“What happens now?” I asked, not moving from the circle of his embrace.
“Now,” Lor rumbled, his voice vibrating through me where we touched, “we secure the prisoner, neutralize the weapon, and wait for extraction.”
“And then?” I pressed, looking up at him.
His golden eyes softened. “And then I take you on that date I promised. The one with the... Olive Garden.” He pronounced the restaurant name like it was an exotic alien concept, which I supposed to him, it was.
I laughed, the sound echoing in the small space. Phil curled around both our ankles, binding us together in a living embrace that felt right in a way I couldn’t explain.
“Deal,” I said. “But I get to pick the second date. Something with fewer breadsticks and more adventure.”
“With you,” Lor said, pressing his forehead to mine, “I expect nothing less.”
Vaskari watched us with those black, fathomless eyes, his expression a mixture of disgust and grudging realization. He’d underestimated us—not just Lor, but me. Us together. And the jungle that had chosen us both.
I smiled, suddenly feeling more at home in this alien world than I ever had on Earth.
“My mate is terrifying,” Lor repeated, his voice filled with unmistakable pride.
“Damn right,” I said, and leaned against Phil’s side like a queen on her throne.
14 /LOR
The vines rustled gently overhead,a hush falling over the clearing like the jungle itself was exhaling. My claws retracted as I sealed the cryopod with a hiss, the fugitive—Vaskari—locked within its containment field, finally neutralized. My mission was complete. But I couldn’t stop looking at her. Miri stood at the edge of the moss-covered ridge, her arms crossed over her chest, breathing hard from adrenaline or fear or both. Her hair was a wild halo, damp with sweat and jungle mist. She looked like something conjured by the wilds—untamed and luminous and mine.
She turned to me, eyebrows lifted. “So… what now?”
The message from Legion Command still blinked on the holo-slate in my hand: Extraction team en route. ETA: 53 minutes.
I took a slow step forward, then another. I crossed the distance between us and cupped her cheek with one hand, the pad of my thumb brushing away a streak of dirt. “We have an hour.”
Her smile was small. But it reached her eyes.
“An hour before what, exactly?” she asked, leaning into my touch with a trust that made my chest ache.
“Before Legion Command retrieves us. Before Vaskari is transferred to a maximum security detention facility for trial.” I hesitated, then added, “Before we discuss your return to Terra Prime.”
She stiffened slightly beneath my touch. “And the bioweapon?”
“Neutralized.” I glanced back at the smaller containment unit where we’d secured the device Vaskari had planted. Its malignant glow had faded to nothing, the dispersal sequence halted with only minutes to spare. “The Legion’s biosecurity division will dismantle it completely once we’re extracted.”
“So that’s it?” Miri’s eyes searched mine. “Mission accomplished? Back to our regularly scheduled programming?”
I stroked her cheek again, savoring the warmth of her skin against mine. “Not quite that simple.”
The jungle stirred around us, a subtle shift in energy that I’d learned to interpret through months of communion with this sentient ecosystem. Relief. Gratitude. The vines curled closer, Phil extending a tendril to brush affectionately against Miri’s ankle.
“The jungle is celebrating,” I told her, watching her eyes widen slightly. “It recognizes what you did. What we did together.”
“I just helped,” she said, with that self-deprecating shrug humans used to minimize their accomplishments. “You would have figured it out eventually.”
“No.” I gently tilted her face up to mine. “You saw what I couldn’t. You understood the jungle’s warning when I was too focused on conventional tactics. You are the reason we succeeded.”
Her cheeks flushed with color, a human response I’d come to find endearing. “Team effort,” she insisted. “Me, you, Phil, the entire sentient ecosystem.”
I allowed a rare smile to curve my lips. “Legion Command will have questions.”
“About me?”
