Page 30 of Bikar

“It means his genetic line ends with him, as his kind do not mate outside their species. Their biology prevents it.” Taking a deep breath to find my center, I ask. “Do you truly think I would find out a Jega has taken up residence on Viri 9, and not do my due diligence to ensure he is not a threat to my mate, as well as the rest of you humans?”

The incredulous tone of my voice must finally penetrate Heather’s ire, because she slowly relaxes before looking over at Bambi with a wince. “I may have jumped the gun a little.”

Huffing out a laugh, Bambi rolls her eyes in exasperation, even as her scent betrays how nervous she is. “Ya think?”

“Fine, I guess the sneaky snake can stay, but he better stay the fuck away from me,” Heather barks before spinning on her heel and stomping out of the room.

CHAPTER 27

BAMBI

Learning a Jega is living on our new sanctuary planet isn’t how I imagined surprising Bikar with lunch would go, but here we are.

I walk over to him slowly and offer the tray in my hands full of goodies. “I wasn’t sure if you’d had anything to eat yet, so I asked Myev for suggestions on what you might like.”

His eyes widen in surprise before his face loses every hint of stress, and he reverently takes the tray from my hands. “You thought to ask for my preferences?”

“Ehm, yes? Hopefully, I got everything right.”

“Thank you, little doe. Your thoughtfulness is greatly appreciated. I am sure I will enjoy whatever you have prepared for me.” His heartfelt appreciation makes me self-conscious, so I hurry to change the subject.

“So, there’s one of those snake things where we’re going?”

Pausing between bites, he looks at me speculatively before answering my question. “Yes. His name is Bhastas and will cause no harm to you or any of your human friends. What I told your Heather is true. For one of his ilk to be banished from their homeworld to live amongst a species they consider lesser, likeRukuhks, he must have disobeyed a direct order from his nest Queen.”

Walking around to the comm center, I slide down until I’m sitting against it, ignoring Bikar’s confused look at my sitting on the floor.

“I don’t remember much from the abduction. Just the stench of rotted meat and blackness… but I do remember what came after. Gwen remembers waking up after being pulled out of the hibernation pods, but Ruby and Rowan don’t. They didn’t regain consciousness until we were all tossed into the holding cells on the snake ship. I wasn’t…” My voice cracks, and I wet my lips before forcing the words out. “I wasn’t that lucky. I’m not sure why, but I woke up on and off the entire time I was in that pod.”

Looking up at him, his face is horrified as he swallows audibly. Reaching over, he sets what’s left of his food down on top of the comm console before leaning forward and scooping my unresistant body into his arms.

Settling back into his chair, he tucks two fingers under my chin, guiding my eyes to meet his. “Oh, little doe. What you speak of…”

When his words trail off and his face creases with sympathy—it hits me.

“They did it on purpose, didn’t they?”

“I am so very sorry, my little Starshine. Yes. Yes, they did. That practice is an outdated one, as there are technologies that can monitor the pod inhabitant for mental strain, assimilation, and… discrepancies while in stasis. Those Jega did not put your body fully into a state of suspended animation; they only initiated a partial sequence.”

Wrapping my mind around this new information doesn’t take as long as I would have thought, and I decide to shrug it off. There isn’t anything I can do about it now, so getting upsetwould be a waste of time, effort, energy, and emotion. It’s done, over with, and in the past.

“They were mentally torturing me for fun—probably to see how much I could take before my mind broke.”

“It is the most likely probability that I can quantify, yes.”

BIKAR

Rage, unlike anything I have ever known, suffuses my entire being. The depravity of some species should not surprise me any longer… butthis?

My mate was trapped in a hibernation pod, unable to move, talk, or evenbreathe—the gelatin within providing all necessary biological needs, including oxygen. Her mind would have been screaming at her that she was drowning, even though she wasn’t.

Lesser beings have gone mad after such torture.

For that is what it was.

Torture.

Bambi’s calm voice continues, and I force myself to focus on her words. This is not a story she will ever speak of again. “I don’t know how much time passed from the time they stole us to the time they woke everyone else up… but it was a very, very long time. Now that I know a little more about life in general, it had to be decades.”