“We have an intruder. Eliminate him.” A cold, monotone voice gave the order without a hint of emotion. I knew that tone, the cadence of a group mind, the way the Hive always referred to themselves as ‘we’, never ‘I’. Never the individual.
“No! Get out! Run!” A woman’s scream made the beast roar a response.
The Hive were here. For touching my mate, they would die.
I rushed into the small living space. Three Hive Soldiers, bigger, stronger, better armed and with more advanced integrations than their lowly Scouts—surrounded a human female where she sat, facing them, on her light brown sofa. Her dark hair hung on either side of delicate cheekbones and full, kissable lips.
A dark bruise spread on her left cheek and around her brown eye. A short, blue nightgown bunched up on top of her thighs, exposing long, lean legs. A binding device held her wrists bound in front of her, resting on her lap. Tears streaked her cheeks and still, she did not beg for her own life, but glared, defiance in her raised chin and unblinking glare. She did not cower before the Hive Soldier. Instead, she called out a warning to me.
My mate was brave. Courageous. Honorable. Her sweet, feminine scent filled the small apartment. She was fucking perfect.
The beast agreed.
“Mine!” He roared as I felt my body shift and expand, my bones and muscles tearing and reforming as I swung the coat rack at the nearest Soldier. The trio—the fucking Hive always traveled in threes—included three integrated Prillon warriors. Big. Strong. Trained in battle.
They were no match for a beast defending his mate.
The metal hooks in the coat rack hit with such force, the hooks punctured the Soldier’s armor, one hook in his chest, the other in the side of his neck. He collapsed to his knees, blood spraying on the pale gray carpet.
The female scrambled away from the fight, hurling her small body toward the far end of the sofa.
The two remaining Hive Soldiers turned to face my beast, weapons raised.
Rage unlike anything I’d ever known pumped through every cell at the glimpse of my small, delicate female trapped behind them. I’d fought countless battles against creatures like these, been consumed by the fury of war. This was deeper. Primal.
“Mine!” The word filled the room like booming thunder. My mate screamed.
The two Hive opened fire, their blasters hitting my armor, charring the flesh beneath.
Her scream was an explosion inside my skull, my mate in danger, threatened by my mortal enemy. Dozens of battles flashed through my mind, the images so vivid and real the room before me faded until I stood on the battlefield, musclse straining as I tore a Hive Scout’s body in half.
My beast’s cry of rage echoed through the small apartment. The thunderous roar in my ears broke the spell and I came back to myself. That nightmare happened on another day, in another battle. These two were here, now.
They continued to fire, their blasters turning my armor into molten metal on flesh. Searing. Burning.
The pain enraged my beast.
I stepped into the blasts and reached out to wrap my hands around the head and shoulder of the nearest Hive Soldier. He fought as his companion blasted me from the side. A head shot blurred my vision as my helmet took the brunt of the discharge.
The Hive before me was stronger than a Prillon warrior should have been. His Hive integrations gave him unnatural strength.
With a growl of intense satisfaction, I pulled the Hive’s head from his shoulders and tossed it on the floor next to his fallen, dying companion. I stomped on the polished black coat rack for good measure, driving the metal tips deeper into the enemy’s neck.
One more.
Never before had I been grateful for my weeks of capture at the hands of the Hive, until now. Without the integrations in my own body, I might have been in trouble. But I was captured. Tortured. Integrated. Hardened. As one of the few Atlans to survive the Integration process, I was stronger than any Atlan warlord should be. So was my beast. These Hive Soldiers were Prillon warriors once, before the Hive changed them into something else.
They were following orders, doing a job. I was a warlord, a beast, a killer protecting the only thing in the universe that mattered… my mate.
“Kai, what the fuck is going on?” Bahre’s voice finally broke through. He’d been talking, but my beast was too focused on battle to process his annoying questions.
“Hive.” My beast gave a typical one-word response.
“The group of Scouts in four minutes out. They’re picking up the pace.”
“No. Here. Now.” My beast’s tone left no room for argument.
“I don’t understand. That’s not possible.” Bahre’s confusion was one I shared. How did these fuckers not show up on my scans? I should have known they were here.
