1
Atlan Warlord Kai, Miami, Florida
* * *
I finally tracked the elusive female, the human who risked her life to break into an illegal fight club and capture images of Warlord Maxus, and the rest of us, during the surprise Hive attack. Whoever she was, the moment she sent those images to potential buyers, she placed herself in more danger than she could comprehend.
The Hive wanted her dead.
The Coalition’s Intelligence Core wanted her alive for questioning.
Me? I just fucking wanted. The moment her lingering scent filled my head that day, my beast had one fucking thing to say… mine. Over, and over, and fucking over again.
Mine!
I know. Patience.
No patience. Mine. Go. Now.
Our mate is in danger. You want to fuck around and be killed by Hive Scouts?
Weak. I kill them all. My beast sounded insulted I would even mention the possibility of our death. I never lose to Hive scum.
“You lost once.” I wasn’t trying to be an asshole to—myself—but we had been defeated in battle. Once. Captured and taken to a Hive Integration facility and experimented on. Tortured. Integrated with Hive technology that, even after rescue, made it impossible to return to the Atlan home world. I was an outcast now, contaminated, just like every other fighter, warrior and warlord exiled to The Colony. Too dangerous to be allowed to return to Atlan, take a mate and live a civilian life.
Worse, mating fever raged in my blood. Soon the beast would break free and unleash his agony in an unforgivable killing fury. Unless I convinced my female to accept me, take my mating cuffs and never leave my side.
The odds were not in my favor.
“I’m going in.” I squinted through the dark, grateful for the pitiful light provided by two lamp posts positioned in the building’s parking lot. Three more surrounded the area but were not functional. It was well past midnight. My female—and she was mine—should be asleep.
Crouched on the roof of her three-story apartment building, I jumped to the ground and landed outside her bedroom window. “Are you sure these diagrams are correct?”
“Yes. You still determined to knock on the door?” The voice in my comm belonged to Bahre, our chosen commander while we were here, on Earth. Most of the warlords had been successful in finding their mates. Some had returned to The Colony. I was not among them. The beast within became more difficult to control with each passing day. If I did not claim my mate soon, mating fever would destroy me, and I would be forced to embrace death.
“I do not wish to frighten her.”
“Fucking mistake. Get her out and explain later.”
“She’s my mate. I do not want her to fear me.”
“Fuck. Going soft already. Be quick about it.” Bahre’s sigh spoke for both of us. Protecting a mate, physically and mentally, was the only thing that mattered. “Do you have a visual?”
“Negative.” The human apartment building appeared to be quiet. “Activating scanners.”
“The Hive Scouts we’re tracking are closing in on your position.”
“How long do I have?”
Bahre cursed. “Ten minutes, if you’re lucky.”
Break in, convince a hysterical, human female to accompany me to another planet, put a transport beacon on her, and get her out of here before the Hive showed up? What could possibly go wrong?
I activated the scanners in my Coalition helmet and watched thermal outlines of the humans inside the building appear on my helmet’s screen. “Fifty-seven humans. Twenty-nine female. Fuck. I hope the Hive don’t get any ideas.” The Hive had been kidnapping and attempting to breed human females. “Only one Scout unit? Just three of them?”
“That’s all we’re tracking. Just get in and get her out of there. We need those images. The I.C. is breathing down my neck on this one.” Bahre’s rumbling didn’t help my agitated state. My beast growled, ready to unleash his rage on the world.
“You mean Helion’s being an ass. I heard he claimed a mate. Didn’t that calm him down?”
