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10 /KHAAZ

I movedlike a ghost through the dense undergrowth, my scarred body melting into the shadows as naturally as breathing. The laboratory complex lay behind me, its sterile corridors now bearing my handiwork—destroyed data banks, corrupted backup systems, and a carefully triggered chemical reaction that would ensure nothing of me remained for them to study. Nothing of what they had created.

The predawn air carried the scents of the jungle, rich and alive, so different from the antiseptic hell where I’d spent years as little more than tissue on a slide. Freedom tasted sweet, but purpose tasted sweeter. And I had found both in the fate that had inexplicably bound me to Zehn and the human female who now occupied my thoughts more than self-preservation.

I paused at the ridge overlooking the lab, watching as the last of my fail-safes activated. A soft blue glow emanated briefly from several windows before fading to darkness. The electromagnetic pulse would fry any remaining systems I might have missed, rendering useless any data they had collected on my genetic makeup, my abilities, my weaknesses.

The Engineers—what I called them—had spent decades trying to create the perfect hybrid soldier, splicing RodinianDNA with other species, seeking to combine our natural strength and hunting prowess with capabilities beyond our kind. Most subjects died in agony. I survived, though the cost was etched across my body in scars both visible and hidden.

But I wasn’t just erasing evidence of myself. I was buying time for us—for Everly. The thought of her sent an uncomfortable heat through my body. My fate mate. Our fate mate.

The pack I’d assembled from the lab sat heavy against my back, filled with salvaged tech that might prove useful. A Legion-grade communicator, shield modulators, medical supplies, and weapons small enough to conceal but deadly in the right hands. I’d recognized the technology immediately—the irony wasn’t lost on me that my creators had stolen designs from the very Legion that Zehn served. They’d harvested Rodinian genetics, why not Rodinian tech as well?

Dawn was approaching, painting the eastern sky with the first tentative brushstrokes of light. I should have returned to camp hours ago, but I’d deliberately stayed away. My senses, enhanced beyond even normal Rodinian capabilities, had detected the rising pheromones from miles away. The unity dream. I could feel its echo, the connection that bound the three of us pulling at something deep inside me, like a phantom limb aching for what it had never truly possessed.

Let Zehn have this time with her. Let him show her what a proper Rodinian mate could offer—not some scarred experiment with too-bright eyes and altered genetic coding. I had no illusions about my place in this strange triangle the universe had forced upon us. I was the shadow to his light, the broken reflection of what a Rodinian male should be.

With dawn came the knowledge that we needed provisions. Hunting would give me purpose, and more importantly, anexcuse to stay away from camp until the unity dream had run its course. I lifted my nose to the wind, scenting the jungle for prey.

There—a herd of something similar to deer found on Terra Prime, but with six legs and branching antlers that curved like question marks. They grazed in a small clearing half a kilometer to the east, away from both the lab and our camp. Perfect.

I dropped to all fours, my body shifting partially toward battle form as I stalked through the underbrush. The transition wasn’t as smooth as it once had been—the prolonged stasis made the shift painful. But the trade-off was worth it. Enhanced speed, strength beyond even what a normal Rodinian possessed, and senses so acute I could hear the individual heartbeats of the herd animals from this distance.

The hunt was swift and clean. I took down the largest male with a single leap, severing its spine with precision before it could alert the others. The rest of the herd bolted, but I had no need for more than one. This would feed all three of us for the day, with perhaps some left to dry for the journey ahead.

As I field-dressed the carcass with practiced efficiency, my mind wandered back to Everly. To the way she had looked at me when we first met, with recognition rather than fear. The way my name had fallen from her lips, a whisper that hit me like a physical blow. She had known me, just as I had known her the moment I caught her scent. Just as it should when present in unity dreams.

The unity dreams were not supposed to work this way—we did not reveal ourselves to each other the way Zehn and Everly did.

Yet here we were. And while I recognized the bond, felt its pull with every fiber of my being, I also understood the hierarchy. Zehn was pure Rodinian, a respected Legion Reaper. I was…something else. A successful experiment, perhaps, but still an aberration. If she chose, it would be him. As it should be.

I hoisted the dressed carcass over my shoulder, the weight nothing to my enhanced strength, and began the trek back to camp. The sun had fully risen now, casting dappled light through the jungle canopy. Birds and insects created a constant symphony around me, and I cataloged each sound automatically, alert for anything out of pattern that might signal danger.

But my vigilance was divided, part of me already reaching toward the camp, toward her. I could sense them both now—Zehn’s familiar energy signature, strong and steady, and Everly’s, bright and chaotic like a flame in the wind. The pheromones had changed, no longer the intense surge of the unity dream but something different. Something real.

I slowed my approach, partly out of tactical caution, partly out of…something I was reluctant to name. Not jealousy—I had no right to such an emotion. But perhaps regret for what could never be mine.

I slipped through the final perimeter of vegetation soundlessly, pausing at the edge of our small clearing. The sight that greeted me sent heat racing through my body despite my best efforts to remain detached.

Zehn sat on a fallen log, his massive frame curled protectively around Everly’s smaller one. His hand was between her legs, hidden beneath the torn fabric of her clothing, but the movement was unmistakable. Her head was thrown back against his shoulder, eyes closed, lips parted in silent pleasure. The scent of her arousal hit me like a physical blow, making my claws extend involuntarily, digging into the tree trunk I gripped for stability.

I should have retreated, given them privacy, but some masochistic part of me remained frozen, watching as Zehn’s skilled fingers brought her to completion. Her body tensed, asoft cry escaping her lips, before she collapsed against him, boneless with release.

That was when her eyes opened, looking directly into mine across the clearing.

The shock and embarrassment that flooded her face made something in my chest constrict painfully. She scrambled away from Zehn, adjusting her clothing with frantic movements, her cheeks flushed dark with blood.

“I didn’t—I wasn’t—” She stopped, her breath coming in short gasps. “I’m going to the pond. To clean up.”

She fled past me, careful not to make contact, the scent of her lingering in the air like a taunt. I didn’t follow. I had already secured the area around the pond during my earlier patrol, eliminating a predator similar to a crocodile that had taken up residence there. She would be safe enough for a short time alone.

Zehn remained seated, entirely unashamed, watching me with an unreadable expression. As I stepped into the clearing, he lifted the hand that had been between Everly’s legs to his mouth, deliberately licking his fingers clean while maintaining eye contact. A display of dominance, a reminder of what had passed between them.

“You were gone longer than expected,” he said, his deep voice casual, as if I hadn’t just witnessed him pleasuring our shared fate mate.

I dropped the carcass near the remnants of last night’s fire. “I had matters to attend to.”

“The lab?”

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