“We are here, and you are not dead,” Makarios interjected.
“That means nothing,” Helion snapped.
I disagreed. Looking at Makarios, and assuming what he said about the female’s strength was true, the fact that we were all still alive meant everything.
“I see time hasn’t changed you, Doc. You’re still an ass.”
Oh fuck. I knew that look. The human female was losing patience with the doctor. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the wall to watch and enjoy. I had no doubt, probably due to my bias in the human female’s favor, that she would not attack Helion, no matter how much he provoked her.
Niklas referred to the doctor as a necessary evil. He was very good at what he did. Loyal to Prillon Prime and the Coalition to a fault. Ruthless and merciless when dealing with our enemies.
Didn’t mean I enjoyed Helion’s company, especially today. Apparently Gwen had come to the same conclusion, and Niklas’s amusement increased, the link through our collars calming me even more than his demeanor usually did, which was saying a lot.
Fucking Niklas Lorvar was ice. Or at least I’d always assumed. Since placing these mating collars around our necks with Lucy, I’d learned a lot about him. Primary fact was that the calm, icy demeanor was a complete facade.
“Let’s go, Mak.” Gwen took a step back, and the Forsian cyborg moved with her.
Helion moved forward and reached out to grab Gwen’s arm, to stop her.
Mak’s huge hand surrounded Helion’s fist faster than I could blink. Fuck. Those Hive integrations were no joke. Not only was he massive, he was fast. “Do not.”
“My apologies.” Helion shook off the Forsian’s hold and moved back several steps. Wise move. Idiot. One did not physically paw at anyone’s mate. Not if one wanted to keep one’s hand—or head—attached to his body. “I am trying to protect my people, Gwen. I have been fighting this war for years. You are unique. You have exposed a weakness in the Hive structure we never knew existed. I am merely asking for information.”
Gwen paused, her head tilted to the side as if considering his sincerity. “Look, I am not being difficult. You can’t help me unless you get captured, integrated, then escape with your mind intact. Even if they happened to give you the same integrations I have, you would have to find a mate to anchor you mentally so you could immerse yourself in their minds to draw them to you. And…” Her pause was long, as if she considered her words carefully. “The Hive made me what I am. They wanted me to become a mate to one of them to see if the upgrades would be inherited in any children I produced.”
I had not been aware of this, of what she’d endured. To be a mate to the Hive? To have children with them as an experiment? She was not my mate and I wanted to hold her, to soothe the ache that I knew kept her motivated at her task. It explained so much about her motivation. And Makarios’s.
“You are a male. You would not be given the same… integrations they gave me,” she continued. “You would not be what I am.”
“What are you?” His eagerness was apparent. This was the question he had most wanted to ask.
“I am what they are.”
Helion’s body tightened with every vague answer she provided. “And what is that, exactly?” he asked, a snap in his voice.
She shrugged again, and I hid a grin as Helion scowled at her. “I don’t know.”
“That is not helpful,” he countered. For the first time ever, I saw him flustered, running a hand over the back of his neck.
“It’s the truth.”
“So they chose you because you were female?”
She shrugged. “Chose? Doubtful, but when I was captured, they saw… opportunity. They’ve integrated millions of females from other worlds, including humans. Maybe billions since this war began. I don’t know why they did this to me specifically.”
I knew why, but I would not speak it with Helion in the room.
She was human. Adaptable. Passionate. Able to tolerate the technology and still think independently. A soldier first. Everything Helion had just said about human females replayed in my mind, followed immediately by a fierce and desperate need to return to Lucy and make sure she was safe. We were too far away for me to sense her through the collars, and that absence made me… anxious.
While Gwen seemed well, she was different because of what the Hive had done to her. Her life course had been redirected. Decided by another. I would not have that happen to Lucy.
The obsessive worry was new, and not at all welcome.
Obviously annoyed, Niklas glanced at me over his shoulder with a clear message to knock off the emotions. It was impossible.
