It didn’t take long for the warriors who hesitated to obey Alec’s commands, looking to Kalix for conformation, to realize he was utilizing every ounce of her experience.

He concurred with her order to activate every available medical officer on the planet and set them to task scanning every prisoner, every warrior, as quickly as possible.

Kalix was organizing quarantine stations with Commander V’ar, additional warriors in full armor were coming down from Warship Six to assist with keeping the prisoners under control, dividing them up to get them scanned and moving them to designated holding areas to ensure there was no chance of cross-contamination.

With two hundred thousand prisoners and warriors on planet, it would be idiotic to assume there was only one infected victim.

Unfortunately, according to Alec, one was all it would take.

One single infected person could carry hundreds of thousands of larvae, and if those larvae got to water they could decimate the population of the planet within a matter of months.

Tarek had just joined the holo-conference and decided as there was no cure, the Brivikan was a threat and should be eliminated.

Kalix saw his mate’s white-knuckled fists ease at this, but inside she remained a seething mess of emotion.

Kalix stood beside her, feeling how she trembled when he set his palm to her waist, how she struggled to maintain her facade of absolute control.

He knew she was exhausted, for how could she not be? He had faced his challengers mere hours ago, slaked his beast’s savagery on Alec’s willing body, and while the regeneration tanks ensured she felt no lingering pain or soreness from his assault, the gel could do little to restore her energy reserves, or his.

“Have you made progress tracking Reykar’s movements?” Tarek’s question cut through his thoughts, the pride ruler’s stern visage peering at him from across the holo-table.

Quoll stepped forward and reported they had not yet located Reykar. “It is on record he intended to go to the festival, but there is no sign of him having boarded any registered transport.

“By all accounts, he is still here. His quarters are unused and what scent there is says he hasn’t been there in some time. I am attempting to pin point his current position using his torc but so far have had no luck.”

Every Sarazen, no matter his duties, wore a specially designed torc on S6. Each torc was unique in that it carried a DNA-based security tag that allowed the wearer to move through the prison with total autonomy.

It tracked their movements, and if they were not wearing their torc, they could not get through the secured docking bay or take any transport off the planet.

Their torc couldn’t be used or activated by anyone else, actually deactivating once it was removed from the owner’s skin.

“What we do have,” Quoll said with a chuff of triumph, “is the medic who ran from the Asha’na and escaped using a molecular displacement field.

“A’tarey and his squad successfully captured him just outside the shuttle bay and are bringing him in now.”

Alec gave a triumphant growl, the scent of her blood spiking through the air when she lost control of her claws, obviously eager to get her hands on their prey.

“Commander V’ar, your current position?”

The hologram of the warship commander glimmered brighter as V’ar stepped closer, reaching out to activate his screen, displaying his battle formation.

“Asho. My warship is holding orbit directly above the prison, and all available warcrafts are positioned around the planet to ensure nothing and no one breaches the quarantine. What warriors I have to spare have been sent to assist in maintaining order.”

Tarek nodded as he surveyed the formation of the smaller battle cruisers with a critical eye.

“Warship Seven is standing by, contact Commander Dar immediately should you require more warriors.”

“I will contact him if the need arises,” V’ar confirmed.

Tarek gave a final nod, looking away as someone called to him urgently. “You have this matter well in hand. If the Scylla have gained a foothold, I trust you will eradicate it. I want hourly updates on my secure channel.”

The Asho’s image winked out and seconds later, A’tarey entered the small command room of the prison facility to announce he had a medic awaiting their attention.

~This time, I get to ask the questions. Alec’s voice in his head was absolute, her expression tight, daring him to deny her.

~Are you certain?

Alec pushed past him with a soft snarl. ~Oh yes. I’m certain.

*****

Kalix watched his mate slowly, silently walk circles around the young male chained on his knees in the center of the cell.

The poor bastard was trembling, the scent of his terror rolling off of him in palpable waves, and the longer Alec remained silent, the more the medic twitched and shuddered.

When she finally did speak, her voice acted like a whip to their new prisoner’s flesh. He jerked so hard the chains rattled.

“Where is Reykar?”

Eurn gulped audibly, his wide eyes flicking to the warriors stationed at the exits, at Kalix where he stood in the open doorway. Kalix could see the poor decision brewing to pretend ignorance.

