But beneath the discipline, a darker truth twists in my gut—not fear of wanting her, but fear of what wanting her would demand of me. Of what it could cost both of us.
And if the Stone chooses Elena for me, nothing in this jungle, not custom, not rank, not war, will stop me from claiming her as my Starfallen Bride.
CHAPTER 6
FIRST CONTACT
ELENA – THE GREEN REACH
The morning is rough.My back aches, my head throbs, and my mouth’s dry. We should’ve captured some rainwater, but by the time anyone thought of it, the storm had already run past us. The women are restless. Half didn’t sleep. The other half wished they hadn’t woken up.
The jungle never shuts up. It hisses, clicks, croaks, and breathes. The sound presses in from every direction, a reminder that this place eats the unprepared. I keep thinking the noise will be what breaks me.
But it’s the silence that does it.
One moment the air is thick with frog-throat grunts and insect chatter. The next, the world goes blank. Like something sucked the sound out.
Piper whispers, “Anyone else feel like we’re about to get murdered?”
Dana doesn’t look up. “Shut up, Piper.”
Her knuckles tighten on the piece of hull she chose as a makeshift weapon. Her eyes flick to the trees again and again, watching for movement she can’t predict. She's bracing for teeth, for claws, for the kind of danger New Terra taught us aliens embody. My stomach twists. I grew up with those warnings too.
Sophia has gone soldier-still, tracking the tree line.
Quinn shades her eyes. “It’s not just me, right? Something’s moving out there?”
I press my palm to the dirt. The vibration rises through my bones. A pulse rolls through the air toward us.
“Company,” I say. The word sticks in my throat. This isn’t natural quiet.
Dana straightens. “Stay low. Heads down. If it’s sharp, hold it.”
Quinn glances at me. “What’s the protocol for first contact?”
“Play dead?” If whoever’s coming isn’t friendly, none of this will matter.
A sharp grin breaks through her tension. “That’s for bears, not aliens.”
“They could be alien bears,” Piper mutters.
Relief, fear, humor—everything tangles for a moment. None of us has ever seen a real bear.
Then the trees move.
At first, it’s a distortion, the air bending wrong. My body locks up, instincts screaming “run” while my legs forget how. Heat climbs my neck, sharp and involuntary, as if my body recognizes danger before my brain does.
Sophia hisses, “Left.”
I see it. A shape gliding between trunks, much taller than Dana, moving with an ease that belongs to something built for this place. Humanoid though. Bipedal, broad-shouldered, lethal. My breath catches so fast that I cough.
We have no chance. At least a dozen more follow the first, fanning out in perfect formation.
Their plated armor is veined with metallic filigree. The colors ripple, going green to silver to gold to a deep black. It’s beautiful and terrifying and flawless. New Terra warned us that anything genetically altered warps into monstrosity, but these males looklike the opposite. They’re perfection. It makes me dread what the armor hides even more.
They drag static through the air, raising gooseflesh along my arms. Helmets cover everything above the cheekbones. The visors are a single sweep of amber that reflect the jungle back at us.
I swallow hard.
