“I chose to be an Interstellar Bride and was matched and sent here instead of going to prison. I found the truth, shared it and it was used against me. They made me the patsy and I took the fall. It wasn’t used for good. How can you guarantee what you’ve learned here won’t be used to make things worse for The Colony?”
“I’ll do everything I can to make sure that won’t happen.”
She arched a brow. “You know all about spin, Lindsey. Think about it. You can’t stop them. These guys need hope. They need brides. And what you’re doing is going to destroy everything. Since Brooks died, we’ve only had one bride. One. In months. How can you make sure whatever you take back won’t be used to scare people away from the Coalition? From the Brides Program?”
“Because…because I know what it’s like, what you guys are doing. I know about Krael and the Hive and—”
“Yes, but they could spin everything you give them for political gain. Sacrifice lives for money. Just as it happened to me. A big pharmaceutical company put money above people’s lives. God, the warriors here on The Colony want to live. They want love, family, children. They are barely clinging to hope, holding on by their fingernails. If you’re going to share something with Earth, share that we need more Brides. More volunteers to come here and find their perfect match.”
I bit my lip. That wasn’t what the people who hired me wanted, and I knew it. But could I go through with this now?
I had to. They’d hurt Wyatt if I didn’t. But sacrifice the happiness of everyone here on the Colony? That was a horrible choice. A terrible burden. And the weight of it was crushing me. I couldn’t breathe. I curled my hands around the edge of the exam table, my knuckles turning white as I stared at a smudge on the otherwise pristine floor. Focus. I just needed to breathe.
Rachel yelling at me didn’t help. She was really angry, her cheeks bright red and her hands in fists at her side, as if she were ready to punch me in the nose.
I deserved it. But Wyatt didn’t deserve what was going to happen to him if I didn’t go home and give Senator Brooks and his people what they wanted.
Rachel’s voice rose in volume and I winced, my headache back in full force. “But no. It’s not about that for you. What are you after, Lindsey? Money? Right? You get to buy a new car and all the warriors here get to die a little more inside every damn day. Tell me I’m wrong? Tell me you’re not some selfish, stupid little girl willing to ruin all their lives for nothing more than a few more zeros in your bank account. Money, right? That’s why you’re so desperate to get this story and go home.”
I couldn’t deny it. If I did, I’d have to tell her the truth. “Seems like you’ve got me all figured out.” I sniffed, lifted my chin and looked straight at her with the tears pooling in my eyes. She was a warped blur on the other side of those stinging tears. “You think you’re so smart. Keep talking.”
She offered me a small smile, crossed her arms. “Everyone’s asked why you’re here. Everyone else believes your story.” She walked to the wall, to a small table and brought back a soft cloth. “Wipe away those tears, Lindsey, and tell me what’s really going on. It’s just us. No one else is around. You’re Kiel’s mate. That means you’re mine now, too. Kiel is a good man, and he’s suffered enough. Tell me why you’re really here. Let me help you. Let Maxim help you. Prime Nial is my husband’s friend. He’s mated to a human, too. Her name is Jessica. She’ll help you, too. You just have to tell me the truth.”
We were in a second room of the medical unit. While there were some doctors and technicians in the other room, Rachel had claimed this space for privacy. Now I knew why she wanted it. She was whispering now and I took the small white cloth and wiped my eyes as she whispered. “Why are you here?”
I took a deep breath. Let it out. My gut made the decision to trust her. My heart was talking before my brain could catch up. There was just something fierce about Rachel, something strong. I trusted her to help me.
“My son. His name is Wyatt and he’s three.”
Her dark eyes widened. “You have a son?”
I choked on a sob and took a deep breath, trying to suck in strength like air. “A little over three months ago, we were in a car accident. I came out with just cuts and bruises, but even in his car seat, Wyatt was hurt. His leg. It was broken, cut, destroyed. They patched him up, did a couple surgeries, but couldn’t fix him. The growth plate was damaged and is fusing early. His leg is going to stop growing. They want to do surgery to try to help, but it’s not good.”
