by Luna Hunter
“Motherfucker,” he curses as he scrambles towards his shock-baton. Anaya kicks it away before he can reach it. Our eyes meet, and despite the scuffle we’re in, my heart flutters.
She is my fated — and right now I’d rather take a shock baton to the chest than see her hurt.
“Go,” I growl. “Now!”
She shakes her pink hair. “I’m not letting you do all the work,” she says.
The thug scrambles to his feet. Anaya jumps onto his back, her fists raining down on him. Before I can interfere, the sounds of hovers pulling up forces me to turn my head.
A dozen more black-clad men jump out of the floating vehicles, and I catch sight of a gun.
We need to move.
I punch the thug in his gut and he doubles over, and I pull Anaya into my arms. My arms close around her protectively as I hold her tightly. Our physical contact makes the light grid above us blow out, shards of glass raining down on all of us. The darkness provides us with a suitable cover, and I run away as fast as my legs can carry me. As I turn the corner, Anaya calls out.
“There!” she says “Grab that Frysk!”
We rush towards the hover and jump inside. I slides behind the wheel and we take off, the engine whirring as I floor it. We barely manage to avoid the tunnel walls before I get the vehicle under control. I anxiously glance into the rear view mirror, and only after several minutes do I dare to breathe a sigh of relief.
We lost them.
“That was close,” Anaya says.
“Too close,” I growl. “You didn’t listen.”
She shrugs. “Why would I? You’re not the boss of me.”
“I was trying to protect you!”
“I don’t need your protection,” she counters. “I’ve been taking care of myself for years.”
I shake my head. Why won’t the human female just listen to reason? She could have gotten herself killed back there! Adrenaline is still coursing through my veins, and I struggle to control myself. I want to yell at her for how stubborn and foolish she’s being — just as much as I want to grab her by her hair and force my tongue down her throat, set the hover to auto-pilot and pull that curvy body of hers right onto my lap and show her just how much she means to me with every single hard inch of me…
My fingers grip the steering wheel tightly, my knuckles turning white. I must restrain myself — the battle is still having an effect on me.
“Look what I got,” Anaya says.
She opens the palm of her hand to show me a comm bracelet.
“Is that…?”
Anaya nods. “I slid it right off his wrist. With this, we can finally turn the tables on these assholes. And I know just the guy!”
“Who?”
She types the coordinates into the hover’s dashboard. “Just follow these instructions,” she says. “I have a friend who can help us check the datastream records on the comm bracelets without setting off any alarms. Plus, I’ve been meaning to check in on him anyway.”
“Any friend of yours is a friend of mine,” I say.
A small smile of relief appears on her face as she holds the bracelet tightly, and it sends my heartrate into overdrive. I’m glad to see her relaxing. My mate should always feel safe and protected.
Unfortunately, it seems my mate’s happiness is short lived…
“Open up! Hey, Mikael! It’s us! Open up!”
She bangs on the metal door to no avail. The human female turns to me, distressed, her eyes wide. “He wasn’t in for lunch either. I’m afraid something might have happened to him… do you think those guys took him?!”
“Do you want me to break down the door?” I offer.
She shakes her head. “You’d sooner break your bones than bang down one of these doors.”
I puff out my chest. “Try me,” I growl.
No mere door can match my strength. What is this human thinking?!
“I’ll have to do it,” she sighs. “I didn’t want to, as I didn’t want to attract any attention, but…”
Anaya closes her eyes and a look of pure concentration fills her beautiful face. The lights overhead flicker, and a smile appears on her face.
“Got it.”
The door slides open a moment later, and she shrieks.
The man in the tiny room is slumped over in the corner, eyes closed, no signs of life on him. Despite my heightened senses I can’t smell him or hear his heartbeat. A deep worry fills me.
My mate runs up to him and grabs his hand. “Mikael, wake up! Mikael!”
“He has no pulse,” I say softly, trying to ease the blow.
