Prime Imperative (The Prime Chronicles Book 3)

by Monette Michaels

  “Were you listening at the door?” Bria screeched.

  “Um, no, not on purpose anyway. Zaek and I wanted to use the break room.” Cheri bit her lower lip. “We ended up in the supply closet. The towels make a really nice bed.” She scrunched her nose. “But now we’re out of towels since they were, um, used. So we might want to increase the towel supply.”

  Mel, Nadia, and Lia burst out laughing.

  Bria looked at Cheri, then they, too, joined in the laughter. It was nice sharing the mating experience with others who knew what it was like.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask, but hadn’t had the opportune moment until now. When…um…when exactly,” Bria hitched a breath as a left-over snicker escaped, “is this need for sex going to slow down?”

  Before one of the others could answer, the locked door, coded solely to their palm prints for the hour they used the facility, was blown open by a laser blast.

  Eight masked and heavily armed men wearing body armor rushed into the room before the smoke had cleared.

  Before the men had oriented themselves, Bria and the other women dove for their gym totes and used the lingering echoes of the blast and smoke to hide.

  Bria took up a defensive position behind a lats machine and pulled her laser pistol and a knife from her bag. Nadia was behind a chest press machine. She was already armed and had her com unit out, signaling for help. Mel was hunkered down behind the leg press and her gun arm tracked the men as they divided up and began to search the room.

  Wherever Lia and Cheri had taken refuge, Bria couldn’t see them. With luck, neither would the intruders.

  The room was eerily silent. No one called out. Not even the men, who communicated by hand signals.

  The atmosphere was laden with the intruders’ determination to succeed in their mission—to take the women hostage. They were focused and weren’t adverse to using bodily harm to get what they wanted.

  In the blasted doorway, Bria could see the bodies of her two guards. They were either dead or severely injured.

  Mad. Sick at heart. Bria dropped her shields and found Iolyn’s mental path.

  Stop. Shutting. Me. Out. Status report.

  His fury, combined with gut-wrenching worry, blasted her almost as violently as the explosion that took down the gym door. Obviously, Nadia’s call for help had gotten to their men.

  I’m fine. Hiding. I think they’re here to kidnap us.

  His emotions boiled over, and the icy-white-heat of battle rage flowed across their mental connection. Her body responded by producing even more battle-mate hormones as she was pulled into the wave which included Mel, Nadia, and Lia and their gemats. The power was invigorating and also scary in a good way.

  Show me.

  Bria began a visual scan of the room, noting the intruders’ positions. She’d showed him five of the intruders when she spotted a man advancing on Mel’s position behind the leg press. She took the shot, hitting him with a high stun to his torso. He went down.

  The silence ended as the remaining intruders returned fire. Bria scrunched behind her machine. The heat from the laser streams chased away the cold in her bones. The whine and color of the streams registered as low-to-medium-low stuns. This confirmed the intruders wanted hostages and not dead bodies.

  Bria! Iolyn growled in her head. He was closer.

  “Bria!” Mel yelled as she tagged the man Bria had downed in the head—an insurance shot, Mel had called it in shooting strategy class.

  “I’m fine.” Bria yelled. She looked around her machine and shot at another intruder, hitting him in the legs.

  Mel followed up with another head stun. “Grab onto the batel rabia, Bria.”

  “Did…” She shot another man who got brave and tried to approach Nadia’s position.

  Nadia hit the man at the same time. Two high stuns to the head. He was definitely dead. Right now, survival, hers and her friends, was uppermost in her mind.

  “…my skin itches…” Bria got in a head shot on a man who’d zeroed in on the storage closet. Cheri and Lia had to be hiding in there. “…and my senses seem to be on super-amphetamines.”

  “You’ll get used to it.” Mel shot over Bria’s shoulder and caught a man in the arm.

  The man dropped his weapon, but still managed to lunge at Bria. He knocked her laser weapon from her hand and pulled her to him.

  Bria! Fight him.

  Bria turned into the man then put into use every move taught her and some she made up. But the man was too strong. She pulled his hood off and found the visage of a pseudo-reptilian. Just her effin’ luck. She couldn’t beat this man hand-to-hand, and her knife had been knocked to the ground along with her laser weapon.

