by Anna Hackett
Caze. Regret hit her. She wished…
She didn’t finish the thought. Instead, she watched in horror as the warrior dived off the walkway above.
Her heart lodged in her throat. The idiot. They’d both die, smashed into a million pieces below.
Tears pricked her eyes. Except for Eve, no one had ever risked themselves for Lara. She wanted him to live, dammit, even if a part of her loved that he was coming for her.
His big body slammed into hers, his arms wrapping around her. She clamped her legs around his waist.
“You’re a fool!” she shouted.
He lifted his arm and she saw a flash of his helian. Silver shot out from his wrist.
What was he doing? Suddenly, they were jerked to a vicious halt, both of them hanging upright in the air over the central core.
Lara looked up. His helian had formed a silver rope, and it was tied around a flying bug. Its wings flapped madly and it bobbed unsteadily.
It flew across the core, and Lara and Caze spun and jerked beneath it.
“You’re crazy,” she yelled.
“I wasn’t going to let you die, shara. Ever.”
Lara melted inside but she scowled at him. Lara Traynor never melted.
She heard shouts from the other side of the core. The Kantos soldiers hadn’t forgotten them. But she ignored them as the bug moved in a jerky zigzag, approaching the other side of the core.
Just a bit closer.
All of a sudden, Caze retracted his helian rope.
Oh God. They fell, and he launched them toward the edge. She held on tight, and then they hit the walkway, skidding across the floor.
They came to a stop, Caze cradling her tight.
Holy hell. They’d made it!
She spun and kissed him.
He pulled back, running his gloved hand along her jaw. He smiled at her. “Save that for later.”
“It’s a deal, hot stuff. You’ve earned yourself whatever you want.” She leaned in, voice lowering. “Hot and sweet, or wild and dirty. However you want it.”
There was a bright flare in his eyes. “That’s a very good incentive to get out of here.”
Heart still hammering in his chest, Caze moved along the walkway with Lara’s hand firmly in his.
In his head, he kept seeing her fall. He clamped down on the memory. They had to focus on getting out. Alive.
It wouldn’t take the soldiers on the other side of the core long to reach them.
Nearby, a bug skittered out of a side tunnel.
Lara shuddered. “I hate the spider ones.”
That didn’t stop her from leaping on the creature, her sword slashing.
The bug screeched and green blood sprayed across the floor. Caze didn’t even have time to lift his sword.
Then he heard the dreaded clicking in the air and the hammering of Kantos feet.
Cren. He looked around for a way out. “Lara, in there.”
She leaped off the dead bug carcass. They both raced for the doorway he’d spotted. Inside, they turned and pressed against the wall.
The room was filled with eggs. These ones were conical-shaped and brown, with rough shells.
Then Caze heard soldiers outside. Cren, he and Lara were about to be discovered.
Several soldiers reached the doorway of the room, but didn’t enter.
Caze frowned, listening to their clicking. They sounded agitated. Then, strangely, they retreated.
“We finally caught a break,” Lara murmured.
Lifting his wrist, he studied his screen. He only had partial intel on the hive’s layout, but he saw what he needed. On the far side of the room there was a vertical tunnel they could use to get back to their ship.
“Over there.” He jerked his head. “There’s some sort of maintenance access. We can use it to get to the hangar level.”
Lara looked across the space and nodded. They started weaving their way through the eggs.
These eggs were larger than the ones they’d seen earlier. They heard more noises from the walkway outside and they froze, lifting their weapons.
But no one rushed in to confront them.
“Why aren’t they attacking us?” she murmured.
“I don’t know, but let’s not waste this bit of luck.”
Nodding, she turned, her hip accidentally hitting an egg.
She cursed, touching the sticky residue that clung to her. Her nose wrinkled and she stepped back, trying to shake off the orange substance. It stretched out between her and the egg.
“Lara, move it,” he said.
Suddenly, the top of the egg unfurled.
They both froze, watching it. It looked like a flower blooming.
“Uh-oh.” Lara stepped back.
A second egg opened, then another. Caze’s gut cramped. He didn’t like this at all. He grabbed Lara’s arm. What ugly, deadly creature was about to emerge?
A flood of small, black insects spilled out of the egg like a wave. They flowed onto the floor.
“What the hell?” She jumped back.
“Get back!” he yelled.
The bugs moved fast. Swarms of the tiny creatures spilled out of the eggs.
Then, there was a wild, angry screech and Caze tensed. A bug scuttled into the room, yellow eyes on them. He could see hunger pulsing in its gaze.
It leaped, landing hard and knocking over an egg. The egg burst, and more black insects spilled out.
They joined with the other swarm and immediately engulfed the bug.
It screeched and thrashed, completely covered in black.
Caze pulled Lara back, keeping her close. They watched, horrified and rapt, as the bug was swamped by the swarm of writhing black.
Then the insects flowed off the bug, leaving only hard shell behind.
All the bug’s fleshy parts were gone.
“Fuck,” Lara said.
He pushed her. “Run.”
They turned, sprinting for the door. They’d take their chances with the soldiers.
