Rogue Cyborg

by Grace Goodwin

  The governor sat back in his chair and ran a hand through his dark hair. I almost felt sorry for the guy. Almost.

  “By the gods, I thought the Atlans were bad.” The words were mumbled, then he sighed, motioning Mak to sit back down. “Fine. Marz and Vance will take the first section. You two will cover the second,” he said, referring to me and Mak. “We don’t know what we’ll find, so this is recon only. If you have an open shot at destroying their comms, take it. Otherwise, note the location and return here so we can plan a full strike op. Got it? We’re only going to get one chance at destroying it or the Hive will know we’re on to them—and I don’t want you to fuck it up.”

  “Yes, sir.” I knew I looked like the Cheshire Cat about now. Knew, and didn’t even try to hide the smug smile I felt tugging at the corners of my lips. We were going on a mission. Together. Our plan had worked. Mak and I, well, we were good at more than just fucking each other’s brains out. I didn’t have to look at him to know what he was thinking, feeling. And we could work this room like putty in a preschooler’s hands. I hadn’t felt this… connection to anyone in a long time. If ever.

  “You leave in an hour. Head down to the hangar for flight checks.” The governor’s gaze met mine and I could have sworn I saw a glint of amusement there. “Earth females. I should have known you’d be trouble, even after picking a damned mate.”

  “The best kind of trouble.” I hopped out of my chair, slapped Mak on the arm and tugged him along behind me. “Let’s go, Mak. We’ve got a job to do.”

  Mak was on my heels. I could feel him hulking behind me like a storm cloud as we walked down the twisting corridors of Base 3. But it didn’t bother me, it made me feel safe. Even if he’d been acting for the crowd in there so he could get sent on this mission—so he could leave me—even I’d believed he had some kind of primal urge to protect me. Just for a moment.

  We’d accomplished our goal. I was heading out on a mission. My pussy no longer felt abandoned and neglected, I had the governor and all the males on the planet off my back and Makarios of Kronos was going home to Rogue 5.

  Win-win. Just like we both wanted. So why did my feet grow heavier with every step toward the shuttle hangar? Toward good-bye.

  God, this sucked. I didn’t want a brooding, controlling, dominant Neanderthal for a mate. And yet, I wanted Mak. And he was all of those things. Every. Single. One.

  I could hear him breathing, but he didn’t speak. Didn’t say a word. Didn’t touch me. He was a shadow behind me and I wondered if he felt the same way. Were we both just shadows of our former selves? Not really living? Not really dying, either? Going through the motions until we got what we wanted—off this fucking planet?

  And that was depressing as fuck because last night felt like living. I’d felt for the first time in a long, long while. Mak would head off to roam the galaxy like Han Solo and I’d return here, go on missions, but would I be able to feel again? My hand wouldn’t give me the orgasms Mak could. And that was the kicker. I had exactly what I’d wanted. A life—while being on the Colony wasn’t exactly home sweet home—with missions, with purpose once again.

  Now I’d have that, thanks to Mak. Because since I chose him, he wanted me to go on missions, to do what I was supposed to do with my life. As long as my goal wasn’t to be officially claimed by him, he was fine. He was leaving.

  But somehow, over the course of one night, I wanted a tiny bit more. No, not tiny. Huge. I wanted Mak’s huge cock. What hot-blooded female wouldn’t? One taste—and I did mean taste—and I knew I’d ache for more. My pussy clenched at the thought of never being filled with his enormous cock.

  Shaking my head to clear it, because I was being all girly and ridiculous, I stopped cold in the deserted hallway and turned around. “Thanks, Mak. That was perfect. You should win an Academy Award for that performance.”

  He stopped and frowned. “What is this award?”

  I studied him. His fangs were still down. His skin flushed. His hands were in fists at his sides and his chest was heaving. What the hell? “It’s an award given to actors back on Earth. What is wrong with you? Are you all right?” I reached up and placed my palm on his cheek. I couldn’t reach his forehead, but I’d take what I could get.

  He was hot to the touch. Burning up. “Are you sick? Do you guys get a fever?”

  He lifted one hand and wrapped it gently around my wrist, holding my palm to his skin. “I was not acting, female.”

