of the system's interface and wrenched it open, building a

ll, followed by A. Winter's monotone voic

's body, in a Beast World cave that smells like a slaughterhouse, with a mate who wants to cave my skull in. I have no terrain intel,

erminate this mission. Sen

col locked. Failure to complete the Progenitus Optimization mission's pri

rob, but she used it, funneling the agony into focus. She gathered her mental

t me than look at me? Fine," Jayla snarled in her mind, her teeth bared. "But I don't wor

rojected absolute stubbornness. "Unlock my powers, or I sit he

. Jayla could almost hear the gears of t

i

returned, as cold as ever. "Inhibitors lifted. Ac

chest vanished. The blocked channels in her body blew open, and Aether

tle. She pulled it out and twisted off the cap, scooping out a dollop of a potent, emerald-green healing salve. She reached back and carefully applied the cool, tingling o

ks echoed in the cave. The weakness was gon

r, give me the full background file on this host and her situation. Now," she

eraged that authority to do the unthinkable: she had forcibly Marked seven of the most powerful Beast-kin males on the continent. In Beast World law, a Mark was sacred - a bond chosen freely between mates, sealed with Aether and blood, meant to be a source of strength for both parties.

of busine

th a flicker of light. Jayla reached in and pulled out a sleek, silver can o

every direction. Psssh. Psssh. Psssh. The clean, sharp scent of mint instantly cut th

air, a hissing metal cylinder that spat cold-smelling vapor - none of it existed in his world. He didn't have the

ly, demanding attention after the healing s

d chicken, the crust perfectly crispy, and a large plastic cup o

ve. It was a violent, mouth-watering smell that invaded

e bite out of the chicken thigh. The crunch was deafening in the quiet cave. "T

he silence. It came from Jordi's stomach. The so

venom and suspicion. In his experience, any gift from her hands came with a price. Food that smelled this good, offered in this enclosed space, while

he straw, the ice clinking. She glanced at him from

e carried symbolic weight she couldn't afford to misuse. More practically: if she handed

the empty cup back into the Pocket Dimension for disp

stench of despair. Screw the mission for a second; she needed a base of

east World landscape meant unknown fauna, unknown tribal territories, and u

The bright morning sun hit her face,