“I can’t.” He was Lucy’s second, my lifelong friend. I was not worthy of this sacrifice.
“You can and you must,” he replied through gritted teeth. “Is this not the very reason you Prillons choose a second? So that one of you always remains to take care of your female?”
I didn’t respond. It was not an actual question. The Atlan already knew the answer. I watched Sambor and Var walk away and disappear around one of the black rock outcroppings I knew would provide a place they could safely scramble down into the crevasse where our ship had crashed. Where they would set up an ambush for at least six Hive, maybe more.
I leaned back against the rock and stared up at the twinkling stars spread overhead like billions of sparkling jewels. Space was the ultimate in opposites. Extreme beauty with extreme danger. The time we’d spent on this asteroid was a prime example. “We haven’t claimed her yet.”
“But she’s yours.” Bahre grunted in pain, the first sign of weakness he’d given, and my heart jumped with concern. We had to get off this asteroid. No one was coming. No one knew we were here.
“She’s mine. Mine and Sambor’s.”
“Is your second capable of defeating six Hive alone?”
I considered the question. “Yes. He is.” The words were not a lie. Sambor had been trained in the Coalition’s special forces program. He’d fought the Hive for years before settling into what he considered a life of luxury, guarding me. He’d done it because I’d asked, and because the IC had begun sending me into more and more dangerous situations. Prime Nial had demanded someone go meet with the legions on Rogue 5, scout out Sector Zero and the other lawless regions technically within Coalition space. He’d sent me. I’d taken Sambor with me. “He’s saved my life more than once.”
“Then let him do his job and go home. His strategy is sound, and you know it. Take care of your female. Do you wish her to lose both of you?”
That made the blood run cold as ice in my veins. I could not allow Lucy to feel such loss. Such pain. “No. That is unacceptable.”
Bahre grunted. “That’s what I thought. Get your head on straight, Prillon. Fight like an Atlan, like a fucking beast to get back to her.”
“I am no beast.” I was a fucking Prillon warrior with a mate and my second to protect. I would do what Sambor ordered. He would trust me to be in position, to cover him. I would not let him down.
Cold and calm, I climbed to the top of the boulder Sambor had indicated that would give me the tactical advantage. I waited patiently as the minutes passed, thinking of nothing but killing. Surviving. Making sure Sambor and I both returned to our mate.
Lucy deserved no less than what I had promised her. All of me. Every cell and fiber and ounce of will was hers. I would fight until my dying breath to get back to her… and to take Sambor with me.
He wasn’t going to have to kill very many Hive. I was going to wreak havoc on those fuckers from here. Every. Last. One.
Bright light appeared overhead, and I watched as three Hive ships landed within easy walking distance of our ship’s wreckage, most likely sensing Sambor’s presence. Hidden in the rocks nearby, he remained still as the stone around him, his armor shifting color to match the black rocks at his back. He was nothing more than a shadow.
I could not see Var at all but knew he would be nearby, watching the Hive land, deciding which ship to take.
As expected, three Hive exited each ship and walked toward the wreckage. One was a trio of very large and heavily armed Hive Soldiers, most likely captured and integrated Prillon warriors. The second group of three were Hive Scouts. Small, fast and aggressive. They looked as if they could have once been human, Viken or even Everian fighters. Then there was the last group.
One of them was taller than anyone I’d ever seen—and that included Atlans in beast mode. He was dark blue and was not wearing armor. His face looked like his skin had been put together in pieces sewn with silver thread, and his entire body was a patchwork of different shades of blue.
I’d seen this kind of pattern before in just one creature—the Nexus unit Helion kept locked up at Core Command. This one looked almost exactly like that Nexus unit that had been imprisoned on our ship before we crashed, the blue fucker that Helion had been so desperate to crack that he’d arranged the meeting in deep space with Gwen.
But this Nexus unit was not the same male as the prisoner. This one’s silver streak bisecting his face was in a diagonal slash from forehead to ear, not vertical, as Helion’s captive’s was.
What the fuck was a Nexus unit doing on this worthless asteroid? Inspecting our ship?
Then Makarios’s words returned to me. They fucking track her like Elite Everian Hunters.
The Nexus unit and his team were hunting Gwen, thinking she was here, looking for clues. My breath caught. Rage filled me at the desperation they had to track her. No wonder Gwen and Mak were so uncomfortable and cagey about meeting.
The blue Nexus unit was taller than the Scouts and Soldiers by at least two feet. Large, black bulbous additions ran along the base of his skull and connected to his spine like fingers digging into the flesh of his back. He walked freely, no armor necessary, despite the lack of atmosphere and freezing temperature on the surface of the asteroid. I watched him through my rifle’s scope and shuddered at the pure, lifeless black of his eyes. Walking with him were two more Hive the likes of which I had never seen before. They were huge—not as big as the Nexus unit himself, but larger than the others. Thicker. Taller.
Fuck. Those two were Atlans. Or they used to be. The three moved together, the Nexus unit in the center and the integrated Atlan Hive bodyguards on either side of him for protection. The other six Hive, the Soldiers and Scouts, fanned out along the ground surrounding the wreckage, picking up debris and running scans.
We were fucked. Nine Hive in total. We might have been able to take them out, but not with two integrated Atlan Hive who were beast sized and a Nexus unit. I didn’t say a word, not wanting our comms to alert them to our presence, but I wanted to shout at Sambor to get the fuck out of there and wait—wait for a different batch of Hive to arrive—one without a Nexus unit. Without integrated Atlan Warlords.
Just… wait.
But we had no choice. We were all running low on air, and our suits would last one more day at the most.
What if the Nexus unit left and no Hive ever came back? What if there was not another chance to steal a ship?