“Forget that. He’ll want the body, too.”
“Gods be damned. Why are we catering to that asshole?” I looked back to where the massive corpse lay unmoving, knew this was an opportunity my dislike for the commander shouldn’t prevent. “Go, Bahre.” I used my shoulder to help Bahre get to Sambor, then went back for the body.
It took every ounce of strength I possessed to move the thing a few feet. Bahre appeared next to me. “Move.”
I glanced up in shock. “You can barely walk, Warlord. I’ll handle this.”
His beast was calming, and Bahre was able to speak in a full sentence. “You are stubborn. I do not know how you got a female to accept you.” He picked up the Nexus corpse with a grunt and walked up the ramp. Sambor clapped him on the back, which made the injured Warlord drop the body with another grunt of pain.
I actually laughed at his insult, a sound I hadn’t been sure I would ever hear again. Our fight had been intense, only perhaps five or ten minutes, but it was clear now that we would survive.
With all four of us who’d made it through the crash—and a few new additions—safely climbing on board, Sambor walked down the ramp and the two of us managed to drag the dead body onto the stolen Hive ship.
“Fucker is heavy. Too heavy.” It was like the Nexus unit was made of magnets that literally locked it to the gravitational field beneath it. He was far heavier than his size should have dictated, even if he were made of pure stone or metal.
“Helion can have fun dissecting him.”
I grunted at that. Without doubt, Sambor was right.
He held out his hand to me. “Get on, Nik. Lucy will be worried. Let’s go home and claim her.”
Home. Fuck. I liked the sound of that.
12
Lucy, Interior Child’s Play Area, The Colony
I sat in one of the beanbag chairs and watched the kids play, tuning out their chatter and laughter. With the number of kids growing on the planet pretty darn fast, a playroom had been built where the kids could burn off energy. The space had pint-size tables and chairs for crafts, a large rug for story time, a reading corner with picture and word books, and a fast-food-chain type playland. The guys had seen pictures we’d shared of these Earth indoor playgrounds and added their own planets’ spin. Slides and tubes, ropes and ladders, poles and rock walls. It was a little nuts, especially since the bulk of the kids were under the age of two. But they’d grow into it—and based on the size of the Prillons, but especially the Atlans, really fast. I wished I were a little shorter so I could join them in the corner where there was a fake tree to be reached from a small spaceship by a bridge.
Emma had dragged me over to the beanbag in the reading nook and pointed her little finger for me to sit. She kept watch to make sure I remained. She was a bossy thing, and it was amusing to observe the toddler imitate Wulf. Olivia dragged a tiny chair over to sit beside me. She and Wulf had returned from Earth the day before, earlier than expected since Rachel had commed her about what had happened. I had a feeling they were pleased to leave Earth behind.
I had no idea if they’d wrapped up their PR work for the Bachelor Beast, and I didn’t really care. I’d enjoyed working on the show and approved of the idea behind the concept—bringing attention to worthy fighters who wanted mates—but didn’t miss Chet or the pettiness that came with reality TV. There was none of that here in space. I’d only been behind the camera. As for Olivia and Wulf, who’d had every aspect of their relationship broadcast all over the world, they probably didn’t care either. As soon as a new bachelor beast was assigned, the spotlight would be off them and on to the new Atlan.
I had no interest in anything, feeling numb and strangely surreal. If I didn’t have the black collar about my neck, I’d have questioned my sanity and wondered if the two days on Prillon Prime had actually happened.
I had no pictures, no selfies or visual record of Nik and Sam. I’d gone onto the computer and searched for them, found their images and bios, which proved they did exist.
Had.
They were dead.
Dead.
I could still remember their touch. Their weight as they pressed me into the bed. Their breath. Their voices. The heft of their cocks as they filled me.
A shriek of laughter broke through my dirty thoughts. Tanner and Wyatt wore kid-sized Coalition uniforms, armor and all, and ran around with toy ion pistols making weird blaster sounds. They were fighting imaginary Hive and hiding behind the toddler slide, their heads popping out to shoot. Emma was currently in the ball pit tossing the colored orbs up in the air.
Olivia and I were the only adults in the room. When I glanced at the clock on the wall, I saw that Lindsey would come to take over supervision in twenty minutes. There was an unspoken arrangement that we’d watch the kids in shifts to give everyone a little break. This way the kids could keep playing but the parents could rest.
“Ready to talk about it?” Olivia asked.
I glanced up at her. Even in the kiddie chair, she was taller than me. I sighed. “I have to, since you forced me out of bed.”
After transporting back with the others, I’d gone right to my quarters and climbed into bed. And stayed. Food had been dropped off, even though I had an S-Gen machine, but I’d been left alone.
Until Olivia came storming into my room, then ripped the covers off the bed and made me shower and put on fresh clothes.
“You were starting to smell,” she replied, although there was no scolding in her tone. “Just tell me about the party. I missed everything.”