Chapter 17
Lyra
“One. Two. Three.” I threw the charge and screamed at Ethan at the same time. “RUN!”
I expected him to take off at a dead sprint. Instead, he raced to me and grabbed my hand, yanked me to my feet.
That fucking hurt. Every movement felt like small daggers were being shoved between my ribs. But I clung to him, holding his hand as we ran.
Maybe, if we could get back to the other side of the roof, jump down to the lower level… maybe the blast wouldn’t kill us.
I heard the explosion before the shockwave came for us, lifting us off our feet and throwing both of us over the edge of the roof.
Ethan pulled me toward him, twisted in the air so his body would take the brunt of the ten-foot fall.
We hit the tar and gravel rooftop hard. Rolled.
Thank the gods for the armor we both wore as it protected us from the blast of fire that roared over our heads.
Heat alarms blared inside my helmet as Ethan curled his body around mine, arm around my waist, shielding me with his back to the flame.
Bahre and the others were shouting at each other over comms, racing to us.
Shouting at the two human drivers waiting in the vans to get their asses moving.
I lay wrapped in Ethan’s arms as the dust settled, afraid to move, to speak, to believe we’d survived.
My pulse jumped, not due to the battle we’d just fought, but because now he would see me. Now we had to talk. Now I would have to show him what I had become and hope he didn’t turn away.
“Are you all right?” Ethan’s voice trembled.
Was he hurt?
I shifted, ignoring the agony screaming through me, and turned to face him. Touch him. Inspect him from head to toe. “Are you hurt?”
Our helmets bumped together, our faces as close as we could get with smoke and ash floating in the air around us. The air wasn’t fit to breathe, not yet. So we settled for helmet-to-helmet contact, arms around one another. We waited. Knew the others would come.
Kovo was there first, cursing as he lifted me off the ground as gently as he could. I winced and his beast snarled, clearly agitated. Where was Adrian when I needed her? A pissed off Warlord would only answer to one person in the universe.
I needed Adrian to tell Kovo to stop being an asshole to my man before I broke out my claws on my own brother.
Krag and Rohn flanked Ethan and pulled him to his feet, Krag reaching for the Scion blaster that had saved our lives.
Ethan grabbed it back, shaking his head. “Oh no, you don’t. Finders keepers. This is mine.”
Krag didn’t argue. We weren’t exactly following the rules right now, being here, going to war with the Silver Scions in the middle of a human city.
The Interstellar Coalition of Planets’ treaty with Earth did not allow for distribution of Coalition weapons on Earth.
But the plasma weapon in Ethan’s hands was not Coalition made.
It was a Scion weapon. Black market. Already illegal.
A weapon I now realized Ethan must have literally torn from the dead body of one of the cyborgs.
That gem of a thought made my beast purr in approval. Strong. Mine.
He hasn’t seen us yet. He might not want us.
My beast was not concerned. I am beautiful.
I hoped Ethan would look past the fact that we were, technically, from the planet he hated most. The planet that the now dead monster on the rooftop above us was also from. The planet and people responsible for the death of his brother. For nearly killing him as well.
“Jenkins?” Ethan asked as he regained his footing. Krag steadied him as Rohn left us to leap up into the blast zone and inspect the damage.
“He’s in the van with the hunters and Egon. They’re already gone. Taking him to the Processing Center. Warden Egara has a ReGen pod and she’s closer,” Bahre informed us.
Rohn’s head appeared above us and he whistled. “You need to come up here and see this.”
I didn’t want to see the charred remains of what had once been a proud, honorable Warlord. But I needed to know it was over, the Ethan’s brother was avenged. That I’d taken care of my mate.
We made our way back to inspect the damage, Kovo glaring at Ethan anytime my mate reached for me.
We gathered around a heap of smoking ash and metal. The cyborg had died the hard way. Smoke curled up from where its throat used to be. Its limbs were still twitching. The Atlan male—all the living, organic parts of him—were gone, but the cyborg integrations were still trying to function.
I bent down and quickly took a DNA sample; sure he had family back on Atlan who were wondering what had happened to him. Were missing him. Worried.
They deserved the truth.
The wail of human firetrucks and police sirens sang through the night air like phantoms on their way to us.
“We’re done here.” Bahre checked a setting on a wrist monitor. “We need to leave. This whole place is going to blow in a few minutes.”
