The first three were dead, the fury of battle gone, and my beast turned to look for our next opponent.
“Angh! Grenade!” Kira’s warning rang through the space as a small, metallic device landed in the center of the room.
Kira was running. She dove, throwing her body over the grenade as the rest of her team dove for cover. She actually curled her body around it, twisted to place her back between me and the explosive.
Holy fucking— Protecting me. Saving me.
“No!” The beast roared. I roared. I panicked. I had seen this weapon before, hundreds of times. I knew exactly what it was and what it would do to my mate, how it would tear her body into pieces.
The Hive were gone, retreating far enough to escape the blast.
Silence.
Kira was on the ground, panting. Curled around the grenade.
Nothing.
“What the fuck?” Farren cautiously slid forward on hands and knees, closer to Kira, but I was there first, reaching for her.
“No! Don’t touch her!” The Hyperion’s voice was crisp, a clear command. “Don’t disrupt the frequency or it’ll explode.”
I turned to him, frustrated at how difficult it was to speak. She was curled around a fucking grenade. “Why?”
Kira rolled slowly, the armed grenade flashing with a strange blue light as she held it up, close to her head. “I can hear them.”
I froze in place and forced myself to calm, to listen.
She was right. I could hear them, too. And I could hear it, the weapon, the explosive. Rokk explained as she looked up at him. “They’re new Hive tech, designed to recognize one of their own. They were losing a lot of Soldiers in battle, so they’ve made advanced modifications to their weaponry.”
“Their bombs know if the target is Hive or not?” Farren asked, eyes wide with surprise.
“Yes.” Rokk looked at Kira. “And for some reason, it thinks you’re one of them.”
She looked up at me and our gazes locked. We knew; we both knew exactly why it wasn’t going off. Somehow, the added connection had linked our minds, the communication even clearer than what I’d experienced with Chloe and the mine field around Battleship Karter. And that connection was protecting us.
Holy fuck. We’d had a connection, my mate and I, but that was on a personal level. Now, together, we were connected to hear the Hive as well.
If we could use this knowledge on the battlefield, broadcast Hive signal and destabilize their weapons, it would be a huge advantage in the war.
Kira held out her hand to me and I pulled her up slowly so she didn’t jostle the grenade. “They don’t know what to do. Let’s get out of here now, before they figure something out.”
I looked at Rokk. “Apologies, but I don’t have time to argue with you.” With that, I lifted the heavy male over my shoulder and started running, the rest of the team falling in step.
The Scouts who blocked the entrance were easy targets, not as large or fast as the Soldiers down below in the caves, and I grunted in approval as Farren and the others made quick work of them.
We ran, the Hyperion grunting each time his gut landed on my shoulder, but I couldn’t afford to be gentle. He’d survived the Hive, he’d just have to suffer the journey back to our transport location.
Kira spotted a smaller cave entrance, one positioned to block the main force of the blast, and she threw the grenade as she sprinted. Tossed and ran. Shit. A second later, the explosion rocked the ground, but we kept moving.
Get in. Get out. Don’t get caught.
Her words rang in my ears until we reached the extraction point and I dropped the Hyperion on the ground in a heap.
I was reaching for her when the transport energy surrounded us, tore us into pieces and put us back together on the other side.
A medical team swarmed the transport pad back on Zioria and I recognized Transport 2 at the Academy. Elsewhere on the grounds, business went on as usual, as if the Hive battle had never happened. Classes. Training. And all the while, the most important missions in the war were being completed right under the cadets’ noses.
Vice Admiral Niobe was waiting for us as well, her smile genuine when she saw Rokk. “Lieutenant. I’m glad to see you made it.”