Chapter 4

Maya straightened instinctively.

She could not let Zara see fear.

More importantly, she could not let the five beastmen discover the truth.

Marcus Cross was missing.

The original plot had only hinted at it, but Maya remembered enough. Marcus had vanished on Feral Planet before this disaster. The previous Maya did not know. The outside world did not know. Everyone still believed the most terrifying S-rank warrior in the galaxy stood behind her.

If these men realized her father could not protect her, the thin line keeping her alive would snap.

Zara's gaze slid over Caleb first, then Finn's blood-stained tank. Interest sharpened in her eyes.

"Still playing with broken toys?" she asked softly. "How disappointing. With your father's name, you could have chosen anyone. Instead Marcus dragged home damaged males for his spoiled little daughter and called them gifts."

Caleb's expression went colder.

Finn's fingers twitched in the water.

Maya stepped in front of the tank before she could think better of it. "Say what you want to me. Leave them out of it."

Zara's smile widened.

"Oh? Feeling protective now? How touching." Her tone turned venomous. "But without Marcus Cross, what are you, Maya? Nothing. Just a pretty Female who inherited power she never earned. Your mother knew it. That's why she abandoned you. And now look. Even your father has left you floating alone in space."

The words hit too close.

Maya felt the five men behind her go still.

No.

She could not react.

If she flinched, they would know.

So Maya laughed.

It came out colder than she expected.

"Is that what this is about?" she asked. "You're still jealous."

Zara's expression froze for half a second.

Maya took one step closer to the projection. "Jealous of my father. Jealous of my face. Jealous that even my so-called damaged beastmen are better than anything your family could buy."

Jasper's ears twitched.

Hunter looked at her sharply.

Maya kept going because stopping now meant dying.

"Look at them, Zara. Caleb was a legion commander before politics buried him. Sage is a healer your medical families would beg to claim. Jasper could bankrupt half your allies before breakfast. Hunter survived battlefields your pet guards would wet themselves seeing. And Finn?"

Her voice dropped.

"Finn is royal blood. Even injured, he's worth more than every polished lapdog circling your drawing room."

For the first time, Finn looked directly at her.

Zara's perfect face twisted.

Maya smiled. "My father doesn't bring me leftovers. He brings me males with enough potential to shake the galaxy. You call them broken because you know you could never make them yours."

Silence slammed through the cabin.

Then Zara's hologram flickered with her rage.

"Enjoy your pride while you still can," she hissed. "The Seventh Fleet won't come for you. No patrol will answer. Let's see how long Marcus's precious daughter survives when no one hears her scream."

The projection cut out.

For one heartbeat, the cabin stayed silent.

Then the ship lurched violently.

Alarms screamed.

"Warning! Massive bio-signature detected! Zerg swarm approaching rapidly!"

The viewport darkened.

Hundreds of Zerg bioships poured across the stars like a living storm, purple bio-armor pulsing as if the swarm itself were breathing.

Jasper slammed a hand onto the control panel. His face went pale. "Three hundred minimum. Maybe more."

"Hull integrity dropping," Sage said, scanning the data. "Bio-acid impact on starboard side."

Hunter moved in front of Maya without thinking. Caleb grabbed the edge of the console, eyes cutting over every warning light.

Another alert flashed.

"External weapons lock detected. Civilian starcraft approaching from sector seven."

Maya's blood turned cold.

Zara.

Through the viewport, a sleek private starcraft appeared behind the Zerg formation, its cannons charging blue-white.

"That insane bitch is firing at us while the bugs are here?" Jasper snarled.

The first shot hit their shield.

The whole cabin exploded into sparks.

Maya crashed against the wall. Pain flashed through her shoulder. The isolation tank skidded across the floor, and Finn slammed against the glass with a muffled grunt.

Something inside Maya snapped.

"Sage, stabilize Finn! Jasper, get us out of her firing range! Caleb, tell me if this ship can jump!"

Everyone stared at her for half a second.

Then Caleb barked, "Move!"

The fallen commander came alive.

Hunter locked the cabin doors. Jasper flew over the controls, fingers moving faster than Maya could track. Sage braced himself beside Finn's tank, pale healing light surrounding the cracked glass.

"Jump engine is damaged," Jasper said. "Cooling system's half-eaten. If we force it, destination accuracy is trash."

