Tentacles.

Instead of sound, all that escapes my mouth is the air my lungs desperately needs.

The bubbles float upward as I grab on to the tentacle with my free hand, but it’s incredibly strong.

And slimy.

My hand moves over it, catching no grip.

All I feel are several joints underneath the flesh of the long arm.

The Gryken.

I know it’s the monster even before its face appears before me.

Large dark eyes, bulbous in their sockets face me, and for a moment, I see death.

I forget about breathing.

I forget about life.

All I can see is this horror before me.

More of its tentacles appear behind it, fanning out into what looks like an arch of doom.

This is what hell’s gates look like.

As I grab at it, trying to find purchase, it pushes me downward.

It is strong. Stronger than it looks.

And this is its element.

More air bubbles escape my lips as we struggle.

There’s a pulsing in my head now as I’m pushed downward, as we stare at each other.

Me into the alien’s eyes. The Gryken into mine.

And then…

“You.”

In my mind I hear the word.

Like a thought.

A thought that isn’t my own.

The voice is like the hiss in my mind—one that frazzles my neurons and makes my head throb.

My eyes widen as I realize it is the Gryken speaking to me.

The pulsing in my mind doesn’t stop, and I feel my limbs going weak.

I sink, lower to the base of the chamber with the Gryken still holding on to me.

Distantly, I know my lungs are burning, but even if I want to breathe, I cannot.

I am…losing control of my body…of myself.

I’m losing control of my mind.

But I have to do this.

I cannot fail.

With the last energy left within me, I stop fighting against the arm around my neck and focus that energy toward the wall.

I push toward it, hoping the water will aid me.

We’ve sunken so low, we’re close enough for that last burst of energy to take me where I want to be.

There’s a singular moment where I know I’m going to be successful.

I meet the eyes of the Gryken.

Fuck.

You.

My arm connects with the wall and the bomb in my hand fastens to it. At the same time, there’s a surge of heat against my spine.

For a moment, the Gryken’s hold loosens a bit.

There’s a flash of clarity as I feel the warmth spread across my entire being.

Cloaking me.

The ba’clan.

I can no longer feel the water on my skin and the pulsing in my mind dims.

I can only feel them.

It is different from every other time they’ve been on my skin.

This time, I can feel their energy, and they pulse. They pulse against me as if to tell me it’s going to be all right.

Any moment now.

This has got to work.

My lungs are about to expire, but I fold my legs toward my body before pushing outward with a kick that lands in the fleshy body of the Gryken.

A hiss sounds in my head so loud that it feels like my brain cells are frying.

The Gryken releases me suddenly, just as the chamber lights up.

An energy charge so strong it’s like lightning through the water fills up the space.

I see the Gryken before me clearly.

Its body jerks within the water, its tentacles constricting, twisting, and turning as the charge goes through it.

I don’t have time to think. I push off the wall back toward that tunnel with the membrane over it.

But I don’t manage to get there.

The room turns in an awful semicircle and the hole is suddenly on top.

Gravity feels like it is pulling me down as I fight against it to swim upward.

But I’m hardly moving.

It feels like there is something pulling me back.

Because there is.

Behind me, a tentacle is wrapped around my leg.

The Gryken.

It isn’t dead.

But I knew it wouldn’t be.

The whole point of this is to capture it alive!

But there’s just one problem with that.

It’s not letting me leave here.

It’s taking me down with it.

Chapter Thirty-One

FER’RO

I grip on to the side of the Scrit as I climb upward.

I’ve climbed high and fast, hoping I am not too late.

But, I am.

I reach the orb the moment it takes my Adee’ra. I see her legs disappearing into the central vent.

A loud roar leaves my throat.

I’ve already blown our cover by climbing on top of the vessel.

I’ve wrecked our plans and probably our chances of saving this planet.

But the fact the Gryken hasn’t blasted me off and activated its shields…now I know why.

It’s too focused on Adee’ra.

It hasn’t noticed me.

There are other hyu’man females within the Scrit’s belly and when one of them turns and sees me, I see the moment her astral being leaves her core.

She screeches, her mouth and eyes going wide, but I cannot hear the sound.

I do not care that she is frightened.

At this moment, I only care about Adee’ra.

I scramble upward, my symbiotes preventing me from sliding off the Scrit’s smooth surface.

The Gryken within will sense me soon.

I have to hurry.

I have to rescue Adee’ra before…

I growl at the thought of the Gryken implanting its spawn within her belly and I hasten.

I reach the top of the Scrit in a matter of seconds and I can see within.

In the water the Gryken dwells. Within its chamber a being floats.

My blood organ lurches at the sight.

Adee’ra…

But it is not her.

It is another hyu’man female.

One that is bred.

About to bear young.

My gaze searches the liquid…

There is movement lower.

Pale skin fighting to get to swim higher.

Brown filaments floating behind her head.

My senses flare.

Adee’ra!

But she is not aware of my presence either.

Neither is the Gryken as it swims toward her.

It is solely focused on her and the sight of it makes my hackles rise.

It grasps her around the neck pushing her lower and another roar tears from my throat.

I raise my fist, my palm lighting up with the energy core I retrieved from the ground.

I’m about to connect my fist with the Scrit’s surface when someone holds my arm back.

“Wait!” Ga’Var clicks.

He followed me.

“No!” I cannot wait. Not this time. “She is in danger!”

“Wait!” He repeats. “Look!”

I turn my gaze back to the water when I see Adee’ra’s symbiotes activate, covering her entire being.

And then…

The interior lights up.

I’m frozen as I stare at her—at what she’s done, what she has managed to do against the odds set against her…

As the Gryken releases her and the Scrit short circuits and begins to fall, I am frozen in disbelief.

She’s done it.

The little female…

Adee’ra…has done it.

Shock tears through me at her bravery just before reality hits.

There is no time to waste.

I cannot let her efforts be in vain.

Pushing down hard, I launch myself upward, fighting the pull of the falling machine as it heads toward the ground.

I need to get to the spot above the inner core where the Scrit is the weakest.

There, I can send a final charge down through its sealed surface and get it to open.

But it is falling quickly and the moment it hits the ground, we will have only a few seconds before the Gryken regains consciousness.

I can sense my brethren on the ground below, rushing into position.

They are black streaks across the brown earth as they move.

No longer camouflaged.

Can’t waste the energy to do so.

Everything depends on catching the Gryken alive.

We have to do it now.

We have to do it quickly.

I reach the spot as I see Adee’ra swimming toward the inner vent.