ALLEGIANCE [3013]

by Laurie Roma

  “What the—Amari!”

  It only took her a few seconds to transport into the bedrooms to do quick scans for more bodies, but she found the rooms mercifully empty. When she returned to the living room, Roman was kneeling near the body of the elite while Torren remained in the center of the room, away from the blood. She stopped Roman from moving closer to the body, then just shifted him back to her side.

  He rounded on her, his expression a mask of rage and grief. “Damn it, stop that! I know that man. He’s on Matt Malloy’s Strike Force Team. My old team.”

  “I know it, and we know her, too,” she said, gesturing toward the Helios’ body. “She is Chancellor Naomi Tala, or she once was before she was tainted with the silver goo.” Ruthlessly, she shoved all of the memories of her encounters with the silver goo into Roman’s head to better equip him with how to fight it.

  “Oh, shit.” Roman blew out a harsh breath, understanding how bad the situation truly was. “No wonder it looks like a fucking war zone.”

  “Indeed. It is not safe to be so close. You do not want to risk being infected by the silver liquid hidden beneath the blood,” Amari explained.

  “What is the silver goo?”

  The question surprised her, but she didn’t let it show. Still, she was cautious when she answered Torren. “We are not certain where it comes from or what it is. I have seen pools of the silver on several planets. It seems to be alive, or at least, it is some sort of organic substance programmed with specific instructions.”

  “To do what?”

  “To destroy from the inside out. To work its way inside a living host and turn them into crazed killers.” She glanced at the Xenon. “In all your travels, you have never encountered the silver goo?”

  “No, I would have remembered seeing this substance before. That’s some nasty stuff.”

  Hearing distant sounds of metal clanging coming from the hallway, they all turned toward the doorway. “We have to go,” she said, “but I need to find something first.”

  “I’ll take care of the door,” Torren offered, eyeing the damaged metal.

  Leaving him to it, Amari used magic to destroy the silver goo on the floor. It worried her that it had tried to remain hidden from view beneath the blood, and she shared her apprehension with Roman. “Reva was infected before we visited Xenthian, and we spoke of it with Kai and Ivy during the meal we shared in the citadel.”

  “And now we are on a ship full of this deadly silver shit. Do you think he’s lying to us about what he knows?” Roman asked, his anger growing.

  “It just seems strange that they would not tell their elder or send people to study the silver goo since their planet is so close to Vexar. It could pose a threat to them.”

  She quickly searched the debris for the diamond pyramid that had led her to the Regos’ suite. Since they hadn’t been able to figure out the location of the Delta Station, she’d tried using the flame sculpture she’d been gifted for her birthday to find the Regos’ pyramid instead. The blood magic used in the creation of the objects turned out to be a powerful beacon far stronger than whatever had been concealing the station from her.

  Still, she was too late to stop whatever was happening.

  When she found the pyramid, she sent it back to their vessel, which remained shielded close by with Torren’s ship. He had cleared the broken pieces of the metal door, and as they walked through the open doorway out into the hallway, the faint sound of metal scraping could be heard from up ahead.

  Amari froze, then tilted her head to the side. “Hellfire...”

  “What is it, sweetheart?”

  “Darius, Lazio, and Matt are in the sky dome with several elites. They are in trouble, but Malik and Reva also need help up ahead.”

  Roman knew she was waiting for his reaction, and although his protective instincts surged to life, he refused to get in the way of her helping people. “You go help upstairs. We’ll help the others down here.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Hell, no, he wasn’t sure. “Go. Let me know if you need me.”

  “I always need you.” She reached out to brush her fingertips along his jaw, then she disappeared.

  “Come on.” Roman’s teeth gritted as he pushed past the Xenon male.

  He didn’t have to worry. She would be safe. There was no one more capable than his female. If anything, the only thing holding her back was him. If he were a true partner to her, she could rely on him instead of worrying about him.

