Chapter 7

I'm dying, I think. My body is on fire as the toxin in my blood eats at my cells. My mouth is so dry, every breath burns my lungs in a hot blast. I don't understand what finally triggered my Wrath, but it's loose in me now, biting and stinging. It gave me the strength to rip my cage bars open, break into the lab, and slay the Csevadian . . . and now it's killing me.

Too bad I can't savor my victory for longer. My body is too weak. I've been too long without food, and infection still eats at the wounds in my jaw. My Wrath can only take me so far, and without a succor, it will be the end of me as well.

At least I will die a free male.

My brain sparks and fizzles for a long moment as I stare at the blank wall in front of my face. I must find a way to bust out of this lab. This has to be the door. It can't be harder to destroy than the metal bars I finally broke in my cell.

But my claws haven't dented it, and there's no opening mechanism I can see. I shake the limp female body in my arms at the input screen, but it doesn't respond. It must not be biometrically tied to her.

I bang my forehead against the screen, and the female jolts awake, her eyes widening as she observes the wall inches from her face.

"I can't open it," she says quickly, waving her hand in the air to demonstrate the door's lack of response. "I've never been through it. If you go back to my cell, you may be able to break the rest of the bars in my window, but I don't think you'll fit through the opening."

I ignore most of her words, focusing on the biometric idea. I need the body of an authorized person. Aezok is gone, hiding, no doubt, and waiting until my Wrath destroys me, or maybe he's fled the compound entirely. I may have heard the hum of an aerial transport a few minutes ago. My thoughts are so jumbled, I'm not sure.

All I know is I won't catch him in this state. But the Csevadian is still warm. Probably.

The muscles of my forearms aching with relief, I drop the female. She hits the floor hard but doesn't complain. Her face is pale as she scrambles to a crouch to watch me, but she's not falling apart in the face of my rage. A part of me admires her spirit even as I fight the urge to snap her neck. She's nude from the waist down, and there's blood on her thighs. Probably spatter that dripped from my bloody claws when I tore her from her restraints after killing Inde.

I don't know why she was restrained, or what Aezok and Inde were doing to her when my Wrath took me. Maybe she needed a medical procedure? But I don't like the sight of the blood. It makes the twin spots where my tusks used to fit inside of my jaw ache and burn.

I shudder, feeling another wave of Wrath pulse at me, trying to suck me into the black. Lyfia's Blood, everything hurts, a pounding, pulsing, sick ache. I yank at the base of my horns, willing my body to keep going. I just need to get outside. I need to be free. Nothing else matters if I'm free when I die. I won't collapse here, my blank eyes staring at the wall while Aezok harvests my bones.

My claws dig into my wrists as I clench my hands. Outside, my brain orders my unsteady legs.

I have to leave the female here while I retrieve the doctor's body, but once I've determined this course of action, I'm shocked at how long it takes for my muscles to actually respond. I finally manage to take two staggering steps toward the lab before I spin and point my finger at her face.

"Don't move," I order.

She swallows visibly and nods. I've forgotten her name, I realize. Did I ever know it? My breath is coming in pants, loud in the still air of the corridor.

My blood aching and burning, it takes all of my waning strength to return to the lab and grab the body of the Csevadian. I half expect the female to be gone when I return, but she's still huddled in place, watching me. My relief is a rippling wave in the face of the maelstrom boiling in my chest. I can't help but suck down her waterdyas scent and, even tinged with fear, it settles me.

For a long moment, I would almost swear it soothes my Wrath. My lungs stutter in relief as the coolness rushes through me.

I don't know how long I stand still, breathing in her scent, before the synapses in my brain fire again. Maybe only moments. The veins in my forearms are thick and black, like twining, poison vines sucking the life from me. They flicker under the bright corridor lights as I thrust the Csevadian's body at the screen.

The female gasps when a door opens in front of us. The hall beyond is well-lit, and there's another door just ahead. I step through, still holding the body in case I need the doctor's biometrics again, but when I reach the far exit it opens soundlessly in front of me.

The sunlight blinds me for a long moment. Or maybe it's the black spots swimming in my vision. Through squinting eyes, I peer past the paved open space, likely the landing pad for Aezok's personal aerial, to see a green and purple jungle looming. The air is so rich with natural scents, I can't help but suck in a deep breath.

I blink at the wall of trees, my eyes burning in my skull. I haven't seen daylight in weeks, but I can't focus on the brightness and the warmth. I need to plan. Where am I?

I toss Inde's body to the side and step outside, inhaling again, but the fresh air in my lungs turns to ashes too quickly, and I fall to my knees, my vision blurring in and out. I'm too weak. My veins are filled with lava. Or lead.

