“Their armor protects them from blaster fire. If you must use it, aim for their head.”

“Okay.” I scooted back as far as I could get. I didn’t have a direct line of sight out the entrance, but I could see a little bit of ground. I could hear the Atlans roaring like a pack of wild monsters. I pressed myself flat—less of a target—and told Cormac to go.

The control room was empty. Ruk must have followed the Atlans outside.

“Cormac?”

“Yes, mate?” He turned his head to look at me.

“I love you, okay? So don’t die.”

He froze as if stunned. I waited for him to say it back, for him to say anything, but he simply turned and ran out to join the battle.

Lying to myself—and knowing it—I tried to convince myself that I didn’t care if he said the words or not. He took care of me. He pledged to protect me and never leave me. I could make him fall in love with me eventually, right? In fact, thinking I actually loved him already was probably stupid hormones. And orgasms. And the whole you have shared trauma thing. Like almost dying tied us together with some kind of cosmic bond.

I tried not to move. I tried not to listen to the sounds coming from outside. I did pretty well on the first goal. Horribly on the second. I was trying, in vain, not to picture bodies being ripped to shreds—especially Cormac’s—when I heard clattering on the floor inside the control room.

As slowly as possible, I scooted toward the edge of my perch and looked down.

Oh, shit.

What were those things?

Three of them. About the size of a three- or four-year-old child crawling on all fours, the creatures had the silver and gray Hive tech along their spines and on top of their heads. Were these Hive, too? Because these things were not any kind of humanoid species. More like oversized lizards with claws and razor-sharp teeth that each looked at least as long as my thumbs. Their body was covered in scales that looked like an alligator’s that had turned to shiny obsidian. Their eyes were silver. Not gray. Silver, like the fork next to my plate at dinner. In the faint light, they moved like shadows, claws clicking and clacking on the flooring as they stuck their heads in every nook and cranny. Sniffed. Hunted.

How good was their sense of smell? If we were talking human-ish, I was probably okay. But dog? Or worse, a bear? I was screwed.

I tightened my grip on both weapons and tried not to make a single sound. I didn’t dare call out to Cormac. These things would hear me and be on me before he could get here.