  In theory, he could defend himself from just about anything now, but he still had trouble using magic. She’d taught him the basics, and he’d watched Amari using magic in countless memories, so he’d know what she’d been thinking and feeling when she did. Still, something held him back from letting go and using magic freely, but he was a freaking Dragon Warrior, and he would adapt to all aspects of his new life with Amari...his mate, his love.

  Even if that meant fully embracing the magic.

  Starting right now, Roman thought as they came to another set of emergency doors had been ripped to shreds. Focusing on the torn metal, he wished it gone...and what was left of the sliding doors exploded.

  “Well, that’s one way to do it,” Torren said cheerfully, then he coughed as smoke swirled around them. He waved a hand, and the smoke cleared as if it had never been.

  “Say another word, and I will transport you up to the sky dome to help my mate.” Roman’s smile was wicked. “If I do, you might end up in a wall.”

  “Sounds entertaining.” Torren sobered quickly when they came upon the entrance to another suite. “We have to go in here.”

  Glancing at the untouched doors, Roman frowned. “What’s in there?”

  “Death.” Torren placed his hand on the doors and they disappeared, leaving the entrance way clear.

  Roman followed him inside and saw the suite had been ripped apart. Blood was smeared on the walls. The bodies of Adric M’Dor and his keeper, Iyana, were sprawled out on the floor, and both D’Aire had a strange symbol branded into their necks of a circle with three dots arranged in the center. They had gone down fighting, with swords in their hands and wings spread, but there was no sign of their attackers.

  Walking around one of the sofas, Roman came to a stop next to a large circle had been cut through the floor. Glancing down, he saw the metal had been burned straight through to the level located underneath the suite, and silver goo dripped down the side of the hole, collecting in a pool below.

  “How the hell did it get on board?” Roman growled. “How did the silver shit get on board?”

  “I have no idea, but the silver goo could not have sliced them up so thoroughly. At first glance, it would be easy to assume they had attacked one another, but there is no blood on their swords.”

  Roman glanced away from the hole to the traces of silver liquid on the swords. “I guess we have our answer. Someone is killing off the chancellors. Whoever is behind this didn’t want to deal with you or Amari.

  As they quickly left the fallen D’Aire behind, Torren said, “Or you. You can tell yourself you’re a Dragon Warrior now, but you also have to believe it.”

  “If I wanted your opinion—”

  They broke into a run when they heard a vicious snarl up ahead, and almost made it to the main lounge when a Helios came flying out. The cat hit the wall hard, then it slid down to the floor shaking its head.

  Malik and Reva stepped out of the lounge together, black swords raised. She held up her other hand. “Don’t touch her. She’s still tainted. Roman, can you blast the silver out of her?”

  “Fuck,” he muttered. “Here goes...” He took a deep breath and lifted his hands. Throwing his hands out, he hit the cat with magic, following exactly what Amari had done in her memories.

  The force of the power hit the cat like a physical blow, and her body jerked. She began to convulse as silver liquid leaked out of her eyes, nose, ears, and various cuts. The droplets of silver goo slithered on the floor, forming a perfectly s
haped shiny circle. Torren murmured something and flicked his wrist at the puddle, the silver liquid turned into pure black smoke, then disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

  Malik lowered his sword. “At least, you can destroy that stuff now. It’s everywhere. Where is Amari?”

  “Upstairs, helping the others.”

  Somehow, Malik had found the time to don his black armor while Reva wore the specialized bronze-colored suit Amari and Eden had given her that would magically disappear and return to her body if the Helios shifted while wearing it. Roman hadn’t even sought out the memory, but he saw it clearly in his own mind as if he’d been there.

  Reva pointed to the cat still on the floor. “Can we move her into the lounge?”

  Torren lifted the Helios simply by holding two fingers in the air. “Where would you like her?”

  “In here.” Reva turned, and hurried back into the lounge with Malik.

  As Torren passed by him with the cat, Roman muttered, “Show off.”

  The Xenon smiled slightly. “I’ve had a bit more time to figure out how not to put people in walls...unless I want to.”

  “Good to know.”