“He is on leave after having attended the Breeding Festival.”

Alec hummed thoughtfully as she made another circle, shocking everyone else and left Kalix fighting arousal when she swiped her claws through the chain securing the medic to the floor and grabbed Eurn by the throat to haul him up into the air as high as her arm could reach.

With his hands bound behind him, Eurn struggled, and despite being of the approximate same size and weight, Alec showed no difficulty in holding him.

“Eurn, I am exhausted,” she told him, her tone hard, yet held an edge of carefully crafted boredom.

“I’m hungry, I’m wearing a dress, and I’ve just found out there is a prisoner full to bursting with parasitic larvae that have the potential to kill every living being in this solar system. I am clinging to my patience by a thread. A thread, Eurn, so let’s cut the shit, shall we?”

Eurn gargled out a semblance of sound, his eyes bulging in his face which was quickly turning purple.

“I can smell the wet rot of the Scylla on your skin. You’ve been very close to them, or close to someone infected by them. It took me a while to figure out what that other smell is.

“It’s been a while since I had to deal with putrefaction. My guess is one of the people you’re working with was infected, and you thought amputating the limb would stop the spread. Hmm?”

Alec tilted her head, letting Eurn drop back to his knees, crouching down in front of him while he wheezed and sucked in deep lungful’s of air, staring at Alec as though she had grown a second head.

“I tried amputation already. Hacked off a leg, an arm, a hand once. Didn’t work. Once they’re inside you, the larvae reproduce inside their host at a speed that defies all logic, and there is no escape save death. Have we scanned Eurn yet?”

“We have, Asha’na. He is clear of infection,” A’tarey confirmed gravely.

Alec stared into the fearful face of the medic, giving him a disdainful sniff. “Lucky. You.” Eurn’s relief was obvious. “So what are you then, huh? A traitor to your people? A supporter of the Original Council?”

“N-no!”

Alec continued on as though Eurn hadn’t spoken at all. “Doing their dirty work, playing with specimens in a lab, dumb enough to think you can control the Scylla and the spread of their spoor?”

“No!” Eurn denied, his voice growing stronger with his honesty.

Kalix felt his lips twitch, wanting to curve into a grin, feeling Alec’s burst of triumph as she began to herd Eurn along exactly the way she wished.

“Then the Brivikan prisoner in the other cell was just a little oopsie? What about all the other prisoners you and Reykar have been experimenting on? How many have you had to kill in order to keep the larvae from eating their way through the bodies?”

“I don’t... I don’t know what you mean.”

Alec let her nose wrinkle as the stink of falsehood perfumed the air around Eurn.

“You don’t know what I mean? I see. A’tarey, will you bring me some of the Brivikan’s blood? We’ll let Eurn have a look to jog his memory.”

It was Tor who returned with a vial of black blood, offering it to her with a disgusted shake of his head when Eurn looked to the elder medic for help.

“Thank you, Tor. Now then, no doubt you’re familiar with how the infection begins, Eurn, but no one else here has seen it.”

Alec held the vial up to the light, showing them all the way the blood pulsed and moved as the larvae within struggled to find purchase. Like they could sense an uninfected body close by.

It took considerable willpower to keep himself still. Kalix wanted nothing more than to slap the vile of viscous poison out of his mate’s hands and drag her away from it.

~Don’t you dare allow a single drop of that to touch you, Alec.

~I won’t.

“On Moika, we learned fast to cover our heads. The Scylla always aim for orifices already open to them. If they can’t spit in your face, they make a cut and spew their parasitic saliva all over you,” Alec told Eurn, extending her index finger to slowly release a crystalline claw.

Sweat broke out on Eurn’s face, his gaze fixated on the razor sharp point as it moved closer to his chest.

A’tarey stepped up to hold the medic steady when he tried to jerk away, watching dispassionately when Alec sliced through Eurn’s tunic and left a bleeding stripe over the skin of his heart.

“We noticed that people who were cut on their arms or legs, it took them a little longer to present symptoms. If you got cut here, the poison reached the heart the fastest and symptoms began to show within a few hours.”

Alec moved the vial of blood closer, and before she even managed to get it halfway, Eurn began to shriek.

“NO! No, please don’t! Don’t! We were trying to find a cure! Please!”

