Chapter 19

19

B reanna

My body rebelled at the things I'd just seen. My stomach heaved. Thank god I hadn't eaten much, because what I did have came out as I vomited all over the floor. Mikos's memory was so much worse than I'd been ready for. So horrifying. Disgusting. Revolting.

No living being could truly be that evil. Could they?

The little boy survived, barely. The dark red armband the child wore identified him as someone from Cerberus Legion. I'd learned the colors since my arrival, and the relationships between the five Legions. Astra and Cerberus were enemies. That little boy was, technically, my mate's enemy.

Mikos had saved the child anyway.

If I hadn't loved him before, feeling his rage in that memory, his instinctive need to protect that child, would have sealed the deal. He didn't believe he was a good male, an honorable mate for me. I had no idea if he wanted to be a father, but I found myself dreaming about having half a dozen little ones crawling all over him, calling him daddy.

He was so wrong about so many things. He was everything the men I'd dated in the past were not. Powerful. Honorable. Merciless. I was so tired of following all the rules, only to have those rules, laws, and restrictions, cost me everything. My father, killed in someone else's war. My mother, lost to financial worry and keeping her new husband happy so he didn't kick us out. Robbie, who knew exactly who the bad guys were, but couldn't lift a finger against them because he had to follow orders, obey the law.

We obeyed the law, and the criminals ate us for lunch.

Not my Mikos. He killed who needed killing. No remorse. No guilt. No regret.

He and Shade had some kind of plan, right? When he'd allowed Shade to put those cuffs on him and lead him off Sebastion's ship, Mikos hadn't seemed worried. Not like someone who was literally being marched to his execution. When I went to visit him in that holding cell, he'd refused to try to escape, said he had to stay and finish this.

As hard as it was, I had to trust him and hope he knew what he was doing, even as my heart broke for him. No one should be forced to do what he did, to kill over and over just to protect the people he cared about. Killing took a piece of the soul. I'd felt it, first in the army. My bullets took down a faceless enemy and I'd still had nightmares for months. Then in the DEA, when I'd shot and killed a stupid fifteen-year-old kid running drugs for his older brother's gang. He'd shot at me first, but that didn't matter. He was a kid, and I'd hated myself for doing what needed to be done. Even the Hive Integration Units I took down left their mark on me. Not guilt, exactly. Just a thorn in my heart, a tiny ache I could never escape, not because they were dead, but because I grieved what I'd become.

If the Hive used their technology for good instead of evil, they could literally transform the known universe. Change everything. Help so many people. Instead, they made the choice to conquer, integrate and destroy everything they came into contact with. Such a waste. Such a fucking waste. Just like that fifteen-year-old kid dying so his brother could sell more cocaine. Why were people so lost?

"Get up, slave." One of the two guards Slomak left with me prodded me in the hip with the titan stick. The electric jolt threw me back onto my side. "Time to let your mate know you're here."

I was going to kill this one, too. Right after I killed Slomak. That was the fantasy, at least. In truth, I wasn't sure I could pull it off. They were both huge, integrated with Hive tech, and mean as hell. I'd be happy to let Mikos end them. I had zero doubts that my mate could rip Slomak's head off his body, just like he'd done to Slomak's father. That asshole had deserved it, as did his son. And this guy, brandishing the titan stick like it gave him superpowers.

"Fuck you, asshole."

The guard responded by jamming the titan stick between my shoulder blades, right next to my spine. A jolt of agony bowed my back. That's what I got for running my mouth. My mother always told me my sassy mouth would get me into trouble. Hah! She had no idea.

"Get up."

I obeyed, not because I was afraid of him and his stupid stick, but because I could do more damage on my feet than on my knees. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I wasn't going to allow them to use me to take down Mikos. Not happening. I'd die before I let that happen, force them to kill me.

Hell, I should have died once already, on that Hive ship. Mikos's bite was the only reason I was still alive. My mate had a plan, I knew it. I needed to stay alive and be ready to help when the time came. I could do that. I'd been trained in the military for this situation, dragged from my bed in the middle of the night and attacked, tortured, experienced the terror of being captured by the enemy so that, if something like this happened in real life, I wouldn't panic.

Panic was not on my agenda. Fear? Yes. I wasn't an idiot. But I buried that weak emotion under rage, disgust, and the absolute truth of my love for Mikos. I'd do anything to help him, including sacrifice my own life. He was mine.

