She was mine.
As if she sensed my internal chaos—she probably did—she glanced my way, held my gaze and smiled with a feminine curve of her lips that spoke of a shared secrets. Desire. Promises made. Yes, she was mine.
And so I clenched my hands into fists and leaned against the wall, listening. I needed to keep several yards away from her, from the others. If I was going to murder some warriors, I didn’t want to do it with the governor and his mate in the room.
But if Hunt’s second-in-command didn’t stop eyeing Kristin—
“How many have gone missing?” Maxim asked.
That distracted me from the other warriors’ annoying fascination with my mate.
“One more today. That makes five in two months.”
“So, it’s only my men? All new warriors to the Colony?” Hunt asked. He was in his element. This was where he was in control, in command. While Maxim was the governor of Base 3, Hunt was in charge of all the new arrivals. He cared for their transition, for their futures. With some just disappearing as if they’d been transported away, this was his problem. His men.
He might be my second in the bedroom when we took Kristin, he was the primary here. When he gave commands, even I followed them. And so I listened to the latest updates on the odd happenings, and kept an eye on Kristin. Even with the governor’s personal guards about, she was still mine to protect.
“Yes, and we don’t know why or what’s happening to them,” the governor’s second, Ryston, answered.
“That can’t be a coincidence,” Hunt said, crossing his arms over his chest. While we were in the command room, no one sat. Everyone was too tense after discovering a now-obvious pattern. Something was fucking wrong here on the Colony and we had to start putting the puzzle pieces together. “Captain Perro hasn’t been here a week.”
Lady Rone remained quiet, listening until now. “Find Krael and you’ll find your missing men.”
The governor looked at his mate. “We don’t know that yet.”
“I do,” she muttered, and I felt a flair of humor from Kristin. She found Lady Rone’s comments amusing for some reason. I had no idea why that would be the case.
“Perro was assigned to Section 9 with the other new arrivals. We’ve had three disappearances from that section in as many weeks.” Hunt seemed unaffected, as always, but I knew the truth now that we were linked to each other and our mate through the collars. He was just as edgy as I, his mind clouded with lust. I had no idea how he continued to form coherent sentences, but he did. “We should start the search there.”
“I want to go with you,” Kristin said. Her voice held none of the wariness of being a new arrival on the planet. She was in command of herself and I felt her confidence as well through the collar.
“No,” Hunt and I said at the same time, but while his voice was level and controlled, mine was like a barked command. Several heads turned my way. It was the first thing I’d said since I entered the room.
“I was an FBI investigator on Earth. I worked in human trafficking.” She turned to argue her point to the governor, but her efforts were wasted. I was not going to let her go out chasing Hive, and neither was Hunt. “I searched for people who were kidnapped and sold into slavery. While I doubt that is what happened to your warriors, I do know how to search for them.”
Hunt shook his head where he stood beside her, his arms crossed over his chest. “Absolutely not. You don’t know the planet or the way these warriors think. Nor are you familiar with our enemy. If there are traitors working for the Hive on this planet, they’ll be extremely dangerous. And they won’t think or act like those from Earth.”
“You were in the FBI?” Lady Rone asked Kristin.
Our mate nodded. “I trained at Quantico, but I worked all over, wherever a case took me. I dealt with Columbian drug dealers, bankers from Hong Kong, Mexican cartel leaders, even the Russian Mafia. I find people. People who are in trouble, taken against their will. It’s what I do. I can be helpful here.”
Lady Rone offered her a smile, then looked to Hunt. “I can vouch for her experience on Earth. You may not appreciate the depth of her skills, but I can. She saved innocents from the dregs of society. She can do it here, too.”
Maxim put a hand on his mate’s shoulder. She looked up at him. “She can help,” she said to him.
“It is not my decision, Rachel. She is not my mate.” He looked to Hunt. “You will take four guards and go to Section 9. Work your way around the entire outer perimeter. Report back every hour.”
Hunt nodded, pointed to four of his warriors. They preceded him out of the room and Kristin stopped Hunt with a hand on his arm. “I can help. Truly.”
“The answer is no, mate.” He stroked her cheek, then looked to me. “Tyran.”
He leaned down, kissed Kristin on the top of the head, then left the room, the door sliding shut behind his group.
I felt Kristin’s anger pulsing at me. She was furious at being disregarded, but neither of us could allow her into danger. We’d just found her. She had no idea how truly rare and precious she was.
She stomped over to one of the other guards, held out her palm. “Give me your gun.”
Her eyes lowered to the thigh holster and the ion pistol secured there.