Ina paused at the foot of the stairs. She looked back at the two men still standing in the wreckage of the living room.
"Put the medicine on him," she said, nodding toward the supplies on the floor. "If you don't want his wounds to fester." She didn't wait for a response. She climbed the stairs, her heavy footsteps fading away.
Denton watched her go. He swallowed hard. He bent down and picked up the disinfectant and the gauze.
Five minutes later, Ina came back down. She had washed her hands and changed into a clean t-shirt. The cut on her hand was covered with a bandage.
The living room was quiet. Denton had finished bandaging Angel. They sat on the sofa, the tension between them thick enough to cut with a knife.
Ina walked over and sat in the armchair opposite them. She looked at Angel. The boy was still trembling, his ears flat. The earlier shock had rattled him badly.
The external threat was gone, for now, but Ina's gaze softened as it fell on the terrified golden-haired boy. The trauma etched into his very posture was a deeper, more festering wound than any physical harm Charlee could inflict. Arno's data files surfaced in her mind, detailing the unique biological mechanisms of this universe. She remembered what Arno had told her. In this world, females had a natural ability to soothe the mental turbulence of beastmen. It was a biological mechanism, a way to calm the violent instincts that lurked inside them.
Ina stood up. She walked over to Angel. Denton immediately tensed, his muscles rigid, but he didn't stop her. He just watched, his eyes wary.
Ina slowly reached out her hand. She didn't grab. She didn't force. She just gently placed her palm on top of Angel's golden hair.
The moment her skin touched his, something happened. A faint blue current of energy flowed from her palm into Angel's body.
Angel gasped. His golden ears shot straight up. His blue eyes widened in shock.
The energy was warm. It felt like sunshine after a long winter. It seeped into his bones, soothing the aches, calming the storm of fear and pain that had been raging inside him for years. The chaotic energy factors in his body, driven mad by the abuse, began to settle.
But Ina had underestimated the power hidden in this body. She didn't know how to control the "spiritual soothing" unique to this world. She pushed too much energy, too fast.
It wasn't just soothing. It was overwhelming.
Angel's breathing suddenly turned ragged. His face flushed a deep red. The whites of his eyes began to glow with a feral golden light.
"Target Angel Baldwin entering Primal Surge," Arno warned in her head. "Energy overload. Instincts taking over."
Angel's fear was gone. In its place was a burning, desperate need. He looked up at Ina, his eyes wild with a hunger that was far from fear.
He lunged.
His arms wrapped around Ina's waist with surprising strength. He buried his face in her stomach, inhaling deeply. A low, needy whine escaped his throat.
Ina froze. This was not the reaction she had expected. "Angel? What are you doing? Let go!"
But Angel couldn't hear her. He was lost in the surge. He pushed forward, trying to pin her to the sofa.
Denton reacted instantly. He recognized the signs. This was a gene rampage caused by high-level mental soothing.
"Angel! Snap out of it!" Denton roared. He grabbed Angel by the back of the collar and hauled him off Ina.
But Angel was strong. Stronger than he looked. In his berserk state, his latent power had awakened. He swatted Denton away with a backhand, sending the larger man stumbling back two steps.
Ina fell back onto the sofa. Angel was on top of her, his hot breath on her neck. The scent of his pheromones was thick and sweet, filling the air.
Her combat instincts screamed at her to knee him in the gut, to disable the threat. But her mind held her back. This was Angel. He wasn't attacking her out of malice. He was sick. He was out of control.
Denton steadied himself. His arms rippled, faint white stripes appearing on his skin. He charged again, this time using his beastman strength. He grabbed Angel's arms and wrenched them behind his back, forcing the boy down onto the floor.
Angel thrashed and roared, his eyes fixed on Ina, full of desperate longing.
Ina scrambled up, her heart pounding. She looked at the struggling boy on the floor. "What's happening?" she demanded.
Denton gritted his teeth, struggling to hold Angel down. He looked up at Ina, his expression a mix of anger and disbelief. "You don't know? You just gave him a deep mental soothing. You triggered his gene resonance!"