Rachel remained quiet as I spoke.
“He needs more surgery. More than the ones he’s had. And if they can’t fix it, he’s going to have to have surgery and bone grafting as he grows for the rest of his life. My crap insurance denied the surgery as not medically necessary, which is total bullshit. I am trying to appeal, but…there’s no money.” I laughed but there was no joy in the sound, only despair. I looked her in the eye and told her the rest. “There’s no money to pay for the ones he’s already had.”
“And the Senator offered you a lot of money to come here and get this story?”
I nodded. “Yes. Enough to take care of Wyatt. And I can’t stay here. I can’t be a bride, a mate. I have a son. I’m a mother.” My shoulders were shaking, but I held the cry of pain inside. “Kiel is wonderful. Amazing. God—I can’t describe—” I stuttered, but Rachel was nodding. She understood the pull of mates since she had two. Two! She knew what leaving would cost me. “I—I can’t leave my son. Not even for him.”
“Your son. Without the surgeries now, he’ll be crippled for life?”
I nodded, the tears streaming down my face in silent agony. Now that I’d shared the truth, I couldn’t hold back the pain. “I want the money, but…but I want this ReGen thing more.” I held up the device that was like a magic wand. I waved it about. “This would heal him. Within minutes.”
I slid off the exam table and forced back the tears. I looked Rachel in the eye and held the wand up between us. “I have to go. Take this back to him. Heal him. I don’t care about the story. I never did.”
“They’ll be waiting for you,” she said. “Wanting the story. The video, audio. They won’t pay you without it.”
“I don’t want the money!” I shouted, waving the wand. “I want this.”
“I give you the wand and I keep your story?”
Yes, she was protective. And shrewd. And ridiculously cautious. I couldn’t blame her, not after what had happened to her on Earth.
“I have to give them something.” My voice shook. “They’ll hurt him if I don’t.”
“Nice people.” Rachel studied me closely, but didn’t snatch the wand away. Going over to a wall, she swiped her finger over the glossy black. It came alive with all kinds of colors and words, shapes and numbers. After a few more swipes, a screen appeared that displayed the Interstellar Brides Program logo.
“I’m not going to be a bride,” I said.
“You don’t need to be. You’re already mated to Kiel.”
“Oh god,” I murmured, my heart breaking all over again. “Kiel.”
She turned away from the wall display and faced me. “You will return to Earth, to your son, Wyatt, and walk away from your marked mate?”
“Can he come with me?”
She shook her head. “No. Earth won’t even take back its own soldiers who’ve been contaminated by Hive tech. They’ll never agree to allow an alien to live there. I mean, Kiel wouldn’t exactly blend in.”
“Can Wyatt live here? Can Maxim or the Prime you were talking about get Wyatt permission to live here?” I was grasping at straws, but maybe there was a chance we could all be together. I knew the rules, but hoped one could be bent…for me.
“No.” She bit her bottom lip, her eyes filling with tears in an apparent display of empathy. “That’s an Earth rule, not a Coalition one. They will allow full grown adults to make the decision to become a citizen of another world and give up citizenship. But a child? No. They’re not allowed to make that
decision until they come of age. And no adult is allowed to make it for them.”
She killed any hope I might have felt. “So I’m screwed. I have to choose between Kiel and my son.”
“Yes.” She wiped a tear off her cheek. “It appears that way. You’ve made your choice. Are you really willing to give up your marked mate to return to your child?”
“It’s not like a have a choice.” The words fell from my lips in a whisper.
“Yes, you do.” Rachel closed her eyes and held them closed for long moments, as if my pain were her own. “It’s a sucky choice, but it is a choice. Are you sure? Maybe we can figure something out?”
I felt the weight of the question pressing on me. It was like an elephant. Oppressive and squashing me like a bug. I had to choose between the only man in the universe for me and my son. I couldn’t have both. There was no question as to my choice. While it would feel as if my arm was ripped off by leaving Kiel behind, it was Wyatt who needed me more.
