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The jungle held secrets. I felt them stir against my senses as I moved silently between the violet-tinged trees, my claws barely disturbing the undergrowth. My fur bristled along my spine, instincts sharpening as I tracked the disturbance through the alien forest.

I paused, ears flicking forward to catch the subtle sounds of night predators retreating from my path.

My tail lashed behind me, betraying the tension I worked to contain.

I had left Everly behind the protective barrier I’d established.

Safe, for now. But safety on this world was an illusion that could shatter in an instant.

The unity dream still lingered in my blood—her body beneath mine, her scent filling my lungs, her voice calling my name as pleasure claimed us both.

But there had been something else. A witness.

An observer. Not just the jungle’s dangers bleeding into my consciousness as I’d initially believed, but something more deliberate. More aware.

I had felt eyes on us, watching from shadows that shouldn’t exist in the private sanctuary of a unity dream.

Impossible.

Unity dreams were sacred, shared only between fated mates—a connection so rare and precious no one could intrude on that bond. No one should have been able to.

Yet something had.

I inhaled deeply, sorting through the complex tapestry of scents that filled the alien jungle. Decaying vegetation. The musk of nocturnal creatures. The lingering trace of my own passage. And something else—something that didn’t belong. Something engineered.

My muscles tensed as a new sound registered—a faint, rhythmic hum that vibrated just at the edge of hearing. Not natural. Not biological. Mechanical.

I melted into the shadows of a massive fern, my Reaper suit camouflaging me to my surroundings. The sound grew closer, more defined. Not one source, but two, moving in a coordinated pattern that spoke of programmed efficiency rather than organic curiosity.

They appeared above the treeline—sentinel drones, their sleek hulls absorbing rather than reflecting light, designed for stealth reconnaissance. Military grade. Their movements were precise, methodical, scanning patterns that covered maximum terrain with minimum energy expenditure.

I recognized the design—similar to Legion recon units, but with subtle differences that marked them as non-standard. Black market. Retrofitted with sensors that could penetrate natural cover, detect heat signatures, analyze atmospheric composition for traces of exhaled breath.

Hunting drones.

But hunting what? Or whom?

My hand moved to the blade at my hip, weighing options as the drones swept closer to my position. If I engaged, I would reveal my location. If I ignore them, perhaps they will stumble upon my camp with Everly.

The decision crystallized in my mind. I would need to eliminate them, quickly and quietly, before they could transmit her location to whoever controlled them. I tensed, preparing to launch upward, calculating the precise angle needed to disable both drones before either could send an alert.

But I never got the chance.

The first drone dropped so suddenly that for a moment, I thought my eyes had failed me. One second it was hovering, sensors sweeping—the next, plummeting silently through the canopy, its systems dark.

The second followed an instant later, its descent controlled rather than catastrophic, guided down through the branches by…something. Something fast. Something that moved with such fluid precision that even my enhanced vision struggled to track it.

I remained motionless, my breathing shallow, controlled. Whatever had disabled the drones was more dangerous than the machines themselves. More skilled. More lethal.

A shadow detached itself from the upper canopy, descending in a controlled drop that spoke of muscle control beyond standard Rodinian capabilities. It landed without sound, a dark silhouette against the bioluminescent undergrowth.

For a heartbeat, I thought my eyes were playing tricks. The figure before me was Rodinian in form—the height, the build, the characteristic tail—but wrong. Different in ways that sent alarm racing through my blood.

His fur was charcoal gray where mine was golden, the black stripes more pronounced, more jagged.

His frame was leaner, his muscles corded rather than bulky, designed for speed over raw power.

But it was his eyes that truly marked him as other—iridescent rather than gold, with vertical pupils that seemed to glow in the darkness.

And the scent...

Beneath the musk of Rodinian male lay chemical traces that didn’t belong—synthetic compounds, gene stabilizers, markers of laboratory manipulation. And beneath that, impossibly, unmistakably...

Everly.

Her scent clung to him, not as if he had touched her, but as if it were part of his very composition. As if her genetic code had somehow been woven into his own.

The wrongness of it hit me like a physical blow, triggering an instinctive response I couldn’t control.

My transformation ripped through me, bones cracking, muscles expanding as my battle form emerged.

