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Chapter 5

“Is there somethingon your mind?” Ash nudged Hunter.

He glanced up at him and shook his head. “Just thinking.”

They were in the briefing room with Striker and Rexx, reviewing the locations of the Siblet experiment sites, seeing if they could find a pattern in their activities. So far, they’d come up with nothing.

“Your head hasn’t been in the game since you stomped in here looking like someone broke your favorite gun,” Ash said. “The recon mission with Cleo wasn’t a total failure. You found Siblet down there.”

“It’s not that,” Hunter said.

“I can guess where his head is,” Striker said.

Hunter narrowed his eyes at him. “Let’s focus on the work.”

“Good plan,” Rexx said.

Hunter had been back on the Apocalypse for twenty-four hours, and Cleo was avoiding him. She’d even messaged to say she didn’t need him during the day, which was bull. There was always admin work to check over.

The lingering frustration he felt from yesterday remained, but Hunter was determined not to give up on Cleo. And he was done giving her space. He’d been doing that for the last year, and all it left him was turned on, frustrated, and making zero progress.

“There’s nothing more we can do here,” Ash said. “We’ve gone over these locations a dozen times. It’s clear the Siblet are picking planets that are either uninhabited or have low population numbers. And it looks like they prefer places with little wildlife and unfriendly weather, but that still leaves us with hundreds of options. Too many to stake out.”

“They’re places most people won’t visit, so no one will notice what they’re doing,” Rexx said.

“They have to make a big move soon. They must have a plan to distribute the poison.” Ash jabbed a finger at the dozens of locations they’d identified as Siblet experimentation sites. “I just can’t see it. Where will their next move be?”

“Nothing we saw on our recon visit helped. Other than the large number of Siblet military, we couldn’t get a look at the signal we picked up, so were unable to confirm a lab was operating down there. We even did a fly-by of the site, but they were jamming signals, so we got nothing,” Hunter said.

“And it’s not just the poison we need to worry about,” Striker said. “They’re manufacturing the hybrid beasts at a rapid rate, and we don’t know how many they’ve stockpiled. If they plan on releasing those as well, they’ll cause chaos on the unsuspecting public.”

Hunter nodded along as they continued to talk about the Siblet sites, but his thoughts were on Cleo. She couldn’t keep avoiding him.

“Let’s call it a night,” Ash said. “I need something strong to drink. Something that will wash away the memories of the Siblet.”

“Me too,” Rexx said. “Daisy said there’s a new stock of beer on board.”

“Now you’ve made me really happy,” Striker said.

Hunter’s teammates bantered about their women as they headed out of the briefing room and along to the rec room.

Finding mates had done them good. They were all calmer, happier, and more relaxed. Even Rexx, and he was known in the group for having a fiery temper. Love had done amazing things for his friends. Hunter just wished he could experience the same thing with Cleo.

They entered the rec room, and Daisy raced over and jumped into Rexx’s arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and planting a huge kiss on his lips.

Rexx brokered a smile he shared only with Daisy and kissed her back as he walked to the bar.

Striker wound his arm around Wren’s waist and pulled her in for a kiss as he grabbed a beer off the bar. “How’s the most beautiful human in the world? Did you miss me?”

“Not so much. I was too busy going through Dallin’s lab reports on the latest intake of animals to miss you.”

“Is that so?” Striker tipped her back and kissed her some more.

“Well, maybe I missed you a little.” Wren planted a kiss on the end of Striker’s nose.

Ash whispered something in Georgia’s ear that made her shoot him a wicked smile.

Loneliness slammed into Hunter as he watched his buddies happy and coupled up. He wanted that so badly with Cleo. Why wouldn’t she see it made sense? She could have someone looking out for her, and putting her desires at the front of the queue, instead of her chasing after other people’s needs and forgetting she had any of her own.