CHAPTER 21
Artemis
‘Hold her down,’ I ordered.
Reece obeyed, the dark glint in his eyes a match to the darkness I felt thrumming through my veins.
He had been fundamentally changed by the malicious ministrations of these evil pricks in more ways than one.
There was a shared understanding between us that hadn’t existed before he’d been taken, but once he’d been stripped of his freedom first, then his name had been replaced by an identification number, there had been no turning back.
He was like me now, and the torture we had both endured ensured we could never retain a single ounce of innocence.
It was a wonder Addy wasn’t down here with us, taking her pound of flesh, too.
The woman’s screams had started long before we’d even laid a hand on her.
It was quite pathetic, really, and did nothing but almost burst our eardrums and make the other prisoners turn practically feral.
It was as if that single shrill sound had flipped a switch, turning them into beasts with the single-minded goal of breaking through their cages.
Not on my fucking watch.
‘How do you want to do this?’ Reece asked while he pinned her to the floor.
‘We need to poke and prod at the implants to determine how they work.
We might actually need Addy for this,’ I mused out loud.
‘Want me to go grab her?’
‘No.
Bromm and Cadmus are on their way back.
I’ll ask one of them to fetch her.’
‘She won’t want to leave Xander and his sister’s side,’ he pointed out.
‘Not while they’re still unconscious.’
I sighed, my worry over our old captain surging to the forefront and encompassing everything else for a beat.
But I couldn’t let my emotions get in the way.
Not now.
Not with this. I didn’t know what was going on with Xander, though I had my suspicions. The lack of forthcoming information regarding his situation weighed heavily on me, but so did a multitude of other problems that just kept stacking up.
When was it ever going to end?
Noting my sudden exhaustion, Reece reached for me from his position on top of the woman.
We still didn’t know her name, but I recognised her from the battle on Nova Station and again after we’d commandeered the ship.
I didn’t much care to find out, however.
Who she was wasn’t important. Not when her actions were so vile. Let her name die with her when she finally met her end. And let it be a gruesome one filled with long, drawn-out suffering.
I had to hold back the urge to spit on her face, but that wouldn’t have been useful to anyone.
I let Reece pull me down to his level, perching on the woman’s legs while his body weight held down her arms and torso.
The look he gave me was at odds with the situation.
Gone was the hardness from discovering what we’d missed, and in its place was a tenderness I struggled to accept.
Were we doing this now?
His hand cupped my face, much like the way he had cupped me before capturing my lips in the most shocking kiss I had ever received.
‘It’s going to be okay, Arty.
You’re not fighting alone anymore, and we caught the transmission before it could reach its destination.’
‘We hope,’ I pointed out.
‘There’s no telling who’s received their S.O.S.
call, or if anyone’s received it at all.
Not until they come in guns blazing.’
‘We need to get the protective measures in place before it’s too late,’ he commented.
‘Indeed.
We’ll get right on it after we’ve dealt with these fuckers,’ I said, punctuating my message with a sharp jab to that tender spot just behind the woman’s knees.
She cried out, thrashing beneath our combined weight, although she couldn’t move much.
In fact, her chest was pressed against the ground hard enough that she was struggling to breathe, wheezing noises sawing in and out of her lungs in short, shallow breaths.
Neither one of us made a move to make her more comfortable, though.
Psycho bitch deserved all that she got and then some.
She was such a fucking hypocrite, whining and crying, begging to be released when she had strapped countless, helpless people down and dug into their skin, changing their DNA.
Or when she had studied our reactions when we’d been pitted against the other subjects.
‘If you can’t take it, don’t dish it,’ I told her bluntly.
It was like she didn’t even hear me.
Oh, well.
The more she struggled, the worse it would get for her, and it would be her own doing.
‘Hey,’ Reece said, dragging my attention back to him.
‘Are you okay?’
I released another heavy sigh.
‘I don’t have any other choice,’ I admitted.
‘Yes, you do,’ he argued, his tone leaving now room for debate despite the argument already pushing its way out of my throat.
