Page 14 of Alien Warlord's Fury

"Are you hurt?" Nirako asked, scanning the trees for further threats.

I shook my head, then realized he wasn't looking at me. "No. You?"

He turned to me then, his eyes intense. "Your markings responded to the threat before I even saw it."

"I didn't control it. It just... happened." I looked down at my arms where silver lines still flickered beneath my skin. "They weren't natural. Those creatures."

"No. The energy field has corrupted them." Nirako knelt beside one of the fallen lizards, examining it without touching. "Their life energy is wrong. Twisted."

I joined him, crouching to study the creature. Up close, I could see how its scales had hardened into something almost metallic, how its muscles had been enhanced, bulging unnaturally beneath its skin.

"Hammond did this. He's experimenting on the wildlife too."

"The disruption is spreading faster than I feared." Nirako's voice held a note I hadn't heard before—uncertainty. "The council doesn't understand how quickly this corruption moves."

Our eyes met, and suddenly I wasn't thinking about corrupted lizards or energy fields. The fight had shifted something between us. We'd moved together, protected each other without thought or hesitation.

My anger at his earlier restraint felt distant, unimportant.

"You saved my life," I said.

"And you mine." He stood, offering his hand to help me up.

I took it without thinking. His skin was warm against mine, his grip strong but gentle. He pulled me to my feet, but neither of us let go immediately.

We stood close, faces inches apart. My markings responded to his proximity, silver light pulsing in rhythm with the golden lines tracing his skin. His breath mingled with mine, and the world narrowed to the sure rise of his chest against my own. Trust, I discovered, could feel as heady as any battle-rush.

His eyes dropped to my lips. The air between us charged with something that had nothing to do with energy fields or corrupted wildlife. My heart hammered against my ribs.

The pull between us was magnetic, undeniable. His free hand rose, fingers hovering near my cheek. The tip of his tail curled slightly against the ground.

"Claire," he breathed, my name a question.

I didn't pull away. Couldn't. Every cell in my body leaned toward him, drawn by something I couldn't explain but couldn't fight.

He moved closer, his breath warm against my skin.

The ground beneath us shuddered.

We broke apart as a violent tremor shook the forest floor. Trees swayed dangerously. Somewhere nearby, something large crashed to the ground.

"We need to move," Nirako said, his voice sharp with urgency. "This area is becoming unstable."

The moment shattered, reality crashing back. I nodded, trying to ignore the lingering heat where his hand had touched mine, the phantom sensation of his breath against my lips. The urgency of our mission reasserted itself, pushing aside the connection that had flared between us.

"Which way?" I asked, steadying myself as another, smaller tremor rippled through the ground.

Nirako scanned our surroundings, his expression focused once more. "East. Away from the energy field. The land should be more stable there."

I didn't argue this time. The tremors were getting worse, and the corrupted wildlife proved Hammond's influence was spreading. We needed to move quickly.

As we navigated through the increasingly unstable terrain, I found myself watching Nirako's movements. The fluid gracewith which he'd dispatched the lizards. The instinctive way he'd positioned himself to protect me.

The memory of his face, inches from mine, eyes dark with an emotion I wasn't ready to name.

"The tremors are following a pattern," Nirako said, breaking into my thoughts. "They're not natural seismic activity."

I focused on the ground beneath us, extending my awareness through my markings. He was right. The vibrations had a rhythm, almost like pulses.

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