Page 15 of Vylit: Glowing for Her
BOND STATUS: INITIATED, INCOMPLETE
SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: 17.3%
ASSET P SENDS REGARDS
The message dissolved, replaced by coordinates to a location I didn't recognize. Then the entire system went dark, every crystal in the array simultaneously shattering in a shower of fragments that rained down on the deck.
Maya's breath hitched, her hand tightening in mine. "They know we're onto them."
"And they're taunting us," Kazmyr growled, his massive fists clenching.
Silvyr stared at the smoking remains of the comm array, his expression unreadable. "No. They're inviting us. Those coordinates… it's a challenge."
I looked down at Maya, at her fierce eyes and determined expression, at the glowing patterns my essence had left on her skin during our incomplete bonding. Seventeen percent survival probability. The number should have terrified me. Instead, it hardened my resolve. She was my mate, fated for me by the stars… No one would take her away.
"Then we accept," I said, my voice vibrating with deadly promise. "But first, we complete what pirates tried to interrupt."
Maya's eyes widened as she understood my meaning. The partial bond between us pulsed with potential, with need, with the promise of completion.
"Full bonding will strengthen our connection," I explained, my glow shifting to deeper blues. "It will make you harder to track, harder to separate from me."
"And increase our survival probability?" she asked, a hint of her dry humor returning despite everything.
"Significantly." I cupped her face with one massive hand, my thumb tracing the delicate line of her jaw. "If you consent."
Behind us, Silvyr cleared his throat, the sound deliberately exaggerated. "While you two... negotiate terms... Kazmyr and I will secure the ship and plot a course to these coordinates."
I would protect her from Asset P and all others who threatened her. And together, we would turn the trap against whoever had engineered it.
The Agency had been compromised. The rules had changed. But one truth remained constant… Maya was mine to protect, and nothing in this galaxy would take her from me.
CHAPTER 7
MAYA
The bitter taste of betrayal flooded my mouth as I stared at the comm array. My DNA had been bartered like fucking currency in some cosmic meat market without my knowledge or consent. The Agency—the same organization that had supposedly matched me with Vylit—had painted a target on my back, turning me into catnip for pirates across the galaxy.
Seventeen percent survival probability. The number burned into my brain, clinical and cold, a death sentence dressed up as a statistic. What else had been engineered without my permission?
A dark thought slid through my mind. Before I could think things through, I turned to Vylit, and felt my heart twist with doubt. Was anything between us real, or was I just responding to carefully calculated biological manipulation?
"You knew." The accusation slipped out before I could stop it, my voice sharper than I intended. "You knew they were trafficking in human DNA."
Vylit's glow flared bright with alarm, patterns racing across his translucent skin in frantic, defensive bursts. "Never. I would never participate in such dishonor."
"Then explain how I ended up matched to you when I never signed up for alien fucking Tinder!" I stepped back, creating distance between us that felt simultaneously necessary and painful. The Nest Moss still covering me contracted anxiously, sensing the tension.
Vylit moved toward me, then stopped when I flinched. His massive hands opened in a gesture of supplication that struck me as both alien and achingly familiar.
"Earth governments have exchange agreements. They sample DNA during medical procedures." His voice dropped lower, vibrating with intensity. "I did not create this system. I only sought my complement through legitimate channels."
"Legitimate?" I laughed, the sound brittle enough to crack. "My government sold my genetic material to alien matchmakers without my knowledge, and you call that legitimate?"
Silvyr glanced up from his interface, silver skin reflecting the emergency lights in metallic ripples. "Actually, most humans are completely unaware of the Xenobiological Cooperation Treaty. Your World Council signed it in exchange for medical technology." He shrugged, emoji drones manifesting briefly around his head to display tiny question marks. "Fine print, et cetera."
My hands clenched into fists. The scientist in me wanted to categorize this betrayal, dissect it into manageable components. The woman in me wanted to scream until my lungs collapsed.
"That doesn't make it right." I pressed my palm against my chest, feeling my heart hammer beneath the living moss. "I'm not some lab specimen to be matched with an appropriate mate for optimal breeding potential."
