Page 55 of Xara and the Xenobeast

He nodded once, then turned away, moving to check the cave’s secondary exits. He needed to make sure each was properly secured, properly trapped.

“The commander,” he said after a long silence. “Vask D’ravak. He ordered my exile.”

“And now he’s here,” she said, following his logic. “For me?”

“Yes.” He paused, then forced himself to say what needed to be said. “Should leave you. Draw them away.”

“No.” Her response was immediate, fierce. “We stay together.”

He turned to look at her, this small, fragile human who showed more courage than warriors twice her size. “Dangerous.”

“I don’t care.” She stepped closer, defying his earlier command to keep her distance. “This is our home. We defend it together.”

Our home. The words settled in his chest like a physical weight. He had never had a home before—only territory to defend, survival to secure. But she was right. This was their home now. Theirs to protect.

“Together,” he agreed, the word feeling strange on his tongue.

She smiled, that fierce, determined smile that had first caught his attention. Then she grew serious again. “Tell me what to do. How to help.”

He hesitated, torn between the need to keep her safe and the tactical advantage of having her assistance. Finally, practicality won out.

“Interior defenses,” he said. “Show you.”

For the next hour, he guided her through the cave system, showing her hidden passages, emergency exits, and defensive positions. She absorbed everything with remarkable speed, asking intelligent questions that sometimes surprised even him.

When they reached the deepest part of the cave, he showed her a narrow crevice hidden behind a fall of rock. “Last resort,” he explained. “Leads to underground river. Escape route.”

She nodded, memorizing its location. “And the pups?”

“Take them. If I fall.”

Pain flashed across her face at the thought, but she nodded again. “I will. But you won’t fall.”

Her confidence in him was both warming and terrifying. He was built for war, for killing—not for victory against impossible odds. Not for protecting those he... cared for.

As they made their way back to the main chamber, he caught a faint electronic signature—another drone, closer this time. Too close.

“Stay here,” he ordered, already moving toward the entrance.

“Be careful,” she called after him.

He paused at the threshold, looking back at her one last time. The urge to return to her, to hold her close, was almost overwhelming. Instead, he nodded once and slipped out into the jungle.

The drone was hovering just beyond the tree line, its sensors sweeping methodically across the terrain. It had found something—perhaps a trace of their scent, or a heat signature from the cave.

He circled behind it, moving with preternatural silence despite his size. When he was directly beneath it, he struck—leaping upward and catching it in mid-air. He crushed it in his hands before it could transmit, the metal crumpling like paper.

But the damage was done. They were getting closer. Narrowing their search grid.

Time was running out.

He returned to the cave entrance but didn’t go inside. Instead, he scaled the cliff face above it, finding a hidden ledge with a clear view of the surrounding jungle. From here, he could see the first signs of the approaching force—subtle disturbances in the foliage, the unnatural stillness of wildlife.

They were coming. And at their head would be Vask D’ravak—the man who had created him, then tried to destroy him when he proved to be more than a mindless weapon.

The Xenobeast settled into position, weapons ready. Let them come. He had been built for war. Engineered for killing. They had made him a perfect weapon, then discarded him when he refused to be merely a tool.

Now they would face what they had created. And he would show no mercy.

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