‘You can be strong right now, but when we’re done here, you have the freedom to let someone else take over for a bit.
You don’t have to shoulder all this mess on your own, Arty.’
‘How touching.
Adding another one to your little harem?’ Demari’s mocking voice filtered through to us from the intercom connecting us to the inside of his cell, allowing us to speak without needing to open the door.
A quick trip to the web and I didn’t even need to get up to mute him.
Now, if only I could figure out a way to mute the bitch beneath us, too.
Bromm and Cadmus chose that moment to return, and Reece snorted out a laugh at the sight they both made stepping out of the elevator.
‘Really? Now?’ I couldn’t help but grin and bite my lip as they walked towards me, erections straining the crotch of the jumpsuits.
Bromm’s was writhing, his tentacles actively searching for a way out.
‘What?’ Cadmus drawled.
‘You’re hot, especially when you go all avenging angel.
Can you blame us?’
I shook my head, but I was laughing under my breath.
‘They’re not wrong,’ Reece whispered in my ear, and a shiver skirted over my skin at the sensation of his hot breath on my neck.
I shot him a deadpan look I didn’t really mean.
‘It’s just the adrenaline.’
‘Nah,’ he grinned.
‘It’s all you.’
‘To be honest, I thought there’d be more blood,’ Cadmus mused.
‘Why?’ I asked, utterly dumbfounded by these men.
‘The bloodcurdling screams.’ He gestured to the woman we were sitting no.
‘I didn’t expect… this.’
Right.
We had a job to do.
‘Demari and the shrieking banshee had implants that they were using to send out a distress signal,’ Reece informed them.
That stopped my men dead in their tracks.
‘The enemy is already on their way?’ Bromm asked.
‘It’s likely.
We may have caught it in time, but it’s safe to assume we’re working on a time crunch.
We need to get our protections in place tonight, right after we remove the implants.’
‘What do you need from us?’
‘To get Addy.
We need her brain to help us figure out the best way to remove them.’
‘You think they’re booby trapped?’ Bromm asked, surprised, yet not.
‘I think it’s a possibility I’m not willing to rule out.’ His words reminded me of the conversation we had that pushed me to this in the first place, guilt swamping me for running off on him.
‘Actually, Cadmus, if you could get Addy, I need Bromm to check on Tormik.’
Understand lit up behind Bromm’s eyes, even if Cadmus was confused.
He didn’t ask any questions, though, merely dropping down to press a kiss against my lips before rushing away to find Adara.
Bromm lingered a little longer, breathing me in when he bent down for his own kiss.
‘I love you,’ he told me, voice tender and firm in his conviction.
‘I love you, too.’
And then he was gone again, and I was left alone with Reece once more.
Well, and our seat, but I was actively ignoring her.
We watched each other, a strange sense of anticipation passing between us.
Our relationship was shifting, and it was happening so fast I didn’t know what to make of it.
Was this real, or with this like what happened with Bromm?
‘Why now?’ I asked him.
‘What changed?’
I didn’t need to elaborate.
He understood.
‘I don’t know.
It just hit me when you were with Cadmus after the rescue. I came upstairs to check on you both and… well, you were a little busy. But I heard you, and it was like this switch flipped inside me. You’d buried yourself in my head and wouldn’t leave.
I frowned, his answer making no sense to me.
‘Just like that?’
He mulled over his thoughts before choosing his next words.
‘I’m not sure.’
‘Do you think it’s real, what you’re feeling? It could be the nanites messing with our system.’
He exhaled slowly, processing what I was saying.
But then he shook his head, a frown marring the otherwise perfect smoothness of his skin.
‘I don’t think so.
At least not entirely. I thought you were attractive before. I mean, I woke up to find you fucking Bromm with Cadmus blocking you in. You were naked and wild and so fucking beautiful, but I wasn’t exactly in the right mind to consider what those feelings stirred in me. I don’t know if I just pushed them down or if they hit me hard and fast because of the nanites, but does it matter?’
