Chapter 14

The sound of Heza's startled scream wakes me. I sit up in bed, my brain spinning with disorientation, eyes still heavy-lidded with sleep, as the door to my room busts open and a masked figure strides in.

In the darkness, the shape morphs, growing larger, as arms reach for me.

My brain fritzes, lost in time for a long moment. Am I in the lab? Am I late for the beasties' feeding time?

I rear back, scrambling to get away from the hands tearing at me, but I'm not fast enough. The flash of pink skin where the man's mask meets his shirt sends a bolt of fear into my heart. A shriek erupts from my throat. I thrash and kick, but he gets a hold of my leg and plunges a needle into my thigh.

Immediate weakness floods my limbs, and my head flops forward. Dizziness swamps me.

In a whirling, confusing spin, Aezok hoists me over his shoulder and carries me from the room. My brain screams at me to fight. To struggle. I can't go back. I can't. But my body doesn't respond to its commands.

Saliva pools in the back of my throat, acidic and sharp.

Through the curtain of my hair, I see Heza's limp body on the kitchen floor, and my panic roots deeper. I try to flail, but Aezok's grip on my body is too hard, and my muscles are too weak.

Please be okay,I want to moan out loud, but my lips don't move.

The fear rooted deep within me grows with every step Aezok takes away from the shelter of the dark apartment, but the drugs he sent into my system bring only lassitude. A moment of new panic staggers my foggy senses, and I worry about what impact those drugs will have on the baby, but then the blackness sucks me down.

I wake strapped to a lab table in an empty white room. It's so similar to what happened to me with Inde and the prod, my mind splinters with terror. I gasp, writhing under the restraints. Cold sweat slicks my skin as I start to scream. I scream and scream, but no one comes. Nothing else in the room makes a sound. It's still and sterile. I suck in a sobbing breath. The air reeks of that deeply disturbing scent from Aezok's illegal lab. Burned chocolate. Rotting algae.

But I'm not there, I realize slowly. There's no black tubing along the ceiling. The doors are in different places.

I quiet, my shrieks turning to deep, anguished sobs that rattle my ribcage. I'd been free. And now I'm back where I started. I'd been safe, but I'm caged again.

And now there's an innocent life at stake. There's a baby growing inside of me. I shiver, goosebumps like mountains on my skin.

My mind, racing in a million different directions, can't help but focus on one thought. I can't do this again. I can't do this again.

I'm not strong enough.

I can't do this again.

I don't want to be strong enough. I don't want to fight any more.

If Aezok has control of my body, then I'd rather not be in this body any longer.

My eyelids shutter. My black landscape swamps me. Its familiar cold embrace is like a dark cave at the bottom of the sea.

Nothing matters anymore. Nothing can hurt me here.

As I float in my empty mist, my thoughts sluggish, I'm slightly aware of a figure stepping into the room, but I don't look over. I don't want to see that familiar, sneering face. I don't want to remember what I only just barely escaped.

But I didn't really escape at all.

He found me. Somehow, he found me.

My dissociation fails, however, when Aezok sits by my head and places his hands on my shoulders. His fingertips are hard, punishing against my skin. Shuddering, I force myself to focus.

How did he find me?

He doesn't look that great. His pink skin is paler than normal, and there are shadows under his red eyes. But those eyes, they're lit with a familiar manic gleam. He's excited about something. And he wants to tell me all about it so that I will praise him.

He bends his head to whisper in my ear, his breath a wash of heat. "You hid from me. But I found you. I found you so easily. Did you want me to find you?"

I shake my head, my mouth too dry to speak.

He grins, his teeth flashing the tiny hint of tusks at his upper lip.

That's new.

I frown, staring harder, before I force myself to focus on what he said. "Wait, how did you find me?"

He chuckles, a dry, raspy sound. "Standard slave tracker with a self-destruct trigger. Organic material embedded in your shoulder. No one would purchase a Terran female without it. If the Feds catch you, they can't trace the auction back to me if you're dead."

My eyes widen with horror. "Self-destruct trigger?"

"Don't worry, Mara. Your cargo is much too precious for me to use that method of control. For now."

I shrink against the padded table, my insides shriveling. All of my freedom was an illusion. My plan to escape through the barred windows, my dangerous journey through the jungle, the hope I felt when Zuko and Heza helped me . . . None of it meant anything. He was tracking me the whole time.

I'm sick with the knowledge I put Zuko and Heza in danger. I hope they're okay. They have to be okay.

Aezok sits back a little and pulls a lab cart into view. I shiver, scanning the equipment—cords and screens, and something that looks like a speculum. I shiver again.

"Why didn't you catch me sooner? Why didn't you track me down in the jungle?"

"I had another job to do first."

I shake my head. "A job?"

"Yes. Sort of. I couldn't let her tattle." The giggle he releases makes my toes curl.

"She knew too much."

I blink rapidly, distracted by watching him line the instruments up on the table beside my prone body. My fear is a beast crouched on top of my chest, compressing the air in my lungs.

Metal clinks together, and the ominous sound fills my mouth with saliva.

"She's gone. It's like she never existed. And now we can start again. You can do it right this time. It will be easier with the right son."

Before I can ask what the hell he's talking about, Aezok spins away to bring a screen closer to my head. It's blank, but I know what it is he wants to scan. And if he thinks he's getting that speculum anywhere near me, he's dead wrong.

I start bucking again, working my hips to get my feet flat against the table.

He ignores my struggles, his tone still conversational. "This wasn't my first choice. Initially, I only wanted the Wrath serum to work on me. That would have made everything better. She would have accepted me then. I'm sure of it."

The restraints don't loosen at all, no matter how hard I struggle. Panting, I pause my efforts. I need to save my strength.

"But, despite Inde's promises, he was not able to perfect the formula. The mix of the Kryllian DNA with the DNA of a full-blooded Kral only succeeded in altering my body chemistry for moments at a time. No permanent change was effected, aside from a slight enhancement in my Kral features. That wouldn't be enough for her."

I stare at his tusks again, remembering when he ripped Viz'en's from his body. My fingers spasm on the cold table.

"Therefore, I moved on to my second option. It's more physically dangerous for me, however, I'm confident in my medical staff. And organ transplants are commonplace medical procedures."

"Organ transplants?"

Aezok frowns at me. "Not initially, of course. That would be absurd. A baby's skull is much smaller than mine. I believe I will wait until late adolescence."

My hands move to clutch my abdomen, but I can't lift them from the table. "What?" I breathe. He can't be saying what I think he's saying. Horror spirals through me.

"Your baby. Me. I'm going to be your son. And you're going to do a much better job this time around. Aren't you, Mother? I promise this time, I will make you proud."