Mating Fever(31)

The Prillon warrior in green chose that moment to enter the small exam room. He closed the door behind him, giving us privacy for a conversation no one else but Commander Karter himself had the clearance to hear.

He turned to Nyko. “You may go, Warlord.” I tensed at the command, not wanting to be alone in the room with the doctor.

“No.” The beast didn’t even twitch.

“Warlord—” The doctor started, but Nyko stood and walked around to stand beside my shoulder. Like a lovesick idiot, I smiled up at him, not even trying to hide the need on my face. He did that to me, made it okay for me to be vulnerable. It was a crazy feeling, but once I started with him, I didn’t seem to be able to stop. It felt good to lean on him, to trust him. Too good. I’d seen him pull Hive Soldiers in half. I wasn’t worried about the doctor, not with Nyko beside me.

The doctor changed tactics, looking at me. “Captain Simmons. This is not a conversation for others to hear.”

I rolled my eyes. “Look, Doc, he was in the cave with me. He saved my life. He killed all three of the Nexus units, and helped me remove the sample from the creature’s head. He’s already seen everything. He knows more about them than you do.”

Doctor Mersan pursed his lips and nodded, looking up at Nyko, which was no small feat, since the doctor was probably seven feet tall himself. “You should be debriefed, Warlord. We will have some questions for you.”

Nyko simply growled and for some inexplicable reason, that made me laugh. I knew Nyko would calm down and tell the I.C. anything they wanted to know. I was sure the doctor knew it, too, but he scowled at Nyko and shrugged. “And that is why we don’t recruit Atlans.”

That was that, and he ignored Nyko’s presence. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.”

“You never should have removed your helmet so close to Latiri 4.”

“I know that now.”

Nyko interrupted. “Why? Why not hurt now?”

Mersan was a Prillon warrior in his prime, maybe forty years old. His skin was a deep bronzed gold, his hair a burnished copper. His eyes were dark, coffee brown and intelligent. Shrewd. But he knew better than to argue with Nyko. Especially if he wanted the Warlord to volunteer any information on those Nexus Units.

“The Karter is orbiting well outside of the Hive’s current communications range. The Hive’s network can’t reach you here.”

I looked up at Nyko, wanting him to understand. “My helmet shields me from Hive transmissions, just like that cave.”

He grunted in understanding as the doctor continued. “The commander is running a continuous scan for their command sub-frequencies, now that you’re back on the ship, but we need to get you out of here as soon as possible. If you came in direct contact with a Nexus Unit, they know you exist. They’ll be hunting you, Captain. You’re a danger to the ship and everyone on board.”

“I know.” I shifted in the chair, suddenly uncomfortable. “I can transport now.”

Nyko put his hand on my shoulder, as if to stop me from moving, but Doctor Mersan shook his head. I wouldn’t be transporting anywhere without his clearance.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Doctor Helion is not at I.C. Command and won’t be for a while. And that was a significant bleed. Next time we might not be able to stop it.” The doctor’s voice was calm and even, clinical. The sound escaping Nyko was anything but.

“Next time?” he asked.





Chapter Nine

Megan



The doctor just cocked an eyebrow, leaving it up to me to explain or keep the beast in the dark. My mission was not only to fight the Hive, like Nyko and the other fighters, but also to help the I.C. unravel their communications system, find out how their implants and microscopic pieces all worked together and communicated. And the Nexus Unit was a huge leap in the right direction. Doctor Helion told me the Coalition had been trying to get one of them for more than twenty years.

The Nexus always ignored the bait…until that bait was female.

The first female to volunteer was still missing. That fact had scared the shit out of me, but I was strong. Fast. Smart. I knew I could pull off this mission and bring the Nexus puzzle pieces home.

I’d been dead wrong. That thing had looked in my eyes and he’d broken me, made me feel so isolated and alone I would have given him my soul.

Nyko had saved me. He was one hell of a warrior, and he deserved happiness. Even if it wasn’t with me.

I sighed. Nyko and I had been through a lot together, including one wild night. I at least owed it to him to explain. “I work for the Coalition Intelligence Core. My job was to lure a Nexus Unit, eliminate them and retrieve their neural communications unit along with some body tissue samples. The Coalition has long believed that there are some kind of specialty Hive trios that act as communication hubs. They’re like Hive commanders. They think on their own and give orders to the rest. Until yesterday, these Nexus units were nothing more than a rumor, myth. But Nexus 9 was the first we’ve ever encountered. We had to lure them away from the main attack group and kill them.”