The Nexus snarled, raised his hand and struck me across the cheek.
The Nexus were not like their drones. They reacted. They referred to themselves in the first person, not the third. They were alive. They were individuals.
They could be manipulated. Frightened.
Taunted.
I smiled at the blue creature even as he lifted his hand to signal one of his drones to begin another round of injections. The needles pierced my neck and wrists, burrowing deep, pumping my body full of microscopic Hive tech, nanocytes so small the doctors in the Coalition had no hope of ever removing them from contaminated warriors like me. Were I to survive, my hunting days would probably be over. Depending on the extent of the integrations, I could be banished to The Colony, useless and forgotten.
There was no hope for me, but I kept the smile on my face as the Nexus walked away. When he was gone, I sank back to sit against the wall. They’d left my uniform on when they’d captured me but taken my weapons. The suit kept my body temperature regulated for comfort but could do nothing to protect my mind from the stark reality of this cave. This entire base. The transport station within view of my cell. I saw new
captives arrive by the dozens: Prillon, Viken and human, Atlan and Xerimian—although few of the latter two—too dangerous to seize in large numbers. Fewer still were the Everian Hunters, like me. The fact that the Nexus was running an integration facility right here, on this planet, right under Commander Karter’s nose, was beyond scary. Insane, even. No one knew we were here. Right here where they weren’t looking for us because it was assumed it was Hive free.
The thought brought fury, and the adrenaline coursing through my body cranked up the volume in my head once more. I couldn’t afford emotion. I had to be calm if I was going to fight the Hive tech and keep my sanity, if I was going to win this war with the blue fucker who intended to break me.
Taking a deep breath, I slowed my heart rate and imagined my scarred friend Zee and his new mate back on Everis, living a peaceful, happy life. If Zee were lucky, he’d have two or three young ones running around each day, and his beautiful Earthen mate, Helen, would surrender to his touch each night.
I’d hoped for a female of my own, a tender, submissive female who would need a strong hand to both comfort and pleasure her. I’d even gone in to the Interstellar Brides’ Program and taken the matching test, followed their protocols. That had been months ago. No mate had arrived to share my life, no female had been matched to me. Perhaps I was too broken. Too scarred within. Too full of rage. I knew I was no longer a fit male, and still, I’d clung to hope. But staring into the cold, black eyes of the predator Nexus for the last few days, I allowed the hope for a mate to die along with the rest of them. I didn’t need hope, not here. I needed strength. Defiance. Determination. Will.
The Nexus would not break me. He might kill me, but he would not break me.
* * *
Niobe, Interstellar Brides Testing Center, The Colony
Kira came over and hugged me, which made me stiffen in surprise. “Yes, you do,” she said. We might have worked together at the Academy, and secretly on missions for I.C., but that didn’t mean I wanted her to squeeze me. “It’s over. Like a shot when we were kids. The thought of it was worse than the actual jab. Wasn’t the testing good?”
She wasn’t giving up goading me, for the question was followed by a wink.
“You know my stance on having a mate. I’m thirty-six years old. I’ve made it this far without one, so it seems silly now.”
“Yet you got in that chair on your own. We didn’t force you,” Rachel finally said.
She was right. I hated her, too. I sighed. I’d been required to take leave from the Academy, but I had no family to visit. Even though I was half Everian and had lived on the planet for two years before joining the Coalition, I didn’t feel like I belonged there. I would never go to one of the outer planets for a vacation, and I wouldn’t have come to The Colony if Kira hadn’t invited me. She’d done so more than once and I’d given in—not because I didn’t like her but because I didn’t like not working—which had landed me in this stupid testing chair. I hadn’t been drunk; I could drink the largest Atlan under the table due to my mother’s Russian heritage and my predilection for vodka—which seemed to be in my DNA.
What wasn’t in my DNA was a desire for children. A family. Anything a Coalition mate would expect out of a bride. I might have a uterus, but it wasn’t open for any kind of business. Not a chance.
“I know,” I replied, running my hands down my uniform, smoothing wrinkles that didn’t exist. They hadn’t forced me to be tested, but I’d done so without any excitement. Who would I get? I was half-Human, half-Everian. I had never fit in on Earth growing up and I was the Earth-chick on Everis. I was, as usual, odd. I didn’t like to be out of sorts, out of control, and all I felt was ruffled, sweaty and mussed as if I’d just had sex. But I hadn’t. God, who was that couple I’d dreamed about? That had been a relationship. Intense. The connection had been incredible. But the way the female had submitted to her mate? Yeah, that didn’t work for me. I submitted to no one. I was a vice admiral in charge of the entire Coalition Academy. I didn’t need a male to boss me around.
I could certainly use his cock, though. That could definitely boss me around, especially the way the guy in the dream had given it to her. God, yes. But a cock without a male was just a dildo, and I had plenty of those.
“You’re not required to make babies,” Kira reminded, as if she’d been able to read my mind. Or she’d listened to my constant grumbling about why I shouldn’t be a bride ever since she and Rachel suggested it.
“You both did,” I countered, looking between the women. I didn’t have tons of friends because at the Academy, I had to remain separate from the students and most of the staff. I was in charge and I couldn’t just pal around.
These two women had taken me under their wing during my visit, even when I hadn’t been too thrilled about it. They knew I was prickly and often times annoying by my ability to solely see things in black and white—not literally but figuratively. But they were from Earth and it had been great to talk Earth things. Hair dryers. Real ice cream made with dairy from a cow, an animal that existed only on Earth. I hadn’t felt quite so… different.
Somehow, they’d cornered me about remaining single all this time. I was six Coalition deployments past the time to be tested and mated. I was an old maid and I’d been fine with that.
“We’re not you,” Kira replied. “We wanted to make babies.”
Duh.
“Dr. Surnen, tell the vice admiral how she’s not required to birth lots of alien babies for her mate,” Kira said.
The doctor, who moved to sit in a wheeled chair, glanced my way. “The vice admiral doesn’t need this repeated,” he said. “I won’t insult her intelligence.”
Smart Prillon.