I grew two feet taller, my already substantial frame swelling with combat-enhanced muscle, claws extending to their full deadly length.

I roared—a challenge, a warning, a promise of violence.

His response wasn’t what I expected.

He didn’t transform. Didn’t posture. Didn’t return my challenge. Instead, he simply…moved.

One moment he stood examining the downed drone, the next he was nowhere to be seen. My enhanced senses tracked a blur of movement to my left, then behind me, then above—too fast, impossibly fast. I slashed at empty air, my claws finding nothing but jungle mist.

“I’m not here to fight you, Reaper.”

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere, resonant yet soft, carrying easily despite its low volume. I pivoted, seeking its source, finding only shadows.

“Show yourself,” I snarled, my voice deeper, rougher in my battle form. “Face me, interloper.”

A soft sound whispered through the foliage.

“If I wanted you dead, Zehn Varrek Tol’Vekkar, you would be.” The shadows shifted, and he was there, perched on a branch twenty feet above me, examining me with those unnervingly bright eyes. “Your mate would be alone. Unprotected. Is that what you want?”

I launched upward, covering the distance in a single powerful leap, claws extended to rip, to tear, to destroy this abomination that dared speak of Everly. But he was gone before I reached his position, leaving nothing but disturbed leaves in his wake.

I landed on the branch, wood cracking beneath my weight, my senses straining to locate him. “How do you know her name?” I demanded, fury making my voice shake. “How do you bear her scent?”

“The same way you knew mine,” came the reply, this time from ground level. “Though you haven’t spoken it yet.”

I froze, the implication of his words sinking in. He was right. I hadn’t asked his name, yet somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I knew it. As if it had been whispered to me in a dream.

Khaaz.

The name surfaced unbidden, as familiar as if I’d known it all my life.

“Impossible,” I growled, but even as I denied it, certainty settled in my bones. This was the presence I had felt in our unity dream. Somehow, impossibly, he had been there. Had witnessed what no outsider should ever see.

I dropped from the branch, landing heavily, my battle form still fully engaged. Khaaz stood before me now, making no attempt to flee, though his posture remained alert, ready to move at the slightest provocation.

“How?” I demanded, advancing on him. “Unity dreams are shared only between fate mates.”

“I didn’t choose to,” he said quietly, his eyes never leaving mine. “I was made to.”

The simple statement contained volumes of meaning that I couldn’t yet grasp, but the truth of it rang in my blood. He wasn’t lying. Whatever he was—this modified, engineered version of my species—he believed what he was saying.

“Explain,” I ordered, still not relaxing my combat stance.

“I was created,” he said, gesturing to his form with a clawed hand.

“Engineered from Rodinian genetic material, spliced with other species for enhanced capabilities. Designed for a specific purpose.” His eyes met mine, and for the first time, I saw emotion there—a flash of something like shame. “To find her.”

My fury returned, hot and immediate. “If you think I’ll let you touch her?—”

“Not for me,” he interrupted, his voice hardening. “For them. The scientists. The ones who made me.”

He turned, indicating the drones he’d disabled.

“They’re coming back. The facility where I was created was abandoned five years ago, but the systems were left running.

Monitoring. Waiting. When your unity dream happened.

..” He paused, searching for words. “I was connected to it. Through genetic markers they built into me. Markers designed to resonate with compatible humans.”

“With Everly,” I said, the pieces beginning to fit together in my mind.

He nodded. “With Everly. They wanted Rodinian hybrids. Wanted to understand our mating bonds. To weaponize them.” His tail flicked in agitation. “I was their prototype. Their first attempt.”

I studied him more carefully now, seeing beyond the immediate threat to the evidence of what had been done to him.

The scars that mapped his body weren’t battle wounds—they were surgical.

Experimental. The modifications to his frame weren’t natural adaptations, but deliberate alterations designed to enhance lethality.

“You’re a weapon,” I said, understanding dawning.

“I was meant to be.” He moved toward one of the drones, crouching beside it. “But they miscalculated. Gave me too much Rodinian genetic material. Enough to develop…independence. Enough to recognize Everly as something more than a target.”

