“And if they find more life? More plants, more organisms?”
“They will protect them.” His voice hardened. “As they would have protected me, had they known. Jeb made that very clear—the cyborg community has no love for GenCon or any corporation that would exploit new discoveries for profit.”
Alina settled her head back against his chest, her body relaxing. “That’s good. That’s really good. The samples I gave to Dr. Rodriguez and the others will help too, but having the cyborg network involved…” She trailed off, lost in thought.
“There is more.”
“More?”
Rhyx hesitated. This part was harder to explain, touching as it did on possibilities he wasn’t sure he wanted to consider. “Jeb and the others have been briefed about the possibility of other types of life. Other things that might be discovered.”
“Other things like you?”
“Perhaps. Or like the predator your friends Cass and Zach encountered.” He felt her tense slightly in his arms and tightened his grip reassuringly. “They don’t know what toexpect. No one does. But they are watching. Listening. If something else appears—something awakened by the terraforming, or by…” He touched the ridge of his spine, where the wings waited. “By whatever process created me—they will know.”
“And they’ll protect it?”
“If it can be protected. If it is not… dangerous.”
She was silent for a long moment. “The creature Cass described was predatory. Aggressive. It attacked them without provocation.”
“Yes.” He had thought about this during his days of waiting. “But perhaps it was simply afraid. Confused. Awakening into a world nothing like the one it remembered, with no one to guide it, no mate to anchor it.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I might have been dangerous too, if you had not been there. If I had awakened alone, in darkness, with only fragmented memories of a dead civilization…”
“You’re not dangerous.”
“To you, no. Never to you.” He tilted her face up, meeting her eyes. “But I have killed, Alina. The guards at the cave. Martin. I would kill again—without hesitation, without remorse—to protect you.”
“That’s different.”
“Is it?” He genuinely wasn’t sure. The violence had come so naturally, so instinctively. Some part of him had known exactly how to eliminate threats, how to use his strength and speed to devastating effect. Was that his original nature, or somethinginherited from the cyborg whose blood had contributed to his rebirth?
“Yes,” she said firmly. “It’s different. You defended me—defended us—from people who were trying to hurt us. That’s not the same as attacking strangers without cause.”
He accepted her judgment, even if he wasn’t entirely convinced. What mattered was that she believed it. That she could look at him—at the predator lurking beneath his civilized surface—and still see someone worthy of love.
“Whatever else might be out there,” he said quietly, “we will face it together. And whatever form it takes, I will protect you.”
“I know.” She stretched up to kiss him, soft and sweet. “I know you will.”
They fell silent again, the warmth of the shelter enveloping them like a cocoon. Rhyx felt the steady rhythm of her breathing, the gradual relaxation of her muscles as sleep began to claim her.
“Tomorrow,” she murmured drowsily. “Tomorrow we start our new life.”
“Yes.” He pulled the thermal blankets over them both. “Sleep now, my mate. I will watch over you.”
“Always the protector.” There was a smile in her voice. “I love you, Rhyx.”
The words struck him like lightning—familiar now, yet still possessed of the power to steal his breath. He had not known such words existed until she taught them to him. Had not known such feelings were possible until she awakened them.
“I love you, Alina. Always.”
Her breathing slowed, deepened, and he knew she had slipped into sleep. He held her close, listening to the soft sounds of her rest, feeling the pulse of her life against his chest.
My mate. My heart. My home.
Eventually, despite his intention to keep watch, sleep claimed him too.
He was flying.