  It was my turn to frown. He hadn’t been acting? “What? But everything went according to plan. You’re going with me to the moon. We’ll destroy the Hive up there and then you can go back to roaming the galaxy or whatever it was you’d been up to. Rogue 5, Forsia. Wherever it is you want to hang your hat.” I used my thumb to pet him, because I could, and because standing so close to him made me want stupid things. Like to be more. But more what? Normal? Beautiful? Helpless? Perfect?

  I didn’t know what Mak wanted in a woman. But apparently, even after several rounds of fucking, I wasn’t it. If I had been, those fangs would have been buried deep last night and I would have been screaming in pleasure as he made me his forever. Because the way Rachel and Kristin had said, their men had looked at each of them and wanted to claim them on the spot. There wasn’t any of this one night stand stuff. It was forever with them.

  But not Mak. It had been a trade. A bargain, with hot sex thrown in.

  And as for claiming? God, I would have let him. I knew the truth. Couldn’t lie to myself about my newfound weakness when it came to him. He was like a drug. I was hooked. What was wrong with me? Was there some kind of Forsian brainwash? Did his cock have magical powers? Something with his cum like I’d heard the Vikens had? Seed power?

  I yanked my hand away, disgusted with myself. I was not the kind of woman who trapped a damn man. Not my game. Never had been, never would be. Mak wanted to fuck and he wanted to leave the Colony. He’d been honest with me from the start. Being upset about it now was beneath me, especially since that was what I’d wanted, too. Me on missions. But that had been yesterday. “Let’s get you home, Mak. You don’t belong here any more than I do.”

  “Is this how you say good-bye, female?”

  I frowned. “What do you mean?”

  He looked over his shoulder at someone who passed by us in the hallway, but Mak was too big for me to see who it was. Gently, he cupped my biceps and led me into a briefing room, let the door slide closed behind us. It was identical to the one we’d just left, except this one was empty. His hand slapped against the wall, pressing the lock.

  “We have an hour. What do you usually do before a mission?”

  “Talk with my teammates.”

  His eyes drifted to my lips. “I have much better uses for your mouth than talking.”

  Oh.

  Oh.

  Holy. Fucking. Oh.

  He dropped his hand and I stepped back. While I liked sucking his cock, I couldn’t get much more in my mouth than that flared crown. And I’d tried. I undid the clasp on my pants, let them hang loose on my hips as I turned about and bent over the large table. Settling on my forearms, I glanced over my shoulder in invitation.

  Mak watched my every move and his gaze settled on my upturned ass.

  Between one second and the next, he was behind me. Fingers tugged at the top of my pants and yanked them down so my ass was bare.

  I expected him to tug open his own pants and fuck me. Instead, he spanked me.

  I startled, felt the sting as it spread through my body. Pushing off, I spun around to face him. Big mistake. He was huge, hot, sexy and smelled like heaven. Instead of arguing, I wanted to touch. Sheesh. Pathetic. Still, I worked up the willpower to protest the heat spreading on my bottom.

  “What the hell was that for?”

  “Your mind wandered, worried,” he said, cupping his cock that now stretched his mission pants to capacity. “Now you are here, with me. And while taking you from behind appeases the Hyperion in me, the Forsian is angry.�
��

  He opened his pants. Finally. Pulled out his cock, stroked it once.

  Stepping into me, the backs of my thighs pressed into the hard table. I had nowhere to go.

  “You have too many personalities to keep up with. Just tell me what you want.”

  “And you’ll give it to me?”

  I licked my lips, realizing the answer was yes. I’d give him whatever he wanted. After the previous night, I knew he might get what he wanted, but he’d give me what I needed. “That’s my job as your mate.”

  For only a little while longer. So I’d take it. This last hour.

  “A Forsian likes to fuck so he can see his mate’s face. To watch as she comes. To see how he can destroy her for all others. Ruin her. Possess her. Pleasure her.”

  Oh god, my panties were ruined.

  With a hand at the center of my chest, he pushed me back so I lay sprawled across the table. Hooking the backs of my knees, he held me open. His hands slid beneath my butt and tugged my pants down my legs. When he followed to settle on his knees before me, I whimpered.

