Page 54 of Monstrous Hunt
Without moving, I could suddenly feel the cold metal floor beneath my bare feet. Axxol’s eyes bulged, his lips barely moving, trying to whisper my name. He saw me, though the other man continued his work, still oblivious to my presence.
The blue bands of energy binding Axxol to the table sparked brighter, a flash of searing white that made the other man pause.
Myenergy.
I held out my hands like I’d warm myself in front of a cheery bonfire. The blue blazed white hot, snapping toward me like static electricity. I recoiled under its force, stumbling backward. My palms buzzed and tingled but it didn’t hurt at all. Actually, it felt fucking amazing. Energy pulsed through me, pumping me with strength and adrenaline. My heart pounded, strong and sure and confident. My muscles quivered with power.
Rolling toward me, Axxol crashed to the floor, startling the man so much he looked up. He stared at me, his mouth sagging open. He looked like an average man. A silver-haired, white, middle-aged man in a scientist coat. An oddly jovial man with a broad smile and pink cheeks.
I would have assumed he was human if I met him on the street. But there was a coldness in his eyes, a calculating intelligence that processed thoughts as quickly as a supercomputer. “What do we have here?”
“Run,” Axxol bellowed, throwing himself toward me. “Get the fuck out of here!”
He pressed against my legs, clinging to me. Trying to climb up my body, as if his own muscles still didn’t work. I dropped a hand down to his shoulder, pulling him against me. “You took something from him. He’s going to need it back.”
The man arched a sardonic brow at me and grinned wider. “Is that so?”
He’s not real. He can’t be. This is all some kind of sick simulation.Why would a representative of the most powerful syndicate in the universe appear to be not just an average human—but a fucking boomer with an idiotic smile?
It’s a test. A set up.
As soon as I thought it, his face melted into a smooth silver mask. “Your planet is flagged for extermination, but I find you to be quite an interesting specimen. I will spare you. I may even allow you to play with the BGR+ occasionally for my amusement.”
His head tilted. I had the distinct feeling that he was cataloguing every flicker of my facial muscles. The rate of my heartbeat. Body temperature. Everything.
“Or perhaps the Tri-R is more important to you.”
Kroktl.
“Yes. That’s it. He found you first. He’s a very clever boy, isn’t he?” The man nodded, the silver mask flowing into a garish clown-like smile. “I knew they would be successful. I sent the very best to find you. Aren’t you grateful?”
A muscle cramped in my abdomen, catching me off guard. My breath caught as my stomach tightened. My fingers trembled on Axxol’s shoulder.Oh no. It’s too early. Not yet!
The man’s silver mask shifted, flickering rapidly through displays of emotion. Mouth open. Eyes wide. Then narrowed. Mouth pursed, forehead wrinkled. Upper lip curled with disgust.
As if he was mocking human emotion. Or perhaps trying to understand it? I wasn’t sure.
“You carry offspring, yet you came here to free the BGR+. You don’t need him, now. You’ve mastered his ability to jump. Why would you risk your unborn to fetch him, when he’s not even the one you care about?”
This time, I allowed emotion to reflect on my face. The soft, vulnerable feeling of love. The love I felt for Kroktl and our baby, yes, but also the love that I felt for the squad.
My squad. Including Axxol. Even when he was being an asshole.
“I never said I didn’t love him too.”
The man’s face smoothed to cold, hard glass as he rounded the table, moving toward us. “Good.”
He moved faster, silver pen outstretched. Blue energy pulsed around us, tightening, binding Axxol against me. “Then this will be as painful for you as it is for him.”
Reaching out with my free hand to grab the pen, I screeched. I threw my head back, opened my mouth, and let out the loudest, most offensive sound that has ever come out of my body. The cry seemed to bounce throughout the room, gaining intensity, reverberating to a higher, glass-shattering frequency.
Echolocation as a weapon. My gift from Rizan’s DNA.
The man’s silver face rippled. One corner of his mouth went up but the other side drooped, uncoordinated, as if I’d cut the puppet strings working his face. Straining, I screamed harder. Louder. Willing the illusion of this sterile laboratory to dissolve into nothing. Crumple like a tin can sucked into a supermassive black hole of nothingness.
The blue bands sucked us down. Under. Away through a tunnel of crackling lightning powered by the alien technology coursing through my veins.
Straight to the love of my life.
