But the soldiers weren’t lying dead on the floor. They stood with their weapons dangling from their fingers and their heads tipped to the side in question. All of them. In the same way.
Iax had done this. The person who could be so sweet to her had caused pain—transformations none of them had asked for. And she understood he would continue to do it.For her.
Her stomach swam with dread and doubt while his arm continued to guide her forward. They found a bank of lifts and separated into smaller groups to travel downward. The door opened, and they all poured out onto a hangar level.
With his body so close, she felt Iax stumble before his feet hitched in an uneven gait.
She reached for him instinctively, supporting his weight to help him.
“What’s happening?” She scanned his face, not liking what she saw there. “Why do you look ill?” Not only were his cheeks flushed, but his entire head had taken on a pink hue.
They continued down the corridor, but his eyes flicked to hers. “I have coalesced with too many and spread my essence too thin in a short period of time.”
Her fingers flexed on his flight-suit. “You mean when you change them?”
“Yes.”
Her feet halted in place. “Then stop it!” She smacked his hard chest. “Stop doing it.”
He shook his head once, then urged her forward. “I require more than myself for the success of this mission.”
Her fingernails curled into the material of his flight-suit. That may be true, but her stomach swirled with anxiety every time she caught sight of their glinting eyes. For Iax, it felt like who he was, but everyone else? They hadn’t been this way before he’d arrived on the ship.
The door ahead opened, revealing a massive hangar. A shimmer of recognition went through her when she saw the administrator’s yacht through the opening. The section of defenders ahead of them filed through first, then she, Iax, and Sawyer before the rest. Some bodies lay on the deck, prone, and she wasn’t sure if they were alive or dead.
The group’s footfalls echoed in the quiet of the hangar, a contrast to the shouting and chaos she’d experienced when she’d arrived. Apopresounded, and she tossed a glance over her shoulder, noting that one of the changed defenders sealed the door shut with a blast of his weapon.
Squeezed between Iax and Sawyer, they headed to the stolen yacht. She braced her heels against the smooth deck, pulling on Iax’s arm to stop their progress.
“What are we doing?” she asked when Iax acknowledged her resistance. “What will happen to them?”
The unit halted. Everyone stared at her with blank, glinting eyes.
“The ship is big enough to carry them all home,” Iax replied, voice level.
She shook her head, words stalling on her tongue.
“It is where they want to go,” he added.
A strangled sound left her throat at his certainty. “Maybe now. But not before you arrived.” If she didn’t want to go to Sector Ten, none of these defenders would. “I bet none of them would have consented to this.” Especially Sawyer. His loathing had been clear.
Her fingers flexed on Iax’s arm. “Can you change them back? Free them?”
His brow furrowed slightly, as big a frown as she’d ever seen on him.
“Change them all back, Iax.” She squeezed his forearm for emphasis. “I demand it. Now.” If she had any sway with him, and she believed she did, then he must listen to her. “I won’t go willingly otherwise.”
And still he hesitated.
“Please,Iax.” How to get through to him? “You touched them without their permission.”
He straightened with a nod, then stepped away from her to face the expressionless group. None of them moved, but was that fear she saw in Sawyer’s eyes?
She swallowed her growing uncertainty. “Have you changed anyone back before?”
“No.” He took another step away from her.
Her stomach twisted. “Will it be safe?” She licked her cracked lips.
