Chapter 21
DADDY
The day before had been full of surprises, from discovering Sheila’s drones, to Twink seeing me in my Furker form, to feeling how deeply he cared and how he was willing to put his life at risk to help me, to having a human boyfriend.
How lucky was I to have found this incredible man my first night on Earth.
How fortunate to find someone who not only appreciated the form I took to appeal to him, but also the one that was so foreign to him.
It was bliss holding him in all my tentacles, being allowed to consume him entirely with my body.
And it was even better sensing how relaxed he was, nestled in my hold, despite the stress of everything.
I could sense his concern in his kiss before I headed off on my mission, which only filled me with more determination to hunt Sheila down to protect him and his world from any harm she could inflict.
But in the back of my mind lingered the fear that I would fail and she might pull me away from my precious Twink.
I made my way through the sewers once again, following the same route as yesterday.
I knew my ex well enough to know she would change her location to evade discovery, but her hasty move meant she’d be sloppier in covering her tracks and scent.
As I drew near the spot where I’d been attacked, I kept my guard up, just in case, but…
no movement. A few yards away, I found a tunnel that dead-ended at a platform.
The garbage strewn across it—newspapers, old furniture—all covered in slime and bile, pointed to this being her former nest. Knowing Sheila, trekking across the universe to stalk her ex had been something of a vacation, surely preferable to staying home and dealing with all our bloodthirsty kids.
Her sweet fragrance lingered in the air, as though summoning me.
Beautiful memories flashed in quick succession: The playfulness when Sheila and I would bite at each other during our courting.
The way we would kill Darkons, the Vorcons’ main predators, together.
Blissful moments of stargazing until I became hypnotized by those magnificent yellow eyes…
I shook off the reverie. I knew better now. Those weren’t beautiful memories, but part of a lie Sheila had constructed to lure and entrap me in her love nest.
I crawled onto the platform, taking in the scent, partly to keep it fresh in my memory, partly to chase the sensations it gave me to be back in that mindset, being with her.
I was doing it again…so I pulled Twink’s backpack off and leaned close, taking a whiff, to pull me back from the memories Sheila’s scent had revived.
To remember his hold.
What it felt like to have him wrapped up in my tentacles and arms.
To obsess over his every breath.
I retrieved a container and scooped up some of Sheila’s fluids.
Her drones would be primed for it, as I had been, and this would deter an attack from them.
Once I’d packed it up, I tossed the backpack on and started back through the sewer.
It took a moment for the scent I’d picked up from her nest to fade, allowing me to more acutely detect the more recent scents that would lead me to the whereabouts of her new nest, but it quickly became clear that I was on the path she had taken the day before.
I followed every morsel I could sense before I heard water rippling in the distance. It reminded me of what I heard just before the barking Lab.
I retrieved the fluids I’d packed. Slathering the gunk across my Vorcon flesh, I moved fast, the way I would have as a Vorcon trying to hide from a potential mate.
By the time the barking sounded, I’d managed to cover myself to my ankles.
The barking steadily faded as the Lab approached, whimpering and tucking its head against my leg, assuring me that my plan had worked.
A few pigeons swirled around me. I passed some squirrels and rats, though I didn’t spot anything close to the mass of drones I’d encountered the day before.
Using Sheila’s scent and the drones as my guide, I continued through until I came to another nook with another platform.
Sheila’d set up equipment all around—computers and monitors from her ship—though it didn’t seem she’d had time to create a new nest. She wasn’t here, so she was either looking for materials for her new nest or keeping watch to ensnare me.
Nearing the platform cautiously, I noticed a smaller bird—a finch—with a collar around its neck. It chirped as it nibbled on breadcrumbs on the floor beside the equipment.
I kept an ear out as I approached her computer. While working on my escape from her home planet, I’d managed to hack into her system with my arm cuff. She’d changed her security settings, but Furker tech was superior to that of the Vorcons, and it didn’t take me long to log in.
She still had a map up from when she was last in her system—the layout of Harmony Springs.
As I compared the map to the one I’d been drawing of the tunnels, a dot caught my attention.
It marked the location of this chamber I was in, and it shifted about.
After a moment, I noticed a pattern—its movements synced with those of the finch.
A tracking mechanism must’ve been attached to the finch’s collar.
From this dot, lines were drawn, scattered around, but one was much thicker than the others, running from the exit I’d taken from the tunnels the day before, to the Kaylog.
My Vorcon fingers pricked with sensation, the nerves along my spine rushing with anxiety before I saw another line running from the Kaylog to… the Harmony Springs Bookshop and Café.
What would’ve been dread in my Furker body was pure rage as a Vorcon. Despite my attempts at evading detection, this finch had managed to follow me, and not only did Sheila know now where the Kaylog was, but even worse, she knew where Twink would be.
I retrieved my cell from the backpack, struggling with these hands to use the buttons before finally getting his number through.
As I put it to my ear, nothing.
I checked the phone.
No signal.
Fuck, these tunnels must’ve blocked the humans’ inferior tech.
The intensity of the Vorcon rage was so sharp, I reared my head back, screaming in fury at the thought that she might do anything to my Twink.