Nyko’s smile was almost frightening. “You and me, Captain. Then, when I beat you, Megan is mine.”
“Cocky, aren’t you?”
Nyko glanced at me with a heated gaze and I easily deciphered his smug, possessive expression. “When it comes to Megan? Absolutely.”
I hid laughter behind my hand as I pretended to cough. Nyko’s reference to being “cocky” had nothing to do with the challenge, and everything to do with…
Seth nodded. “Done.”
My gaze darted back and forth between the two men, but settled on Seth. “Your sister mated an Atlan?”
“Yep, Warlord Dax. Big son of a bitch, but he’s a good guy. Saved me from the Hive. She lives on Atlan now, in a fucking fairy castle wearing pink dresses and shit.”
I cringed. “What’s wrong with pink dresses?” I mean, they weren’t really my style, but I was all about choices for women, not rules.
“She used to be like you. Before Dax came along, she was in command of ReCon Unit 7.”
Gasping, I looked at Seth with new eyes. As one of the few women fighters onboard this battleship, I’d heard all about its recent history, and the rare woman who’d come before. “Sarah Mills is your sister?”
“Yep. And she’s a pain in my ass, just like you.” Seth checked the practice weapon strapped to his thigh and lifted his chin to Nyko. “You ready, Warlord? Let’s do this.”
Nyko rolled his shoulders as I tried to grapple with this new information. Captain Sarah Mills? The crazy Earth woman who’d run an unauthorized—and suicidal—rescue mission into Hive territory? But it hadn’t been crazy. She’d gone in after her brother. And her new mate, a beast just like Nyko, had gone with her.
Nyko moved to walk past me, but I stopped him with a hand to his chest. I knew I was the only person who could stop him with such a gesture. He was too strong for anyone to stop if he didn’t choose it. “What are you really doing?”
“You’re a better shot than he is, aren’t you?” The question took a moment to register, warmth seeping in to dark, cold places inside me I didn’t know were there.
“How do you know that?”
Nyko frowned. “How many times have we run combat missions together, mate?”
“I don’t know.”
“Seven.” He knew?
I frowned. “So?”
“So, I pay attention.” Nyko smiled, the sight almost feral. “At least to you.” He leaned down and kissed me, a quick, soft kiss in front of everyone. “I’m winning you. I’m faster than he is, and I don’t want his fucking name next to yours on that fucking board.”
I kissed him back. I’d never been into the dominant, possessive, jealous type who marked his territory. But this time, I kind of felt like I was marking mine. And I was just competitive enough to be thrilled with the idea of an unbreakable record up on that board. And having Nyko’s name next to mine long after we both left the Karter behind gave our match a legacy, proof that we were not only well matched in bed, but on the battlefield.
When Nyko beat Seth by five full seconds in their individual match, I cheered and gave him a huge kiss in front of everyone. Again. Being a beast, he turned the kiss into something hot, wet and better suited to the bedroom, but everyone just rolled their eyes and waited for Nyko and me to run the gauntlet.
Seth shook Nyko’s hand and glanced at me with a sly grin. “It was a good run, you and me. But you’ve got your mate now.”
Yeah, I was done with fighting. Seth and I weren’t a team any longer. It seemed Nyko was my new partner, and not just in bed.
“Ready?” Seth held up his hand as Nyko and I put on our helmets and crouched at the entrance of the training run. I traded mine out for a standard issue. I didn’t want the extra weight of my specialized helmet slowing me down. And I didn’t need the magnetic shields here, on board the battleship. “Three. Two. One. Go!”
We raced, dodged, ducked, fired and ran like hell. My heart pounded so hard, I could barely hear over the rush of blood in my ears. Gasping for breath, muscles burning, head pounding, I pushed through next to my mate. The adrenaline rush was divine, and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had so much fun. Nyko was faster than he looked, and strong. In the end, we reclaimed the top spot.
“Four-fifty-one.” I took off my helmet, dropped it on the floor and pumped my fist in the air, then flipped Seth the bird. That shit was going to be impossible to beat.
