Page 26 of Silver Slayer

"I'm getting strange readings," I said, keeping my voice low. "Nothing I recognize."

Vennox moved closer, his heat a solid presence at my side.

"What is it?" Vala asked.

"Fluctuating. Like something moving between..." The analyzer suddenly spiked, a single massive signature resolving from the chaos. "Fuck!"

The ground erupted ten feet ahead of us, crystalline shards exploding outward in a deadly spray. A massive, multi-limbed creature burst from beneath the surface, its body a shifting nightmare of translucent flesh and glowing organs. Three distinct heads whipped toward us simultaneously; each crowned with a crest of barbed spines that rattled with killing intent. Its segmented body stretched at least fifteen feet, armored plates overlapping along its length, ending in a barbed tail that lashed the air with a crack like a whip.

I froze, every instinct I had screaming at me to run while my mind scrambled to catch up.

The males reacted with a single coordinated movement, forming a defensive perimeter around Brunnex and us.

Vennox stepped directly in front of me, his blade already drawn, its silver edge glinting as he swung it in a lethal arc. Ruze flanked left, nutrone blaster raised. Vala flanked right, his weapon up, luminous eyes fixed on the three heads tracking us in separate, calculating sweeps.

Behind them, Brooke and Mara had their blasters leveled, standing their ground with the kind of steadiness that time on a killing world forges out of even the most reluctant fighters.

Truxxet planted himself directly in front of the stretcher where Brunnex lay, spear angled outward, a wall between the injured Valosian and whatever came through.

The creature's three heads moved in eerie synchronization, sweeping left to right, scenting us. Then all three locked on simultaneously, and it lunged.

Every blaster fired at once.

Ruze's bolt caught the left head mid-strike, and it recoiled with a shriek that made the air vibrate, flesh smoking and charred around the impact point. Vala's shot hit the right head a heartbeat behind, snapping it back with a wet crack. Brooke and Mara fired into the creature's armored flank, the combined volley punching through two overlapping plates and sending it skidding sideways on its multiple legs.

But the center head kept coming.

Vennox moved faster than I could track him. One moment, he stood before me; the next, he'd intercepted the strike, his blade flashing in a clean strike that severed the creature's head from its neck. Fluid sprayed outward in a wide fan, sizzling where it splashed the crystalline ground. The decapitated head landed with a wet thud, jaws still snapping despite its separation from the body.

The remaining two heads recovered with terrifying speed, whipping around to face this new threat. Vennox didn't wait. He lunged forward, blade extended and drove the point directly into the junction where the creature's body met its central neck. The beast convulsed, all remaining limbs thrashing wildly as Vennox twisted the blade deeper, his muscles bunching beneath his scaled skin with the effort of holding the massive creature in place.

"Now!" Vala shouted.

Every blaster fired again simultaneously. Ruze, Vala, Brooke, and Mara unloaded into the armored body at the precise points where Vennox's blade had torn through the plating. The combined impact shredded the creature's midsection, splitting it nearly in half. It collapsed with a final, violent shudder, its limbs twitching in death throes as it slowly stilled.

I stared at the carnage, my breath caught in my throat. From attack to kill, less than thirty seconds had passed. The males had moved with the kind of coordination that should have taken years to build, and yet none of them had stood together before this. And at the center of it all, my silver slayer had been a blur of lethal efficiency, his blade finding weaknesses I couldn't even see.

My gaze tracked back to him, where he stood over the fallen creature, chest heaving with exertion, blood streaking his scales where a barb had caught his bicep. The wound appeared to already be closing, the edges knitting together with preternatural speed.

"Everyone move," Vala ordered, breaking the momentary silence. "Before something else comes."

Our group surged forward, moving with renewed urgency through the spire field. I forced my legs to keep moving, fighting the strange weakness in my knees as I replayed what had just happened.

Vennox hadn't hesitated.

The moment danger appeared; he had struck. No deliberation. No weighing the odds. He had simply put himself between me and those snapping jaws as though protecting me was the most natural thing in the universe. A flood of relief had hit me so hard it was almost dizzying.

My reaction should have comforted me. Instead, it was unsettling.

I had spent my entire life relying on myself. My father had walked out when I was young, leaving my mother to work herself ragged just to keep food on the table. If there was onelesson life had drilled into me early, it was that depending on someone else was a good way to get hurt. Men left. People failed. Circumstances changed. The only person you could truly count on was yourself.

That mindset had served me well. It had carried me through years of remote fieldwork, months alone in the wilderness, and the endless brutal days on a planet determined to kill me. I trusted my instincts, my training, and my own judgment.

And now here was Vennox. An alien male I had known for only a handful of hours. One whose first instinct seemed to be placing himself between me and danger.

The worst part was how easily I could get used to it. That was what frightened me the most.

As we hurried the remainder of the way, my gaze kept drifting back to him despite my best efforts. The confident set of his shoulders. The way his attention constantly swept our surroundings. The careful position he maintained beside me, close enough to intervene if something attacked.