And what was that strange room in her dream? The small child in the strange, metal walled bed? The older woman sleeping slumped in a chair? Was that her home? Was that where I would find her? Lindsey.
“Hunter Kiel,” the Governor Rone repeated, breaking my thoughts. My mark burned, reminding me of my priorities. Finding her was my personal mission now, but I also worked for the governor and for every warrior who was trapped on this planet with me. The Hive had caused trouble here the last few weeks, infiltrating our sanctuary—or our prison—depending on one’s point of view. The Hive had turned The Colony into a dangerous, uncertain place. The guarded looks the warriors here gave one another, the fear they tried to hide—fear that the Hive would once more have control of their minds, their bodies—the thought made me shudder as well. I was born to fear nothing, but even I could not deny the tremor that raced through me at the thought of being captured once more.
Tortured.
Changed.
The only way to control the fear was to hunt. And hunting the Hive was my specialty.
“Kiel? Can you hear me?”
“Yes, Maxim. I will come to the command center directly,” I replied.
“Hurry,” he replied, ending the communication.
I went to the S-Gen unit in the corner and stood on the black scanning pad. The thin green lights activated as the Spontaneous Matter Generator created fresh armor and weapon for me. The armor was standard Coalition, the mottled black and grey a fitting camouflage for most expeditions in deep space. The ion blaster was small and I strapped it to my thigh. The armor was light and comfortable. Some warriors on the base had begun to wear civilian clothing once more, colors and soft, flowing fabrics in designs common on the various home worlds now brightened the main areas and dining hall.
The brides had done that, brought a touch of normalcy to a situation that was anything but. I, however, felt naked and exposed without my armor, as did many of the others. And with a traitor still loose and the Hive building secret, underground operating stations in caves, I needed to hunt, not sit, chat and sip wine with the women like a trained pet.
Groaning, I shifted things around in my pants. Apparently, I was going to have a meeting with the security team and the governor of Base 3 with a hard on. My desire had not waned and my cock wasn’t going to stand down, no matter the topic. I had to hope the armor shielded the obvious. My mark had been awakened and nothing was going to ease me except finding and claiming my mate.
***
“There.” The governor, Maxim, pointed at the vid screen. I followed his finger and saw the intruder. The image was crystal clear, crisp. The male wore the usual armor of a Coalition fighter; pants, shirt, even the helmet, and moved with the lithe ease of an athlete and the surety of one who knew exactly where to go as he removed a grate and disappeared inside the ventilation tunnels that ran beneath the entire base.
“How long ago was this taken?” I asked. Maxim and I stood side-by-side. I rivaled him for height, but I was less bulky than the Prillon, allowing me to move swiftly on a hunt. I was dexterous and nimble, yet it took hard work and constant training to remain in top form.
“Twenty minutes.” The governor was a powerful warrior; he now served The Colony with his leadership skills. He’d been chosen, elected by the warriors who would answer to him. There was no higher honor among warriors and I respected that. He served as the Colony’s liaison to the Brides Processing Center on Earth and had been mated, with his second, Ryston, to a brilliant human scientist with dark hair and a stubborn slant to her eyes that I admired. Together, their bond had lit the spark of hope through the Colony. They appeared together in public often, trying to inspire the others to hope, to dream, to submit to the mental invasion of the Interstellar Brides Processing protocols. Many had and waited for a match.
I was Maxim’s opposite, my strengths sending me out to hunt in the shadows. Unseen. Deadly.
Not exactly inspiring. Seeing me usually inspired fear, not hope. No matter that I’d picked up a team of sorts including the human hunter, a bride named Kristin, who’d arrived to mate the Prillon warriors Tyran and Hunt. Also in the group, a Prillon warrior named Marz who’d become one of the few males I trusted during our time with the Hive. Lastly, a big, pain-in-my-ass Atlan Warlord with a temper to match. Rezzer. He fought his beast every fucking day. And every day, I wondered if I’d be called upon to terminate a friend.
