Page 9 of Vylit: Glowing for Her (Consumed by the Alien Heat #1)

MAYA

T he bitter taste of betrayal flooded my mouth as I stared at the comm array.

My DNA had been bartered like fucking currency in some cosmic meat market without my knowledge or consent.

The Agency—the same organization that had supposedly matched me with Vylit—had painted a target on my back, turning me into catnip for pirates across the galaxy.

Seventeen percent survival probability. The number burned into my brain, clinical and cold, a death sentence dressed up as a statistic. What else had been engineered without my permission?

A dark thought slid through my mind. Before I could think things through, I turned to Vylit, and felt my heart twist with doubt. Was anything between us real, or was I just responding to carefully calculated biological manipulation?

"You knew." The accusation slipped out before I could stop it, my voice sharper than I intended. "You knew they were trafficking in human DNA."

Vylit's glow flared bright with alarm, patterns racing across his translucent skin in frantic, defensive bursts. "Never. I would never participate in such dishonor."

"Then explain how I ended up matched to you when I never signed up for alien fucking Tinder!" I stepped back, creating distance between us that felt simultaneously necessary and painful. The Nest Moss still covering me contracted anxiously, sensing the tension.

Vylit moved toward me, then stopped when I flinched. His massive hands opened in a gesture of supplication that struck me as both alien and achingly familiar.

"Earth governments have exchange agreements. They sample DNA during medical procedures." His voice dropped lower, vibrating with intensity. "I did not create this system. I only sought my complement through legitimate channels."

"Legitimate?" I laughed, the sound brittle enough to crack. "My government sold my genetic material to alien matchmakers without my knowledge, and you call that legitimate?"

Silvyr glanced up from his interface, silver skin reflecting the emergency lights in metallic ripples.

"Actually, most humans are completely unaware of the Xenobiological Cooperation Treaty.

Your World Council signed it in exchange for medical technology.

" He shrugged, emoji drones manifesting briefly around his head to display tiny question marks. "Fine print, et cetera."

My hands clenched into fists. The scientist in me wanted to categorize this betrayal, dissect it into manageable components. The woman in me wanted to scream until my lungs collapsed.

"That doesn't make it right." I pressed my palm against my chest, feeling my heart hammer beneath the living moss. "I'm not some lab specimen to be matched with an appropriate mate for optimal breeding potential."

Kazmyr's molten-gold eyes narrowed as he moved closer, heat radiating from his obsidian skin.

"Your outrage is justified but irrelevant.

Asset P has corrupted the system. The Agency is compromised.

Other mates across seventeen sectors face extraction or death.

" His direct manner somehow made the situation more real, more urgent.

"Your personal feelings about consent must wait. "

I whirled on him. "My personal feelings about consent are the entire fucking point! I didn't choose any of this!"

"But you chose me." Vylit's voice cut through my rage, quiet and certain. His luminescence dimmed to a soft, steady pulse that reminded me of heartbeats in darkness. "In the cave. Against the pirates. You chose me."

The memory of his body against mine, the desperate press of his mouth, the way his dual cocks had teased and stretched me…

it all crashed through me in a hot, confusing wave.

Had I chosen him? Or had my body simply responded to chemical cues I couldn't consciously detect?

Could there actually be predetermined mates?

"Did I?" I stepped closer, glaring up at his massive form. "Or was I manipulated by pheromones or chemical signals or some other biological imperative I can't even sense? How do I know my attraction to you isn't just engineered compatibility?"

The moss covering me rippled with distress, tightening uncomfortably around my thighs. Great. Even the fucking voyeuristic plant life was upset.

Vylit's glow dimmed further, nearly extinguishing in places. "You believe our connection is merely chemical? That what we shared meant nothing?"

Something in his tone, hurt beneath the confusion, made my chest ache. I'd wounded him. Somehow, through all the alien biology and cultural differences, I'd struck a nerve that was painfully, recognizably human.

"I don't know what to believe." My voice softened despite myself. "I'm a scientist, Vylit. I need to understand the mechanisms at work. If my attraction to you is predetermined by genetic algorithms, how can I trust my own feelings?"

