Chapter 30
Vaelor
The next morning, Vaelor refused to leave Mara until she had fully awakened. He was going to find out from Dugan what he learned about the toxins, but he couldn’t leave her in a vulnerable state.
Mara stirred beside him, a soft breath escaping her as her eyes fluttered open. For a heartbeat, Vaelor simply watched her—still, quiet, reverent. And then she smiled.
It wasn’t a large smile, not the kind she used when she was teasing him or trying to hide her nerves. This one was small, warm, unguarded. A smile born from waking in safety, in warmth, in his presence.
And it struck him with the same force as a memory he had not touched in years.
The Crytharian sunrise.
He remembered seeing it the day he was leaving his home world.
Standing on the cliffs above the Great Ocean, watching the first light break across the horizon.
The sky would ignite in shimmering gold and soft blues, the water catching every color and scattering it like a thousand tiny stars.
It was a moment so bright, so beautiful, so impossibly magical that even the most hardened Crytharian warriors fell silent before it.
Mara’s smile felt like that.
Soft light breaking through darkness.
Warmth blooming where cold had lived.
A quiet, breathtaking magic that made the world feel new.
Vaelor had never expected to see anything that rivaled the sunrise of his home world.
But as Mara’s smile widened—sleepy, radiant, utterly real—he realized he had been wrong.
The Great Ocean sunrise was magnificent.
But Mara’s smile…
Mara’s smile was something he could feel.
“You’re still here,” she said in surprise.
“I am. I just couldn’t leave you yet.”
Her beautiful blue eyes sparked at him.
She snuggled against him. “I like waking up in your arms.”
“Then I will make sure you wake up like this for as long as you desire it.”
Their private moment was rudely interrupted when her stomach growled. They both broke out into laughter.
“I think I should put a priority on feeding you first,” he said.
She let him move off the bedding. “I guess I am pretty hungry. The run across the canyon was intense.”
He grunted. “You also did not eat last night.”
“At the time, I didn’t think I could hold anything down.”
“I’ll get you something as soon as I take the tent down.”
He suddenly stood still.
“What is it?’
“Someone is outside our tent. Stay here.”
He opened the flap and exited the tent. Dugan was standing there, perfectly still.
“Do you have the information I need?” Vaelor asked.
“I do.”
He waited for the other male to reveal the results.
“The toxin is Bitterroot Extract. A naturally occurring compound from a wild plant. It causes stomach cramps, nausea, and weakness when ingested in small amounts. Large amounts could cause death.”
“Where does it come from?”
“It has only been recorded growing on one specific planet—Earth.”
Vaelor had never felt rage like this—hot, sharp, and immediate. Something inside him snapped.
Earth.
Blaine.
Mara’s pain.
He stepped toward Dugan, fists clenched, vision narrowing. “He poisoned her,” Vaelor growled. “He used something from her own world to harm her. I will end him.”
Dugan lifted both hands quickly. “Vaelor—stop. Listen to me.”
But Vaelor was already moving, muscles coiled, ready to hunt Blaine down and tear him apart with his bare hands. The image of Mara doubled over, pale and trembling, burned behind his eyes.
Dugan stepped directly into his path.
“Think,” Dugan said sharply. “If you attack Blaine, there’s only one outcome.”
Vaelor’s voice was a low, dangerous rumble. “He deserves death.”
“And you’ll be disqualified,” Dugan snapped. “And if you’re disqualified, Mara is disqualified. You know the rules.”
Vaelor froze.
The truth hit him like a blow.
Mara.
If he acted now, she would pay the price.
His jaw tightened. “You speak the truth,” he admitted. “But do not pretend you are doing this for her. You do not want to be disqualified either.”
Dugan’s expression shifted—less defensive, more… honest.
“You’re right,” he said quietly. “I don’t.”
Vaelor narrowed his eyes.
Dugan took a breath, “I want to win. Not for Blaine. Not for glory. For my people.”
Vaelor frowned. “Your people?”
“The cyborgs,” Dugan said. “We were built by corporations. Owned. Controlled. We’re not recognized as citizens anywhere. Winning the Games would change that. It would force the galaxy to see us as more than machines.”
There was no lie in his voice. No hesitation.
Vaelor’s anger cooled just enough for clarity to return.
Dugan continued, “I’m not asking you to forgive Blaine. I’m not asking you to trust him. I’m asking you to wait. If you take him out now, you lose everything. Mara loses everything. And my people lose their chance at freedom.”
Vaelor stared at him, chest rising and falling with the effort of holding himself back.
Finally, he spoke. “And what do you offer in return?”
Dugan swallowed. “I’ll keep Blaine in check. I’ll make sure he doesn’t touch her again. Not until the last challenge. After that…” He shrugged. “Do what you want.”
Vaelor considered him—this strange, earnest cyborg who had been forced to partner with a coward.
Slowly, Vaelor lowered his fists.
“You will keep him away from her,” Vaelor said. “If he tries again—”
“I know,” Dugan said.
He turned away, the promise of violence still simmering beneath his skin, but contained—for Mara’s sake.
Dugan left without another word.
The question now was… what did he tell Mara? Did he tell her at all?
Mara exited the tent with the packs. “I’ve packed the bedding.”
“Great,” he said.
He took the tent down and packed that as well.
“Let me get you some soup.”
She grimaced. “Can I eat something else besides soup?”
“You don’t like the soup?”
“I do, but it gets boring after a while.”
He hesitated a moment. “Let me sniff your food pouches first.”
She nodded with relief.
Vaelor sat a short distance from the fire, the cold biting at his skin, but his thoughts were far sharper than the wind. Dugan’s words echoed in his mind, each one a spark against dry tinder.
It came from Earth.
The toxin.
The thing that had made Mara collapse in his arms, trembling and pale.
The thing that had nearly stopped her heart.
Blaine had done that.
Vaelor’s hands curled into fists again, knuckles whitening. Every instinct in him screamed to hunt Blaine down, to finish what he’d started in the canyon, to make him pay for every ounce of pain he’d caused her.
But Dugan’s warning held him in place like chains.
If you attack him, you’ll be disqualified. And she will be too.
The truth was a blade he hated, but it was a blade he could not ignore.
Across the fire, Mara sat with her arms wrapped around her knees, staring into the flames. She was already furious with Blaine—furious enough to shake. Being shoved into the open during the Predator Walk had rattled her deeply. She hadn’t said much since, but Vaelor could feel the storm inside her.
If she knew Blaine had poisoned her too…
She would confront him.
She would demand answers.
She would walk straight into danger without hesitation.
And Blaine—coward that he was—would lash out again.
Vaelor couldn’t allow that.
He exhaled slowly, forcing the tension from his shoulders. The decision settled heavily in his chest, but it was the only one that protected her.
He would keep the truth to himself.
For now.
He would carry the weight of it, the fury of it, the promise of it—until the final challenge was done. Until there was no rule, no penalty, no threat of disqualification standing between him and the justice Blaine deserved.
Then—and only then—would he give Blaine the reckoning he had earned.
The human male sat beside Dugan, talking and talking. The Cyborg ignored him and stared at the fire.
Vaelor’s gaze drifted back to Mara. She looked small in the firelight, but he knew better. She was strong. Fierce. Determined. And she trusted him.
He would not betray that trust by letting her walk into danger blind.
He would protect her.
He would win for her.
And when the Games were over, he would settle the score.
Quietly, he murmured to himself, “Soon.”
The fire crackled, sparks rising into the dark.
And Vaelor held his silence like a blade.