“Has he been picked up by the other surveillance nearby?” I asked. The surveillance in the storage area had caught the heat shift of a living being and set off the warning sensors.
“Negative,” one of the security team said. He sat before the controls, his fingers sliding over the glossy panel as his eyes followed the results on the various vid screens before us. The entire wall was of different images from around Base 3. At first it was difficult to process, so many places to monitor and observe, but I recognized it was an organized system. The screens were arranged north to south, east to west geographically throughout the Base.
The tech, a warrior from the planet Trion, frowned. “The first warning signal came twenty minutes ago and from within the storage area. No sensors have picked him up in the corridors or anywhere else before that.”
“He had to come from somewhere,” the governor added, his voice a mixture of genuine surprise and a hint of frustration. He glanced down at the security tech, then back up at the display.
“There is no data that shows he actually did come from somewhere. It’s as if—” He didn’t finish the words.
“He didn’t transport in,” I added, saying aloud what I knew to be true. One thing the Coalition did control with an unbreakable fist, was their transport technology. If you weren’t authorized, you didn’t go anywhere. Ever.
“No, he did not,” the second security tech confirmed. “I’ve checked with the transport station. No transports in the last two days. In or out.”
It was possible to transport onto the Base elsewhere besides the transport station with the correct coordinates, however the team would know, even if someone attempted it without appropriate approval. That kind of data was easily picked up and ensured the Hive weren’t just popping in for a quick battle.
“Then he must be someone we know. Sabotage?”
I didn’t want to consider the possibility of another traitor in our midst.
I watched the male move across the display, his pace quick as he went from behind a storage container and to the large air shaft on the west wall. His helmet-covered head moved left and right as if scanning the area, but nothing slowed him down. He even knew where to wave his hand on the wall to have the access panel open.
My mark flared, pulsed with a heat that almost burned as I watched the recording. I rubbed the spot, but it didn’t lessen.
“Why would he bother going into the air shaft?” the governor asked. “The entire system is automated and controlled from elsewhere. Even if he wanted to poison the air, or gas us in our sleep, it would be impossible.” He turned to me, his shrewd gaze meeting mine as I looked away from the display. The pulsing in my hand lessened. “There’s no fucking reason for anyone to be in there.”
Looking back at the male who was the latest mystery on our struggling planet, my mark flared again. “Except to hide.”
“What?”
“I’ll find him,” I muttered under my breath. Why was my mark responding to the image of a male on a vid screen? There had to be something wrong with me, for my cock pressed against the heavy armor. While some males might be attracted to other males, I wasn’t. I got hard thinking of a female’s perfect curves, the soft feel of her breasts in my palms, the wet heat of her pussy. I wanted a mate. A female mate. I wanted Lindsey. After the dream we just shared, only her. My mark would want no one else.
So why the fuck was I eager to go after the bastard in the air shaft? Was my lust for a mate increasing my need to hunt?
Perhaps I was succumbing to whatever the traitor, Krael Gerton, had brought to the p
lanet. He’d worked with the Hive to destroy us all. Prior to my arrival, his frequency generator had reactivated some Hive implants. Combined with Quell injections, he’d murdered one man from Earth and nearly killed Governor Maxim.
The Governor’s new mate, a brilliant scientist named Rachel, had figured out his plan and stopped him, but he’d slipped through their fingers.
But that was before me. I’d seen the traitor in the underground Hive Integration station here on the Colony. I’d wanted to rip him into pieces.
He’d escaped. He’d killed my friend, Marz’s second, the Prillon Captain Perro. Since then, I’d hunted him. Twice we’d had him cornered in the caverns that formed an endless system of natural tunnels and caves beneath the surface. And both times, he’d escaped me.
Not that it mattered. I hunted. It was who I was born to be. And his scent, the rhythm of his heartbeat called to me through the thickest rock, across time and space with a knowing that I could not explain but didn’t question. The traitor would die. I would see to it personally.
