Chapter Two
Warlord Rezzer, The Colony, Base 3, Medical Station
Had this been a normal day, even the two hulking Prillon warriors holding me down would not have been able to stop me.
Today was not normal. I hadn’t been normal since I’d gone into that cave after Krael and the Hive Integration Units.
Maxim and Ryston each held a shoulder in place as I growled at the doctor. “What do you mean my beast is gone forever?”
I scowled at Doctor Surnen and waited for an explanation, despite the fact that I knew it was not coming.
“I can’t explain it, Warlord. Whatever the Hive did to you, I can’t undo.”
Behind him, Maxim’s and Ryston’s mate, a human woman named Rachel, stared at me with big, sad eyes; a sorrowful gaze I couldn’t stand to meet. “We’ll figure it out, Rezz. I promise you, I will figure it out.”
Rachel was a brilliant scientist, and she’d already saved Maxim and several others from Hive threats.
However, every one of my limbs felt weak. Empty. Each day that passed, I became more convinced that it was too late for me.
Maxim and Ryston were holding me back. Not just because I was angry, but because their beautiful mate was so close. I had not lost my honor with my beast. I would not harm a hair on her head. To do that I would have to be enraged. To hurt anyone in this room, I would need to go beast. Go into a rage, or the mating fever. Somehow, the Hive had stolen that from me, and I was only angry.
I was weak now. Not Atlan, because a true Atlan male had an inner beast. I didn’t any longer. No beast. Nothing.
Ignoring Rachel’s promise completely, I turned back to the doctor. Promises had no place in my life, not on this world, because I was resigned to a life here—on The Colony—with the other contaminated warriors. “Has this ever happened before? To another Atlan?”
The doctor scanned his tablet again. A worried frown marred his brow. Doctor Surnen had seen more death and destruction than I wanted to know about. He served with us, the contaminated, because he, too, was not allowed to return to his home world, to Prillon Prime. His left hand had been completely transformed. Cyborg. Alien. Hive.
My job had been to rip the Hive to shreds. I did not repair the damage they inflicted. I survived it. The Cyborg implants in my body made it impossible for me to return to my home planet of Atlan, and now it would seem the core of who and what I was had also been stolen from me.
Maxim cursed. “You never should have gone down into those caves after that fucker Krael. We should have called in the Fleet.”
Ryston’s grip on my arm tightened as he argued with the governor “We are the Coalition. Just because we’re cyborg does not mean we’re less. We can’t start thinking like that. The Hive are here, in our backyard, and we need to take care of it.”
Rachel was pacing, her hands going to her thick hair. She rubbed her temples as if she were agitated. As if her head hurt from thinking too hard. “I just don’t understand what they’re trying to accomplish. When they took you, why not a hand like Doctor Surnen or even an arm? Why steal your beast? And how the hell did they do it? What possible good can it do them?”
Maxim shook his head. “I don’t know, mate, but we will figure it out.” He looked to me with his usual sharp gaze. “Listen to me, Rezz. You can’t give up the fight.”
I leaned back in the exam chair. Not because they were holding me back, but because I didn’t care enough to argue. Truth was truth. I could feel it along with the strange sense of apathy that took the place of what was missing. A vital part of me.
The Hive had taken my beast.
The one thing that made me who and what I was. A Warlord, a beast among men, frightening on the battlefield. Powerful enough to face any obstacle, to protect a female, to be worthy of the title, Warlord. And now I felt nothing when I should be feeling rage. I should have turned. Grown. Changed into the beast. Ripped the med unit to pieces.
But no. I was numb. Cold. Dead. That was my new existence. When I looked at Rachel, I did not see a beautiful woman. Not anymore. It was as if when they took my beast, they took everything that made me feel alive. I could look now at the curve of her breast, the soft skin of her face and feel…nothing. Not even envy for the two Prillon warriors who had put the copper colored collar around her neck and made her theirs.
The doctor turned away from us, his dark green uniform stretched across his large shoulders. He was a Prillon warrior as well, unmated and alone, like most inhabitants of the Colony. A few brides had begun to come to the Colony, and for the last few months, I had seen Rachel and Kristin grow heavy with child. Seen the happiness and contentment on my fellow warriors’ faces.
With the brides’ arrivals, I had thought, perhaps, my life could be different. Since I might no longer be a fighter out amongst the stars, I could be a mate. But I was wrong. The Hive had taken even that hope from me.
The doctor turned to Maxim and their eyes met. A slight nod from the governor was my only warning before thick, heavy manacles crept out from the table and locked me in place. Not just on my wrists and ankles, they sealed around my waist and my thighs as well. All the while Maxim and Ryston continued to hold me down. They weren’t taking any chances. Had my beast been free to rage at them, even this would not have held me. As it was, the two Prillon warriors were more than strong enough to restrain me.
“What the fuck are you doing, Doctor?” I glanced at Rachel who was biting her lip, looking concerned. “What the fuck are you doing to me? Talk to me now.”
Rachel took a step closer and stood at the base of the exam chair. She looked me in the eye when none of the warriors would. A fact which I would neither forget nor forgive them for later.
“Listen, Rezz, there’s one thing we haven’t tried. One thing we think might work to bring your beast back, to heal you.”
I blinked slowly. Not a flicker of hope sprung to life with her words. I was past hope. We’d been playing this game for weeks. Injections. Tests. Communication with the Coalition Fleet and the Intelligence Corps. Even conversations with doctors on Atlan. No one had seen this before. I was the first, and only. I stared at Maxim’s and Ryston’s mate, at the pleading in her eyes and felt a cold trickle of dread snake down my spine. “What are you doing to me?”