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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

X ara’s leg had almost completely recovered, and she was determined to map more of the ruins surrounding their cave. Ash had reluctantly agreed to let her venture further each day, though his silver eyes followed her movements with wary intensity whenever she prepared to leave.

“We’ll be fine,” she assured him, as the pups tumbled excitedly around her feet. “Just going to check out that eastern section we haven’t explored yet.”

He growled softly, his sensory tendrils coiling with what she now recognized as concern.

“I know, I know. Be careful, stay alert, don’t touch anything that looks dangerous.” She smiled up at him. “We won’t go far.”

After their kiss that morning—and his abrupt departure afterward—she welcomed the chance to clear her head. Whatever was happening between them felt both inevitable and impossible. A human and an alien bioweapon. She almost laughed at the absurdity.

The three pups scampered ahead of her, although Soldier kept circling back to check on her, chirping insistently whenever she lagged behind.

“I’m coming, bossy,” she said, picking her way carefully over fallen stone blocks.

The ruins extended much further than she’d initially realized, and parts of it were far more ancient than the scorched tech she’d discovered in the cave system.

Stone pillars and indications of previous buildings were hidden beneath the blood red vines.

She pushed a curtain of vines aside and paused to examine a section of wall covered in unfamiliar script.

“This place must have been important,” she murmured to the pups, who were busy digging in the soft earth near her feet. “I wonder what happened here?”

A soft chirp from one of the pups drew her attention. It had uncovered something shiny and was batting at it with curious paws. She knelt to examine the find—a small metal cylinder with a cracked display panel.

“Good job, little one.” She pocketed the device. Maybe it would yield more information about this place, about him.

The further they ventured, the more the landscape changed. The jungle thinned, revealing more extensive ruins—collapsed domes and twisted spires. A research station, perhaps? Or a military outpost?

She climbed atop a fallen column for a better view, the pups scrambling up after her.

From this vantage point, she could see that the ruins formed a rough circle, with their caves near the western edge.

At the center stood what might have once been a control tower, now a crumbled ruin jutting toward the sky.

“That’s our next destination,” she told the pups, who chirped in agreement.

As they made their way toward the central structure, the hairs on the back of her neck began to rise. The jungle had gone eerily silent. No distant shrieks or calls, no rustling in the underbrush. Even the ever-present hum of insect-like creatures had ceased.

The pups sensed it too. They huddled closer to her legs, their bioluminescent patches pulsing with anxiety.

“Let’s head back,” she whispered, suddenly aware of how far they’d strayed from the cave.

Too late.

A low, rattling hiss came from behind a collapsed wall. The pups froze, then began to puff up their bodies—a defensive posture she’d seen only once before.

Her blood turned to ice as a massive form emerged from the shadows. It was taller than her by at least two feet, its body a nightmare of chitinous plates and jointed limbs. Glowing green eyes tracked her movements as it advanced, claws clicking against stone.

Unlike the insectoid predator Ash had killed when she first arrived, this creature moved with deliberate intelligence. It tilted its head, studying her with predatory calculation.

She backed away slowly, her hand groping blindly for anything she could use as a weapon. Her fingers closed around a length of metal—part of an old support strut, its end jagged and sharp.

“Stay behind me,” she hissed to the pups, who were now fully inflated, their glow patches flashing in rapid, distressed patterns.

The creature lunged forward with shocking speed, forcing her to stumble backwards. She swung the makeshift weapon, connecting with one of its limbs. The impact jarred her arms, but the creature barely seemed to notice.

It opened its maw, revealing row upon row of needle-like teeth, and emitted a shriek that sounded like tearing metal. The sound pierced her skull, momentarily disorienting her.

The pups darted forward, tiny but fierce, positioning themselves between her and the predator. They flashed their glow patches in aggressive patterns, emitting high-pitched squeals of challenge.

“No!” she cried, terrified for their safety. “Get back!”

The creature reared up, front limbs raised to strike—and then the world exploded into motion and fury.

A massive form crashed into the predator from above, driving it to the ground with bone-crushing force. Silver skin flashed in the dim light, sensory tendrils whipping through the air like living weapons.

Ash had found them.

She clutched her metal rod, frozen in place as the two bodies collided in a blur of claws, fangs, and raw power. The predator was massive, but Ash moved with lethal precision, each strike calculated for maximum damage.

