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Not something. Somethings.
“Nymphs,” I whispered.
Jesse turned his neck, giving me his strained profile. “Where?”
I lifted the bottom of my shirt to my neck and hugged his naked back. “Smack in the middle of that battle.”
Would the aphids attack or protect the nymphs? Could the nymphs command the aphids?
Pulling in a deep breath, I projected the visceral order to the aphids. Go.
Roark pressed his chest against my back and rested his whiskered cheek along mine. I soaked in his masculine energy with each inhale and repeated the command with each release of my lungs. Go. Go. Go.
The aphid links bristled in response, then one by one, they began to retreat.
But so did the icy beacons of the nymphs. If I was identifying the varying sensations correctly, holy fucking shit, there were at least ten of them.
“The nymphs are leaving.” I struggled to breathe in my excitement. “Ten fucking nymphs, you guys.”
“Bloody hell.” Roark’s whisper shuddered around me. “Den’ lose them, love.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to separate them from the aphids as I broadcasted my command. “I don’t know how to isolate them. They’re following my order. All of them are retreating.”
Jesse pivoted on his heels to face me. “Let’s go collect the nymphs.” He gripped my neck. “But don’t—”
“Don’t fall off a cliff? Don’t get pregnant? Don’t die? Got it.” I tugged my shirt back in place.
I got a flash of teeth right before he slammed a hard kiss against my lips. As far as kisses went, it was glorious in its absence of elegance. He broke away, jumping to his feet and pulling me with him.
The house stood somewhere behind us and out of sight as we ran forward, away from Shea, away from the nymph in her care, our feet flying with the wild hope of saving more.
If we cured them all, Jesse and Roark would have thirteen women to protect. How would we travel? How would we train and feed them all?
I was getting ahead of myself, but I couldn’t help it. My body buzzed with energy, fueled by the aphids’ thundering hunger, the nymphs’ whispers, and my own anxiety.
Ahead of me, Jesse and Roark sprinted side by side, the sheer size of their upper bodies blocking my view. By the time we reached the melee, I’d clamped down my jaw so tightly my molars ached.
We skirted around the outermost boundary of a field. Keeping to the shadows and out of view, I fell in line beside Roark and stared down the shaft of my anchored arrow.
The full moon illuminated the expanse of golden grass, trammeled and crushed beneath a brutal battle.
Men flung knives, fired arrows, and swung axes at the aphids. Not five men. Ten? Twenty? Where had they come from? Had they led the aphids here? Were they herding the nymphs?
They zipped in and out of the nearby grove, making it impossible to count their numbers. There were twice as many aphids blurring around the men, swiping claws, and stabbing with mouthparts.
At the center of it all, stood two, four, six…holy shit, I was right. Ten nymphs. The chaotic brawl clashed around them, but they didn’t engage, didn’t flinch when aphids bumped up against them.
This went against any assumption that aphids attacked nymphs. Why would they? They couldn’t bite one another and survive. But the aphids didn’t go out of their way to protect them either. Some just plowed right over the nymphs to chase the men.
The men were definitely the reason the aphids were here.
A bald man trained a crossbow on an aphid that was barreling down on another man. He reached for the trigger, but a nymph stood in his line of fire. I sucked in a breath, preparing to scream.
He moved around her and fired, missing her and hitting the aphid between the eyes. I released a huge fucking sigh.
Neither the aphids nor the men noticed our arrival. But the nymphs did. The only thing they moved was their heads, turning in my direction and fixing ten pairs of milky eyes on me.
The clawing pain in my stomach returned with a vengeance. I bit down on my tongue to hold back a cry, my fingers struggling to keep the nocked arrow in place.
Roark rested his hand on my back, stroking a calming path up and down my spine. “Okay?”
I gave a jerky nod, my body shaking in agony.
The nymphs turned as one, eerily synchronized, and started walking. All paths led to me as their gaits quickened, walking, then running, then heaven help me, charging.
“Run,” I said to Jesse and Roark. Then louder, “Run now!”
“Shut up.” Roark raised his sword.
“You gonna take off their heads? If they bite you—”
“Not leaving ye, love.”
I looked at Jesse. His jaw tightened beside his nocked arrow as he shook his head.
Pain in the fucking asses. I lowered the bow and took off, making a beeline toward the approaching nymphs.