He grinned and shook his head, clearly defeated. “Damn it, Nyko. No one is going to be able to top that for years.”
Seth didn’t sound pissed, just resigned.
Nyko removed his own helmet and his smile spread, his blue eyes glowing with a carefree ease I’d never seen there before. He was having fun, too. “My name will be with Megan’s on your list. She’s mine.”
With a chuckle, Seth looked at me. “So, I assume, based on those cuffs I see, you’re out of here?”
“Yep.” I blinked, slowly. Seth blurred in front of me. “My two years was up. You knew that.”
“Yes, but I didn’t expect you to request a match the minute after you were released.”
“Yeah, well, why wait? Life is short.” My head was hurting again. The doc said I was fine, but all of a sudden, I didn’t feel fine. With the adrenaline waning, I knew something was wrong. Perhaps this hadn’t been such a good idea after all, since I still had Hive parts in my head.
“I’m happy for you two. When do you leave?”
“Few hours.” I wish the answer was now, because I really, really needed to get that implant exorcism I’d been promised. As if it knew I was thinking about it, it buzzed inside my head and pain slashed at the top of my spine like a hot knife working its way under my skull.
Seth held out his hand to me. I ignored it, and the growl that came from Nyko, when I hugged my friend instead.
“Take care of yourself, Seth.”
“I will.” He patted my back, then stepped back. “Look up my sister when you get to Atlan. You two would get along great. Drive these big guys out of their fucking minds.”
“I will. She sounds like fun.” And I would, assuming I ever made it to Atlan. My brain was bleeding again, I could feel the pressure building. The ReGen pod had only worked for so long. And maybe I hadn’t rested as much as the doctor had wanted. I’d fucked and fucked some more, then ran a fight simulation. Yeah, that hadn’t been resting. Bright halos appeared around everyone’s heads and I knew my eyes were going bad. Stepping back, I let Nyko wrap his arm around my waist, reclaiming his territory. I wasn’t trying to make him jealous. I didn’t play games like that. But Seth was my friend, and I might never see him again. If I wanted to hug him, I was damn well going to.
I swayed, leaning into my mate as things began to buzz in my ears. It was too much. I couldn’t fight it. “Nyko?”
He heard something in my voice and swung me into his arms immediately. “Megan?”
There was no energy left in me to resist, and I didn’t want to. I wanted Nyko to take care of me. “My head.”
Seth stepped forward. “What the hell’s wrong with her?” I heard him tap his NPU, activating comms. “Medical, we have an emergency. Training Level Two.”
“This is Doctor Mersan. Go ahead.”
Nyko’s voice was a low rumbled warning. “Megan Simmons is on her way to Med Station Three.”
“Understood.”
I thought the conversation was over and closed my eyes, tucking my head under Nyko’s chin, but Doctor Mersan’s voice hovered in the air like a dark fog. “And Nyko?”
“Yes?”
“Hurry.”
Chapter Thirteen
Nyko
Megan was unconscious. Not moving. Stretched out on the doctor’s exam chair completely helpless and small and there was nothing I could do.
The helplessness was driving my beast mad. It paced and circled, wanted to rip the head off the doctor for not healing her immediately.
“What is wrong with her?” I growled.
> The doctor passed another wand over her head and checked the readings. “You know what’s wrong.”
Yes, I knew. She was bleeding again. As if the bright red droplets leaking from her eyes weren’t a clue. Thank the gods I wore the mating cuffs. Without their steadying influence, I’d be tearing this place—and this nonresponsive doctor—to pieces. “So, stop the bleeding.”
“It’s not that simple, I’m afraid.” The doctor nodded to one of his assistants. The young woman moved to Megan’s side, running a ReGen wand over her head, exactly the same way they’d been doing for the last ten minutes. Nothing was happening. The color on the wand wasn’t changing to indicate she was healed. The device was accomplishing nothing, which meant her crisis was severe.
Power built in my shoulders, the beast surging to break free, but he couldn’t help our mate. Not right now. So I shoved him down with a brutal, merciless push. “You told me she was fine. You told us both she could resume all of her normal activities.” Fucking and playing and racing around that training course like a maniac. “Doctor?”
