“Most?” She coils her tail under her seemingly awed by what I’m telling her. “How many of you are there?”
I glance behind me at Darolus when I hear him groan. “A couple hundred thousand.” I hopeat leastthat many escaped before the ship went down. “Here?” I add, “On Earth?” I didn’t see how many ships came this way, nor do I know how many survived the landing. “Less than half that,” I guess, not wanting to overwhelm her. “Maybe more.”
She goes silent again and I wonder if it’s because of something I said. But before I can ask, she leans her spear on the floor and rests against it, looking tired. Having not seen another side to the females yet except stern paranoia, I watch her openly.
“Are there only five of you left?” I ask, my voice lowering, my gaze flicking around the large, shadowy space behind her. It’s mostly empty except for a central area with a couple of weapons, some crates, a table, and some stretched-out hides. Along the walls are partially blocked doorways like the one I’m standing in, which I’ve seen some of the other females use to go in and out. If the females have nests of their own, they are out of sight, and if there are more of them, I’ve not seen or heard them.
“There are more of ussss but we do not all nest together. We find it safer to split into small groups. We leave less tracks then. If there are that many humans here now… that may have to change…”
“We’re not—I’mnot here to hurt you.” Recalling Darolus telling me about not wanting to let me leave, realizing it’s all beginning to make sense.
I thought at first he didn’t want his enemies to come searching for him, at least until I saw the alien weapons… Now, with what Melsya has been saying about Darolus guarding them and knowing now that there are so very few…
“I won’t tell anyone anything about you, I promise,” Ivow. “I just want Darolus to be okay. After that, I’ll leave and you’ll never see or hear from me again.”
She waves her hand like she’s dismissing me. “You will not be able to with Darolus as your mate. He will never let you near another again, especially not near someone who might use what you know against ussss.”
“And yet you stabbed him anyway,” I growl. “And you killed Weston and Mickie. My friends.”
“You would have too if the lives of your sisters, and the only sisters you’ll ever have, could be in danger. Friends come and go, sisterssss do not.”
I turn away and lower the light, not wanting her to see my face. “Regardless, they didn’t deserve to die.”
“You grieve over every male, female?”
“My name is Sabrina.”
“Ssssabrina,” she repeats, saying my name the same way Darolus does.
Looking at him again, my heart drops further, heading back into the room and to his side, and ignoring her question. Settling on my knees next to him, I rest my head on his chest well above his wound.
His wound…That was now nearly halfway closed but he had yet to wake up from still.
“Why aren’t you waking up?” I mumble, both worried and annoyed.
Missing him, I caress the large silky scales along his tail, hearing Melsya in the doorway behind me. I choose to forget she’s there as I burrow my face against Darolus’s chest, feeling lost and helpless, two things I hate feeling more than anything.
“Please, wake up,” I groan.
“You will not serve him moping over his body, female,” Melsya hisses.
I turn and face her. “What else am I supposed to do if not encourage him to wake? It’s not like I can heal him.” Peering down at my hands, I squeeze them closed, tightening my hold on the flashlight.
“Speak with me then. I want to know more about what is happening in the skies.”
“I don’t want to speak anymore,” I snap. “I want to be with Darolus until he wakes.” She hisses angrily at me and I give her the finger.
But she relents and leaves, and as I hear her slip away, a shuddering breath of relief expels from me. I guess I wanted her company until I didn’t.
Without anyone’s eyes on me again, I lean up and nuzzle Darolus’s face with mine and kiss his lips, wishing I’d never heard Mickie’s voice and called out to him. Lying down along Darolus’s side, I curl against him and in the nook of his tail, grabbing and sliding his tailtip up and around me to hold onto.
Shivering from the cold damp, his warmth courses over my flesh, banishing my discomfort.
“Please wake up,” I beg.
I’ve lost so much already.
I can’t lose you too.
