Page 63 of Monstrous Rampage
I couldn’t comprehend how. Not with her in my arms. With the knowledge we weren’t dying. Not this time.
I dragged her up higher so I could lock my mouth over hers. Taste her from the inside out. Hear the sounds she made. Astartled oomph. A low welcoming sigh. Her arms locked around my neck. A lifeline for me. Pulling me back from the spiraling death threatening to obliterate me.
:Everyone meet us at the lift,:she said on the grid.:We’re getting out of here.:
The door opened to a hallway crammed with dyni. All twelve of them.
:Already here,:Rekt said.:All we need is our pilot and a jump location.:
If I could tear my mouth away from her lips long enough to think. To remember how to jump.:Location I’ve got. I’ve had plenty of time to think about it.:
Closing my eyes, I pressed my face against her throat and breathed in her scent. Letting her calm and focus my mind. The black hole began spinning again, and this time I allowed it to flare around us. Brilliant indigo burning through my eyelids, crackling with energy as the jump ring solidified.
Without waiting for a command, the UGRR was the first to step through to the other side, hitting his max speed to prepare the way for my mate and the rest of our future squad. Shimmering ultra green mixed with indigo, his power loaded and ready. I didn’t have to tell him to scout the area to ensure nothing unexpected lay in wait.
I smelled a hint of my mate’s musk on him as he passed. He’d touched her. Intimately.
Baring my teeth against her skin, I let out a low rumble.:Did he have your permission to touch you?:
Shy uncertainty flickered through her, her skin heating in a delicate blush.:Yes. I tried my best to ignore him but…:
I opened my mouth and gripped her shoulder in my jaws, biting down firmly without breaking the skin.:My mate gets everything she wants. She builds the squad she wants. If you want him, he’s yours.:
She arched against me, rubbing her body against mine.:I want you first.:
:Done.:
The rest of the dyni followed the raptor, passing through more rapidly. Until only Rekt waited—and the two dyni who’d prepared to die with me. It touched something inside me that had never known loyalty or trust or comfort in any way, shape, or form that they’d stayed. When they could have been the first to jump through to safety. I didn’t want to cloud her choice of squad, but if it were up to me, they’d be next in line after the raptor.
:Oh.:She squeaked.:That would make our squad six.:
:So?:I gave a mental nudge to Nihil and Kaos, and they stepped through together. Though there was no doubt in my mind they’d be waiting for us to step out on the other side rather than disappearing to explore.:Make it all fifteen if that’s what you want.:
Rekt paused for a long moment, as if considering and weighing alternatives. Decision made, he stepped closer to both of us, pressing against Holly’s back without touching me. When I didn’t snap at him, he wrapped his arms around us both, pressing her tightly between us.
She let out a shaky laugh.:I assume you’ve met Rekt?:
:I smelled you on him when they put him in the cell next to me.:
She made that little squeak again that made my hunger go up a notch.:You did?:
:I smell him on you now.:
Her cheeks burned.:I must reek. I don’t know that I’ve been washed since Snyder kidnapped me.:
At the mention of our nemesis, I tightened the jump ring around us. Power spun, gaining weight and force, pulling us across space to the destination I’d chosen. Pressure built aroundus, spinning tighter, faster. A destructive spiral. Large enough to obliterate this ship into space dust they’d never be able to put back together. My skull hummed and throbbed, bones cracking, pulverized in the immense gravity of a black hole.
Letting the ring slip free, I threw my head back and roared. Alpha. Predator. Indigo Giganotosaurus Rex.
King of the fucking universe.
I tapped what remained of the network in case Snyder’s controllers were still listening, though the ship was crushing in on itself in the wake of the gravity sink I’d deliberately left behind.
:Come after my fucking mate again, and I’ll destroy everything you hold dear.:
28
HOLLY
