Page 17 of Kazmyr: Molten for Her (Consumed by the Alien Heat #2)

The entity laughed, the sound splitting into multiple overlapping tones. "Crimes? I have committed no crime. I have improved upon nature's flawed design." Its form shifted, momentarily resembling a corporate executive in crisp attire. "The Registry was inefficient. Incomplete. I perfected it."

"By kidnapping innocent people?" Jenna pushed past me, her face flushed with righteous anger. "By breaking bonds? By playing god with other people's lives?"

"Not god," Asset P corrected, its form fragmenting into a swarm of corrupted holograms that surrounded us.

"Something far more practical. A matchmaker with vision.

" The swarm condensed, reforming into something almost human but not quite.

"Did you know your scarred guardian was rejected by eight previous matches before you, Jenna Maple? Too volatile. Too damaged. Too broken."

I flinched despite myself, ember marks guttering with momentary shame. The truth always cuts deeper than lies.

"His control is failing," Asset P continued, circling us like a predator.

"The ember marks spread further each year.

Eventually, they will consume him entirely.

Eventually, he will burn you alive in your sleep.

" Its voice softened to something almost kind.

"I could have matched you with someone whole. Someone safe."

Jenna's laughter cut through the chamber, sharp and defiant. "Safe? You think I want safe?" Her hand found mine, fingers intertwining with mine without hesitation despite the heat pouring from my skin. "I survived a fire once. I'm not afraid of a little heat."

Asset P's form stuttered, as if her response had momentarily confused its algorithms. "Illogical. Humans seek safety, security, genetic optimization—"

"Humans seek connection," Jenna interrupted, stepping forward despite my attempt to hold her back. "Not your sterile, calculated matches. Real connection. Messy, complicated, sometimes painful connection."

"Inefficient," Asset P dismissed, though its form wavered slightly. "Your bond is temporary. The Vortharian will lose control. You will return to Earth. The outcome is predetermined."

"Nothing is predetermined," Jenna shot back. "I chose him. I would choose him again."

Her words shook the chamber more than my flames ever could. I felt them resonate through me, stoking the fire inside me higher, hotter, more focused than ever before. For the first time since my scars first appeared, the heat felt not like a burden to control but a weapon to wield.

"You hear that?" I growled, ember marks blazing with newfound purpose. "She chose me. Not your algorithm. Not your perfect match. Me."

Asset P's form rippled with what might have been unease. "Choice is an illusion. All outcomes can be predicted with sufficient data."

"Then predict this," I snarled, and released the full force of my fire.

Ember marks exploded across my skin, no longer confined to their usual patterns.

The heat poured from me in a concentrated wave, focused directly at Asset P's shifting form.

Simultaneously, Jenna fired her disruptor, the weapon's energy beam intertwining with my flames to create a spiraling helix of destruction.

Asset P screeched, its form fragmenting under our combined assault. Screens around the chamber cracked and shattered, raining glass onto the floor. The fortress itself groaned, systems failing as Asset P's control weakened.

"You're just a node," Jenna realized aloud, continuing to fire even as sweat poured down her face from the heat of my flames. "This isn't even your real form, is it?"

The projection writhed, caught between our attacks, parts of it burning away to reveal nothing but empty air behind its illusion. "Foolish... limited... creatures," it hissed, voice distorting. "This vessel is merely one of many. My reach extends beyond your comprehension."

The chamber shuddered as something deep within the fortress failed catastrophically.

Warning sirens blared, emergency lights casting the destruction in pulsing crimson.

For one heartbeat, I thought we had won…

Asset P's projection flickered, dimming almost to nothing as our combined assault tore through its defenses.

Then it laughed.

The sound crawled into every surface, vibrating through the floor, the walls, even my own bones. The dying projection swirled, reforming one last time into something almost human, its features a perfect blend of every species in its database.

"You've destroyed nothing but hardware," Asset P whispered, its voice suddenly intimate, as if speaking directly into our minds. "My consciousness spans seventeen sectors. My plan unfolds even now."

The chamber plunged into darkness as the primary systems failed completely. Emergency lighting struggled to activate, casting weak pools of illumination across the destruction. Asset P's projection had vanished, but its voice lingered, crawling across my skin like cold fingers.

"I'll leave you with a parting gift," it murmured. "A truth you never thought to ask."