I looked around. I wasn’t the only male in this room. All of us—perhaps besides Helion—felt something toward the human female bickering with the IC commander. Fuck. Sympathy, admiration, pride. I had to get control of myself. I was jeopardizing the mission and Niklas’ effectiveness by being distracted. But I could not stop thinking about our mate. Her soft skin. Her hot, wet core wrapped around my cock. Her lips. Her scent. The sounds she made when we touched her and made her come over and over and over.
Another annoyed look and a flash of irritation through the collars.
Ion cannons. Forsian hybrids. Fangs. Hive Scouts. Battle screams. War. All of it filled my head, and I used it to gain control over my emotions.
Niklas turned back to face Gwen as I focused on something other than our beautiful, eager female. Her red curls. Her green eyes. The way her emotions rolled through my mind and went straight to my cock. Her anger? Happiness? Contentment?
Her mind had touched mine, and my body responded with need.
Ander spoke. “My lady, the Nexus unit has been transported here and is on this ship specifically for this meeting. We have tried to interrogate him for months with no success. We were hoping you might be able to speak to him, get him to talk. If you can, break open his mind. The doctor is hoping to gain a tactical advantage in the war.”
I blinked at Ander, processed what that meant. He’d planned to have Gwen come here, to neutral territory. Once that was done, he must have forced Helion to relocate his Hive prisoner to this ship just for her.
Niklas hadn’t known either, and based on the swirling feelings coming through the collar, he’d picked up on the plan.
Helion gave up all pretense of being in control of this meeting and asked, politely, for Gwen’s help. “It was our hope you could… connect with him as no one else has.”
Makarios growled as if Helion had asked his mate to slit her own throat.
Niklas apparently picked up on the threat from her mate as well. “Gwen, it was not our intention to place you in harm’s way. We have tried everything we know to force the Nexus unit to answer our questions, yet he is impervious to our attempts.”
And by attempts Niklas meant everything we could throw at the Hive leader. Starvation. Torture of all kinds. Kindness. Logic. Puzzles. The Nexus unit was… unique. And Gwen was already shaking her head.
“Sorry, Nik.” She had now used both of our pet names, the names only Lucy had bestowed upon us, and I knew Helion was right about one thing—these human females did communicate with one another somehow. “I’m not trying to be difficult. I’m not. There is nothing I can do except kill him, and to do that I’d have to rip off his head.”
“You will not touch it,” Makarios growled, and she twisted to place a hand on his arm.
“I know. Don’t worry, Mak. I think they want to keep it alive.”
“Idiots.”
Well, the big male didn’t mince words. I hid my chuckle as the warrior in me felt a solid kinship with the big brute. I was no diplomat like Niklas, nor a doctor like Helion who wanted to learn and pick the Nexus apart and study him. I destroyed my enemies. That kept my life simple.
“I need the Nexus unit alive,” Dr. Helion confirmed.
“I’m sorry. I can’t tell you how they made me what I am. I have no idea why they chose me instead of some other female. I c
an tell you that I can hear them, that they are naturally drawn to me.”
“They fucking track her like Elite Everian Hunters.” Mak, clearly unhappy with the fact, talked over the top of her.
“When I get close, I lure one in. They think I’m one of them. Safe. They are arrogant. They think they can control me. Use me.”
“But they can’t?” I asked.
“No. When I merge my mind with theirs, Mak is always there, waiting for me. He’s in my mind, too. He keeps me sane and brings me back. Somehow our integrations and our mating have connected us so that I can lure them in without losing my mind. I use myself as bait, and then we kill it.”
“Why do you not interrogate them first?” Helion asked.
“Trying to talk to them is a waste of time. Their minds aren’t like ours, Doc. They’re—” She seemed to be searching for words. “They’re empty, like an abyss. They consume. I can’t explain it, but he’s not going to talk to me. I can leave, or I can kill him.”
“You sound so sure,” I said. “Have you ever tried to question one of them?”
Gwen looked to me, then to Niklas, whose gaze was serious but held respect as well. The look she gave us was not at all similar to the one she gave Helion. “No. Shit.” She glanced over her shoulder at Makarios, who inclined his chin to his mate as if to say it was her choice. She sighed. “Fine. I’ll try. But we’ll probably end up killing it.”
