When Joseph rattled awake next, Alina was carrying him over the back of one of her Wolf manifests. Then, he struggled to spun his head around, he only saw the conscious half of the pack continuing to carry both the knocked-out soldiers and the Valkyries all together.

“Wha…What is going on…” Joseph said when something suddenly got stuck in his throat and he coughed instinctively. The shake opened up a couple of wounds over his chest, and he felt Alina’s cold fingers press onto his forehead, pinning him down to the soft furry part of the wolf's back.

“Just shut up for now.” Alina said, “Go to sleep.”

“How could I now that I am awake and everything is hurting?” Joseph asked unironically when Alina tilted her head over and fixed her hair.

“I thought you said nothing happened?” Alina joked when Joseph rolled his eyes and stared back at her. Alina dropped her smile before lowering her voice, “I attacked you, didn’t I? Those wounds are inflicted from the bites of the pack…”

“Technically, those are not the only wounds on my body.” Joseph shrugged, “What did they feed you?”

“You...don't want to know.” Alina said, darkness rising within her eyes, “But they controlled me and the Valkyries so effortlessly through it. Whatever it was…it was something I had never seen or heard of before.”

“Hypothetically…” Joseph asked, “I do not know much about the Valkyrie’s program, but if they had programmed you during training, then there would be no way for you to know how they actually did it. That goes for what happened here today, but it could also mean...other things.”

Alina paused for a moment before she slowly nodded. The Valkyries are a fierce fighting force with considerable power, and uncontrollable power is simply a bomb waiting to go off. Nobody in a position of power will be stupid enough to let it go without some means of control.

However, that very means of control was just used on her and her squad of Valkyries to attack their allies. Whoever the man with the Mist-based powers is, Alina will hunt him down and she will uncover the truth.

“Tsk.” Joseph grunted as the wolf under his back stepped over a big rock, and that quickly drew Alina’s attention to the present.

“Will you be okay?” Alina asked, her brow scrunched up as she looked worried.

“I am tough.” Joseph grinned, “But…I may need some transfer of Wave in order to heal up quick enough…If I am unconscious when those idiots woke up, who knows what they will do…”

Back at their camp just outside the Dweller’s settlement, Alina loaded Joseph gently onto a cool sheet in her tent as the rest of the Valkyries each took care of an unconscious soldier.

“Just hold on.” Alina said, exiting the tent quickly before returning with a pair of buckets, one filled with warm water and the other empty. Then, she slowly started to undo Joseph’s armor plates and torn up clothes as plaques of blood had already dried over it.

There was a distinct smell of iron in the air, and Alina calmed her breathing before slowly cleaning the wounds. The arduous process only revealed the true extent of Joseph’s injury as the bucket of clear warm water quickly became a red soup as Alina dipped the towel in and out of it.

“Oops…” Joseph chuckled as the wounds all over his body twitched and threatened to open once again.

“What?” Alina asked, when she suddenly found her hands hovering between Joseph’s legs, and her knuckles accidentally brushed against Joseph’s family jewels. She’s so focused on wiping away the streaks of blood to even notice, but when she did, there was no way she could look away.

“Careful there~” Joseph teased, "You don't want to open a new one there."

Her face suddenly became redder than the bucket, and she slammed the towel into the bucket angrily before leaving the tent. Joseph thought the joke had gone too far when Alina returned to the room with the second bucket now filled with clear warm water, and she continued cleaning his back after turning him around carefully like an omelet in a hot pan.

“No offense, but how are you not dead?” Finally, Alina’s curiosity overcame her embarassment, and she opened her mouth as the towel danced down Joseph’s spine.

“You sounded disappointed?”

“Curious.” Alina said, “I know what my manifestations can do, and I have seen the slightest of the bite wounds cripple River-Bending level Wave users.”

“Like I saaid…I am tough.” Joseph said, “We are trained to never reveal the true nature of our powers to our opponents, for security reasons.”

"And you still saw me as one...I would not blame you after what happened here, however." Alina said.

"We could try again."

Alina nodded before cleaning up the last dirty patch over Joseph’s back and throwing the bloodied towel into the bucket. Then, she twirled her finger as the tent’s exit became sealed up, and she slowly turned around, her eyes glowing as she slowly undressed her light armor.

The traditional Talonian armor is painted bright white with patches of blue and purple underneath, and she wore a tight-fitting black shirt underneath that tracked the thin outlines of her body. Joseph scanned her as she tossed aside the lower halves of her armor pieces and pinched onto the black shirt around her waist, slowly lifting it up and revealing her snow-white flesh underneath.

“What are you doing?” Joseph asked.

“Preparing to transfer the Wave.” Alina said.

