Like any bride from Earth was going to want wind up there. Not that I spoke the thought aloud. I didn’t need to. My mates had felt my dislike for that idea through the collars. Then again, maybe it was just me. There could be a spelunker from back home who wouldn’t mind living like a bat in a cave. But that she was not me.
Rachel knew her way around and we were before a closed door just a few minutes later. Krael’s quarters. The Hunter, Kiel, moved to the front and stood before it. He took several deep breaths, moving his head around the edges and the control panel as if he was some kind of bloodhound.
The process was both fascinating and weird and drove home the fact that I wasn’t on Earth anymore, that these guys were all aliens.
“Your mates have been here,” Kiel opened his eyes and stared down at me like I’d have some kind of explanation.
I shrugged. “That’s not surprising, considering they’ve been looking for the missing men.”
Kiel shook his head and looked over my shoulder, sharing a look with Captain Marz, who stood behind me like a towering oak. “What is it?” Marz asked.
“They were not alone.”
Cold jelly fingers wrapped around my heart from the inside and I fought to remain still. “Tell me. I can see it in your eyes that something’s wrong.” I glared at the Hunter, daring him to lie. “Tell me.”
Kiel didn’t look at Marz again, which won him brownie points with me just as Warlord Rezzer growled and took a step closer to Rachel. Distracted, I turned to look at the Atlan and saw the bones in his face appear to shift under his skin. His shoulders bulked up, but just when I thought I was going to get to see my first Atlan beast, he stopped changing, stuck in some kind of half-way in between. The one word he spoke, however, killed every ounce of curiosity I had.
“Hive.”
Kiel nodded when I turned back to him.
“Hive? Here?”
The half-beast growled again, the sound almost loud enough to drown out the pounding of my pulse inside my ears.
Kiel leaned into the door and took another slow, measured breath. “Yes. True Hive. An Integration Unit and at least two Soldiers.” His eyes darkened, looking resigned. “And Perro. He was with them, too.”
I had absolutely no idea how he knew this by just starting at a door and the entry control panel, but I was impressed. Not happy about his findings, but definitely impressed.
“By the gods.” Marz pulled his gun free and I followed suit, my adrenaline pumping. This hunt was on full-throttle now. “Were they with Hunt and Tyran?”
With a nod, Kiel activated his comm device and spoke to someone in Base 3 command. “What is the current location of Captains Treval and Zakar?”
There was a long pause on the other end, but eventually the Prillon warrior that Marz had sent back to base answered. I had a thing for voices, and I recognized his. “They are several hours overdue. There are two search teams out looking for them now.”
What?
A scream built in my throat, but I didn’t let it out. I didn’t want to scare these big, bad aliens with a screech that would surely make their ears bleed. “My mates are missing, and no one bothered to tell me?”
Rachel stepped up next to me and put her hand on my arm. I didn’t want to be touched, but I held still, forced myself to behave. “We’ll find them.”
Kiel thanked the officer and turned away from the door, walking off in a direction that looked like it went…well, absolutely nowhere.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Your mates were taken this way. Do you want to go with me now, or stay here and wait to summon assistance?”
Forget waiting. My mates were missing and Kiel knew which way they went? Yeah, no decision making needed. “Let’s go.” I hurried to catch up, Warlord Rezzer and Captain Marz falling in step behind me. Rachel, however, hung back. I glanced over my shoulder. “What’s up?”
She tilted her head and put her hands on her hips. “I’m going to go back and get some help. We’ll be right behind you.”
I nodded and looked down as I took my first steps off the manufactured walkways of the Base and onto hard red rock. A few random shrubs struggled to survive in the rocky terrain and suddenly I didn’t feel like I was home at all. I felt like I was on Mars, and the two most important people on the planet were out there lost in the maze of rock and caves. No, not lost. Taken. They needed me.
I’d only been loved, really loved, by my mates for a few days but that was long enough for me to know I wasn’t willing to give that up. I was addicted, and I was going to get them back.
* * *
Tyran, Hive Containment Cell, The Colony