“Do not,” Helion ordered.
Makarios grunted as if Dr. Helion’s preferences were no longer of any concern.
I couldn’t help but offer her a small smile, completely out of character for an ambassador’s personal guard.
Niklas made a sound of affirmation, a pseudo-grunt. “I’m sure Dr. Helion is pleased by your offer of assistance.”
Everyone looked to Helion, whose lips were in a thin line as he nodded once. Perhaps he was afraid to open his mouth and ruin it all by pissing off Gwen. It was a possibility.
“On one condition.”
Gwen’s statement had Niklas taking a step in her direction. “What is this condition?”
“You, you and you.” She pointed at me, Niklas and Ander. “The guards, too. I believe you were all at Jessica’s party the other night.”
I bowed my head slightly in confirmation.
“You’ll do the Electric Slide for me. Here. Now. Or no deal.” She lifted her arm and tapped a button on the comm unit there. The strange music we’d all heard at the party wafted into the small space as she grinned, completely unrepentant.
“What are you demanding, female?” Helion had his hands folded in front of himself, probably to make sure he didn’t forget himself and reach for Gwen again. We all knew Makarios would not tolerate a second attempt to touch his mate.
Her smile was pure mischief. “You too, Doc. You’re a smart guy. I’m sure they can teach you the steps.”
“Steps? I do not even know what this… Electric Slide is. Is it some kind of ionization process? What steps?” For once Helion had no idea about something, and the fact that it was a ridiculous Earth dance that had him stumped actually made me happy.
She looked up at me, then Ander. “Well, Lord Ander, general and all around badass. Are we doing this or what?”
“We are not.”
I almost sighed with relief when Ander refused Gwen’s request with a raised hand and a very blatant no. I expected her to argue, but she surprised me by bursting with laughter. Next to her, Makarios seemed as confused as Dr. Helion. She set her hand on her hip. “Fine. Just kidding. But man, that would have totally gone viral.”
“Viral? Are you harboring an infectious agent?” Helion pulled a ReGen wand from somewhere in his uniform and took a step toward Gwen. Makarios moved faster, blocking his path.
Gwen wrapped her arm around her mate’s and tugged gently. “It’s okay, Mak. I was messing with them.”
Makarios stopped advancing, but he did not move aside to allow Helion access. Gwen, however, stepped around him. “Okay, Doc. Where is this blue bastard? Let’s go get into his head.”
“Thank you.” Helion put his ReGen wand away and took two steps toward the door. “He is being contained in an electromagnetic cell on the level below us.”
“Blocking his transmissions?”
“Yes,” Helion confirmed.
“Smart.” She reached for Makarios’s hand, and he gently enclosed her much smaller fist within his. It almost seemed as if the female was seeking comfort.
“Does the idea of speaking to this Nexus unit distress you?” Niklas asked for both of us. He’d seen the same action as me.
“Oh yeah,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at us. “You ever been in one of their heads?”
“No.”
“Trust me, they will suck you in like a black hole and you won’t even want to put up a fight.”
Makarios growled, his fangs extended to their full length. He was one scary monster. “He will not touch you, mate.”
Gwen smiled up at him like he was her entire life. “I know. I trust you.”
The Forsian hybrid pulled her to his side and looked at Helion. “Let’s go, Doctor. I do not wish to linger. We are exposed on this ship.”
“Yeah,” Gwen added. “Any Hive within range will be curious and wish to investigate my broadcast signature.”
As if on cue, the ship shuddered beneath our feet, the small cargo ship’s shields perhaps taking a hit from an ion cannon.
I stiffened. So did Ander’s three guards. Gods, all of us did. Immediately Ander hit his comm button. “Captain? This is Ander. Report.”
The ship’s pilot, a respected captain from Viken that we used most often on our IC missions, answered at once. “We are under attack. Two Hive Scout ships.”
