Page 31

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

X ara paced the inner chamber of the cave, checking her makeshift defenses for the fifth time.

The heat stones from the thermal springs lined the entrance—superheated to the point where touching them would sear flesh.

She’d positioned them carefully, creating a narrow path that only she knew was safe to traverse.

The Graxlin pups huddled in the back alcove where she’d told them to stay, their bioluminescent markings dimmed to barely visible pulses. The smallest one—the one she’d named Dot—kept trying to peek out, curious despite the danger.

“Stay back,” she whispered, her voice firm but gentle. “Remember what we practiced.”

The pup chirped softly and retreated.

Her heart hammered against her ribs. The Xenobeast had been gone too long. The plan was for him to engage the Zarkari forces in the jungle, using the traps they’d set together, while she defended their home. But with each passing minute, fear gnawed at her resolve.

What if he didn’t come back?

She pushed the thought away. He would return. He always did.

A faint click from the outer tunnel snapped her to attention. Not the heavy, deliberate tread of the Xenobeast. Something lighter. Cautious.

Someone was inside their perimeter.

Xara grabbed the makeshift spear they’d crafted from salvaged metal and indigenous wood. The Tal’shai had treated the tip with a paralytic toxin—not lethal, but effective. She positioned herself between the tunnel entrance and the alcove where the pups hid.

“Stay silent,” she breathed to the pups. “No matter what.”

The footsteps grew closer. A shadow moved across the wall of the tunnel—humanoid but wrong somehow, bulkier around the shoulders and head. Armor, she realized. One of the Zarkari soldiers.

The figure emerged into the dim light of the inner chamber. The trooper was encased in sleek black armor, face hidden behind a reflective visor. A weapon that looked like a cross between a rifle and a harpoon was clutched in gloved hands.

“Target acquired,” the trooper said, voice mechanical through the helmet’s filter. “Civilian female. Indigenous fauna present.”

Xara’s grip tightened on her spear. “You’re trespassing.”

The trooper tilted their head, as if surprised she’d spoken. “Surrender peacefully. Commander Vask requires your presence.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

The trooper raised their weapon. “Compliance is not optional.”

Xara’s mind raced. The heat stones were behind the trooper now, useless. The spear would be ineffective against that armor. But she had one advantage—she knew this cave. Every unstable ledge, every loose rock.

“You know what he is, don’t you?” she said, taking a careful step to her left. “The one you call the Xenobeast.”

The trooper followed her movement. “A failed weapon. A defective asset.”

“He’s more than that.” Another step. The trooper matched it. Good. “He chose to be more.”

“Irrelevant. You will come with me now.”

Xara took one more step, positioning herself directly beneath a section of ceiling where mineral deposits had weakened the stone. The trooper stood exactly where she needed them—beneath the most unstable part.

“I don’t think so.”

She hurled her spear—not at the trooper, but at the ceiling above them. The metal tip struck with a sharp crack, dislodging a cascade of rocks. The trooper fired reflexively, the shot going wide as the first rocks struck their helmet.

Xara dove for cover as more of the ceiling gave way. A cloud of dust filled the chamber, and the trooper’s startled cry was cut short by the impact of falling stone.

When the dust settled, the trooper lay half-buried under rubble, their weapon pinned beneath a boulder. They were still moving, struggling to free themselves.

Xara didn’t waste time. She grabbed one of the heat stones with a protective cloth and approached. The trooper managed to free one arm and reached for a sidearm at their hip.

She slammed the heat stone against the exposed joint between helmet and chest plate. The superheated rock sizzled through the protective fabric, and the trooper screamed—a sound that was all too human despite the mechanical filter.

With a violent jerk, the trooper dislodged enough rubble to free their torso. They lunged for Xara, catching her ankle and pulling her down. She fell hard, the breath knocked from her lungs.

The trooper crawled over her, one hand closing around her throat. With the other, they reached up and released the seal on their helmet, pulling it off to reveal a face that was almost human—pale skin, sharp features, eyes that glowed an unnatural blue.

“You think you understand what he is?” the trooper hissed, blood trickling from a gash on their forehead. “He’s a killing machine. That’s all he was ever meant to be.”

Xara struggled for breath, her fingers scrabbling against the trooper’s armored wrist. “He’s... whatever he chooses to be.”

The trooper’s grip tightened. “And you? What are you besides a primitive who stumbled onto something she doesn’t understand?”