  Quickly he stripped me of everything below the waist, even my boots and socks. And then he put my legs over his shoulders, settled between my parted thighs and looked his fill.

  “Mak,” I moaned. He hadn’t even touched me yet.

  “You’ll give me this. Your pleasure. I want it all over my face, your scent, your taste, as we go on this mission. And after you come I will lick your desire all up. Only then will I fuck you.”

  I whimpered, tensed my leg muscles in the hopes of pulling him closer. There.

  “You want my cock, don’t you?” His finger swirled at my entrance and my hips bucked.

  “Yes. Please. Anything. Just touch me.”

  “Ah, you beg so sweetly. I wonder if you taste as sweet.”

  It was then that he lowered his head. Made me come. Made me forget about everything but his wicked skill to ruthlessly rule my body.

  Chapter 8

  Mak, Shuttle 2, The Colony Moon

  * * *

  “Marz, you read?” Gwen sat next to me, in the co-pilot’s seat, her hands moving so quickly over the control panel they were nearly a blur. She was in her element. Fast. Deadly.

  Beautiful. It was a wonder she’d been grounded, for she was an incredible asset to any mission. An amazing Coalition fighter, and a pilot, which I hadn’t known about. To think she had to bargain with the governor to be able to use her expertise was a shame.

  Her scent lingered on my skin and it made my cock grow hard. Again. I did not wish to bathe for days so I could hold on to that last connection to her once I left.

  “We’re here,” Marz copied. “We’re on foot. Ten minutes to first coordinates.”

  “Copy that. We’re heading out in five. Radio checks every ten.”

  “Ten minutes. Mark.” Marz sounded calm, which was good. I needed to make sure this mission went according to plan, that Gwen and the two Prillon warriors wandering around out there in the moon’s fog returned to the planet’s surface alive. I might be leaving Gwen behind after this, but while she was with me, I’d ensure her safety.

  “Mark.” Gwen checked the display on her wrist and looked up, those dark eyes looking at me, but laser-focused on the mission. “Ready?”

  Nodding, I looked back out the cockpit display and set our small shuttle down gently, the landing struts taking the weight with a soft groan.

  “I will protect you, Gwen, and then I must leave. I can’t go back to the Colony.”

  “I know.” She unbuckled and climbed out of her seat to stand, for once, taller than me. She lifted her hands to my face, leaned down and kissed me gently on the lips. Her touch was soft, feminine. It was the lightest touch she’d ever given me, and it rocked me to my core, especially now, knowing her sheer strength. “It’s okay, Makarios of Kronos. You don’t belong here. I understand that.”

  She offered me a small smile.

  I arched my brow. “Was that a good-bye kiss?”

  “Never.” She grinned now, giving me another kiss, this one much harder. Faster. And with quite a bit of tongue. My cock stirred, liking this. “You’re mine ‘til you’re dead, right? That’s a long time, Mak. Anything can happen.”

  She moved away, out of reach, before I could argue. I didn’t like her words, and if we’d been in my quarters back on the Colony, she’d have been over my knee for it. She was fast, and the seat harness kept me in place when I tried to go after her.

  Fuck.

  By the time I got the buckles undone, she was in the ready area, helmet on, armed to the teeth with ion blasters, a larger rifle, a line of grenades attached to her belt and a very wicked looking knife strapped to her thigh. A small pack rested on her back, and I knew the Prillon, Vance, would carry an identical bag filled to the top with explosives.

  Enough to take out a much larger ship than the small shuttle we’d flown up to the moon’s surface. Enough to take out a Hive communications array and dozens of Scouts or Drones. And my Gwen right along with them.

  I wanted to tease her, to lighten the mood, but that proved impossible. Odds were, she would need all of the explosives, the weapons. We knew the Hive were out there. And we were stupid enough to be going out into that swirling fog to find them.

  “Report.” That was Governor Rone’s voice coming through the helmet speakers, loud and clear.

  “We’re exiting the shuttle now. We’ll arrive at the first mark in”—Gwen checked the navigation display in her helmet. I saw the objective clearly in my own after I put it on, but I had no desire to talk to Maxim Rone, the uptight Prillon who’d kept me a pseudo-prisoner on the Colony for far too long. He might have been governor, but that didn’t mean I had to like him—“about five minutes.”