To my surprise, she just rolls her eyes at me.
“Yeah doi! He’s an AI.”
“Oh.”
I straighten my back.
“We don’t have AI’s on New Exon.”
“I figured,” she says. “He’s not responding. Help me carry him to the Frysk. We need to move him.”
The seriousness in her gold-flecked eyes alerts me, and I decide to trust her judgment. If this AI is a friend of hers, I will trust him too.
I scoop the man up and effortlessly carry him to the hover. The ride home passes by quickly, and once we reach Anaya’s home, we hook the synthetic man up to the charging port.
“Do all homes on Corlis have one of these?” I ask as she attaches the cords of the charger to Mikael’s neck.
Anaya shakes her head. “I keep a spare one around, in case of emergencies… and I’m glad for it. Come on, Mikael. Wake up. Please.”
My mate’s loyal and tender heart moves me, as much as her natural beauty intoxicates me. I hope that the synthetic man recovers, but I cannot say that I am hopeful…
Chapter Thirteen
Anaya
Mikael’s clear blue eyes suddenly open. My heart just about flies into my throat as I fling my arms around his neck, relief flooding me.
“What happened?! Where were you today?” I cry.
Mikael is slow to respond. His eyes dart to the side, and his eyelids open and close rapidly. “I must have picked up something on the darknet,” he says, his vocal cords strained.
I shake my head. “You know you shouldn’t mess around on there,” I admonish him. “What if someone spliced a virus into your code?!”
The AI shakes his head, still groggy. “Nah, that can’t happen. My firmware is up to date.”
“Yeah, well, they’re coming out with new, horrible viruses every day, you know! I don’t want to see you get hurt. Why were you even on there?”
He avoids my gaze. “Trying to forget Shinji.”
“Oh, you fool,” I say, punching him on the shoulder. “Gorging yourself on all the filth the darknet has to offer is no way to deal with your problems!”
“I know,” he says, his voice breaking as he glitches out once more. “Enough about me, who is Mister Sex Appeal Walking over there?”
Mikael turns his synthetic eyes to Theros, who is watching us from the door frame with a curious look on his face, his chiseled, silver, gorgeous face that makes my knees weak just looking at it.
Stop it, mister gorgeous face. You’re embarrassing me in front of my friend.
“This is, uhm, a friend.”
Theros raises an eyebrow. “A friend?” he says, and his low, grumbling voice makes my knees even weaker.
“It’s complicated,” I try. “Let’s focus on Mikael for now, okay?”
“I’m fine,” the AI protests. “Really.”
“Run a diagnostic check,” I tell him.
“Fine,” he says. His eyes close, fluttering behind his eyelids, as he checks up on all of his systems.
His NuSynth skin is paler than usual, and that worries me. I’ve seen a few synths before they were ‘reassigned’, and their skin was discolored as well. It’s a bad sign, and I’ll do anything to stop Mikael from sharing their fate.
“Done,” Mikael quips. “I’m as clean as a whistle.”
I don’t believe it for a second. Something is wrong. I hope it’s just
a bug that he picked up on the darknet, and nothing insidious.
“Now can you tell me why you dragged me here? And who this tall hunk is?”
I glare at my synthetic friend, but he just flashes me his trademark, disarming smile. After taking a deep breath, I tell him everything that has happened, and hand him the comm bracelet I stole off that thug.
“We need to run a trace on this,” I say, “Without alerting whoever it belongs to. I’d do it, but I can’t control my powers at the moment.”
Not with that Zoran around, anyway. Every time our eyes meet I have to force myself to stay calm, or else the lights start flickering, the air conditioner starts acting up and my coffee machine starts whirring.
“No problem,” Mikael says, stretching his fingers. “I got you.”
He plugs himself into my unit’s comm system, holds the bracelet in his hand, and closes his eyes. I get up and walk through my apartment, arms crossed, my mind racing. I’m acutely aware of Theros watching my every move, but I ignore him for now.
