“Mine!” The word was howled by the Hyperion beast, not me. I didn’t grow taller or wider, as the Atlans did. But my fangs were down, claws came out, longer and sharper than anything I knew I was capable of. They were thick, like blades, and razor sharp, dripping in the venom special to my kind. One swipe, and the bastard would bleed to death. They’d never appeared before, but then I’d never had a mate in mortal danger.
I’d use them on him if I didn’t tear out his throat with my teeth first.
The Nexus must have realized the true danger was behind him, for he dropped Gwen to the ground and turned to me with a snarl of his own.
Gwen warned me not to look in his eyes, but there was nothing living that could tear a Hyperion beast from his mate. Nothing.
I stared the blue creature in the eye, challenge in every line of my body, in my snarl. I stared into the black depths and felt… nothing but rage. And an urge to kill.
“Gwen is mine.” The beast spoke but the male in me agreed. Mine.
“I’d rather not kill you,” Nexus 4 said. “I do not wish to break the accord I have with Rogue 5.”
I raked my claws through the air. “Lies. I will slash your blue throat.”
Behind him, Gwen pushed to her feet and looked up at me. I saw the movement out of the corner of my eye, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off the real threat, the Nexus in front of me. He was big, almost as big as me. Dark blue from head to toe. On him it looked natural. The only truly odd thing about him was a large arc of tissue that ran from the base of his skull down his back in large branches like a tree.
If I had to guess, I’d bet that was where his mind control organs were. Which meant I wanted to crush them.
“He made a deal with Cerberus,” Gwen told me. “He said so earlier.”
“Cerberus does not speak for Rogue 5.” My words were dark, lethal as I met the bastard’s gaze head on.
“Are you a member of Cerberus legion?”
“Never.”
“Then I can kill you without consequence.”
He moved like lightning, aiming for my head. Instinct saved me. I put my hands up, the claws finding his chest as I shoved him away and to the side. He regained his balance instantly and we circled one another. I stared him in the eye the entire time.
“Look out!” Gwen screamed, her indrawn breath warning me that the Nexus was about to move. Not that I didn’t know.
Catching him in my claws once more, I lowered my mouth to his shoulder and bit deep, ripping with every bit of strength I possessed. Yanking hard, I pulled a piece of his shoulder from his body as he screamed in pain. The sound was music to my ears. The taste of his blood driving my beast to a frenzy. Blood. It was just blood. Black as night but blood just like a billion others.
The Nexus twisted in an attempt to escape from my claws, but they were deep, and I was not letting him go.
Unable to free himself, he wrapped his legs around me and squeezed. Ribs cracked. Pain lanced sharp and hot. I couldn’t breathe.
I refused to let go.
“Mak!”
I heard Gwen’s cry, but didn’t see her moving until she was on the Nexus’s back, pulling at the odd curved appendage there.
The Nexus screamed as something inside it cracked and popped, the sound of breaking clear but it could have been metal or bone. I had no idea which.
With a warrior’s cry, Gwen ripped the organ completely free and threw it across the room. She leaped off the Nexus’s back and I dug my claws in deeper, until I could feel the beat of his heart against my fingertips. I pushed the creature down onto its knees, as he’d done to my mate, and looked up into her eyes, a question shimmering in my own gaze.
She looked at me, then slowly shook her head.
“He is for Rezzer.”
Yes. Rezzer. This thing had tried to kill the Atlan’s mate, destroy their unborn twins, murder his mate and family. The Atlan deserved justice.
“Rezzer.” I shouted his name but I needn’t have. He stood less than three steps away, waiting.
His beast was out in full force. Covered in blood from head to toe, he looked like he’d just stepped off the battlefield. But then again, he had. We all had.