I stood up as a scream of denial, of rage, erupted from my throat.
“I’m playing my twin card, every card I have. You owe me, Adrian. You know you do.” I looked her in the eye and willed her to remember the risks I’d taken to help her sneak into an Atlan prison cell and save Kovo. “I need you to stay here with the twins. I want a private jet, the fastest thing there is. And then I’m going to transport off this stupid planet and stop him from killing himself over a stupid hug I gave a man I’m not in love with!”
“There is more to your rejection of his claim than a mere hug.” Kovo seemed unmoved by the rising panic in every cell of my body.
“He’s mine. He’s mine and he’s not allowed to die.” I pleaded with him, with my sister. “I was stupid. I get it. He hurt me and I didn’t want to hurt like that again.”
“Stef, he might be dead already.”
“No!” This wasn’t happening. “Private plane. I don’t care about the coalition and their stupid rules. I’m going to Miami, I’m getting on that transport pad, and I’m going to stop him.”
Kovo’s lips moved.
“Shut up. I love my sister, but if you try to stop me, I’ll kill you myself.”
Adrian took my hand. “Are you sure?”
“Twin card. Playing it now. Why am I still here?” I looked at Kovo expectantly. “Let’s go. You’re driving.”
I pulled, trying to break Adrian’s grip, but she held tight, her fingers wrapped around me hard enough to hurt.
“I was hoping you would say that.” Adrian turned my hand so my palm was face up and placed an alien disk of some kind in the center.
“What’s that?”
“A transport beacon.”
Kovo startled. “Where did you get that? Only the I.C. has access, and they don’t like to share.”
Adrian’s eyes focused on mine. I stared back into the mirror image of my own face. “I got it from Warden Egara. After Velik left.”
She paused to let me process what she was saying. Transport beacon. I didn’t need to go to Miami to get off this planet. Bless that woman.
“She thought you might want to go after him. It’s already programmed to his last known coordinates, to wherever the warden sent him. All you have to do is put it on and activate the signal.”
“Oh my god, I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Our hug could have cracked ribs. “Go. I’ve got your girls. Go get him.”
I pressed the transport beacon to my blouse and looked down. Polyester blouse. Cotton capri pants. Slip on sandals. Not exactly space battle attire.
Who fucking cared? I’d been a complete idiot. Velik needed me. They had clothes there.
I grabbed the box from the table, tucked it under my arm and held Adrian’s gaze as I activated the beacon.
Velik
* * *
I dragged the Hive Soldier’s body to the edge of the ravine and pushed him over. No need to scan this one, as I normally would. This Hive was a creature not from the Coalition Fleet. There was no known family to notify of his death.
And the creature was male. The scattered remains of more than twenty more just like him littered the ground below. So far, I had not encountered a single female the Hive had managed to integrate.
Perhaps the females were even more dangerous than I believed. And more difficult for the Hive to control.
As if any creature on any planet could truly control their females.
My beast huffed in agreement as we watched a group of hungry creatures surround my newest kill. They were hungry, and not above scavenging for a meal. Feeding them the blood and bones of my enemies kept them away from my hunting grounds.
