by Cynthia Sax
If he rearranged his duties, he could live on Secod Buoir with his female, travel to the Homeland for meetings.
That might be possible.
He trekked to the site of the previous planet rotation’s hunt, moving silently, stealthily through the forest. Predators shrieked around him, stalking their own kind.
His brethren had caused that imbalance. They’d killed his female’s clan. Without those hunters to cull the predators, the beasts had devoured all of their prey and were now starving.
They could rectify that. Several times a solar cycle, they could organize hunts, hosting warriors on the planet. His brethren would enjoy that.
That might please his female also. She spoke of not wanting to be alone, might welcome the competition.
He wanted to make her happy.
High-pitched yips reached his auditory system. Vengeance lowered, creeping toward the area. He stopped a safe distance away from the savage creatures.
The female predator gnawed on a bone, the fur around her mouth stained crimson, her fully sunken stomach now rounded. The cubs fought over a scrap of hide, pulling it back and forth.
They were well-fed, and there should be sufficient nourishment for the predator family for planet rotations. That report would please his female. She cared for the creatures.
He cared for her.
Vengeance turned and ran toward the river, the location of several fucks and many playful encounters. His female’s garments, weapons, boots remained on the banks.
He kneeled by them, drew her ass covering to his nose, breathed in. The leather smelled of her…and of his nanocybotics. They were part of her now, a transient part.
When they stopped fucking, his theory was his nanocybotics would dissipate. Their connection would weaken. He’d no longer have an overpowering need to breed with her, to remain by her side.
Parting with his female…temporarily…would then be possible.
Dreading that planet rotation, he folded her garments, retrieved her daggers. His fingers curled around the predator tooth. It was his, she told him. She was keeping it for now.
He wanted her to have the tooth while they were apart. She would think of him every time she touched it.
He would never stop thinking of her.
Fraggin’ hole. Their separation, although brief, would damage him. His heart already ached.
He gathered his female’s things, stood, took one last look at the river, half expecting to see her skimming along the surface, water flowing over her curves, her hair slicked back, her eyes huge, dark with passion.
She wasn’t there. His female remained in the domicile, her body repairing, her active mind oblivious to the incoming ship and the challenges ahead of them.
He took a detour on the way back, stopping at the rock facing. “No children or babies.” He touched Siv’s name, wishing he could have met the sister his female loved so deeply. “Fight well in the Great Battle, little warrior.”
He read every name carved into the stone. Being a cyborg, those names were now permanently saved in his databases. He would never forget the members of his female’s clan, the beings she had memorialized.
“I will take care of her for you.” He vowed. “She won’t be joining you in the Great Battle for many solar cycles to come.”
He’d protect his female, would restore his nanocybotics once his theory that they dissipated had been proven. They’d heal her, extend her lifespan forever. She—
Is it safe to enter the atmosphere? Truth, a never-serious cyborg, transmitted. Or will your tiny human female blow my ship out of the sky?
The warrior would soon enter the atmosphere? Vengeance stiffened. His ship was that close to Second Buoir? The Homeland is almost a planet rotation’s journey away. How did you arrive here so quickly?
He thought he’d have more time with his female.
The Reckless, our warship, is positioned close to the planet. Truth explained. Death contacted the captain. The captain sent me to rescue you.
I require a ship, not a rescue. Blast Death and cyborg efficiency. Vengeance ground his teeth. Land out of sight of the domicile. I’ll meet with you at your ship.
You didn’t tell your female I was coming, did you? The warrior laughed.
I’m ending this transmission. Vengeance deemed not to answer that question.
Because he hadn’t told Astrid a ship was arriving for them. He ran at cyborg speed toward the domicile, intent on explaining the situation to his female before he met with Truth. The trees blurred past him. Rocks cut into the soles of his feet.
He endured the pain, focused on minimizing hers.
The doors slid open and he skidded to a stop, dropping her garments, boots, and daggers on the floor. Every viewscreen in the structure flashed a red warning. He peered at one of them. A ship was approaching, the message screamed.
He tapped his fingers against the viewscreen, searched the system’s history. A lifeform scan had been performed. She knew the incoming ship was operated by a cyborg, his brethren, her enemy.
His wary female would suspect the worse—invasion. Having studied his kind, she would realize they could communicate silently, at long ranges. She would correctly assume he was aware of his brethren’s impending actions.
His female would believe he had betrayed her.
His heart twisted, his anguish acute. “Astrid.”
He dashed to their private chambers, knowing it would be empty, hoping he was wrong. The sleeping support was unoccupied. There was no sign of his female.
There was also no sign of her guns. The weapons she kept on her horizontal support were gone. He walked through the structure. The long gun normally leaning against the wall by the door was missing.
Fraggin’ hole. Vengeance raked his fingers through his hair. This time, she wouldn’t hesitate to press the trigger.
He was one dead cyborg. His female was going to kill him.
Chapter Ten
That damn cyborg had betrayed her. Astrid gazed at her private viewscreen, using it to locate the ship’s landing site. The lifeform scans had relayed there was a single being on board, one of his clan.
