“How long can you hold him?” Kiel asked.
Tyran shrugged. “As long as it takes.”
Captain Marz shouted and Hunt and I both turned to face him.
He nodded in the direction of the cave. “Governor’s coming.”
Rezz’s deep rumble filled the cavern. “Too late. All dead.”
“Not all of them,” I said, and I turned back to find Kiel watching me. Our gazes locked and I knew we were both thinking the same thing. This creature, the monster Tyran held pinned to the wall, was going to talk. He had to.
Seconds later, Rachel’s mates, Maxim and Ryston, charged into the cave with my new BFF a few feet behind. Surrounded by about twenty guards, of course. How she’d talked them into allowing her to come along, I had no idea.
The governor took everything in at a glance. “How many escaped?”
“One,” I said. A sense of complete failure weighed me down for a few seconds, but Hunt’s arm wrapped around my waist and I took a deep breath. “One. And it was Krael.”
Maxim’s gaze moved to Rezz, who stood at the entrance of the tunnel that the traitor had used to make his escape. “You got your beast under control, Warlord?”
“Yes.”
I watched, amazed as the Atlan shrank before my eyes, his armor automatically shrinking to adjust to his normal size. He shook his shoulders as if shrugging off a heavy coat. “I’m fine. But the bastard went that way.” He tilted his head toward the darkness. “We should pursue.”
“Agreed.” Maxim nodded to several of his men and they jogged over to the Atlan, the entire lot of them disappearing inside the dark tunnel seconds later, only their heavy footfall lingering.
“And Perro?” The governor asked.
“He’s dead,” Tyran said, his voice flat. He tipped his head to the side and the governor looked to where Perro’s crumpled body lay near a small rock formation. He wasn’t moving. “I gave him what he wanted.”
Yes, he was dead, but he was at peace. The Hive controlled him no more.
“Are there more? Did you find the others?” Ryston asked.
Hunt answered. “There are at least a dozen Hive in these caves. We found the others, but it’s too late for them.”
“Understood.” The big Prillon governor nodded to one of his men. “Shoot to kill. Bring me Krael alive.”
“Yes, sir.” A second set of four men peeled away from the main group, following Rezzer and the others down the dark tunnel.
Ryston moved with three more guards to assist Kiel and Tyran with the Hive warrior they still had trapped. Surrounded by so many warriors, the enemy stopped fighting.
“No! Get back!” Kiel shouted, but it was too late. The Hive’s eyes turned a deep black and he went limp in Tyran’s hold. My mate shook the creature, confusion evident in the wrinkled lines of his face as Kiel cursed and threw his weapon to the ground.
“Gods be damned! No!”
“What happened?” Tyran asked.
Kiel waved his hand in the air as if the answer were irrelevant now. “The Integration Units are different. If there is a statistical chance of escape, they will wait for the opportunity. If not, if they—or whoever the hell is controlling them—feel that capture is imminent, they are eliminated. Their brain basically melts inside their head.”
“Self-destruct mode?” Rachel whispered with something that sounded suspiciously like awe. Even with her voice so soft, the Hunter heard her clear across the room. That warrior had some seriously bionic ears.
“Yes. Exactly. With just Tyran and I near, the Hive considered it a statistical possibility it could escape. Once Ryston and the others arrived…” His voice faded away with disgust. Once the others arrived, the odds changed, and not in the Hive’s favor.
“My apologies,” Ryston spoke, bowing slightly at the waist to the Hunter. “I did not know.”
Tyran dropped the dead Hive unceremoniously to the ground and looked at Maxim. “We must take Perro with us, give him an honorable end.” He turned, pointed to the dead warrior. “After that, nothing but cleanup here.” His gaze drifted to me and held as he finished his statement, “But I have a disobedient mate to take care of.”
Rachel whirled on her heel, her eyes meeting mine. She was making the oh-boy-now-you’re-going-to-get-it face, but there was concern in her gaze as she looked me over. “Are you all right? Did you get hurt?”
I glanced down at my armor. I was covered in blood and guts, just like the rest of the team. And yes, I thought of us as a team now. Me, Kiel, Rez and Marz. They were mine, not the same way Tyran and Hunt were mine, but mine all the same.
I shrugged, unconcerned. “It’s not my blood.”
“Okay. Good.” She stepped closer, but tilted her chin. “But I’m not going to hug you.”
I laughed. “That’s okay. I wouldn’t touch me right now either.”
Tyran stepped right around her and buried his hand in my hair, tugging so I had to look up at him. “I would.”
With Hunt’s arm locked around my waist, and the entire room watching, Tyran kissed me. Hard.