  “By the gods, am I happy to see you,” Reva said. “I love a good fight but having been tainted by that silver goo before myself, this is like a nightmare come true. I thought we were going to have to kill Zuri.”

  “We saw her mother in your suite. What the hell happened?”

  “We were sleeping when they broke in,” Malik told them. “I knew Naomi was pissed about the meeting earlier, but this was extreme. We didn’t think they’d make it through the door, though, they clawed their way in.”

  “Naomi lost more blood getting through the metal than Zuri did,” Reva added. “We tried to reason with them, then the elite showed up, and I saw the silver leaking out of his eyes. That’s when I knew there was more to this than a personal grudge.”

  Amari appeared in the room with Tavius, Darius, Lazio, and Matt, and her gaze immediately sought out Roman. “Are you well?”

  “I’m fine, sweetheart. You?”

  She nodded. “Always.”

  Lazio bent over, gulping down air. “That time wasn’t so bad. Maybe I am getting used to transporting.” He stood up straight, then hurried over to Malik and Reva, throwing his arms around both of them. “You’re alive! We were so worried. Well, we worried about you after we stopped trying to kill one another, but I’m so glad you are okay.”

  “Let go of us,” Malik demanded. “Get ahold of yourself.”

  “Right. Sorry. I’m over my moment of crazy.”

  “If only that were true,” Darius retorted from where he was standing. “We should have never left you alone, brother.”

  “Really? Because you somehow knew the silver goo apocalypse would happen while we were sleeping?” Malik asked dryly.

  “We are your guards,” Lazio said, unusually serious. “We should have been down here doing our duty instead of upstairs participating in Baxxtora fights.”

  Guilt flash across Matt’s face. “That’s my fault. Some of us were still awake a few hours ago, and we decided to go up to the sky dome—”

  “It’s not your fault,” Roman said in a hard voice that dared anyone to argue. “We lost Adric and Iyana M’Dor. Someone made a hole through the floor of their suite, got to them from below.”

  Tavius began to pace, and the Krytos’ eyes were pure red as he growled, “I want to bathe in the blood of whoever is responsible.”

  “That’s not advisable,” Torren said calmly. “Considering the silver is hiding in the blood.”

  “Holy nova, Roman. We were just sparring when the emergency lockdown happened. I was trying to bypass the doors, then the silver goo started coming out of the sprinkler system. I don’t know what happened after that,” Matt admitted.

  “They were trying to kill one another,” Amari told them. “The humans were lucky. Darius, Lazio, and Tavius were so involved with fighting each other that most of the humans survived. They were only fighting for a few minutes, so the damage was not too severe.”

  “If you hadn’t gotten there when you did, we’d all be dead. And we were lucky we didn’t have weapons with us to speed things along,” Matt added.

  “The sprinklers turn on floor by floor,” Roman remembered. “We have to shut off that system.”

  “Hellfire, I do not want that shit raining down on us,” Malik growled. “How did you get the alarms to stop blaring?”

  “They’re still active,” Torren explained. “I’m blocking the sound from reaching us.”

  “Thanks for that.”

  Amari grabbed her mate’s hand. “This would be easier if I could see the command deck. Got it.”

  Roman barely had time to remember when he’d last been in the command deck of the Delta Station before they were there. Megara, Seth, and Russell spun around, gasping in surprise at the large group of people that had suddenly appeared.

  “What—?”

  “The station is under attack,” Roman said, cutting Megara off. “We don’t know why or who is behind it yet, but you need to shut off the sprinkler system now.”

  “We detected a biological contaminant,” Russell began.

  “Oh, yeah. You could definitely call it that,” Tavius growled as he lifted Zuri Tala’s cat form to place her in a more comfortable location to the side of the room instead of sprawled in the middle of the floor.

  “Shut it down, now,” Roman commanded.

  “On it.” Megara’s fingers flew over the keys, and her eyes narrowed. “Someone’s trying to block me from the system.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know...give me a minute.”