I felt my battle form begin to recede, my heightened aggression fading as comprehension replaced fury. “You shared our unity.”

It wasn’t a question, but he answered anyway. “Not a conscious act, I assure you.” His claws flexed, betraying emotion his face wouldn’t show. “But it woke me from suspension. Made me…aware. In ways I hadn’t been before.”

The implications were staggering. Unity dreams were the most intimate connection possible between mates. For Khaaz to have experienced ours, even as an observer...

“You’re connected to her,” I said slowly, the realization settling like a stone in my gut. “To us.”

He met my gaze steadily. “Not by choice. Not by fate. By design.” He gestured to the drones again. “And now they’re searching. The facility’s automated systems detected our unity, detected my awakening. These are just the first wave of reconnaissance. There will be more.”

I absorbed this, thinking through the implications. “Who are ‘they’? The scientists who created you?”

“Perhaps. Or others who’ve acquired their research. Private military contractors. Governments. Anyone who would benefit from an army of enhanced hybrids.” His expression darkened. “Anyone who would want Everly for breeding stock.”

The crude term sent a shock of rage through me, my claws extending involuntarily. “I’ll kill anyone who touches her.”

“As would I,” Khaaz said simply. “Which is why I’m here. Not to harm her. Not to take her from you. To protect her.” He straightened, his posture shifting subtly, becoming less defensive. “To warn you both. This planet isn’t safe. Not for her. Not now.”

I circled him slowly, still wary, still uncertain. Everything in my training, in my instincts, told me to eliminate the threat he represented. But something deeper—something that resonated with the same frequency as my bond with Everly—recognized him as…not enemy.

“Why should I trust you?” I asked, though the question felt hollow even as I spoke it.

“Because you already do,” he replied. “Because you know my name without being told. Because your mate called to both of us, though she doesn’t yet understand how.

” He gestured to the jungle around us. “And because these drones were searching for her signature, not mine. I was able to disable them before they found her location, but the next wave won’t be so easily fooled. ”

I knew he was right. Knew it with the same certainty that had guided me to Everly after my crash. The universe had woven our fates together, all three of us, in ways I couldn’t yet comprehend but couldn’t deny.

“How long do we have?” I asked, making my decision.

“Hours, not days,” Khaaz replied. “I initiated a self-destruct sequence at the facility before I left, but it won’t destroy everything. Just buy us time.”

I nodded, already calculating. “There’s an outpost that pinged to the north. Might have communication equipment, transport.”

“Too far,” Khaaz shook his head. “There’s another facility. A black site. It could have an emergency shuttle. At least a comms array sophisticated enough to contact your Legion command.”

I considered this, weighing the risks. “Leading Everly directly to the place they’d want to take her?”

“Only a matter of time they’d find her,” Khaaz said grimly. “Better to extract her from the planet entirely than try to hide in the jungle.”

He was right, though I hated to admit it. I’d been a Reaper long enough to recognize when a tactical retreat was the only viable option.

“We need to move now,” I said, turning back toward where I’d left Everly. “She’s not safe alone.”

Khaaz nodded, falling into step beside me, his movements eerily silent compared to my own. We traveled without speaking for several minutes, the implicit truce between us fragile but holding.

Finally, I broke the silence. “What happens after? If we get off-world?”

He didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “I don’t know. This connection between us—it wasn’t meant to exist. There’s no precedent.”

“She’s my mate,” I said, the possessive growl impossible to suppress.

“Yes,” he agreed without hesitation. “She is. I make no claim on her.”

But I heard what he didn’t say—that the connection existed regardless. That somehow, through the twisted manipulations of science and fate, the three of us were bound together in ways none of us had chosen.

“One problem at a time,” I muttered, more to myself than to him. “First, we get her to safety.”

On this, at least, we were in perfect agreement.

As we neared the clearing where I’d left Everly, I caught her scent on the breeze—sweet, warm, alive. My pace quickened involuntarily, the primal need to confirm her safety overriding all else.

Khaaz matched my stride, his own nostrils flaring as he caught the same scent. I saw the same protective instinct flash in his eyes, and for the first time, I felt something beyond suspicion toward him.

Recognition.

Understanding.

We would protect her. Together if necessary.

The how and why of what came after could wait.