I wasn’t affected as Captain Brooks had been. I was not vulnerable to Hive transmissions, as some were. Hell, I barely had any cyborg parts. The one implant in my left arm so small it had no effect on my body or abilities. But it had been their mark of ownership, their attempt to control me. Enough to earn me banishment here, just like the rest of the castoffs and rejected warriors.
I didn’t have Black Death creeping under my skin or Hive commands buzzing around inside my mind. No, I had a cock stand that could break rocks and a mark that burned for my one true mate. But there was no mate. Lindsey was only in my dreams.
Had the Hive finally broken my mind? All their torture and torment had been designed to force me to impregnate their strange drone females. But Hunter DNA was strong, and seemed to have a knowing all its own. There was no forcing a Hunter to breed. It was, literally, impossible. Stolen seed would die, the progeny never take root in a female womb.
But with Lindsey? Gods, I’d fuck her three times a day to see my seed take root and grow. The urge to fill her with my child was violent and undeniable.
My mate. How the fuck was I dream sharing with a female when there were no unmated women on the entire planet?
I’d gone mad.
“Hunter? You with me?” The Governor’s arms were crossed and his brow furrowed. He tapped his foot in a rare outward sign of annoyance.
Why was I here? Oh, yes. An intruder. “Yes. I’m here.” As much as I could be with the memory of Lindsey’s hot pussy milking me dry still spinning in my mind.
“Find the intruder quickly,” the governor commanded. “Find out what the fuck he’s doing. If he’s an enemy, if he’s working with the traitor, I want him dead by nightfall.”
I nodded to the governor. After all the shit that had been happening on The Colony—death, Hive infiltration, treason—we didn’t need more.
When the traitor had been one of us, he’d had many friends. But now, his name was not spoken, at least not by any who lived and breathed on the Colony. He was simply, the traitor.
I was new here, but I was settling in and considered The Colony my home. I wanted the traitor found as much as the governor and it was my job to find him and mete out justice. I was a Hunter. Vengeance was in my very blood.
If this mystery intruder was going to kill us all, I could hunt him despite my painful need to fuck and a burning mark. That—or whatever was wrong with me—would have to wait. Lindsey would have to wait. Even if I could find her, I would not bring a new mate here under such a threat.
I slapped a hand on the top of the control panel, the sound spurring me into action, the painful strike redirecting my mind off my mark. “Get me the plans for the ventilation tunnels. I’ll find him.”
Chapter Three
Lindsey
I followed the sound of voices, shouting, cheers through the vast network of Base 3’s air shafts. While I’d been given a map showing the spider web path they took, they hadn’t told me the air kicked on every few minutes or that I would be caught up in a hurricane. At first, I’d panicked, thinking I was going to be knocked off my feet and pushed through the tunnel like a tumbleweed across an open prairie. I’d put my hand up on the smooth metal, but there was nothing to grab and hold on to, so I’d dropped to my knees, tucked my head down and waited. It lasted perhaps thirty seconds, then stopped as abruptly as it had begun.
Once it was quiet again, only the lingering roar in my ears remained, I took a few deep breaths, savored the stillness, then continued on. I was supposed to go to the command center first—the heart of the operation within this specific Base—but the consistent blasts of air every few minutes had me wanting out of the super-sized shafts.
Yes, I was hidden in here. Yes, it was an easy way to get out of the storage area unseen. But those were the only positives. If I hadn’t worn my helmet, I would have had no protection for my eyes. The air blew so strongly I wasn’t sure I’d be able to suck in a breath with my face bare. And I could only imagine what my hair would have looked like. I never went in for the whole “windblown look.” I made that mistake exactly once, getting on the back of my high school boyfriend’s motorcycle with my long blond hair flying, whipping behind me like a banner shouting my wild, reckless freedom.
It had been wonderful. Liberating. Exhilarating. I felt like a movie star or a shooting comet. Until we stopped.
Three hours. It had taken my mother three hours, two hair washings and half a bottle of conditioner to untangle the mess and I’d never done it again.