I'm free, though.

I sink lower, absorbing the winking sight of the jungle, the wispy clouds above my head, and I listen to the faint sound of bird calls. Peace envelopes me, a whisper of calm that tells me to just lay back, to ignore the rage eating at me. But that's too easy, and I've never been one for the easy path. I just need a minute or two, and I'll find my feet again.

The female hops into sight, her movements awkward as she tugs on Inde's bloodstained pants. They're huge on her, but she doesn't try to adjust them. Morbid of her, to rob the dead. I almost feel a grin tug at my lips.

"Come on," she says, yanking at my arm. "Aezok could be right behind us. You can stare at the sky later."

I ignore her words, my mind instead focusing on the way my skin cools under her hand. I can't help a sharp inhale as the black veins pulsing under her fingertips wiggle and then fade to red.

A cloud moves across the sun, the shade cooling me further. My brain sparks in my tight skull.

Is she . . . is she soothing my Wrath? Impossible. And yet? I suck in a deep breath, then release it. My pulse quiets more.

The female's succor could only be if she was the initial cause of my Wrath. But how? I cast my mind back in time. I woke up on the floor of my cell, my body aching with tiredness and burning with fever, and then I heard the female scream. The fear in her voice, it roused me fully. It filled my blood with power as it woke my Wrath.

I want to pound my fist into the ground, in frustration or rage, I'm not sure.

She's the reason I had the strength to break free.

And only she can save me now.

My brain reels. I fall flat on my back, blinking at the blue sky. I try to make my lips move, to demand she soothe me, but my mouth is too dry for words.

She responds anyway, running her hands over my face, my limbs, as if searching for a wound. In the wake of her touch my Wrath recedes. Her soft fingertips trace my neck as she finds my pulse, then under my hair and around my horns, like she's searching for a head wound.

I should stop her, tell her to sit calmly beside me, that my instincts will recognize the source of my Wrath is safe and begin to strip the toxin from my blood, but for some reason, I don't. I remain still and soak up the sensation of her hands on my skin, her low voice murmuring reassurances that I'm safe, that she'll help me.

It's nonsensical. She's my enemy. But I don't stop her.

While the pain in my body eases, the toxin fizzling away into nothing but an empty ache, I try to force my brain to plan. I didn't recognize the glimpse of the jungle I caught before I fell over. I don't know if we're on one of the remote islands of Hofterin, or on some backward Kral planet. Either alternative doesn't bode well for rescue. The comm still embedded in my boot will need to be charged before it's functional.

Aezok didn't chase me and he's not in sight now. So if he's not concerned about eliminating me before I can bring outside attention to his activities, that's a signal we're in the middle of nowhere, and he expects the jungle to kill me long before I find another Federal citizen to make accusations of abduction and illegal blood experimentation.

The female pats a hand across my chest again, and I brush her aside, ignoring her squeak of protest. My Wrath is gone. I don't want her touching me anymore. Before I can order her to step away, however, I'm assaulted with a hazy memory. I'm in my cell, the female's hand on my chest while a fog surrounds us. I frown, opening my eyes to stare at the blue sky. The pain of my Wrath is spent, my body loose and weak from its release, but something about the memory jabs at me. Why was she naked in my cell?

Another image thrusts itself into the front of my brain. My hands are around her neck. Her eyes are wild and unfocused.

Did I fuck her? I don't think I did. Wouldn't I remember?

Did she sneak into my cell and try to seduce me? Did she drug me? I rack my brain for more flashbacks, faint sensations or scenes, but all I recall is the female's hands on me, the fog, and the thick scent of waterdyas. My lack of memory stirs a pang of fear in my chest, but I'm at my limit. I can't handle anymore trauma. I don't want to think about this or remember this.

Maybe I hallucinated the whole thing, my body ravaged with hunger and stress.

And it doesn't matter, ultimately. I loathe this female. She's soulless. And now my Wrath is spent, I don't want her to touch me. She doesn't have the right.

I sit up abruptly, pushing the female away from me. She's no different from the predatory warden of Geshan X, taking what she wants from imprisoned males. She doesn't even deserve my thanks for soothing my Wrath.

I need to forget about whatever happened inside and focus on getting away from this compound before I'm trapped again.

I'm weak, starving, and the wounds in my jaw ache, but I'm free from my Wrath. The relief from its constant, low-simmering presence is like stepping from a ship's hold onto a planet's surface after months of cryo-sleep.

