at her but I am still not sure I can control myself.

Instead, I focus on He’rox, because rage is something I am used to feeling.