Vengeance hadn’t said anything about the warrior’s arrival. He must have known. According to her research, cyborgs communicated constantly through secure transmission lines.
Yet he hadn’t told her about it.
Which meant he truly did plan to capture her, to take her wherever he was going, without her consent. That wasn’t an act of a male who cared for her. Her heart squeezed. He continued to see her as his enemy.
She should view him the same way.
The small ship landed in a section of flat terrain. She’d blow it up if she had explosions left, but her supply had been obliterated during her cyborg’s attack.
Flopping down on the ground, she watched the vessel. The ramp lowered. The doors opened. A gray-skinned, blue-eyed warrior strode out, dressed in black body armor, guns in his hands, a smile on his face.
He was smaller than her cyborg, less impressive, a D Model. Some females might find him better looking, his countenance less primitive, more classically handsome.
He didn’t appeal to her.
Vengeance approached the newcomer, his head turning in her direction. That cyborg aroused her, her pussy becoming wet with one look from him.
And he was gazing at her. He knew she was there, was as aware of her as she was of him.
He didn’t greet her, didn’t offer an explanation, didn’t apologize for being the biggest ass in the entire universe. The unrepentantly naked and thrillingly hard male exchanged words with his fully clothed kinfolk, their voices too quiet to hear.
The newcomer glanced at her and laughed. She narrowed her eyes.
Fuck them. No one laughed at her. She was the Buoir Berserker.
They’d made jokes about the wrong warrior.
She aimed her long gun at the brute she’d foolishly trusted. Not having enough hate in her heart to kill him, she targeted his rig
ht shoulder, a non-lethal location, and pressed the trigger.
He jerked as the projectile struck him, blasting through skin and flesh, ricocheting off his metal frame. The warrior didn’t fall.
He did look over his shoulder and glare at her.
“You have no right to look at me that way, cyborg.” She lowered her aim. “I didn’t betray you.” She shot him in the left calf.
He staggered, the big brute refusing to go down.
The other warrior threw his head back and laughed, clearly enjoying the situation.
At least, someone was happy. Her lips flattened.
The male’s mirth abruptly ceased as his arm was grabbed. Vengeance unwrapped black strips from the stranger’s body armor.
“Fuck, no.” Her eyes widened. Those were restraints.
The brute planned to tie her up.
That was not going to happen. She shot him in his right calf. He howled.
She ran, pelting through the woods as fast as she could move. He chased her. The cyborg was silent, but she knew he was close behind her, every cell in her body sounding an alarm.
If she made it to the river, she might escape him. She could dive into the water, swim with the stream, lose—
A rough hand grasped her right arm, swung her around. Their bodies collided. She smacked into her cyborg’s chest, the impact pushing the oxygen from her lungs.
Before she could recover, he strapped his arms around her, securing her. She lifted her knee. He caught her leg between his thighs.
“You’re still too slow.” His voice was gruff.
“You’re still a brute.” She bit his chin, piercing his skin with her teeth. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.
That would always, for as long as she lived, be a flavor she associated with him.
“I thought we would have more time.” He didn’t try to stop her attack, seemed to accept the pain she was inflicting upon him as his due. “The ship originated from a warship in the sector, not the Homeland.”
“But you did know a ship was coming.” She glared at him. He could have told her about it yet didn’t.
“I requested it.” His head dipped.
He wanted their time together to end. “Then leave.” She struggled to free herself, her heart hurting. “But you’re not taking me with you.”
“I have to take you with me.” He bound her wrists. “I have to prove the bond we have between us is temporary. It won’t last.”
“You don’t want it to last.” He didn’t want her. She pulled against the restraints, couldn’t break them.
“This isn’t about what I want.” He hefted her over his shoulder. She was a large female, yet he slung her around like she weighed nothing.
That turned her on.
And frustrated her. She drummed the toes of her boots against his chest. He caught her ankles, bound them also. She thumped her knees against him.
“Behave.” He squeezed her ass. “You’ll damage yourself.”
“Fuck you.” She bit his back.
The damn male chuckled. “You’re fierce, female.”
Female. She was no longer his female. She was merely a female. Astrid was glad he couldn’t see the emotional pain he’d caused her.
The damage she’d caused him had been physical. Blood dripped from his injured shoulder, streamed down his lower legs.
She pushed away the guilt. He deserved that agony, would heal.
Twenty planet rotations from now, he wouldn’t remember her. She, in contrast, would be hurting for solar cycles, perhaps forever.
“I hate you.” She gazed down at his clenched ass cheeks. They were perfect…like the rest of him.
“You don’t hate me.” He called her on her lie.
She glowered at his back. “I should hate you.”
“You don’t.” He walked with her, his gait smooth and steady, one of his hands remaining on her ass. She gazed behind her at a planet she doubted she’d ever see again.
Even if she was freed, she wouldn’t return to Second Buoir. Her kinfolk were dead, and there would be too many memories of him.
“I should have killed you when I had the chance,” she mumbled.
“Could she have killed you?”
“Yes.” She peered around her cyborg.
The other warrior winked at her. She scowled back at him.