He moved to her abdomen, scanned there. Entered some more data into his tablet. Walked to her head. Lifted one eyelid. Looked. Dropped it. Lifted the other.
“Doctor?” I repeated, this time loud enough to make heads turn.
He moved to walk past me and my hand shot out, wrapping around his throat before he could blink. He was big, a Prillon warrior in his prime, but I was ready to tear him to pieces if he didn’t stop fucking around with his data and actually help Megan. “That is my mate on your table. And I am not a patient man.”
His only response was to lift a brow and pull my hand from his throat. “Calm down. I have a comm out to Doctor Helion. He’s going to meet you at a transport station in sector 523. He’ll remove the implant and place Captain Simmons in a ReGen Pod for repair.”
“Put her in one here. Now.” Was the man an idiot? She was bleeding. Why transport her somewhere else?
Doctor Mersan shook his head, and it was then I saw the darkness behind his gaze, the worry. “We’re trying to stabilize the bleed with the ReGen wands, but the pods are for slower, deeper repairs, and the implant is reactivating two or three times a minute.”
I had no idea what that had to do with anything. “What does that mean? What is it doing to her?”
“It means we can’t stop the bleeding. As soon as we heal the tissue, the implant destroys more.” Doctor Mersan walked past me, this time placing a hand on my shoulder, as if offering support, or condolences. “If she doesn’t have the implant removed in the next few hours, there won’t be anything left of her brain to save. It’s killing her.”
The comms sounded, and Commander Karter’s voice came through the speaker. “Doctor. This is Karter. We’ve got Doctor Helion standing by. We can transport her directly out of medical.”
“Understood. Standby.” The doctor waved over several more medical officers to assist him, but when I realized they were trying to lift and carry Megan from the table to the transport pad on the far side of the room, I pushed them out of my way and lifted her into my arms. If anyone was going to carry her, it was going to be me and there was no fucking way I was being left behind.
I walked to the transport pad and stood, facing the doctor. “Do it.”
“Warlord, I’m afraid Doctor Helion only authorized one transport—”
My beast growled and I felt my face begin the change. If he thought I was going to allow them to send my Megan halfway across the universe in her current state, he was out of his fucking mind. She was mine. Mine to protect. “She wears my cuffs. Send us now.”
I didn’t need to say anything more. He knew as a mate, I would not tolerate being separated from her. He also knew the pain the cuffs would give us both if we were apart. Not for the first time, I was grateful for the heavy metal locked around my wrists, my link to Megan.
The doctor sighed, but spoke up loud enough for the commander to hear. “Two to transport in three…two…one.”
I didn’t hear anything else as the cold, twisting pain of transport pulled us to a new, unknown place, and to a man I hoped could save my mate’s life.
* * *
Nyko
The transport station was small, even smaller than the mid-station off Latiri 4. The push-pull of transport faded and I swayed for a moment as my head cleared. Megan was curled against my chest, her eyes squeezed tightly closed as if, even unconscious, she was in pain.
“I will take her now, Warlord.” A large Prillon warrior wearing green stepped forward. His skin was bronze, his hair the color of copper and his eyes a dark brown, like Megan’s. He was from an old family, one of the original families, if I had to guess. Which meant he was probably wealthy and powerful and used to getting his way. Instead of soft medical clothing as I was accustomed to, he wore full armor, thick and plated against ion blasts, just like mine. But it was dark green, a color only doctors wore. I’d never seen armor like his before. The man held out his arms as if I would simply hand over my mate like a delivery boy.
“She’s mine.”
I said nothing more but waited until he met my eyes.
“Fine. Fine. But if I don’t get her to surgery, she won’t be for long.”
I growled, I couldn’t help it. This Prillon was, no doubt, the doctor who’d put the damn thing in her head in the first place. He was responsible for her pain.
We stared at one another for a few seconds, my gaze locked to the unrelenting and unapologetic eyes of a Prillon warrior. He could save her and I could not. I knew if I wanted Megan to live, I had to let this male take her from me. But not here. Not yet. “Transport us to your medical station.”
