Grace Goodwin - Hunted

Transport, obviously. But how had she gotten the coordinates? How had she known about this secret Hive integration center?

Of course, the vexing female ignored the questions.

She glanced up at me, her dark eyes sharp. “Are you going to stand there like a target, or are you going to help me get us out of here?”

I recognized the language as one common to Earth. Was she human? And if so, how had she heard the integrated soldiers coming? Or believed one to be an Atlan? Humans were known for their tenacity and courage, not for their superior senses.

“Take cover, warrior. Now.”

That tone of voice—of a commander used to being obeyed—was one I’d not heard from a female often, and definitely not from any female as petite and beautiful as she. I didn’t care what planet she was from. Here, in the middle of a fucking integration center, I got hard. My cock didn’t seem to care that we were about to be set upon by the enemy. It wanted her. And her dominance. Oh, it did something for me. Made my inner Hunter want to show her who was really in charge. Maybe not in this moment, but once I got that uniform off that delectable body, she’d know it was me.

I grinned. Oh yes. I was the Hunter and she was going to quickly discover she was the hunted.

A roar echoed down the corridor, the integrated Atlan in beast mode, gave us warning. With the Atlans, I never knew if they were completely gone to the Hive implants, or still fighting. Sometimes, they would delay a killing blow to give a ReCon team or warrior on the battlefield time to take them down.

A quick death was a mercy.

Positioning myself to cover the female’s position, I checked the power level on the weapon. It was fully charged, and I set the ion pistol to maximum damage. “I’ll hold them off. Do you know how to work transport controls?”

She glanced back at me, over her shoulder, the look full of irritation, her lips tight and thin. “Keep them off us and I’ll get us out of here. We’ll have to come back for any other prisoners.”

“Done.”

She stood, turning so her back was to the wall as I continued to cover the corridor. “What’s your name?” she asked.

“Quinn.”

She blinked slowly, as if my name startled her and her gaze roamed my face with intense interest. With something more than simple fighting instinct. “You’re Everian? An Elite Hunter?”

I nodded. “I am.” She seemed to know a lot about my kind. Unusual. Most of the aliens I’d met from Earth barely knew my planet existed.

“Good. Then you should be able to keep them off me.”

It was my turn to be irritated. “Of course.”

She grinned, the mischief in her eyes made me want to kiss her. Fuck. Who was I kidding, I wanted to slam her against the wall and bury my cock deep. But that would have to wait until we got off this rock. I’d silence that sass. Turn it into gasps. Breathy moans of pleasure.

Without another word, she dashed to the control panel, and I turned back to the hallway as the first attacker appeared. The integrated Atlan beast was front and center. The ceilings on this base were ten feet tall, and still he ducked as if afraid he’d strike the top of his head.

He wouldn’t, unless he leaped for a kill.

I fired, non-stop, until the beast hit his knees. Like water flowing around a rock, the other two moved in front of him and kept coming. Prillon warriors, or at least they used to be. They were not my main concern. Two shots for each and they were down, writhing on the ground as the Atlan behind them fought to stand.

“Hurry,” I called. “The beast is coming again.”

“I’m working on it.” The female was bent over the control panel, her fingers flying furiously. The concentration on her face was another fascinating addition to her repertoire, but I didn’t have time to stare, as I would have preferred. I filed the image away for later when I would be able to take my time, perhaps trace her lips with my fingertips as I watched her expression change under my touch.

“We. Kill.” The integrated Atlan was in full beast mode, and apparently, he—they—the trio of Hive, had received orders to kill me. Most likely, they would kill her as well.

“Not today.” I fired, taking my time, hitting the vulnerable spots in the beast’s armor. His neck. His knees. His face, when I could take time for an extra shot.

I heard his helmet crack and fought down a shout of victory. As I watched, he took his helmet off and threw it aside, forgotten.

Gods, he was fucking huge.

I didn’t want to kill him. I didn’t. One head shot would take him down now, but I knew him. Had worked with him for the last few months. Before being captured. Since the Hive invasion of this base, I hadn’t seen him once. Until now. Until he’d been integrated enough to be under their control. To fight, to try to kill me.

He was a good male. Honorable. A true warrior.

“Damn you, Zan.”

Adjusting the settings on my blaster, I hoped the lower setting would knock him unconscious, not kill him. The Prillon warriors I’d killed were not from this base. They were not newly integrated, as this Atlan was. They were old converts, their minds long gone, only shells now, bodies with so many integrations they were all Hive. All enemy. I’d heard that the Hive would pair conquered, reliable soldiers like these two Prillons with the Atlans in a bid to help control their beasts.

With the integrated Prillon warriors down, there was no hope of that. Zan was charging me now, completely out of his mind.

Fuck.

I raised my rifle, took aim. Fired a stun shot.

His head snapped back and he toppled like a felled tree. Racing forward, I checked him for a pulse.

Still breathing. Good. The stun setting had worked, even on a beast.

Pausing to listen, I heard the female cursing under her breath as more footsteps headed our way. Clearly, she could hear them as well. They were probably two corridors back, but we only had a few minutes. Three at the most. And there were more than three this time. A lot more.

And the Atlan was huge but he needed saving. I couldn’t leave him here if there was a chance of him surviving, even if it was on The Colony.

I grabbed the only thing I could manage to wrap one arm around and pulled him by the leg into the transport room. The three transport techs she’d killed were on the floor, dead. Ignored. The female looked up from the control panel, glanced at the Atlan, and frowned.

“He’s a friend.” Zan was an honorable warrior, I would not leave him behind. And none of us would be leaving if that blue bastard made his way down here. “Get us out of here before the Nexus unit arrives. Zan won’t stand a chance against him if he wakes up.”

Her movement stalled. “There is a Nexus unit on this base?”

“Yes.” I wasn’t sure how or why she knew what a Nexus was, as the information was for top level operatives and commanders only, but I was too busy wrangling the beast’s oversized body into position to ask.

“We’ve got bigger problems. Incoming transport and I can’t override the command. It’s too late.”

I dropped Zan’s leg, leaving him stunned and sprawled on the floor. There wasn’t much space to maneuver with him taking up most of the space along with the dead transport techs. I turned to face the transport pad. As she’d warned, the buzzing charge filled the air and vibrations moved through my feet. “Friendly?”

“No. I don’t think so.” She grabbed the weapons from the dead techs, tossed me one. I checked the settings, armed it. Never hurt to have two weapons instead of one. “They’re bringing more Coalition fighters… prisoners, to integrate.”

Readying her own ion pistol and taking a knee, she now had a weapon armed and ready in each hand, like me. She used the control panel as cover. Waited.