He laughed. “I’m Truth, Vengeance’s female.”
“I’m Astrid Ragnhild, the Buoir Berserker.” She lifted her body. “I kill D Models like you for fun, and I am no one’s female.”
The warrior, Truth, grinned. “I like you.”
“You don’t have the right to like her.” Vengeance growled. “She’s my captive.” He increased his grip on her ass.
“I won’t be his captive for long.” She told the other warrior. “I plan to escape him.”
“Will that escape involve blowing up my ship?” Truth’s eyes glittered.
“Perhaps.” She wasn’t ruling out that option. “I’ve depleted my stash of explosives, but there are other ways to blow up a ship.” She considered the problem. “I could jam the weapons systems.”
“That’s not optimal.” The cyborg shook his head. “The weapons system can only be jammed from inside the ship. You’d blow yourself up also.”
“That wouldn’t stop her.” Vengeance turned his body until she could no longer see the other male. “She’s willing to die if her death takes out an enemy.” He said that with a hint of pride. “Stop encouraging my captive and load the contents of the domicile onto the ship.”
“All of it?” Truth asked.
“All of it.” Her surly cyborg stomped up the ramp, carrying her into the vessel.
“The contents of the domicile are mine.” She yelled at his associate, irritated about her lack of control over the situation. “You have no right to touch them.”
“I’m touching them, Vengeance’s captive.” Truth laughed. “Those were your male’s orders.”
“He’s not my male,” she muttered. He was now nothing to her. “I will escape you, cyborg.” She told Vengeance as he moved through the ship.
“You’re too slow to escape me.” He entered a private chamber with her. “And where we’re going, it will be dangerous for you if you’re on your own.” He set her facedown on a large sleeping support.
“Where are we going?” She turned her head and frowned at him. Where was he taking her?
“We’re returning to the cyborg Homeland.” He sat beside her.
She didn’t know where that was, but she assumed she’d be surrounded by cyborgs there, cyborgs whose brethren she’d killed.
Fuck. She was in trouble.
“I thought cyborgs couldn’t lie.” She rocked. After a couple of attempts, she successfully rolled onto her back.
There was no pain. Her wounds had magically healed over the rest cycle.
“I have never lied to you.” Her cyborg sounded offended by that implication.
Which was ironic, considering she was currently tied up in his private chambers.
She twisted her arms to the side. Her fingers touched the hilt of one of her daggers. He hadn’t disarmed her.
That mistake would cost him.
“You said no one would harm me.” Yet he was delivering her to his brethren. “Wasn’t that a lie?” She struggled to extract the dagger.
“No one would dare to damage you.” His frown was fierce. “You’re under my protection.”
“You’ll protect me from millions of your brethren?” She rubbed the blade against her wrist restraints. “That’s beyond even your capabilities.”
“I’m a member of the Council.” His chin lifted, her cyborg’s arrogance appealing to her…too much. “I represent all of the C Models in existence.”
He was their leader. Shit. That was bad news for her. Her fingers trembled. The dagger slipped out of her grip. Pain streaked over her right palm. She sucked in her breath.
Her cyborg’s sensitive nose twitched. His face dark
ened. “What did you do?” He thundered that question, gathering her into his arms.
“It’s nothing.” Her voice was faint.
“You’ve cut your hand open.” He threw her dagger across the chamber. It pierced the wall panel with a twang, the handle vibrating.
Her male, being the beast he was, snapped the restraints with his bare hands, freeing her. Moving faster than any human could, he gripped her wrist, brought her palm to his lips, sucking as much of her wound into his mouth as possible.
It hurt yet felt good, stimulating her. She watched as he licked her sliced skin, removing the blood, replacing it with his nanocybotics.
“You care for me.” She repeated words she’d spoken to him before the ship arrived, before he had betrayed her.
“I’m trying to care for you,” he grumbled against her wound. “Why would you damage yourself, foolish female?”
The sleeping support quivered under her ass. The ship was moving. They’d left her clan’s planet, were speeding toward the cyborg Homeland.
Outnumbered and outgunned, on a ship he controlled, she was at his mercy and should be terrified. She wasn’t. She trusted him to protect her, to not hurt her.
“I don’t like being restrained.” She offered him an explanation he, a fellow warrior, would understand. “I can’t defend myself.”
“You can’t escape.” His gaze met hers, the concern in his eyes dissipating the tension within her.
“That too.” She forced a grin. “And it makes killing you more challenging.”
He sighed, his breath wafting over her palm. “The time for playing is over, Astrid. There are some warriors on the Homeland who hate humans.”
“You’re one of those warriors.”
“They won’t hesitate to kill a human female on her own.” He ignored her comment. “You must have a warrior by your side at all times.”
A warrior. Not necessarily him. Her heart ached. He planned to assign the task of guarding her to someone else.
“Why is it important that you prove our bond is temporary?” Her gut told her she wouldn’t like the answer to that question either.
“Some cyborgs believe there is one being in this universe genetically compatible with them, one being with whom they can create natural offspring.” He licked her already-closing wound. “They believe this bond is permanent, cannot be broken by the cyborg or the female.”