Page 21 of Alien Protector’s Bond (Nyxari Bondmates #5)
T he alarm wailed, a shrill counterpoint to the throbbing pain behind my eyes. My vision fractured into jagged pieces, like looking through broken glass. Shadows moved at the edges—guards, automatons, danger.
I blinked hard, trying to force clarity, but the world remained a shifting mosaic. Light sources burned too brightly, casting painful halos while shadows deepened into impenetrable voids.
“We need to move,” Ravik murmured close to my ear, his voice tethered to reality when everything else floated away. His breath was warm against my skin, the subtle scent of his blue-skinned species—something like copper and mountain herbs—oddly reassuring. “Final gate ahead.”
I nodded, instantly regretting the movement as fresh pain lanced through my skull. The interface with the central node had exacted its price. The system had fought back, a surge of protective energy flooding my markings and traveling straight to my optic nerves.
Worth it for our freedom, for the data we’d stolen, but my sight was the collateral.
“How bad?” Ravik asked, his tail flicking with concern. The bond between us thrummed, his steady presence an anchor in the storm of pain and confusion.
“Bad enough,” I admitted, feeling no need to pretend. The bond carried truth whether I voiced it or not. “But the markings still work.”
Through them, I could sense the gate systems ahead—a complex lattice of energy that my eyes couldn’t see. Every circuit, every power node, every security protocol registered as distinct patterns against my skin.
The corridor swayed beneath my feet. Ravik’s arm circled my waist, steadying me. I felt his concern, his determination, his absolute focus on getting us out through the bond.
“I can’t physically interface,” I whispered, feeling the weight of the datapad in my hands. We’d stolen it during our initial escape, a backup plan I never thought we’d need. “But I think I can bypass remotely.”
Ravik’s hand closed over mine, guiding me forward. The warmth of his blue skin contrasted with the cool metal of the terminal we approached. His tail wrapped lightly around my ankle.
“Tell me where,” he said, no question in his voice. Just trust.
I swallowed hard, the significance of that trust not lost on me. It felt like a lifetime ago when this Nyxari warrior had viewed me as a contaminated threat, a marked human female who embodied everything his clan had taught him to fear.
Now he was my eyes. And quickly becoming far more…
“The access port should be on the right side of the terminal,” I said, focusing on the energy signature rather than the blurred shapes before me.
Through my markings, I could feel the faint electromagnetic pulse of the port.
“About mid-way up. I need to connect the salvaged datapad. Then I can feel my way through.”
His fingers guided mine to the port, the pressure of his touch gentle despite the urgency of our situation. The connection snapped into place with a faint click that seemed to travel directly through my markings.
I closed my eyes entirely, finding it easier to navigate by the silver electricity flowing through me than with my damaged vision.
The system unfolded in my mind—not seen but felt, a three-dimensional schematic of energy pathways and security protocols. Complex but comprehensible.
My engineer’s mind translated the sensations into a workable model, identifying vulnerabilities, redundancies, override possibilities.
“There are three relays,” I murmured, fingers moving across the datapad with more certainty than I would have thought possible. “Need to bypass them simultaneously or the lockdown protocols will activate.”
My fingertips tingled with electricity, the sensation neither pleasant nor painful but intensely present. I could feel the system’s defenses as I encountered them.
A moment of concentration, then: “Which relay first?”
“Third,” Ravik answered immediately. The bond carried his certainty to me—he was tracking guard positions, predicting response patterns. His warrior’s training had memorized the security protocols we’d observed during our captivity.
“They cycle counterclockwise. Third relay has a two-second gap in surveillance.”
I directed my focus accordingly, feeling my way through digital architecture with increasing confidence. “Got it. Now second.”
Again, his certainty guided me. The silver energy flowed through my markings, through my fingertips, into the system.
Not hacking—something more organic, a communion between technologies. I wasn’t fighting the system but persuading it, rerouting pathways, creating new connections where none had existed before.
“First relay now,” Ravik urged, his voice tight with tension. “Quickly. Movement behind us.”
I heard it then—the rhythmic thud of armored footsteps. Hammond’s elite guards, drawn by the alarms.
My fingers flew over the datapad, translating the energy patterns into commands. Sweat beaded on my forehead as pain built behind my eyes, radiating outward in waves of increasing intensity.
The more I pushed my ability, the more my vision deteriorated, static crawling from the periphery inward.
“Almost—” I started, then the system yielded under my touch. The energy redirected, circuits bypassed, security protocols temporarily diverted. “Got it!”
A deep mechanical groan, followed by the hiss of hydraulics. The final gate was opening, a rectangle of darkness against the harsh compound lighting.
Beyond it lay Arenix’s wilderness, our slim chance at freedom.
“Go!” I said, yanking the datapad free, stuffing it into the pack slung across my shoulder. We might need it again if my vision continued to deteriorate.
Ravik’s arm closed around my waist, half-carrying me through the opening. Metal groaned in protest as the gate attempted to reverse its cycle, fighting my override commands.
Shouts echoed behind us—someone had spotted us. The acrid smell of plasma weapons charging filled the air, making my nostrils burn.
“Run,” I insisted, finding my feet. “I can see enough.”
A lie, but a necessary one. My vision swam with fragments of light and dark, pain consuming the edges.
But I could sense freedom ahead, the natural energies of Arenix’s complex ecosystem just beyond. A little further.
Ravik’s hand found mine, his fingers interlacing with my own. I felt his determination, his fierce protective instinct, and his absolute refusal to fail through our connection. Emotions so clear they might as well have been my own.
We stumbled forward as the gate began to close behind us, the override failing under security countermeasures. The gap narrowed, machinery screaming with effort.
We cleared it with seconds to spare, the massive metal barrier slamming shut with a thunderous clang that reverberated through my bones.
Cool night air hit my face, sweet after the recycled atmosphere of Hammond’s compound. For the first time in hours, I felt something besides pain and fear.
Hope.