Page 33 of Viken Command

“Steady Teig. It’s nearly time.” Alarr’s voice whispered through my comms at the perfect moment. How he knew I was riding the edge was something I had never questioned. He knew. He always did. And he always pulled me back before I did something stupid.

I would charge into a group of ten Cerberus soldiers alone. These weren’t honorable warriors. They fought dirty. Unless Alarr took half of them out, and Oran joined the fight, I’d be dead less than a minute into that attack. I was good, but not that good.

Alarr and Oran knew me better than any others, and they understood that my smile, my cavalier attitude, hid a darkness deeper than either of them carried. I needed Whitney to anchor me to something besides fighting and killing. Before, I’d had Alarr and Oran. Even though they were like brothers to me, now that I’d tasted the contentment and peace a mate could bring, I couldn’t go back and face my darkness alone. I needed her. I was in love with her already. I loved her soft skin, her full breasts. Gods, but those full lips made me hunger to feel them pressed to mine or wrapped around my cock. Everything about her was dark and exotic and full of passion. Inside, I was bleak and cold. Empty.

We had to find her. Save her. Free her. And once we did, I wasn’t sure I’d ever find the strength to leave her side again.

“They’re not closing the doors.” Oran’s clipped words brought me back to the present. All of the weapons were loaded. The area was clear, and eight of the ten Cerberus scum had disappeared back inside the ship. Two more stood at attention at the base of the boarding ramp. They were huge, probably Hyperion and Prillon by ancestral breed, and covered in intricate tattoos. They were at least a foot taller than we were, and if they got their hands on us, we wouldn’t only have to worry about their weapons and brute strength, but their fucking fangs.

Fuck.

They stood as still as statues for several agonizing minutes. What were they waiting for?

“Heads up. Position six.” Alarr’s warning had me twisting my head to see the direction he indicated. What I saw made my heart stop beating. Whitney was blindfolded and barefoot, her eyes covered with a large black piece of cloth and her hands bound before her with a coarse rope attached to a long lead. She was being pulled like a pet on a leash, none too gently, by Commander Clive himself. Straight toward the ship. She stumbled, but righted herself, even without being able to see or use her hands.

“Take the shot, Alarr,” I ordered.

“Can’t. He’s got Whitney directly in my line of sight.”

“Fuck.” Oran’s curse was followed by a grunt, and I knew he’d abandoned his position and was on the move. “I’ll take Clive out. Teig, you get Whitney out of there.”

“Whitney’s mine,” I confirmed. “Affirmative. Say go.”

I moved slowly, working my way through the shadows of the trees as Commander Clive brought our mate closer and closer to the brutes waiting at the base of the ship. I had to wonder if he’d already sold her to them. If she got on that ship…

“Hurry. They’re too close.” The Cerberus soldiers were watching Clive and Whitney’s approach, their gazes lingering on our female too long for my liking. “Oran.” One word of warning. If he didn’t make a move, I was going to…

“Now!”

The Cerberus soldiers dropped less than a second apart, and I thanked the gods Alarr was still a god himself with the ion rifle. The one still alive somehow, yelled at his crew to close the door and take off. The other was dead, his blank gaze staring up at me from where he’d fallen to the ground.

Commander Clive ran for the ship—and, I assumed, his escape—pulling Whitney behind him like a rag doll until she stumbled and lost her footing. She went down in a heap as Oran burst out of nowhere, knife in hand, and buried the blade deep in Clive’s spine.

I’d seen Oran make that particular move before but seeing Clive’s face go from rage to terror to shock within a few seconds was extremely satisfying, and I relished it even as I ran to cover Whitney with my body.

When I reached her, she screamed, “No, get off me!” She thrashed, fought with all her might, but I held her down.

She was soft beneath me, lush. Afraid. Shaking. “Hush, love. It’s Teig. I’ve got you.”

I meant every word. Love. Yes. I loved her. And I had her in my arms. I would never let her go again. Never stop protecting her with my body.

She stopped screaming but did not relax in my hold, even as I pulled her close and inspected her wounds. The sonic boom of the departing ship’s rapid exit from Viken atmosphere assured me the Cerberus soldiers were gone. As for Clive, with the knife buried low in his back, he wouldn’t be going anywhere unless Doctor Helion decided to take mercy on him once the I.C. team arrived.

I wouldn’t make any bets in Clive’s favor on that account. He was responsible for the deaths of many innocent civilians. As much of a hard bastard as Helion was, he did have a code of honor, and the mass killing of innocents broke that code. Besides, a ReGen pod could fix some things, but not everything. Especially not evil.

“Get this thing off my eyes,” Whitney demanded, twisting her head about to try to get it off herself.

I worked the dark fabric free as gently as I could. When it was off, she blinked, then looked down at her bindings, not at me. Nor Alarr, who was coming down out of the woods. Nor Oran, who knelt over Clive’s cursing form, making sure he didn’t get any ideas about trying to shoot us with his still-functioning hands.

“Untie me, please. Now.”

I placed her hands in my lap to undo her bonds, but she pulled them back and tucked her feet beneath her, avoiding contact as I worked her wrists free. “You’re safe now, love. I promise. We are all here. All three of us. We won’t allow anything to happen to you.”

I glanced up at her as she nodded, trying to catch her breath.

“Okay.” She agreed, but her voice was… strange. I looked up at Alarr, who stood over us now, but he looked confused as well. Why was she not crying or clinging to one of us? She had to have been terrified. The gods only knew what Clive had said or done to her. Perhaps she was acting this way because she was human? From Earth? Human females had a reputation for being stubborn and strong among the warriors of the Coalition Fleet. Perhaps this was what they had been speaking of?

I untied her, and she immediately rose from the ground, refusing the hand I held out in offer of assistance.

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