Alec paused, tilting her head as she invited Eurn to speak. “We?”

Eurn’s shoulder’s slumped with defeat, fixated on Alec removing the vial of toxic liquid back to give back Tor.

Kalix watched the slender tube, watched Tor, as though he held a live explosive, only releasing a breath when Tor turned to pour the black blood into another glass, the caustic blue substance burning and consuming all trace of the larvae.

“Myself, Reykar, and another medic. N’kara.”

“There is no medic stationed here named, N’kara,” Tor growled hotly.

Eurn sniffled like a cub, suddenly looking so young that Kalix had a hard time believing a male fresh out of his academy training had the skills or knowledge to find a cure the most skilled medics in the entire solar system could not.

“He is stationed on S4, Reykar conversed with him remotely.”

“Reykar is infected now,” Alec stated coldly, humming when Eurn nodded. “And how did that happen?”

Eurn shook his head helplessly. “I don’t know. The tanks are a contained system keyed to open only with a specific set of codes.

“I was not given the codes, but four days ago one of the specimens somehow escaped. It was destroyed, but not before it slashed at Reykar’s arm and spewed its venom.”

“Destroyed?”

“One of the test subjects possesses the ability to breathe fire. He kept it secret, but burned the creature when it got too close. It was completely obliterated.”

“How many specimens are there?” Alec seethed softly.

Eurn vibrated, his shoulders hunching against the pressure of Alec’s bestial energy. “T-three.”

“And how many test subjects?”

“There have been many, only two remain.”

“How many, Eurn? How many have become infected and released into the population?”

Eurn’s eyes rounded in horror. “Released? N-none! That would be catastrophic and we are nowhere near synthesizing a cure!”

“Explain to me then, how a Brivikan could have become infected and dropped off like so much luggage at the arena this morning before Commander Kalix faced his challenges?

“It was pure chance I saw him, and if I hadn’t, in about six days we would be facing an uncontrollable contamination of our water supply.”

Eurn shook his head frantically, eyes wide and pleading. “Brivikan? We never used a Brivikan as a test subject. We never used prisoners, their collars would have broadcast our location.”

The medic was not clever enough to conceal his scent or a lie, which brought up a whole new host of problems.

“Eurn. I only have one more question for you.” The menacing purr that left Alec’s lips ensured the medic gave her his full attention. “Where is Reykar?”

*****

As their party followed Eurn, Alec tested the weight of the plasma pistol she had been given. It stuck firmly to the armor covering her palm via some sort of magnet without impeding the dexterity of her fingers to squeeze the trigger, and if she wanted to holster it or put it down, she simply pressed the weapon to her thigh and the magnet transferred to her leg.

It didn’t fall off, didn’t require a utility belt, didn’t alter her balance in any way, and made for extreme ease of use.

What could she have done with a weapon like this back on Moika?

Eurn took them back through the medical wing, down the hall she had originally chased him, to the wall he had disappeared behind.

Just on the other side was a decrepit staircase that led down, part of the first structure built on S6, Eurn said, built over again once their technology and need for better medical facilities had increased.

When insisting she be part of the squadron to retrieve Reykar, Alec had not considered the way it would make her feel to navigate the oppressively dark tunnels barely tall enough for the armored warriors surrounding them to walk upright in.

Her helmet gave her perfect thermal sight to navigate, if she could have seen anything past Kalix’s armor in front of her, or A’tarey’s in front of him.

Kalix had ordered them to wear full body armor, except for Eurn. They could be walking into a trap, or a room flooded and filled with Scylla.

She had pressed as gently as she knew how against Eurn with the power of her beast, testing him for deception. He hadn’t even bothered to try and fight against her influence when she asked him her questions.

He had actually seemed a little offended when she asked if he was planning on leading them into danger on purpose.

The tunnel came out on the opposite side of the arena, bypassing the security checkpoints all personnel were required to use, and with his displacement tech, Eurn was able to get them right into the shuttle bay where personal transports and quick moving two person vehicles that reminded Alec of the motorcycles she had seen in the old movies from earth, waited to be utilized.

As soon as they appeared in the shuttle bay, they were immediately converged on by no less than forty armed guards.

