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Michio stared down at me as he thrust the bone of the wing again and again, ripping through brain tissue and splitting the skull. He held my gaze as he pushed harder, shoving the clawed tip out through the Drone’s gaping mouth. A landslide of red lumps dribbled over the Drone’s distended jaw.
Without looking away, Michio removed the gruesome weapon, shoved his hand into the back of the skull, and pulled out what was left of the Drone’s brain.
If he intended on eating that, there was a good chance I’d throw up and never kiss him again. Eating brains certainly wasn’t Michio’s style, but sweet mother, the terrifying look etched across his splattered face made me question the extent at which he was willing to go to ensure the Drone would never come back from the dead.
It wasn’t until he hurled the mangled brain into the gorge that he shifted his eyes away from mine and to the rope coiled around his other arm. I released a sigh of relief, so fucking ready to plant my feet on solid ground.
He left the Drone’s corpse hanging over the ledge, and sidled a few feet away from it to hoist me up. His blood-slicked hands flew over the nylon and closed the distance between us. I ascended as quickly as I’d fallen, and in the next breath, his arms were around me, suffocating me in the intensity of his embrace.
The bodies of the spider guards scattered the pavement behind him, sightless and unmoving. The report of gunfire ricocheted every few seconds from the dam’s entrance, but the hum of the surviving spiders was dwindling. Our guys were winning. God, I had so many questions, but as Michio’s arms grew tighter around me, I decided all of it could wait. He needed this. I needed this.
My body instantly melted in his arms as I listened to the labored rasps of his breaths, captivated by the trembling in his muscles and the tornado of emotions storming across his face. He’d single-handedly given my daughter a future. In turn, he’d given the world a gift. There would never be enough words to tell him how thankful I was, but I would spend the rest of my life, however short that was, pursuing his happiness.
He carried me away from the ledge and toward the street, his boots squishing through the remains of aphids and stepping over the bodies of the six spiders. Some were missing eyes. Most of the heads were caved in as if a vengeful fist had crushed their faces and destroyed their brains.
“You killed all of them with your bare hands,” I said in numb awe, staring up at his blood-stained face. “While holding onto the rope.”
He settled me on the sidewalk and attacked the knots on my arms, freeing them with superhuman speed. “There’s thirty or forty more spiders at the gates.” He moved to the rope around my pelvis and legs, his breaths growing faster, louder, his voice throaty and clipped. “They have to die.”
Shit. Were they thinking on their own now? With the Drone no longer controlling them, what happened to their minds?
The commotion of gun shots and shouting at either end of the dam grew quieter by the second. A moment later, all I could hear was the sound of Michio’s heavy breathing.
The final knot fell away from my arms, and I snapped them up, reaching for him. But he jerked away, moving down my legs to fumble with the remaining rope. A tremor bunched through his shoulders, and a seething hiss pushed past the clench of his fangs. He was still so very angry, his skin stretching to contain the torment churning inside him.
I couldn’t take his pain away, but I could relieve at least one of his worries. “I felt the spiders humming under my skin. You know, like the aphids, but different. But right now, the only hum left is yours. The spiders are dead, Michio. Are you able to feel that, too?”
He raised bloodshot eyes to my face, his hands shaking against the rope on my legs. “I’ve only ever been able to feel you. I’m the only one who can.” He scrubbed a hand over his jaw, his fingers smearing through the blood as he looked away. “I’m the only one who could track you.”
“How? Because of the venom?” I thought of the breeding facilities and the spiders that would likely be guarding those locations. “Can you track the spiders the way you track me? Or do you already know where the women are?”
“No.” His jaw set. “My ability to sense you has nothing to do with the venom. I don’t know where the women are, and the spiders can’t telepathically sense one another or me.” He pulled the last of the rope from my body and jumped to his feet, his fingers dragging over his scalp, his voice scathing with anger. “I can feel you because I consumed your blood.”
