Mated to the Beast(16)

Instead of answering, the warrior clenched his fists at his sides as if fighting for control. All around me rifles were held steady as we waited to see what the Atlan was going to do. “She is not here?”

“Who’s asking?” Seth raised his ion blaster to make sure the Atlan knew to be on his best behavior. “I don’t know you, soldier. You transported into a live op, and endangered two units. I’ve got five dead because you blew our surprise. From where I’m standing, I should shoot your ass and get on with cleaning up your mess.”

The Atlan slumped, as if bothered by what my brother said. “I apologize for your loss. We did not realize I would be transporting into an active combat zone. It was a terrible mistake.”

“Why are you here?”

I tightened by grip on my rifle waiting for his answer.

“I am looking for Captain Sarah Mills.”

“Why?”

“She’s mine.”

My head was shaking a hell, no before I had even processed his words. Eyebrows raised, I stood and lowered my rifle. “Seven, keep him in your sights.”

A chorus of acknowledgments sounded in my ears as I lowered my ion blaster and tried to decide what to do. The giant turned at the sound of my voice and I removed my helmet, dropping it to the floor. He looked as if he would move toward me, and I raised my blaster to stop him. “Don’t.”

“You are Sarah Mills.”

“How do you know me? I don’t know any Atlans.” Meeting his gaze was a huge mistake as the instant lust I’d felt watching him earlier returned full force. I was tempted to lick my lips and tease him closer, which was just stupid. As I stared with as blank an expression as I could manage, a strange buzz danced over the skin of my neck and face. I tensed, my gaze flying to Seth. His eyes widened as he felt the energy building.

“Incoming!” I shouted, diving for the floor as a blast of energy cleared the center of the room.

When the concussion ended, three Hive soldiers stood in the exact spot we’d fled.

The Atlan roared, charging. My men opened fire from the upper decks at the surprise Hive. The soldiers did not attack as I feared, but nodded to each other and disappeared—transported into thin air—one by one.

The last, however, was inches from Seth. He grabbed my brother and spun, hoisting Seth into the air to use as a human shield as my brother’s ion rifle clattered to the floor at his feet.

Seth!

I lifted my pistol, but I couldn’t take a shot without hitting my brother. The Atlan looked at them and froze mid-stride. All my training kept me in position, my aim steady as we waited to see what the Hive soldier would do.

“Release him.” I yelled at the Hive soldier, but he ignored me, his gaze on the real threat, the Atlan giant just a few paces away.

Seth kicked, reaching for the injector at his side as he screamed at all of us. “Do it! Take him out.”

“No!” I screamed at my brother as the Hive stepped back, further away from us, my brother held to his chest like a shield.

In my ear, Richards’ voice was like the devil’s own temptation. “I can take the shot, captain.” He was above me, and a decent shot, but not perfect, nowhere close to a true marksman, and this was my brother’s life on the line. Richards would have about a four-inch window to kill the Hive soldier and leave Seth breathing.

“No. Not yet.”

The Hive warrior holding Seth lifted his weapon and aimed it at the Atlan. We were all frozen as the emotionless silver eyes of the Hive soldier scanned the room. Before we could do more, the Hive pressed a button on his uniform and he… he disappeared. So did Seth.

Gone. Poof. Into thin air. On Earth there was no such thing as transporting. It was something for old TV shows, but never in real life. Only those fighting with the coalition saw it in real life. Beam me up, Scotty. The first time I’d been transported, I’d been terrified. The technology was supposed to be cool and had been, until now. Now, my brother had been transported somewhere, somewhere Hive. Somewhere I knew they turned coalition fighters into machines, replacing body parts with synthetic implants until there was nothing of the individual left. He was there one second, gone the next.

Unless my brother chose door number two. All at once the memory of his hand reaching for the injector at his thigh played like a broken record in my mind. “Seth!” I screamed.

The crazy Atlan—the one who’d wrecked our op and caused the Hive to take my brother—turned his head and stared at me. Those dark eyes narrowed, his full lips thinning. He wouldn’t look away, not even when every ion blaster in the room was pointed in his direction. I felt something, something primeval and explosive flare to life in me as our gazes locked.