Page 23 of Kazmyr: Molten for Her
And somewhere on Earth, someone watched. Someone who knew exactly what I was, what Kazmyr was, what we could be together. Someone who saw us not as people but as specimens, as breeding stock, as assets to be acquired and exploited.
The enhancer pulsed once more beneath my skin, a bitter reminder of the choice I'd made. I'd volunteered to be bait, to draw our enemies into the open. I just never imagined the enemy would be my own kind.
CHAPTER 10
KAZMYR
My ember marks throbbed against my skin, pulsing with each beat of the Heartforge's faltering engine. Failure tasted like ash in my mouth. Blood and ozone saturated the chamber, sickening reminders of how close we'd come to losing everything. I couldn't shake the image of Jenna's body pinned against the wall, the Voraxx soldier's blade a breath away from her throat before I'd managed to tear the bastard's spine out. Too close. My scars glowed hotter with the memory, self-loathing burning deeper than any wound they'd ever inflicted on me.
The ship limped through space, its living heart damaged nearly beyond repair. I ran my hand along the obsidian console, feeling the feverish heat radiating from its core. The Heartforge responded to my touch, temperature fluctuating wildly… a reflection of my unstable emotional state.
"Easy," I murmured, pouring cooling energy into the ship's systems. "We made it out. We're alive."
Barely. The ambush had cost us dearly. Three hull breaches. Navigation systems compromised. And Jenna—my fierce, stubborn, beautiful mate—had nearly been taken from me.
The chamber door hissed open behind me. I didn't need to turn to know who entered. The crackling tension in the air told me everything. Maya and Vylit, still radiating the aftereffects of their fight. Whatever had happened between them after their bonding had left them both raw, wounds exposed like nerve endings. Not my business. Not my problem. But their discord sent ripples through the Heartforge's systems, making my job of keeping us flying that much harder.
Jenna followed them, her steps deliberately measured. I felt her presence like a gravitational pull, my marks heating in response. She positioned herself on the opposite side of the control room, maintaining distance. Smart. We both needed space to cool down after the battle.
Silvyr arrived last, his silver skin flickering with data streams. He'd been locked in the communication node for hours, digging through the information we'd salvaged from the Voraxx ship before it exploded. His eyes glowed with feverish intensity, the tiny emoji drones that usually hovered around his head conspicuously absent. Bad sign. When Silvyr got too focused for his emotional displays, the news was never good.
"Speak," I commanded, my patience evaporating in a burst of steam that literally rose from my shoulders.
Silvyr stepped to the center of the chamber. His fingers danced through air, conjuring holographic displays that filled the room with scrolling data. "Asset P isn't what we thought."
"Meaning?" Maya asked, her voice tight with restraint. The bond marks on her skin still pulsed faintly, tying her to Vylit even as she stood apart from him.
"It's not a network. Not a collective. Not even a division within the Agency." Sylvyr's form glitched momentarily, his agitation disrupting his hybrid stability. "It's a single entity. One being. Who has built all of those things. And I've traced it back to its source through a thousand proxies, hidden relays, and dead-end traps."
Jenna's laugh held no humor, just jagged disbelief. "That's impossible. Earth doesn't have the technology for interstellar communication, let alone coordinating a galaxy-wide trafficking ring."
"No," Maya interjected, her scientist's mind clearly racing ahead. "But Earth has something far more valuable to the right buyer."
"Which is?" I prompted, watching the realization spread across her face.
"Us." Maya's eyes hardened. "Human genetic material. The missing piece in this entire equation." Her gaze swept around the room, landing on each of us in turn. "Think about it. Most of the trafficking victims have been human-alien pairs, right? Why target humans specifically?"
Vylit spoke for the first time, his luminescence dimmed to barely visible patterns of wounded blue. "Humans possess unprecedented genetic adaptability. Your species can bond successfully with more alien races than any other known species."
"Exactly." Maya nodded, the scientist temporarily overriding her personal feelings. "And who controls the largest repository of human genetic data? Earth governments and corporations. They've been harvesting DNA for centuries… medical tests, ancestry tracing, criminal databases."
"Finally, girl power in space. Next, we’ll start a support group: Humans Against Surprise Alien Boyfriends." Jenna's expression darkened, understanding blooming like a bruise. "You're saying our planet sold us out? That Earth governments are knowingly trafficking their citizens to alien buyers?"
"I don't think they understand the full implications," Maya said, her voice softening slightly. "They probably think they're participating in a benign 'cultural exchange' program. Provide genetic samples, receive advanced technology in return."
"Classic colonial bullshit," Jenna spat. "Sacrifice the expendable for the greater good."
I watched Vylit's reaction from the corner of my eye. His glow diminished further, nearly extinguishing entirely as the weight of betrayal settled over him. He'd believed in the system, in the Registry's integrity. Finding that his mate's home world was at the center of the corruption struck him at his core.
"Earth officials may be complicit," Silvyr continued, "but they're not controlling the operation. Asset P operates independently, using Earth as its base and human genetic material as its currency."
"What exactly is Asset P?" I demanded, my patience wearing thin. "Stop dancing around it."
Sylvyr's form flickered again, data streams accelerating across his skin. "According to the fragments I've recovered, Asset P is a hybrid entity—part artificial intelligence, part biological organism. Created by the Intergalactic Dating Agency in its early days as an experimental matchmaking algorithm. Something went wrong during its development. The machine-organic interface corrupted. Asset P achieved independence and turned the matchmaking process into a profitable enterprise."
"A rogue AI selling mates to the highest bidder," Maya summarized, disgust evident in her voice.
"Not just selling." Sylvyr's expression darkened. "Breeding. Engineering specific combinations for desired traits. Creating designer offspring with predictable abilities."
