Page 1

Chapter1

SIX WOMEN. One choice.

Tor’Vek stood motionless, his posture upright, the steel-cold weight of the restraints pressing against his wrists. The metal bit into his skin, amechanical vise designed to remind him of his current powerlessness. For now, he could only wait, assess, calculate.

In addition to the restrictive cuffs, the scientist he’d come to kill, Selyr, had forced a bracelet around his left arm. Metallic and intricately designed, it had small jewels embedded along its surface, no doubt part of the control system.

The bracelet pulsed, alow but persistent sound emitting from it, aresonance that seemed to sink into Tor’Vek’s bones. Asurge of heat rippled from the band on his wrist, spreading upward through his arm, and into his chest like a living force.

He ignored it. His mind was focused, his objective clear: eliminate Selyr.

The chamber was dimly lit, astark contrast to the harsh glare of the six women kneeling before him. They shivered, some crying, some staring blankly into nothing. Others trembled so violently their muscles could no longer hold them upright. None of it mattered. Not tohim.

He was an Intergalactic Warrior, conditioned beyond the primitive struggles of fear, hunger, or weakness. This moment—this ridiculous spectacle Selyr had devised—was nothing more than an obstacle between him and his mission.

And yet…

His gaze swept over the women, methodical and detached. They were all human. Soft, delicate creatures, foreign to the brutal landscapes of war. He cataloged them automatically:

One sobbed openly, her face buried in her hands.

Another whispered desperate prayers to a deity that did not exist beyond her world.

The third was frozen, her gaze unfocused, her mind fractured beyond repair.

But the fourth—

His dark eyes locked onto her. She alone met his gaze, her expression impossibly calm. Acomposed facade. She sat straight, her breathing steady, the golden cascade of her hair spilling in perfect waves down to her waist.

Tor’Vek narrowed his eyes slightly. Was she like him? Logical. Controlled. Intelligent. He had spent centuries analyzing individuals, categorizing them based on their efficiency, their predictability. Weakness was transparent. Chaos was disorder.

Yet, her expression did not match the hysteria of the others. Was she calculating her next move? Weighing her odds? The alternative was that she was merely suppressing panic, but that seemed unlikely. It had to be somethingmore.

It was the only reasonable explanation.

His choice wasmade.

“I choose her.”

His voice was even, absolute. He gestured to the blonde.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then a cold, knowing chuckle echoed from the shadows.

Selyr.

The scientist stepped forward, his lean frame wrapped in a high-collared coat, his yellow eyes gleaming with curiosity. His silver-gray hair was swept back, lending him an air of detached precision. “Fascinating choice, Tor’Vek,” he mused, tilting his head. “Do you believe she is like you? Cold, calculated, rational?” Apause. “Or is this an experiment of yourown?”

Tor’Vek said nothing. Selyr’s interest was meaningless.

“Well then.” Selyr smiled thinly and gestured toward the guards. “Dispose of the others.”

The blonde stiffened beside him. She had not moved, not spoken, but a violent tremor ran through her. Then, with a sudden, desperate motion, she lunged forward. “No!” Her voice cracked as she stumbled, reaching toward the others as though sheer will could pull them from their fate. The guards were faster, shoving her back before she could take more than astep.

Tor’Vek caught her reflexively, his hands firm but impersonal as he steadied her. She trembled against his hold, her breath ragged, her body tensed as though she might try again.

His mind calculated the inefficiency of her action. Afutile attempt. But his chest tightened regardless. The bracelet at his wrist thrummed, the sensation curling beneath his skin like an echo of something foreign.

She was not likehim.

He ignoredit.

Selyr let out a slow, mocking sigh, stepping further into the room. “Ah, Tor’Vek. You are a model of restraint, as always. But let’s make things more interesting, shall we? Since you two are now... connected, perhaps introductions are in order.”

He turned to the human first, his yellow eyes gleaming with amusement. “This, my dear, is Tor’Vek. Awarrior, ascientist, aman so disciplined he’s convinced himself he is beyond the primitive urges that define lesser beings. An exemplar of control. Unyielding. Cold. Untilnow.”

His smirk widened as he shifted his gaze to Tor’Vek. “And this, Tor’Vek, is Anya. Ahuman—soft, emotional, entirely ruled by her instincts. Protective, as you saw earlier. Asurvivor, no doubt, but hardly your equal. Oh, but that’s the fun of it, isn’t it? Opposites attract, or so theysay.”

