The ground was littered with Hive dead. Looking for Ruk, I found him chasing down the Integration Unit he’d sworn to kill.

“Leave him. We have incoming!” The ship we’d spotted earlier looked to be just a few minutes from landing.

“He is mine!” Ruk was the fastest creature on two legs I had ever seen. The Integration Unit Ruk had called Four-seven-two had a significant head start. Ruk caught him in seconds, lifted him by his head and bent the Hive’s body nearly in half to expose his throat.

I turned away before Ruk could rip through flesh with his fangs. I didn’t need to see that. I fought. I killed. But not with claws and fangs.

But killing was killing. Thinking I was more civilized about it was a head game I didn’t need to play. We were the same, Ruk and I. The fucking exact same.

I didn’t know how Abby even allowed me to touch her. She was everything I was not. But gods be damned if I was going to give her up now.

Leaving Ruk to his vengeance, I gathered weapons and anything useful I could grab from the Hive corpses. There wasn’t much, but anything I could give my legion’s scientists and engineers might be helpful. I also made sure to record everything I saw with my helmet’s comm system. Maybe the researchers could find a clue as to who had betrayed our legion on one of these dead Soldiers’ bodies.

I stashed the ion blasters inside the base entrance and turned as Ruk came back inside. No more than a few minutes had passed. We both turned to watch as the Hive ship slowly descended to the ground. Twenty-one Hive Soldiers and nine Scouts emerged, wearing the same fucking armor.

Ruk looked at me. “I think it’s time to let the Atlans come out to play.”

“Fuck.” He was right. We were not going to survive without help. “I’ll go.” I turned my comm back on. “Abby, can you hear me?”

“Yes. God! Thank god you’re all right. Are you all right?”

Covered in blood, facing down certain death, I grinned. My Abby, my mate. She was everything. “Yes, but we need help up here. Release the Atlans.”

“Too late.” Abby’s voice sounded a bit too sweet. She was up to something.

“What does that mean, mate?”

Abby’s voice was crystal clear in my helmet comm, as was her soft laughter. “I already did.”

I turned as the elevator door slid open, and Abby stepped out with Enzo, the one they called Thumper and seven other Atlans.

Ruk looked as well. “Not going to do us much good like that.”

I assumed he was referring to the fact that not one of the Atlans was in beast mode. They looked like standard Atlan males.