With titan stick asshole behind me, I shuffled forward, walked to the front of the stage to stand a few steps away from Slomak. The confusion on his face was priceless as the leaders of the five Legions yelled at one another, and his uncle. He didn't have one of the headpieces on, hadn't seen Mikos's last memory.

"Tarduk Trach attacked a child of Cerberus." The woman who stood in front of the group with red arm bands had a look of death about her. She looked like she was about the same age as Astra, and her eyes blazed with killing rage. "There will be no execution today, Drakdak Trach. Be grateful Mikos gave your brother a quick end. He would not be so lucky if I had him."

Drakdak was hideous, the weird band of silver circled his head like he had male pattern baldness and had replaced the remnants of his hair with metal. He didn't look so regal in his ridiculous robes now. I hoped he tripped and fell on that train. I'd never seen a train that long, not even at the handful of weddings I'd attended on Earth. This was Princess Diana long, the heavy black material two or three times as long as the alien was tall. His skin was so pale it was nearly translucent. The veins in his temples and neck bulged now as he faced down all of Rogue 5. The Legions were angry, and he was their target.

"Drakdak Trach, you lied to all of us. Your brother broke the contract before Mikos took his life." Astra stood up. The Forsians stood behind her—shit, where was Barek?—and pulled their weapons free. They looked ready to jump the distance from their raised seating area to the floor and charge the stage.

Good. Asshole. This was not going the way Drakdak planned.

Where was Mikos? Why was he not speaking in his own defense?

I found him at once, his eyes blank and empty, as if he were unconscious. His body slumped in a strange black chair that had been placed in the center of a white floor that looked like marble. The contrast in color made me think of a horror movie. Did they like the white floor because it would show all the blood? Why wasn't he moving? Was he still under the weird mind control of the crystal machine? The Officiant?

Four metal-heads surrounded him. Too close. They could kill him before Astra Legion could reach him.

Damn it! Where was Shade? He was supposed to be in on this stupid plan. So where was he and why wasn't he helping?

The Officiant had listened to me once. I hoped it would respond again. "Officiant, release Mikos." I shouted the order, making sure whatever artificial intelligence ran the crystal, mind-control system would hear me.

Slomak's hand connected with my cheek, hard. I saw stars as he leaned over me, a sneer on his face. "You'll pay for that later, slave."

I kept my mind on Mikos, willed him to wake up, to fight. Slomak was irrelevant. He had no idea who I was, what I was. I was a soldier, a warrior, a survivor. My mate was the scariest motherfucker I'd ever met, and he would come for me.

Slomak was already dead, he just didn't know it yet.

"Kill him!" Drakdak shouted the order to his minions, but it was too late. I straightened my spine and shouted with glee as Mikos rose from his seat like an avenging angel. With a roar that reached into my soul, he somehow broke the restraints on his arms into two halves and used them like clubs to bludgeon the two metal-heads closest to him.

"With me!" Slomak yelled at his men and grabbed me with one hand wrapped around my throat. He yanked me off the ground, my feet dangling as I glared at him.

"You're dead, you know that, right?" I didn't have enough air to shout the words at him the way I wanted to, but he heard me.

"You first, female." He carried me off stage, his two personal guards falling into step behind us as I kicked and clawed at him. The same guard jabbed me in my side with the titan stick. My scream came out a pathetic croak, but I managed to land a solid kick to Slomak's balls.

He grunted, the look in his eyes pure evil as his hand tightened around my throat, cutting off my air.

I didn't fight, knew if I did, he'd just choke me for longer. I slumped in his hold, the sound of Mikos's rage filled bellows wrapped around my heart and kept me warm as the outside world faded. All I had to do was stay alive long enough for my mate to find me. He would come for me. He would save me. He was not Robbie, not my father. He didn't follow the rules, wasn't limited by laws that gave assholes like Slomak the upper hand.

My mate hunted his enemies. Ripped their heads off. I'd just watched him do it to Slomak's father. Maybe, right now, Mikos was killing Drakdak. Wouldn't that be nice?

I stared into Slomak's eyes for as long as I could. I saw fear there. Anxiety. He knew.

Mikos would come for me.

