I did. It was hazy, and seemed like a long, long time ago, but I remembered. “I was on the beach. Running.”
“Excellent.” Helion took the opportunity to lift a hand and rub the back of his neck. I didn’t smile, but I wanted to. He deserved that and more.
“Answers, Helion. Now.”
“Are you familiar with Warlord Maxus?”
“Yes.” What the fuck did he have to do with any of this? “He was on Earth. Found his mate. Moved to Atlan.” Like I’d wanted to. Hoped to. Find a mate.
“Yes. But do you remember how he came to be on Earth?” When I shook my head, Helion continued. “He was sent there as part of a Hive scouting unit. He broke their mind control, killed the other members of his unit, and survived, undetected, for months.”
“What does this have to do with me?”
“He had mating fever, Velik. His beast was out of control. But something in his Hive integrations allowed him to master his beast, despite the mating fever. He’s been working with a team on Atlan to try to perfect the treatment.”
“Treatment?”
“Yes. We can halt mating fever. Save lives.”
“That’s not possible.” My response was automatic, but even as I said the words the last fifteen months of my life played through my mind in a stream of memories. No beast. The silence inside me. The emptiness.
Hive technology that suppressed the beast? That cured mating fever? How? How the fuck could they stop something so instinctive, so primal?
And then I knew. No. Beast. Somehow, they’d killed my beast.
My face was inches from Helion’s between one breath and the next. “Did you kill him? My beast? What the fuck did you do to me?”
“Your beast is still inside you, we just gave you something to help you…maintain control.”
“When? When did you give this to me?” The despair rose like a tidal wave of darkness and I realized, for the first time, that it came from me. From my beast. Relief flooded me, knowing he was still in there, somewhere. Buried but alive. But why this growing despair? The pain was suffocating, worse than any injury I’d ever received in battle. I couldn’t think when it took hold of me. Could barely breathe.
“On Earth. You were in the ReGen pod, on the brink of death. The beast was fighting the poison in your system. Atlan physiology changed the jellyfish’s original poison into something much worse. Your brain was bathed in venom. It was going to kill you.”
“So you turned me into your newest experiment.” It wasn’t a question.
“One way or another, you were dead already. And we needed a test subject we knew was suffering from mating fever. We couldn’t risk dosing the others until we knew the effect it would have on you.”
“The others?” A flash of movement from the corner of my eye made me turn my head slowly. Doctor Mersan was seated upright, preparing to stand. “You fucking stay there.”
The doctor gave me a small salute and leaned back against the wall. I returned my attention to Helion.
“How many?”
“A hundred, give or take. I’m not sure of the current count. Some of them may have died in battle in recent days.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I knew Helion spoke the truth.
I stepped away from the Prillon so I wouldn’t need to resist the urge to crush his windpipe. How dare he do something like this? To me? To…her?
Mate. The beast howled the word inside me. The imagine of a female face rose from the darkness and shocked my system like I’d been hit with a bolt of lightning.
Fuck resisting.
My hand was around Helion’s throat as the beast rose within me for the first time in over a year.
“MATE!” His booming shout made both Helion and Mersan flinch. The beast squeezed the tender flesh of Helion’s throat, just enough to make him gasp for air. I would have let my beast kill the asshole except I needed information.
“Oh, fuck. Here we go.” Mersan stood, despite my beast’s warning growl. Guess he figured I couldn’t kill two Prillon warriors at the same time.