The ship shuddered again, and I slapped my hand on the wall for balance.
“Make that three,” he continued. “I have more coming in on scanners. Arrival imminent. Recommend evacuation protocol. Now.”
A loud boom sounded, and the ship rocked onto its side, throwing Makarios into the nearest wall, taking Gwen with him since he’d wrapped his arms around her. I stumbled, caught myself against a support beam and reached for Niklas. He was right there next to me, and I pulled him to the beam as Ander braced himself against the opposite wall, a smear of blood on his cheek where he had hit it. He wiped at it with a sneer.
Dr. Helion hadn’t moved, his feet anchored to the floor by something…
“I want a pair of those boots, Helion.” Niklas’s voice was more order than request. He was so fucking calm, even under attack.
Helion looked annoyed. “Fuck.” He glared at Gwen. “It’s you. They’ve followed you. How long does it take them to track you?”
She shrugged. “On Earth there’s a saying. I told you so. It depends how close they are.”
“You could have warned me about this,” Helion snapped.
“When I said, ‘Any Hive within range will be curious and wish to investigate my broadcast signature,’ that was a warning, you dumbass.”
Makarios growled at him. “You forget, this meeting was at your request, Prillon. They’re here for Gwen, which isn’t happening. We are leaving.” With those words, he reached around Gwen and pressed a transport beacon on her shoulder. His was activated less than one second later, and the two of them disappeared.
“Gods be damned!” Helion pressed his comm. “Captain. Initiate emergency prisoner transport protocol. Get the prisoner back to Core Command now. Evacuate immediately.”
“Yes, sir.”
Another blast sounded and Helion looked up as the door opened. There stood an Atlan Warlord in beast mode. Fucker was massive. And angry. He reached for Helion. “Come. Now.”
“Who is that?” I asked, assuming Niklas would have the answer. He generally knew more about the spies and their games than I cared to.
“Warlord Bahre. He’s IC. Part of Helion’s personal strike team.”
Helion was still standing in place, his boots somehow loc
king him into position on the tilting ship. “I’m fine,” he told the Atlan. “Get down there and make sure that Nexus unit makes it back to command.”
The beast was not happy with the snap in Helion’s voice, but he grumbled and did as he was told, disappearing into the corridor. The door slid closed behind him.
Helion looked at the two of us and Ander. “Get off this ship. We will have to reschedule.”
Reschedule? Like we didn’t realize this meeting was over.
With that, he activated his own transport beacon and vanished.
I looked at Niklas. “Get out of here.”
“Ander first.” Niklas looked at Lord Ander, Queen Jessica’s mate, Prime Nial’s best friend and second, and a general in the Coalition Fleet. I agreed. We could not leave him behind. His guards flanked him, but they didn’t give the orders. They would stay and fight, offer the general protection.
“Get the fuck out of here, Ander,” Niklas ordered.
Ander scowled but gave us a nod and tapped his transport beacon, his body partially translucent as a massive explosion rocked the ship. All at once the inner walls crumpled, the pressure in my ears was instant and excruciating as the air was sucked out of the cargo hold, taking Niklas and I with it.
10
Lucy, Personal Quarters, The Colony
“Honey, wake up.”
I sniffed and rubbed my cheek into the soft pillow. It smelled like Sam, and I smiled, remembering all we’d done the night before. He might be Nik’s second, but he was impressive himself. Everything about him, right down to his cock. I ached in ways and places I’d never expected. Pulling the blankets around my shoulders, I rolled over, reached for Nik, who also had an impressive cock and knew how to use it, but found nothing but an empty bed.
“Lucy.”
The deep voice didn’t belong to either Sam or Nik. My eyes flew open. I was stunned there was another guy in my room, a guy who did not belong here, who was definitely not mine.
Kneeling by my bed was Jessica, her face close, our noses nearly touching. With her was Ander, who stood tall beside her, arms crossed. He was in the same black battle armor Sam usually wore. His face was smeared with dirt and… was that dried blood?
Surprise Mates: Interstellar Brides® Program: Book 21 Page 10