Chapter 27 Chonk
CHONK
Iwanted to ask. Plead. Steal her away from the others, especially the alpha. The medic. I could smell both on her.
Will you accept me too? Please?
Let me hold you. Touch you. Breathe you in forever and ever.
At least until you’re back in the alpha’s protection once more. Then…
He might make a quick snack of me, but it’d be worth it. Just to hold her like this a few more precious moments.
I didn’t know what former missions might have brought me to this moment. I didn’t fucking care. As long as I could be and stay with her.
She made another soft, fragile little sound that brought my raptor rumbling to the very edge of my control. Her scent heated, her musk driving me mad. I’d lick my fingers to taste her, but I didn’t know if that’d push us both over the edge. It might. If she tasted as good as she smelled…
My raptor would burst open this tight tunnel to get inside her.
:Agent’s still there,: Terroar said on the grid. Then privately, to me, he laughed. :Sorry?:
:Do we know how long we have until the hull breach?: Even on the grid, her sultry voice strummed deep inside me.
:The alpha asked me to estimate time to hull breach approximately ten minutes ago,: Spike said. :Based on what he showed me, we have seven more minutes before the hold is compromised.:
:Fuck,: she growled. :We’ve got to get rid of the agent. Now. Ideas?:
:I tried sending him a command to investigate a new area of the ship but it didn’t work,: Terroar said. :He’s locked.:
:What does that mean?:
:Only Snyder can give or change the agents’ orders. I’ve also done some poking into the lift controls, and he’s rigged its programming too. Just like he said, nothing alive can use it to exit the hold without his override approval.:
Faint thuds reached my ears. :Is that the alpha trying to break out?:
:Negative,: Terroar said. :The stampede crew is trying to bust through where Spike estimated the tungsten would be thinnest.: He hesitated a moment. :He’s not hopeful it will work.:
:If we can get rid of the agent, we’ll just take the lift. Can we all fit on it at once if you shift?:
:Negative,: Terroar replied. :It would’ve been a tight fight for the three of them to leave the hold at the same time.:
:Which is exactly why Snyder put that code into it. It’s a bottleneck. Control that single spot, and he controls everything. What if…:
I loved the way her mind worked. Starbursts of color flared on the grid as she brainstormed plan after plan.
She filled the grid with crackling energy, firing up all of us.
Everybody was throwing out ideas or running scenarios through like mini vids.
A confusing cacophony yeah but it also helped distract us both.
:Wait,: she said excitedly. :You said Snyder’s the only one who can give the agent outside new commands. And he’s the one who programmed the lift too.:
:Right,: Terroar said.
:I might know his override code. If he’s lazy and used the same one, at least.:
:It’s worth a shot.:
:Try “Maximus.”:
A long, agonizing second passed. Neither of us breathed. Then Terroar let out a low whistle. :Holy fuck, you’re amazing. How did you know his code?:
:I heard him use it on Earth. Open the back door to the ship’s computer for me, Terroar.:
:Done.:
She lifted her head and grinned up at me. Her eyes burned with the power of a supernova, and I wanted nothing more than to lock my mouth over hers and drink her down. :The ship’s mine now.:
SYKO
“Danger,” the computer announced in a perfectly calm voice. “Hull integrity is compromised. Life support will deactivate in two minutes. Counting down.”
Failure was an unfamiliar bitterness on my tongue that oozed and dripped like the KMM’s acid eating through the hull.
I didn’t like it. Not one bit.
The three of us sat on the cold tungsten floor, staring at the locked lift doors, me in the middle. The other two dyni kept glancing up at me, waiting for me to figure out a way to save us. It galled me to watch the hope slowly die in their eyes. Their realization that I couldn’t save them.
I’d failed us all.
Pain shredded me. My monster was none too happy with me either. Claws raked my ribcage. Powerful jaws pulverized my bones. Yet I kept him contained. If I had to die, I’d die in this form so I could remember what it felt like to hold Holly against me.
Temptation burned to connect to her one last time. But it would be selfish of me to indulge in the peace of her mind and spirit only to force her to feel me die.
Choose well, mate of mine. Build your squad. Find a way to escape this prison that killed me.
Kaos made a choked sound beside me. Cracking my eyes open, I turned my head, surprised to see him smiling. The sound had been a smothered laugh.
“Sorry, just musing about how ironic this whole situation is,” Kaos said. “I’m made from the only thing DSC can’t control. Which is why you woke me up. But again, I can’t be controlled so kaboom.”
“Nothing matters anyway,” Nihil replied, making us both laugh.
“Evidently we’re all appropriately named,” I said.
We could have communicated without physically speaking on the grid, but in our final moments, words seemed best. Real words. The casual heat of their bodies on either side of me.
Even badass engineered super-soldiers liked a little physical contact before they died.
“Is Holly appropriately named?” Kaos asked.
I considered my databanks for a moment. “Evidently her name derives from a type of evergreen tree on earth with prickly leaves and red berries. I wouldn’t describe her as either of those things.”
Through our connection, I felt an intense wistfulness from both of them.
How rare it must be for dyni—especially experimentals—to mate.
To feel an instant biological connection.
A sense of belonging. Completion. I’d never experienced such intensity of emotions until meeting the little scrap of a human female.
I didn’t think she’d mind if I allowed them to glimpse our few precious moments together.
Closing my eyes, I allowed the memory to fill my mind and spill onto our grid so they could enjoy it too. The delicate silken taste of her skin on my tongue. Her determined courage. “Please don’t eat me. I can help.”