He…would…come…

Mikos

I'd been half conscious when Breanna's voice ordered the Officiant to release its hold on me.

Now I knew exactly who requested the memory of Tarduk's cruelty be revealed.

"Kill him!" Drakdak's order filled the Sim Arena.

Astra yelled. My Forsian brothers leaped from their seats to the floor of the arena, racing toward me. They would not be fast enough, but it mattered not.

Using every bit of strength I possessed, I twisted my arms, broke the cuffs, the energy field holding them together weakened, as Shade had promised.

I swung my arms, striking the two Scion guards nearest me. The other two hesitated, unsure what I was capable of now that I was no longer restrained.

They were right to fear for their lives, because I planned to kill them all.

From my peripheral vision, I saw Slomak raise his hand and strike my mate. She stumbled to one side as I watched. She glared at him, defiant.

Gods help me, that female had more courage than was good for her. She was going to taunt that fucker into killing her.

Fighting to contain the rage boiling over inside my veins, I slipped the cuffs off my arms and reached inside the fragmented remains. I pulled two blades free from the exact place Shade had promised me they would be. Each blade was the length of my forearm, hidden inside either side of the cuffs, waiting for me to use them. If I could control the killing frenzy rising within me long enough to see this through.

Swinging a blade in a wide arc, I took the first guard's head, grunted with satisfaction as the silver-topped skull landed on the white floor with an audible thunk . The remaining three guards stepped back, unsure. Terrified, as they should be.

I ignored them. My Forsian brothers raced toward us across the hard, white floor. Soon, these three would be no more.

Not bothering to look back as Astra Legion swarmed what remained of my guards, I raced toward the stage, toward my true enemies.

Drakdak stumbled back. His feet tangled in the long stretch of fabric behind him. He bent at the waist, gathering the mass of heavy fabric in his arms, screaming at his guards to help him. My gaze narrowed as Slomak's hand wrapped around my mate's throat. He carried her from the stage that way, her feet off the ground, her gaze locked onto his with undisguised hatred. I watched her lips move as Slomak and his guards took her and disappeared from view.

I could not run any faster. Could not get to him without going through Drakdak and his four guards first. That would take too long. Too fucking long!

"Breanna!" Rage erupted from my body. Primal. Raw. I had no hope of controlling the ancient instincts of the Hyperion male to rend, tear and annihilate any threat to my mate. The Forsian part of me was no less savage. The two parts of me in complete agreement.

Slomak would die bathed in his own blood, his limbs torn from living flesh. His screams the only thing that would satisfy this primitive urge to destroy him for threatening my mate. For touching her. Raising his hand to her.

I'd planned Drakdak's death for so long, fantasized about the moment I would slit his throat.

His true end meant nothing to me now.

Breanna. I had to get to her.

I cut his men down in seconds, slicing their torsos in half. The fourth guard's body had not even fallen when I stabbed Drakdak through the heart with one blade and removed his head from his neck with the other.

No sense of satisfaction filled me. No victory. No sense of justice. No relief that the male who'd made the last eight years of my life a living nightmare was gone. Dead. His influence gone from the universe. He was nothing to me. Less than nothing.

Only Breanna mattered. My mate.

I yanked the blade free of Drakdak's chest and raced in the direction Slomak had taken my female.

The corridor leading out of the Sim Arena was empty.

She was gone, her scent disappearing about halfway down the exit corridor. He hadn't taken her outside. He'd transported her directly from this location to gods only knew where.

I dropped to my knees and fought the wrath drowning me, the uncontrollable fiend raging within to find her. To kill anything that moved.

I didn't need to be an animal right now. I needed to be a male who operated on logic, not instinct. I needed to think to find my mate, not succumb to the killing frenzy that consumed every cell, every broken part of me. Only my mate could make me whole again. Without her, I was lost. I couldn't see. Couldn't hear. My vision went black with fury. Vengeance.

I threw my head back and roared, dared any living thing to challenge me. I would kill them all. Everyone on this moon. Every male who'd failed to protect her. Every fucking member of every Legion. All of them.

"Mikos!" Astra's voice cut through the darkness like a blade through flesh. "Gods be damned, Mikos. Snap out of it! This isn't helping Breanna. Your mate."

Breanna. Where was Breanna? I could smell her. Feel her touch. Hear her moans of pleasure. "Mate."

