Novels by Tiku Writes

Commander Voss did not wait for us to finish dressing.She stood in the doorway of the treatment room with two of her senior analysts behind her, scarred face set in lines that had gone flat and professional. The usual careful neutrality was gone. Whatever the overnight shift had found had removed the last of the measured distance she had maintained since our arrival.“Both of you. Conference room. Now.”Kael was already on his feet. The amber in his eyes held steady, but I saw the black gather at the edges the moment the tension in the room shifted. The failsafe always responded to external stress. I moved to his side without being asked. The spark answered the proximity, small and immediate.We followed Voss through the internal corridors. The observation post felt different in the pre-dawn hours, quieter, more tightly controlled. Guards who had grown accustomed to our presence watched us with renewed attention. Screens that had shown empty western slopes for days now carried low-le

The first observation session began in a small, windowless room that had been cleared of everything except two chairs, a narrow table, and a discreet array of external sensors fixed to the walls. No restraints. No invasive equipment. Commander Voss had been precise about the limits, and so far those limits were being respected.Kael sat in one chair, posture controlled, hands resting loosely on his thighs. I sat in the other, close enough that our knees nearly touched. The spark answered the proximity with its usual quiet certainty. Two analysts monitored the feeds from an adjacent room. Voss herself remained present but silent, observing from the doorway.“Baseline only,” the lead analyst said. “No stimulation. We are mapping residual activity during a quiet period. You may speak or remain silent as you prefer. Either of you can end the session at any time.”Kael gave a short nod. The amber in his eyes held steady. The black waited at the edges the way it always did now.The first tw

The observation post settled into a tense, functional rhythm around us.By the third day Kael was strong enough to sit up for short stretches and walk the length of the small treatment room without immediate collapse. The physical wounds were closing under professional care, but the deeper war against the failsafe continued without pause. The black still rose in his eyes at irregular intervals. Sometimes the surges were brief and easily forced back. Other times they locked him into full rigidity for long seconds while I held his face and spoke until the amber fought its way through again. The medical staff recorded every episode with clinical precision and did not interfere. The agreement held.I stayed with him.There was nowhere else I intended to be.The missing bond left a constant, low-grade disorientation that no amount of proximity fully erased. I reached for the old living connection out of pure habit a dozen times a day and found only silence. In its place the spark remained

They moved us at first light.Kael was stable enough for transport but only barely. The field surgeon had stopped the worst of the bleeding and forced enough fluids and antibiotics into him to pull him back from the immediate edge, yet the damage ran deeper than sutures and packing could reach. The failsafe remained active. Even under the residual effects of limited pain management, the black still rose in his eyes at irregular intervals, and each time the amber had to fight its way back through sheer refusal and the quiet pull of the spark whenever I stayed close enough for him to reach.I rode in the same vehicle, one hand wrapped around his. Rafe sat across from us, cleaned and re-bandaged, silent with exhaustion. Two members of the monitoring group rode with us. Commander Voss followed in a second vehicle.The observation post sat on the far side of the valley, built into a natural fold of rock and screened by terrain and camouflage netting. From the outside it looked like little

The silence on the slope stretched long enough for the wind to carry the smell of blood and cold stone between all of us.Kael remained upright only by force of will. The amber in his eyes held, but it was thin and unstable, the black of the failsafe pressing hard against it. Blood continued to seep through the ruined bandages on his side. Without the bond I could not share the burden or feel the exact moment the programming might take him again. All I had was the stubborn spark and the sight of him fighting to stay present.Varen stood a few meters away, silver eyes moving between the new arrivals, Kael, and me. His remaining fighter had been disarmed and forced to his knees by two of the monitoring group. The other two kept their weapons ready but not yet aimed at any one target.The woman with the scar spoke again, her voice measured.“Clock is running. The Alpha is bleeding out, the secondary is exhausted, and the rogue is still a threat. You accept extraction and medical stabiliz

Varen took another step toward me.Kael remained on his knees in the screen, head bowed, eyes pure black, the failsafe locked in full control. Blood continued to run down his side and soak into the stone. Without the bond I could not reach him the way I once had. All I had was my voice, the small blade in my hand, and the stubborn spark that still refused to die in the empty space where the connection had been.“Last chance to step aside,” Varen said. His voice was rough with pain and exhaustion, but the obsession in it had not faded. “The Alpha is finished. The bond is gone. You have nothing left to bargain with.”“I have a blade and the fact that you are already bleeding,” I answered. “That is enough for the moment.”Behind Varen, the mechanical grind of the vehicle engine grew clearer. It was climbing the lower access road that cut across the base of the western face, still too far away to see clearly, but close enough that the sound carried up the slope without obstruction. Whoeve