  The gym was loud with the sounds of fighting and laser fire. The other women had their own fights. No help from that quarter.

  Her attacker flicked his tongue along her neck. “Tasty. I’ll enjoy fucking you, sued-seuater.”

  Bria renewed her struggles, pulling on the energy that Iolyn blasted across their mating bond. Just when she thought she had an out, the man countered her move with ease. Then he began to drag her to the back entrance to the gym where one of the intruders was waving and yelling, “Grab any of them you can. Move out.”

  Iolyn growled in her head.

  The pseudo-reptilian carried her and another man had Lia. Yet another had Cheri.

  Mel and Nadia yelled in the background—then she was torn from the hold of her captor and went flying through the air. An Alliance soldier managed to catch her before she hit the floor. He steadied her. “My orders are to get you away, Doctor.”

  “No.” She turned and watched as Iolyn faced off with her former captor. They were knife-fighting. Fear gripped her until she realized Iolyn was toying with the man. He sliced and slashed and outmaneuvered the man, who she could now see was an Erian.

  Mel, Nadia, Cheri, and Lia joined her with guards of their own. Their men, even Zaek, were cleaning up the floor with the remaining intruders. A ring of Alliance soldiers wearing the Gold Squadron uniforms circled the fighting gemats, cheering them on.

  Bria began to shake, her vision sprouted white and gold lights, and her knees went limp. Post-adrenaline drop. A bad case.

  Mel placed an arm around her waist and eased her to the floor. “Hang in there, Bria. You did well. Good shooting.” She ordered one of the soldiers guarding them. “Get us some water, please.”

  The soldier ran off to the storage closet and brought back water for all of the women.

  Her gaze on Iolyn who still played with his opponent, Bria took a long drink and almost choked when it wouldn’t get past the lump of lingering fear in her throat. When she managed to get it down, she took a few smaller sips, then gasped out, “I…need more fight classes.”

  “Your men are supposed to take care of you,” the Alliance soldier who’d caught her said.

  “Well, our men can’t be everywhere,” Nadia retorted.

  Iolyn let out the Caradoc battle cry and took the head of the man who’d threatened Bria. She touched her mate’s mind and found it icily calm as he dealt out death. She’d never be able to do that.

  But she could do her job. “We need to check on the injured,” Bria said to Lia.

  Lia nodded and offered her a hand up. “Might as well be useful while our men are doing clean up. There’s an emergency med kit in the storage closet. I’ll get it.”

  Bria was happy to find her knees worked and the sick, dizzy feeling had subsided. The energy coming from Iolyn was now warm and revitalizing. He was helping her through the aftermath of riding the batel rabia wave.

  Iolyn and the others were interrogating the intruders who were less injured. So, she began to move to a downed intruder—one whom she was fairly sure was dead, but she needed to be sure.

  “Leave him, peata.” Iolyn had sensed her intent and cut off her path. “These men would’ve raped you and the others. I don’t want you anywhere near them. Other Alliance medical personnel are on their way.”
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br />   She looked at her mate, who checked her over with worried eyes and gentle hands. Mel and the others were also being fussed over by their gemats, though she was sure the men wouldn’t want to have their care called fussing.

  Iolyn’s touch was soothing. The same hands that had taken on a huge mercenary and slain him, now handled her as if she were as fragile as blown glass. He hissed and snarled at each bruise the Erian had left where he’d grabbed her. He fretted and muttered—and she fell even more in love with him. Yes, he was autocratic and over-protective, but in a good way.

  Iolyn. She touched his mind to soothe him back and gasped. Internally, he was a chaotic mass of anger.

  Bria frowned and glanced at the men Iolyn and the others had questioned. The attackers must’ve said something to reignite Iolyn’s fury. Whatever he’d heard, he’d hidden it under layers of rage. She shuddered and leaned into him. He instantly wrapped her within his strong embrace.

  “I’m fine. It’s over.” She hugged him tightly around the waist and stroked his back.