  “We might not have a minute if you don’t shut those sprinklers down,” Reva said.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Seth demanded.

  Roman took a moment to give them a brief rundown, and he saw the shock on the trio’s faces. “How many crew are on board right now?”

  “I can give you a count. We usually take the day shift, but we were covering for some of the guys who wanted to go up to the sky dome to...” Russell trailed off as he looked over at Matt and Tavius. He gulped, then hurried to another control panel.

  Megara swore under her breath, then let out a relieved huff. “Sprinklers and alarms are shut down. I secured the system, but there is someone trying to break in.”

  “Can you trace where?”

  “Oh, I will find them. Damn fuckers burning holes through my ship...”

  “Just in case.” Amari murmured as she replaced all of their clothing with the black leather-like armor she preferred, complete with boots, gloves, and transparent head shields. They were completely covered so not even a stray hair was loose, except for the Xenon, who chose to remain in his own clothes. “I sent the rest of the humans that were in the sky dome to our ship. If all of you insist on staying, you must wear protection the silver goo cannot penetrate.”

  “We appreciate it. I’m totally not going to complain about anything that can protect us from that stuff,” Reva said, her voice clear despite the barrier of the head shield. “But how can we fight a liquid?”

  “By figuring out what the liquid is,” Roman said, understanding dawning. “That’s brilliant.”

  “I will not bring Rhys here, and that will upset him, since I am bringing Hydra.” She transported the Voda into the room, and Hydra immediately wrapped her gel-like form around Amari’s leg. The shy creature was intimidated by all of the people. “Hydra, could you taste something for me and tell me what it is?”

  Hydra’s form jiggled. “Of course.”

  “Hi, Hydra!” Lazio said in a cheerful voice. “Sorry you had to leave your home when there’s so many people here.”

  “There are people on our ship, too, but they are locked on a different level.”

  Lazio glanced up at Amari, who just shrugged. “Okay, then. Why don’t you come over here with me, and I will introduce you to everyone?”

  Surpr
isingly, Hydra went willingly.

  “You want her to taste the silver goo,” Roman said through their bond after she left.

  “I have thought about asking her to do this before, but I have always hesitated. I sense she will be fine, and yet...I also sense that they are out there.”

  “Who are ‘they?’”

  “I do not know for sure. Whoever controls the silver? I can finally sense them.” Not with magic, but she could sense the energy. Her gift told her their enemy was there, waiting, watching, but they were also on board, and time was running out.

  “Let me take Hydra. Trust me to keep her safe while we go check out the silver, and I’ll relay the information to you,” Roman ordered. “Let me do this while you figure out who the fuck is doing this to us.”

  She smiled, then removed their shields so she could stroke his cheek with her fingertips. “You are a warrior, mate.”

  “Not really. I’m just the man who loves you above all else.” Roman grinned at her startled expression. “I love you, mate. Do you want to know what I sense?” He brushed a hand down her braided hair, knowing she normally didn’t like having her hair pulled back. “We are destined to survive this. We are destined to survive so much more...together.”

  “Aye, we are. I love you, too, Roman. You will keep yourself safe, or else I will be very angry with you.”

  “I wouldn’t want that.” He leaned down and kissed her only to be interrupted when someone cleared their throat right next to them.

  “Sorry,” Malik said dryly, belying his apology. “Could you maybe wait to do that business until after all of us don’t die here tonight? I just remembered the Spartans are still on board, and so is Sarros Ve.”

  “Shit,” Roman growled since he had forgotten as well. “I’ve got them.”

  Amari nodded, secretly not wanting him to go. The only way she could watch him walk away after she replaced their head shields was she knew this was something he had to do without her. She wasn’t sure why, but they both had important tasks to complete.

  Roman transported Hydra, Lazio, and Darius with him since the Voda was comfortable with them.

  Several feet away, Amari ignored the shouts and protests of the others in the room who had been left behind and walked over to stare out of the wide window at the inky black of space. She didn’t bother to look over at the Xenon when he joined her. “Can you shield the room?”