Page 46 of Wrath
“Let’s go,” I said, kissing my mate before heading to the armory.
Dread took a moment to kiss his own mate, then hastened after me. We dressed quickly. I hated wearing suits for combat. In truth, I disliked wearing clothes in general. The freedom of movement when naked held an undeniable appeal. It was even truer in combat. But now, we would also burden ourselves with a maximum of canisters to avoid running back and forth to the shuttle to restock.
Dread and I made our way to the shuttle bay where Varnog and my mate had just finished loading the virus canisters. To my surprise, a couple more crates of virus still sat on a hover cart. Kwan smiled at my confused expression. I stopped next to her, by the hover cart, and she immediately started stuffing canisters in my weapons belt.
“Varnog and I were thinking we should fill some piercing missiles with virus canisters,” she explained. “If those creatures really have space flight capacity, I would rather have the right type of weapon to take them down.”
My eyes widened upon hearing this unexpected comment. “Good thinking, my mate,” I said with undisguised awe. “Hopefully, it won’t come to that. But better safe than sorry.”
“My thought exactly,” Kwan said with a timid smile.
She shoved a couple more canisters in the pockets on my suit then cupped my face between her hands. Her gaze bore into mine with a glimmer that had me melting from the inside out. My woman was definitely starting to fall for me.
“You go wreck those fuckers and then you come back to me, you hear?” Kwan said, pressing herself against me. “Whether on your own two feet or in a psychic vessel, you come back to me.”
“Always, my love,” I said, my hearts constricting in my chest.
How I had ached for that special someone who would send me off to battle with love, long for me in my absence, and celebrate my safe return with an all-encompassing joy. I wrapped my arms around my mate and claimed her lips in a passionate kiss. Too soon, I forced myself to release her. Kwan let go of me, and the gentle tingling of her Shield wrapped around my psychic mind.
“Go kick some ass,” she said, pride and affection brimming in her eyes.
That moved me more deeply than words could ever express. I had worried about Kwan’s reaction to me going back into a perilous situation with a high probability of death, fearing she’d become overly anxious. But the steady, unwavering way she held my gaze, and absence of fear in her voice, boosted my own confidence in a wondrous fashion.
“I love you, Kwan,” I whispered, the words involuntarily spilling out of my mouth.
Of all the reactions I would have expected from my woman, her pleased smile and the possessive once over she gave me hadn’t featured at the top of my list.
“Good, because I’m falling pretty hardcore for those sexy scales of yours,” she replied teasingly.
I almost leaned in to kiss her again, but movement at the edge of my vision reminded me I had an urgent mission to accomplish. Those ‘sexy scales’ of mine slightly darkened with embarrassment, and I caressed Kwan’s cheek with my knuckles.
“See you soon, love,” I said before joining Dread, waiting for me by the ramp of the shuttle.
As soon as we boarded the shuttle, we each drank a vial of Crinax. This toxin was derived from a poison produced by the Miegly—a Naga-like species that had been experimented on by General Khutu. It enhanced our venom, keeping its toxic properties while also making it act like acid. Even though we couldn’t spit our venom because of the helmets we would wear, we hoped the one from our scorpion tails would eat away at the Jadozors reinforced scales, making it easier for us to reach the vulnerable organs underneath.
We took off in stealth mode, even though the Lenusian had stated that Marcelle knew we were here. Obviously, having hailed them had given away our presence, but I wanted to believe that our security systems prevented her from zeroing in on the position of our frigate, still camouflaged.
“Wrath, I’m in,”Myriam mind-spoke to me.“I can open the shuttle bay for you guys as soon as you reach it. But I have to say that something doesn’t feel right.”
“How so?”I replied telepathically.
“They aren’t even remotely trying to block me,”Myriam explained.“I’m almost certain that Marcelle knows I’m messing around with her systems. I think she wants you guys onboard but can’t figure out why. Just be careful.”
“Acknowledged,”I said.“Can you access their camera feeds?”
“No. And that’s the other thing that bothers me,”Myriam responded.“I can access most of the ship’s systems—including life support—but not their cameras. She doesn’t want us seeing what she’s up to.”
“Understood,”I said, hating these mind games.“We’re completing our approach. You can open the doors.”
“Okay. Good luck,”Myriam replied before disconnecting from my mind.
The thick doors of the shuttle bay parted before us. Although we couldn’t hear them, anyone inside the shuttle bay would have been alerted by the noise. Thankfully, as indicated by our scanners, the room was empty aside from a handful of shuttles. With our stealth shield still active, we flew through the energy field that protected the integrity of the ship. Myriam closed the doors behind us as soon as we cleared them.
Dread settled our vessel in an inconspicuous corner of the shuttle bay. After donning our helmets, we picked up a bunch more virus canisters from the crate at the back of our shuttle. We then disembarked with our own camouflage shields activated. Our hands full, we split up to throw a few canisters in the room. By the time we were done, the virus would blanket this entire fucking ship. With a dozen tubes still cradled against my chest—the same with Dread—we exited the shuttle bay into a secondary corridor.
I tossed a couple of tubes in front of us while Dread did the same in the escape room, adjacent to the shuttle bay, where the escape pods were still all accounted for. Further ahead, at the L-shaped intersection, the door of the ship’s hangar faced the main hallway. Next to it, a couple of meters in, we would meet the entrance to the armory.
Dread and I exchanged a glance. According to our scanners, there were three Jadozors in the hangar, and two more a ways down the main hallway, although nowhere near each other. Starting off with three Jadozors at once seemed overly risky, especially since they could alert the others the minute we opened the door. Then we could end up with five of them on our asses. Seeing how they were supposedly even bigger than the ones that had wrecked me in the base, we wouldn’t stand a chance.