Page 11

T he ventilation shaft seemed narrower than before, the darkness more oppressive.

Or maybe it was just the awareness of what we were attempting that made each meter feel like a kilometer.

Ravik moved behind me, his massive frame somehow navigating the tight space with surprising grace.

He stared at me like I wasn’t what he expected.

Like maybe I was something he wasn’t supposed to want—but did anyway.

I focused on the path ahead, my markings providing a ghostly awareness of the energy flows surrounding us. We’d waited until the precise moment when the patrol patterns created our three-minute window.

The masking paste Ravik had prepared covered every inch of exposed skin, reducing the chance of detection by both guards and sensors. So far, it seemed to be working. The cool weight of the translator stone tucked securely inside my boot was a constant reminder of the risk we were taking.

I could only trust that Ravik had managed to conceal the other stone as effectively somewhere on his own person, despite his limited clothing.

“Junction ahead,” I whispered, the words barely audible but Ravik’s acute hearing would catch them. “Security hub to the left, command center access two junctions beyond.”

I felt his acknowledgment through our growing bond—a slight pulse that somehow communicated understanding. Three days ago, I would have recoiled from that connection. Now, I found myself leaning into it, using it as another tool for our survival.

We paused at the junction, listening. The soft hum of electronics mingled with the distant voices of Hammond’s men.

I closed my eyes, letting my markings guide me.

The silver patterns beneath my skin pulsed in response to the technology around us—reading energy signatures, data flows, security protocols that my conscious mind couldn’t perceive.

“Drone patrol, thirty seconds,” I breathed, the warning rising from instinct rather than direct observation.

Ravik’s hand closed around my ankle—a silent question. Left or right?

I tapped his hand twice. Right passage. The drone would sweep the left corridor first.

We slid into the ventilation system just as the maintenance drone hummed past the junction we’d vacated.

The command center was close—I could feel the concentration of systems, the pulse of Hammond’s salvaged computers interfacing with the ancient ruin technology.

My markings reacted more strongly here, almost painfully aware of the crude integration Hammond had forced.

The shaft widened suddenly, opening into what must have been a ventilation hub—a circular chamber about two meters in diameter where multiple shafts converged. Since entering the system, I could sit up, stretching my cramped muscles.

Ravik unfolded beside me, his head nearly touching the ceiling even seated. The dim emergency lighting cast his blue skin in strange shadows, highlighting the golden lifelines that traced patterns similar yet different from my own silver markings.

“The command center is below us,” I whispered, indicating a large grate in the floor of the hub. “That access point would put us directly above their main console.”

Through the grate, I could see Hammond’s operation in detail—three men monitoring salvaged screens, communications equipment patched into the ruins’ power system, security feeds showing different sections of the compound. The information was invaluable, but not why we’d come.

“There.” I pointed to a smaller shaft branching off to our right. “That leads to the east section. According to the security feeds, there’s minimal patrol presence in that quadrant. Possible exit point.”

Ravik nodded, studying the layout below us with tactical precision. “How do we access the security controls?”

“We don’t need to,” I replied, my markings tingling as they sensed the systems. “If I can connect to the main power conduit, I can create a surge that will temporarily disable their security grid. It won’t last long, but?—”

A flash of red light from below cut me off. One of the monitors was blinking an alert. A guard leaned forward, frowning.

“Motion sensor triggered in Section C,” he reported. “Probably another system glitch.”

“Check it anyway,” another responded. “Hammond wants full sweeps on any anomaly.”

My heart rate doubled. Section C—where we’d entered the ventilation system. If they found the loose panel...

“We need to move,” I breathed. “Now.”

I turned toward the eastern shaft, but Ravik grabbed my arm, his golden eyes intense in the dim light. I didn’t know which of us leaned in first. All I knew was that neither of us pulled away.

He pointed down at the command center, then at a blinking node on one of the security panels.

“Power junction,” he mouthed silently.

Understanding dawned. If that went offline, it would create a much larger distraction than my planned power surge—and potentially cover our tracks regarding the ventilation entry point.

I nodded, but uncertainty must have shown in my expression. How would we disable it from here?

Ravik’s response was immediate and unexpected.

He reached up, wrenching a small pipe loose from the hub’s ceiling—some kind of ancient fluid conduit, long dry but still connected to the hub’s structure.

With careful precision, he maneuvered it through the grate, using it like a spear to strike the junction box below.

The effect was instantaneous. Sparks erupted from the panel, followed by alarms. The guards below shouted in confusion as screens flickered and died. Emergency lighting activated, bathing the command center in pulsing red.

“Move,” Ravik hissed, already turning toward the eastern shaft.

We scrambled forward, adrenaline lending speed to tired muscles.

Behind us, chaos erupted as Hammond’s security system experienced cascading failures.

My markings hummed with satisfaction, resonating with the disrupted technology as if appreciating the poetic justice of Hammond’s jury-rigged systems turning against him.

The eastern shaft narrowed again, forcing us to crawl single-file. Ravik’s bulk made the passage challenging for him, but he moved with determined efficiency. Every time our hands brushed, the world seemed to narrow. It wasn’t alliance. It wasn’t war. It was just… us.

