Page 66 of Star-Born Anomaly
Another name surfaced, one he recognized from his perusal of Wynn’s systems: Dr. Foster Kish.
He was the one she thought of with tears in her eyes, the one who had died before Iax arrived. A slithering sensation trickled through his chest, one he set aside in order to probe deeper into the data banks. The Four would not be the only ones interested in this information. Wynn would also want to know of her colleague’s involvement.
Iax sank his essence deeper into the programming, recording details in his mind to revisit later, when a sound caught his attention. He recalled his essence into himself, then turned, alert. A double-wide door led off into another large space. He strode toward it, signaling for the door to open. Once wide enough, he stepped through.
Cages stacked three high lined the narrow room, most of them empty. A few had prone forms lying inside, animals like the others he had conversed with, all dead.
Except for the one lying outside a cage at the far end. Her weak life force pulsed in a slowing rhythm. Iax advanced toward her, between the stacked cages. The animal blinked at him, her eyes glassy as he stopped and crouched. She jerked her head, and her eyes glinted. After digesting the data banks of this place, he was no longer surprised by their shared trait.
Deep pain racked her body, both physical and from the loss of her mate, the one locked in the cage in front of her.
He took off his glove and reached to touch her jaw.What happened here?
The animal responded with images and surges of emotions—impressions steeped in pain, and horror, and blood.
He could not fix the past, nor help the other animal, but he could help heal her.
Focusing, he sent his essence inside her, but she protested. Confused, he halted the process and waited. Images bombarded his mind. She didnot want to live without her mate, and she would not leave her mate’s corpse behind to escape this place.
Iax’s mind turned to Wynn. He would not leave her either. Everything inside him told him to hurry, to find her, and to keep her from harm. This ran parallel to the animal’s emotions, though primitive.
But he had a word for it now.Mate.
Such a unique concept compared to what he had known since arriving in Sector Ten. Most of his kind did not burden themselves with monogamous relationships, though some did, like two of The Four.
But the animal was in agony. He could not leave her this way. Instead of healing her broken and battered body, with permission he sent his essence to her heart and stopped it.
Those glassy eyes clouded, the light inside them going out a moment later.
A waste.These creatures did not deserve the pain they had been born into. They did not deserve to be treated as commodities instead of living things.
Iax recalled his essence into himself. With her body cooling, it was a similar experience to retracting his essence from a terminal. Once the process was complete, he pulled his glove back on and stood.
That hot emotion resurged inside him. He took in his surroundings with a more discerning glance than he had upon arriving now that he had seen it through the animal’s eyes. All the warnings The Four had given him before his journey came to the forefront of his mind. Humans carried the capacity to do much harm. They were selfish in their search for power and pleasure. They hurt others for their own gain.
Nothing Iax had seen so far disputed that.
Except Wynn. She was the only deserving one, and he would not leave her to her fate.
A venomous sensation boiled in the pit of his stomach and continued to grow the longer he stared at the dead animals. Iax spun on his heel andreturned the way he had come. The ship he had left above needed more of his essence to finish repairs, to be space-worthy once more.
Sawyer Knox should not have touched Wynn without her permission.
Chapter twenty-five
The kilometers disappeared beneath his feet, Earth’s surface now hidden by clouds. It would take a while to get to the orbital station. Carver tapped on the controls, urging the cabin to go faster, but they were already at max speed, and he couldn’t override it with his universal commands.
And every second that ticked by brought him closer to when he should reconnect with the grid.
Bracing his hands against the terminal, he hung his head and took a deep breath. His last minutes on that fucking planet kept playing through his head.
He’d been fighting a Calypson. After seeing the fucker’s eyes glow, after he’d come back to life twice, there was no doubt what he was.
Had he killed him for certain? The agitated sensation crawling up the back of Carver’s neck told him not to assume so.
There was more going on here than he understood. Usually, he didn’t care about that kind of shit. He’d get his orders, complete his task, and move on to the next one.
But for this job? All he had were questions.