She and Kalix both came forward to be seen, and the guard stood down instantly. Alec nodded in agreement when Kalix praised them for their swift action, alerted the guards to the location of the tunnel, and left one of their party behind to oversee it was closed forever to any further unauthorized movement.

One member down, Kalix took her hand and led her over to the cycles. It was an odd shaped thing, wide and triangular at the front end, a dip in the middle with two obvious saddle like seats and a long whip-like tail with a hollow wheel on each end that didn’t seem to be attached.

With practiced ease, Kalix threw a leg over one of the dull silver machines, his powerful body making it seem like a toy.

Arousal pulsed through her, overpowering her fear for a moment. Kalix paused, his eyes hot when he raked his gaze over her. His lips twitched briefly before he tilted his head at her silently, holding his hand out to help her mount up behind him.

~Are you prepared for this, my One?

Without anywhere else to put her hands, Alec wrapped her arms around his chest and let herself breathe in the wildness of his musky scent.

~Prepared for a ride on this thing, or what we’ll find when we get to Reykar’s lab?

~I am more concerned with the latter.

~You can’t tell what I’m feeling?

~I can, but knowing your feelings doesn’t mean I know what’s in your heart. Hold on tight. The cycle isn’t as smooth a ride as the transports, but is more practical for the terrain ahead.

Alec was thankful for the warning. Kalix gave a twist of his hand and the machine roared to life, and what a roar it was.

Her body trembled with a fine hum of excitement, further distracting her from Kalix’s question.

They took off with such speed Alec felt her ass slide backwards a fraction, and if Kalix hadn’t warned her to hang on she certainly would have slid out of the seat.

The hot, dry air whipped across her face, blew her hair back out behind her and was so exhilarating she almost forgot their purpose.

~I should have anticipated you would enjoy this. Alec could hear the smile in her mate’s voice. ~We will make time to do this when our territory is not in jeopardy.

He couldn’t feel it through his armor, but Alec gave him a squeeze. ~I’d like that.

She felt him inside her even as they raced across the cracked earth, a warm, steady presence, waiting for her to answer him.

~I’m angry, Kalix. I killed hundreds of my own people and woke up every day knowing I’d probably have to kill someone else.

What’s left of us, we survived the nightmare, we came here for a new life, and Reykar used my sister’s body to resurrect the Scylla.

He brought them here, and is purposefully infecting people to find a cure. There is no cure and it’s starting all over again. I’m angry, and...I’m afraid.

Kalix was quiet for a beat, and that warmth she felt from him turned to something more. Something that moved through her and permeated her from the tips of her toes to the ends of her hair.

It was like the rumble he made for her when they were alone, a mental purr so comforting it left no room for fear or anger.

~Even if the infection spreads, we have advanced weaponry we know will destroy a full grown Scylla. Our armor will protect us from contamination, and our warriors are millions.

I cannot fill the void of your sister’s absence, I cannot be for you what she was, but you will not shoulder this burden alone as you did before. Not ever again, Alec.

*****

Their journey to the ore mines wasn’t long, and as expected, Eurn led them down into the shaft that had been declared unstable.

It certainly looked unstable, rock slides having blocked several of the offshoot tunnels they passed, the main tunnel showing obvious signs of having been cleared.

When they came to a solid wall, Eurn shot an uncomfortable look at Kalix before reaching up to activate a cleverly hidden lever in a pile of rocks that looked no different from the others, and the solid wall very obviously shimmered.

“There was a small medical station located in this main tunnel, a burn unit for prisoners who suffered accidents while processing the ore.” Eurn gulped loudly, tilting his head toward the solid wall.

“It survived the cave in due to its outer shell having been made of ore. Reykar showed it to me after I agreed to assist him.”

“Helmets stay on, Ero, take the prisoner through and clear the way. Report when you’ve reached the lab,” Kalix ordered, his arm having extended to keep Alec from rushing headlong into the lab with her weapon drawn.

She ground her teeth, forcing herself to acknowledge he was doing it to fulfill his primary duty as a mate. To protect her from the unknown of whatever was ahead of them.

“The lab is secure, Asha.” Ero’s voice filled the com-link in her helmet, and the revulsion mixed with horror made the hairs on her arms prickle.

“A’tarey. Vale, go.” Kalix stopped her again when she would have followed.

