The cold synthetic voice echoed off the sheer granite walls, swallowed almost instantly by the whistle of the freezing mountain wind.
"We only came for the monster beside you."
Beside me, Gideon let out a low, terrifying growl, a sound so dark and primal it rattled against my breastbone. He didn't answer with words. He pushed me behind his broad frame, leveling his heavy sidearm at the cliff edge and firing two precise shots into the blinding mist above. A choked scream followed, and a white armored body tumbled two hundred feet down the jagged rock face, crashing heavily onto the icy tarmac below.
"Lyra, cover the western ridge." Gideon barked, his voice dropping into that absolute Alpha register that commanded instant obedience.
"I'm not hiding behind you, Sterling." I yelled back ov
