Hunted

by Grace Goodwin

  Worse, I could hear them now, inside my head, like the constant buzzing of insects on the trees back on Everis. Buzz. Rattle. Hum. The noise was constant. The headache made me grind my teeth in frustration. But I didn’t stop fighting the noise, no matter how badly it hurt. If I gave in, they’d own me, and I’d rather be dead.

  The trio of Hive who ran the transport pad moved around like silent drones in perfect unison. Seeing Coalition warriors who’d been fully integrated and made into mindless machines was painful, but not as horrible as the idea of ending up exactly like them.

  Empty.

  Numb.

  A weapon for the Nexus to wield against my fellow warriors.

  This base was built to be a Coalition stronghold. Latiri 4 and Latiri 7, both in Sector 437 and under Commander Karter’s protection, had been the front line of this war for a long time. Years. This sector of space was imperative for supply transport, and as a gateway for access to multiple inhabited planets.

  The Coalition Fleet could not afford to lose control of this sector of space. So this underground base had been built in secret when this pile of rock was ours.

  And then—we’d let them in. Let them take it. Let the Hive think they’d conquered ground and overrun our territory.

  In truth, the whole thing had been a trap so we could gather intelligence from behind enemy lines. This base had been used to spy on Hive operations for almost a year now. The knowledge we’d acquired had begun to turn the odds in our favor.

  Until about a week ago, when we’d been ambushed and overrun by Hive Soldiers and Drones. The Integration Units had moved in right behind them and the torture, deaths and integrations of my friends and fellow warriors had begun.

  The Nexus had arrived on day two. His presence marked the end of the Elite Hunters under my command. We’d been set aside. Special. The injections we’d received made the Hive’s work on us invisible to the outside world.

  But I could feel what they were doing to me. Inside. The microscopic technology moved through my cells like a virus, breaking things open. Repairing them. Changing me into something else.

  I’d watched them turn this hidden sanctuary into a production facility for Hive Soldiers, wondering why no one came for us.

  How was it possible that Battleship Karter didn’t know what had happened here? We were required to report in to the Coalition with intel updates every few days. And I’d been in this cell for at least eight.

  I blinked slowly as the transport pad’s vibrations ceased. The trio of Viken drones froze as I watched, lifting their weapons in unison to face something I could not see.

  Pushing up onto my hands and knees, I used the wall to pull myself upright, ignoring the pain slicing through the muscles in my legs. I knew from prior experience that once I was upright, the pain would fade.

  “We did not authorize your transport, female. Where are your guards?” The leader of the trio spoke slowly and clearly, as if it were taking him a few minutes to process her presence. And had he just said female? What the fuck was a female doing here? There were female fighters, in great number, but they were sent elsewhere when captured. Or so I assumed, since I had not seen one come through the transport room for processing. Or out the same way, their minds gone, their bodies fully integrated and ready to fight those who’d been their friends and allies just days before.

  Moving as close to the energy barrier as I could get, I froze. Listened. The force field would hold against an Atlan in full beast mode. I knew; I’d watched several pound themselves bloody trying to break free. I couldn’t get past it, but I could be ready. Something felt off. Something felt… different, and it wasn’t the buzzing in my skull. Anything that upset the Hive was good by me.

  I waited for the unknown female to respond, as did the three Hive drones standing side by side in the transport room.

  Instead of a response, ion blaster fire took all three out in rapid fire succession. Had she killed them? Was she a scout sent from Battleship Karter? The first strike of a ReCon team? Hope filled my head, making me dizzy.

  Seconds later, a female in strange armor ran around to the back of the transport controls, her hands moving so quickly I had to focus to follow the movements. I blinked at the sight of her. She was gorgeous. Long, dark hair pulled back into a simple style I’d not seen before. Her armor covered every inch of her like a second skin, but it was the insignia on the armor that shocked me.

  A vice admiral? Alone?

  Was this supposed to be some kind of joke?

  Who was this female? And why was she here?

