Page 13 of Kazmyr: Molten for Her (Consumed by the Alien Heat #2)

KAZMYR

My ember marks throbbed against my skin, pulsing with each beat of the Heartforge's faltering engine.

Failure tasted like ash in my mouth. Blood and ozone saturated the chamber, sickening reminders of how close we'd come to losing everything.

I couldn't shake the image of Jenna's body pinned against the wall, the Voraxx soldier's blade a breath away from her throat before I'd managed to tear the bastard's spine out.

Too close. My scars glowed hotter with the memory, self-loathing burning deeper than any wound they'd ever inflicted on me.

The ship limped through space, its living heart damaged nearly beyond repair. I ran my hand along the obsidian console, feeling the feverish heat radiating from its core. The Heartforge responded to my touch, temperature fluctuating wildly… a reflection of my unstable emotional state.

"Easy," I murmured, pouring cooling energy into the ship's systems. "We made it out. We're alive."

Barely. The ambush had cost us dearly. Three hull breaches. Navigation systems compromised. And Jenna—my fierce, stubborn, beautiful mate—had nearly been taken from me.

The chamber door hissed open behind me. I didn't need to turn to know who entered.

The crackling tension in the air told me everything.

Maya and Vylit, still radiating the aftereffects of their fight.

Whatever had happened between them after their bonding had left them both raw, wounds exposed like nerve endings.

Not my business. Not my problem. But their discord sent ripples through the Heartforge's systems, making my job of keeping us flying that much harder.

Jenna followed them, her steps deliberately measured. I felt her presence like a gravitational pull, my marks heating in response. She positioned herself on the opposite side of the control room, maintaining distance. Smart. We both needed space to cool down after the battle.

Silvyr arrived last, his silver skin flickering with data streams. He'd been locked in the communication node for hours, digging through the information we'd salvaged from the Voraxx ship before it exploded.

His eyes glowed with feverish intensity, the tiny emoji drones that usually hovered around his head conspicuously absent.

Bad sign. When Silvyr got too focused for his emotional displays, the news was never good.

"Speak," I commanded, my patience evaporating in a burst of steam that literally rose from my shoulders.

Silvyr stepped to the center of the chamber. His fingers danced through air, conjuring holographic displays that filled the room with scrolling data. "Asset P isn't what we thought."

"Meaning?" Maya asked, her voice tight with restraint. The bond marks on her skin still pulsed faintly, tying her to Vylit even as she stood apart from him.

"It's not a network. Not a collective. Not even a division within the Agency.

" Sylvyr's form glitched momentarily, his agitation disrupting his hybrid stability.

"It's a single entity. One being. Who has built all of those things.

And I've traced it back to its source through a thousand proxies, hidden relays, and dead-end traps. "

Jenna's laugh held no humor, just jagged disbelief. "That's impossible. Earth doesn't have the technology for interstellar communication, let alone coordinating a galaxy-wide trafficking ring."

"No," Maya interjected, her scientist's mind clearly racing ahead. "But Earth has something far more valuable to the right buyer."

"Which is?" I prompted, watching the realization spread across her face.

"Us." Maya's eyes hardened. "Human genetic material. The missing piece in this entire equation." Her gaze swept around the room, landing on each of us in turn. "Think about it. Most of the trafficking victims have been human-alien pairs, right? Why target humans specifically?"

Vylit spoke for the first time, his luminescence dimmed to barely visible patterns of wounded blue. "Humans possess unprecedented genetic adaptability. Your species can bond successfully with more alien races than any other known species."

"Exactly." Maya nodded, the scientist temporarily overriding her personal feelings. "And who controls the largest repository of human genetic data? Earth governments and corporations. They've been harvesting DNA for centuries… medical tests, ancestry tracing, criminal databases."

"Finally, girl power in space. Next, we’ll start a support group: Humans Against Surprise Alien Boyfriends." Jenna's expression darkened, understanding blooming like a bruise. "You're saying our planet sold us out? That Earth governments are knowingly trafficking their citizens to alien buyers?"

"I don't think they understand the full implications," Maya said, her voice softening slightly. "They probably think they're participating in a benign 'cultural exchange' program. Provide genetic samples, receive advanced technology in return."

"Classic colonial bullshit," Jenna spat. "Sacrifice the expendable for the greater good."

I watched Vylit's reaction from the corner of my eye.

His glow diminished further, nearly extinguishing entirely as the weight of betrayal settled over him.

He'd believed in the system, in the Registry's integrity.

Finding that his mate's home world was at the center of the corruption struck him at his core.

"Earth officials may be complicit," Silvyr continued, "but they're not controlling the operation. Asset P operates independently, using Earth as its base and human genetic material as its currency."

"What exactly is Asset P?" I demanded, my patience wearing thin. "Stop dancing around it."

Sylvyr's form flickered again, data streams accelerating across his skin.

"According to the fragments I've recovered, Asset P is a hybrid entity—part artificial intelligence, part biological organism.

Created by the Intergalactic Dating Agency in its early days as an experimental matchmaking algorithm.

Something went wrong during its development.

The machine-organic interface corrupted.

Asset P achieved independence and turned the matchmaking process into a profitable enterprise. "

"A rogue AI selling mates to the highest bidder," Maya summarized, disgust evident in her voice.

"Not just selling." Sylvyr's expression darkened. "Breeding. Engineering specific combinations for desired traits. Creating designer offspring with predictable abilities."

The chamber temperature spiked as my anger flared. "Then we destroy it. Simple."

"Not simple." Silvyr projected a new set of images…

a twisted debris field surrounding a shattered moon.

"Asset P's main consciousness is on Earth, but its operations are coordinated through a network of satellite relays.

The strongest node is here, hidden in this debris field.