“You don’t have to get all naked to do that!”

“You don’t want me to?”

Now that’s a completely different question. Alina’s eyes danced towards the item between Joseph’s legs, and it was the only honest thing in this room. Alina giggled before completely taking off her black shirt, her long white hair now flowing behind her head as her deep black eyes locked onto Joseph’s own.

“Talonia’s cold, so when we need to conserve heat and transfer the Wave during survival training, we do this…” Alina turned her voice down to a whisper as she lied beside Joseph’s body before placing her hands over the uninjured part of his chest. Her body was burning beside him, and Joseph swallowed so hard that it was even audible for Alina.

She let out another giggle before wiggling in closer, her soft breasts pressed up against Joseph’s arms as the perkiness lightly tickles his skin.

“Here. I. Come.” Alina spoke straight into Joseph’s ear as a jolt of lighting traveled up and Joseph’s spine through his chest, and she directed the reserve of Wave up through her arms and fingertips and straight into Joseph’s body.

The warmth pulsated within Joseph’s body as he rapidly redirected those Waves to each and every one of the wounds over his body. In terms of raw power, he could not compare to someone like his sister or Alina, but his best attributes are his strength, incredible durability and survivability.

And with the last part came his accelerated healing processes, though it tended to come with the cost of rapidly depleting his Wave reserve. That’s why he developed using borrowed Wave with his far more talented sister. Obviously, they never got this close in terms of contact, but still…

There’s something about this exotic Talonian Wave. It was raw, cool, fierce, and…remarkably powerful. Joseph can feel his skin tingle as the wounds became sealed shut, though dull pain still echoed all around him. He counted his breathes, keeping the rhythm steady as he felt for any remaining openings all over his body. Then, when everything’s all set and done, he opened his eyes equally as slowly.

The room was filled with the sound of a rapid breathe, and Alina, with her body drenched in sweat, seemed to be exhausted. However, she carried a smile on her face before finally dropping her chin onto Joseph’s shoulders.

“Damn, you are a greedy one.” Alina gasped for air before she lightly knocked on Joseph’s chest, “You drained everything out from me. Though that’s only fair…I suppose.”

“Well, I am practically fully healed out though.” Joseph let out a sigh before he examined his arms, and the only hints of his injuries were the countless nearly invisible slits over his skin.

“What do you want to do now?” Alina asked, the movement of her jaw massaging Joseph’s muscular shoulder as she drew circles over his chest. Then, she layered her legs over Joseph’s too before lying face down on top of him, “I am actually so tired…”

“Do you want me to transfer some Wave back to you?” Joseph asked, when Alina let out a chuckle and covered Joseph’s face with her hair. Joseph nearly choked when Alina threw it behind her head before grabbing onto his chin.

“I don’t want my Wave back, but I do want something else…can you give it to me?” Alina asked, her hips wiggling as her hands slowly worked down to between Joseph’s legs. Then, she grabbed onto it with her cool fingers as Joseph’s entire body tensed up.

“Consider this a diplomatic intervention…” Joseph rolled around, tossing Alina down under him as she let out a chuckle of excitement, then he leaned in and ravaged Alina’s lips while her arms wrapped around his back.

Then, he pressed her hands down onto the bed, even as she was too weak to resist him anyway. He worked his way down Alina’s body, focusing around her small perky breasts before he lightly bit into it, spirals of strange sensations exploded within Alina’s mind as she pressed her legs into one another. However, Joseph watched her closely, finding the perfect pressure with one before he massaged the other with his massive hands.

Alina tried to hold her voice, but when Joseph found his fingers downward, she finally relented. The moan pierced through the tent, and the query of her Valkyries came from the outside.

“General! Are you okay?” She asked when Joseph ignored the call and continued twirling his fingers as Alina slammed her fist onto the bed and bit into her lips.

“Come on~ Answer them~” Joseph grinned playfully as Alina blushed further before she bopped Joseph’s head and brought him close to her body.

“I…I am…f-fine!” Alina said, “I am fine! Ah~ Stop it, Joseph!’

The Valkyries outisde shared a look of embarrassment before they quietly set up a perimeter around the tent and pretended nothing’s happening.

“What?” Joseph giggled, “You are the one who wanted this, don’t you?”

“Stop…playing.” Alina held onto Joseph’s hand before slowly pulling it out, “Just…get on with it…”

“Yes, general Alina Vuk.” Joseph said as he brought his hips close to hers before advancing forward as the floodgate of sensations within Alina’s body busted open. Then, she wrapped her legs behind Joseph’s hip and pulled it close, guiding him into her.

“Shut up and just…do me…” Alina whispered into Joseph’s ear, “And if you ever tell anyone about this…I will kill you.”