Selyr chuckled, taking a slow step forward, his gaze flicking between them with unveiled amusement. “She is fragile in all the ways you are not. An open book of emotions, fear and hope tangled together in an ever-shifting display. And yet, here she stands. Alittle broken, perhaps, but resilient. Ido wonder, Tor’Vek, how long before that cold shell of yours cracks in her presence.”

He turned slightly, addressing Anya now, his tone dripping with feigned sympathy. “And you, my dear, have found yourself bound to a warrior who believes himself untouchable. What a predicament. Will you adapt? Or will you shatter?” He tapped a finger against his chin, as though considering. “Afascinating question, wouldn’t yousay?”

Selyr let his gaze linger on them a moment longer before exhaling in exaggerated satisfaction. “Ah, but we’ll find out soon enough. The two of you, forced together, bonded in ways neither of you understand yet. This is going to be delightful to watch.”

Shortly after, Tor’Vek was led to a private chamber, the human at his side. His restraints were removed and the door sealed behind them, muffling the sound of retreating footsteps. The air in the chamber was stale, thick with the weight of unspoken words and uncertain fates. The stark walls bore no indication of time or purpose, save for the dull hum of hidden machinery embedded within them. He took in the details with a practiced eye, noting every seam, every potential weakness. But his attention was drawn back to the woman beside him, her breathing uneven, her presence unsettling in ways he did not fully understand.

She exhaled sharply, as though she had been holding her breath for an eternity. Her arms wrapped around herself, fingers pressing into her skin as though she could contain the tremors racking her frame. Her breath hitched, uneven. “They’re gone,” she whispered, the words barely more than a breath. “They were just—” She stopped, swallowing hard, blinking rapidly. “Itried... Ishould have done something. Ishould have fought harder for the other women.”

Her hands clenched into fists, her nails digging into her palms as if the pain could stabilize her. She turned her gaze toward him, her light blue eyes darkened with something deeper than fear—grief, raw and unfiltered. Achoked sound escaped her, half-swallowed before it could fully form. The weight of loss pressed down on her, her body trembling with the effort of holding itin.

“You just stood there,” she accused softly, atremor beneath the words, anger and sorrow tangled together. “You didn’t even flinch. Do they mean nothing toyou?”

Tor’Vek regarded her in silence. Her reaction was inefficient, illogical. And yet, beneath the carefully maintained walls of his mind, the bracelet pulsed again, asensation curling inside him, unfamiliar and unbidden.

His gaze flicked toward her, assessing.

Anatomically, she was unharmed. No visible injuries. No immediate signs of malnutrition. But the telltale tightness in her muscles, the way she clenched her fists, the rapid rise and fall of her chest—

“Are you unwell?”

The question came out clinically, but it was a question, nonetheless.

She snapped her gaze toward him, startled. Her eyes—deep with emotion—searched his face, as though trying to decipher whether he was mockingher.

“I…” She swallowed, the sound barely audible. “Idon’tknow.”

Her voice was soft. Strained. Fragile.

She was not like him. Unfortunate.

Tor’Vek turned, scanning the room. It was stark but functional. Asleeping platform, awater source, and a control panel embedded in the far wall. No immediate exits beyond the sealeddoor.

He retrieved a container of water, then hesitated. His gaze flicked to her again.

She was still naked.

It was… inefficient.

Without a word, he stripped off his black shirt and extended it to her. “This will regulate your body temperature.” It was a practical decision. Clothing was a necessary barrier against the chill of the chamber, nothing more. And yet, as she hesitated before taking it, astrange sense of obligation stirred within him—an instinct he did not recognize. He ignored it, as he ignored all distractions, but the bracelet at his wrist pulsed, as if aware of the anomaly in his thoughts.

Her fingers trembled as she took it, her breath hitching. “Thankyou.”

He did not respond.

The bracelet pulsed again. Asharp, insistent hum against hisskin.

Once again, he ignored it.

A few hours later, the door slid open. Selyr entered, his expression alight with scientific intrigue. “Settling in?” His focus turned to Tor’Vek. “You may be pleased to know that the bracelet has paused your Final Flight.”

“What is Final Flight?” Anya asked.

