Page 37

D ust motes danced in the single beam of light penetrating this cramped, salvaged hole I was forced to call a command center. The air stank of stale sweat, ozone, and the quiet desperation of the few who remained loyal.

Months. Months I had spent clawing back from the brink, scavenging the ruins of my own compound, hiding like vermin from Nyxari patrols, gathering the faithful few who understood the true threat.

Phillips moved like a ghost in the shadows, stacking the meager supplies.

Human tenacity, I told myself. Or maybe just the stubborn refusal to die on this cursed rock.

I turned the crystal shard over in my fingers. Smaller than my thumb, salvaged from the inferno Rivera and her alien lover unleashed. It pulsed faintly, blue and rhythmic, warm against my skin. Leverage? No. It was more than that now. It was the key.

They thought we were broken. I stared at the crude map scratched onto salvaged plating, the 'X' marking their settlement burning into my vision.

They celebrated their pathetic alliances, their false harmony.

They welcomed the mountain savages, embraced the contaminated, blind to the rot spreading among them, weakening humanity from within.

Duvane. Carter. Rivera. Jen. Traitors. Every last one. Changed, corrupted, willingly sacrificing their own kind for alien acceptance. They preached balance, understanding. I saw only surrender. Infection.

But they didn't destroy everything. My gaze fixed on the glowing shard. They missed this. Power. Control. The answer was here. The key to purging the contamination, to securing our future.

My followers were few, yes. The weak-willed scattered after the compound fell. But those who remained? Hardened. Loyal. They saw the truth. Humanity must stand alone. Pure. We rebuilt quietly. We watched. We waited.

My gaze shifted to the corner, to the crude cage fashioned from Seraphyne wreckage.

Inside, slumped against the cold metal, sat my prize.

Not the young hunter we lost, but a warrior of imposing build.

Striking blue skin, powerful even bound and wounded.

That ridiculous reddish-blond hair, braided with crushed flowers, fell across his face.

But his lifelines... they were what mattered.

"The crystal reacts to their energy, Phillips," I said, my voice low. "Faintly, yes, but undeniably. Stronger with this one than the last captive. Different from Subject C..." That failure still stung. I wouldn't repeat it. I would understand this connection. I would control it.

The blue-skinned warrior stirred, lifting his head. Golden eyes, blazing with defiance even through the haze of pain, met mine. Contempt. No fear. Good. Fear could be useful, but defiance... defiance could be broken.

"Prepare the interface rig," I ordered Phillips, turning away from the alien's glare. "Carefully. Minimal power. Start with baseline resonance readings." We would understand. We would control.

I looked from the defiant warrior in the cage to the glowing shard in my hand. Let them have their fragile alliances, their corrupted harmony. I held the true key. I had endured the fall. I would learn the secrets of this power.

And I would purge this world.

He’s supposed to be my enemy.

Instead, he might be my only way out.

I came to uncover Hammond’s secrets.

Now I’m shackled in the dark beside a Nyxari warrior whose golden lifelines burn brighter than the sun.

Ravik doesn’t trust me.

He barely speaks.

But when our captors push us past the edge, his strength is the only thing keeping me standing?—

and his touch is the only thing keeping me sane.

The deeper the experiments cut, the more our bodies respond.

Resonance. Heat. Something ancient neither of us understands.

And when our lips finally meet…

I know nothing will ever be the same.

He’s sworn to protect the secrets of the ruins.

I’m the key that could unlock them all.

And together?

We just might shatter a world.

Stranded on an alien world. Bound by ancient power.

Each step toward survival forges a bond no heart can escape. Don’t miss the next book of the Nyxari Bondmates!

Keep reading with Alien Protector’s Bond!