Chapter 42: New friends, old enemies

Zander

"Damn human, you really screwed this up," Stryker murmured in agony.

He wasn't alone. I felt devastated in a way I had no language for, as if devastation itself had found a new shape inside my chest. It was not the hollow ache of disappointment, nor the sharp sting of rejection, but something deeper and far more violent. Something that pressed inward, crushing bone and breath alike, until e