“Negative,” one of the security team said. He sat before the controls, his fingers sliding over the glossy panel as his eyes followed the results on the various vid screens before us. The entire wall was of different images from around Base 3. At first it was difficult to process, so many places to monitor and observe, but I recognized it was an organized system. The screens were arranged north to south, east to west geographically throughout the Base.
The tech, a warrior from the planet Trion, frowned. “The first warning signal came twenty minutes ago and from within the storage area. No sensors have picked him up in the corridors or anywhere else before that.”
“He had to come from somewhere,” the governor added, his voice a mixture of genuine surprise and a hint of frustration. He glanced down at the security tech, then back up at the display.
“There is no data that shows he actually did come from somewhere. It’s as if—” He didn’t finish the words.
“He didn’t transport in,” I added, saying aloud what I knew to be true. One thing the Coalition did control with an unbreakable fist, was their transport technology. If you weren’t authorized, you didn’t go anywhere. Ever.
“No, he did not,” the second security tech confirmed. “I’ve checked with the transport station. No transports in the last two days. In or out.”
It was possible to transport onto the Base elsewhere besides the transport station with the correct coordinates, however the team would know, even if someone attempted it without appropriate approval. That kind of data was easily picked up and ensured the Hive weren’t just popping in for a quick battle.
“Then he must be someone we know. Sabotage?”
I didn’t want to consider the possibility of another traitor in our midst.
I watched the male move across the display, his pace quick as he went from behind a storage container and to the large air shaft on the west wall. His helmet-covered head moved left and right as if scanning the area, but nothing slowed him down. He even knew where to wave his hand on the wall to have the access panel open.
My mark flared, pulsed with a heat that almost burned as I watched the recording. I rubbed the spot, but it didn’t lessen.
“Why would he bother going into the air shaft?” the governor asked. “The entire system is automated and controlled from elsewhere. Even if he wanted to poison the air, or gas us in our sleep, it would be impossible.” He turned to me, his shrewd gaze meeting mine as I looked away from the display. The pulsing in my hand lessened. “There’s no fucking reason for anyone to be in there.”
Looking back at the male who was the latest mystery on our struggling planet, my mark flared again. “Except to hide.”
“What?”
“I’ll find him,” I muttered under my breath. Why was my mark responding to the image of a male on a vid screen? There had to be something wrong with me, for my cock pressed against the heavy armor. While some males might be attracted to other males, I wasn’t. I got hard thinking of a female’s perfect curves, the soft feel of her breasts in my palms, the wet heat of her pussy. I wanted a mate. A female mate. I wanted Lindsey. After the dream we just shared, only her. My mark would want no one else.
So why the fuck was I eager to go after the bastard in the air shaft? Was my lust for a mate increasing my need to hunt?
Perhaps I was succumbing to whatever the traitor, Krael Gerton, had brought to the planet. He’d worked with the Hive to destroy us all. Prior to my arrival, his frequency generator had reactivated some Hive implants. Combined with Quell injections, he’d murdered one man from Earth and nearly killed Governor Maxim.
The Governor’s new mate, a brilliant scientist named Rachel, had figured out his plan and stopped him, but he’d slipped through their fingers.
But that was before me. I’d seen the traitor in the underground Hive Integration station here on the Colony. I’d wanted to rip him into pieces.
He’d escaped. He’d killed my friend, Marz’s second, the Prillon Captain Perro. Since then, I’d hunted him. Twice we’d had him cornered in the caverns that formed an endless system of natural tunnels and caves beneath the surface. And both times, he’d escaped me.
Not that it mattered. I hunted. It was who I was born to be. And his scent, the rhythm of his heartbeat called to me through the thickest rock, across time and space with a knowing that I could not explain but didn’t question. The traitor would die. I would see to it personally.
I wasn’t affected as Captain Brooks had been. I was not vulnerable to Hive transmissions, as some were. Hell, I barely had any cyborg parts. The one implant in my left arm so small it had no effect on my body or abilities. But it had been their mark of ownership, their attempt to control me. Enough to earn me banishment here, just like the rest of the castoffs and rejected warriors.
I didn’t have Black Death creeping under my skin or Hive commands buzzing around inside my mind. No, I had a cock stand that could break rocks and a mark that burned for my one true mate. But there was no mate. Lindsey was only in my dreams.
Had the Hive finally broken my mind? All their torture and torment had been designed to force me to impregnate their strange drone females. But Hunter DNA was strong, and seemed to have a knowing all its own. There was no forcing a Hunter to breed. It was, literally, impossible. Stolen seed would die, the progeny never take root in a female womb.
But with Lindsey? Gods, I’d fuck her three times a day to see my seed take root and grow. The urge to fill her with my child was violent and undeniable.
My mate. How the fuck was I dream sharing with a female when there were no unmated women on the entire planet?
I’d gone mad.
“Hunter? You with me?” The Governor’s arms were crossed and his brow furrowed. He tapped his foot in a rare outward sign of annoyance.
Why was I here? Oh, yes. An intruder. “Yes. I’m here.” As much as I could be with the memory of Lindsey’s hot pussy milking me dry still spinning in my mind.
“Find the intruder quickly,” the governor commanded. “Find out what the fuck he’s doing. If he’s an enemy, if he’s working with the traitor, I want him dead by nightfall.”
I nodded to the governor. After all the shit that had been happening on The Colony—death, Hive infiltration, treason—we didn’t need more.
When the traitor had been one of us, he’d had many friends. But now, his name was not spoken, at least not by any who lived and breathed on the Colony. He was simply, the traitor.
I was new here, but I was settling in and considered The Colony my home. I wanted the traitor found as much as the governor and it was my job to find him and mete out justice. I was a Hunter. Vengeance was in my very blood.
If this mystery intruder was going to kill us all, I could hunt him despite my painful need to fuck and a burning mark. That—or whatever was wrong with me—would have to wait. Lindsey would have to wait. Even if I could find her, I would not bring a new mate here under such a threat.
I slapped a hand on the top of the control panel, the sound spurring me into action, the painful strike redirecting my mind off my mark. “Get me the plans for the ventilation tunnels. I’ll find him.”