Elite Hunter Quinn, Latiri 4, Hive Integration Base, Sector 437

      Heavy manacles circled my wrists and neck, my dried blood the only sign of what the Integration units were trying to do to me.

      Make me one of them.

       Hive.

      Control me. Control my strength and my hunting skills. Control my mind.

      I would die before I gave in to the buzzing noise inside my skull. The sound grew louder with each round of injections. I lost more of my mind, even as I felt my body growing stronger.

      I’d watched two lifelong friends, two Elite Hunters like myself, die writhing in their cells. But they had not turned into the enemy. They had fought to the end, and they’d denied the Hive what they wanted. More fighters. Elite warriors.

      My brothers had not given the blue Hive bastard running the base what he wanted. I was the last of us. The last Elite Hunter in these underground cells. His last chance to succeed.

      The others had fought him to the end. As would I.

      “I see you are awake, Hunter.” The dark blue alien was a patchwork of silver and dark, vibrant blue. His eyes were nearly black. Completely opaque, there was nothing behind the orbs, no shine of emotion, no soul. Not the blue of a bright sky, something darker and far more sinister. I knew I faced the infamous Nexus, one of the mythical leaders—or creators—of the Hive systems. My information came directly from the I.C., the Coalition Fleet’s Intelligence Core. Fewer than a handful had ever been seen, and only by human females from a new Coalition planet called Earth.

      “What do you want? I don’t go for men, and I don’t go blue, so don’t get too excited.” The Nexus narrowed his eyes at me but showed no other reaction. But he knew what I meant. I could sense his irritation in the air.

      “I have no wish to breed with you.”

      “Thank the gods for small favors.”

      That irked him further. “You make attempts at humor, Hunter, but they will not save you. You will be mine in the end.”

      I shook my head and stared into his eyes. The act made the noise inside my head increase to a roar, the pain like needles boring into my eyes, but I held that gaze and dared him to kill me. “No. I will be one more dead warrior, and you will be a failure.”

      The Nexus snarled, raised his hand and struck me across the cheek.

      The Nexus were not like their drones. They reacted. They referred to themselves in the first person, not the third. They were alive. They were individuals.

      They could be manipulated. Frightened.

      Taunted.

      I smiled at the blue creature even as he lifted his hand to signal one of his drones to begin another round of injections. The needles pierced my neck and wrists, burrowing deep, pumping my body full of microscopic Hive tech, nanocytes so small the doctors in the Coalition had no hope of ever removing them from contaminated warriors like me. Were I to survive, my hunting days would probably be over. Depending on the extent of the integrations, I could be banished to The Colony, useless and forgotten.

      There was no hope for me, but I kept the smile on my face as the Nexus walked away. When he was gone, I sank back to sit against the wall. They’d left my uniform on when they’d captured me but taken my weapons. The suit kept my body temperature regulated for comfort but could do nothing to protect my mind from the stark reality of this cave. This entire base. The transport station within view of my cell. I saw new captives arrive by the dozens: Prillon, Viken and human, Atlan and Xerimian—although few of the latter two—too dangerous to seize in large numbers. Fewer still were the Everian Hunters, like me. The fact that the Nexus was running an integration facility right here, on this planet, right under Commander Karter’s nose, was beyond scary. Insane, even. No one knew we were here. Right here where they weren’t looking for us because it was assumed it was Hive free.

      The thought brought fury, and the adrenaline coursing through my body cranked up the volume in my head once more. I couldn’t afford emotion. I had to be calm if I was going to fight the Hive tech and keep my sanity, if I was going to win this war with the blue fucker who intended to break me.

      Taking a deep breath, I slowed my heart rate and imagined my scarred friend Zee and his new mate back on Everis, living a peaceful, happy life. If Zee were lucky, he’d have two or three young ones running around each day, and his beautiful Earthen mate, Helen, would surrender to his touch each night.

      I’d hoped for a female of my own, a tender, submissive female who would need a strong hand to both comfort and pleasure her. I’d even gone in to the Interstellar Brides’ Program and taken the matching test, followed their protocols. That had been months ago. No mate had arrived to share my life, no female had been matched to me. Perhaps I was too broken. Too scarred within. Too full of rage. I knew I was no longer a fit male, and still, I’d clung to hope. But staring into the cold, black eyes of the predator Nexus for the last few days, I allowed the hope for a mate to die along with the rest of them. I didn’t need hope, not here. I needed strength. Defiance. Determination. Will.

      The Nexus would not break me. He might kill me, but he would not break me.