would leave and make new plans and be back in a matter of hours. This planet must be returned to the control of the Coalition Fleet so that it could no longer be used as a base station for Hive raids and harvesting missions on protected planets in the nearby solar systems.
The Hive Integration Units, the specialized enemies that tortured captives, injected them with Hive technology and tried to break their minds, would move on to another world. Another solar system. Another underdeveloped or helpless civilization ripe for harvest.
And we would follow. We always gave chase, as did Karter, the Prillon Commander in charge of this battlegroup. Every warrior in the Fleet was here for the same reason, to protect their home world and the people they loved. To protect all worlds from the Hive. The Hive civilization did not conquer, they devoured. They consumed everything and everyone until there was nothing left. Not even a man’s own mind.
The Warlords around me, my friends, all served for some big, noble cause. I served because I had nothing left but honor, and tearing a Hive Scout’s arms from his sockets, his head from his body, gave me a grim sort of pleasure, of purpose in an otherwise empty life.
There were other Atlan warriors here who had families, who had chosen mates waiting for them to return to Atlan and start a new life. They had sisters and brothers, parents and cousins. I had nothing, no family, no mate, no reason to keep fighting except the beasts who fought beside me. This unit was my family, had been for years, and I had no wish to leave.
But my body betrayed me. Even now, as the Hive scurried and chased us, my beast roared inside my head, growing stronger with each passing day. Desperate for a mate. That meant the fever was upon me and that soon, I’d have to find one true mate. Or I would die.
Soon, the beast within would turn against me because of this need and I would kill anything that caught my attention, be that friend or foe. The Mating Fever boiled in my blood like poison, and no amount of willpower nor stubborn pride could defeat the beast that lurked inside me like a monster. Blind to anything but the need to mate. It was perfect for the intensity of conflict, but back on the battleship, it would be dangerous.
“Hive!” Beside me, my friend Anghar shoved me with his shoulder as he rushed past to attack three Hive Soldiers that appeared around the side of a large boulder to block our way, or pick us off from behind. These were larger and stronger than the Scouts we’d been ripping apart for the past several hours.
So much harder to kill.
My beast roared a challenge as I raced after Ang, two huge Atlan Warlords riding the razor’s edge, needing to kill. His fragile—and wild—state was the reason he’d gone, just a few weeks ago, and submitted to the Interstellar Brides Program’s processing protocols. I should have gone with him, but the fever hadn’t consumed me then as it did now.
Unfortunately, since the Mating Fever was coming on stronger and more intense than ever, I feared my bride would be too late to save me. Whoever she was. Wherever she was. And based on the killing rage coming from Ang, I knew he might suffer the same fate. He would be matched and quickly mated, ensuring the fever was relinquished entirely. As for me, if I did not find a mate soon, I would be locked up and executed, a danger to myself and anyone who dared come near me.
Nothing save death could stop an Atlan beast lost to Mating Fever.
Death, or a mate. And unmated females were thin on the ground in the Fleet, and the few who lived on the ships were either mated already, or soldiers so damn stubborn that I, for one, didn’t want to deal with them. One in particular had caused me more than one sleepless night lost to anger.
Megan Simmons. She was a human and a Coalition soldier who had been with the battlegroup for the last two years. Her rank was Captain, but she bounced around between units, always moving. She was unruly and unstable and seemed to have a thousand secrets. Lately, she’d been going out with Captain Seth Mills, the newly assigned commanding officer of ReCon Unit 3.We’d been their escort and protection on more than one mission the last few months. Each time, it seemed she would seek me out and purposely challenge my patience. Even Seth, a human I liked and respected, a human whose own sister was mated to one of my Atlan brothers, could not control her. He would either scowl or grin, but never try to stop her from sassing me, or anyone else on board the ship.
There were so many times I wanted to spank some sense into that small female, but she wasn’t mine and never would be. Thank the gods. That female was trouble. No doubt, even now, she and her unit were here somewhere, combing the ravines and flushing hidden enemies from their traps.
Even last week, she’d come across a trio of Hive and tried to kill them on her own. No support from an Atlan. What had she been thinking? She and her unit were little better than a suicide squad, and not one of the stubborn humans seemed to recognize this absolute fact. Nor care if they died. Especially Megan Simmons.
Both things that made me crazed with the need to turn her over my knee and make her see that she was going to get herself killed. Why her lack of caution pissed me off so much, I had no idea. Why I kept an eye on her more than any of the other Coalition fighters, male or female, I had no idea. Why I wanted to spank her ass for being reckless and no one else’s, I had no idea.
There was something wrong with me. My beast was making me lose my mind, especially where Megan Simmons was concerned. There were nights I would stare at my ceiling and think of her dark skin and black hair, the lush, ripe curve of her ass. She was tall, and muscled. Strong for a female.
I’d always wanted a mate who would submit to me, a female who was gentle and tender, whose touch would ease my mind and soothe my flesh.
Megan Simmons challenged anyone and everyone who crossed her path, Atlan, Prillon or human. She had a mouth that never quit and was absolutely fearless. Reckless. Wild.
And that thought made my cock hard as a rock, even as my mind rebelled at the thought. Atlan females did not fight. They did not challenge authority nor charge into battle. They lived to soothe the beasts within their mates, to keep us sane when killing or fucking were the only two desires our minds could process.
“Nyko?” Commander Wulf’s yell had me turning away from the Hive before me. I was nearly upon them, Ang a step ahead of me.
“Go!” My own deep voice rolled over the rest of the unit and Wulf smiled at me, his beast clearly hungry for more havoc and destruction as the unit left Ang and me to deal with the three Soldiers. The rest of our unit moved on, ever closer to that last transport platform. We needed to get the fuck off this planet. Now.
I turned back around just as the Hive Soldiers looked up at us, shock rounding their pale silver eyes as Ang grabbed the first one around the neck and lifted him from the ground with one hand. Ang’s second hand found the base of the Hive’s spine and I knew it was a matter of seconds before the Hive’s head would no longer be connected to his body. Ang specialized in tearing their bodies to pieces. He’d lost his youngest brother to the Hive last year, and his hatred added fuel to his beast’s rage, a rage already extremely difficult to control.
My target drew his weapon as I approached and fired at point-blank range. The blast seared my chest through my armor, the heat staggering as I reached him.
I did not have time for Ang’s games as the third Soldier raised his weapon and fired on me again from directly behind the first.
Pain ripped through my left shoulder and I knew I would need use of the ReGen wand in my combat pack before I would be back to full capacity. But my wounds could wait. I’d had worse. Much, much worse.
Grabbing the closer Hive’s head, I