“I can’t leave him alone. I can’t abandon him.” The tears came in earnest and I sobbed. “He’s my baby. I can’t—”
Rachel’s face transformed then. Every hard edge, every calculating gleam was gone. She had to use both hands to wipe wet cheeks as she turned back to the screen. “Then we must get you back before Prime Nial forces you to stay. You might choose your son, but I can’t guarantee the Prime won’t choose to protect his own people, the warriors who fought for him.”
“Are you kidding me?” Prime Nial—
“I don’t know. I doubt they’ve ever faced this problem before. But are you willing to take the chance?”
“No.” I wasn’t. No question. Wyatt needed me. I’d made him a promise that I would return to him, and I intended to keep it.
The screen buzzed for a moment as the link connected and a familiar face appeared. Rachel greeted the woman whose stern face filled the screen. “Warden Egara.”
“Rachel,” the Earth warden responded. “Miss Walters.”
The mate of the Governor of Base 3 spoke, her voice clear and determined. “We need your help.”
Chapter Seven
Lindsey
God, I was an emotional mess.
It had taken thirty frustrating minutes, but I’d figured out how to adjust the window tinting in Kiel’s quarters. I was now able to look out upon the rocky terrain, see the rugged beauty of the planet. While the room was temperature controlled, I shivered and I rubbed my arms.
I’d gone into this little adventure into outer space with only one thing on my mind. Wyatt. While I didn’t think any less often of him, I’d been surprised—no, stunned—by what I’d come to learn. The Colony wasn’t some prison. It wasn’t some outer space outpost of heathens. These were warriors who’d fought for the Coalition, been brave and courageous, even when captured by the Hive. Tortured. Altered. Forever changed.
Yet when it was time to go home, back to the families and people they’d fought so hard to protect, they weren’t welcome. Rejected by their own people as being dangerous and damaged. Broken.
Despite it all, they were on the Colony building new lives, a new world. They could have been lawless, like a weird Mad Max movie, but they were honorable warriors, not just from Earth, but from all the Coalition worlds. I’d met Rezzer the Atlan and he’d transformed into his beast for me, on camera, and under complete control. The memory sent a shiver of adrenaline through my body. The sharp-featured warriors with the golden, brown and copper coloring were from the main planet, the people in charge of the whole Fleet, the Prillons from Prillon Prime. They were huge, but had been nothing but courteous to me. The two Prillon that were friends with Kiel, Captain Marz and Lieutenant Vance, fought in the war for fourteen years.
That was more than half my life.
They gave me access to video records of Hive battles and I saw what those things were. And here, on the Colony, I was surrounded by what they did. Hurt people. Torture their captives. Change their bodies into something no longer human, or Prillon, or Atlan, no longer safe.
Contaminated. That was the word I heard over and over from the human men I interviewed. They looked frightening, something straight out of sci-fi movie with silver skin and circuitry built into their flesh. One of them had two completely silver eyes. He was dark skinned, from Atlanta and his mother had named him Denzel after her favorite actor. Now his close cut, curly black hair and dark skin surrounded eyes that looked like liquid mercury.
Seeing him cry had almost broken me in half. He had two sisters and a mother who’d raised all three of them on her own. She’d screamed and cried when he’d called her on the video screen to tell her why he could never come home again.
A very religious woman, she’d taken one look at his eyes, called him a demon and told him to kill himself.
And that wasn’t even the worst I’d heard. Seemed it didn’t matter what planet these guys were from, no one wanted them back. Everyone was afraid. Their people were afraid of them. Their governments were afraid of them. According to Kiel, that fear was not without merit.
One bad frequency generator could reactivate all of their Hive technology. The implants were literally dormant, waiting to be turned back on. And some of the men had the Hive implants in their brains. Their spines. According to Rezzer, the Prillon named Tyran, one of Kristin’s mates, had so much Hive technology in his muscles that he was actually stronger than the Atlan in full beast mode.
Scary was an understatement.
But they’d all been kind to me. In fact, the two people on this planet with the worst attitudes were the two human women, Rachel and Kristin. They both looked at me like I was torturing their favorite pet. They were so protective, so determined to save these guys, to give them some kind of happiness. Hope. Their mates had been tortured and broken, and now the women were determined to save them. To see other brides come to The Colony.
