“You cannot be here,” Lekla said in a trembling voice, her tone pleading. “This is—”
“This is what you feared so much that I would read from your mind?” I asked in a disdainful tone while gesturing at what they had labeled the Well of Knowledge. “Have you learned nothing after all this time? We are not your General. We have no interest in conquest or domination. We pledged to assist you in ridding the galaxy of the beast your people have allowed to bring so much pain, senseless death, and destruction for decades, and who is now pushing your own species to the brink of extinction. The Vanguard doesn’t give a shit about your little secrets. And I am of the Vanguard.”
With these words, I ended the mind trap. The females reentered their bodies with a start. They looked around then at themselves, seeming shocked to be unscathed. Lekla stared at me with great confusion laced with fear and a lingering panic.
“Your secrets are safe,” I confirmed, answering her unspoken question. “As long as you remain true to this temporary alliance, you and your people will have nothing to fear from us. But betray us, seek to harm any single one of my Vanguard family, I will make you watch as I mind-control your Queens and your Generals into killing each other. And then I will personally destroy what’s left of your mind, slowly, and painfully. You have no idea the depth of the horrors I can conjure up. Consider yourself warned, rebel leaders.”
Without another word, I walked out of the lab and returned to stand watch by my female.
The next few days were the most excruciating of my life. I ached to see my woman’s beautiful eyes, hear her quirky laughter as she told me to stop being such a jerk to people, hold her in my arms, and feel her delicate hand tracing circles on my chest where humans had nipples then ask me in a deadly serious tone if my non-existent nipples were hardening. But above all, I just needed to know she was okay, that this mutation wasn’t harming her, and that she wouldn’t hate the end result.
My days became a routine of sitting by my woman while hours trickled at a snail’s pace, only interrupted by Wrath dragging me to the mess hall to share meals, or for the daily update meetings.
On that front, things were moving at lightning speed. Khutu had won the propaganda war for us. In the nearly two months we had spent on Dogeer since rescuing the Queens, the Kryptid’s former military leader had not returned to his homeworld. While he had initially sent numerous recordings to the population to keep them loyal to him, they had grown fewer and more far between. The images had first focused on his face and then merely centered on the thriving hatchlings of his new Queen. That led us to believe that whatever modifications he had done to himself, the General had changed too much to be seen by his people.
Whatever the cause, we didn’t care. The end result was for the population to entirely shift all their hopes and loyalty to the rebellion’s Queens. Daeko also became more visible than ever, forbidding the troops remaining on Kryptor to answer Khutu’s call to join him in crushing the rebellion, and inciting those still by his side to defect and return home to protect the population.
All off-world shipments of goods of any nature were blocked as they would only serve the fallen General’s evil plans. Kryptor had no trade partners, except the tribute it used to collect from annexed planets. However, Khutu’s senseless plundering of the planets’ resources or of their actual people for his experiments had pretty much put an end to even that.
With our prey more than ever isolated, we decided to move up our attack plans. The Vanguard and the entire Coalition fleet were to set out in the morning. With a number of the vessels not being as fast as the one we had used for our mission, it would be two weeks before their arrival. Nevertheless, some of the patrol vessels would be trickling in sooner over the upcoming days to help us pinpoint Khutu’s location. We had already narrowed down a few places, but we were fairly certain which one was the correct lair of the General.
In the meantime, the rebel Workers did everything in their power to finalize the construction of docking bays, shuttle hangars, and a large enough Gathering Hall to accommodate all the unit leaders of our fleet. While most troops would remain on their respective ships, a couple of areas reserved for socializing had also been accounted for.
I only cared about my Linette. I was sitting next to her chrysalis, watching videos on my datapad about the most exotic and romantic places in Coalition space and reading up on them. Once my mate woke from her slumber, I intended to recreate for her as accurate a simulation as possible. Then my head jerked left when I heard a snapping sound. After eight long days since my rebirth—although they felt like a hundred—the shell of my mate’s cocoon was finally beginning to fracture.
I tossed my datapad to the side so abruptly, it struck the ground with a loud clank and slid over the hard floor. Chances were I’d broken it, but I couldn’t care less. Kneeling next to my woman’s shell, I all but held my breath as I watched cracks like giant veins spread over the smooth and dark surface.
“Linette is awakening,” I mentally warned Rogue. “Come in fifteen minutes or so, but stay in the bedroom until I say otherwise.”
I added the last comment in a stern voice. The camera they’d installed in the bathroom to watch over me had long been removed. Like me, my mate would come out of her shell completely naked. I’d hate having to put out the young doctor’s eyes for looking at what was mine—especially considering I was quite fond of him.
“Understood. Be there in fifteen,” Rogue replied.
The excitement in his voice completely devoid of any actual worry helped appease some of mine. Both his research and those performed by Liena concluded no harm should come to her.
The snapping and cracking sounds multiplied exponentially until the main fissure on top began to heave under the internal pressure trying to force it open. I fought the urge to help free Linette of her confines, knowing it was an essential effort to help revive her dormant and new muscles. A delicate hand finally peeked through the small opening. I could have wept with relief at the sight of her alabaster skin, although it looked slightly paler than usual.
My eyes widened when her nails suddenly extended into claws. They still possessed the same nacreous color but had taken the shape of vicious talons that would beautifully mess up any fool that came within range. For some fucked up reason, that turned me on.
A larger section of the shell opened with a loud cracking sound, and then my woman’s arms came out. Palms resting on each side of the cocoon, Linette began pushing herself up. My heart soared with relief and gratitude at the sight of the wet locks of her long, black hair dangling in front of her face, partially obscuring it. A smattering of shiny, dark chitin scales elegantly adorned her shoulders and tapered down the length of her slender arms. Along her nape and down her spine, thick chitin plates like my own, formed a sort of exoskeleton along her spine.
Sensing my presence through the primal fog that enshrouded her mind, Linette’s head snapped towards me. She hissed menacingly, an adorable set of baby fangs peeking out. Her eyes were a little bigger than before, the irises having expanded to fill out most of the space, although I could still see her sclera. Thankfully, her eyes had kept their pupils and their lovely midnight blue color, unlike mine that were fully black. I remained still, transfixed by the otherworldly beauty of my woman and the sprinkling of small scales framing her forehead.