The entire place illuminates with a brilliant white light. Powerful sparks and mini explosions light up the room. All at once, the soldiers fall, dead.
It happens so fast it almost doesn’t register. But when the last of the shell casings stop rolling across the ground, I know it’s over.
Everything starts to spin. Reality warps and bends until I lose my footing and collapse into Kalxor’s body. A flurry of emotions shoot out from my stomach like a million fireflies.
I still can’t believe it. Any of it.
I can’t believe we won.
Leaning into h
is arms, I open my eyes and exhale, giving myself to him emotionally, allowing myself to be absolutely vulnerable and out of control. The truth is, I don’t know if this is over. There could be an entire fucking army waiting for us outside, but even if there was, it wouldn’t mean a thing.
My father taught me what it means to be an actual human. And that’s enough power to fight ten armies.
That’s the power of love.
The lights flicker on. The smoke clears. I can see this place for what it actually is. Just another building. There will be plenty of doors waiting for us to open, but the only one I want to see is the door to my home.
I want him in my bed. I deserve that much.
Kalxor stares at me with obsessive eyes, eyebrows creased with longing. “I’ve never wanted to kiss you so bad in my life,” he says.
I curl my hand around the back of his strong, muscular neck. “Why waste time? Kiss me, cyborg.”
“Don’t mind if I do.”
I inhale and inch open my lips, tongue ready for him. And when our lips finally meet, we taste each other like it’s the last day we’ll ever have. Because it damn sure could be, and it would be a shame if we ever lost each other again.
Now that would be a nightmare.
Sliding my tongue back, I swallow and bite my lower lip, reopening my eyes to see his handsome, alpha face. “We did it,” I whisper.
“I thought I lost you,” he says, eyes moist. “I took you for dead.”
“It’s been a rollercoaster, Kalxor. But I don’t regret any of it. Even the dark parts. All of it feels like a dream to me,” I say.
He nudges his thigh underneath my ass and hoists my body into his arms. “That dream’s not over yet, my love,” he says.
I nearly squeal with joy, but my father’s harsh frequencies interrupt again.
“You’re forgetting the best part,” he says.
“What could be better than this?” I ask.
“I’ve wiped out Earth Federation’s databases. All their records. All their progress. Finished,” he says. “You are the keepers of this machine, and I will make sure no one ever affects your love again.”
Kalxor sets me onto my feet and bows, taking a knee. “Sir, how can we repay you?”
“Don’t,” he says. “All I wanted was to fix this world. The old rulers made it impossible to live. I just wanted to give my daughter everything she deserved. Everything I couldn’t give to her before. My work is done. Now, I serve this planet.”
I try not to cry any more than I already have.
“You mean you won’t leave us?” I ask.
“Not entirely. I might not be here tomorrow or the next day. But when I’m with you, you’ll know,” Gerard says. “The entire family will know.”
I turn and see Kalxor’s family, proudly standing like noble statues, kept alive by memory and coded numbers turned into reality. Kalxor meets them, holds them, and laughs with them.