"Mikos, listen to me. If you want to save her, you have to stop this. Calm down. I sent Barek and Ruk to find their ship. Sebastion is with them. But Slomak didn't take her there. Do you hear me? Sebastion said you implanted a tracker in her body. What frequency did you use? If we hurry, we can get her back before Slomak hurts her. Listen. To. Me."

A tracker?

Yes. I'd attached it to the backside of her rib when she was in the ReGen pod. The frequency was programmed into my NPU. Only mine.

"Yes." I blinked slowly and took a deep breath.

Astra moved close enough that I could see her feet without lifting my head. Too close to a distraught male. If Barek were here, he would scold her for being so careless. "Barek?"

"Get up, old friend. I sent Barek to track down Slomak's ship. We knew he was here. We knew he had Breanna. He's had her since last night."

"What?!" The black rage encroached on the edges of my vision, threatened to pull me back under. Slomak had her all night? What had he done to her? If he hurt her, I would…

"Get off your knees, Mikos. Control yourself. We can track her. Barek found his ship. We need you to activate the tracking beacon so we can hunt down and kill that fucker. We are all with you. Do you hear me?" Astra knelt down and lifted her hand to cup my cheek. The contact grounded me, interrupted the cyclone of fury spinning inside my head. "We are your family, Mikos. Let us help you."

I'd been alone for eight years, on the run, surviving on my own. I'd forgotten what this felt like. Family. Brotherhood.

I lifted my head and looked around, took stock of the males surrounding me. Every single Forsian in Astra legion, except Barek, stood at my back, ready to take on Slomak Trach and the Silver Scions for me. For my mate. Ready to start a war.

"She's my mate."

"We all know, my friend. She's yours, which means she's ours." Astra removed her hand and stood. I rose to stand next to her, my body shaking in the aftermath of losing control.

"Thank you."

She snorted as if I'd insulted her. "We finished off the Scions in the arena. I kicked Drakdak's head into Siren's section. They're playing catch with it. Slomak took your mate. Activate her tracker so we can go kill that sadistic fucker and end his family line." She looked at each Forsian in the corridor in turn, held each gaze to make sure they were all listening. "No Trach survives this day. The Trach Empire ends here. Do I make myself clear?"

I cleared my throat, unsure of what Astra might do with the information I was about to give her. "There are rumors, Astra, of another. Drakdak had a son." Based on everything I'd learned about the young male, he was quickly earning a reputation for being every bit as vile and sadistic as his father.

"Oh, I know." Her blue eyes glittered with hatred. "Where do you think Shade ran off to so quickly?"

What?

She actually grinned at the shock I was sure covered my face. "Drakdak's son is celebrating his twenty-third birthing day at his father's favorite canteen on Occeron. He won't survive to celebrate his twenty-fourth."

"How did you know? About my arrangement with Shade?"

Now she did smile, and the ruthlessness I saw in her gaze shocked even me. "Who do you think gave him the idea? Sent him to find you in Sector 435? Paid for the specialized cuffs he used to bring you in for the reward?" She came forward and wrapped her arms around me, hugged me as if I were her son, or her brother. Love for her stirred, long forgotten, from the deep well in which I'd buried it to survive on my own. "You're mine, too, Mikos. You're all mine. You were never going to come home on your own."

She was right. I'd stayed away to protect her and the rest of our people from the Trach Empire, from their influence and their assassins.

Astra released me and stepped back. She lifted her face to look me in the eyes. "I got tired of waiting, you stubborn asshole. I missed you."

"I missed you all." I would blame the tears that gathered in my eyes on Breanna. She wore me down, made me soft. Vulnerable. Weak. She made me remember what it felt like to love, to feel true fear. I couldn't allow myself to dwell on what Slomak might be doing to my mate right now. That path led to madness.

"I know. But you're home now. So let's go get your mate and finish this."

"Yes, Astra." I bowed my head to our brilliant, ruthless, cunning leader, to the female who made Astra Legion a family, and activated the tracking program in my NPU. The system linked with my optic nerves at once, overlaying a map on top of my natural vision. I saw the path laid out before me as clearly as if Breanna had left a trail of light. "This way."

I moved swiftly, our leader and an army of Forsians at my back. I ran toward the source of the signal, toward my destiny. My heart. My soul. My mate.