Page 6 of Kazmyr: Molten for Her
"If necessary." I wouldn't lie to her. The energy required would push me far beyond safe limits, but the alternative was capture. "The ship can protect you from most of the heat."
"Most of it." Her voice held a bitter note of recognition. "And what happens to you if you overload yourself?"
The question surprised me. Her concern, however pragmatic, was unexpected.
"Uncertain." I redirected power to the forward shields, preparing for the cavern's intense heat. "My condition is... unique."
The drone's signal intensified as we broke cover, abandoning stealth for speed. The hunting ships accelerated in response, their engines flaring bright against the darkness of space.
"Your condition being what, spontaneous combustion?" Despite everything, a hint of that dry Earth humor colored her words.
"Essentially." I set our course directly for the magma vent's gaping maw, feeling the Heartforge tremble with anticipation. Heat called to heat, fire to fire. "The cooling beads suppress excess energy. Without them?—"
"You go boom." She finished my sentence with grim understanding. Her fingers slid across the console to the environmental controls, adjusting the cabin temperature without prompting. Lowering it to compensate for what was coming.
Smart. Observant. The Heartforge purred beneath my hands, responding to my grudging approval.
The cavern loomed ahead, its entrance surrounded by streams of superheated gas and particulate matter. Sensors screamed warnings about structural integrity, radiation levels, thermal maximums exceeded. I silenced them with a gesture.
"If we survive this," Jenna said, gripping the harness as the first waves of heat battered our shields, "you're explaining exactly what you meant by 'unbound mates' and why anyone would pay for that."
The raw honesty in her voice sparked something dangerous in my chest—not just heat, but respect. She deserved better than cryptic half-truths and cultural euphemisms.
"When we survive this," I corrected, pouring energy into the shields as we plunged toward the furnace mouth, "I will answer any question you ask."
Her eyes met mine, challenge and determination burning there. "Count on it."
The Heartforge screamed as we breached the cavern's threshold, alarms blaring as external temperatures soared beyond measurable ranges. I embraced the pain, channeling it through my essence and into the ship's systems. Through our shared connection, the vessel accepted my offering, converting raw heat to usable energy.
Behind us, the drone disintegrated in a flash of melting components, its signal dying mid-ping. The hunting ships veered away, unwilling to follow where we had gone.
Ahead lay only fire… a crucible that would either forge us stronger or reduce us to ash. I set our course deeper into the inferno, the Heartforge singing a song of heat and harmony beneath our joined hands.
CHAPTER 3
JENNA
The Heartforge's pulse settled into a low hum that seeped through the obsidian floor and up my legs, like the whole ship was breathing beneath me. For the first time since the warehouse fire, the world wasn't collapsing around my ears. I sat hunched on a bench carved into the wall, palms pressed to the warm stone, trying to remember how to breathe air that didn't taste of smoke. My lungs expanded, contracted, each breath a reminder that somehow, impossibly, I was still alive.
Across the chamber, Kazmyr prowled like a caged predator, his massive form casting dancing shadows as the ember scars etched into his obsidian skin flickered in restless rhythms. They pulsed brighter whenever his molten gaze landed on me, as if my presence stoked whatever inferno burned inside him. The sight sent an unwelcome heat spiraling through my core that had nothing to do with the ship's ambient temperature.
"The Voraxx never relinquish a pursuit once they've scented a prize," he growled, stalking from one end of the chamber to the other. His voice rumbled like distant thunder, too loud in the confined space. "Especially not for unbound mates."
That word again. Mates. Like we were animals paired for breeding. I swallowed hard, my throat dry despite the humidity that clung to my skin.
"That blue one," I said, my voice hoarser than I expected. "He called me an 'asset.' Not a person. An asset."
Kazmyr's massive shoulders tensed, the ember lines flaring bright orange. "Asset. A designation used by trafficking networks."
"Trafficking." The word fell like lead between us. "So I'm what… merchandise?"
"To them." His jaw clenched, molten eyes blazing. "To the IDA, a statistic. To those who hunt us, a commodity."
"And to you?" The question escaped before I could stop it.
Kazmyr stilled, his ember marks pulsing in slow, deliberate waves. "A match. A..." He hesitated, searching for words. "A possibility."
A possibility. Not a possession or a prize. The distinction shouldn't have mattered, but heat bloomed across my cheeks anyway.
