“But it does.”
“Yes.” Reese shrugged. “And no.”
The colonel put down his coffee cup.
“You said yourself we didn’t know what it is. We still don’t.” Reese had pretty much accepted they never would.
“So where does that leave my men?” Harrington watched a group of people dressed in black and wearing tactical armor vests.
“Do you want an honest answer or a sugar-coated one?” Because the truth would not be pretty.
“What do you think?”
Reese didn’t expect anything less from the colonel, but he still had to ask. “Your men are bound by the laws of physics. The Anubis isn’t. If your people engage with them, you’re not looking at an unfair fight. You’re looking at no chance of a fight. And the ones in uniform won’t be the ones who walk away.”
*****
Nox stood at the wall of smoked glass with the rest of his team. They’d done their job, they’d killed who they’d been sent to kill, and they’d quietly walked back to their cell without a fight.
Rewards were always the result of obedience.
And Koda was always the reward.
The sliding door on Koda’s side of the tunnel disengaged and lifted.
This was Nox’s Alpha. The man who’d gifted him with his death and brought him back to life.
Tate, one of the other team members, shifted in Nox’s periphery. He snarled. This close to Koda, body primed, instincts high, none of them had names anymore, they simply existed.
Tate rolled up his lips. His massive shoulders tensed, and he balled his hands into fists. He had over fifty pounds of muscle on Nox, but that wasn’t the deciding factor of strength for the Anubis.
And Nox fucking knew he was ten times the beast.
The second door slid upward.
Nox met Koda’s gaze, and all the anger drained from him. He was about to take a step closer when everything blurred. His shoulder smashed into the smoked glass and Tate sank his claws into Nox’s ribs. He shoved off the glass wall, forcing Tate back.
Nox swept his arms down. The skin around Tate’s elbow’s split, and shards of white punched through his flesh. Black threads rushed to heal the wounds, but Nox was faster. He drove his fist through Tate’s chest.
“Stop.” Koda’s voice should have been impossible to hear over the raging fight.
Nox froze. His teammate raised a clawed hand.
“Enough, Tate.”
Tate dropped his hand but continued to glare at Nox. Fights for dominance were common, especially in these moments, especially after they’d excited the Anubis by allowing it to kill and left it disappointed when the success of that kill came too easy.
Nox removed his fist from Tate’s chest. He winced, and the wound closed almost as fast as Nox. Yeah, Tate was strong, but he’d never be what Nox was.
The sooner Tate figured that out, the less likely he’d wind up seriously injured or dead.
“I’m glad you’re safe.” Koda stepped in front of Nox, and the rest of the team flowed around them.
Nox slid his fingers along Koda’s jaw, painting a line of blood and ichor to the back of his neck. Koda petted Nox’s chest. Grease, sweat, dirt, it stained Koda’s hands. Until the Anubis got its fill, things like bathing would wait. Besides, Koda would need to be washed, and despite the cramped confines of the shower, they’d all wash him.
Koda pulled his tunic over his head and undid the tie on his scrubs. The blue material slid to a puddle at his feet, leaving him completely bare. Every perfect plane of his body exposed. His half-hard cock flushed where it hung.
Saliva collected across Nox’s tongue; he had to swallow to keep it from dripping down his chin.