The beast lifted me into his arms and nuzzled my neck. “Tell beast first. Good mate. Love. More than love. Mine.”
The set of double doors slid open to reveal a small army of armed cyborgs on the other side. Warlord Tazo was at the front of the line. “What the fuck was that?”
Governor Maxim walked to the door. “I’ll take care of my people.” He glanced at Helion. “I assume you have an explanation for what just happened?”
Helion shook his head. “None. Not a fucking clue.”
I had a question. “Who’s your sister? He said he was going to find her.”
“Warden Catherine Egara is my sister by law. She was mated to my brother and his second before they were killed in battle.”
“Oh.” Holy shit. Warden Egara, the famous spokesperson for the Interstellar Brides’ Program had Prillon mates? Two of them? And they were killed?
Helion’s vivid green eyes held a sadness I’d rarely seen. I recognized the look of loss, of grief, from staring at my own reflection in the mirror after our mother died.
“You’d better warn her.”
“Believe me, I will. I have a few questions for her as well. Nexus 5 acted as if he knew her, had spoken to her before.”
“Has he?” Willow asked.
“I do not know, but I intend to find out.” Helion pressed the communication controls he’d used to contact the Elite Hunter. “Kayn? You still there?”
“Yes, Commander.”
“The prisoner?”
“Vanished, sir.”
Helion cursed again. Seemed he did a lot of that. “Larkspur, we will need some additional medical exams. Genetic analysis. Have you ever been tested for telepathy?”
“No.”
“Any special skills or circumstances that would explain this? Any idea why Nexus 5 was fixated on you?”
My beast’s low, rumbling growl of warning made me all warm and fuzzy on the inside. And hot. And wet. My beast was irresistible. “No idea.”
“I’ll work with Doctor Surnen.” He turned away, his dismissal obvious as he continued making plans. “I need Doctor Mersan. Seb, reach out to him and have him meet us tomorrow with a complete medical team. Tell him we need those brain chips to work. We’re out of time.”
Willow, Helion and Sebastion walked away, Willow safely between her two mates as they convened with Thomar, Danika and Varin. Danika lifted her head and called out to me. “How did you know to start singing? How did you know that would work?”
I smiled. “Kai told me. Singing inside his head blocked the Hive during his integrations. He said it was how he survived.”
My beast—male of few words—agreed. “True. Block Hive.”
“Interesting.” The six put their heads back together and continued talking about things I’d never heard of and making their plans.
“Do we need to stay here?” I asked to no one in particular.
“No. You’re free to go. Just don’t leave The Colony until the medical teams have a chance to examine you.” Helion’s absent minded response was an order. Whatever. I didn’t have anywhere I wanted to go.
“What about Catherine?” I asked.
Helion glanced up from what looked like a tablet—or communication device. He waved it in the air. “Already taking care of it. Don’t worry about us. Go. We’ll let you know when we need you.”
Excellent. I was really tired of the crowd. I looked up into my beast’s eyes. “Kai, let’s get out of here.”
“Mine.”
