In less than a minute, I had my answer. The creature nearest me stopped and lifted its head to sniff the air. The others did the same, as if their three minds were connected. Creepy.

As one unit, they turned and stared directly at me.

“Cormac!” I screamed.

They gathered their hind legs to jump.

The center creature leaped at me. Directly in front of me, the black head and snapping jaws just cleared the top. It ripped holes in the material I sat on with its front claws and hung by its front two feet, scrambling to get up with the back two.

By sheer dumb luck, I managed to plunge my knife somewhere in the thing’s neck.

Good news, it fell to the floor.

Bad news, it took my knife with it.

The one on my right leaped, the front half of its body joining me on my perch. I rolled to my side, kicking at it with my boot as I fired my ion blaster at the head of the third monster climbing up on my left. It hadn’t jumped at me, but it shoved its claws through the panel and was walking up as easily as if there were stairs.

The blaster shots were doing nothing. Barely slowing it down.

I kicked the other off the top, but I knew it would leap back up as soon as it got its feet under it. They were both going to be on me, and I had nothing to fight with.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

15

Cormac

I understood rage. I understood vengeance. I had never seen anything close to this level of savagery as the Atlans settled the score with the Hive who had kept them captive.

Limbs flew in every direction. Arms. Legs. Upper half of a torn and shredded body. Lower half. Literal pieces of the Hive reinforcements that had come off that ship landed around me with solid thuds.

Twice I had to dodge a particularly angry throw by Enzo. Calm on the outside, wrath on the inside.

Fuck me. No wonder Atlan Warlords were the most feared fighters in the galaxy. This wasn’t a battle. This was carnage.

I didn’t dare step between a beast and any of the Hive. Not only was I not needed, I wasn’t sure some of the beasts were of a mind to recognize friend from foe.

I remained near the entrance to the control room to handle any stragglers that might make their way toward my mate. I’d killed enough for one day. If they needed me, I’d fight. However, the odds of that were looking slim.

“Cormac!”

Ruk’s shout drew my attention. He was pointing to the rock cliffs that formed an arc with the base at its center.