KAEL
The bond screams.
I jolt awake from a restless sleep, my heart already racing. Something's wrong. Sera's in danger. I feel it like a knife twisting in my gut.
My security console explodes with alerts before I'm fully on my feet. Red warnings flash across every screen. Perimeter breach. Multiple hostiles. Colony defenses compromised.
They're attacking.
I grab weapons without thinking. Plasma rifle. Combat blade. Sidearm. My hands move on autopilot while my mind focuses on the bond.
Sera's terrified. I feel her fear flooding through the connection like ice water in my veins. She's awake. Something's in her quarters.
I'm running before conscious thought catches up.
"Commander!" I roar into my comm. "Zha'thik infiltration. Get every available warrior to the colony now."
Thaan's voice crackles back immediately. "Already moving. They hit three entry points simultaneously. Professional operation."
Professional means planned. Means they knew exactly where to strike.
They're after Sera.
I sprint through my ship's corridors. Crew members scramble out of my way. They see my expression and know better than to slow me down.
The bond pulls tighter. More urgent. She's fighting back somehow. I feel her determination mixed with the terror. Feel her survival instincts kicking in.
That's my mate. Fierce even when cornered.
I reach the transport bay and throw myself into the fastest shuttle. Don't wait for a pilot. Slam my hand on the controls and launch before the bay doors finish opening.
The shuttle screams toward Colony 7's surface at speeds that would make my engineers furious. I don't care. Every second matters.
Through the bond I feel Sera's panic spike. Something just happened. Something bad.
"Hold on," I whisper even though she can't hear me. "I'm coming."
The colony surface appears below. Fires burn in multiple sections. Plasma scoring marks the landing zone. Bodies scattered across the platform.
My warriors fought here. Died here trying to stop the infiltrators.
Rage builds in my chest. Cold. Focused. Deadly.
The Zha'thik will pay for this in blood.
I land the shuttle hard enough to crack the pad. Don't bother with proper shutdown procedures. Just grab my weapons and run.
The bond pulls me like a compass pointing home. Residential section. East wing. Third floor.
I know exactly where she is.
The colony corridors are chaos. Humans running everywhere. Screaming. Crying. Security trying to establish order and failing. Smoke fills the air from fires burning in ventilation systems.
I push through the crowd. People see me and scatter. Good. I don't have time to be gentle.
Bodies litter the hallway leading to residential quarters. Human security guards. My own warriors. All dead. The Zha'thik broke through despite our defenses.
Three made it past the perimeter. I count the tracks. Three sets of chitinous footprints in blood leading toward Sera's section.
My vision narrows to a red tunnel. Three targets. Three kills.
I follow the tracks. The bond burns hotter with each step. She's close. So close I can almost smell her fear.
A scream cuts through the smoke ahead. Female. Young. Not Sera's voice but close enough to make my heart stop.
I round the corner at full sprint.
Sera's door is blown open. Smoke pours from inside. Two Zha'thik warriors lie dead in the corridor. Plasma burns through their armor. Someone fought back hard.
My warriors. They died protecting her.
I step over their bodies and enter the quarters.
The scene inside makes my blood freeze.
Sera is backed into the far corner with another human girl pressed behind her. The girl is small. Dark skin. Terrified eyes. Sera's friend probably. The one she mentioned in passing thoughts that bleed through our bond.
A Zha'thik warrior stands between them and the door. Massive. Covered in chitinous armor plates. Weapons integrated into its limbs. It turns toward me with clicking mandibles and raises a plasma caster.
Not at me.
At Sera.
Time slows. I see the weapon charging. See the targeting laser paint her chest. See my mate's eyes widen as she realizes she's about to die.
Something primal takes over.
I cross the room faster than physics should allow. My hand closes around the Zha'thik's weapon arm and I tear it off at the shoulder joint. The creature shrieks. Tries to bring its other weapon to bear.
I rip that arm off too.
Then I grab its head and twist. The exoskeleton crunches. Internal fluids spray. The body drops.
Dead.
The entire fight takes three seconds.
I stand over the corpse breathing hard. Blood covers my hands. My armor. Dripping onto the floor. None of it mine.
Behind me Sera makes a choked sound.
I turn slowly. Don't want to scare her more than she already is. The other girl is crying. Shaking. But Sera just stares at me with those storm-gray eyes.
She's alive. Unhurt. Terrified but breathing.
Relief hits so hard my knees almost buckle.
"You're safe," I say. My voice comes out rough. "I have you."
Sera doesn't move. Just keeps staring like she's seeing me for the first time. Seeing what I'm capable of when someone threatens what's mine.
I killed that Zha'thik with my bare hands. No weapons. No hesitation. Just brutal efficient violence.
