Sharp. Urgent.
“Tigers to all units—update!”
Tamsin didn’t slow, but every instinct sharpened.
“Say it,” Victor snapped.
“They’re moving on the hospital.”
Everything inside her stilled.
“They want Naomi,” she said.
Of course they did.
Behind her, she felt it—the shift.
The Gorillas looked at her
“Yes, go!” she ordered, but they were already moving.
The Gorillas didn’t hesitate.
They turned—and charged back into the dark.
Jarek’s voice, having shifted back, cut through sharply. “They’re leaving now?”
“Naomi’s the target,” Tamsin replied. “I know it, and I will not lose her.”
Aleksy’s gaze found hers.
Tamsin’s jaw set. “We’ve got this.”
They nodded, then both shifted back.
Jarek shifted closer to her, massive form streaked with blood, his presence wild, dangerous, alive in a way that sent a sharp thrill through her.
Aleksy took position on her other side, steadier, controlled, but no less lethal.
She tightened her grip on her sai, her focus locking forward.
“Then let’s finish it,” she said.
And together—they went to war.
****
They hit resistance the second they crossed the threshold.
Not scattered or disorganized, but layered.
Aleksy felt it immediately—the shift in pressure as the interior corridors funneled the hybrids into tighter choke points, forcing close combat where numbers mattered more than space.
Which was exactly what Chimera wanted.
He didn’t slow. Didn’t hesitate.
He drove forward, his body still in full Razorback form, mass and force working in his favor as he took the lead, clearing the path ahead with brutal precision.