Page 14 of Pursued By the Dragon Alien

Lilas pried at the seam of the sphere with her nails, found a small latch, and twisted it open. The inner panel slid away, revealing a mess of wires and a tiny blinking mechanism set deep in the core.

Seeing the internal working of this thing made her heart race. If she yanked out something wrong, she could trigger a distress signal—or worse, a self-destruct.

She exhaled sharply, fingers flexing. Mistakes weren’t an option. If she screwed this up, she wasn’t just proving she was useless—she was risking the crew. And whatever she thought about Razion and his ridiculous smirk, she wasn’t about to put them all in danger.

Lilas narrowed her eyes, studying the wiring. Back at the settlement, she’d spent more time fixing broken equipment than she had farming. Every piece of machinery they owned was outdated and held together by spare parts and sheer force of will. Which meant she knew one very important thing—everything had a weak spot.

She traced the thin copper wire connecting the blinking mechanism to the rest of the device. It was attached at three points—two held firm, one slightly looser. That was the weak link.

Carefully, she pinched the weak wire between her nails and twisted. The connector popped free. The blinking light flickered once more—then went dark.

She grinned, pleased with herself.Well, look at that.

Lilas put the disabled tracker into the discard bin and placed the now-safe sphere into the salvage pile. Her satisfaction lasted for all of three seconds before a deep voice rumbled behind her.

“What thefekdo you think you’re doing?”

She turned slowly, already knowing who she would find.

Razion stood there, arms crossed, expression sharp. His storm-gray eyes weren’t full of their usual smug amusement. No, this time, he looked genuinely irritated.

Lilas set the scanner down, unbothered. “Sorting,” she said flatly. “Which is what you told me to do, isn’t it?”

His eyes flickered to the open sphere, then back to her. “You bypassed a tracker without verifying the model, without confirming it wasn’t rigged to send a secondary pulse, and without alertinganyonethat you found it.”

Lilas arched a brow. “And yet…it’s fine.” She gestured to the device. “Disabled, no distress signals sent, no surprise explosions. Calm down, Captain.”

Razion’s jaw tightened. “You got lucky.”

Lilas crossed her arms. “I did what I had to do because you sent me here without a word of instruction. If you’d given me afekkingclue about what I was supposed to be doing, I wouldn’t have needed luck.”

Razion’s wings flared, then carefully folded against his back, probably from annoyance, but she wasn’t finished. “And before you tell me I should’ve read that handy little manual you sent to my room—” she tapped her temple, voice sharp—“remember how Ican’t read?”

Something flickered in his storm-gray eyes. Annoyance, maybe. Or something else. Guilt? She hoped so.

Razion exhaled, slow and measured. “I was going to show you how to do this job.”

Lilas’ belly tightened with doubt. “Well, I didn’t know that, did I? I showed up here like you told me to, after my first meal. Someone showed me how to use a scanner and I got to work.”To prove she was useful,but telling him that was out of the question. The last thing she wanted from this male was his pity.

His jaw was tight, but he didn’t snarl back at her. Instead, he plucked the deactivated tracker out of the discard bin, turning it over in his fingers. “You knew how to disarm this.” It wasn’t a question.

Lilas shrugged. “I know how to take apart ancient farming equipment and keep it running on spit and hope. Figuring this out wasn’t much different.”

Razion hummed, inspecting the device one last time before tossing it into the correct bin. Then he fixed his gaze on her, unreadable but assessing.

“Next time,ask.”

“Fine.” Lilas tilted her head. “Next time,teach.”

A long, tense beat passed between them before Razion let out a quiet huff. “Fine.”

“Good.” She let out a long breath. “Who do I ask, by the way? Is there a cargo hold manager down here?”

Razion pointed to a tall, slender being holding a clear screen near the disposal air lock. “Yig, over there, is a good one to ask. She can disarm anything.” He sighed and shook his head. “You know, you’re more trouble than I anticipated.”

Lilas matched his smirk. “Gribna thought so after I called him a compost heap.”

To her mild surprise, Razion laughed. It wasn’t loud, but it was real, low and rough in a way that sent an unexpected tingle down her spine. “Is that how you got that bruise?”

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