Page 175

Miral, hovering, injured, and faltering at the edge of the battle, jolted.

She sent an urgent neural comm.

Commander, he will explode his core and take out everyone and everything within close radius.

As she spoke, an obsidian and amethyst alpha wolf, magnificent and scary asfokkwith menace, streaked toward Eugene.

Bone.

His body radiated a molten violet-gold, warping space around him. His Lycan fur gleamed like lit rivers of lava across his arms and spine.

He slammed into the synth and wrapped his extremities to encircle Eugene.

A moment’s silence stretched in the vacuum. Eugene thrashed in protest, limbs flailing, apparatus overloading, and screams vanishing into the void.

Xander leaped forward and snarled, his jaws snapping, encompassing Eugene’s head.

BOOM.

The vacuum surrounding them erupted.

A blinding flare of meta-nuke energy detonated in every direction, folding light and sound into a single blast that rocked the quadrant.

TheÚltima Xbucked, systems warning and stabilizers screaming.

Across space, the other Signet Corvettes and the pleasure yacht wheeled through the air, flung off course.

Trailing fire and magnetic shrapnel, their engines strained to correct course and maintain shields from the ensuing churn as Xander, Eugene, and Bone disappeared into the explosion.

28

A Brotherhood Of Wolves

SAVVINE

Inside theÚltima X’sbridge, Savvine jerked awake with a gasp as the ship bucked beneath her.

She lay on a crash couch which swayed, even as the floor shuddered underfoot.

The cockpit console flickered with alerts, and the viewport blazed with a bright light overhead.

She scrambled up, chest heaving, and staggered to the nearest screen.

Her heart stalled as the firestorm rolled outward throughout space, gold and blue radiance spiraling like a newborn star, blooming then imploding into itself with terrifying grace.

‘Nada,’ she whispered, eyes burning as she spotted three bodies floating as if lifeless. ‘Xander.’

She zoomed the holo vision, her hand coming up to her face in horror.

Xander’s scorched frame was limp, his limbs hanging, his glyphs dimmed, sparks flickering across his skin like dying fireflies.

She sighed when his chest rose. Slow, strained, but alive.

‘I’m going to play fetch. You’ll be okay?’

She jerked, only realizing Kaal stood in the room behind her, eyes narrowed on the screen.

As soon as she nodded, he took off.