Page 29 of The Monster's Daughter
Survivors.
There are a dozen of them—humans, Vakutan, a pair of Brall siblings with patchwork armor. Resistance fighters. Their eyes go wide when they see me. Guns twitch upward, claws flex, voices spike.
“Medic insignia,” one hisses, pointing at Bella. “She’s Alliance!”
“Non-combatant,” another snaps back. “Look at her gear!”
A grizzled human with a bandaged shoulder steps forward, gun lowered but ready. “You’re a medic?”
“Field medic, IHC,” Bella says quickly, holding her hands out. “I’m not here to fight. We’re just trying to send a signal.”
Their gazes flick to me.
“What about him?” the Brall growls. “Coalition? Raider? Monster?”
Bella doesn’t flinch. “He’s with me. He saved my life.”
The room hums with suspicion. A dozen bodies taut like bowstrings.
I stand still, blade down but ready. My claws itch to move, but I hold. For her.
The leader jerks his chin at a console on the far wall. “Make it fast.”
Bella moves to the comm array, fingers flying over cracked keys. The survivors keep a half-circle around me, weapons lowered but not lowered enough.
I can feel their stares like flies crawling over my scales. The smell of fear, sweat, old rations. I taste bile at the back of my throat.
Bella’s voice breaks the tension. “It’s patched in. Ghost signal on a tight beam. No Alliance tags. If it works, an IHC ship’ll come without questions.”
“Good,” I mutter.
She doesn’t look up. “Hold still. I’m?—”
The speakers crackle.
A voice slides out.
“Bella…”
She freezes.
I bare my teeth, claws digging into the floor. “No.”
The voice isn’t like before. It’s smoother now, still metallic but layered with something wet, like a throat forming from wires.
“You are mine.”
The words vibrate through the room, low and intimate, like a whisper pressed to the back of the neck.
Bella jerks back, horror flickering across her face.
I move before I think. My blade slams down through the console, sparks exploding up my arm. The lights die. The hum cuts off.
Darkness swallows the post.
The survivors shout, weapons snapping up. “What the hell did you do?”
Bella grabs my arm. “Kage?—”
