Ashes and Metal

by Naomi Lucas

  And like a drug, he wanted more of it. He wanted new memories to replay and add to the old ones, to seduce and feed off of. He let out a heavy breath.

  “I don’t think I can let her go.”

  The snake grumbled. “Let me be the voice of fucking reason. No one should be around you. No one. I shouldn’t even be around you. I don’t need my ass to get exiled like yours.”

  “Could you give up Norah?” Gunner asked. Stryker had told him all about what happened and why he’d never responded to Gunner’s communications. That this woman, Norah, had sent out a distress call of her own, and like the hero Stryker always pretended to be, he’d answered it.

  Gunner chuckled. It was almost laughable, the timing. Stryker glared at him as if he’d gone crazy.

  If the snake hadn’t answered that distress call and responded to Gunner’s communications instead, Gunner wouldn’t have stopped to investigate the Blessed. If they had both just done their fucking jobs, they would still both be monster hunters for the EPED. A month ago they had been.

  Now, the snake—perfection himself—had quit, and Gunner was stuck dealing with Dommik for all future drop-offs. That’s if he didn’t jump ship himself.

  He thought about dropping the job, especially after discovering that he’d been tracked and that the EPED had been keeping tabs on him for god knows how long.

  The fucking swarm himself tracked him. No one else had that deadly combination of access and resources. Gunner had no proof...but he wasn’t done searching for it.

  When he’d taken back his ship, after the Peace Keepers—enlisted by the EPED—followed it across the galaxy in search of him, Gunner had docked it on the same ship Elodie was on and then searched his vessel thoroughly. He knew what he was looking for but he’d been unable to find it. A piece of the swarm himself.

  “I could never give Norah up,” Stryker said.

  “And yet you can kill her with a kiss,” Gunner provoked.

  No answer for that. Stryker shifted and his hologram moved to emulate. It was thick, the heavy few minutes of silence that hung between them.

  “Did you eat the captain?”

  Gunner warily lowered himself into a chair. “No.”

  “Then there’s hope for you at least.”

  Hope and Elodie were one and the same.

  Hours later, Gunner washed himself up, scrubbed until his skin was red and raw enough to trigger his healing nanobots. He trimmed his hair and shaved away the stubble he let grow over his face the last couple of weeks. He rubbed his thumb, still not fully healed, knowing the other half remained deep within the bowels of the broken down mass of the legionnaire. A piece of him left behind, although a new piece would soon replace what he’d lost.

  He donned his new uniform, one he had to replicate, as the last had been destroyed when the pirates raided his ship.

  Gunner pressed his hand against the walls of the lavatory-turned-brewery and slid it over the whirlpool tank that sat quietly in the corner. The beer was long gone but the machines had been untouched. He could smell the lingering fragrance of hops in the air, bitter and sweet.

  But the rest of the ship wasn’t the same. Not after what the pirates had done to it, and not after what he had done to it in search of the tracker.

  The armory had been pillaged, the medical bay depleted of all its stores, the hidden cybernetics room looted of all its million-dollar tech. His bridge stank of others who’d made a home in his place as they attempted to hack his machines. He could even smell Ballsy when he focused, thin as the trail was.

  The EPED acquisitions, for the most part, were fine. The doors that led to the laboratory were destroyed almost beyond repair, brought down by a bomb or a cannon of some sort. There had been a bazooka in his armory. It could’ve been that. Waste of perfectly good munitions.

  Gunner wished he could’ve seen the pirates’ faces when they finally made it through. When they first laid their eyes upon the giant glass enclosures that were filled with flora. Flora that still waited to be offloaded and sent back to the EPED base on Earth.

  There was very little money in the prospects he had stored within his most heavily barricaded part of the ship. There was nothing for the pirates to want. But still, if there’d never been a tracker on board his vessel, they would’ve made a killing selling off his personal gear.

  Not one of his androids remained, though. That part of his kingdom had been stolen away.

  Gunner stretched out the sleeves of his jacket and walked off his ship.

  The landing zone and docking bay of the giant Peace Keeper battlemass filled his view, as did the hundreds of men and robots working the deck. Battle flyers and diplomatic ships lay on either side of him; they went on for miles in both directions. In a way, it reminded him of Ghost City, but much, much larger. The battlemasses weren’t warships, they were gigantic movable fortresses for the Earthian military fleet.

  No one stopped him when he entered the main vessel. People watched but kept their distance. It was the first time he had emerged in days.

  He was after one thing, and one thing only. Elodie. She’d been calling for him, wanting him, and they had tried to keep him away. He’d let it happen. Distance and time can change a person... But it hadn’t changed either of them. His little talk with Stryker had only strengthened his resolve. He knew what he wanted, and he had never been one for self-deprivation.

  Gunner followed his nose to the holding units. They weren’t hard to find. He knew the smell of captivity well.