~Kalix, what the hell—

~You have not yet trained alongside my warriors. You will wait with me until I deem it safe.

He spoke as a commander, not her mate. The difference in the hard control of his mental voice was marked and was shocking enough to have her tripping over any objections

~Do not draw your weapon unless your life is in danger. Do you understand?

~Yes.

~Good. Stay behind me on the right.

Alec thought she was prepared for what she might see inside the lab, but not ever having really been inside a facility like this, she was absolutely out of her depth.

There were cylindrical tubes filled with a glowing blue liquid, eight of them, arranged in a half circle on the far side of a crescent-shaped console.

A pair of medical tables with what she assumed was scanning equipment above them, and eight Sarazen sized cages on the far wall.

Two were occupied with a pair of pearl gray-skinned, horned alien males. The fire breathers? They looked no worse for wear at the moment, no tell-tale black lattice of infected veins.

~I read the reports on what we know thus far about the Original Council. Didn’t Ohlen find his mate in a facility similar to this when they took her?

~He did. The traitors are utilizing bunkers and underground facilities we thought lost or inaccessible with devices like the displacement field generators.

Commander Falken is coordinating with Asha T’mai to create a list of all unused or here-to-fore forgotten installations.

Alec turned in a slow circle, approaching the closest of the cylinders. Five of the eight were empty, but three held a single Scylla in various stages of growth.

From a fist-sized blob with four webbed appendages, to a fully grown creature complete with bony armor plates.

The water further distorted its features, making it seem even more fearsome than she remembered. She hadn’t ever been so close to one before.

Alec had run from these monsters her entire adult life, and here she was with one, face to face, separated by only a thin pane of glass.

“These specimens are in stasis and have no brain function,” Eurn informed her quickly, obviously interpreting her expression correctly.

Hatred seared her insides as she stared at the Scylla floating peacefully inside the tube, every instinct she had screaming at her to destroy the hideous thing.

It wasn’t until an armored body stepped between her and the tank that she realized Kalix had been trying to get her attention.

“I’m fine,” She blurted.

“I am glad to hear it. Reykar is not. If there is anything you wish to ask him, now is the time.” Kalix lifted his chin and she turned around to see four of their group carrying a stretcher from somewhere deeper in the lab.

She hadn’t consciously moved forward, but suddenly found herself standing over Reykar’s prone form, looking down at him through the protective shield of her helmet.

She remembered this perfectly, every person she had stood over and granted a swift death to spare them more pain.

It had been a struggle before, to find the will to slip a blade between the ribs in order to pierce the heart. If Kalix hadn’t taken her knife earlier, Alec would have had no problem delivering the killing blow. Slowly.

She moved almost without having to think, ignoring the hiss in her ear when she removed her helmet and knelt down next to the medic.

Reykar’s eyes widened upon seeing her face, the whites of his eyes streaked with black. He had no extra fluids to sweat but his skin was shiny from how tightly it was stretched over his bones.

His right arm was missing from the bicep down and for some reason his skin had not healed. It was burnt and blackened around the edges, seared like a piece of meat.

Perhaps Reykar had used a plasma pistol to try and cauterize the wound while preventing any further spread of infection.

“I saved you,” he slurred, smiling up at her almost... reverently. Like the sight of her face took the final weight off his chest and he could accept his death in peace.

Alec knew the chances of her words having any effect at this point, the larvae were making their way into his brain now, but she couldn’t stop herself from trying anyway.

“My sister’s body, where is it?”

He patted his chest with a shaking, withered hand and smiled, his lips peeling and cracking like torn paper. If he’d had any blood left it would have spilled like a river down his face.

“I saved you. Promised I would find... a...way. Saved you.”

Reykar’s face twisted with pain, a tormented groan wheezing from his chest as he managed to roll somewhat to his side before he vomited all over her armored boots.

She saw the warriors around her all take a step back, but in truth she had seen the gelatinous gray mess too many times to be squeamish now.

It’s what happened to your organs and guts when all the blood and fluid was sucked out. At least it would be simpler to wash the armor clean.

“What’s he talking about, Eurn?” Alec demanded without taking her eyes off Reykar. “You said you weren’t close to a cure.”

There was a short scuffle before the younger medic spoke up. “I don’t know. I swear.”

