Chapter Thirteen
Angh, Sector 54, Hive Integration Unit Outpost, Prisoner Cell Block
I heard the Hive drones.They were everywhere. What was normally a random buzzing sound in the back of my mind was now full-blown conversations between Hive trios moving around the base.
I understood everything. Every. Word.
“Do you hear that?” Crouched next to me in the side corridor was my beautiful, courageous mate in full battle gear, ion rifle out and ready. She looked fierce, professional, and so fucking sexy I had a hard time keeping my eyes off her. I’d never thought of anyone as being sexy while behind enemy lines, but there was a first for everything.
Behind us, a small strike force of human, Everian and Viken fighters waited for orders from their leader. Kira. Not me. ReCon teams were normally made up of warriors from the smaller races. They could get in, get out, and move quickly in tight spaces. I was a novelty here, and they looked at me like I was a clumsy giant, despite the fact that I could kill them with one strike of my bare fists. So I ignored them.
Kira was here. I went where she did. End of discussion.
Our target to extract, a Rogue 5 weapons specialist and secret I.C. operative from the Styx legion, was supposed to be located on the second level, on the far end of the cell block. How the Vice Admiral had come by her information, I had no idea and I knew she wouldn’t tell us if I asked.
There was only one way in and one way out of that corridor. The back of the prison section was made up of stone several hundred feet thick. We had transport beacons, but they wouldn’t work this deep underground.
This meant we had to break him out and get him to the surface. Alive or dead. Those were our orders. We couldn’t allow the Hive to break into his mind.
I cursed under my breath and shook my head to clear it of the racket the Hive drones were making. There were nine Hive on this outpost. Three trios. And I could hear every single one of them like they were standing next to me.
The Hive did love their dark, desolate caves.
“Warlord?” Kira’s whisper made me lean down to hear her, but I didn’t take my eyes off the corridor before us, or lower my weapon. There were seven of us, but if the Hive discovered our presence, they’d swarm our position, lock down the exits and transport drones in by the dozens until we were trapped.
That was not happening. I’d die before I allowed them to capture me again. Or Kira. No fucking way would they get her.
“Yes, Captain?” I addressed her with respect, because I expected the other warriors with us to do the same.
“Do you hear that?” She pivoted in her crouched position to address the others. “Do any of you hear that?”
“Hear what?” The Viken warrior closest to her shrugged. “I don’t hear anything.”
“That buzzing.” She knocked on her helmet, just over the ear, where the comm link would be. “I think my comm is going out.”
I returned my full attention to the seemingly deserted corridors ahead of us. The Hive were moving, a trio heading in our direction, coming for the prisoner we were here to recover. How I knew that, why I knew that, I refused to think about.
I clenched my fists as the beast raged, the cuffs the only thing holding him in check. We were with our mate. We had to protect her. Nothing else, not even the rage and pain of torture creatures like these had inflicted on me, mattered now.
Kira mattered. And the mission mattered to her. That was all. My only reason for existence. The Vice Admiral was smart, her strategy worthy of the best in the galaxy. She had gotten what she wanted. I had what I wanted. But Kira? I just didn’t know.
Had she really chosen me? Or had the Vice Admiral forced her hand? Or—
The beast howled at me to shut the fuck up and go rip up the Hive Soldiers coming down the hall. For once, I agreed with him. Anything to rid my mind of the thoughts circling like hungry carrion.
“Three Hive approaching, left corridor.”
Kira whipped back around and raised her rifle. “How long?”
“Now.”
The Hive Soldier who rounded the corner first was once a Prillon, big and mean, his entire face was silver. His eyes solid metal, like Denzel’s. There was nothing left of the warrior he’d once been and when he spoke, his voice was monotone. Mechanical and empty. “Intruders. Level—”
His head was bloody pulp in my hand where I’d smashed it into the wall. But the other two took up the call before I could finish the job.
“Level Two. Intruders on Level Two.”
Ion rifle fire came around me from behind and took down the remaining Soldiers, Kira’s cursing flying from her lips almost too quickly for my NPU to keep up.