kward, her palms s
ainst her cheek, every survival inst
ened his gold eyes. He didn't say a word. He just reached out, his m
motion, he hauled
ely flew up, pressing flat against his bare, burning-hot chest
ignoring her weak struggle, and turned
ing sound came fro
A flash of vibrant crimson
aunched itself from a thick branch, shoo
before Cora co
er. He buried her face into his chest,
k deep into the thick
out a low, guttural grunt. He didn't drop Cora. Instead, his fre
f the snake's spine crus
e barbed tip of its tail whipped across Cora'
eyes immediately dropped to the thin line o
The world tilted violently. Her knees buckled,
his head and pressed his lips dire
trying to draw
from his face. The poison was a neurotoxin, lethal to his kind.
, the impact jarring the ground, but his arms r
ring. This terrifying, wild man was
f her visio
ected. Implanted AI Assist
ctly inside Cora's skull. A translucent blue i
ed: Save the poisoned Alpha
e used DAISY's targeting system. A glowing red circle highlighted the deep pu
zipper of her hazard suit's thigh pocke
His eyes were closed, h
he pressed the blade against the blacke
gonizing roar, his muscl
is dark, poisoned blood. She pressed her thumbs hard against the wound, forci
ivenom synthesis formula unlocked and
ing DAISY's rapid on-screen prompts, she fed a scraping of the beast's venom and a drop of her own blood into the chamber. The device whirred, glowing g
ooded her veins. The dizzine
pletely still, his lips tinged blue. T
e one he had tried to suck the poison from, now mixed wit
er his mouth, forcing a
d by in agoni
tint faded from his lips. His heavy br
ed hands, then up to her face. The raw, predatory possessivene
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