“We going with the NEFO scenario when we go, yeah?” Harris asked as Barnes took up a guard post just inside the door.
“Nuke it from orbit, salt the fucking Earth, and leave a few well-placed presents for him to find,” Max agreed.
Barnes cleared his throat. “We going somewhere?”
“Yes,” both women answered at the same time.
He nodded and shut up. Max glared at him. He was smart. She’d give him that. Just… she couldn’t shake off the feeling something more was going on behind those pretty eyes.
“Should we send word?” Harris asked, deliberately keeping her query vague. Even at their level, they kept things close to their chests. You never knew when one of their number had been compromised and was working with the enemy, and it wasn’t like they had enhanced senses like the aliens. They couldn’t tell at a sniff who had been where and with whom.
“That information has already been conveyed.”
Ariadne had been at the ceremony. She’d seen the start of the chase and would know what that meant. No need to risk their communication network to send information the high priestess could work out for herself.
“Okay, give the order and get us out of here,” Max commanded, levering herself up out of her chair. “Bas, hold on a moment. Would you?”
Barnes had been about to follow Harris out of the command tent but now turned to look over his shoulder. For a moment his look, and the set of his body, reminded her uncomfortably of the alpha who had chased her through the citadel streets, but she shook the idea off. Barnes had been with them for months, even during Harris’s heat. He’d helped—well, banged her through it. There was no way an alpha could do that, could be around an omega in heat, without turning into a ravening beast and trying to knot her.
Barnes turned back to face her. His hands were relaxed at his sides, his expression one of mild curiosity. That damned alpha had made her twitchy enough she was seeing things. Bas was just what he appeared to be, an ordinary human male.
“What do you need, Hardy?”
She didn’t answer. Instead, she stepped up into his space, her eyes locked with his. “Do not cause me problems, Barnes. I need Harris clear-headed and focused. If you distract her, I will remove that distraction. With a knife.” She deliberately dropped her gaze to his crotch and then back up to his face. “A rusty one. We clear?”
He held her gaze slightly longer than she was comfortable with, but not enough to have her reaching for her dagger. It was a pissing contest, pure and simple. Finally he looked away, nodding. “Clear, boss.”
She grunted and waited for him to back up. He did, but then his gaze snapped up to hers again. “Just so we’re clear. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her,” he said, his voice a deep rasp. “But I will protect her. Whatever happens.”
The message was simple. His loyalty was to Harris. Not Max, not the rebellion. She lifted her chin, staring at him assessingly. Then she nodded. Harris was rebellion down to her bone marrow. “You make sure you do that. Now, get out of my sight.”
2
Warr stood in the shadow of an abandoned building, waiting. The spy was late, and he was not impressed. If he didn’t need this intel, he’d have left already. A’rett was one of the few spies they’d managed to plant in the human ranks, and he was Warr’s best chance at finding out where the rebels were hiding.
He’d been looking for two weeks, but all they’d found were abandoned sites, booby traps, and a minefield that had cost him soldiers and equipment. He wasn’t any closer to finding their base or the little female scout who had eluded him, and it was infuriating.
“Why the fuck have you pulled me out, you xarthing idiot?”
Warr whirled around at the sound of a furious voice. A’rett emerged from the ruins of the building behind him, checking the surrounding skyline with a hard expression. When he was sure they weren’t being watched, he turned his attention back to Warr.
“Are you trying to blow my fucking cover?”
Warr snarled and relaxed his control enough that his fangs lengthened and his voice lowered to a low growl. “I am trying to get intelligence. That was the point of all this.” He waved a hand at A’rett. “Or have you forgotten where your loyalties lie?”
A’rett sneered. It was startling to see nothing but smooth, even teeth in his mouth. “I haven’t forgotten. But I also don’t want to die because someone forgot that the point of all this was to earn the humans’ trust. I can’t do that if you order me to drop everything and come running to give my reports in person.”
Warr ignored the other male’s outburst. They didn’t have a lot of time, and A’rett’s tardiness had cost them precious seconds. “Where is the camp?”
The other male shrugged. “There isn’t one at the moment. We’ve been on the move ever since…” He trailed off, cleared his throat and started again. “You nearly caught one of them not long ago. Left your scent all over her. They’re rattled. Worried someone will hunt them down.”
“They should be worried. I will find them.” Warr crossed his arms. “Who was she? The scout that got away. I want a name.”
“Hardy.” Something flickered in A’rett’s gaze. “The scout’s name is Hardy.”
Finally. He had a name. Now he just needed to know where she was. “Is she still with your group?”
“Yes.”
“Where?” He could have her in chains by tonight. Force her to tell him who she was. What she was. And why she’d been in the citadel that day.
“I told you. We’re in transit. We drive until we’re told to stop. We sleep, and then we drive again. I know where we’ll be in a few days, though.”
“Where?”
“Sector thirteen.”
He knew the area. Rugged terrain. Almost no civilians. A handful of ruined and abandoned cities. A few roads, but he had enough men to cover them all.
“I’m going to need coordinates.” That would make it easy to set their traps and wait.
Rett stared at him, eyes cool. “I don’t have them. Their leader doesn’t trust me enough to share that kind of intel.”
“He suspects what you are?” If that was the case, A’rett and his intel were useless to him.
“No. It’s a personality conflict.” Rett shrugged. “But I have other sources.”
Warr rumbled in the back of his throat. A’rett was a pain in the ass, so he could understand the rebel leader not getting along with him.
“Definitely sector thirteen?” he demanded. They had enough troops to hit it and hit it hard. “Will Hardy be there?”
He needed to find that scout. She’d made a fool of him, and he wanted payback. And to find out what the xarth she looked like. Keep her captive until she gave up all her secrets to him…
“She should be.” Rett’s eyes narrowed. “You’re hunting her.” It wasn’t a question.
He nodded. “I am. Do you know why she was in the citadel? For that matter, why the xarth are they even using females?”
Rett didn’t get a chance to answer before both of them heard the high-pitched whine of surveillance drones. They were out of time.