StarPyre

to be prepared for the possibility of conflict between us. “They are sleeping.”
“Together already?” he asked in a purring hiss, sounding pleased.
I jerked my chin toward the corner where they’d curled up after their time together. The three Vhalxt turned their attention to the pile of blankets.
The leader pointed in my crew’s direction with two of his arms. “Scan the female. I want to check if they’ve succeeded yet.”
The assistant with the medpack approached the sleeping trio and jerked the blankets off their bodies. A wave of fear struck me, freezing me in place. I collapsed to the floor, breathing heavily, as a scream cut through the air.
Auro and Luwyn sprang to their feet with wings flared wide, as if their mere bodies could block the Vhalxt from hurting Tori. Even if all three of us fought just one of them, we didn’t stand a chance, especially when my energy was completely drained.
Tori was screeching and babbling unintelligibly in her language, far too fast for anyone to comprehend. Even her thoughts were jumbled, and the loudest emotion she projected was fear. Fear so intense that she felt she would die just from looking at the Vhalxt.
There isn’t a shoe big enough to squish this spider. I thought that when a spider bites a man, he becomes Spiderman. Not this!
None of her thoughts made any sense to me, so I focused on watching Auro and Luwyn try to defend Tori.
“It’s only been a solar, Vhalxt,” Luwyn hissed. “How are we supposed to impregnate her in such a short time?”
“You won’t even have an accurate reading for another seven solars.” Auro crossed his arms. “Ask our Cosmic Soul.”
“Is this true?” the Vhalxt leader asked, staring at me. “Will it take seven solars for the scanners to register a pregnancy?”
“Affirmative,” I nodded. “Any earlier, and any test will come out negative.”
“Then, I’ll be back in seven solars.”
“Wait!” I shouted over Tori’s persistent wailing.
“Can’t you shut her up?” The Vhalxt leader barked at his assistant.
“I have a few sedatives that could work,” the medic replied.
“Wait!” I dragged myself in front of the Vhalxt leader and tried to stand, despite the torrenting of fear bombarding me from Tori’s mind. After a few attempts, I finally was able to stand upright in front of Tori and my crew, with my wings spread in a warning. “You can’t give her any sedatives. They don’t work well on Swynemi and can hinder any chance of pregnancy.”
Tori . . . I know you hate me, but you must listen to me. If you don’t, your life will be in danger. You need to quiet down, or the Vhalxt leader will forcefully subdue you.
Almost instantly, her screeches dulled to soft sobs.
The Vhalxt leader’s eyes narrowed as he glared at me. If I hadn’t already been fighting a barrage of fear this whole time, I would have grown afraid myself. At the moment, I was willing to do almost anything to make them leave.
“Why haven’t you mated with the female?”
“How do you know I haven’t?”
A cruel smile grew on his face. His two pinchers opened, showing the venom that threatened to drip from each fang.
“You are a Cosmic Soul,” he chuckled. “Everyone knows your kind seldom bonds.” He shot a glance at the pile of blankets pooled on the floor. “Plus, you sat alone while your crew members slept alongside her.”
“That doesn’t prove anything,” I challenged, wishing I could call his bluff.
“Negative,” he purred. “It proves you’ve already given up on your life. You’re willing to grant your crew members a better chance at surviving by bowing out.”
I couldn’t answer him.
Everything he’d said was true. I couldn’t compare to my crew members. They’d already won Tori over, while I’d only succeeded in pushing her away.
“You’re wrong,” Auro interjected. “He was fully prepared to mate with her, but after mating with both Luwyn and myself, our female passed out. He decided to wait until she recovered.”
“It’s barely been a solar,” Luwyn scoffed. “You should know that it isn’t normal for a female to take on more than one mate, and here you are, forcing three upon her at once. She will need time to adjust. We all do.”
“Time isn’t something you have,” the Vhalxt leader chuckled. “You are only useful to me if you can produce food. No offspring means you become food. I’m not afraid of butchering all four of you to feed my swarm.”
“It won’t come to that,” Auro replied, trying to sound diplomatic. Discussing our potential future as feedstock was a much higher-stakes matter than trading merchandise.
“In seven solars, I will return and inspect her,” the Vhalxt leader announced. “If I stop by and find the four of you aren’t together as a happy clan, then whoever is the outcast will become food fodder for my swarm. The rest of you will be allowed to live until the offspring is born and we can confirm its sire.”
“Understood,” I muttered. My crew members acknowledged his ultimatum as well.
Without another word, the Vhalxt and his assistants turned and left the chamber.

Eleven
TORI
Shivering, I hugged my blankets tightly around me, trying to hide from the Vhalxt monsters.
The only things protecting me from the three spider freak-shows were my flimsy shield made of fabric and a wall of pixie men between us.
Their tall, black bodies were a terrifying blend of a spider and human—the definition of what Spiderman should not be. They were a woman’s worst nightmare, a spider that you couldn’t squish. In my case, by the looks of it, even my three males couldn’t take one down.
The Vhalxt’s heads reminded me of ants, smooth and black, but missing the pair of antennae. Instead of two eyes, they had eight, positioned in a line toward the back of their heads. I was afraid of what their mouths could do, equipped with independently moving pincers. Whenever they twitched, I could see venom seeping from the fangs peeking from their hidden mouths. Instead of wings, four arms danced on