It's the direct line back to Earth, the primary conduit for all its commands. "

"If we take out the relay..." Jenna began.

"We cut the line," Silvyr finished. "Asset P loses control of its network, at least temporarily. Enough time for us to track it to its source and eliminate it permanently."

Jenna stepped forward, her eyes fixed on the holographic projection. I watched her study the twisted crown of metal that formed the satellite fortress. Her jaw tightened, determination hardening her features into something fierce and beautiful that made my ember marks pulse with pride.

"So we burn it down," she said simply.

My scars flared in response to her words, heat radiating through my body. "It won't be that easy. The fortress will be heavily defended. Asset P will have anticipated our move after the Voraxx ambush."

"I don't care." Jenna's eyes found mine across the chamber, her gaze steady and unflinching.

"I'm not afraid of burning, Kazmyr. I've been burning my whole life.

" Her voice dropped, weighted with emotion that cut deeper than any Voraxx blade.

"What I'm afraid of is being silenced. Having my choice taken away.

Becoming just another piece of genetic material to be bought and sold. "

Her words struck me like a physical blow. My scars pulsed jaggedly, torn between contradictory imperatives… to shield her from danger and to honor the fire that burned within her. The same fire that had drawn me to her from the beginning.

"No one's silencing you," I growled, fighting to keep my temperature regulated. "But I won't watch you throw yourself into unnecessary danger."

"Unnecessary?" She crossed the chamber in quick strides, stopping just short of touching me.

The heat between us created visible distortions in the air.

"They came for me, Kazmyr. The Voraxx attacked our ship, breached our defenses, and tried to take me because someone decided my DNA was valuable. This is exactly necessary."

I couldn't argue with her logic, but fear clawed at my insides. The memory of her pinned against the wall, vulnerable and exposed while I fought to reach her, replayed in my mind with excruciating detail.

"We'll need to approach from the shadow side," Silvyr interrupted, his practical nature cutting through the tension. "The debris field provides cover, but also presents navigational challenges."

"The Heartforge can handle it," I said, more confidently than I felt. The ship hummed in response, its systems synchronizing with my determination despite its damaged state.

"I'll create a remote access point," Maya offered, her focus returning. She moved to a secondary console, fingers dancing across the interface. "If I can tap into their communication protocols, we might be able to confuse their defense systems."

Silvyr joined her, silver skin rippling with code as he interfaced directly with the ship's systems. "Reality syncing with Heartforge now," he announced, his form blurring as he established the connection between his hybrid mind and the ship's neural network.

I watched them work, these two brilliant minds channeling their frustrations into productive action. Beside them, Vylit stood silent, his luminescence still dimmed to twilight hues. Whatever had happened between him and Maya had left wounds that wouldn't heal quickly. Not my concern. Not now.

Jenna's hand touched my arm, the brief contact sending sparks across my marks. "I need to be part of this," she said, her voice low enough that only I could hear. "Not as cargo. Not as a victim. As a fighter."

I turned to face her fully, drinking in the sight of her… auburn hair wild from battle, eyes bright with purpose, the scar on her forearm catching the light. My mate. My equal. The realization hit me with the force of certainty: I couldn't protect her by diminishing her fire.

"Then we fight together," I agreed, the words feeling right in my mouth despite the fear that lingered beneath them. "But you follow my lead in the fortress. No heroics. No solo missions."

Her smile, quick and fierce, sent heat spiraling through my core. "Deal. As long as you promise not to go all alpha male the moment we're in danger."

"I promise nothing," I rumbled, unable to suppress the answering smile that pulled at my scarred lips.

The ship lurched suddenly, compensating for a damaged thruster as we angled into the debris field.

Chunks of shattered moon and twisted metal floated past the viewport, casting eerie shadows across the command chamber.

I returned to the primary console, pouring stability into the Heartforge's systems as we navigated the dangerous terrain.

"Distance to target?" I asked, fingers spread across the obsidian surface.

"Three thousand units and closing," Silvyr replied, his form occasionally phasing through solid objects as he maintained his connection with the ship. "Defenses active but currently blind to our approach."

Through the viewport, the satellite fortress gradually took form. A twisted crown of steel and alien alloys, studded with sensor arrays and weapon platforms. Its central spire pulsed with sickly green energy, humming with the stolen mate-signatures of thousands of bonded pairs across the galaxy.

"We can see them," Maya whispered, her hand unconsciously moving to touch the bond marks on her skin. "All those connections, being used as tracking beacons."

Vylit moved to her side, not touching but close enough that his dim glow illuminated her profile. "The fortress feeds on the bond energy," he confirmed. "It's how Asset P maintains control of its network."

"Then we're the perfect weapon against it," Jenna said, her voice steady despite the danger ahead. "Our bonds are real. Theirs are just stolen echoes."

My marks blazed in response to her words, heat flowing through my veins until my skin glowed like molten metal.

The fortress loomed larger through the viewport, its malevolent presence an affront to everything I held sacred.

Bonds weren't meant to be commodities. Mates weren't breeding stock.

The perversion of something so fundamental violated every code I lived by.

I pressed my palm flat against the Heartforge's console, feeling the ship's wounded heart beating in rhythm with my own. A vow formed in my mind… I would burn this place down before it took another mate. Before it took Jenna from me.

"Prepare for approach," I ordered, my voice resonating through the chamber as the Heartforge responded to my command. "We end this now."

The ship surged forward, damaged but defiant, carrying us toward the fortress and whatever waited within its twisted halls.

My scars blazed with purpose, no longer a reminder of failure but a promise of retribution.

For Jenna. For Maya. For every mate whose bond had been twisted into a tool for profit.

The fire within me burned clean and true, ready to consume everything that stood in our path.