I inhale deeply and find my feet. I'm a Kral. I can survive any jungle in the universe. I'll traverse this one and find a way back to Haven. I rub my chest absently, ignoring the tight band of apprehension encircling my sternum. There's a possibility Radeel is still alive. I haven't seen his body. And in all my weeks of captivity, Aezok never taunted me with his fate. Maybe when I return to headquarters, he'll be there, waiting for me.

I hold on to my tenuous hope with tight, rigid claws.

SEVERALsteps into my journey under the jungle's canopy, I'm aware the female is following me. Part of me is tempted to ignore her. She's no longer a threat to me. She's weak and alone. And part of me wants to split her sternum with my claws. The haunting memory of her touch in my cell is like a wisp of a dream I can't ignore. She imprisoned me. She violated me, touching me when I was helpless.

I think. Maybe.

I should kill her.

I spin and pin her in place with a ferocious snarl. I may not have sharp tusks anymore, but my horns are ready to rend her flesh from her bones. "Fuck off," I order.

She blinks at me, her wide, surprised eyes like those of a baby bird.

"Why are you following me?" I demand.

She swallows hard, her thin throat moving convulsively. "I don't know where to go. Please, I—"

A jungle bird shrieks, a rich throb of sound, and the female flinches.

Shaking my head, I turn away. "You're on your own, mordren."

I stalk through the trees, my long strides leaving the female behind in moments.

I'm pretty sure I'm still on Hofterin. The sky is blue, which isn't that common on ocean planets, and I'm breathing the air without any blood additives or a mask. Plus, it's not that easy to smuggle Federal citizens off-planet. After Aezok knocked me out at Haven headquarters, if he smuggled me on board a ship, he would have had to supply a manifest to the transport authority, and the ship would have been scanned before granted exit access. The scan would have uncovered my body, unconscious and without an extraplanetary visa.

So if I'm on Hofterin, I just need to discover which island. There are thousands across the surface of the planet, but most have been settled at this point. There will be a city somewhere inland, or at least a weather atoll directly offshore. If I can find it, I can charge my spare comm and arrange a rescue.

I need to get back to Haven and find out what happened to Radeel. Is he alive or dead? Did Aezok take over the whole company or just hack it? Did he gain access to my accounts?

Frowning, I swipe a damp leaf away from my face. I need to turn him into the Feds as soon as I'm back in Flex. They'll be able to determine what happened.

My jaw aches as I grind my teeth. I miss my tusks, and the way they made me feel strong when emotions swamped me. I haven't seen my face in a mirror in weeks. I don't know what I look like without tusks. Probably younger than my years, like a Kral adolescent. Maybe I don't look like a Kral at all anymore.

I think abruptly of Orix, the Kral I befriended on Geshan X. The warden took his horns, slicing them off at his skull, as punishment for disobedience. Orix never flinched, never acted like less than a Kral afterward. We even fought, he and I, when the Wrath swamped him when he found his mate, and he battled me like a demon. The loss of my tusks is nothing, I assure myself. I'm still a virile male.

My breaths saw in and out of my lungs. The air is damp and warm, and I blame my panting on the fact I haven't exercised in so long. It's nothing to do with my mental state. My hands clench, claws pricking my wrists.

I'm a fool. And a bigot, apparently. I can act all open-minded when someone else has been maimed. Deformed. But I loathe the fact I've lost my tusks. If I could turn back time and tell Aezok to kill me first, there's a not-small part of me that says I would have been better off.

Better dead than less than a full Kral male. My growl startles a small avian into flight and I can't stop myself from punching the thick tree trunk at my side. The sharp burst of pain in my knuckles brings clarity. I don't want to be dead.

My heart thumping slowly in my chest, I trudge on.

This sort of introspection is new for me, and I don't like it. I'm a male of action. I need to forget about the trauma of the past few weeks and focus on my escape and my revenge. I straighten my spine and march with a quicker step deeper into the jungle.

This close to the lab compound, the fauna will likely be small and nonaggressive. Depending on how far the jungle stretches, the size of the predators and small prey will increase exponentially. I'm a large male, and even without my tusks, I'm well able to defend myself. My best course is to move silently but quickly through the verdant space. I can find berries and seeds to eat, and my claws will help me climb into the canopy when my body demands sleep.

My instincts tell me this is a large island, to conceal an illegal lab so easily, and I'll likely have to cross to the far side before I find signs of settlement. I don't think Aezok will follow me into the jungle, but I can't rely on that assumption. I'll need to move stealthily.

That means I need to ditch the female dogging my steps, and I need to make sure she's too scared of me to try to follow my tracks.

No problem. My claws dig deeper into my palms. She's following me because she's scared of Aezok's punishment over my escape? I'll show her she's much safer back in that compound than by my side.

She saw me break. I will prove to her that her fragmentation point is much shallower than mine.