  “Hey! Over here!” I yelled at her and sighed in relief when her head lifted. She turned to face me and I stopped breathing, every cell in my body reacting to the female before me. Her dark brown gaze bored into mine like a gut punch and everything I’d suffered the last few days faded to nothing of import. The integrations, the torture, none of it mattered. What mattered was her. I needed to survive, not so I could fight another day, but so I could claim her. Bury my cock deep, master her body, make her scream my name. I’d never been one to believe in love at first sight, or the matching protocols. Not even the mark on my palm. I’d seen fellow Everians find their marked mate, saw the intense connection they shared, but never imagined it for myself.

  My mark didn’t burn, didn’t awaken. She wasn’t my marked mate. But that wasn’t surprising. Less than one in a hundred, fewer, ever met a true marked mate. Most Everians chose their mates like those on many other worlds, attraction, respect, partnership.

  Desire. The intangible connection between lovers. This female may not be my marked mate… but she would be mine.

  I’d taken the bride test a long time ago. Every day I waited without an Interstellar Bride proved to me that I was right. The perfect female didn’t exist. At least not for me.

  Not until her. Fuck. Her.

  I expected her to race to my cell and set me free. Instead, she tilted her head, probably hearing what I did—more Hive fighters running down the halls to reach her position. Was she Everian? Human? Viken? Definitely not Atlan. I couldn’t tell from here, not without getting closer. Touching her. Smelling her skin. And the fucking energy barrier prevented it.

  She turned back to the transport controls.

  “Wait. They’re coming!” I warned. I closed my eyes, counted footsteps. “Three more. Heavy.” The footfalls were louder, the sound of movement lingered as if larger, slower bodies moved toward us. These would be either Prillon or Atlans who’d been integrated into Hive fighting machines. I knew the enemy liked to keep their most dangerous warriors around the perimeter, but the Atlan prisoners were also on this level, and it took one beast to battle another. The lighter, faster soldiers would be on the upper level, or guarding the flight decks. They weren’t expecting an attack this deep inside the base. I hadn’t either.

  And was this an attack? One female hardly warranted much of a reaction. But then, she had just taken down three warriors before they could react.

  The Hive had made a mistake in thinking they were safe here. Just as we had. And I’d make it far worse for them, if I ever got out of this cell.

  The female ignored me, so I yelled again. “Over here! Shut down the energy field to my cell! I can help.”

  That got her attention. She leaned down and ripped an ion blaster from the hands of one of the dead Hive trio. An integrated Viken. Running over, she paused long enough to blast the control panel next to my cell. The energy field dropped instantly and I charged forward, taking the blaster from her hand.

  “What is going on here? I thought this was a Coalition controlled base.”

  “It was, until just over a week ago. The Hive transported in and ran us over. We had no warning. Thought we were safe down here.”

  “Are there any more of you? Other prisoners?” she asked. But she wasn’t looking at me. She was watching the hallway where I knew in about five seconds, three more Hive would appear. Bigger this time. Stronger.

  “Many have been transp
orted in. I’ve seen every one of them. How many are left alive, I have no fucking idea.”

  I listened again. If I had to guess, I’d say one Atlan and two Prillon warriors. Shit. They wouldn’t go down from a single hit from a blaster. No, they would be much harder to kill.

  Something in my tone caught her attention because that dark gaze returned to me, either sadness or pity in her eyes. I couldn’t decide which and wanted neither.

  “Take cover. I’ll take them out.” I didn’t need a pity party. Now that I was free, with a weapon in my hand, the buzzing helpless feeling in my head could go fuck itself.

  “Three of them are going to be on us in a few seconds. And one of them is… was an Atlan.”

  “I know.”

  She knew? How? She could hear them, too?

  She wasn’t looking at me, not anymore. She’d done as I suggested and had taken cover behind the corner, only her shoulder and her ion blaster a target for the Hive.

  Her gaze narrowed and her aim was steady.

