“Move,” I ordered. Henry stood between me and my next target. There was one more. Another threat to my female. My mate. The Hive would die. They would all fucking die.
When the human didn’t obey fast enough, I shoved him out of the way with my left hand and circled the neck of the other Hive Soldier with my right. I lifted the integrated Prillon warrior with one hand, used that hand to crush his throat. When he stopped struggling, I twisted his head until I felt the bones in his neck snap and break. Dead.
Forgotten.
I dropped him and turned to the only thing that mattered.
Breanna. The female.
Mine.
She lay on her side, a pool of blood soaked her armor from ribs to hip. She watched me, her eyes glazed, unfocused. Her small, fragile body had lost too much blood. She was going into shock.
She was going to die.
Behind me, Henry called to the other Coalition fighters to send a medical team. He did not seem to care for their response. “She doesn’t have five minutes.” Silence. “No. She’s fucking bleeding out. A ReGen wand isn’t enough.”
I lifted Breanna from the floor, cradled her in my arms. So soft. Curved. Feminine.
So fragile. Breakable.
Her eyes closed. Her breathing was shallow. Too fast. Her human body struggled and fought. She was dying.
She shuddered. Her heartbeat, once thunder in my ears, skipped. Fluttered. Stopped.
NO.
I failed her, so consumed by her presence I did not monitor the threat to her life. I failed to keep her safe, to protect her. For years I’d believed she did not exist, yet within moments of meeting me, I became the reason for her injuries, her impending death.
Fuck protocol. The Legions could execute me. My enemies could murder me. Astra herself could turn me over to the Coalition for assaulting one of their fighters. So be it. I could have let her go, sacrificed my personal happiness to keep her, and my people, safe. I was nothing, a soldier, expendable. But I could not sacrificeher.
I lowered my head, fangs extended, and sank the sharp tips into the soft, supple curve between her shoulder and her neck.
Ecstasy like I never knew rolled over me like a tidal wave as I gave her the gift, offered her my essence. Every instinct I had rejoiced as the healing serum pumped into her lush body, filled her cells, stopped the bleeding, gave her body what she needed to mend, rebuild and repair. Healed her. Kept her alive.
Should the Coalition demand justice, I would surrender myself and protect my people. Face imprisonment. Execution. No cost was too high a price to pay to save her.
She would need the antidote. I prayed Astra would not deny her, not when I had sacrificed my life to save her. Not when I made known what the female was to me. My mate. The only female I would ever want, ever need. Even if she would never be mine.
Perhaps a quick death would prove to be a mercy.
The tip of Henry’s ion blaster pushed against my temple. Hard.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
I ignored him. I was not finished. Breanna did not have enough, did not yet have all I could give her.
The sharp whine of the weapon charging was my only warning.
Henry fired.
Heat exploded inside my skull.
I lost my grip. My fangs pulled free of Breanna’s tender flesh as I crumbled onto my side, Breanna cradled against my chest.
Henry stood over us, hands on his hips, muttering to himself like a fool.
“What a fucking mess.” Henry stared down at me, light golden hair gleaming in the harsh light, pale blue eyes narrowed.