Senator Brooks had been wrong. Very wrong. Why shouldn’t he have been? No one knew the whole truth. I did. But I was here on the planet. I was supposed to be an observer. A hidden observer.
Yeah, that had lasted all of five minutes just as Rachel had said. I was a horrible investigator. But I’d gotten involved with these people. Learned the real stories. The truth. That’s what they wanted back on Earth. Well, that’s what they claimed to want, but I couldn’t guarantee these guys that their stories wouldn’t be spun into lies. I hadn’t cared when I was on the transport shuttle. I hadn’t cared about anything but making Wyatt better. Safe.
But now I cared about more than just my son. I cared about the warriors here. I cared about Kiel. He’d refused to be interviewed, but I didn’t need to put him in front of a camera and pester him with questions to know he was a good man. I felt it when our minds touched in the dreams. I felt it when he touched me.
Kiel.
He’d been unexpected. Yeah, I’d longed for someone to be mine. I longed for a man who was trustworthy, protective, honorable and brave. Caring and thoughtful. Even a little wicked and a whole lot dirty. But I never would have found him on Earth. No, he’d been waiting for me here. And he wanted me. Said I was destined to be his. Me!
The mark on my palm was now quiet. It didn’t hurt any longer, but my heart ached now, that pain exponentially worse. I’d spent one night with my marked mate—God, I couldn’t even wrap my head around that truth—and I wanted more. I wanted a lifetime. I didn’t have to know him for months to know that he was the one for me. The. One.
I’d go back to Earth and search the entire planet and I would never find a man more perfect for me than Kiel.
He was mine. My complete match.
It wasn’t kismet or serendipity. No, we’d been marked. Matched by fate, or God, or some unknown and unseen force that had somehow marked my palm and his—even though we were born clear across the universe from one another.
Kiel, the Hunter from Everis, was mine.
But I was leaving. Going back to Earth and choosing Wyatt over him. I would choose Wyatt over everythi
ng. While Kiel was my marked mate, Wyatt was my son. I could never walk away from him, never abandon him.
Nothing would keep me from him, not even true love with an unexpected and wonderful alien warrior, or ten light years of cold, black, empty space.
Rachel was helping me transport home. She’d shared her truth, ensured I knew it and would take it with me in the hopes that if women on Earth heard what she had to say, more brides would come to the Colony. She only wanted these warriors happy. While not everyone wanted a mate, most probably did. A family, children. Love.
Rachel, as it turned out, was pretty amazing. She knew my truth, knew the reason I would leave Kiel behind. I couldn’t tell him. No. He wouldn’t let me go. According to Rachel, he literally would not be able to allow me to leave. His need was beyond human, an instinct in the core of his being that would never allow him to leave me, no matter the circumstances.
Only death was strong enough to tear him from my side.
But he didn’t have a son with trusting blue eyes and dimples. He’d never felt the soft sweetness of chubby little arms squeezing his neck, sloppy wet kisses on his cheek, and the whispered confession of ‘I love you, mommy’ in the middle of the night.
I stood still and fought the tears welling beneath my eyelids like liquid fire. Wyatt.
I had to go home.
That was why, when Kiel came into his quarters, I leapt to my feet, then leapt onto him wrapping my legs around his waist. I had to walk away from him, let him go, but not right now. Not until Warden Egara said.
Soon though. Too soon, so I would make the most of the time I had left. I’d never been so aroused, so eager for a man as I was with Kiel. Even though he was from Everis, from another planet, he was all man. The way his shoulders felt wide and solid beneath my palms, his waist trim and firm under my wrapped legs, his rippling belly pressed against my mound, his bulging cock nudging against my eager pussy. One hundred percent pure, unadulterated man. And he was all mine.
For tonight.
“Well, hello,” he said, the corner of his mouth tipping up.
Cyborg Seduction (Interstellar Brides: The Colony Book 3) Page 10