His Virgin Mate(45)

Bryn held out his hand to the woman nearest him. “Come. We are taking you home.”

The children were big enough to walk on their own but held the women’s hands or the long length of their dresses.

Shots rang out from far away, the women cringed, clung to their children as Von led them through dark gray corridors. A shout sounded in Von’s headpiece, loud enough for all the women to hear as Von whipped his head about. “We must go. Now.”

He led the group, Bryn taking the rear.

Three Hive Scouts came around the corner directly ahead of Von, their strange silver skin and metallic eyes making them look like walking metal, despite the fact the closest Hive’s face was shaped like a human. The other two were clearly of different races, one Prillon, his non-silver skin a striking orange tone. The third was an odd blue, and I took the knowledge from Von’s mind that he was once a warrior from a planet called Xerima, a cold planet of extremes, of ice and volcanic activity.

Von was shocked to see him, as Xerima was under Coalition protection, but did not yet send warriors or brides to the war. Their people were considered too barbaric and uncivilized. The Atlans in particular, their closest planetary neighbor, did not get along well with the blue-skinned race.

Whatever the hell an Atlan was. All I could remember was Von shouted a warning to Bryn, was that the Atlans turned into some kind of beast. Which sounded scary.

Von fired his weapon, but the closest Hive, the one who looked like an average brown-haired human back home, kept walking like the hit did nothing.

The closer he got, the more I noticed the shimmering silver slivers that seemed to be alive and moving under his skin like tiny worms. They covered his neck and half his head. One eye was completely silver, like mercury in a meat thermometer, and he never blinked, just kept walking.

“Fuck. Get them out of here, Bryn!” Von shouted the command and took a couple steps back, but bumped into Lady Nerum.

“I’ve got three!” Bryn shouted back and fired his own weapon.

“Ladies, get down!” Von bellowed as he rose and charged the Hive, firing repeatedly into the creature’s head until he toppled over, his skull actually sizzling as Von stepped over his twitching body. “Stay down!”

He risked a glance over his shoulder and met Lady Nerum’s gaze. She nodded as Hive shots raced over her head in both directions. Bryn bellowed from behind them as Von yelled curses into his comms. “We’ve got the package. Pinned down in corridor three.”

“We’re coming.” The voice was barely heard over the sound of the Hive’s heavy booted footsteps. With their first man down, the remaining two Hive focused on Von with an intensity that made me shiver.

“We will kill you now.” The blue one spoke and his voice was menacing.

Von actually chuckled, which made me want to scream at him to run, to get out of there.

Instead, he pulled two long knives from inside his boots and stood slowly. “Come and get me, boys.”

The Hive charged, but Von moved too fast to track. He vanished like a ghost in a streak of darkness. The black armor he wore made him nothing more than a hint of a shadow.

Holy shit. My man could move.

Earth media downplayed the Hive, made them out to be like some kind of TV sci-fi bad guy. Scary the way dragons or wizards were scary, as in not really real. While we were told that they were dangerous, they’d been light years away from Earth.

This Hive? He wasn’t far away at all. Only a few feet in front of Von with his own weapon out and firing on my mate.

I screamed, but no one heard me.

The two Hive dropped, blood splattering from the backs of their necks. Behind them, my mate reappeared, his knives wet from using them to sever their spinal columns with his blades.

“Bryn?” he shouted.

“Clear. Let’s go.”

Von hurried to the ladies and helped them to their feet, Bryn assisting. “Carry the children. We need to run. These Scouts are dead, but the Hive will transport replacements. We need to hurry.” Lifting his hand to his helmet, he addressed his other team members.

“You’re too slow. We’re clear. Meet at extraction point.”

“Confirmed. Meet at extraction point for transport.”

His long legs ate up the distance to the meeting point as the women hurried along behind them. I wondered why Von didn’t carry one of the children, but realized if they met more Hive, he’d have his hands full of babies and not be able to fight.

“We clear for transport?” he called to the other three Hunters who waited. One was bloody and the others were coated in black as if they’d come in contact with some kind of fire.

One of them nodded. “Cleared and ready.”