Even now, I let out a low huff, partly derision but mostly affection. Such a fragile little thing offering to help me. The unstable, flawed alpha even DSC gave up trying to control, with immense, destructive powers to warp and twist realities by my will alone.
Yet she had helped me. She gave me a reason to live. Even if only briefly.
The lift dinged. My eyes flew open. Someone was on their way down—to join us in death. “Computer, how long until breach?”
“Forty-five seconds,” she replied.
The doors opened.
No.
Holly. Naked, smudged with dirt, a few bloody scrapes on her body. A huge, pleased smile on her face.
“NO!” I bellowed, throwing myself toward her. Slamming her back into the wall. Covering her with my body.
But it wouldn’t be enough. I couldn’t shield her. I’d be sucked out first but—
:Glad to see you too,: she spoke into my mind. :We need to get the fuck out of here.:
I punched the wall, slamming my head against it. Claws sprouted from my hands, screeching against the tungsten in a fruitless effort to tear my way to safety. Not for me. For her. :You can’t die. Not like this.:
“Let’s go!” She yelled. “Come on!”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her the lift wouldn’t work. They didn’t either. They crammed in around me as the doors began to close.
“Hull breech eminent,” the computer said. “Ten seconds, nine, eight…”
Terrible sounds tore my chest. Rage. Death spiraled inside me. A black hole of hatred, crushing all of DSC’s creations into nothing but dust. Indigo flared in a brutal burst, darkening toward ultraviolet. If we must die…
Small hands cupped my cheeks, her fingers gentle but firm. Stroking me. Bringing me back into my body. “I’m here,” she crooned softly. “It’s alright now. You’re safe.”
Shame strangled me. :I don’t care about me. I wanted you to live. I wanted you to have your squad, even if you had to do it here.:
:You’re my squad, and we’re getting out of here. Starting now.:
The lift vibrated around us. It took a moment for me to realize we were moving, not imploding. The locked lift was going up.
I couldn’t comprehend how. Not with her in my arms. With the knowledge we weren’t dying. Not this time.
I dragged her up higher so I could lock my mouth over hers. Taste her from the inside out. Hear the sounds she made. A startled oomph. A low welcoming sigh. Her arms locked around my neck. A lifeline for me. Pulling me back from the spiraling death threatening to obliterate me.
:Everyone meet us at the lift,: she said on the grid. :We’re getting out of here.:
The door opened to a hallway crammed with dyni. All twelve of them.
:Already here,: Rekt said. :All we need is our pilot and a jump location.:
If I could tear my mouth away from her lips long enough to think. To remember how to jump. :Location I’ve got. I’ve had plenty of time to think about it.:
Closing my eyes, I pressed my face against her throat and breathed in her scent. Letting her calm and focus my mind. The black hole began spinning again, and this time I allowed it to flare around us. Brilliant indigo burning through my eyelids, crackling with energy as the jump ring solidified.
Without waiting for a command, the UGRR was the first to step through to the other side, hitting his max speed to prepare the way for my mate and the rest of our future squad.
Shimmering ultra green mixed with indigo, his power loaded and ready.
I didn’t have to tell him to scout the area to ensure nothing unexpected lay in wait.
I smelled a hint of my mate’s musk on him as he passed. He’d touched her. Intimately.
Baring my teeth against her skin, I let out a low rumble. :Did he have your permission to touch you?:
Shy uncertainty flickered through her, her skin heating in a delicate blush. :Yes. I tried my best to ignore him but…:
I opened my mouth and gripped her shoulder in my jaws, biting down firmly without breaking the skin. :My mate gets everything she wants. She builds the squad she wants. If you want him, he’s yours.:
She arched against me, rubbing her body against mine. :I want you first.:
:Done.:
The rest of the dyni followed the raptor, passing through more rapidly.
Until only Rekt waited—and the two dyni who’d prepared to die with me.
It touched something inside me that had never known loyalty or trust or comfort in any way, shape, or form that they’d stayed.
When they could have been the first to jump through to safety.
I didn’t want to cloud her choice of squad, but if it were up to me, they’d be next in line after the raptor.
:Oh.: She squeaked. :That would make our squad six.:
:So?: I gave a mental nudge to Nihil and Kaos, and they stepped through together. Though there was no doubt in my mind they’d be waiting for us to step out on the other side rather than disappearing to explore. :Make it all fifteen if that’s what you want.:
Rekt paused for a long moment, as if considering and weighing alternatives. Decision made, he stepped closer to both of us, pressing against Holly’s back without touching me. When I didn’t snap at him, he wrapped his arms around us both, pressing her tightly between us.
She let out a shaky laugh. :I assume you’ve met Rekt?:
:I smelled you on him when they put him in the cell next to me.:
She made that little squeak again that made my hunger go up a notch. :You did?:
:I smell him on you now.:
Her cheeks burned. :I must reek. I don’t know that I’ve been washed since Snyder kidnapped me.:
At the mention of our nemesis, I tightened the jump ring around us.
Power spun, gaining weight and force, pulling us across space to the destination I’d chosen.
Pressure built around us, spinning tighter, faster.
A destructive spiral. Large enough to obliterate this ship into space dust they’d never be able to put back together.
My skull hummed and throbbed, bones cracking, pulverized in the immense gravity of a black hole.
Letting the ring slip free, I threw my head back and roared. Alpha. Predator. Indigo Giganotosaurus Rex.
King of the fucking universe.
I tapped what remained of the network in case Snyder’s controllers were still listening, though the ship was crushing in on itself in the wake of the gravity sink I’d deliberately left behind.
:Come after my fucking mate again, and I’ll destroy everything you hold dear.: