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It was an insistent trill, the pulse of an old-world telephone ring.

Xander jolted in his captain’s seat. ‘Thefokk?’

Miral’s shimmer-skin pulsing with a subtle red warning glow. ‘It’s encoded, with an alien encryption.’

Xander locked eyes with the synth AI. ‘Eugene.’

The sound vibrated across the encrypted lines like a mocking heartbeat.

Miral turned to Xander, whose fists were clenched, shoulders coiled like wire. ‘Shall we answer it?’

‘Naam, and trace it too.’

‘On it.’

As she spoke, his fellow pack members folded around him, apprised of the matter.

Santi leaned back against a console, one boot braced, chewing a toothpick. Kaal stood still as stone behind them, his enormous frame unnervingly still.

The screen bloomed to life, revealing a facsimile of Eugene.

The synth bot lounged in an opulent, high-backed throne, shaped like a lion’s mouth.

He wore a ridiculous crushed-velvet smoking jacket in deep plum with exaggerated lapels trimmed in gold piping.

Beneath it, floral-print pajama shorts in garish neon clashed with the elegant black slippers tipped in crimson tassels.

A cigar burned in one corner of his smirking lips, and his synthetic hair had been styled into a tousled pompadour that gave off unhinged playboy energy.

Sweet stars,Santi whispered into the team’s neural nodes.He’s quite the picture of an intergalactic cult leader with a fashion death wish.

Eugene leaned into the screen, lips curling. ‘Hello, darlings! Did you miss me?’

Xander chose silence, his jaw clenched so tight it rippled through his skin.

Miral narrowed her eyes.

Kaal just glowered, his violet eyes aflame.

‘I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that I’m hosting one of your own.’

Eugene leaned forward, elbows on his knees, voice silk over razors. ‘Trust, she’s been well taken care of.’

The image shifted, and Xander’s chest went still.

Savvine.

She sat slumped in a chair behind Eugene, wrists bound, her face marked red and bruised.

Her lower lip appeared split.

One cheek was red and swollen, and he growled, his spectral form rising from him at the sight of blood on her face and jumpsuit.

Yet her back remained straight. Her chin lifted. Still clear and defiant, her eyes pierced through the feed like arrows.

‘Xander,’ she said, voice hoarse, ‘I’m so sorry. I was reckless and went off course. Please don’t come for me. I’m not worth it. If you can spare it, please focus on saving theEternaand my family.’

A flash of pain carved across Xander’s expression before he locked it down. His fists clenched harder, knuckles bone-white.