They are talking about me.

Ga’Var roars again.

“How could you? She does not want you!”

This fight…is because of me?

“She is my mate!” Fer’ro roars.

“You forced yourself on her!”

Fer’ro roars again and throws his brother to the side.

Ga’Var collides with the hard wall and I see dark fluid swell inside his mouth.

He coughs, but he staggers to his feet.

I…I can’t let this happen.

He’s heading for Fer’ro again when I step in between them.

“Stop!”

Ga’Var pauses. “Get out of the way, little female.” More blades seem to appear around him. “You do not have to fear my womb mate any longer.”

I blink at him.

“I don’t fear him. He’s done nothing but take care of me and…” My cheeks warm as I glance behind me at Fer’ro. His blades have still not retracted either. “And…he’s right. He didn’t force me.”

Fuck.

I don’t think I will ever get used to their sense of smell.

Ga’Var finally looks at me. Studies me.

And slowly, his blades begin to flatten.

“You gave yourself to him?”

There’s a note of regret there. I don’t know if I’m imagining it, but I nod.

“He didn’t force me.” I try to keep my voice level and calm. Despite that they aren’t pointing blades at each other, there’s so much tension between the two I could cut it with a knife. “You, of all people, should know he is not like that.”

Ga’Var’s gaze flicks down me slowly and Fer’ro growls at my back.

“But you are so small. Surely, you would not want to mate with my kind?”

The end of his words lilt in a question even though it sounds as if he is making a statement, and I wonder what is going on in his mind.

He’s looking at me strangely now.

“Your size doesn’t matter.”

My cheeks blaze.

It really, fucking, does.

Ga’Var studies me some more and as the seconds tick by, I feel Fer’ro relaxing behind me.

“Your kind is…compatible with mine?” Ga’Var’s gaze flicks to Fer’ro and then back to me.

I’m trying to understand where he is getting at but I answer his question in the affirmative anyway.

“Yes…?”

I glance up at Fer’ro for some help but I only catch him glaring at Ga’Var so intently, it is a miracle Ga’Var doesn’t combust.

“And your kind…wants to mate with my kind?” Ga’Var’s gaze sweeps down me again.

Fer’ro growls louder this time.

“I wouldn’t put it that way…” I answer cautiously.

“But…it is a possibility.”

My eyes narrow a little as I nod. “Yes…?”

Ga’Var straightens then, his gaze flicking from Fer’ro to me and back, and I wonder more than ever what he is thinking about.

“I see I may have been mistaken about what has transpired between you two,” he says.

Bending, he places one palm on top of the other before resting his forehead on them.

“Accept my apologies. I was merely concerned my womb mate had lost his mind.” He pauses. “But now I know.”

As he lifts his head, there’s still that strange look in his eyes, and he wipes a line of blood away from his mouth.

He gives Fer’ro one final look before he turns and does the strange bow again.

Then he is walking away down the corridor.

I watch him go, my eyes never leaving his back till he disappears around a corner.

My shoulders sag with pent up tension I didn’t know I’d been holding.

“What the hell was that all about?”

I turn toward Fer’ro but I’m suddenly being pushed backward till my back hits the wall.

Fer’ro dips his head to my neck and inhales deeply.

His hand finds my center and he cups me there.

Heat floods my soul.

“Fer—what are you doing? Anyone could see us right now!”

“Ga’Var wanted to mate with you.”

His words disintegrate everything I was about to say.

“Before, when we first found you, he wanted you for himself.”

I blink as Fer’ro rubs his nose into me.

“Would you have chosen him and not me?”

I shake my head, even though the revelation has me surprised.

“No.”

And it’s the truth.

The only Vullan I’ve been drawn to is the one before me.

I wrap my arms around his wide back as he pulls me into him.

“Good,” he whispers.

For a few moments, we stay like this and I find it curious that no one else passes through the corridor even though I constantly hear clicks of conversation of approaching Vullan.

“So no more fighting between you two?” I brace back so I can look into Fer’ro’s not-so-alien eyes. He blinks at me with that secondary eyelid and I smile. He looks a little different now, with his hair no longer caught together behind his head, and the locs fall to the side of his face. “Now that he knows I’m willing, there’ll be no more fighting, right?”

Fer’ro clicks at me and I assume it is a yes.

“And the others? Will they fight you too? Do I have to announce to everyone that it’s consensual between us?”

“No. They wouldn’t dare. Only my obstinate womb mate would dare attack me like this.”

I nod as I smooth one of his locs back.

“We should go,” I whisper. “I’m pretty sure everyone knows we’re pressed against each other in the corridor…and I’m beginning to feel guilty. We have work to do.”

Fer’ro breathes in deep as he eases off me and there’s a click somewhere down the corridor.

“See,” I whisper.

Fer’ro makes a slight trilling sound as we begin to walk again. “They are excited.”

I huff a laugh through my nose. “Excited for what?”

When I look up at him, his eyes are like fire again. “For the new era,” he says.

Epilogue

ADIRA

As we near the bridge, we pass several Vullan.

They do the same bow, their eyes flicking to me before they avert their gazes.

I get the sense that Fer’ro is glaring at them, but whenever I glance up at him, all I can see is that steady, expressionless, gaze of his.

I never thought looking into such devilish eyes would be comforting, but a warmth spreads over me whenever our gazes meet.

The door to the bridge opens and several Vullan turn to look our way.

I see the moment Sam turns and sees me.

Her mouth opens to call my name but then she is frozen in shock as she takes me in.

“Adira?” She’s suddenly rushing toward me.

She grips my arms as she looks me up and down.

“You got one of their suits?!”

I open my mouth to tell her that wasn’t the case when I hear a low click.

Fer’ro.

He’s right.

It’s too much to explain right now, especially when the Vullan don’t fully understand the details of it all.

I smile at Sam instead. “Yea, I did.”

“How?!”

“Just lucky, I guess.” My gaze meets Fer’ro’s and his ears twitch as he watches us.

“I was worried about you. I heard you went to the surface to help them and you got taken by the machine again. Oh my god, how did you manage to get out?”

My smile brightens. “Long story. I’ll tell you sometime.” My gaze averts to the front of the bridge where there’s a wide viewscreen. “Right now, we have to make plans for what’s to come.”

I take a few steps toward the viewscreen and look out.

I sense when Fer’ro moves to stand beside me. His warmth is like a comforting energy that flows around my ba’clan.

“There,” he says, gesturing with his chin ahead.

It looks like a rocky mountain.

“What am I looking at?”

“Scans indicate a series of large tunnels underneath.”

“A cave system?”

“Correct.” Fer’ro glances at me for a second before turning his gaze back to the view. “We will open it and hide our ship there. And then…operations will begin.”

I feel a slight ball of anxiety begin to grow in my chest.

“Operations?” Sam asks.

“There is only one way we know to kill the Gryken. A weapon we managed to create in the last days of the war, but by then it was too late for Edooria.”