“Dead.” That one word held a whole lot of satisfaction and the air left my body as my mind processed what had just happened and I imagined it happening on a battlefield over and over, hundreds and hundreds of times as hundreds and hundreds of beasts charged or attached together. I couldn’t imagine anything more terrifying.
No wonder my mates were so protective.
The pounding of boots sounded behind me and I heard Captain Marz shout as I turned to see two more Hive Soldiers emerge from a tunnel. The opening had been hidden from view by our vantage point directly above it.
Shit. They were close and they’d sneaked up behind us.
I lifted my gun, backing away and firing as the first one clashed with Marz. The second was headed straight for me.
“Kristin!” My name was a roar, and I knew it came from Tyran, his rage and fear for me buckling my knees as it blasted me through the collar. We’d all tempered our emotions, until now. I sank to one knee, fighting to keep my weapon raised and pointing at the Hive sprinting toward me because of the strength of the feelings through the damn collar.
“Control yourself!” Hunt yelled at him, and the overwhelming barrage of pain and helplessness faded enough that I could move.
I shoved to my feet, pushing back. Fired at the Hive no more than three paces from me.
The Hive leapt through the air and I rolled to avoid the strike, the ground hard. He had to have been Prillon once upon a time, before they murdered him and made him something else.
But the strike never came. Hunt and the Soldier collided in mid-air over my body, the force of Hunt’s strike driving them back. I stayed down—I knew when to stay out of the way and let others fight—as Rezz jumped over me to yank the Hive from Hunt’s arms and tear him in half right in front of me.
Hunt turned to face me, chest rising and falling with his deep breaths, his features coated in blood, but he’d never looked more perfect. I loved him. I loved him, and I let it pour out of me like an explosion.
He was walking toward me when I heard more ion blaster fire coming from the other side of the cavern.
Tyran. Kiel. How could I have forgotten?
I turned and watched with growing horror as Tyran fired an ion blaster into the Scout who’d been walking a few paces behind him when they first entered the cavern. Tyran kept firing, but the Hive kept coming. Perro kept coming.
Shaking my head, I lifted my blaster to my knee, braced my arm there and fired, hoping to hit him from the side.
My aim was true, but he didn’t even notice, like the shot I landed on his hip was no more than a bee sting.
“Worthless piece of shit,” I muttered, scolding the only weapon I had at hand. Captain Marz finished off his Hive and was standing guard at the tunnel entrance where our surprise visitors had appeared. I looked around to see the beast, Rezz, moving toward Kiel.
And Hunt? Hunt was standing over me like an avenging angel. Protecting me. And as much as I loved him for it, I couldn’t stay down. That wasn’t my style.
I shoved the worthless ion blaster back into my thigh holster and stood up, moving toward Tyran and the Hive who now had its hands around my mate’s neck.
Oh, no. Hell no.
I was ready to charge in, but Hunt grabbed me by the arms and pulled me back against his chest. “He’s fine, mate. Trust me. Watch.”
As if Tyran had just been waiting for Hunt’s words, he lifted the Hive over his head and threw him nearly ten feet through the air, the Hive’s body slamming into the rock wall with a loud crash. My mate stalked over, grabbed him by the head and squeezed his head into pulp between his palms. I turned away as the Hive’s head literally popped, the top half of his skull gone, the bones that had once been his face crumpled like aluminum foil in Tyran’s grip.
And that was disgusting. Nausea rose, but I’d won that battle dozens of times in the past and I ignored it, turning away as a shudder passed through me. Hunt pulled me to his chest and I let him, wrapping my arms around his waist as I watched Kiel back the Hive Integration Unit into a corner.
Kiel and the Hive were facing off, circling each other like boxers with Kiel caging him in. What the hell was the Hunter doing? “Kill him, Kiel!” I yelled.
“No. We need him alive.”
Right. Krael got away. We needed at least one of them for questioning. From the corner of my vision Tyran appeared, walked straight up to the Hive and lifted him off his feet, pinning him to the wall like a bug.
“Don’t kill him!” Kiel commanded. “I need him alive,” he repeated.
Tyran growled but his gaze turned to focus on me and Hunt. He looked like the rest of us, covered in gore, rattled. Angry.
I held his gaze and I let him feel me through the collar. I wasn’t scared. Well, I was shaken up a bit, but that was all. And next time I came to a gunfight, I was bringing a bigger fucking gun.
The Integration Unit squirmed, but Tyran ignored him completely, the kicks and twists of the Hive’s body not even making him flinch.