As their transport settled onto the reinforced landing pad with a soft hiss of hydraulics, Noah found himself staring at the sprawling facility carved into the mountainside. The scale was breathtaking—what had looked like a simple runway from above was actually the entrance to a complex that seemed to burrow deep into the mountain's core. Armed guards in dark tactical gear moved with practiced efficiency around various aircraft, their weapons clearly beast-tech hybrids that pulsed with contained energy.
'How did I miss the pheromone influence the first time? Even more, why wasn't I warned by the system?'
The question had been nagging at him since his system's alert back at the club. Noah's mind worked through the biological mechanics as they disembarked, his elementary studies in xenobiology before entering the academy kicking in automatically.
