“Kim,” I prompt. “I have a name.”
“Kim. I am Terral.” He purses his lips. “Is there a chance I can convince you to descend to the bunker?” he asks, and sighs when I shake my head. As soon as I can, I will return to the gun, but right now, the Sky Fighters have things covered.
“The Chitin,” I say. “What are they?”
“An alien race from another galaxy. The Chitin have long been enemies of Ulfaria. They come to a planet, wipe out all life there, and use the barren soil to breed.”
Gross. I wrinkle my nose. “Do they come often?”
“It has been years since the last attack—but we have not forgotten. We have crafted weapons and warning systems in the outer layer of our atmosphere, but it seems those satellites have failed. Now, our only hope is that the Alphas can stand against them. They are our final layer of defense.”
I guess it’s good that the Alphas grow so big.
“The warrior class has been bred over centuries,” the Beta continues quietly. “They ensure Ulfaria’s survival. Without Omegas, we cannot replace them.”
I give him a sharp look, but he’s watching the battle.
I sigh. I guess that’s why this planet is obsessed with me breeding. I pick out Aurus’s form from the rest of the fighters. He’s leading the pack, a golden comet streaking across the sky.
“Be safe,” I whisper. He might be an asshat, but he’smyasshat. I don’t want him to die.
* * *
Aurus
In-flight battles are infinitely complex. On the ground, the enemy can attack from the front, the rear, or the sides. In the air, they can also descend from above or ascend from below.Three-hundred-and-sixty-five degree points of attack… squared.
Fortunately, the warriors of Aurus are trained in air combat from a young age. And I was the youngest warrior of them all.
Fire weapons belch flames on all sides. The heat presses in. The air is a wall of charred dust and smoke. I don’t hover so much as swim through the grey clouds.
Something clicks to my right. It’s the clacking mandibles and wings of a Chitin. My arm shoots out and flames stream from the center of my gloved palm.
Our suits are cooling and fire resistant. The Chitin are tough, but not as tough as our armor. What they have in their favor are sheer numbers.
When we received alerts about the Chitin’s potential arrival in our space, the Council of Kings convened. We were startled but not worried. Our planet has many layers of defense. In the past, the Alpha fighters were Ulfaria’s only defense against the Chitin. Now, the magic tech we’ve developed in the past century can stop the Chitin from broaching our atmosphere.
However, it seems those advanced defenses have somehow failed. The Chitin should never have had the chance to get this close.
Either every single element of our defensive layers failed individually, or the Chitin have become more advanced since they last visited our galaxy. All of this is possible. But not likely.
That leaves another possibility: someone dismantled the alerts and our space defenses. Meaning this attack was orchestrated from within. By a traitor.
My roar reverberates in my helmet. I swoop into a black field of Chitin, taking them out with my flame. Bodies fall left and right.
A line of Sky Fighters screams overhead. Khan’s forces are focused on attacking the Chitin spaceships—shooting them from all sides, breaking them apart. Locking on to the pieces and firing, disintegrating them into dust that will rain harmlessly onto Aurum. My people have practiced evacuating to bunkers until the attacks are over, and I declare the cities safe. If all goes to plan, the citizens of Aurum will survive this.
It’s up to the Alphas now.
A whisper of Kim’s scent flickers through my nostrils. I can sense her worry, her watchfulness. She is safe, but thinking of me.
The bond forming. A quiet swell of warmth blooms in my chest. I have no time to consider it, but I carry it with me all the same.
Clouds of Chitin billow out of the ship ahead of me. I zoom forward, fire weapon raised. I fight for my kingdom, for my people, but most of all for my Omega. For Kim.
She is the reason I must not only fight, but survive. She is the reason I must win.
* * *
