“I don’t intend, I’m going.”
He inspected the box I held. “Mating cuffs?”
“Don’t leave home without ‘em.”
Helion actually smiled. “Depending on Velik’s state of mind when we find him, you are going to need them.” His smile faded and I saw a debate rage behind his eyes.
“What?”
“The planet is hostile. Extremely dangerous. You could be killed. I cannot guarantee your safety.”
“Don’t try to scare me. Just give me something to wear.” I looked at the array of weaponry chosen by the large warriors in the room. “And one of those space guns.” I looked up to find Helion watching me. “Don’t worry, I know how to shoot.”
“You, Stefani Davis, are very much like your sister.”
“She’s the nice one.”
He chuckled and turned away from me to speak to the handful of fighters in the room. There weren’t many, but if they worked with Helion, they were basically the Coalition’s equivalent to our Navy SEALS, except in outer space. Space SEALS just didn’t sound right.
I didn’t care what they were called. I knew who and what they were. These were the guys who got shit done.
“You heard the lady. Suit up.”
18
Velik
The ReCon team had missed a few minor details.
There were over fifty of these fuckers already integrated—not thirty—and three of them were female. I had yet to fight one of the much larger females. I was not looking forward to the experience.
As all Hive did, these creatures hunted and fought in packs of three. Always groups of three, and they were ugly as fuck. Protruding scale heads with multiple sets of eyes, they could see in all directions at once, making it impossible to sneak up on them. Their stance reminded me of Earth’s orangutans, with crouching back legs and abnormally long arms and one massive claw protruding from the arm where a hand should be. The claws were sharp as fuck. Unlike Earth’s great apes, these things were not cute or furry. The females were twice the beast’s size and covered from head to toe in thick scales that were harder to pierce than Coalition armor.
The three massive female creatures stood guard outside the underground base. The place I had come to this planet to destroy. They were the last of the Hive’s work still alive and functioning on the planet’s surface. Fifty-one of the integrated males now rested at the bottom of the ravine. Or what was left of them.
These things weren’t the only predators on the planet.
ReCon had missed that bit of information as well. Although I didn’t blame them. The second tier predators here were about half the size of those the Hive were integrating, much more animal with less intelligence, and slipped through the shadows at night without making a sound.
The Fleet would know now. My armor recorded everything that had occurred since my arrival, along with a few notes I added manually. In particular, tips on fighting the integrated creatures in hand-to-hand combat. They were fast as fuck when moving laterally. Forward or backward? They moved like sludge. That was with the Hive integration’s assistance.
Without it? I had no idea. Perhaps my idea of forward and backward was incorrect, at least to them. If a creature had more than one set of eyes in its head, which direction was the front?
Stupid. Don’t care.
The beast was tired. So was I. And the large female creatures hadn’t responded to any of my efforts to pull them away from their job guarding the entrance. I’d caught one of their males and tortured him until his screams nearly made me deaf.
The females had tilted their heads to listen, but not taken a single step in my direction to save him.
Males not worthy.
Of course. Like us. The females did not need these particular males for mating. They were unimportant. Not worth the risk.
Not worthy.
“Stop talking, beast.” Fuck. I didn’t need to hear those two words again. Ever. My beast had been repeating them at every opportunity since the moment we’d left Stefani behind.
We had done the honorable thing. The right thing for her, and for our daughters. A male of worth never forced his attention on his chosen female. We had to be invited in and accepted in return. Deemed worthy to touch, to claim, to father children. A male must be chosen. A female mate must agree to the final claiming, or it just didn’t happen. The beast, as savage as he might be, was the last line of defense for his mate. Even from himself.