  “We’re listening, Lieutenant, tracking both teams,” he stated, making sure we knew she was being watched. One fuck up on Gwen’s part and I had no doubt he’d yank her back to base and ground her again.

  “Figured you would.”

  I raised a brow at her flippant tone, but she just smiled at me through her helmet and hit the control switch that lowered the ramp to the ground. A dense, swirling gray mist enveloped us both, wrapping around us like coils. Instantly, visibility went to just a couple of steps in any direction.

  Right away, I was on alert. Not as a fighter, for I wasn’t one. Never had been. But as a mate. It might be a new thing, but the protective instincts I felt for Gwen were fierce.

  I grabbed her by the arm as she took her first step toward the ground, not hard, just hard enough to get her attention. “Stay where I can see you,” I ordered.

  My female tilted her head up at me and smiled. It wasn’t a sweet smile. “Check your in-helmet display, Mak. You can track me all over this rock. And you might like being bossy in the sack, but here, in this fucking fog, I’m in charge.”

  Fuck, she was right. I was only here to keep her safe, not run the mission. So I did as she asked, already knowing what I would find. I could, indeed, see a small dot indicating her position relative to mine. Captain Marz and the Prillon Vance showed up on the monitoring display as well. In red, the areas we’d mapped out for ReCon were bright targets laid out over a grid between the two shuttle landing sites.

  I didn’t care. Blips of color weren’t enough.

  “No, mate. Stay where I can see you with my own two eyes.”

  “Mate?” Gwen shrugged off my grip. “That’s ridiculous. That’s like, three feet.”

  “I will not argue with you, female.”

  “Female?”

  I should have taken note of Braun’s earlier words about Earth females. I should have remembered that they had to be tricked into allowing for their own protection. But my body raged at me to protect her, to stay next to her, to keep her safe. I imagined her hurt, caught by the Hive once again, and my mind seethed. My fangs dropped and my voice was part growl, part hiss. “You will obey me in this. You are mine. I will protect you.”

  Gwen patted me on the
arm, her head tilted to the side, a look of seeming innocence on her face. “Get a grip, fang boy. Not gonna happen.”

  Before I could argue, she was gone, disappearing into the swirl of fog, nothing more than a small green dot inside my helmet.

  “Gods be damned! Gwendolyn. Get back here!” I roared into the microphone, but that little green dot kept moving farther and farther away and at a pace too fast for a normal human.

  The husky masculine laughter I knew was coming from base didn’t help my mood. Neither did Captain Marz’s amused chuckle in my ear.

  “Shut the fuck up, Marz. Or I’ll remove your arms from your body,” I growled.

  Now Vance was laughing at me, too.

  “Fuck both of you.”

  And my sweet, docile female’s voice chimed in last. “No, Mak, the only person on this planet you get to fuck is me.”

  The laughter continued, completely at my expense and that only angered me further.

  “Gods damn all of you, stay on task and shut the fuck up.” The governor’s order shut down Marz and Vance’s laughter, but I should have known it wouldn’t stop my Gwen. That female was too fierce and stubborn for her own good.

  Again, advice I should have heeded from Warlord Braun.

  “Sorry, Governor,” she said sweetly, almost too sweetly. “Just staking my claim on Mak’s magnificent cock.”

  What. The. Fuck?

  “Shut it, Lieutenant.” The governor meant it, but it was my mate’s distant laughter echoing in the background that made me grin. Yeah, that was my mate. That, and the fact that Gwen had just told everyone on the planet that my cock was magnificent. Which it was.

  Giving up on taming the wildness out of my female, I followed her little green dot on the helmet display, determined to protect her, whether she wanted my protection or not.

  Gwen

  * * *

  I couldn’t see a damn thing… but I could hear them. The Hive. In my head. The subtle vibration of multiple high-ranking Hive Soldiers moving over my flesh, under my skin, like the subtle stroking of a thousand mosquitos’ wings hovering over my body, ready to bite. The Hive hadn’t given me this technology to use against them, but that’s exactly what I was doing now.