“Get the females out of here. One of the Soldiers just woke up.”
“Gods be damned. Move out,” Helion ordered as I raised my rifle.
“No!” Danika raced to me, her hand coming down over my rifle. “Can’t you feel him? He’s fighting it.”
Shocked by her words, I watched the Prillon as he sank to his knees. He lifted his hands to his head as if it were splitting in half. A feeling I knew well.
“Don’t hurt him.” Danika tried to walk past me but I blocked her with my arm until Varin could grab her from behind.
“Do not go near him.” I was not in the mood for a debate.
Helion appeared at my side as I scanned the rest of the hibernation chambers for activity. There appeared to be none.
“Who are you?” Danika asked.
“We are---” He doubled over in pain, his forehead touching the cold floor. Seconds later he lifted his head and spoke to my female. “I am Bastion. Bastion Arcas of Prillon Prime.”
I lowered my rifle. Fuck. My cousin? I had not seen the boy in two decades.
Clearly he was no longer a child, but a massive fucking Arcas warrior. And the Hive had integrated him, kept him here. Yet, he spoke to us as an individual. Knelt before us.
The agony in his gaze was one I recognized. “Cousin.” I lifted my helmet to reveal my face. “I have not seen you since you were a child.”
“Thomar? We thought you lost.”
“I was.” I turned my head to the side so Bastian could see the markings the Hive had left in my flesh. “Varin and I escaped.”
Bastian shuddered, lowered his head to the floor. “I cannot look upon you. He will see you.”
“The Nexus unit?” Danika asked.
“Yes.”
“You are still fighting him.” It was a statement, not a question. Danika’s pride and warmth rolled through our collars. “You are truly an Arcas. Strong, like my mate, Thomar.”
That had my cousin lift his head, but his eyes remained closed. “The females are on level two. The infants remain in the lab. Level three.”
Helion protested. “Our scans indicate the female prisoners are on level three.”
Bastion laughed, but there was no mirth in the sound. “A trap, Helion. The prison cells are not locked and they are full of Hive Soldiers.”
“How many are guarding the females?” I asked.
“Do not know.”
Damn. I believed him. “And the infants?”
“He will be there with his two. Dangerous.”
“We outnumber them.”
Bastion shook his head as if Helion were an idiot. “Your numbers are irrelevant.”
“Why are you not with them?” Helion asked.
“We are too difficult to control.” Bastian waved his arm around, indicating the other fifteen hibernation chambers. “We are a thorn in his side. We resist.”
I knew of what he spoke. Varin and I had been the same, able to think despite the Hive influence. “Why didn’t you leave? Escape from this prison?”