She should be horrified. Should be running from the monster covered in blood standing in her quarters.
Instead something shifts in her expression. The fear doesn't disappear but it changes. Softens.
She saw me kill for her. Saw me tear apart an enemy without mercy to keep her breathing.
And part of her understands what that means.
The bond pulses between us. My emotions flood through the connection before I can stop them. Terror at almost losing her. Relief so fierce it burns. Rage at the Zha'thik for daring to touch her. Absolute conviction that I would have killed a thousand more to keep her safe.
She feels it all. I watch her eyes widen as my emotions hit her like a wave. As she experiences exactly how much she matters to me.
"Kael," she whispers.
My name on her lips undoes something in my chest. I cross the room in two strides. Pull her against me without thinking. Need to feel her solid and real and alive in my arms.
She's so small. Fits against my chest perfectly. Her heart races against mine. Her hands come up and grip my armor like I'm the only solid thing in a collapsing world.
The other girl makes a sound but I barely hear it. All my focus is on Sera. On the bond screaming that she's safe now. That I reached her in time. That she's alive and breathing and pressed against me where she belongs.
"I thought I lost you," I say into her hair. "I felt your fear and I thought I was too late."
She doesn't answer. Just holds tighter.
Through the bond her emotions crash into mine. Fear. Shock. Confusion. And underneath it all something that feels like trust beginning to crack through her defenses.
She's letting me hold her. Not fighting. Not running. Just taking comfort from my presence after nearly dying.
It's more than I hoped for. More than I deserve after she rejected my protection.
"The perimeter failed," I say. Need to explain. Need her to understand. "Three infiltrators got through. My warriors fought. Most died trying to stop them from reaching you."
"They died for me?" Her voice is muffled against my chest.
"They died protecting what matters most to their warlord." I pull back enough to see her face. "You matter, Sera. More than anything. And this proves the colony isn't safe. You need to come to my ship. Now. Tonight."
I expect her to argue. To pull away and insist she's staying.
She doesn't.
She just looks at me with those old eyes in a young face and nods.
"Okay."
The simple agreement rocks through me. She's accepting my protection. Actually accepting it without me having to beg or convince or demand.
Almost dying changed something for her.
"Your friend comes too," I add. Looking at the terrified girl still pressed in the corner. "Anyone you want safe. I'll protect them."
"Lyris," Sera says quietly. "Her name is Lyris."
I nod. "Lyris comes. Pack whatever you need. We leave in five minutes."
Sera pulls away from my arms slowly. I let her go even though every instinct screams to keep holding her. Keep her close where nothing can hurt her.
She grabs a bag and starts throwing clothes inside. Lyris helps with shaking hands. Neither of them speak. Both still processing what just happened.
I stand guard at the door. Watching the corridor. Listening to my comm as Thaan reports the rest of the infiltrators are dead. Seventeen total casualties. Fourteen human civilians. Three of my warriors.
Seventeen people died tonight because the Zha'thik wanted Sera.
This is what I warned about. What I knew would happen the moment those marks appeared.
She's a target now. Will be a target until every faction in the galaxy understands that touching her means death.
I'm going to make that lesson very clear.
"Ready," Sera says behind me.
I turn. She's wearing simple clothes with a bag over her shoulder. Lyris stands beside her carrying nothing. Too shocked to think about possessions probably.
"Stay close to me," I order. "Both of you. Don't leave my sight until we're on my ship."
We move through the colony in a protective formation. Me leading. Sera and Lyris between me and Thaan who appeared with backup. My warriors surround us. Moving as one unit.
Humans watch as we pass. Some crying. Some angry. All of them understanding what tonight proved.
The colony can't protect their princess.
But I can.
We reach my shuttle. I help both girls inside. Strap them into crash seats. Check their harnesses twice.
Sera watches me with an expression I can't read. The bond hums between us. Fuller now. Stronger.
She's not fighting it anymore.
"Thank you," she says softly. "For coming. For saving us."
I kneel in front of her seat so we're eye level. "I will always come for you. Always. Distance doesn't matter. Danger doesn't matter. You call and I'm there."
She holds my gaze. "Why?"
"Because you're mine." I touch her face gently. "And I protect what's mine."
The bond explodes with emotion. Mine flooding into hers. Hers crashing into mine.
She feels my absolute terror from earlier. The fear that ripped through me when I felt her in danger. The nightmare of arriving too late and finding her dead like I found Earth dead five years ago.
She feels how much losing her would destroy me.
And I feel her response. Shock at the intensity. Confusion about how someone could care that much that fast. Fear of needing someone this desperately.
But underneath it all, buried deep where she's trying to hide it, I feel something else.
She's glad I came. Glad I saved her. Glad she's not alone anymore.
She's starting to want me back.