From the alcove came a high-pitched shriek. Dot darted out, followed by the other pups. They swarmed the trooper, their tiny claws finding gaps in the armor, their teeth surprisingly sharp as they bit at exposed skin.

The trooper released Xara to bat at the pups, cursing as one latched onto their face. Xara rolled away, gasping for breath. Her hand closed around a jagged piece of fallen rock, and she didn’t hesitate.

She drove it into the back of the trooper’s neck, where the armor didn’t quite meet. Not deep enough to kill, but enough to incapacitate. The trooper went rigid, then collapsed.

Xara scrambled to her feet, gathering the pups to her chest. They chirped and nuzzled against her, their markings pulsing with agitation.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, checking each one for injuries. “You’re safe. We’re all safe.”

A shadow fell across the cave entrance. Xara whirled, rock still clutched in her bloody hand—then froze.

The Xenobeast stood there, silhouetted against the dim light from outside. Blood—some his, some not—covered his torso in dark streaks. A deep gash ran across his chest, and one of his sensory tendrils hung limply. But he was alive. Standing. Victorious.

His silver eyes took in the scene: the fallen trooper, the collapsed ceiling, the heat stones positioned strategically around the entrance. And finally, Xara—bloodied, disheveled, a weapon still gripped in her hand, the pups clustered protectively around her legs.

Something shifted in his gaze. A new awareness. A different kind of respect.

He stepped into the cave, moving with the fluid grace that belied his massive size. He circled the fallen trooper, nudging the body with one clawed foot to ensure they were truly incapacitated.

Then he looked at Xara again, his head tilted slightly. His tendrils reached toward her, brushing against her cheek, her throat where bruises were already forming, then down to the pups who chirped excitedly at his touch.

The look in his eyes wasn’t the possessive pride she’d seen before. It wasn’t even the heated desire that had become familiar. It was something new—a recognition. As if he was seeing her clearly for the first time.

He reached out one massive hand and gently took the rock from her grip, tossing it aside. Then he pulled her against him, careful of his wounds and hers, his tendrils wrapping around them both in a protective embrace.

“You fought,” he said, his voice a low rumble against her ear. It was the first time he’d spoken aloud to her.

Xara nodded against his chest. “Of course I did.”

He pulled back just enough to look at her, his silver eyes intense. “Not for yourself.”

“For them,” she said, glancing down at the pups. “For you. For us.”

His gaze moved to the fallen trooper, then back to her. There was something new in his expression—a mix of awe and wariness, as if he’d discovered something unexpected and powerful.

“They underestimated you,” he said.

“Everyone does.” She reached up to touch his face, her fingers gentle against a fresh cut on his cheek. “Are there more?”

A savage smile curved his mouth. “Not anymore.”

Relief flooded through her, making her knees weak. The Xenobeast caught her, lifting her effortlessly. The pups scrambled up his legs, finding perches on his shoulders and back as he carried Xara to their bed.

He laid her down carefully, then turned to secure the fallen trooper. Xara watched as he bound the soldier with strips of their own armor, his movements efficient and practiced. When he finished, he returned to her side, lowering himself to sit on the edge of the bed.

“You’re hurt,” she said, reaching for the gash on his chest.

He caught her hand, his grip gentle but firm. “So are you.”

The pups settled around them, chirping softly as they nestled into the furs. One by one, their glow markings dimmed as they drifted to sleep, exhausted by the ordeal.

The Xenobeast’s eyes never left Xara’s face. He looked at her differently now—not as something fragile to be protected, but as something formidable to be reckoned with. Something dangerous in her own right.

“What?” she asked, unsettled by his scrutiny.

His tendrils brushed against her throat, her arms, her hands—cataloging her injuries, her strength, her resilience. “I was created to be a weapon,” he said finally. “Trained to recognize threats.”

“Am I a threat now?” There was a hint of challenge in her voice.

His silver eyes gleamed. “Yes.”

Before she could respond, he leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers, his tendrils curling around her face in a gesture that felt reverent.

“But not to me,” he whispered. “Never to me.”

The pups stirred in their sleep, shifting closer to the warmth of their protectors. Outside, the jungle hummed with life, oblivious to the battle that had been fought. Inside, in the quiet of their cave, something fundamental had changed.

She wasn’t just his to protect anymore. They were protectors together.

And anything that threatened what they’d built would face not one monster, but two.