“Female.” I thrum. “The being is female.”

Ga’Var, my womb mate, lets out a surprised trill. He glances back at our brethren rising from the water and he stares at the beings in their arms.

“Females.” He thrums. “They are females.”

I can sense the heightened emotion that passes through us all.

Females. And one is so scared, she is running away from us.

She stumbles as I watch her and her frightened gaze turns my way. Our gazes lock.

She is afraid of me.

Her eyes are wide. The brown pits are much too big for her sunken face and they are full of expression.

She is not simply scared.

She is terrified.

I must go after her.

I rise and take a step forward, then another, and then I am jogging after the female.

I could catch her now. Speed is not a hindrance.

The gravity on this planet is slightly lesser than on Edooria.

I can feel it in the way I move across the surface—felt it the moment we broke into the planet’s atmosphere.

I can move even faster than I would on our planet.

But I do not want to scare the female more than I already am. So I purposefully slow down. I let her run.

Behind me, Ga’Var follows.

I click at him. “Be cautious.”

He responds with a click of his own.

We do not know this world. It is uncharted. And though I suspect there is not much that can harm us on its surface, we have just arrived.

We cannot throw caution to the wind.

As the female retreats, I extend my senses to the world around me.

The ground is soft, the atmosphere quiet.

Before us is a small gathering of large plants that the female disappears behind.

Trees, I realize, as I come upon them.

They are different from trees on Edooria.

Green leaves, not gray.

Short, not tall.

Thin and wiry, not thick and unmovable.

It is strange foliage.

Just as small and frail as the inhabitants of the world, it seems.

The star this planet orbits is also…bright.

Too bright.

Painfully so.

I can sense the high temperature about me even while my ba’clan cover me.

If not for them, the brightness would also be hurting my eyes, but I know I will adapt to it in time.

That is…if we stay here.

If this species accepts us. Accepts our help.

Small branches snap underneath my feet as I enter the undergrowth.

It is eerily quiet and the silence seems out of place.

No small animals are hiding here. Only small insects.

Bugs.

One catches my attention as it climbs over some fallen leaves.

“It’s quiet,” Ga’Var clicks.

I know he is thinking the same thing.

It’s quiet like Edooria was in the end. When almost everything had died.

But…there is a big difference between Edooria and this strange new land.

Despite that this planet is ravaged…I still sense…hope.

“There is still hope.” The message leaves my throat in a low tone.

It’s not just the fact that females are still alive on this world.

Glancing up, I notice the wind rustling the frail-looking trees.

Frail, but they still stand, reaching toward their star.

This planet hasn’t passed the point of no survival.

A soft sound, like the whimper of a small creature, catches my ears, and not far behind me, Ga’Var stills.

“There,” he clicks but I’m already looking in the direction the sound came from.

It’s a tree with a hole in its side, barely big enough for a small animal to slip through.

I sniff the air and I catch the female’s scent.

An unexpected growl starts in my throat that I promptly kill.

She is there.

Within the tree.

Ga’Var sniffs. I know he scents her too.

I motion with my hand that he should go the other way.

She is so terrified of seeing me, seeing both of us will only make things worse.

We need no words. He understands and I’m aware of him moving off to the side.

I sense the female’s eyes on me as I move in front of the hole. I’m still several lengths away from her location but that doesn’t stop the sweet scent that floats toward me through the air.

I stop in my tracks.

I know that scent.

It’s one I know well.

The scent of fear.

My lips pull back from my teeth a little and it is a conscious effort of mine not to snarl.

The scent is almost overpowering.

One that appeals to my baser instincts.

She is prey.

A lesser developed species.

No ba’clan.

No armor.

Basically bare, with no obvious ways of defending herself.

Off to the side, Ga’Var snarls and my eyes find him.

He smells the female’s fear too.

Rek.

I do not need him to lose control right now.

I click at him, pulling my lips back to show the tips of my fangs, and his gaze falls from mine.

She is prey. But not our prey.

I have to fight the urge to hunt even as I stare at my brother fighting the same.

His muscles are primed and I realize in horror that he must be the mirror image of myself.

We knew this was a possibility…that the planet the Gryken targeted next might have inhabitants that might clash against our senses…but it was a risk we had to take.

I can feel the tension in my body as I turn back to stare at the hole the female has hidden herself in.

Her fear scent intensifies and I pray she does not run at this moment.

For if she decides to flee when we are in this state…

I cannot promise control.

I will hunt her…and I will catch her.

“Fer’ro.” Ga’Var calls my name and I snap back to reality.

Now he is the one reigning me in and I watch his gaze fall to my arms.

My hackles have risen, the dangerously sharp ends pointing outward as if I am about to attack the female.

Realization sets them back down.

I would never do such a thing.

Even though her fear scent makes me want to hunt her, that is where my instincts end.

I would never harm a female. A male of her kind, however…I couldn’t promise the same mercy.

There is silence once more and I know the female is listening to us.

Taking a few steps forward, I crouch, my gaze searching the darkness of her hiding spot.

It isn’t hard to find her in the shadows.

She has no camouflaging ability even though her skin is so frightfully pale.

I would have thought she’d become translucent to mask herself…but no.

She is right there.

As soon as she spots me she jerks in surprise.

Her hand lifts. She is holding something.

Pointing it towards me in what should be a threatening manner if her hand wasn’t shaking so much.

It is…a stick.

“Su-tay ah-way fu-rom mee.” Her voice shakes as she speaks but her voice…

The melody catches me unaware.

It is like a flying creature whistling. Just like the small luu that lived on Edooria.

I glance at Ga’Var and note his surprise as well.

The female stares at me with those wide brown eyes of hers, her arm still extended with what she must think is a weapon.

Her other hand is over her mouth, the digits long and scrawny and that sweet fear scent of hers permeates the air so much I have to close my nostrils against it.

She is…helpless.

If this is any indication of the rest of her species, no wonder the Scrit walked without its shields.

How frightful had it been when the Scrits had fallen to the surface of this planet? How terrifying had it been for this species?

Edooria had fought.

Had this species even been able to put up a fight at all?

“It is okay,” I click. But my words only make the female retreat farther into the darkness even though there is nowhere to go.

“I will not harm you.”

I stretch my arm out to her and she inhales sharply, wincing as if she expects some kind of attack.

The horror in her gaze as her eyes rove over me is off-putting.