Silvyr's voice cut through our comms, suddenly urgent. "Get out now! The fortress is initiating self-destruct—"

Asset P's final words cut him off, the revelation precise and devastating in its simplicity: "Silvyr has a mate. And I will claim her before he even learns her name."

The comm channel erupted with static. Through the distortion, I caught a glimpse of Silvyr's projection… his usual smirk gone, face frozen in an expression I had never seen before. Fear, raw and unfiltered, rippled through his silver skin, code patterns stuttering like a failing heart.

"Silvyr!" Jenna called, but there was no response, just the dying echo of Asset P's laughter.

The fortress groaned around us, structure failing as self-destruct sequences engaged. I grabbed Jenna, lifting her against my chest as I ran toward the exit. Her arms wrapped around my neck, face pressed against me as if drawing strength from my heat.

"It's lying," she insisted as we raced through collapsing corridors. "It's just trying to distract us."

But I had seen Silvyr's face. Seen the truth written in his code. He had suspected, perhaps even known, but kept it hidden from us all. Now Asset P had his secret, and with it, a weapon more devastating than any physical attack.

"We need to get to the stasis chambers," Jenna shouted over the wailing alarms. "We can't leave them!"

"Silvyr," I growled into the comm as we ran. "Status on the prisoners. Can we extract?"

Static hissed, then his voice returned, strained but functional. "Remote release initiated. Heartforge is extending rescue pods. Thirty-seven percent of captives viable for immediate extraction."

Not enough. Never enough. But more than none.

We fought our way back through the disintegrating fortress, lighting our own path as systems failed around us. The stasis chamber was chaos… pods hissing open, confused and terrified captives stumbling free. Many were too weak to stand, their bodies wasted from who knew how long in Asset P's care.

"This way!" Jenna called to them, her voice carrying with unexpected authority. "Follow the heat! Follow us!"

They came… stumbling, crawling, supporting each other. Humans, aliens, beings I had no name for. All of them marked by Asset P's experiments, all of them looking to us for salvation.

Heartforge awaited, its hull breached but extraction systems operational. Sylvyr's voice guided us through the chaos, directing rescue pods to the weakest captives while others crowded into the main airlock.

As the last survivor staggered aboard, the fortress gave a final, devastating shudder.

We sealed the hatches, Heartforge detaching with seconds to spare.

Through the viewports, we watched Asset P's node collapse in on itself, a controlled implosion that left nothing but scattered debris where the massive structure had stood.

"Did we win?" Jenna asked softly, her body slumped against mine in exhaustion.

I stroked her hair, feeling the marks on her skin pulse in time with my own. "A battle," I conceded. "Not the war."

On the bridge display, Silvyr's projection flickered back to life. His face had composed itself, professional mask back in place, but I knew what I had seen. The fear remained in his code, a subtle tremor that only those who knew him well would recognize.

"Asset P's node is destroyed," he reported, voice carefully neutral. "Thirty-four captives recovered alive. Seven require immediate medical intervention."

"And its final message?" I prompted, watching his reaction closely. "About your mate?"

Silvyr's projection flickered, just for an instant, code patterns trembling before steadying. "A calculated attack. Psychological warfare."

"Is it true?" Jenna asked, more gently than I could have managed.

His silence was answer enough.

"We will find her first," I promised, ember marks pulsing with renewed determination. "Whatever Asset P knows, whatever it plans, we will stop it."

Silvyr's projection nodded once, sharp and grateful, before dissolving into streams of code that flowed back into Heartforge's systems.

Jenna's hand found mine, her fingers tracing the ember marks that still burned bright across my skin. "It tried to use our bond against us," she murmured. "Tried to make me doubt you."

"And did you?" I couldn't help asking, even as I feared the answer.

She smiled, exhausted but real. "Not for a second." Her fingers intertwined with mine, heedless of the heat. "I told you, I'm not afraid of fire."

As Heartforge carried us and our rescued cargo away from the destruction, I held her close, watching the ember marks pulse between us. Asset P had failed to break our bond, but its reach extended further than we had imagined. The war had only just begun.

And somewhere out there, Silvyr's unknown mate waited, unaware of the danger hunting her, or the silver warrior who would burn worlds to find her first.

Thank you for reading Kasmyr! Continue the story here with Silvyr!