  Gods help me, she was magnificent. How the hell had she heard the distinct difference in the heavy footfalls of the integrated Atlan? I’d known, but I had Hunter’s senses. She was not an Elite Hunter. I didn’t know what she was, other than beautiful—I glanced at the three dead Viken Hive on the floor behind her—and lethal. Efficient. Ruthless.

  “Who are you?” I couldn’t help but ask, even as we awaited the enemy. She was a mystery. A complete and total mystery I very much wanted to solve. “And how did you get here?”

  Transport, obviously. But how had she gotten the coordinates? How had she known about this secret Hive integration center?

  Of course, the vexing female ignored the questions.

  She glanced up at me, her dark eyes sharp. “Are you going to stand there like a target, or are you going to help me get us out of here?”

  I recognized the language as one common to Earth. Was she human? And if so, how had she heard the integrated soldiers coming? Or believed one to be an Atlan? Humans were known for their tenacity and courage, not for their superior senses.

  “Take cover, warrior. Now.”

  That tone of voice—of a commander used to being obeyed—was one I’d not heard from a female often, and definitely not from any female as petite and beautiful as she. I didn’t care what planet she was from. Here, in the middle of a fucking integration center, I got hard. My cock didn’t seem to care that we were about to be set upon by the enemy. It wanted her. And her dominance. Oh, it did something for me. Made my inner Hunter want to show her who was really in charge. Maybe not in this moment, but once I got that uniform off that delectable body, she’d know it was me.

  I grinned. Oh yes. I was the Hunter and she was going to quickly discover she was the hunted.

  A roar echoed down the corridor, the integrated Atlan in beast mode, gave us warning. With the Atlans, I never knew if they were completely gone to the Hive implants, or still fighting. Sometimes, they would delay a killing blow to give a ReCon team or warrior on the battlefield time to take them down.

  A quick death was a mercy.

  Positioning myself to cover the female’s position, I checked the power level on the weapon. It was fully charged, and I set the ion pistol to maximum damage. “I’ll hold them off. Do you know how to work transport controls?”

  She glanced back at me, over her shoulder, the look full of irritation, her lips tight and thin. “Keep them off us and I’ll get us out of here. We’ll have to come back for any other prisoners.”

  “Done.”

  She stood, turning so her back was to the wall as I continued to cover the corridor. “What’s your name?” she asked.

  “Quinn.”

  She blinked slowly, as if my name startled her and her gaze roamed my face with intense interest. With something more than simple fighting instinct. “You’re Everian? An Elite Hunter?”

  I nodded. “I am.” She seemed to know a lot about my kind. Unusual. Most of the aliens I’d met from Earth barely knew my planet existed.

  “Good. Then you should be able to keep them off me.”

  It was my turn to be irritated. “Of course.”

  She grinned, the mischief in her eyes made me want to kiss her. Fuck. Who was I kidding, I wanted to slam her against the wall and bury my cock deep. But that would have to wait until we got off this rock. I’d silence that sass. Turn it into gasps. Breathy moans of pleasure.

  Without another word, she dashed to the control panel, and I turned back to the hallway as the first attacker appeared. The integrated Atlan beast was front and center. The ceilings on this base were ten feet tall, and still he ducked as if afraid he’d strike the top of his head.

  He wouldn’t, unless he leaped for a kill.

  I fired, non-stop, until the beast hit his knees. Like water flowing around a rock, the other two moved in front of him and kept coming. Prillon warriors, or at least they used to be. They were not my main concern. Two shots for each and they were down, writhing on the ground as the Atlan behind them fought to stand.

  “Hurry,” I called. “The beast is coming again.”

  “I’m working on it.” The female was bent over the control panel, her fingers flying furiously. The concentration on her face was another fascinating addition to her repertoire, but I didn’t have time to stare, as I would have preferred. I filed the image away for later when I would be able to take my time, perhaps trace her lips with my fingertips as I watched her expression change under my touch.

  “We. Kill.” The integrated Atlan was in full beast mode, and apparently, he—they—the trio of Hive, had received orders to kill me. Most likely, they would kill her as well.

