Page 51 of Monstrous Hunt
My baby girl. She’d be complete from the beginning. My blood flowed through her, nurturing her while I absorbed more and more DNA from the squad. No wonder she’d started to weaken when I’d been taken from Kroktl. Why she’d only gotten stronger and grown quicker the past few weeks.
I’d been well fed by the entire squad. Even Axxol now.
I was suddenly aware of her consciousness. She was alert, curious, and impatient, stretching against the confines of my womb. Already, her legs wanted to run. She would have her father’s speed.
Another dot drew my attention. It lay attached to my uterus, reading both the baby’s movements and my own. The medbot. I’d never been aware of its location before.
:Our technology is now yours. You are complete. You are Mother. You must save them.:
Alarmed, I jolted upright, squeezing the drone’s limb. “Save them? Who?”
:Beware. The syndicate draws near. The rebel is caged. He must be freed if you are to survive. This nest weakens without him.:
The rebel had to be Axxol. I jerked my head up. A quick look around the room confirmed that his special room was fading. The window into Gioiello was gone. The crystalline ceiling was low, rough limestone.
If he was caged…
:Kroktl!:I screamed inside my head, hoping he would hear somehow.:It’s a trap!:
I scrambled up to my knees closer to the drone. Glittering eyes stared back at me from inside a deep, black hood. “How do I save them?”
The rounded shape widened behind it, lifting into large beetle-like wings. “Jump.”
23
AXXOL
In a flash of blue energy, a jump ring exploded in my fucking face.
At first, I wasn’t concerned. I’ve jumped a thousand times. I’ve even jumped into other squad’s rings to slaughter the alpha on the other side.
I’ve never thrashed on the ground, unable to rise, completely incapacitated.
Sheer terror rippled through me. I strained and cursed and willed myself away, but my tech wouldn’t fucking respond. I couldn’t jump. No matter how hard I strained to merge into a new set of coordinates, nothing happened. My innate sense of infinite space was gone.
I couldn’t even call for help because the entire grid was fucking dead. I couldn’t hear anything but my own pitiful howls of rage. Then curses, because I couldn’t even hold my rex.
“Specimen loaded,” a calm, clinical voice said. “Awaiting orders.”
Panting, I forced myself to lay still so I could focus on my surroundings. I lay on cold metal. A table. My legs and arms were spread apart and pinned flat. I lifted my head and looked down my body. Shimmering blue arcs bound me to the table. They used my own fucking power against me.
“Squad Z288C,” a male voice said somewhere behind my head. Sharp needles jammed into my neck for a sample. “BGR. Ah, a plus model. I’ve always wanted to see one. I glad we successfully re-acquired your programming.”
The needle withdrew, drawing a hiss from me. They could make anything painless—if they wanted. But of course they didn’t fucking care. I was nothing more than a specimen.
“Don’t worry about the rest of your squad.” The man stepped down on my right so I could see him. Typical scientist asshole in a white coat, gripping a tablet in his hand. “We’re decommissioning each of you now.”
Decommissioning. I clenched my jaws, fighting back the urge to snap and howl like the deranged beast I am. I didn’t think it would end like this.
Natalie. Our little human mate. Whatever will happen to her?
Regret choked me. I should have been fucking her brains out these past few weeks, rather than moping and snarling like an idiot every time I caught her scent.
“Why?” I rasped out. “Why send us here if you were only going to decommission us?”
The man lifted his attention from a screen in his hand. He gave me an indulgent smile that sent a pulse of rage blasting through me. “To prove a point.”
Delay. The only thing I could think to do. “That HQ is run by a bunch of fucking pussies?”