As they leaped over the eggs, more of them opened. The growing swarm rushed at them like a giant wave.
They weren’t going to make it. The door was still too far away.
More eggs opened, between them and the door. More terrible blackness flowed out.
Cren.
He looked around. He had to get Lara out of there.
But there was no clear path. Then he spotted several large light fixtures dangling from the ceiling.
“Lara.” He gripped her waist and jerked his head upward. She nodded, and he tossed her into the air.
She grabbed one light, holding on tight as it wobbled.
Caze moved, feeling the wave of black insects nipping at his boots.
“Caze, hurry!”
He jumped onto an unopened egg and leaped up. He grabbed the light fixture next to Lara’s, sending it swinging wildly.
Cren. He hoped the thing would hold.
The swinging slowed, and his gaze met Lara’s. She shot him a forced smile. They were okay. For now.
He looked down and his gut hardened.
The entire floor was covered in a heaving mass of flesh-eating insects.
Chapter Fifteen
Well, shit.
Bugs covered the floor, heaving and surging.
Lara gripped the light fixture tightly, her knuckles turning white. She and Caze hung in the middle of the room, and she was excruciatingly aware that they needed to get moving, or every bug and soldier in the hive would be on them in minutes.
“Ah, Caze—”
“Shh.”
So bossy. She looked over at him. His brow was scrunched in concentration. He lowered one arm, hanging from the other one. His symbiont shifted, morphing into some sort of weapon.
She frowned. What was he—?
Flames spewed out from his arm.
Holy hell. She grinned. Her man had made a fucking flamethrower.
He sprayed the fire down on the floor beneath them, and she watched insects
below shrivel. He cleared a patch under them.
“Go,” he roared.
Lara dropped, landing in a crouch. The burnt husks of the dead bugs crunched under her boots.
She spun around and looked for the door to the tunnel. Caze dropped down beside her, still spraying flames. She felt live bugs brush against her boots and she leaped back.
Caze shifted closer, forcing the wave of insects back with the flamethrower. He carved a path through them.
“Keep moving.”
She walked through the narrow gap. There was only a thin strip of insects between them and the tunnel door. She took a running leap and jumped over them.
Behind her, Caze turned in a circle, taking out more bugs and several unopened eggs. The sharp stench of burning insectoid flesh filled the air.
Then she saw an egg open right behind him.
“Caze, watch out!”
Her shout made him turn…just as a wave of bugs leaped on him from the egg.
Her stomach dropped away. No. Come on, Caze.
He sprayed more flames, smacking the bugs that were climbing up his arm. They were eating through his armor in patches.
“Get into the tunnel,” he yelled.
“Quit playing around and get over here.”
He yanked out the gem of Eschar and tossed it at her. She caught the red jewel.
“Go.” His voice was unbending. “Get to the ship.”
He went down on one knee under the onslaught.
Screw this. Lara shoved the gem into the pouch on her belt with the others and leaped back over the bugs, with no plan except to help Caze.
Landing beside him, she kicked at the mass of bugs and slapped at the ones on his chest. Some of them clung to her and she felt nips on her skin.
“You are exasperating,” he growled.
“You don’t get to be a martyr today, hot stuff.”
She smacked at the insects again. She could see blood on Caze where they’d eaten through his armor.
She needed her own damn flamethrower.
Suddenly, the scales on Caze’s arm shifted. They flowed across the air toward her.
She sucked in a breath. The black scales moved up her skin, covering her right arm. She stared, watching as a flamethrower formed. It glinted silver in the light.
Rock on. She started spewing flames at the insects. Oh, yeah. The bugs backed off, and a second later, Caze rose.
His face was unreadable. His gaze went to her flamethrower and he shook his head, as though to clear it. “Let’s go.”
Her weapon dissolved, and the black scales flowed back into his armor. For a second, Lara felt bereft. Then Caze grabbed her hand and they ran for the door.
He pushed it open, then slammed it closed behind them. They were pressed together in the narrow space.
“Hope those damn things can’t squeeze under the door,” she muttered.
He crouched and yanked a cover off the floor. Beneath it was the tunnel.
“Let’s not stick around to find out,” he said.
Lara started climbing downward. Caze closed the hatch above them and followed her. Their boots rung dully on the metal. “That was wild, by the way.” Adrenaline was still charging through her. “How you shared your helian with me.”
There was a beat of silence. “I didn’t.”
“What?” She looked up at him.
“Eon warriors can’t share their helian. I’ve only heard of it happening once.”
Lara felt a rush of confusion. “When?”
“With Davion and Eve.”
Lara blinked. What the hell did that mean? “Wait…”
“Later, Lara. For now, let’s get out of here.”
Her mind whirred, but they kept climbing. Focus, Lara. You can find some time to freak out later. Soon, the tunnel ended in a quiet, dark room.
“We’re close to the ship,” he murmured.
She nodded, following him across the dark space. There was an arched doorway across the room, and light shining from outside it. Almost there.
Something made a noise in the darkness. A scrape of something large.
