Mate I never wanted

First match: Little puppy vs. Ex (I)

Vivian

My heart was beating so loud I could barely hear my own thoughts.

"NOW, Vivian, MAKE A SHARP LEFT."

Lucien's voice hoisted me into action and I did as he asked. Making a sharp turn and we missed the first asteroid.

"NOW LEFT."

And we missed another one. We repeated sharp lefts and rights a few more times until I saw three of them flaying straight at us.

"Lucien... three..."

"DOWN."

I grabbed the other lever, and we went soaring down, missing the last asteroid.

We survived...

WE SURVIVED.

We survived, and that only happened because of Lucien.

I felt like I could kiss him... and maybe I would after all this is done.

If the map was right, I could see our destination right in front of us and there was no sign of James's ship. Not in clear view and not on radar.

"We are here."

I announced as I started preparing to land.

"Okay, now this place will be filled with beasts and pirates. Unlike with the other team, we will get points if we take them down, so try your best to take out as many as possible, but don't be stupid about it. If any of you die or get captured, the team will be eliminated. So be smart and careful. We have enough time advantage to not need any points at all to succeed, so be careful."

We all nodded as we waited for him to continue.

"As Rebecca and Vivian are not trained as combat soldiers, I want you to stay in between the other two. As they are two girls, the beast and pirates will most likely attack the two of them first, as they will be seen as the weakest of the five of us. So stick to their sides, I will be walking in the front taking out the biggest threats while you keep my back. Is it clear?"

"YES."

We all said in union.

"Okay, let's gear up and prepare to land. Remember this is enemy territory and we have to be on watch the whole time, no relaxing until we are back on the ship."

I programed for automatic landing and started to prepare my gear. It took only a few seconds because we already had our suits on. The only thing that was left was to get out the guns and, as my fingers wrapped around the gun, for the first time it felt completely different than previously.

My mind started to come to understand that this was going to be completely different than anything I had ever done before. This was not training and these beasts will go for the kill and I will probably have to kill them to survive... will I be able to do that?

And the pirates?

Sure, they are under orders not to kill us, but they are prisoners from the emperors' prisons and they would not hesitate to hurt us. They are here to make the experience of a mission more real.

My heart beat picked up as I felt slight waves of panic starting to rise in my chest. As my thoughts and nerves started to get out of control, I felt a warm hand on my back.

"Darling, this is just like training at school. You will do great and I will not let any of them come close enough to you to really hurt you."

Lucien's determined tone and the look on his face told me that he intended to keep his promise. The burning lights of protectiveness and the slight growl in his chest made my insides melt a little and relax. If we were not in public right now and not on an official mission, I might have leaned into him, just for a moment.... NO. I will not do that.

I shook my head and took a deep breath to calm myself down.

"Thank you, but I can take care of myself. Now let's go."

For a second, I saw confusion on his face that turned into an excited smile.

"Yes, let's go so I can show you that I am worthy of you."

I could not help myself, but roll my eyes at his excited words.

He turned to the rest of the team and only now did I notice that they were all staring at us... great...

"Okay, team into positions."

Lucien said as he moved to the front opening of the ship as he grabbed his gun on the way to it, looking way too comfortable with it and way too ready to fight.

A moment later, I felt someone else standing next to me. As I turned, I saw Rebecca. She looked a bit concerned as she stopped next to me.

"You okay?"

I smiled at her and shook my head.

"Yeah, just excited to kill some beasts."

She scrunched up her little cat-like nose.

"Yeah, I am not. I really hope I won't have to..."

My eyes turned to Andrew, who was looking at Rebecca with a protective shine in his eyes and I could not help but smile. Come to think of it, from the very beginning, he was looking at her in a special way.

"Oh, I am sure that you wont have to."

Rebecca did not catch what I was trying to say to her, so she just stared at me confused, but I just chuckled and shook my head. It was not my place or time to tell her any of this. I'm sure they will figure this out when the time is right.

The slight shake of the spacecraft landing signaled that it was time to move.

"IN POSITIONS."

Lucien's voice turned to the commander's tone again and we aligned behind him. I was right after him, behind me was Andrew, after him Rebecca, Kevin was the last in our line.

My heart stopped for a moment as Lucien reached out to open the gate and the doors started to open.

We landed in an old oil plant that was supposedly used to store important artifacts that were stolen. Our mission was to retrieve it as fast as possible with as few casualties as possible.

"Okay, team, move out."

With those words, we followed after him.

It was all happening so fast. We were running in the direction of the front entrance when the first beast appeared. They were huge bearlike creatures with fangs the size of a sword and hard scales covering their bodies. It was the first time I had seen one and I froze for a second... we all did... The only one that was completely unfazed by this was Lucien. Without any hesitation, he took out the beast with one shot of his laser gun.

"COME ON KEEP MOVING."

He shouted and pulled us out of the haze we were under. It worked like pouring ice-cold water onto us. Instantly we started moving.

Andrew was the next one to take out the next beast and by the time we reached the back of the second room of the plant, we took out four beasts. Two by Lucien, one by Andrew and one by Kevin. Surprisingly, the bear hybrid could concentrate on something other than food when he needed to and he was quite good at it.

And as we reached the second door, the sound of a space craft landing filled the air and it told us that the other team had arrived.

"COME ON LETS MOVE."

Lucien shouted, urging us to move, so we wouldn't lose the edge we had over the other team. Moving forward, he kicked open the door in front of us and a loud explosion filled the room. The shock wave of the explosion sent us flaying to the back of the wall and everything went black