  “Not today.” I fired, taking my time, hitting the vulnerable spots in the beast’s armor. His neck. His knees. His face, when I could take time for an extra shot.

  I heard his helmet crack and fought down a shout of victory. As I watched, he took his helmet off and threw it aside, forgotten.

  Gods, he was fucking huge.

  I didn’t want to kill him. I didn’t. One head shot would take him down now, but I knew him. Had worked with him for the last few months. Before being captured. Since the Hive invasion of this base, I hadn’t seen him once. Until now. Until he’d been integrated enough to be under their control. To fight, to try to kill me.

  He was a good male. Honorable. A true warrior.

  “Damn you, Zan.”

  Adjusting the settings on my blaster, I hoped the lower setting would knock him unconscious, not kill him. The Prillon warriors I’d killed were not from this base. They were not newly integrated, as this Atlan was. They were old converts, their minds long gone, only shells now, bodies with so many integrations they were all Hive. All enemy. I’d heard that the Hive would pair conquered, reliable soldiers like these two Prillons with the Atlans in a bid to help control their beasts.

  With the integrated Prillon warriors down, there was no hope of that. Zan was charging me now, completely out of his mind.

  Fuck.

  I raised my rifle, took aim. Fired a stun shot.

  His head snapped back and he toppled like a felled tree. Racing forward, I checked him for a pulse.

  Still breathing. Good. The stun setting had worked, even on a beast.

  Pausing to listen, I heard the female cursing under her breath as more footsteps headed our way. Clearly, she could hear them as well. They were probably two corridors back, but we only had a few minutes. Three at the most. And there were more than three this time. A lot more.

  And the Atlan was huge but he needed saving. I couldn’t leave him here if there was a chance of him surviving, even if it was on The Colony.

  I grabbed the only thing I could manage to wrap one arm around and pulled him by the leg into the transport room. The three transport techs she’d killed were on the floor, dead. Ignored. The female looked up from the control panel, glanced at the Atlan, and frowned.

  “He’s a friend.” Zan was an honorable warrior, I would not leave
him behind. And none of us would be leaving if that blue bastard made his way down here. “Get us out of here before the Nexus unit arrives. Zan won’t stand a chance against him if he wakes up.”

  Her movement stalled. “There is a Nexus unit on this base?”

  “Yes.” I wasn’t sure how or why she knew what a Nexus was, as the information was for top level operatives and commanders only, but I was too busy wrangling the beast’s oversized body into position to ask.

  “We’ve got bigger problems. Incoming transport and I can’t override the command. It’s too late.”

  I dropped Zan’s leg, leaving him stunned and sprawled on the floor. There wasn’t much space to maneuver with him taking up most of the space along with the dead transport techs. I turned to face the transport pad. As she’d warned, the buzzing charge filled the air and vibrations moved through my feet. “Friendly?”

  “No. I don’t think so.” She grabbed the weapons from the dead techs, tossed me one. I checked the settings, armed it. Never hurt to have two weapons instead of one. “They’re bringing more Coalition fighters… prisoners, to integrate.”

  Readying her own ion pistol and taking a knee, she now had a weapon armed and ready in each hand, like me. She used the control panel as cover. Waited.

  “How many?” I asked.

  “Seven.”

  Fuck. That was a lot, if they were all Hive. “The Hive work in threes. Always. They’re fucking consistent. There wouldn’t be two groups for one prisoner. It’ll be three guards with four prisoners. Happens several times a day. I know.” Unfortunately, I knew all too well.

  She nodded but didn’t look my way. I returned my attention to the pad as seven figures appeared.

  It was easy to distinguish Hive from Coalition. Easy to aim. Fire. Kill. The three Hive guards, just as I’d expected, hadn’t imagined being ambushed within their own facility. Prisoners didn’t escape. Didn’t fight back.

  But I did. So did… she. She took down two of them nearly as quickly as I did one. She was magnificent. Fuck, I didn’t even know her name.

  The four Coalition fighters dropped to their knees and lowered their heads in protection. They could do nothing else they’d been trained to do. They had no weapons. They were restrained.