"Trash is better than dead," Maya snapped.

A second blast hit.

This one came from the Zerg.

The ship screamed around them.

"Hull breach in thirty seconds!" the AI announced.

Maya looked at the five beastmen. Hatred still burned in their eyes. Distrust too. But now there was something else beneath it.

A chance.

"The situation has changed," Maya said, looking around at everyone. She made her voice cold and heartless. "With the Zerg surrounding us, I need your full cooperation, not passive resistance. Instead of letting hatred drag us all down, I'll give you a real incentive worth fighting for."

She paused.

"Protect me while I find my father, and I'll give you freedom gradually. Whoever performs well gets one blood drop."

The cabin went still.

For one terrible second, even the alarms seemed distant.

In this society, a Female could dissolve a bond contract through a blood release ritual. Ten drops of her blood, offered willingly onto the beast mark, once per day. After the tenth drop, the Bio-Neural Contract would disappear completely.

No pain. No backlash. No death.

But no Female ever did it.

A contracted Male meant protection, status, obedience, and power. To voluntarily release one was almost unheard of.

For these five men, however, those blood drops meant something more dangerous than mercy.

They meant a future.

Maya's words hit the cabin like thunder. All five beastmen froze. Their pupils dilated.

"You said..." Caleb's voice was rougher than before. His fingers touched the scorpion mark on his chest instinctively. "Blood drops?"

Sage looked up suddenly. Hope flashed in his eyes, but it disappeared almost immediately. "Since when are you so generous? What is this? Another experiment?"

Jasper started breathing harder. Complex emotions burned in his green eyes. "Blood drops... You're not just screwing with us?"

Finn, barely conscious, opened his eyes. For the first time, a weak light appeared in his violet gaze.

Hunter stared at her. "In Beastman history, no Female has ever voluntarily released her contracted males."

Maya smiled coldly. "Then I'll be the first."

She looked at Caleb first, then at the others.

"We can't stand each other anyway, right?"

Caleb's voice was hoarse. "Ten blood drops. One per day. You know what that means."

"It means letting go completely," Maya nodded. "It also means real freedom for you."

Sage's voice trembled despite his attempt to sound calm. "And if you stop after the first few drops?"

Maya glanced at him. "Then you'll still be closer to freedom than you were yesterday."

Jasper laughed once, but the sound was strained. "How generous. Give us a taste of hope, then yank it away when you get bored?"

"If I wanted you hopeless, I would have kept the whip," Maya said.

That shut him up.

Hunter's jaw flexed. "What if this is another one of your mind games?"

Maya's gaze swept over the torn metal walls, flashing warning panels, and Finn's blood-stained water.

"This is the only way you can escape the Bio-Neural Contract without tearing the marks out of your own bodies," she said calmly. "And right now, this is the only way I survive long enough to find my father."

"Hull breach in sixty seconds!" the AI system warned.

Maya looked at five pairs of eyes filled with hatred, disbelief, and something dangerously close to hope.

"We don't have time to deliberate," she said. "Either trust the deal, or we all die here together."

Maya cleared her throat with a cough, her eyes fixed determinedly on the five beastmen who would shake the galaxy in the future.

"If you want to live, accept my offer."

No one spoke.

But this time, no one laughed either.

Caleb's dark red eyes stayed locked on her face, sharp enough to cut through bone.

Jasper's fox ears twitched once, his usual mockery cracking at the edges.

Sage looked toward Finn, then back at Maya, his healer's instincts clearly warring with his hatred.

Hunter's fists loosened slightly.

And inside the isolation tank, Finn pressed one bloodless hand against the glass.

Then the AI screamed, "Jump window unstable! Manual authorization required!"

Caleb's jaw tightened.

"Deal," he said coldly. "But you better keep your word."

Maya slammed her bleeding palm onto the authorization plate.

Blue quantum light swallowed the cabin.

"Jump activated! Destination: Feral Planet!"

Blue quantum folding light instantly engulfed the entire mobile fortress. The Zerg's angry mental screams gradually faded in the folding space.

In the jump's glow, Maya saw all five beastmen staring at her. Their expressions shifted from hatred to complex wariness.

But Maya could taste freedom. As long as she could find her dad and break the bonds with these five dangerous men, she'd finally be able to truly live!