Chapter 2

Cora scrambled backward, her palms slipping in the mud.

The moment his rough skin dragged against her cheek, every survival instinct she had screamed at her to run.

The man's thick eyebrows pulled together. A flash of irritation darkened his gold eyes. He didn't say a word. He just reached out, his massive arm moving with terrifying speed, and grabbed her by the waist.

With one effortless motion, he hauled her up from the mud.

Cora gasped, her feet dangling in the air. Her hands instinctively flew up, pressing flat against his bare, burning-hot chest to push him away. It was like pushing against a solid brick wall.

He pulled her flush against his body, ignoring her weak struggle, and turned to walk away from the bloody carcass.

A faint, dry scraping sound came from the canopy above.

Cora's eyes darted upward. A flash of vibrant crimson caught her peripheral vision.

A snake, covered in razor-sharp barbs, launched itself from a thick branch, shooting straight toward Cora's exposed neck.

The man moved before Cora could even scream.

He spun, twisting his torso to shield her. He buried her face into his chest, wrapping his thick arms around her head.

The snake's fangs sank deep into the thick muscle of his forearm.

Dark purple venom instantly bloomed beneath his skin. The man let out a low, guttural grunt. He didn't drop Cora. Instead, his free hand snapped out, his fingers wrapping around the snake's neck.

He squeezed. The sound of the snake's spine crushing was sickeningly loud.

As the snake thrashed in its death throes, the barbed tip of its tail whipped across Cora's wrist. It left a shallow, stinging scratch.

He tossed the dead snake aside. His golden eyes immediately dropped to the thin line of blood on Cora's wrist. His pupils dilated.

A searing, white-hot pain erupted in Cora's arm. The world tilted violently. Her knees buckled, and a wave of nausea hit her so hard she gagged.

The man didn't hesitate. He lowered his head and pressed his lips directly over the scratch on her wrist.

He sucked hard, trying to draw the venom out.

But the moment the venom touched his tongue, the color drained from his face. The poison was a neurotoxin, lethal to his kind. He pulled back, his jaw tight, his breathing suddenly shallow.

His massive body swayed. He dropped to one knee, the impact jarring the ground, but his arms remained locked around Cora, keeping her upright.

Cora stared at him, her vision blurring. This terrifying, wild man was dying because he tried to save her.

The edges of her vision went black.

"BEEP! Critical vitals detected. Implanted AI Assistant DAISY reboot complete."

The crisp, mechanical female voice echoed directly inside Cora's skull. A translucent blue interface flickered to life across her retinas.

"New Survival Quest triggered: Save the poisoned Alpha. Time remaining: 5 minutes."

Cora bit her tongue hard, using the sharp pain to force her eyes to focus. She used DAISY's targeting system. A glowing red circle highlighted the deep puncture wounds on the man's forearm, where the tissue was already turning black.

Her trembling fingers fumbled with the zipper of her hazard suit's thigh pocket. She pulled out a micro-tactical knife.

She looked at the man. His eyes were closed, his chest barely moving.

Cora gripped the handle of the knife. She pressed the blade against the blackened skin around the bite marks and cut.

The man let out a raw, agonizing roar, his muscles violently contracting.

Cora didn't stop. She sliced away the necrotic tissue, her hands slick with his dark, poisoned blood. She pressed her thumbs hard against the wound, forcing the thick, purple venom out until the blood began to run a healthy crimson.

"Quest Complete. Reward: Universal Antivenom synthesis formula unlocked and uploaded to host's emergency med-kit."

Cora's trembling fingers flew to the survival pouch strapped to her hip. She yanked out the portable micro-synthesizer and a vial of base saline. Following DAISY's rapid on-screen prompts, she fed a scraping of the beast's venom and a drop of her own blood into the chamber. The device whirred, glowing green as it quickly processed the cure. She didn't hesitate. She grabbed the freshly synthesized auto-injector and slammed the needle into her own thigh.

A rush of ice-cold relief flooded her veins. The dizziness vanished. Her mind cleared.

She looked down at the man. He was completely still, his lips tinged blue. The antivenom was in her system, not his.

Cora dropped the knife. She pressed her bleeding wrist-the one he had tried to suck the poison from, now mixed with her antivenom-laced blood-directly against his cold lips.

She smeared her blood over his mouth, forcing a few drops past his teeth.

Seconds ticked by in agonizing silence.

Then, the man's chest hitched. The blue tint faded from his lips. His heavy brow twitched, and his eyes slowly opened.

Those golden eyes locked onto her. He looked at her bloodstained hands, then up to her face. The raw, predatory possessiveness in his stare ignited into something absolute and terrifying.