Page 24 of A Monster's Light
“We followed Nova Vita’s robohounds. They came this way instead of the forests, so we figured you must have been hiding in the badlands.”
Gnnar stirred on the stretcher, and I leaned over to put a calming hand on him. I wondered if the hormones went both ways. But he didn’t calm.
“Hey! It’s okay,” I said. “We’re safe. Rescue arrived.”
That seemed to calm him. He sat up on the stretcher.
“Glad you’re awake,” Sami said. “We’re on our way home.”
“Home,” I mumbled, more to myself than anything. “I guess I don’t really have one anymore.”
“You can join us in Ellaston,” Sami said with a wink.
That had me smiling. “Is that an invitation?”
Before Sami could respond, Gnnar snarled, dragged me across the bench, and tucked me into his body. His wings came to wrap around me despite the injury.
Sami only chuckled. “You Kadrixans really are something. It’s crazy that the rut can turn intelligent, disciplined soldiers into snarling messes.” Then, a little louder. “Don’t worry. He’ll get over it.”
I shoved at Gnnar’s chest. “Stop being so possessive,” I whispered. “I’m trying to make a friend.”
He snarled at me. His eyes looked different from before. Strange, glassy.
I reached up to hold his head still, and snatched my hand away. His face was burning up. And now that I noticed it, his whole body was warmer than usual.
Shit! Something was wrong. This wasn’t just the rut.
“Um, Sami?”
“Yeah? What’s wrong?”
“There’s something wrong with his eyes. And he’s really hot. And I don’t mean in a good way. Even at the start of his rut, he wasn’t like this.”
“Alright, let’s take a look. We’ve got one of their medical devices with us.”
But when Sami approached with the device, Gnnar lashed out at him, sending him flying to the other side of the shuttle.
“Fuck!”
I grabbed hold of Gnnar before he could launch himself after the man. “Gnnar. Stop! He’s a friend.”
Gnnar let out a painful-sounding snarl, like he was fighting with himself.
“What the fuck is happening back there?” Macey shouted from the front.
“Guy’s freakin’ out.” Sami scrambled back. “Shit. Wait. There’s another dart in him. In his wing.”
“A tranquilizer dart?” Macey bravely made her way to the back, leaving Sergio at the helm.
“That’s what I thought first, but now I’m not sure.”
“Maybe a reaction with the rut?”
Gnnar was harder to control now. He stepped toward Sami, even as the male fumbled with the tranq gun strapped to the shuttle wall for emergencies.
“Gnnar, stop!” I latched onto him, trying to slow him down, but it was like trying to stop a rampaging bull. I climbed my way up his body so that I was right in his face, blocking his view the best I could of Sami. “Stop!” I yelled again.
He didn’t try to knock me off or anything, and when he grabbed my ass, it was firmly but tenderly, like he was giving me support. But the glassiness was still in his eyes, and he was much warmer than I remembered him. So warm, in fact, I worried that whatever was happening would fry his brain.