“My sister’s body?”

“I never saw a female, I swear. The only bodies here were ours and those of the subjects.”

“Do you know where Reykar got the Scylla from, Eurn?” Alec asked softly, willing him to tell her where Meg’s body was.

“N-no. He had them long before I joined his project.” It was unfortunate Eurn had decided to be so cooperative. Alec wanted to hurt someone, badly.

“His project,” she repeated, searching Reykar’s face.

In between his groans of pain, Reykar repeated over and over, “I saved you.”

His eyes no longer focused, staring sightlessly at something beyond Alec’s comprehension.

His pain satisfied her, maybe even pleased her, but as she crouched there and really looked at him... it wasn’t enough.

Reykar would only know a few days’ worth of fear and pain before the larvae coursing through his veins had made higher brain function impossible.

He wouldn’t know what his meddling had done or the danger the population of the planet now faced.

He couldn’t be held accountable or made to answer for having desecrated Meg’s body.

~It’s not enough, Kalix. He won’t suffer enough for what he’s done.

~No, my heart, he won’t. But his conspirators will. We will hunt them to the ends of the universe if necessary. Put your helmet back on.

It almost made her smile to hear his mental voice go from ringing with the conviction of a commander, to growling with the protectiveness of a mate.

Alec didn’t need help to stand up, but she held her hand out to Kalix anyway, swallowing thickly to feel him reach out to hold her with more than just his hand. She looked up into the silver face of his helmet, wanting to see his face.

“He won’t be able to tell us anything. The capillaries in his eyes are black, the infection is in his brain.”

“Ero,” Kalix said the warrior’s name and the next thing she heard was a loud snap, followed by Eurn’s shout of horrified surprise.

Alec looked back down to see a fist-sized hole in Reykar’s chest, a faint trail of steam wafting from the fabric of his once green tunic.

No blood oozed from the wound, red or black, and it was somewhat of a shock to not have been the one to have given that killing blow.

“Quoll, who do you need to tear apart Reykar’s files?”

Alec listened with half an ear, the light from the specimen tanks where the Scylla slept casting blue shadows on the ceiling.

She glanced at one of the horned males, wondering at the dissatisfaction in his yellowish green gaze. Did he too believe Reykar’s death had been unfairly quick?

She took in the bars of his cage, his and his nearly identical companion’s, neither granted the common decency of clothing to cover their nudity.

They were both humanoid, two arms, two legs, unusually large cocks with no visible testicles that hung between their thighs.

Both crouched on their haunches, their feet weren’t feet as much as bird-like claws. Three-toed and covered in horizontal scales up to their knee joints, which were bent backwards like a reptile’s hind legs.

All four points of each of their horns were tipped in gold, with red stripes ringed just beneath. The red lines also circled their throats and biceps, giving them a rather tribal look.

Their lips were crimson too, as though they had painted themselves with the blood of their enemies to enhance their already predatory features.

They stood at her approach, taller than Kalix by a fair bit which must have put them close to or above eight feet tall.

They weren’t wearing prison collars, so how the hell had Reykar gotten them planet-side without anyone noticing? They weren’t exactly inconspicuous.

“I’m told one of you is responsible for eliminating one of those.” She hooked her thumb over her shoulder at the tank where the second adult Scylla floated.

The one on the right claimed the kill with a jerk of his chin. “It got too close.”

“If I let you out of there, will I regret it later?”

“That depends.”

“On?”

The male’s yellowish green gaze bored into her, but not in the way she would have expected. He seemed to be looking for something in her expression.

“What you intend to do with us.”

Alec looked from one to the other, noticing the minor differences in their appearance.

“As we have no idea what Reykar has been up to, I intend to have you scanned and cleared for any kind of contamination.

“Then I intend to find some kind of clothing to fit you both, and food to get you through the many questions I have. I give you my word no harm will come to you, so long as you yourselves do no harm.”

“Who are you to make us such promises?” the second male challenged, his eyes greener than his friend’s.

“I’m Alec. Second in command to the commander in charge of the planet.”

“Who is your commander?”

“Me.” Kalix growled, appearing beside her with a territorial snarl.

She peeked at him through her lashes, a bit surprised to see he had removed his helmet, not so surprised to see the feral scowl on his face as he glared at the caged males.

