“Then we find her. Now. I will finish Lukabo.”
“I will allow it, but we want Cerberus as well.”
“First, we free Quinn. I don’t give a fuck about anything but my mate.”
“That is why I am here,” Helion said. “We will find your mate. Rescue her. But we need Cerberus to believe Lukabo is alive, has your mate, and is considering giving her to Styx and Blade instead of him.”
“As long as it’s clear. I don’t care what you make Cerberus believe. You believe this; Lukabo will die. I will see his head separated from his body.”
Helion’s chin tipped up. “He kidnapped your mate. He will die for it. You may have him. But I want Cerberus.”
“Do whatever you want once Quinn is safe. I don’t fucking care.”
Helion stared at me, considering. “I would like to speak to your mate once she is safe and settled.”
“No.”
“She may have some insight into Lukabo’s plans.”
“No.”
“We may need her.”
And there it was, the truth. Helion wanted Cerberus so badly he would risk my life, Quinn’s life, the lives of every male in this room to see Cerberus dead.
“Doctor, I will remove your head from your body if you so much as ask Quinn to crush an insect beneath her shoe without consulting me. Do. You. Understand?”
His shoulders actually slumped. “Gods be damned, Bahre. You’re supposed to be the reasonable Atlan.”
Tane chuckled. “He has a mate now, Doctor. There is nothing more important to an Atlan. Nothing.” Tane moved to stand next to me, his shoulder touching mine. He wasn’t as thick, nor quite as tall, but he was an Atlan warlord and we towered over every other male in the room. “If he decides to kill every single one of you, I’ll help him do it.” Tane glared at Dr. Helion. “Just so we’re clear.”
Helion ignored the threat, as usual, but I knew better. He was not a stupid Prillon. He was a fucking genius. Which meant he had figured out I was deadly serious about protecting Quinn. “If you don’t tell me where she is in the next two minutes, I will tear the data chip out of your head and find her myself.”
“Yes, yes.” Helion walked to a screen mounted on one wall and pulled up a schematic of the station. Every room. Every corridor. Every tube, tunnel, and storage space. “She is here.” He pointed. “On level six. She is alone with Lukabo.” He adjusted the settings, and two heat signatures appeared inside the room. One large and pacing. The other petite and still.
Quinn.
My beast growled, ready to go, but Helion held up his hand. “Wait, Bahre. There is more.” He adjusted the settings on his data pad again, and another image appeared. This was of a large blue Xeriman female—with fangs. She was larger than most Viken males. The video showed her stepping off a transport pad on the opposite side of the station.
“This is an Elder in Cerberus Legion, a female Xeriman hybrid. Her name is Ulza, and she arrived at the station about an hour ago. She is the cousin of the current Cerberus leader. She is his most trusted ally and has been sent to inspect and acquire the human female—” He glanced at me. “Quinn. To acquire Quinn from Lukabo and return with her to Rogue 5 for the mating ceremony.”
“Mating ceremony?” My beast’s voice was so low I could barely understand the words, and they’d come from my own throat.
“Yes. As we said, Cerberus is very serious about taking a human female for his mate.” Helion nodded in the two Hunters’ direction. “Those two are going to make sure Ulza misses her meeting with Lukabo. Meanwhile, we—” Helion indicated himself, Tane and me. “We are going to go take out Lukabo and make sure Quinn is safe.”
Styx stood up and stepped forward. “At the same time I am going to make it known that I am interested in purchasing the female from Lukabo. We will make sure Cerberus must come to the station himself. With his goal in reach, he will not be able to tolerate the thought that I might steal his prize. We are mated, but he knows we would do it out of spite alone. He will come.”
Blade’s lip curled in disgust. “He believes he is invincible.” His snarl turned frightening, and I reassessed the threat posed by the two hybrid males. “He is mistaken. He is our enemy, and we will see him finished.”
“I am out of patience, Helion.”
The other Quinn, the Elite Everian Hunter, slapped me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. You go get your mate. We’ll take care of Ulza. Redirect her temporarily until the first part of the mission is complete. Helion?”
Dr. Helion nodded. “You all know the plan.”
I was going to kill him, slowly, if he made me wait one more minute.
He looked at me. “We will have Quinn safely in our custody and Lukabo will be dead. Cerberus will think Styx is trying to steal his prize. Your only job will be to take care of your mate and keep her out of sight until Cerberus arrives on the station and we can kill him. Think you can handle that?”
Me and Quinn? Alone? Out of sight?
Fuck yes. I needed her safe and naked and in my bed where I knew nothing would hurt her. “Yes. Agreed.”
“I thought so. And then I will speak with her.” Fuck, Helion was a smug bastard.
He was walking, moving toward the door. Finally. Thank the gods. I didn't bother arguing with the Prillon. He would not get near Quinn unless I allowed it, and I had no intention of subjecting my soft, beautiful female to him or his schemes.
“Let’s go,” he said. He walked past me and handed me a key for one of the most expensive suites on the station. “Consider it a mating gift. And stay out of sight.”
I tucked the key into my pocket