Silvyr made a static-laced sound that might have been a snort.

"If you're looking for certainty in mate bonding, you're asking the wrong questions.

The Registry identifies compatibility, not destiny.

" His fingers danced across holographic displays, sorting through stolen data.

"Many compatible pairs never form lasting bonds.

The chemistry creates potential, not certainty. "

Kazmyr nodded, his Ember Marks pulsing thoughtfully. "My clan had eight potential matches. I rejected them all." A brief flash of something like pain crossed his features. "Compatibility is the beginning. Choice determines the rest."

I absorbed this, my logical mind latching onto the distinction. If compatibility wasn't deterministic but probabilistic, then perhaps my feelings weren't entirely engineered after all.

Vylit moved closer, his massive frame somehow managing to appear vulnerable. "Maya." Just my name, spoken with such longing that it vibrated through my bones. "What we shared in the cave… was that only biology to you?"

The question hit me like a physical blow.

The memory of his hands on my skin, the way his biolights had pulsed in rhythm with my pleasure, the fierce protectiveness when the pirates attacked…

none of it felt purely chemical. It felt.

.. real. Messy and frightening and exhilarating in ways that transcended simple biological imperatives.

But doubt still gnawed at me. "How can I know for sure? How can I separate what I'm feeling from what I've been set up to feel?"

"You can't." Vylit's honesty surprised me.

"No sentient being can fully separate biology from choice.

My species evolved to bond through luminescence and genetic exchange.

Yours through chemical signals and emotional attachments.

Does understanding the mechanism make the experience less meaningful? "

I opened my mouth to argue, then stopped.

As a marine biologist, I knew that all attraction—human or otherwise—had biological components.

Pheromones, visual cues, genetic compatibility markers.

.. humans weren't exempt from these influences just because we pretended to operate on purely rational levels.

"Asset P has been systematically harvesting mates with specific genetic markers." Silvyr's voice cut through my philosophical crisis, his tone uncharacteristically grim. "Not just any compatibles, only certain combinations. Humans feature prominently."

I latched onto this new information, temporarily overriding my emotional turmoil. "What specific markers?"

"Adaptive capacity." Silvyr expanded a holographic display showing genetic sequences I could partially recognize.

"Humans with high neural plasticity and environmental adaptability matched with species possessing complementary traits.

Your combination with Vylit shows unusual harmonic resonance at sixteen genetic loci. "

"Why?" I stepped closer to the display, momentarily forgetting my anger in the face of scientific curiosity. "What value would that have?"

Kazmyr's molten eyes narrowed to glowing slits. "Power. Specific genetic combinations can yield offspring with unique capabilities. Capabilities some would pay handsomely to control."

The implications hit me like arctic water. "They're breeding weapons."

"Or tools." Vylit's voice rumbled with barely contained rage. "Asset P is farming genetic potential."

"Well, our super villain isn't so intelligent then. I had an emergency hysterectomy last year. I couldn't reproduce even if I tried."

Silvyr shrugged. "Easily reversed with a simple injection. Earth medicine is rather archaic compared to many other galaxies."

Ice slid through my veins. "So they can just regrow organs? Just like that?"

"They stealing mates, there is no low they wouldn't stoop to for what they desire." Kazmyr was solemn as he watched us.

I turned back to Vylit, seeing his massive form in a new light. Not just a warrior, not just a potential mate, but a being whose genetic material combined with mine might create something unprecedented. Something valuable enough that pirates would risk death to acquire us.

"You still want to complete the bond?" I asked, searching his luminous face for any hint of deception. "Even knowing it might be part of someone else's plan?"

His bioluminescence flared in complex patterns… anger, determination, and something deeper that made my pulse quicken despite my lingering doubts.

"I want to complete our bond because it will protect you," he said, each word deliberate and heavy with meaning. "And because what began as genetic compatibility has become something more. At least for me."

The vulnerability in those last words cracked something open inside me.

"What if this is exactly what Asset P wants?" I pressed, needing to be certain. "What if completing our bond plays into their hands?"