Page 80 of Claimed By the Alien Assassin
I lie there beneath him, dazed and fucked senseless, panting hard. His chest heaves against mine, his forehead pressed to my shoulder. Our bodies are sticky with sweat and soot, and I feel his come trickling out of me as he finally softens.
“Still think I shouldn’t have gone in after the beacon?” I murmur, voice hoarse.
He lifts his head, eyes blazing.
“I’d rather fight an army than lose you again.”
I smile. “Guess you’ll have to keep saving me, then.”
He kisses me. Slow. Deep. Then lays his head against my chest, listening to my heart.
And in the ashes of war, blood still cooling around us, the only thing that matters is this: we lived. We found each other again.
Later, sheltered in the aftermath glow beneath the night sky, he pulls me into his arms. I hear the almost-whisper of the jungle around us—leaves murmuring lullabies. He looks at me with solemn intensity. “You are a force of nature,” he says, voice low and coated in awe.
I arch a brow and challenge his broad chest. “You better get used to it.”
He laughs—a rough, rich sound that stills something in me. “I will.” He twists a strand of my hair around his finger. “I already am.”
We sit there for a long moment, dusk pooling around us, the scorch of battle and the softness of night weaving together. Ilean into his warmth, heartbeat pulsing beneath my collarbone, feeling both battered and whole.
We remain wrapped in each other’s arms until the stars burn out overhead, until the whispers of the jungle soften to silence. He kisses my forehead, a promise sealed in every breath. “Together,” he murmurs.
“Together,” I echo—steady, fierce, unbreakable.
CHAPTER 23
DAYN
I’m in the middle of calibrating my new vibroblade in the weapons bay when the comm device chirps with an encrypted message. It’s from Kael—a ghost from my past I thought dead. My pulse picks up tempo. We were once bound in blood and silence, two Shorcu assassins carving paths through impossible missions. Then he disappeared. Now he’s back, promising info on the resurgence of the Vortaxians. I don’t trust it. Can’t. But neither can I ignore it.
The corridor hums, lights shifting as I step into the hangar where Josie is tightening exosuit armor. She looks up—eyes warm curiosity. I hold the commpad in front of her. “This came from Kael. He says he knows why the splinter faction is rising.”
Her brow furrows. “Isn’t that exactly what Dowron warned you about? He thought Kael was MIA.”
I press a finger to my lips. “It’s a trap. But it’s also a lead.” The look that lights in her eyes—half excitement, half steel—I knew it once I told her. She stands, slips her hand into mine. “Then we go. Together.”
Dowron’s voice is ice when I tell him. “You’re gambling on a ghost,” he says, hands clasped behind his back. The uniforms of Ministry officials crease like rigid steel.
I glance at Josie. She meets my gaze without flinching. “We both are.”
Dowron exhales. “Your pack, my approval—limited. That satellite station is orbiting a destroyed star. Hazardous environment. And Kael won’t be alone.”
Josie raises an eyebrow. “When is our happiness ever simple?” She smirks and then swallows. “Let’s go.”
The shuttle rumbles its way out of the hangar, baltro-smeared walls vibrating with the engine’s roar. The nebulaed haze of the collapsed star engulfs us as we approach the station—a skeletal hulk, metal bent and scarred. The window frames the station’s orbit like a dead eye. My throat tightens.
Inside the shuttle, Josie grips my hand. “Whatever happens,” she murmurs, “promise me you’ll come back. Not leave me behind.”
I slide an arm around her. “Always present,” I say. She leans her cheek to my shoulder. “Present,” she echoes.
We zero-G into the station, footstraps clattering as we land. The airlock bursts open. The stale scent of old machinery makes me twist my lip. We move through corridors that clang like empty coffins. Could be any trap—floor beneath our boots trembles with the station’s decay. I feel Josie’s tension beside me, breathing close enough to synchronize. I squeeze her hand—an anchor.
Ahead, Kael is waiting, silhouette jagged. “Dayn,” he says as if he thinks that’s enough. My vibroblade hums at my hip. “You’re alive.”
Kael smirks, lean and predatory. “Barely. I’m here because the Vortaxians are harvesting something on this station—something that led them from faction to fanaticism.” His voice drops, echoing in the hollow metal. “But you? You’re soft now. Look what love turned you into.”
I lift my chin. “I turned into a man who knows what matters.”
