But every instinct I possessed screamed that shedid.
Zapharos was a golden wall near the probe, blade out, never more than three strides from Ella while she kept working the holographic maps even as blaster fire cracked overhead. Dravok's shadows coiled around Nadine like living armor, his eyes never leaving her as she crouched behind cover, still feeding data to Ashley.
More Pandraxian shuttles screamed down from the sky. Soldiers dropped down on fast-ropes, boots hitting the plateau in disciplined waves. The tide turned in seconds. The ragged humans realized it too; their shouts turned to curses as they broke and fled back toward the tunnel mouths.
“Pursue!” Xandros roared. “Drive them underground!”
Pandraxian warriors charged after them, but the tunnels were narrow, built for smaller human frames. The soldiers cursed and fell back. Xandros snapped an order; silver drones shot forward in swarms, plunging into the dark like angry hornets, red targeting lasers cutting through the gloom.
The last of the attackers disappeared below. The plateau fell quiet except for the low hum of the drones and the crackle of settling dust.
Zapharos rounded on Xandros like a storm breaking.
“You put our Aelyth at risk!” he snarled, his golden aura flaring hot enough to make the air shimmer. “All three of them! Is this what you call securing a perimeter?”
Xandros met him chest to chest, his facial structure hard. He wasn't giving any ground, not even to an enraged Praetor of War. “We scanned. We secured. These rats were already here, burrowed in like vermin for years.”
Ella stepped between them without hesitation, one hand still gesturing at the rotating map floating above her wrist unit. “Zapharos, breathe. The resonance is still stable. Look, the tunnels didn’t damage the primary layer. We’re fine.They’refine.” Her voice remained calm, soothing, even as her eyes stayed locked on the data.
I barely contained a laugh. But really. All Ella was worried about was her precious dig. Like we hadn’t just been attacked. Like we couldn't have been killed. All that mattered to her was thatthe sitewas still standing. I suppose we all had our priorities, but in that moment, I felt a deep fondness for her. More than just as my brother's Aelyth.
Ashley was already on one knee with another Pandraxian officer, their combined tactical holo spreading out like glowing spiderwebs. “It’s like a freaking anthill down there,” she muttered, tracing the twisting lines. “Old, reinforced, interconnected for miles. We could be looking at an entire underground network.” She exhaled sharply.
Dravok’s voice cut through like a blade. “Let’s just bomb this place and be done with it.”
“No.” Ella and Nadine turned on him in perfect unison, eyes flashing.
“Absolutely not,” Ella snapped, still half-distracted by her maps. “The ruins are right here, right underneath all these tunnels. You bomb it, and you destroy the only intact seeding site we’ve ever found.”
Nadine’s glare was pure ice. “Those chambers have been waiting two and a halfmillionyears. We arenotturning them into craters because a few tunnel rats got jumpy.”
I barely heard them. My focus stayed locked on Naeris as she straightened, blaster still in hand, chest rising and falling. Dust streaked her cheek. Her dark hair clung to her temples. She looked wild and alive and so damn beautiful it made me ache. She caught me staring and narrowed her eyes. I didn’t look away.
She had just saved my life with a blaster pointed at my chest, and every part of me wanted to drag her behind the shuttle, pin her against the hull, and remind her exactly why the bond between us refused to let either of us pretend we could fight alone.
Dust still hung thick in the air. The plateau was littered with groaning and dead insurgents zip-tied and kneeling in neat rows under Pandraxian rifles. My blood was still up, the golden thread between Naeris and me thrummed like a live current. She stood a few paces away, blaster lowered but body still coiled, watching everything with those sharp, luminous eyes. I couldn’t stop staring. She’d fought like a goddess made flesh—graceful, lethal,mine—and the sight of her unharmed only made the protective fire in my chest burn hotter.
One of the prisoners spat blood onto the dirt and glared up at Xandros. “When are you damn aliens going to leave our planet?”
Ashley stepped forward before Xandros could answer, her face twisted in pure disgust. “You think you are being heroic fighting against the Pandraxians? You think you're some kind of rebels?” she sneered, while her voice dripped acid. “You’re terrorists. The Pandraxians are here tohelp. They freed Earth from the Cryons, you ungrateful bastards.”
The man laughed, a wet, ugly sound. “Right, you little metal lover. You’re the worst kind of traitor to your species—spreading your legs for the violet overlords.”
Xandros roared, but Ashley was already moving. She closed the distance in two strides, grabbed the man by the collar, andyanked him nose-to-nose. “Listen up, dirt-eater. I fought Cryons while you were hiding in holes. Theseoverlordssaved my planet. You want to call me a traitor? Fine. But the next time you open your mouth, I’ll let my husband demonstrate exactly howmetalhe can get.”
She released him with a shove and kicked him square in the ribs, just hard enough to make him curl up wheezing.
“Fuck,” she muttered, already pulling out her comm unit. “And now I have to call General Martinez. He’s going to need to send soldiers to clean this mess up.”
The prisoners groaned in unison. “Great. More alien-lover traitors,” one of them muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.
I’d had enough.
These Earth-dwellers and their petty turf war were wasting time we didn’t have. The ruins wereright therebeneath us, singing through the bond, and every second we stood here arguing was another second the Harrowed One could be moving.
I stalked forward, grabbed the loudest one by the back of the neck, and poked two fingers hard against his temple. He jerked like he’d been hit by a stun bolt, his eyes rolled back for a second, then he sagged in my grip.
“They’re about five hundred men strong,” I growled. “Let me see that map, Ashley.”
