f of the pod and hauled his massive frame out into the h

working together to drag a semi-cons

w the mud covering her bespoke medical

smearing dirt across her cheeks. "It'

his voice dripping with syrupy comfort. "Don't cry,

lean handkerchief to wipe the mud from Talia's s

watching a terribly written soap opera. He walked over to where Leo lay i

pped into Leo's nervous system. Leo gasped, popping aw

ival, the rustling in the bushes explode

rmored rhinoceros crossed with a bull, its hide plated in thick, sl

Iron-Hor

rcing shriek, divin

broad chest swelling as his u

entirely into a ten-foot-tall grizzly beast, letting

s massive cranial horn and charg

paws and swung his massive right claw sid

ac

massive body slamming into an ironwood trunk b

ving. He wiped a smear of beast blood from his

is blood-spattered chest. "That's real combat. Usel

ficient, he mused internally. You shattered its skull-ruining the core's purity-and y

t, rhythmic tremors traveling through the root systems

es shining with admiration for Kade befor

even know why Command assigned hi

as too busy calculating the exact

t's skull to extract the faintly glowing Class-3 crystal core. He tossed

ran, his eyes glinti

g the tip of his bloody blade at Talia's mu

fficer. "Go find a water source and wash Talia's skirt

with indignation. "That's an insult

. He released a heavy wave of third-ran

mpress, waiting for Kieran to d

h anger. Instead, he looked at the squad leader with the delighted fascination

ran asked quietly, his t

third-rank aura, looking at him as if he were a particularly amusing insect. But the p

ubordination gives me the right to execute or abandon you. Do

north. Oh, that is perfect. If you officially abandon me, I have zero legal ob

a bright, razor-thin s

ed smoothly, crossing his arms with effortless grac