hide. The walls were all smooth and unmarked, no holes that looked like they’d been created by claws or anything else.
“Holy shit,” Gracie breathed. “The base is listening to us.”
“Something is,” Stephens agreed. “The timing there is too coincidental. And I don’t believe in coincidence.”
Indra groaned. Somehow the brightness made the abandoned nature of the base even worse. “Great… the only problem is now I’m expecting to see bloody handprints on the walls or on a window or something.”
Nyek chuckled, shaking his head. “Humans are incredibly pessimistic.”
“Absolutely,” Gracie said, the blaster she’d obviously purloined from Seren held in a low grip. “We come from a planet with a shit-ton of predators, so it’s a survival instinct. Expect the worst, and you’re never disappointed.”
“She’s also a glass half-empty type,” Stephens added. “Miserable cow.”
“Suck it up, muscles,” Gracie threw back and then winked at Indra. “Marines. Muscles are required, intelligence not essential.”
“Hey! We’ll have less of that! You might hurt my delicate feelings.” Stephens chuckled and then looked around again as they moved down the corridor. “As long as we’re not likely to run into those bastard Krin things, I’m all good.”
Krin. Indra shuddered again. She’d heard stories from Stephens and Gracie about the multi-armed alien monster they’d faced that had decimated an entire colony. From what she’d heard, it was the bastard child of a kraken and everyone’s worst nightmare. Certainly nothing she’d want to face. Ever.
The group fell quiet as they were escorted through the corridors, each section lighting brightly ahead of them. The complete lack of other people and the stale tang in the air highlighted the fact that this place had been abandoned for years. It had that… empty feeling disused buildings back on Talax-Four had, with less broken glass and rats all over the place.
A memory teased at the back of her mind. There had been one place like this. With that odd feeling that was a cross between secret base and government experiment facility…
She and a group of other Tazvarth had been chasing down a Keranth ganger on their patch and he’d disappeared down into the sewers of the city. When they’d followed, they’d gotten ridiculously lost and stumbled on an old subterranean complex.
The hackles on the back of her neck had gone up as soon as they’d gotten into the place. At the first sight of an operating theater, complete with restraints on the bed, she and the rest had hightailed it the hell out of there. But she’d never forget the place, or the symbol on the door. Like an A wrapped around the number seven. All very odd.
“If we see any operating theatres,” she muttered. “I am so nope’ing the fuck outta here.”
“Right with you, sweetheart,” Stephens replied, already moving past her.
A dangerous growl caused them all to swing around, sure something had crept up behind them.
With a snarl, Nyek crossed the space between him and the marine in a blur of movement, slamming him up against the wall. His face was a rictus of rage.
“You do not call her that!” he spat, holding the burly human easily off the floor by his throat. “You do not use any endearment for her. In fact, you do not get to even look at her. Understand?”
Holy. Shit.
Indra had never seen anyone move so fast in her life. Her heart in her throat she leaped forward, desperate to get between them before Keris leveled the pulse rifle she held at Nyek’s head.
“Hey… hey… it’s just a figure of speech,” she said urgently, managing to get herself between Nyek and Stephens. The marine was already gasping for air and starting to turn purple. How the hell Nyek was managing to hold him off the ground so easily with just one hand, she had no idea, but he was. Instantly, she re-evaluated how much stronger the Lathar were than humanity.
“Hey… look at me.” Pressing closer, she put her hands on Nyek’s bare chest and then slid them up to his neck. “Please, Nyek… let him down. It didn’t mean anything. There’s nothing between us. I swear.”
Nyek looked down, his gaze capturing and searching hers with searing intensity. Then, after what seemed like a millennium, he nodded and dropped Stephens in favor of wrapping his arms around her.
She smiled, relief rolling through her. Looking into his eyes, she had no doubt Nyek would have killed Stephens on the spot. “Thank you.”
Looking over her shoulder, she motioned to Keris to get Stephens out of the way. The AI hurried to