A cold shiver went down her spine. She turned her head, searching the shadows.
She couldn’t see anything. She picked up speed.
Another movement. Her chest hitched. Then she felt something slither around her waist, like a rope.
What the hell?
She was yanked backward and lifted off her feet.
Caze heard Lara’s shocked cry. He spun.
A huge, spider-like bug had her between its two front legs. It was spinning a white web around her legs.
She struggled, trying to hit the creature.
Cren, the thing was big. The same size as his ship.
Caze’s sword morphed on his arm. He felt a throb of pain from his helian. The insects had injured him, and his symbiont was working to heal the wounds.
He strode forward. Smaller spiders skittered out of the darkness. They were about waist-high, with furry, black-and-white bodies.
His lips firmed. Come on, then.
The spiders leaped at him. He swung his sword, cutting one down, then hacking into the legs of another. He ducked a third creature, and came up to see a fourth spider spraying webbing at him. The sticky substance stuck to his legs. He moved his arm, slicing through the web.
Another spider darted back at him and he jumped over it. He rammed his sword down, skewering the spider from the top.
He landed and looked up.
The giant spider was still spinning its web around Lara. She was covered in white web up to her waist. “I fucking hate spiders.” She punched the leg of the creature, but it didn’t react.
“I’m coming, shara.”
She was wrenching her shoulders from side to side, and that’s when he saw her pull something off her belt.
She tossed it, and it skidded across the floor toward him.
Grimly, Caze kept fighting the smaller spiders. He went down on one knee, slicing out with his sword in a wide arc, cutting down two more of the arachnids.
“Caze, get the gems and get out,” she yelled.
He gritted his teeth and impaled another spider. He ripped his sword back. “You really think I’d leave you?”
“We have a mission.”
The web was covering her to chest height now. She was still wriggling, fighting to get free, but she was stuck.
Caze sliced open another small spider. There were more, but they skittered back into the darkness, too afraid to attack him. He strode forward.
The large monster spider turned his gaze on Caze. It had huge, inky-black eyes rimmed with yellow. It watched him, but kept spinning its cocoon around Lara.
Caze reached her. She was hanging off the ground, putting them face to face. He morphed his sword into a knife.
He attacked the web.
The spider shrieked and slammed a leg down right beside him.
He cursed and dodged. He moved right back to Lara, cutting through the tough web at her chest. The spider shrieked again and skittered backward, taking Lara with it. She cried out.
The spider kept wrapping web around her. It was up to her neck.
Caze moved forward, his gaze locking with Lara’s. He was close enough to see the flash of fear in the blue depths.
“Caze…”
“Hold on, Lara.” He cut into the web again. It was sticky and tough.
Suddenly, the spider’s leg slammed down again. Caze’s dodge was too slow this time. The furry leg hit his hip, sending him flying.
He landed on his side, pain flaring in his ribs. He’d cracked something. Sucking in a breath, he pushed back to his feet.
When he looked at Lara, his chest constricted. She was thrashing around, her face almost covered by the web.
“Lara!”
He sprinted toward her, and their gazes met. There was so much emotion churning in her eyes.
Before he reached her, the spider shifted and its leg slammed down again.
He went to rise, but the spider leg crashed down again. He rolled and the leg came down a hand’s width from his face. Boom. The force of the blow dented the metal floor.
The leg lifted and as it raced downward again, Caze rolled.
Boom.
Again, it lifted and he rolled the other way.
Boom.
He rolled again. This time, he knocked into the small pack Lara had wrenched off her belt.
It held the three gems.
The spider skittered back, watching him. Lara made a noise and Caze looked at her. She jerked her eyes to her pack and then to him.
He shook his head. No. He wasn’t going to leave her.
The spider let out a harsh noise. In a frenzy of spinning, it spewed more web on Lara. Caze’s heart knocked against his ribs. The web now covered her nose.
“No.” He surged upward.
Another leg slammed down and hit his arm. He heard the bone snap, pain like a sword cutting deep. The air rushed out of him.
“Cren.” He cradled the arm to his chest and looked at Lara again.
Only her eyes were still left uncovered.
Lara.
Helplessness hit him like a weight. He couldn’t get close enough to free her and even if he could, he needed time to cut through the web.
He glanced at the spider’s inky-black eyes. Time he didn’t have.
Hand shaking, he snatched up the pack with the gems.
He needed to regroup. He needed a plan. But every cell in his body did not want to leave her. In his head, he heard his father’s voice telling him to complete his mission.
Then Lara’s eyes closed and the web covered her head.
She was entirely encased in a web cocoon.
A wave of helpless fury washed over Caze. Pain ripped his insides to shreds and he let out a harsh roar.
The spider watched him with its soulless eyes.
Then turning, Caze ran from the room.
With every step, his helian pulsed with pain and sorrow.
Every step that took him farther away from Lara made the pain spike higher than anything he’d ever felt before.
Chapter Sixteen
Lara wanted to scream. She was trapped, she couldn’t move, and as air sawed in and out of her lungs, she realized that it was getting harder and harder to breathe.