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“Follow me.” Rexx didn’t miss her soft sigh as they tracked through the short, stunted trees. She was always telling him he was overly protective, but that was his job. Why pay to have an Apexian warrior as your partner if you didn’t use their strength and skills? And although Daisy came with an impressive set of fighting skills, she was half his size and barely came up to his shoulder.

They tracked through the trees, moving silently. The dry leaves and twigs underfoot made the going slow, but they soon reached the location where they’d last seen the red back growlop.

Rexx squatted low and gestured Daisy to join him.

She rested a hand on his shoulder, the warmth from her fingers spreading down his arm like a welcome hug after a long, gritty day.

“Any sign?” Her breath whispered past his ear.

He scanned the surroundings and pointed ahead of them. There were broken branches, and a small hollow in the ground.

“A nesting site?” Awe shifted through her words.

He nodded again.

“If she’s nesting, she could be pregnant. Or—”

“Get down!” Rexx threw himself over Daisy, squashing her to the ground as a huge, dark shadow skimmed their heads. There was a splatter of something on the ground, inches from where they’d just been.

Rexx looked up in time to see the enormous hindquarters of a fully grown male growlop dodging behind a tree. Puddles of stringy, poisonous saliva lay all around them.

He reached for Daisy, his hands running over her arms and her face. “Are you injured?”

“Other than having my ribs crushed by you, I’m fine. That was close.” She grabbed his hand and pulled herself up. “This is incredible. Red back growlops! And a breeding pair. It’s like all my birthdays have come at once. Rexx, we have to catch them.”

“We came for one. The male is already angry. We should abort.”

“Not a chance. We’re getting these growlops. It’ll be a huge boost to the program. Cleo can report back to High Command that—”

He pressed a finger to his lips and tugged Daisy back to the ground. “There’s movement ahead of us.”

She was silent, her eyes wide as they watched the clearing.

A much smaller, nervous looking growlop appeared. She tilted her head from side to side as if listening for movement, before slowly approaching the hole in the ground and kicking debris out of it with a large, taloned foot.

Daisy’s hand clamped around Rexx’s bicep, and she squeezed.

He repressed a sigh. She was always so excited on these missions. It was hard not to let her passion infect him. All the Humans on-board the Apocalypse were the same. They lived for this conservation project. He didn’t see the appeal at first, but then he rarely saw the appeal in anything, so had been content enough to take the job. Then everything changed the day Daisy stepped into his life.

Daisy eased the tranq gun off her shoulder. It was preloaded and ready to go. She raised her eyebrows at Rexx, looking for the okay to strike.

He scanned the surroundings and nodded. So long as the big bastard male didn’t come back, this would be easy. But if that was his female sitting out there on the nest, Rexx would be in kill mode. He’d do anything to keep her safe.

Once he was certain the clearing was empty of any threat, he turned away from Daisy, keeping his back to hers and watching for movement in the trees. The male was out there somewhere, and he wouldn’t abandon his mate.

They didn’t need to speak to tell each other what they were doing. Daisy gently pressed her elbow into his back. It was a sign she was about to move.

Rexx tensed, waiting to see if the male would attack.

There was a sharp, cracking sound in the distance.

Rexx whirled around. The female growlop was off her nest, dashing from one side of the clearing to the other, issuing alarm screams.

“Dammit!” Daisy lowered the tranq gun. “I was half a second from firing. We can’t let her get away.” She was on her feet and already moving.

“Daisy, wait! You don’t know it’s safe.” Rexx followed her like a second shadow, his senses on high alert as they raced through the trees.

“I see her! I’m taking the shot.” Daisy was raising the tranq gun, when a blast of movement shot toward her. The male growlop flew through the air, his talons aimed at Daisy’s head.