Page 46 of Fated to the Hunter
“Come on,” I muttered, jaw clenched. “You’re not dead. You’re just being difficult.”
The interface blinked at me, and I jabbed at the touch screen again. It let me go to the communication screen, but not contact anyone. The shuttle was intact. Systems were online. But nothing.
I slumped back into the pilot’s chair, fists clenched so tight my knuckles turned white. I tried to take in calming breaths, but each inhalation was jagged and strained like trying to breathe inside a scourge nest.
I hated this. I hated being trapped, helpless, and grounded. I was built to move, to fight, to protect what was mine. Not to sit in a metal box while Kiera fought for her life.
“Kiera,” I whispered, like saying it too loud would send more scourge to her location.
Uncloaking and drawing the scourge attention was the only thing I could think of when I realized my shuttle wasn’t going to open that door again. And then my shuttle had fought me, actually fought me, putting the cloak back on again. I’d fought for control through the entire flight, short as it was, until the very end. When I was covered in flyers, I knew I could keep the shuttle in the air no longer.
Had I given her enough time to get to safety? Was there even anywhere safe left for her to go?
What the fuck would I do if she was gone?
The thought clawed at my chest, sharp and merciless. I could feel it, the ache, the hollow growing. Like something vital had already been ripped from me and I was just too slow to notice.
I had to get out. Had to reach her.
But what if she was already… No. I wouldn’t let that thought finish.
The realization that my shuttle had not only locked Kiera out, but it was probably now actively preventing me from reaching her, was cold and icy. Kiera had tried to warn me too, and I’d already been planning to take it to a mothership. But it had been too late.
This wasn’t a malfunction. It had not been overridden by hostile humans. Or infected by the scourge. This was the shuttle itself.
Kiera could be dead. Why? Because my shuttle didn’t like her? My shuttle, an entity I’d known my entire life, one I’d thought was on my side, had tried to kill the one female I’d grown to care for. And now it was preventing us from speaking. Preventing me from rescuing her.
The sickening feeling of betrayal was visceral, like a hand inside my body, twisting my organs up until I couldn’t breathe. I stared at my shuttle’s navigational screen, the acidic burn of fury welling up from my stomach.
“You left her to die!” I roared. “You didn’t like her and left her to fucking die.”
What would my shuttle do? Deny it? Make excuses? Keep ignoring me?
“You are a hunter. The best in your contingent. You should be outside the Dead Zone, fighting the scourge. This mission is a waste of time.”
It did not deny leaving her on purpose.
“I’m not leaving without her.”
“That human is a liability.”
“Thathumanis mine!” I bellowed, the truth sinking into my bones. My arms had not locked around her, claiming her as my mate, but I knew with certainty that they would once our mission was complete.
“She is dead.” A video appeared on the screen, and on it was Kiera being picked up in front of the mansion by a flyer, her legs kicking in the air. I closed it immediately.
I wasn’t sure what to believe. My shuttle had demonstrated it could defy my orders. Could it lie to me as well? Show me a manufactured video to control my actions?
I couldn’t let myself believe Kiera was gone. Not yet. I had to go back to the mansion. Had to look for her myself and see it with my own eyes. I wasn’t giving up. Not on her. Because if I didn’t look, if I didn’ttry, I’d never forgive myself.
A sharp metallic clang shook the shuttle violently. My eyes darted up at the ceiling to see that one section of it no longer displayed the outside world, the external sensors having been damaged by a flyer’s tail spike. The flyers all flapped their wings, lifting off momentarily before settling again, rearranging themselves back on the shuttle.
Despair swirled darkly in my head. It yelled at me to do something, anything. Even charge outside into the swarm tofight them all. But I knew that was not possible. That would be suicide.
But wouldn’t sitting here waiting around for the end be worse?
Then, all of a sudden, all the flyers that were currently latched onto the shuttle moved. They all turned their heads at the exact same moment, like they shared a single brain. Despite a lifetime of fighting them, that same blood-chilling feeling hit me every time I saw them act like this. The flyer closest to the front of my shuttle moved first, pushing off and flapping its wings. Then the rest followed, their eyes never leaving the object zooming around above them.
The object swooped low for one moment before flying away, letting me see beyond a doubt that it was a human drone.
