“What the fuck, Angh? We wait for them to pass, strike from behind. Get in. Get out. Don’t get caught. Got it?”
The Viken behind her was laughing when I turned around, the Prillon’s lifeless body still dangling from my hand, forgotten. “That is not how Atlan’s normally approach battle.”
She sighed. “This isn’t battle, this is ReCon.”
“Then I will study ReCon strategies when we return.”
“This is why Atlans aren’t on ReCon teams.” Grinning at me now, I knew all was forgiven and her gaze dropped to the Hive hanging from my grip. “You done killing that one? I’d like to get our target and get out of here.”
I dropped the Hive like a stone at my feet and moved in the direction she indicated, down the corridor leading to the prisoner from Rogue 5, the man with information in his head so valuable to the I.C. they were willing to sacrifice all of our lives to keep it out of Hive hands.
Finding his cell was easy. The locked door was hinged metal with bolts imbedded in the cave’s rock walls. Pathetic.
I tore it off its hinges just as easily as I’d done to Kira’s classroom door and stepped aside so someone from the team could go in. I was half beast, as he’d refused to remain dormant when there was so much fun to be had, and I knew if I walked into that prison cell, the poor male would likely have a heart attack.
I held the door to the side as Kira and the Viken walked by me. He grinned. “And that is why Atlans should be on every mission.”
“Shut up, Farren,” Kira snapped at him, tapping the side of her helmet again, but her words only made the other members of the team laugh.
“Rokk? I’m with ReCon. We’re getting you out of here.”
Moments later, the large warrior stumbled into the hallway leaning heavily on Kira and the Viken, his arms wrapped around their shoulders. Rokk was weak and battered. Nearly naked, the remnants of torn pants barely covered him. His skin was coated in dried blood. But I knew the Hive hadn’t started the true torture yet, as I saw no Hive implants on his body, no silver pieces burrowing into his flesh like living parasites.
The beast wanted to howl at the memories and I held him back by force of will. It should have been easy to control him, now that I had a mate. But he was like me, frustrated and unsure.
Did our mate truly want us? Did it matter?
Fuck yes. It did. And until we knew for sure, the beast wouldn’t calm completely, and neither would I.
I watched them stumble for a few steps under his heavy weight as the bastard looked to be part Atlan and part Hyperion, the strange fangs in his mouth all the evidence I needed that he belonged to that primitive species. His body was covered with a significant number of tattoos, each one of them in a language I didn’t recognize.
Kira saw my interest. “They’re names, Angh. Names of the people he is sworn to protect. The names of his people. The higher their rank in Styx legion, the more names they have inked into their flesh.”
My respect for the alien warrior grew as I noticed hundreds of names swirling down his torso, covering a large portion of his back and chest. He caught me looking as well, so I asked. “How many?”
“Two hundred and thirty-four. I’m only a lieutenant.”
I grunted at that. “Leave him to me.”
With a shrug, the Viken stepped aside and I took his place. When I had him, I nodded at Kira and she, too stepped aside. Rokk was big, but no larger than an average Prillon. If he were Atlan, it was only half, and I’d carried many brothers off the battlefield without assistance. “Go. I will do this.”
With one last glance, Kira nodded, trusting me, and took off back down the way we came. Farren, the Viken who seemed to be her closest ally, was with her, running formation. Checking corners. There was no need. I could hear them. All of them. That didn’t keep me from panicking having her farther than arm’s reach. She couldn’t go far from me, thank fuck, because of the cuffs and that soothed my beast.
“There are three Soldiers and three Scouts coming. Half on the left and other half blocking our exit.”
“Fuck. How do you know that?” The two ReCon members behind me cursed but didn’t argue, moving ahead with their weapons. But I stopped them.
“No. Take him. I will deal with the Hive.”
“Yes, sir.” They weren’t new recruits, and they weren’t stupid. They had seen what an Atlan in beast mode could do in battle. And since this was no longer a stealth op, thanks to me, I would clean up the mess.
I handed the prisoner off to them and ran forward, a bellow of challenge ringing ahead of me in the halls. I would draw them to me and allow the rest of the team to pick them off with ion rifles, one by one.
“Damn it, Angh!” Kira yelled, but I had been in more battles than she would ever know. I knew the Hive well, how they worked. How they thought. I’d been one of them and the rage I felt toward their kind still simmered.
They waited in the branching corridors where we’d been a few short minutes ago. Ion fire blasted into me, behind me. I was surrounded, but I charged through all of it toward the first group, ripping them to pieces with my bare hands and not worrying where the others were. I’d finish these three, and move to the next. And the next.
My beast was howling with fury, the killing frenzy, the need to ensure our mate was protected making him especially vicious.