Bonus Content – Big Bad Beast

Warlord Kai of Atlan, Snook’s Fight Club, Miami, Florida

I returned to the parking garage for the third time, drawn by an instinct so ancient and true that I dare not deny him…drawn here by my beast.

My beast demanded we return. Again. And Again.

There was something here, something I was missing.

Something important.

The human police had swarmed the entire area for days, their researchers taking samples and photographs, trying to discover what had happened to the dead man. Who had ended his life. One human, the one dear to Maxus’s female, an elder gentleman called Wayne, had been killed by the Hive’s Prillon Trackers. But that must remain unknown.

We’d cleaned up that mess, made sure the old man was found with a blade sticking out of his chest. The male in charge of the place, Snook, wanted no more trouble than we did. He agreed, readily, to our terms for his survival.

If Snook endangered our position here, on Earth, endangered his people and his planet by running his stupid mouth…we would kill him. We made certain he understood.

The human investigators were gone now. I remained confident they would find nothing more than the usual type of human murder, a disagreement between a couple of drunken males on the poor side of town. Wayne was no innocent. His record with the human police was long and would prove unforgiving.

Knowing the humans, such readily available “evidence” as a dagger protruding from his ribs would prevent a closer inspection of the rest of the dead man’s tissues, those fused within him by the ion blast from the Hive’s weapon. No need to draw attention to the fact that the Hive had managed to evade Coalition forces and send multiple teams to this small, defenseless planet.

If the human government became aware of our failures, they would react without thinking. Break their alliance with the Interstellar Coalition of Planets, force the processing centers to close. We would lose a valuable source of ReCon fighters as well as brides.

And Earth’s leaders would open their entire planet and their people to a complete Hive invasion.

There would be no humans left, only Hive Soldiers, Trackers, Scouts.

Slaves.

I tore the strange yellow tape the human police had placed around every entrance from the stairwell before me and lifted my head to scent the air.

Yes! My beast stirred. There was something lingering in the air, a scent…

I moved slowly, my beast so close to the surface I feared I would shift in broad daylight. I came to the level above the fighting area and walked a grid pattern. Inspecting everything. Breathing deeply. Looking for…her.

Mate.

My beast dropped to his knees, and I lowered my nose to the concrete.

The scent was nearly gone, almost unrecognizable, but she had been right here.

I shuddered, my cock growing hard, my heart racing. I shoved my beast down with a curse. Fucking wait.

Looking around, I noticed a large crack in the building structure and looked through to see the fighting cage below, part of the area where we had taken Maxus to the ground.

Had my mate been watching? How? Why? And was she a fucking idiot? She was female. Everything I understood about Snook’s club indicated that it was not a safe place for any female, but especially a small, delicate human.

I followed her trail through the garage to a second vantage point. Yes, she had been watching. Which meant she knew the truth of what had happened.

Fuck. I would have to inform Bahre, Tane, and the others. She would be a danger to us until she was found. Interrogated.

Claim her. Fuck her. Mine!

“Yes, beast. I know. I want her, too.” I whispered the reassurance to my beast as I followed our female’s scent out of the structure, half a block past trash dumpsters and rats to a small alley. That was where the trail ended.

She had driven away in a vehicle, the scent scattered and far too old to follow.

Gone.

Was she involved in some kind of surveillance operation? Who did she work for? Why had she been here? How had she even known about that fucking hellhole?

She’d placed herself in danger, been within reach…and I had been too involved in dealing with Maxus and the Hive Trackers to notice.

My mate had slipped through my fingers like mist on the breeze.

I had her scent now. I knew she was here, in this city.

I would track her. Find her. Make her mine…

My beast threw back his head and roared.