Chapter 15
Indiz cries out again.There’s a scent in the air I don’t want to place. It’s not the clean scent of a storm, but much worse. And I remember it from an accident on a ship. The smell of flesh and electricity.
I force myself to take another step away.I’m not one of them. I can leave. It’s probably better that I leave.But Indiz took me in instead of leaving me to die…
When he cries out a third time, I can’t help myself. I spin around and stride into the room like I know what I’m doing. “Why are you hurting him?”
Indiz is now shirtless, his hands gripping the far side of the table as the alien with the tail wields what looks to be electricity and lays into Indiz’s back leaving burned welts.
All eyes turn to me.
Their eyes all have that familiar glow.
“Go, Rin. You do not need to see this,” Indiz says. His eyes are dark with pain.
“She stays,” says Stalk-eyes. “She can learn what happens when you break the rules.”
“Trust me, I know,” I say dryly. This whole thing has been a reminder about why rules should be obeyed. But I don’t know their rules, I’ve only guessed at them. “What did Indiz do? He’s shown me nothing but kindness.”
Ugh, I can’t believe I’m defending him. I cross my arms under the fur so no one can see my hands shaking.
“You are to be assessed,” Snout adds unhelpfully.
“Assessed how and for what?”
They discuss in their own language. Indiz is silent.
“What’s going on?” I need an explanation. Every time I think I’ve found my footing, the world spins and changes and I’m just as lost as I was before.
Indiz closes his eyes like he can’t stand to look at me.
The man with the tail slashes Indiz twice more with lightning, then steps back. “It is done.”
Indiz skin sizzles, and he groans. I want to rush to his side, but I stay blocking the door. I grit my teeth. “Tell me what’s going on.”
The horned woman looks at me and speaks in the language they share. The others nod, and she steps forward and places her hand on Indiz’s head. His back bows, and then he slumps. The woman smiles at me, and vanishes. Her clothes crumple to the floor with no body to hold them up. A ball of light escapes and flies past me before I can do anything more than gape.
I stare at the remaining aliens, hoping one of them will tell me what is happening since Indiz won’t talk. He’s breathing, the slow measured breaths of someone fighting pain. I can’t help him, what if I make whatever is going on worse for him?
It’s Snout who speaks. “Not everyone who arrives is suitable to be accepted. Most are left for one hundred days so we can study them and work out if we want them in our clan. We are a composite of many.” He sweeps his hand out to the others. “Indiz interfered in saving you and bringing you here. He started telling you about us. He mated with you and claimed you.”
“I’d be dead if he hadn’t stepped in.”
“And that would solve our problem.”
Annoyance flickers through me. “I’m not a problem.” Or am I? If no one can leave, then everyone is stuck here together. It wouldn’t take many assholes to make eternity unbearable. “What happens to those you don’t accept?”
“They live as best they can on their own in the wild.”
And die if they lack basic survival skills. I wouldn’t have lasted the hundred days. I don’t need to say it, they all know it. My stomach does that slippery thing when I realize bad news is coming. “What does this mean?”
“You still have ninety-nine days to live in the wild. Since Indiz is your mate, he will share that banishment. If you are both alive at the end of your time, then you will both be accepted as part of the Storm.”