In that moment I remembered that Warlord Bahre once worked for Commander Helion and the I.C. as well. He knew what Helion’s orders would be. No trace. No evidence. Nothing for the human engineers to reverse engineer. “Let’s go.”
Krag led the way. Rohn kept an eye on Ethan as Kovo moved alongside me. Warlord Bahre guarded our backs as we jogged back to the waiting van. A human I didn’t recognize gave a slight nod to Bahre and started the engine, pulling away before we even had the doors completely closed.
I breathed a sigh of relief as the thunder of a large explosion sounded outside.
Then another. Several loud booms rocked the industrial park as Krag watched the monitors mounted to one wall.
The teams’ drones circled above the site and ran multiple scans.
No life forms. No energy signatures. Nothing for the humans to use. Nothing but ash.
He entered a command to call back the drones. They settled on top of the van with distinct clicks. Our driver got us out of there as we all sat in silence.
Ethan sat across from me—where Rohn had basically dumped him. I sat facing him, unsure of what to do, one hand wrapped around my aching ribs. All the males removed their helmets. I did not.
Ethan noticed. Of course he did. He seemed to be watching every little thing I did. His gaze darted from my face to the hand clutching my ribs over and over, his frown deepening.
The moment we pulled into the garage at Bahre’s compound, Ethan was on his feet, pulling me toward him. “You’re going back in the ReGen pod.”
I shook my head. “I can wait. I’m sure someone else—”
“No. You’re first.” He glanced around the van, daring any of the other males to argue with him. None did. “You’re first, Lyra. Jenkins was taken to another pod. No one here is dying. They can wait. You’re in pain.”
I was, and it was getting worse. Or better, depending on how I looked at it. Did feeling light-headed and numb count as better?
Without waiting for my agreement, Ethan lifted me in his arms. Kovo growled and tried to take me from him.
“Fuck off. She’s mine.” There was death in Ethan’s tone. A warning from one male to another not to touch his mate. My beast was thrilled.
I nearly laughed at the scowl on my brother’s face. Would have if I hadn’t known how badly it would hurt.
Ethan carried me out of the van and through the house, right back to the room I’d woken up in not that long ago. Gently, like I might shatter at any moment, he set me on my feet and reached for the locks that would remove my helmet.
I grabbed his hands to stop him. “Don’t.”
Ethan wrapped his hands around mine and stared up into my beast’s eyes, seeing me through my last line of defense, the helmet’s translucent face shield. “Listen to me. You’re mine. I don’t care what planet you’re from. I don’t care if you grew a tail and turned purple.”
“But—” What about blue-ish stripes and claws that could cut through steel?
“Shhh.” He loosened the locks and I let him, hope lighting up my heart like a shot from an ion rifle.
He peeled my armor from my body, as careful as he could be around my injuries, which were a lot worse than I’d let on. My armor knew. When that cyborg threw me, he’d done more than break a few ribs. I was bleeding internally. If not for the strength of my beast, I’d already be unconscious.
She refused to relent, needed to see his reaction. Needed to know if he would accept our claim or break our heart.
I swayed on my feet as he undressed me. Armor. The soft layer of dense fabric beneath it that protected my skin. Boots.
He didn’t stop until I was naked.
“You’re beautiful.” His tone was impossible to resist because she wanted him to see. She needed him to see. My beast was not afraid like I was. She knew she was beautiful and she wanted to show off her strength, her claws, her power to her mate. Wanted to be admired. Chosen. Worthy.
My beast stood proudly for his inspection.
I didn’t grow a foot taller like the Warlords, but I was taller.
My shoulders wider. My hips and thighs thicker.
Stronger. Larger breasts. Deeper voice. My skin had a delicate touch of blue here and there in seemingly random patterns.
Not full Hyperion like Prince Ruk, but still different.
My arms were a bit longer, the claws more like extensions of my fingers and toes than separate weapons.
My beast changed me in different ways than the Warlords, but I was not the same.
He inspected me slowly, head to toe, the attention leaving a trail of heat everywhere his gaze lingered. He didn’t turn away. He barely blinked.
That was the first thing I registered. No recoil. No disgust. No weapon raised in defense. Just Ethan, standing there with blood on his hands and heat in his eyes. Desire. Need. Possession.
He looked at me like I was precious. Important.
His.
My chest heaved, claws twitching at my sides, every breath a war between who I was and what I’d become. He looked at me like I was fire and gravity all in one—like he wanted to fall into me and burn.