Alec wondered if he had picked up on her appreciation of the aliens.

*****

After having destroyed the three remaining Scylla, Kalix left half their warriors down in the hidden lab with orders to tear it apart for clues as to how many more prisoners were potentially infected.

Quoll was going through the mountain of data to discover just what Reykar had been up to, promising to find out what had been done with Meg’s body.

With nothing else to do but pace and get in their way, Kalix took her back to the fortress. The horned test subjects had been released and gave a solemn vow to do no harm unless harm was done to them first.

They were each riding behind Vale and T’chan, Eurn behind another warrior and looking uncertain about his future.

They had checked in with the progress of the medical teams, and so far a tenth of the population had been cleared and quarantined.

Because there were no secrets kept between mates, when Alec mounted the steps to the fortress, her people came down to meet her, their expressions confirming they knew what was happening.

Exhausted, she could barely stand to look at their faces and see the condemnation, the distrust, the anger they no doubt felt.

Her throat closed, unable to give them words of reassurance or explain what Reykar had done, unable to tell them their nightmare was not over.

She stood mute before all of them, her knees quaking with the enormity of her failure, while Kalix gave orders for Eurn to be placed under watchful guard, and the horned males to be escorted to guest quarters and fed.

It was Kalix who gave everyone an update, standing at her side, holding her hand tightly as he confirmed the Brivikan, Reykar, and the remaining specimens had all been destroyed.

“Everyone on this planet is in the process of being scanned for infection, so far there have been no other reported cases.

“Until all of our ground water is tested, the kitchens will be supplying everyone in the fortress with a daily rainwater ration.

“We are safe, but we must all do our part to remain vigilant. Tomorrow we will meet for the midday meal for further updates. It’s been a long day, let us all return to our quarters and get some rest.”

~I feel your fear, your weariness, my One, but our people have eyes only for you. They are concerned.

~They should be. They know what’s at stake if any other infected prisoners are out there roaming— 

~Alec, look at them.

She didn’t want to, but there were too many eyes watching. Potentially enemy eyes. She could not be seen as weak or cowardly.

It took considerable effort to raise her head and meet the worried stares of the people who had chosen to follow her to S6, rather than stay in safety on S1.

She wondered how many of them were regretting their choice right now. It was by some miracle, not one face showed any hint of condemnation, and to her surprise she realized everyone was looking at her. To her.

~They are concerned for you, not an unknown number of infected prisoners we haven’t found yet.

Emotion threatened to choke the sense out of her, but her beast and her mate were both right there to fill her with their strength. She lifted her chin higher and did the only thing she could.

“If you haven’t already had your scan, do it now. The planet is on lockdown to ensure if there are more infected prisoners, they won’t escape orbit, but if you and your mates want to leave for safer—”

“Leave?” Liliya interrupted incredulously, coming forward in the crowd to meet her, steely determination shining having hardened her features.

“If there are more, if the water sources are contaminated, there is no safer place than here. No one knows the Scylla better than us, what do you need us to do?”

Alec clung to Kalix’s hand so tightly she wondered if she was hurting him. She looked around at all the familiar faces, really looked, and saw each of them stand taller when their gazes met.

She saw them wait for her to answer Liliya’s question, not a single one of them raising their voice to lay the blame of this at her feet. Alec floundered, not sure what to say.

“Be ready,” she announced, her voice far steadier than she would have guessed. “Right now, that’s all we can do. Are the children asleep?”

“Yes, but they know somethings going on. Do you want to wake them to let them in on what’s happening?”

Alec glanced sideways at Kalix, her stomach fluttering to see the strong, confident expression on his face.

He had a bruise on the hard edge of his jaw, one she just now noticed, and her thoughts wheeled back to this morning.

Her ferocious mate had faced down twenty-nine warriors eager to take him down, all at once, with only his fists. Had it only been a few hours ago?

The brutality with which he fought in an arena was like nothing she had ever seen, and if that’s the way he fought in a sandy arena? Alec felt sorry for their real enemies.

Kalix looked down to meet her gaze, and though it didn’t show outwardly, he flooded their bond with heat and love. There was no room left for fear. None at all.

“No. Let them sleep, tomorrow will come soon enough. No matter what happens, we’ll be fine. We are not alone this time.”