Page 46 of Alien Assassin's Heir

I reach out, brushing my hand against hers. Just a graze. Enough to still her restless movements. Her skin is soft, warm, trembling. “She’s… bright,” I say quietly. It’s the only word I can find that won’t break me.

Her throat works. She nods once, lips parting. “She’s everything,” she whispers. And her voice cracks right down the middle, betraying every wall she’s tried to keep between us.

The silence stretches. My claws curl against my palm, aching to reach for her, to demand answers, to tear down the lies I can taste hanging in the air. But I don’t. Not tonight. Not when I see the fear in her eyes. Not when Solie’s laughter still lingers in the walls.

So instead I stand, push my chair back gently, and head toward the door. I pause in the frame, glance back once. Luna sits there, shoulders hunched, face shadowed. She looks like a woman breaking under the weight of secrets. And I know the feeling too well.

Outside, the night air is sharp and cold. I inhale it deep, trying to clear the storm inside me. It doesn’t work.

Back in my hideout, I don’t send a report. Not this time. The courier, the tower, the Coalition—they can wait. I open my private log instead, claws tapping the keys with deliberate care.

One word.

Suspicion.

I stare at it for a long time, the letters burning into my vision. Then I lock the file and shut it down, the hum of the old terminal fading into silence.

I lie back on the cot, eyes wide in the dark, and admit what I’ve been too afraid to say out loud.

She might be mine.

And if she is… stars help anyone who tries to take her from me.