“Thank you.” Smiling now, I walked to him and grabbed his head, helmet and all. Twisting with all the rage I’d held in check the past weeks, I cracked his neck and dropped him, dead, at my feet. I felt nothing in the action. There was no Prillon left in that body. Had I met him in the past, I was sure he’d want me to kill him, to end him, knowing he’d never want to be like this, his mind gone, nothing left but a shell forced to do evil.
Shocked and surprised, the others hurried to rise from their kneeling positions and fire their weapons.
The first ion blast stung more than I thought it would, but not enough to stop me from cracking the offender’s ribcage, forcing the bones inward until his heart stopped beating. He’d been Viken once. Now, he was a monster. A dead monster.
Two down, seven to go.
Pulling out the knife strapped to my thigh, I cut the throat of the integrated Atlan closest to me. He was still on his knees. His eyes glazed over and I swear I saw gratitude there. He didn’t fight or try to stop me, which broke my heart, hurt in a million different ways. He looked too much like Mak. Too big. Too strong. Too noble.
He could have killed me, but he’d fought the conditioning, held himself still for the killing blow. Yes, this was what I had expected. Some hint of life, of the original being within.
The relief in his eyes would haunt my dreams forever. He was finally at peace.
The injustice of his sacrifice made me want to scream and cry my eyes out. But that wouldn’t do any good. He wanted to die, to have dignity. Honor. He deserved no less.
An ion blast hit me from behind and I turned into the line of fire with a smile.
I was Nexus now, thanks to their own masters. They would need a lot more than their ion blasters to take me down. They were shooting a pellet gun at an angry bear.
Evidently figuring that out, three of them rushed me and I took them down with an arcing roundhouse kick that would have made Chuck Norris proud. The kick broke the first Soldier’s skull, shattered the second’s ribcage and took off the bottom half of the third’s leg. He fell to the ground with a scream of pain, which went silent as I stomped on his neck.
I faced the others, striking without mercy until I stood alone surrounded by the dead. The entire encounter had only taken a couple of minutes, but I felt like I’d been fighting for years—because I had. I’d wanted to go on missions, to destroy the Hive one at a time, but it was never easy. Never without personal pain. Emotional destruction.
I needed a valium. Xanax. Something to make me forget.
Mak had accomplished that; for a few stolen hours I’d been something other than a broken thing, a Hive queen, a mate of the blue Nexus bastard who’d wanted me to carry his children. Mak made me feel alive. Beautiful. Sensual. Me.
But not wanted. Sexually, definitely, but not completely. Not the way my broken heart needed. He refused to bite me, refused to even consider staying with me and living on the Colony. Once the Intelligence Core figured out the truth I’d kept from them—and what I’d just collected in my head—they’d want to use me to lure and capture the Nexus units that controlled the Hive. They’d want to transport me all over the galaxy. I’d be bait to lure the Nexus to them, over and over. It made sense; I couldn’t fault them for the plan. Hell, it was a good idea, although I wasn’t excited about being the lure at their whim. I wasn’t sure I’d survive it, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
I’d just be… living. Surviving. Fighting. No happiness. No joy. No connection other than through the minds of other Hive. And that wasn’t the connection I craved.
Without Mak, I’d be just like the Atlan I just killed. A former shell of myself in a body that was no longer my own. Used for battle, for fighting. For strategy and nothing more. I would be a pawn in the fighting cog that was spread out over the entire galaxy.
I couldn’t live with that. Not for long. Not if I couldn’t have the only male I wanted. It had only been a day since I’d chosen him, since we’d made the bargain. But so much had happened since then. The connection—yes, that word kept repeating in my head over and over—was powerful. Intense. It was as if we had been matched through the Brides Program. Or were marked mates from Everis. The bond was real, and he hadn’t even claimed me. I had to wonder what it would be like if he did make me truly his.
Powerful. Intense. Just… peaceful.
Yet Makarios of Kronos was a wild thing, a free spirit. He had not promised anything. Had not gone back on his word, nor behaved dishonorably. I couldn’t fault him for anything except hooking my emotions in a way I never anticipated. But that was my problem, not his. I would not be a shackle around his ankle. I would honor our bargain.
But I knew nothing would help except striking at the heart of the Hive itself. At their core. At the Nexus minds that controlled them all.
And Nexus 4 hiding on the planet’s surface like a snake? He’d know I was coming. Which was just fine with me.
Walking toward the Hive ship I intended to pilot to my meeting with Nexus 4, I allowed the Hive tech that nearly covered my body to return to its original color—the better to tempt the Nexus unit with—a dark, vibrant blue. I’d learned to hold it off, but now, like a dam breaking, the color washed over me. I looked just like him now. The way Nexus 2 had made me.
Blue. Feminine. Strong.
Perfect for breeding.
If there was one urge as primal as survival, it was the urge to fuck. And as far as I knew, I was the only female in the galaxy custom designed to tempt the blue bastards. If I could get him thinking with his cock instead of his head, I’d have a chance. And instead of touching him with lover’s hands, I’d rip his head right off.