Page 22 of Alien Warlord's Fury

Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore.

"Are we going to talk about what happened back there?" I asked, keeping my voice low.

Nirako didn't break stride or look back at me. His tail held rigidly straight behind him. "There's nothing to discuss."

"Nothing to—" I cut myself off, taking a deep breath. "We kissed, Nirako. That's not nothing."

He stopped so abruptly I nearly ran into him. When he turned to face me, his expression was carefully controlled.

"It was a lapse in judgment," he said. "One that won't be repeated."

The words hit me like a physical blow. "A lapse in judgment," I repeated flatly.

"We have a task to save children from torture and experimentation," he continued, his voice maddeningly reasonable. "Personal... entanglements... are a distraction we can't afford."

"Is that what it was to you? A distraction?" I couldn't keep the hurt from my voice.

Something flickered in his eyes—regret, maybe, or frustration. "What I feel is irrelevant. What matters is completing our task."

"What you feel is irrelevant," I echoed. "That's convenient."

His lifelines brightened slightly, the only outward sign that my words had affected him. "Claire?—"

"No, you're right," I interrupted, suddenly tired of the whole conversation. "The children are what matter. Let's just forget it happened."

I pushed past him, continuing along the path. After a moment, I heard him follow, his footsteps nearly silent despite the treacherous ground.

We traveled in strained silence for the rest of the morning, the kiss hanging between us like an unspoken accusation. Every time our eyes met, I remembered the feel of his lips on mine, the way our energies had merged, the overwhelming sensation of connection. And every time, he looked away first.

By midday, the forest had thinned, giving way to the rocky terrain that surrounded Hammond's territory. We paused at the edge of the tree line, surveying the open ground ahead.

"We'll rest here," Nirako decided, shrugging off his pack. "Eat, replenish your strength. The approach will be more difficult from here."

I nodded, too exhausted—both physically and emotionally—to argue. I sank down onto a fallen log, wincing as my muscles protested. The journey had been harder than I'd anticipated, the unstable ground requiring constant vigilance.

Nirako offered me rations from his pack. Our fingers brushed during the exchange, and I couldn't suppress a small shiver at the contact. His eyes met mine briefly before he looked away, focusing on his own meal.

"Your markings are unstable again," he observed after a moment.

I glanced down to see the silver lines flickering erratically across my skin. "They do that sometimes."

"More often when you're upset," he noted.

I shot him a look. "I'm not upset."

His expression remained neutral, but I could have sworn I saw a ghost of a smile touched his lips. "Of course not."

We ate in silence for a while, the tension between us gradually easing into something more comfortable. The forest around us was quiet, most of the wildlife still sheltering after the acid rain.

"I didn't mean to hurt you," Nirako said suddenly, his voice low.

I looked up, surprised by the admission. "You didn't."

He gave me a look that said he knew I was lying.

"Fine," I sighed. "Maybe a little. But you're right—we have more important things to worry about than... whatever this is between us."

"That doesn't make it insignificant," he said carefully. "Just... ill-timed."

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