He shook his head. “I’m afraid that’s not possible, Warlord. The location of the I.C. command center is highly protected. I can’t bring unauthorized personnel onto base.”
What. The. Fuck? I took a step back, held Megan even tighter against me. “Fuck your protocols, Helion. I’m not leaving her. She’s my mate.”
“You know who I am?” His copper eyebrows winged up.
“Yes.” I made sure every ounce of threat I could muster was in my eyes. “I was in the cave when the Nexus 9 almost killed her. I tore two of those blue bastards apart with my bare hands. I helped her pull the living tendrils of that fucked-up thing out of the Nexus’s spine after it was dead. I won’t stand here arguing with you about protected information while she dies. Transport us now.”
Doctor Helion looked at the cuffs on my wrists, hers…sighed. “Damn Atlans.”
He grimaced, but nodded, stepping up onto the platform next to me. Below us, a single officer ran the control panel. He was human, like Megan, his skin a similar color, but several shades darker. His eyes were nearly black. He was big, for a human, with black hair cut nearly to his skull. The entire station could have fit inside my personal quarters on board the Karter. Four people, and it felt crowded. “Get us out of here, Tomar.”
The warrior nodded, his hands flying over the controls, but seconds passed, and nothing happened.
In my arms, Megan moaned, shifting with discomfort. I tried to soothe her as the doctor spoke to his man.
“What’s the problem?”
“We’re being jammed, sir.” Tomar’s hands flew over the controls. “Fuck me. It’s the Hive. They found us.”
Megan’s scream filled the small room, echoing like an explosion as a bright burst of light blinded me. Three Hive Soldiers transported into the room.
This time, when the doctor held out his arms, I gave Megan to him as gently as I could. I had no time to make sure she was all right. The small human at the transport controls had drawn his ion blaster, but he wouldn’t last a minute trapped back there with three deadly Hive Soldiers bearing down on him.
My beast roared, drawing the enemies’ attention.
I knew exactly what they were trying to do, destroy the control panel, trap Megan here. Capture her. Take her.
I rushed to the Soldiers, mowing into the firs
t one like a giant fist. I kept track of Tomar as his fingers flew over the controls. I knew the moment Megan was gone, transported with Helion to I.C. where I knew she’d be safe—at least from these Hive bastards. My cuffs sent a painful pulse of electric shock through my body at our separation. But my beast was too enraged to care, or allow that to stop him. These creatures were a threat to my mate. They’d come here for her. They wouldn’t get her, and they would die fighting me.
I tore the nearest Hive in half, the spray of blood blinding the second. Tomar attacked him with a shot from his ion blaster as I lifted the third, throwing it as far as I could, the thing’s metallic parts crashing against the far wall with the sound of screeching metal.
I hoped that was the sound of the Hive’s skull cracking in half.
Tomar had stunned the remaining Hive, but I knew the Soldier class. They were strong, tougher than they looked. If their bodies were intact, it was only a matter of seconds before they’d come for us again.
“Warlord!” Tomar rushed past me as an alarm sounded in the room, the blaring noise making my head pulse.
I followed the human up onto the transport platform, his frantic motions impossible to ignore.
“Hurry. We transport in ten seconds.”
My beast grunted, taking a protective stance next to the Earth man. “Good.”
He grinned, his bright white teeth a startling contrast against his dark brown skin. He reminded me of the Prillon warriors, the old families, with their darker coloring. Tomar fired his ion blaster into the body of the unconscious Hive closest to us just to make sure the fucker stayed down. “Yeah, good. Because the whole place is going to blow in fifteen.”
I hadn’t processed his words, too focused on the farthest Hive Soldier. He struggled to stand near the wall where I’d thrown him like garbage. Gaining his feet, he turned and lifted his weapon, but the twisting pain of cold space pulled us away before he could fire.
When we came out of transport, I expected to see the unfamiliar surroundings of Doctor Helion’s secret base. Instead, I was greeted by the sight of Medical Station Three, and the shocked gazes of Doctor Mersan and two of his medical officers.
Mating Fever (Interstellar Brides Book 10) Page 12