That’s all I can do. I’m not equipped to deal with the very strong emotions that are coalescing inside of me right now.
“Got it,” Mikael says, his eyes opening once more. “This data goes straight to SINTRA Corp.”
“I knew it!” I say. “Their equipment is everywhere all of a sudden. I knew they were involved somehow!”
I feel validated — and frightened. SINTRA is a megacorp, a company so big it spans the entire universe. Corlis Station is just a speck on the radar for them. Why would such a powerful entity be interested in little old me?
“Sintra?” Theros growls. “Should I know them?”
“You probably know them as ONYX,” Mikael says.
My heart stutters. I know that name, and it sends a shiver down my spine. Theros reacts as well, his silver eyes fly wide open. “No! ONYX — they tried to attack New Exon itself! How are they still around?!”
“Well,” Mikael joins in, “technically they were disbanded. When the story broke that ONYX were involved in genetic engineering and the development of chemical weapons with the aim of overthrowing the Federation itself, well, the Federation wasn’t too happy about all of that, as you can imagine. The Onyx family was imprisoned at Blackgate for life, and the company formally disbanded. Its competitors snagged up all the different ONYX divisions.”
Theros nods thoughtfully. “What is the connection, then?”
“Over the past few years all of the different competitors — Takeshi BioTech, ZuberiSynth, Wellington Consortium — merged, creating another megacorp; SINTRA. And this one is way bigger than the original ONYX ever was. I’ve been following the news on the side, because ZuberiSynth ‘created’ me. Technically. Being an AI and all. So anything that happens to them, I’m keenly interested in.”
“You belong to SINTRA now, then? So you could be a double agent?” Theros says.
Mikael blinks. “Technically. But I’m not, Synths of my type, we are completely independent. It’s what gives me my charming personality!”
“Charming?” Theros growls.
I’m not sure he agrees.
“Exactly,” Mikael says. “SINTRA is discontinuing the whole CS-X series in fact, which… says something about how much the universe values me… but that’s not the point.”
“I vouch for Mikael,” I say. “One hundred percent.”
“Okay,” Theros growls. “If you trust him, I do, too.”
“Now we know who we’re dealing with, but the most important question still remains: Why?”
It probably has something to do with my new abilities. How long have they been watching me? What did they catch on the video feeds? I should have been more careful. I should have tried harder. I don’t want to be on the run my whole life!
Theros places his hand on my shoulder, jolting me from my thoughts.
“Relax, Anaya,” he says, sensing my distress. “I will protect you.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “Thank you,” I mutter. “Mikael, are there any records of the messages sent from Corlis to SINTRA’s headquarters?”
He shakes his head. “All deleted.”
“What about their internal communication?”
“That data is all scrambled.”
“Can you… unscramble it?”
Mikael gives me a sly smile.
“With enough time, I can do anything.”
Chapter Fourteen
Theros
My body moves almost automatically as I practice my shadow-sparring. I have taken off my armor and my shirt, standing in Anaya’s living room half-naked as I go through my morning routine.
I spent the night on her couch. It was okay, although the AI sitting in the corner does unnerve me somewhat. He’s been unscrambling the SINTRA data, his facial features twitching randomly at times. Anaya assured me this is normal behavior for a synthetic, and I have no choice but to believe her.
My hearing is perfect, and so I notice that Anaya is spying on me through the crack in the door. She sucks in her breath, her heartbeat speeding up. She feels the same way as I do, her physical reactions do not lie, yet I sense she still resists the bond.
Impossible, of course. A fated bond can’t be broken, it can’t be resisted. That would be foolish. It ought to be embraced, celebrated.
Consummated.
I will not rush the human. If she needs time, I will give it to her. At least, that is my intention, but I am only Zoran…
She tries to pass by me on the way to the kitchenette, and I whirl around and grab her waist, pulling her close.
I couldn’t resist her the moment I caught her scent.
