I nodded and moved quickly, throwing the few things I’d brought with me into a bag. I wanted to keep everything I had. I wanted to remember them. Their touch. The sounds they made when they found my body wet and eager for them. Their heat wrapped around me as I slept.
Home. Why did the idea of returning to my tiny quarters on the barren planet feel so empty? Why did I feel so empty? I hadn’t been ready to be claimed. I’d told Nik and Sam that. They’d told me how they felt about me, that they’d wanted forever. I’d felt the truth of it in the collar.
That hurt so fucking bad. The potential for what we could have been had been blown up. Destroyed by the Hive.
When I was ready, Jessica led me out of my pretty room. I felt Ander’s presence behind us. “Nial’s busy in a meeting with the war council… but wanted to be here to talk to you.”
“I understand.” Her other mate was the head of all of Prillon Prime and the Coalition planets. He had a big job, and losing Ambassador Niklas Lorvar, Sambor and a ship with who knew how many other fighters on it to an unexpected Hive attack was a problem. I didn’t have any problems. I was just a makeup artist who was now going to live on The Colony alone. Most likely forever since none of the guys there interested me. Not like Nik and Sam. Now that I knew a true connection, I didn’t want anything less.
We met Lindsey, Kiel, Mikki and the others from The Colony at the transport room where the weekend had begun. Everyone was quiet, showing none of the earlier excitement. I got hugs from the ladies, and Lindsey wrapped her arm around me. Two days ago we’d been eager to party and have a fun time on Prillon Prime. I was supposed to get laid.
I’d gotten exactly what I’d come for. Hadn’t left with anything more except… a broken heart. I was devastated. Two smart, brave and amazing guys were dead. I loved them, despite the fact that I was realizing it a little too late.
I looked up at Lindsey. “What happens in Vegas,” I said, then burst into tears.
11
Niklas, Uncharted Asteroid, Four Days Later
We crouched behind a ridge of black carbonite boulders on the asteroid and watched as the Hive Scouts swarmed what remained of our wrecked cargo ship. This was the third scout team in the last few hours. There were four who’d survived the crash. Four of us stuck on this Coalition-forgotten rock. Me, Sambor, Warlord Bahre and Captain Var, a Prillon who’d been outside the meeting room when the explosion had occurred. Either the rest of the passengers on the cargo ship had transported out or had been sucked into space. After days on this hellish planet, I had to wonder if instant death would have been a better option. Now we spent our time avoiding the Hive, staying alive and waiting for rescue.
Lying flat on the rock above us, Sambor had his ion rifle aimed in the Hives’ direction. He was practically motionless, watching. His whisper was loud and clear in my helmet.
“Three Scouts. Three Soldiers with heavy armor.”
“Fuck.” The Atlan’s groan fit my own mood perfectly, but the sound was because he was seriously injured. His body was riddled with a patchwork of burns and lacerations that no mere mortal creature should have survived. We’d found one ReGen wand in the wreckage after the crash and it had worked for a time, but without being recharged, it had become as useless as one of the pebbles we lay upon. The Atlan now survived on pure will.
Var crouched on the opposite side of the small plateau we’d climbed after the crash. His ion rifle pointed in the opposite direction, guarding our flank. Above us, a rock overhang created the illusion of a cave. It wasn’t much, but the outcropping had protected us from the harsh rays of the nearby star as well as kept us hidden from Hive patrol ships. So far.
The asteroid’s electromagnetic field was wreaking havoc with our comms. We could speak to one another, but the connection was weak and filled with interference. And our transport beacons? We had tried, but they had been unable to lock onto a transport location. We were stranded with no way to communicate with the Coalition, and no way off this rock.
Unless help arrived soon, we were all dead. Or worse. If the worse happened, we all knew it would be so bad that being sucked into space would have been a blessing.
Why had I thought my job was so important? Why did I risk what we had with Lucy for Helion? The Hive weren’t going anywhere. That was blatantly obvious to all of us in this moment. I should have told Helion no. Delayed the meeting. Stayed with Lucy. Duty had called me away.
Look where that got me. All of us.
Fuck.
Sambor remained still for long minutes, and we remained in silence, waiting with him. There was nothing else to do except think about all my own weaknesses. He was the expert here, a veteran of many Hive battles. He knew what he was doing, knew how to keep us alive. If I had to crash-land on a Hive-infested asteroid and remain alive with anyone, it would be him.
“They’re inside,” Sambor murmured. “I’m coming down. Don’t shoot me.”
“Not even for fun?” I asked, making Bahre as well as Var chuckle.
Sambor slid down the rocks to land opposite me. I sat next to Bahre, monitoring the status of his life sup
port on his armor’s display. There wasn’t anything I could do, but it made me feel better knowing his vitals were holding steady. Sambor stretched his legs out and settled his ion rifle across his thighs. “Captain Var, get over here. We need to talk.”
The Prillon warrior moved silent as a ghost and completed a triangle in the small area where Sambor was one corner, Bahre and myself the third. He squatted down. “What’s the plan?”
“What plan?” I asked. There was no plan. This wasn’t a diplomatic trip with meetings and dinners scheduled. This also wasn’t a mission, the details having been coordinated in advance.
Sambor looked at me, and the lack of humor in his eyes was startling. “We have waited three days for a ReCon team. They’re not coming. Based on the blast and the wreckage, I’m guessing the Coalition already thinks we’re dead.”
I wanted to argue, to verbalize some kind of hope, especially for Bahre, but I knew Sambor was probably right. “What do we do?” I was used to being in charge. But here? Now? I could fire an ion blaster or take on an enemy in hand-to-hand combat. I could argue or cajole or compliment. I was a master at reading people and figuring out what they wanted. I was a diplomat, not a survivalist. I’d graduated from the Coalition academy along with the rest of them, but our paths had diverged since. Yet we were back together again now. I had to hope Fate had brought the four of us together to get us out of here.
“You are going to stay here with Bahre,” Sambor ordered. This wasn’t my element, but it was his. “Var and I are going to set up an ambush and steal one of the Hive ships. Then we’re going to fly it back into Coalition space and pray for a miracle. Or that we won’t be blown out of the sky, again, but this time by our own fighters.”