  “It’s not over, not as long as the terrorists are still active.” Iolyn’s voice was rough, but his hands on her back were gentle as he held her close. A low buzz-saw rumbling vibrated from his body to hers. As the sound crescendoed, the other Prime in the room joined in. The vibrations made her skin itch and her bones ache.

  “Oh great,” Mel muttered, clasped in Wulf’s brawny arms. “It’s the so-angry-they-could-eat-a-water-beast-whole growl.”

  Nadia snickered. She sat on Huw’s lap, her head on his shoulder. “Yeah, I hate that one. It makes my nerves go on the fritz.”

  The men glared at the women and growled even more.

  Wulf motioned to a military security unit which had arrived. “Take the attackers still mobile into custody and lock them up in isolation. Take the more severely injured to the lock-down unit in the medica. I want them restrained and under guard at all times. And for the One’s sake, make sure they aren’t carrying suicide capsules anywhere on their bodies.”

  The assassin who’d tried to kill Iolyn and Wulf on her brother’s jump station had killed himself with just such a capsule before he could be questioned. Wulf obviously wasn’t taking any chances this time.

  The guards saluted and moved to take control of the prisoners. Other Alliance medical personnel were checking out the injured. Bria’s guards were alive, but injured severely enough to need portable regen beds.

  Bria moaned under the intensity of the guilt. Tears streaked down her cheek.

  “Diew, don’t cry.” Iolyn tipped Bria’s chin up and kissed her—a deep tongue thrusting, almost punishing kiss.

  I could’ve lost you.

  You didn’t.

  You could’ve died.

  I didn’t.

  Breaking off the kiss, he leaned his forehead against hers. “Why weren’t your fucking guards in the gym with you?”

  His tone was as cutting as a knife, slicing away at her skin, shredding her nerves. His tone had her second-guessing herself. If she had it to do all over again, would she—

  “Stop it.” She shoved against his chest and could barely budge him an inch. “I was within a secure military facility. The gym was coded to our five handprints only for this hour. I—we should’ve been safe here—in a locked room. The guards were injured because they did their job trying to protect us. You aren’t allowed to be mad at them—or me. Be mad at the attackers and whoever put them up to this.”

  “She’s right, brother,” Wulf said. “We need to focus our anger where it belongs. The intruders were well-trained, well-equipped, and had inside information. We need to find out who sold them the information about our gemates’ whereabouts and then who helped them get inside a secure facility. The terrorist faction of the Pure Blood is upping their game yet again. Father will go ballistic.”

  Iolyn’s lips thinned, and he breathed heavily through his nose. She could visibly see—and when she touched his mind, feel—the strength it took to shove his anger and fear away.

  When his mind had become a deep, swirling pool of icy calm, he said, “I’m sorry I yelled at you, lubha.” He rubbed his cheek over hers and whispered against her ear, in a mild, somewhat teasing tone, “I guess all those yoga practices helped. You fought well. I’m proud of you.”

  Bria’s breath hitched and she looked at his face. “You knew?”

  “Almost from the beginning. We’ll discuss later why you felt the need to sneak behind my back to get FHC training,” he added in an amused tone.

  “Who told you?” She raised a brow. Now, she was angry. He’d told her she didn’t need warrior training, and now he chided her for going behind his back. Un-unh, he couldn’t have it both ways.

  “Wulf told me when I asked him. Mel doesn’t close her mind,” Iolyn snapped against her ear. “Not as you do with me. We’ll also discuss that issue—later. It must stop.”

  “Then, my gemat, you need to stop smothering me.” She hissed into his ear. “As you saw…I can fight and protect myself and others if I need to. I could do it better with even more training.”

  “Yes, but you don’t understand. You aren’t to be in harm’s way. Ever.” Once again there was both anger and fear in his voice. Iolyn tightened his arms around her. “Which is why I assigned guards to you. If they’d been inside the room, they’d have sent the alarm, fought the invaders, and you could’ve stayed safely hidden.”

  “Hidden? Seriously?”

  “Safely hidden,” he growled.

  “Oh lordy,” Cheri said from within the circle of Zaek’s arms.

  Iolyn turned and shot her a sharp look. “What in Balcon’s Balls does that mean?”

