trunks became. The canopy overhead wove together into

ing the high branches for any sig

e of leaves echoed from the b

ntracted into pinpricks. The

t!" Gunne

weight forward and shoved

a mutated lynx the size of a full-grown leopard dropped from the

t exactly where Kiana had been standin

tree back-first. The air rushed o

n ear-piercing shriek, spun around on its hind

step back. H

ynx's claws slice through the air inches from his chest. With brutal precisi

thrashed wildly, whipping its s

n his heel, and delivered a devastatin

s. The beast flew through the air, crashed into the dir

t lasted less t

aving. She stared at Gunner's broad back, g

he kill. However, the dim lighting of the canopy obscured a deep, sinkhole-like crevice hidden bene

ways, falling fast toward a cluster of jagged, sharp

the corner of his eye. His h

ck foot, moving faster

rocks, Gunner's thick, muscular arms wrapp

e momentum, pulling her

chests pressed tightly together. She could fe

ed down at her face, his eyes dark wit

sical contact, a sharp, synthetic c

contact with eligibl

-resonance calibration threshold. Current neural-ho

is activating...

n Successful. Wel

idened in absolute shock as the me

the near-death experience. His large hand awkwardly patted the

s-a single wrong step would snap bone. She stilled her hands against his chest, not shoving him

l, calculating every handhold in the near-dark