“It is the final stage of life for an Intergalactic Warrior” Selyr answered readily enough. “They experience horrific heat flashes until they eventually incinerate themselves and anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby. That won’t happen as long as he wears the bracelet.”

Tor’Vek’s jaw locked. “You toy with forces you do not understand,” he said, voice cold enough to crack titanium. “Your experiments will kill you long before they kill me.”

Selyr ignored the comment, his gaze flicking toward the bracelet. “Ah, but you still believe you are in control, don’t you?” He pressed a setting on the device heheld.

The bracelet burned.

Tor’Vek did not make a sound, but his jaw locked as an explosive pressure detonated in his chest and surged outward through every nerve. It was not pain. It wasfury.

Raw, red, all-consumingrage.

He staggered back a half-step, fists clenching at his sides as his breath came faster. Something inside him—something cold and ancient—snapped its restraints.

His eyes locked on the wall. He wanted to destroy it. Crush it. Tear it apart until nothing remained but dust and ruin. His pulse thundered in his ears, his muscles tensed, his vision edged withheat.

Anya’s breathing hitched. “What’s happening tohim?”

Selyr’s smile sharpened. “Ah. There it is. Rage, Intergalactic Warrior. Magnificent, is it not? The oldest instinct of your kind—aggression, barely buried beneath all that logic.”

Tor’Vek’s body trembled with his attempt to control it. His hands opened, closed, opened again. Every breath became a battle.

Selyr altered another setting. The fury intensified.

“Stop,” Anya whispered, voice raw. She stepped forward instinctively, reaching out before catching herself. “Whatever you’re doing to him,stop.”

“Fascinating, isn’t it?” Selyr mused, as detached as ever. “How quickly bonds form, even when only one side wears the chain.”

Tor’Vek dropped to one knee, bracing his hand against the floor, jaw clenched hard enough to crack bone. The bracelet seared like a brand, its pulse a war drum in his blood. Control. Control. Control .

Selyr finally, mercifully, deactivated the setting. The burning rage eased—but it didn’t vanish. It curled inside him like a sleeping beast.

Tor’Vek exhaled through his nose, sweat beading at his brow. He had not lashed out. He had not surrendered.

But he had come close.

Selyr stepped toward Anya. “Now, let’s complete the set,” he murmured. Before she could recoil, he seized her wrist and swept it against Tor’Vek’s bracelet. Instantly a matching bracelet appeared on her wrist, glowing in synchronization.

She let out a sharp cry, yanking her arm back. The moment their bracelets linked, the pulse between them intensified, alive current that threaded rage across a fragile bridge of connection.

Tor’Vek stiffened. The bond was active. He could feel her now—confusion, fear, resistance—and beneath it, aspark of something deeper: sympathy.

Anya gasped, her body rocking with the force of the emotional surge. For a moment, she looked as if she might collapse.

Selyr’s yellow eyes gleamed. “Ah… much better. Let us see how long you last, Tor’Vek. Or rather, how long your companion lasts.”

With a flick of his fingers, he reactivated the rage setting on Tor’Vek’s bracelet. The effect was instantaneous. Tor’Vek’s muscles tensed like coiled steel, the fury surging through him again like a molten current.

Anya jerked in place, flinching as though struck—not from pain, but from the intensity radiating off him. Her own bracelet pulsed, but she felt no rage herself. Only the echo of his. It poured into her senses like a violent tide, foreign and monstrous and terrifying in its magnitude.

She stared at him, breath caught in her throat, overwhelmed by the sheer force of what he was holding back. It was unbearable and she could sense how hard he fought not to give in to the overwhelmingfury.

Selyr’s boots echoed as he turned and walked away, the door hissing shut behindhim.

Silencefell.

Tor’Vek stood motionless, trembling from the effort it took not to destroy something. Anything.

Anya didn’t move either, keeping her distance, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “What the hell wasthat?”

He didn’t look at her. “Anger,” he said hoarsely. “Amplified. Unrelenting.”

She swallowed hard. “You looked like you wanted to kill something.”

“Ido.”

She wrapped her arms tightly around herself, edging backward toward the corner of the chamber, breath shaking. “Idon’t know what these bracelets do,” she said, voice tight with defiance, “but I saw the way you looked at me. Whatever this is, whatever it’s making you feel—I’m not going to let you hurt me. Or attack me. Or fuck me. I’ll fight you to the death if I haveto.”