Page 58 of Alien War Daddy's Got Rizz
And yet…
Unsettlingly fragile.
“Thank you,” I say, even though it feels inadequate.
For what?
For being present?
For staying out of my office?
For not stepping in when I asked him to?
For pretending nothing has changed?
“Yes,” he says, but his gaze doesn’t lift to meet mine.
And I feel it — hanging between us, a tension thicker than any negotiation board:
He’s watching me.
Too closely.
Not because he doubts me.
But because hefeelsme.
And that makes me uneasy.
I stare out the window, past the mounting skyline, out where the world flickers between night and dawn.
And I wonder…
If loving a Reaper means never truly feeling anchored.
Just beautifully, terrifyingly tethered.
And maybe, that’s the point.
Because some ties aren’t meant to ground you.
They’re meant to change you.
Just as dawn breaks over Helios Combine — gold light melting into glass and steel — I realize that even stability can tremble.
Especially when it’s built on hearts that don’t know how to stop burning.
CHAPTER 11
GRAU
The world smells like iron and circuitry.
Not blood — not yet — but something just as metallic, just as sharp. The scent clings to the underside of my nostrils, like a premonition I can’t shake. I should be immune to this by now. I should be numb. But some smells — like betrayal and machine grease — never leave.
I’m standing in a cold conference room on the thirteenth floor of a CY8 subfacility, watching someone else flinch under accusation like the world’s become a cage of mirrors and every reflection is a lie.
A corporate oversight board flags one of Yara’s private research divisions for espionage.