I counted junctions as we passed them, matching them to the mental map I’d constructed. Third right, second left, straight past two more junctions...

A barrier loomed ahead—another grate, this one leading to what appeared to be a storage area. Beyond it, I could make out what might be our exit: a maintenance hatch connected to the original ruin structure, less heavily guarded due to its distance from the central compound.

“There,” I whispered, hope rising since our capture. “That’s our way out.”

I reached the grate, examining the fasteners. Old, rusted, but still secure. We’d need leverage to break through, and the noise would almost certainly alert?—

Ravik’s massive hand closed over mine, pulling me back slightly.

With his other hand, he extracted a crude tool from his clothing—a piece of metal he must have salvaged from our cell, shaped into a prying device.

His foresight should have surprised me, but I was beginning to expect such tactical thinking from him.

He worked silently, easing the fasteners loose one by one. Each small sound seemed magnified in the narrow space, but the distant alarms from the command center continued to mask our activities. The last fastener gave way, and the grate sagged forward.

“Wait,” he cautioned, examining the storage room beyond. “Motion sensors, there and there.” He indicated small devices mounted in corners.

My markings responded before my conscious mind processed the information, silver patterns flaring as they sensed the security system. “They’re linked to the main grid,” I whispered. “Currently in diagnostic mode due to the system failure. We have maybe two minutes before automatic reset.”

“Enough time,” he rumbled.

We slipped through the opening, dropping silently to the floor below.

The storage room was filled with salvaged equipment—parts stripped from The Seraphyne , mixed with items Hammond’s team had recovered from the ruins.

In another situation, I would have been fascinated by the technology.

Now, it was just another obstacle between us and freedom.

The maintenance hatch stood on the far wall—a remnant of the original ruin architecture, predating Hammond’s occupation.

My markings thrummed with recognition, responding to the ancient technology.

This was part of the original environmental regulation system, not unlike what Selene and Kavan had discovered in the eastern ruins.

“I can open it,” I said with certainty, moving toward the hatch. My hands reached for the access panel beside it, markings glowing silver as they interfaced with the dormant system.

The connection was immediate and unexpectedly intense.

Energy surged through my markings, not painful but overwhelming—like suddenly hearing a hundred voices after prolonged silence.

The ancient system recognized me, or rather, recognized the interface my markings represented.

Patterns of light chased across the panel, responding to my touch.

The hatch slid open with a soft hiss, revealing a narrow passage beyond—an emergency exit route from the original facility. Freedom was literally one step away.

Relief crashed through me like a physical force. “We did it,” I breathed, turning to Ravik with a smile I couldn’t suppress.

His expression changed—the stoic mask slipping to reveal something else entirely. He watched me like he was memorizing every inch—like he expected me to disappear before morning.

In that moment of shared triumph, the barriers between us thinned. The bond surged, no longer just a background hum but a bright, singing connection. My markings responded to his lifelines, silver patterns brightening to match his golden ones.

I don’t know which of us moved first. Perhaps we both did. One moment we were standing apart, the next his arms were around me, lifting me effortlessly. My hands found his shoulders, then his face, the texture of his blue skin both alien and somehow familiar beneath my fingers.

When our lips met, the bond exploded into something new—a resonance that echoed through every silver line beneath my skin.

His mouth was warmer than I’d expected, the sensation both strange and exhilarating.

His tail wrapped around my leg, an instinctive gesture of possession that should have alarmed me but instead sent heat spiraling through my core.

My back pressed against the wall beside the open hatch, Ravik’s powerful body caging me there.

One massive hand cradled my head while the other gripped my waist, strong enough to crush me yet carefully controlled.

The disparity in our sizes should have been awkward, but we fit together as if designed that way, the bond guiding us into perfect alignment.

I felt his desire—not just physically but through the connection between us, a burning need that matched my own.

My fingers traced his lifelines, drawing a rumbling sound from deep in his chest. In response, his hand slid beneath my shirt, tracing the markings along my ribs with a reverence that made me gasp.

Everywhere he touched, my markings flared with pleasure, creating feedback loops through the bond. I could sense his amazement, his conflict, his growing need. My leg hooked around his hip, pulling him closer, all rationality subsumed by the chemistry between us.

A distant crash shattered the moment. Voices echoed down the corridor outside the storage room—the security team expanding their search pattern after discovering the damage to the command center.

We froze, the danger instantly re-prioritizing our focus. Ravik set me down gently, his breathing as ragged as my own. The bond hummed between us, subdued but forever changed by what had just happened.

“They’re coming,” he whispered, golden eyes still dilated with desire but mind clearly shifting back to tactical concerns.

“Later,” I promised, the word carrying weight beyond its simplicity.

He gave a short nod, understanding all I hadn’t said. Then we were moving again, slipping through the hatch into the passage beyond. The door sealed behind us, hiding our escape route as the patrol burst into the storage room.

We’d found our way out of Hammond’s compound, but navigating what had just erupted between us would be far more complex.