  “It means you need to trust Bria to do what’s right in the moment,” Cheri shot back.

  “Yeah. What she said.” Bria jabbed a fist into his side. The cocksure, overprotective S.O.B. didn’t even flinch, dammit. But he did loosen his hold enough so she could shove out of his grasp.

  Then she stomped toward the blasted-out door where a crowd of interested onlookers had gathered. “I’m going back to the lab. I have a nasty microbe to research. Don’t wait up.”

  *

  Iolyn stood still for several nanoseconds. Okay, he probably could’ve handled that better. His brothers’ grins underlined that thought. But Bria running away from him wouldn’t get anything settled. He refused to let the situation fester. Plus, he still wasn’t over his fear of losing her, and she, if she would admit it, was still shaking inside at the close call. She needed to let him soothe her—for both their sakes.

  He growled and tore after her. His brothers laughed. He gave them both a rude gesture. Grabbing Bria from behind, he turned her to face him and then tossed her over his shoulder in one continuous motion.

  “Iolyn!” Bria slapped at his ass. “Put me down. I have to go to work.”

  “Silence.” Iolyn spanked a luscious round ass cheek and did it much harder than she’d hit his. “I love you. You worried me. I need you now—and if you’d admit it, you need me.”

  She wiggled. He spanked her again. “Stop it. I don’t want to drop you.”

  Her “ouch” and resulting squirm—and then a low moan—shot a frisson of sexual awareness straight to his dick. He scented her arousal on the air. He rubbed her bottom and she moaned again. Diew, he wanted to fuck her now, even more than before. And it would be fucking—not sweet or nice or fun. She’d frightened him. He was coming down off battle rage and his cock was hard enough to drill holes through the Galanti’s outer hull. His gemate needed to soothe him in a most elemental way.

  “Iolyn…” His name came out sounding somewhere between a testy feline’s snarl and the come-hither of a mating purr.

  “Little menace,” he whispered, “I couldn’t get here fast enough.” He squeezed her firm butt cheek gently. “You were in danger—again—and I was nowhere near.”

  Bria relaxed into his hold. He smiled, then frowned as she murmured for his ears alone, “You embarrassed me in front of the other
s. I won’t hide while my guards or Nadia or Mel fight to protect me. I have to know how to defend myself and others—especially since I’m not going out and finding these fights. They’re finding me. And I’ll try to remember to keep my shields down so you can check in with me. But I also need some part of my mind to be my own, where I can keep others’ secrets and maybe even surprise you from time to time.”

  “You’re right.” Iolyn swung her off his shoulder then into his arms and cuddled her against his chest. Her golden eyes were drenched in tears. “Don’t cry, peata.” He kissed away the silver drops as they rolled down her cheeks. “You’re part of my soul. If I lost you, I’d be less than nothing. You’re my reason for living.”

  “I understand that. I feel the same way about you.” She stroked his jaw. “But, we could have had this discussion later, away from the crowd. Instead, you pushed me on the training thing and the shields and I got mad. I figured it would be better to cool down before we discussed those topics. I can’t shove my anger into a deep, icy pool of water inside me as you can.”

  “I’ll teach you how to do that.” He brushed a kiss over her lips.

  “That would be good.” She nibbled on his chin. “Because we both are stubborn and have tempers.” She looked into his eyes. “What made you throw me over your shoulder all Terran caveman style?”

  “You walked away.” Iolyn entered the elevator that would take them to his ground transport.

  He needed to get her home, strip her down in order to check for any hidden injuries. Then he’d fuck her, first, and later make love to her—join with her mind-body-soul and reaffirm their bond and assure himself she was all right.

  “I made you so mad. You threw your mental shields up and left me—and I went all primitive.” He rubbed his cheek over the top of her head as she nestled it on his shoulder. “It’ll probably happen again. It’s just the nature of the gemat-gemate bond.”

  “Iolyn—” Bria’s body molded to his and she fingered the hair at the back of his neck. “I would’ve dropped the shields and checked on you as soon as I got to the lab. One thing you’ll learn about me is I don’t hold onto anger long. I’m sorry I scared you, too.”