I stiffened, and Cormac spread his hand over my back like a warm blanket. His size and strength calmed me enough to get over the light-headed, spinning sensation that had sneaked up on me. I was not freaking fainting in front of all these gigantic alpha male warriors. Not happening.

Cormac looked down into my eyes as well as he could through our helmets. “Another ship has arrived. Do not worry, Abby. With the Atlans here, we will easily defeat them.”

“How many?” I had not signed up for gore and blood and battles. Hot sex? Hell, yes. A mate totally devoted to me? Double yes. Being scared out of my damn mind? No. I’d kept it together so far, even when our ship was about to explode and we had to cram into the escape pod. This—I looked at the twisted, bloody, Hive corpses one more time—this was over the edge. I began to shake, anxiety making my chest hurt.

With Cormac blocking my view of the entrance, I couldn’t see much, but I could see five of the Atlans, including Stryck—Thumper. His knuckles were a bloody mess, but he inclined his head to me and began to change.

I knew the Atlans on Earth, the ones sent to do the Bachelor Beast television show. Tane, the last one to be mated, had chosen one of my only friends in the world to be his. He was amazing. Elena was totally in love. And I’d seen him in beast mode before. But for fun, mostly. Not like this.

Never like this.

The Atlans transformed into their massive beast forms; that was fine. It was the death I saw in their eyes that made my heart jerk like someone was kicking it with pointed boots every time it dared to beat.

Stryck moved out of my line of sight, and the others followed. I heard one booming order that I assumed came from him. “MOVE!”

Ruk took a step toward the back with his clawed hands raised, palms out. “Go ahead. I already got mine.”

“Got your what?” I asked.

“Vengeance.”

Cormac lifted my feet off the floor and walked toward the elevator.

“No. I am not going back down there. No way.”

“You will be safe there, Abby.”

“Not if they win. And I’d rather not be trapped underground if they kill all of you.”

“No one will touch you.” His vow made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I believed him.

“Then I’m perfectly safe up here.”

Cormac stopped moving and looked down at me. “Stubborn female. You are just like Harper.”

“Good. Then we’ll be best friends.”

Cormac chuckled as he lifted me onto the top of one of the large control stations. “Do you have your weapons?”

“All set.” I showed him my knife with one hand and my baby blaster with the other.