“You’d do well to get some training in,” I growl.
Even in her pajamas and with her morning hair, Anaya looks absolutely gorgeous to me. Our eyes lock, and she takes a small step back.
“I’m not a warrior, like you,” she says.
“You could be.”
She shakes her head. “I’m not one for technique. I’m more of a scrappy fighter. My main strategy is to just kick ‘em where it hurts and run. Besides, I literally can’t afford having our… energy, or whatever it is that we have, blow out all the circuits in my units.”
“We’ll just have to be careful, then,” I say as I grab her hands, gently ball them up into fists and raise them up for her. “Like this.”
She relents and I coach her through the movements. I barely touch her, yet the lights in the room flare up every time we draw too close. The pink-haired beauty catches onto the moves quickly, but then again, she has Zoran blood flowing through her veins as well. Her cells remember the traditional battle sequences.
“Excellent,” I say. “You’re a fast learner!”
There’s a look of pure concentration on her face as she copies my movements, her body moving like a true Zoran warrior.
Only, her body is much more beautiful than any Zoran’s.
My hand rests on her lower back as I gently adjust her stance, her naked skin only a small layer of fiber away. Her beautiful, mesmerizing curves make my heart beat faster and faster, and my cock grow harder and harder.
She spins and for a moment, our eyes lock. My heart flutters, and there’s a definite spark. The overhead lights flicker, and this is enough for Anaya to lose her concentration and her balance. The female trips and I catch her in my arms.
It’s as if our bodies can’t help but gravitate to one another, stealing touches whenever possible.
I gaze into her amber eyes, one hand resting on her back, the other cradling her neck, our lips mere inches away. I feel her hot breath on my skin, her scent surrounding me completely, and for a brief second…
Our minds meld.
I can feel her thoughts, and she can feel mine. We are one, a unit. Whole.
And then, we share a vision of a gaping, swirling vortex, all the different colors of the universe mixing into one hypnotic, mesmerizing whole… the Rift.
And just like that, the moment is over.
“
Guys,” Mikael stammers. “I have it!”
The AI pulls us out of our vision and back into Anaya’s dwelling. She takes a step back, her cheeks flushed, and she avoids my gaze. We are both breathing hard. A few more seconds longer and we would have ripped each others clothes right off…
“That’s great, Mikael,” Anaya says. “What did you find?”
The synthetic man connects himself to a screen and shows us a grainy video of Anaya using her power to turn back the clock at her place of employment.
“I knew it,” she sighs. “I knew I shouldn’t have done that.”
“They have hidden cameras?” I ask.
“Seems like it,” Mikael says. “We’ve all got to be careful. They could have eyes everywhere.”
“So that is what drew them,” I muse. “They are interested in your powers.”
“I never asked for this,” Anaya says, plopping down on her couch. “Why can’t everything go back to normal?”
“If things were normal, I wouldn’t have found you,” I say, the shared vision of the swirling vortex still fresh in my mind. “And I am glad I did.”
Mikael raises his eyebrows and makes an amused face. “You have to teach me your secrets, Anaya,” he says. “Seems like you’ve got something I don’t!”
“Spare me, please,” she says. “I have no idea what we have to do next… and stars, I’m running late for work!”
“Forget about work,” I growl. “We have a mystery to solve.”
“I wish I could, but today I’m covering for Nevaeh — if I don’t show up, Kovach will take it out on her! And she just had kids, so… I have to go.”
Chapter Fifteen
Anaya
Keeping my focus at work today is exceptionally hard. I keep glancing at the ventilation shafts, trying to find all of the hidden cameras. When I’m certain I’m out of sight of all of them, I close my eyes and use my powers to search Corlis’s data-stream for anything suspicious.
With every passing day my abilities grow stronger. Where I first was just able to make lights flicker and turn the clock back a few minutes, I now have the power to swim through the Station’s data like a fish in water, poking and prodding every bit of information out there.