I learned. Eventually. Usually, I learned life’s lessons the hard way—but I did learn.
When I heard the voices, the shouts, I was drawn to the noise. Yes, I was on a mission, but I was the only one here from Earth investigating a strange planet from an air shaft. Everyone else was light years away getting Big Macs from McDonalds and sleeping in their own beds. If I wanted to deviate a little bit, so be it. And besides, I was supposed to find men from Earth, Navy SEALS and soldiers and marines locked away like prisoners. I wasn’t going to see anything interesting crawling around these stupid air tunnels.
Resolved, and curious, I followed the sounds of people—of aliens—instead of going to the central part of the Base. I’d been asked to find out what was happening on The Colony, right? And the only way to do that was to watch the inhabitants, and by the sound of it, quite a number of them were directly ahead.
Why were they so loud? So excited? Judging by the way the shouts bounced and echoed through the cavernous tunnels and the metal walls, it was a large group and they were doing something. Watching something that ebbed and flowed. Like a contest of some kind.
Or an MMA fight.
I literally saw light at the end of the tunnel. White strips of it cut through the vent opening. Leaning against the wall, I angled my head so I could look through.
This was it. The moment I saw aliens for the first time. Would they be green and have scales like a lizard? Would they be blue tinged and have weird gills? Tails? Two heads? An eye in the center of their forehead or a forked tongue?
God, what if they wanted to eat me?
No. No! That wasn’t possible. The go-team would have warned me of that, wouldn’t they? And besides, if humans were food, there wouldn’t be human fighters walking around for me to film. Right?
Right?
The air vortex kicked on again and I crouched down, counted to thirty in my head. I was pretty close and it shut off at twenty-eight.
Enough. I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I peeked out, took my first look at The Colony.
Stretched out below me was some kind of amphitheater and it was filled with men. No, not men. Aliens. Really big aliens.
I could only see their backs as they were all looking down at something. I couldn’t see what it was they were shouting, jeering and cheering at because they were all so damn big. Broad shouldered and tall, not quite giants, but bigger than most men on Earth except perhaps the defensive line for the
Chicago Bears. Most of them wore armor similar to mine, but sized to fit their huge physiques perfectly. At least my handlers at home had been right about the wardrobe.
They weren’t green. Or blue. From here, they looked like men from Earth, only much, much bigger. Brown hair. Golden. Black. A beautiful, copper red.
I sighed, a bit disappointed, if I was being perfectly honest. Where were the blue skinned barbarians I loved reading about in one of my favorite romance series? Where were the guys with scales who could shape-shift into dragons and breathe mating fire into a woman’s body and make her burn with desire?
Brown freaking hair? Really?
I hadn’t seen their faces yet, but they all had two arms, two legs, very nicely shaped asses and massive, panty-melting shoulders.
God, I loved a good set of shoulders.
Which made me think of Kiel, and that weird dream—that amazing, wonderful, wicked dream. Kiel, with his dark hair and eyes, and that big, orgasm inducing cock…
My hand flared with heat and my pussy clenched. Another burst of air came through and I dropped to my knees again. Crap. This was the fifth, maybe sixth, time it had happened. I tucked my head and counted, waited it out. I was so done with the damn air. The ducts. Small spaces. Two days locked in a crate, and now, my head crammed into this stupid helmet. The air stopped.
A round of cheers filled the air, everyone’s focus was away from me, so I took the opportunity to open the latch and slip past the slatted door. Leaning against the stone wall, I looked around. The circular area was some kind of arena and cut out entirely from the rocky terrain. While I noticed the sky was blue and there were two moons, I knew I had to focus on all of the aliens, not the dang sky. I had the same outfit as they did. I was small, a lot smaller than most of them, but I could blend in. I just had to join the crowd, to participate. No one would know I wasn’t from The Colony. I’d see what held their attention. It wasn’t just a journalist’s curiosity. I wanted to stay out of the damn air shaft.
Cyborg Seduction (Interstellar Brides: The Colony Book 3) Page 3
