Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
EUN
"Eun," a soft voice called my name.
The flesh was sour and tough, but I was hungry. I needed to eat and eat, to devour and grow. I was too small. I needed to be larger.
"Eun," the voice said again, and there was a warm hand on my shoulder, a familiar hand. My mate, my wife... Leija.
Her name swam through my mind as I found her face swimming into view. I sucked in a sharp breath, the smell of death and blood rising up around me. The hunger was raw and real, but my mate was more important. I had to keep her safe. My hands were covered in blood. My mouth tasted like meat.
I'd lost it again.
She wasn't safe from me. I needed to be restrained, held back, until the hunger faded to the background.
"My uncle," I said. "Need to call him."
"We've already left the planet," Leija said. "The MECH's shuttle is automated, and it was able to fly this ship, so we took off while you were... eating. We're going to dock with its main ship soon."
"Taking you home?" I asked, the hunger rising up in me, the smell of meat was too strong.
I needed to eat it. I needed to escape it. I was too small to keep her safe. Too small to protect myself.
"The MECH doesn't know where home is," Leija said, the disappointment heavy in her voice.
I didn't like that. I didn't like any of this. I was too small, too exposed.
"Not safe," I growled. Nothing was safe.
I couldn't protect her, not like this.
I needed to grow.
There was enough food here to do it.
"Eun?" Leija asked, but her voice was small, far away.
I had to hold onto her; I couldn't let her get away.
I reached out, and she was already in my arms, her body warm against mine, her soft hands touching my face as pain seared me.
I reached out with my hair, feeling around me.
Nutrients, wrapped in plastic. I shredded them, my hair wrapping around the pieces as I absorbed them, feeding my hunger, answering my desperate need to be able to protect her, to protect myself.
"Eun!" Leija called again, but I couldn't see her.
I could taste her lips against mine, and I kissed her, my hands on her thighs, pushing her dress up.
I needed her. Her touch was the answer to my agony, the anchor that kept me feeling as I kept reaching out, cracking open more crates around me as I tore into them and found more building blocks to satiate the sudden agony.
There was the steady thud of something metal and heavy running past me, a query that made my mate call out in response, but I didn't want that; she couldn't call out unless it was in pleasure, and she couldn't reach out to anyone to me.
I reached for her center, finding her wet and tender, her legs spread around me, around a part of me that was vulnerable, that would never be weak again.
I would give her all of my vulnerability, all of my seed.
My mate needed me.
I had to be strong enough.
And there was meat to be eaten.