Operation: Marauder

Chapter 13

Rowan swore for the fifth time today as they cleared another warehouse, and there was no sign of the Wraythe. "Where the fuck are they?"

After a day of surveillance, coming up with nothing, they decided to sweep through each building in the district one by one, pretending to be inspectors or in full gear if it was abandoned. They found a camp of vagrants, a group of delinquents, and a bunch of stray cats. No Wraythe. Rowan wanted to strangle someone.

The other team called them shortly after they had finished their assigned area and came up with the same conclusion as his team. They weren't here.

Another unsuccessful day.

"Maybe Zoey was wrong," Maliki offered, hesitant. When Rowan pinned him with a dangerous look, he took a wary step back. By now, they all knew better not to mention Zoey unless it was impertinent. His Fever was just starting to set in and all he wanted to do was hunt her down, break down whatever door they had her hiding behind, and claim her as his own.

But he couldn't have her. As frustrating and infuriating as it was, he would do as Jack asked and keep his distance from Zoey. She deserved more than what he could offer her.

And it was only the start of his Fever. For the next seven days, his core was going to burn as hot as a star until he was satisfied. Or he'll simmer in his frustrated rage and take it out on everyone around him.

Jack rubbed his jaw in thought, ignoeing Rowan's seething for the time being. "I can ask her to describe where they took her again."

"No point," Cas dismissed with a heavy sigh. He brushed a hand through his hair and glanced around the dusty warehouse with scrutiny expected from the medic. "They'll know she's under our protection now and will have changed locations. We missed our window, boys."

Rowan didn't want to admit it, but Cas was right. As soon as the Wraythe figured out what happened to Sid, the Wraythe Zoey had killed, they would have packed up and left. They were coordinating with local law enforcement, but so far they hadn't found any bodies to give them clues. The Wraythe were being annoyingly resourceful on this planet. He had been hoping they wouldn't be as good as they had been at blending in with the humans.

"Fuck!" Rowan kicked an empty paint pail across the warehouse. He knew his anger was irrational. Yes, it was frustrating to be so close to the Wraythe and unable to find them. Yes, he wanted to make the fuckers pay for laying their hands on Zoey. But not to the level of rage boiling inside him. It was his Fever. His body only wanted one thing right now and he was fighting with everything he had to stay focused on the mission.

Jack peered around to the others nervously. Thankfully, Knox and Maliki weren't at all fazed by Rowan's outburst, which seemed to bring Jack a small measure of comfort. "Um. . . should we do something?"

Cas gripped Rowan's shoulder, sympathy in his eyes. "Maybe you should let us take care of this, boss. Find a female on the base to ease the burn. We'll take care of things from here."

Get it together, Rowan. You've gone through the Fever without before, you can do it again. It had been a shitty week and he had been on a mission that took longer than expected, so he couldn't have done anything to ease the burn or he'd risk his team being shot. It was different now. He was on a planet full of women he was compatible with, he just had to pick one. Unfortunately, that one was Zoey and he couldn't have her, not without hurting her.

"I'm fine," he assured them.  He took deep breaths and, with great effort, managed to appear sane. "Let's keep looking. They have to be somewhere in town."

"I can take a look at the scanners again," Mave offered, "see if they can pick up on any traces of Terbium. They might be using some cloaking tech they scavenged from their ship."