‘Of course, it matters, Reece.
I don’t want you to want me because of a bunch of microscopic robots in your system.
I want you to want me because you want me.’
‘I do, though,’ he insisted, cupping my face again.
It seemed to be his favourite move, and I wasn’t exactly complaining.
It felt nice.
Comforting. Loving, even.
‘How can you be sure?’ I asked, my voice small as I let him see my vulnerability.
‘I know how I feel.
Was it a shock to the system how fast it came on? Sure, but that doesn’t mean these feelings aren’t real.
If anything, I think the nanites might have pushed me to acknowledge those feelings ahead of schedule, but they were there already.
Buried beneath layer upon layer of bullshit and trauma, but they were there.’
Despite his reassurances, I still wasn’t convinced.
‘If you say so…’
He tensed, and his hands dropped from my face.
‘If you don’t feel the same way…’
‘No! That’s not… I didn’t mean to insinuate that I didn’t have feelings for you, too, Reece.
I just didn’t think you wanted anything more than friendship from me, and I was perfectly at peace with that.
I have Bromm and Cadmus.
I wasn’t looking for anyone else. I’m just a little shocked. It came out of nowhere, and I don’t know if you know this but I have no clue what I’m doing.’
‘Okay, then answer me this.
Do you want me?’
The open vulnerability in his eyes was damn near my undoing, and I couldn’t speak anything but the truth.
A truth I hadn’t been willing to admit even to myself until he had kissed me. ‘Yes.’
Relief encompassed him, his muscles relaxing in a wave of release.
‘Thank fuck for that,’ he said, shooting me a shy grin.
‘We can slow things down a bit.
I know I’ve been… full on, but I can pull back a bit, let things play out as they will. No pressure.’
I chuckled.
‘Yeah, I’d like that.’
A commotion interrupted our moment, and we turned in unison to watch as Addy practically tripped over air while stepping out of the elevator.
Cadmus was quick to catch her, but not before stumbling in his attempts when her toes caught the back of his ankle.
‘Woah, there,’ he said with a breathless laugh that sent heat straight to my core.
I locked that down, however, considering my current seat.
‘I’m good!’ Addy called out, waving off Cadmus as he hovered over her, prepared for her to lose her balance again.
‘I’m here, Artemis.
What do you need?’
It was in that moment that I realised the woman had become silent and still.
Reece and I shared a look before scrambling off of her.
I wouldn’t cry if she died, but I would kick myself for killing a potential source of information.
Reece pressed his fingers against her neck to look for a pulse and placed his other hand in front of her nose to feel for breath.
After a beat, he rocked back on his heels with a casual grin.
‘She’s fine.
Just knocked out.’
I shrugged.
‘Makes this easier.’
‘And quieter,’ he joked.
‘Bitch has got lungs, I’ll give her that,’ Cadmus joined in.
‘Does someone want to explain what’s going on?’ Addy asked, hands on her hips.
I pointed to the unconscious woman on the floor.
‘This one and Demari have implants.
They used them to send out a distress signal, but we don’t know what else they can do or how to safely remove them.’
‘They could be booby trapped,’ Cadmus supplied, rocking back and forth like he had too much energy and no way to release it.
I’d gladly help him with that.
Later…
‘You want me to take a look,’ Addy surmised.
‘Please,’ I said, stepping away and pulling Reece with me to give her space to work.
‘I don’t want to just tear the implants out of them in case it trips another alarm or something.’
‘Got it.
I’ll see what these implants are about.’ The blue glow of the activated nanites mingled with her natural pink tones to create a purple glow that was unique to her.
Beautiful, delicate, with an underlying strength you didn’t see until it was too late.
The elevator dinged to signify another person’s arrival, and Bromm stumbled out looking more dishevelled than when he left.
His eyes were wide and wild, his chest heaving as he caught his breath.
When he opened his mouth to speak, I knew it wasn’t going to be good.
‘We have a problem.’