He ducked under a swipe of razor-sharp claws, then drove his own into the creature’s underbelly, ripping through chitinous armor with terrifying ease. The predator shrieked and twisted, managing to catch him across the shoulder with one of its barbed limbs.

He didn’t even flinch. He grabbed the offending limb and wrenched it backward until something cracked. Then he was on the creature’s back, one hand gripping its head while the other drove repeatedly into a vulnerable spot where its plates didn’t quite meet.

The battle was brutal, efficient, and over in seconds. With a final, decisive movement, he snapped the creature’s neck, silencing its metal-tearing shriek forever.

Silence fell over the ruins, broken only by his heavy breathing.

When he turned to face her, her breath caught in her throat. He was covered in the predator’s viscous blue-black blood, his silver eyes blazing with battle rage. His chest heaved with exertion, muscles coiled tight beneath his gore-splattered skin.

But it was his hands that caught her attention. They trembled slightly as he clenched and unclenched them, as if trying to regain control.

The pups approached him cautiously, chirping in subdued tones. One nudged at his leg, and he looked down, some of the wildness fading from his eyes.

She set down her makeshift weapon and took a tentative step towards him, her hands open and extended. His gaze snapped to her, wary and uncertain.

She moved slowly, deliberately, until she stood directly before him. Up close, she could see a gash across his shoulder where the predator had caught him. Blue blood—his blood—mingled with the creature’s darker fluids.

Without hesitation, she placed her hand on his arm, feeling the tension in his muscles, the slight tremor still running through him.

“I’m safe,” she said softly, holding his gaze. “So are you.”

For a long moment, he didn’t move. Then, slowly, his sensory tendrils reached for her, wrapping gently around her waist, her arm, her shoulders. They were warm, pulsing slightly with his heartbeat.

The pups crowded around their feet, chirping with relief. The smallest one began grooming Ash’s leg, meticulously cleaning away the predator’s blood.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “You saved us.”

His eyes held hers, and she saw something shift in their silver depths—a softening, a vulnerability he rarely allowed himself to show. One of his hands came up to touch her face, hesitant, as if afraid she might pull away from his blood-stained fingers.

She leaned into his touch instead.

His exhale was almost a sigh, the tension draining from his powerful frame. He pulled her closer, enfolding her in an embrace that felt like shelter and strength and barely restrained emotion.

She pressed her face against his chest, heedless of the gore. His heartbeat thundered against her ear—faster than a human’s, but strong and steady. His sensory tendrils wrapped more securely around her, as if afraid she might disappear.

“I’m okay,” she murmured. “We’re all okay.”

He pulled back just enough to look at her face, his eyes searching hers for confirmation. His hand came up to trace the line of her jaw, his touch feather-light despite the deadly strength she’d just witnessed.

The pups had settled, their glow patches returning to normal patterns. Trouble was investigating the dead predator, poking at it with suspicious chirps.

“We should head back,” she said, glancing at the darkening sky. “That shoulder needs cleaning.”

He nodded, but made no move to release her. Instead, he bent his head until his forehead rested against hers, his eyes closing briefly. The gesture felt intimate, vulnerable—a moment of quiet after the storm of violence.

When he straightened, his expression had regained some of its usual composure, though his eyes remained softer than before. He gestured toward the cave, then bent to scoop up the pups, tucking them securely against his chest.

She retrieved her metal rod, deciding it might make a useful tool back at the cave. As they walked, she found herself studying him—the fluid grace of his movements, the careful way he cradled the pups, the occasional glance he cast her way, as if reassuring himself she was still there.

This wasn’t just protective instinct. This wasn’t just the mindless violence of a weapon. She’d seen the calculation in his attacks, the precision, the control even in the midst of fury.

He’d made choices. To follow her. To protect her. To risk himself for her and the pups.

The data tablet’s words echoed in her mind: ‘subject refused to execute target purge... deemed defective.’

He wasn’t defective. He was evolving beyond what they’d made him to be.

And as they walked side by side through the alien jungle, Xara realized something that should have terrified her but instead filled her with a strange, warm certainty: she was evolving too—into someone who could face this strange new world.

Into someone who could stand beside this complex, wounded creature who fought so fiercely to protect what he cared about.

Into someone who was starting to care about him just as fiercely.