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“It doesn’t sound like I’ll live, though.” She sank into her seat, taking a few minutes to let this news sink in. It only made her head throb, and a tremble spread out from her stomach.

She caught hold of Helix and snuggled him. Kitten cuddles always made life a little less shitty. “Is there anything else I need to know?”

Rexx turned his seat to face her. “One more thing. It’s growing.”

Every muscle inside her body tightened. “When you say growing, you mean, it’s developing? Like a... fetus?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s spreading something out from the implant. And it’s getting stronger. It’s fixing onto bits of your DNA and, I don’t know, learning from it. Whatever it’s doing, it’s evolving. That’s how Angel described it to me.”

Daisy slid her tongue over her dry teeth. “Rexx, get this thing out of me right now. I’m not giving birth to some freakish alien mutant that corrupts my DNA and turns me into a giant, fucked up breeding pod. Get. It. Out.” Her hand went to her neck. She scratched her nails across the skin. She didn’t feel any different. How could there be something growing inside her?

“Stop! You’ll only hurt yourself.” Rexx took hold of both of her hands and clasped them in his. “I can’t just cut it out. That will kill you.”

An icy terror flooded through her veins. Her breathing turned shallow, and her eyes glazed. This nightmare refused to compute.

The cats seemed to sense the growing tension and fear. Asshole grabbed Quark by the scruff of the neck and dashed out. He returned for the other two before sprinting out of the cockpit.

“Daisy, you doing okay?” Rexx said.

“No! How can I be okay when I have a... a who the hell knows what, growing inside me. I can’t do this. We have to get it out.” Was this all she was good for, being some alien’s breeding experiment?

“Say something. You’re shaking.”

Daisy barely heard Rexx. She wanted to crawl into the nearest hole and hide forever. All she was fit for was being used as an experiment, turned into a swollen, distorted breeding pod for the Gente.

“Daisy, please. No one likes what’s going on inside you.”

Her gaze snapped to Rexx. “You think?” She shook with the force of keeping her shit together. She was failing. Her past was roaring back at her, kicking her in the gut.

“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.” Rexx pressed a finger to her forehead.

Daisy grabbed the shattered pieces of her sanity and kept herself together with the sheer force of her will. Johnny had almost broken her with his brutal actions after she’d lost their baby, but she’d pulled through that nightmare. She would fight this, too. She’d fight it and win. There was no way this was how things ended for her.

Rexx’s soft touch on her cheek brought her back. The agony in his eyes lanced into her heart. This was Rexx. He’d understand. If she was brave enough, she’d share everything that happened to her. One day. But not right now.

She cleared her throat, feeling it clogged with suppressed tears. “Is there a reason the Gente chose me for this experiment? Do you think they had to find the right candidate?”

From the stunned look on Rexx’s face, it wasn’t the question he’d been expecting. “No! They had an experiment to run, and they picked you because you were there.”

She sucked in a deep breath, hoping that was true. “It was bad luck? Nothing else?”

Rexx’s forehead wrinkled, and he tipped his head as if trying to understand the meaning behind those words. “Yes. And we’ll find a way through this. The Gente are space scum. Everyone knows that. We’ll get it out. You’ll be fine.”

Would she be fine? Could Rexx really protect her from this?

Her hand went back to her neck. She was losing this battle. Had the Gente discovered something inside her? Some deformity that meant she was perfect for their tests for their freaky implant DNA manipulator?

“Hey, don’t go again. Stay with me,” Rexx said.

She blinked at him, and a stray tear slid down her cheek. “I’m right here.”

“No, you’re not. But you soon will be. As soon as we find out what’s wrong and get it fixed.”

His small smile gave her a pain in her chest. He didn’t know everything about her. Rexx always said she was perfect. She wasn’t. She was a mess.

Daisy couldn’t see any way out of this. She was screwed.

***