  The alluring perfume she seemed to exude seeded like a welcoming mint through the endless passageways. Fresh and new and invigorating. The metal plates in his body vibrated with anticipation. His heart steadily increased with each step. He would always be able to find her, always be able to smell her.

  His footsteps and stride lengthened. Speed bit at his heels, and the closer he got, the quicker his jackal became.

  Mate.

  He could sense her now, mere yards away from him. There was nothing that could stand in his way, not even the metal walls and the barriers.

  A man in a uniform stood before the last door that led to her. Gunner outstretched his fingers then bunched them into restraining fists at his side.

  “Elodie,” he said breathlessly.

  The guard eyed him warily but nodded. “She’s being held within.”

  “Currently.” Gunner didn’t break stride.

  The guard didn’t answer—at least not quickly enough—and Gunner shoved him to the side. The locking mechanism of the door came loose at will and he pushed the panel aside quietly. A series of cells came into view but only one was occupied. He only sensed one person. He only felt her.

  Elodie’s smell flooded his nose and her proximity electrified every fiber of his being.

  Gunner approached her room quietly. It was the only one that had bars erected, but it was also the only one transformed into private quarters. He was pleased that she was kept away from everyone else. He’d demanded it.

  Her quiet, even breaths came to him first, her body second as he rounded the corner. Elodie was lying on a bed facing the wall, her back to him, sleeping peacefully.

  Completely unaware that he was there.

  Gunner watched her for some time, suddenly uncertain how to proceed. He’d given time the chance to erode the strange bond between them, for her sake more than his, but it only made the ache in him grow each hour he stayed away.

  But his patience had its limits. No one had ever disagreed with that.

  Gunner wasn’t sure if he was there to say goodbye or to capture her anew. He had no plan but the immediate, instinctive need to see her—to be near her, even if it was the final time.

  He didn’t know what they had now that their time was up. Technically, the deal between them had been satisfied.

  His jackal propelled him forward and his machine-self agreed. The man in him was an outlier, having lost the battle to play hero.

  He never entertained the thought that he was
a good man.

  Gunner turned away and found the mechanism that opened her room. The bars sank into the walls with a quiet swish. Elodie remained asleep.

  He moved forward and sat down next to her pallet, leaning his back against the wall, his head tilted to the side to rest behind hers. He breathed her in and waited. Watched.

  HER HAIR FLUTTERED, tickling the back of her head. It was accompanied by a soft exhale of breath and a wave of heat.

  Elodie’s eyes snapped open and her body went rigid. Her hair moved again and she reached up to touch it, to get rid of the feeling, but her fingers were caught and held tight. The hand that held her was rough and calloused and gripped her almost desperately.

  She twisted around and found Gunner sitting on the floor next to her bed.

  Relief flooded her as she took in the sight of him: handsome, groomed, and so unlike the prisoner she’d been next to for weeks. They stared at each other silently for a time, neither one of them able to say a word.

  “You clean up well,” she said, breaking the silence first with a smile.

  “And you’re dressed like a girl,” he teased.

  Elodie scooted back and lifted the covers on her bed, inviting him in. Gunner, without breaking the connection they shared, joined her under the blanket. The bed dipped under his weight and her body pressed up against his.

  His arm hooked above her head and slid under her cheek and she clasped his shirt hard. He pulled her closer until she was cocooned in his arms. Elodie released a happy sigh as her bare feet threaded through his legs. She rubbed them over his boots as she settled into him.

  “Gunner...” Elodie said breathlessly.

  “Elodie,” he whispered back, a dark, low rasp she’d come to love. Another hot breath fell across her brow and she closed her eyes to drown in it. To remember everything they’d been through.

  Before long, her pulse slowed to a rhythm that matched his and she succumbed to the smell of his heat and aftershave—content.

  If this was a dream, she never wanted it to end.

  The next time she woke, he was gone.

  Chapter Twenty Four

  ELODIE WAS RELEASED that very same day.

  The officials brought her forward along with several of the others, and cross-examined their stories. It helped that during the takedown of the pirate organization, the mining ship she’d worked on had been recovered and the records of the employees were still intact.

  It proved her innocence.

  Those who weren’t freed—or had taken recruitment—remained in holding until they underwent their trials.

  To her disappointment, those who’d left in the escape pods had yet to be tracked down.

  But the news she’d received was good: several had shown up at a nearby star port and her father’s DNA was within one of the pods. That was where his trail ended. There were no more data signals for the Peace Keepers to follow and vanishing into the stars wasn’t a difficult task...especially if you started off-world.

  If she really wanted to, Elodie could find him. She knew her dad well enough to know what he would do and where he would go. There were only so many jobs he would take, and even if he changed his name, she would always be able to recognize him.

  Elodie followed the yellow light of passageways that signaled the direction of the landing zone. Her nerves were frayed and her feet felt heavy, but she’d made up her mind.

  I just have to convince Gunner... if he needs convincing. She wasn’t sure if he would need it at all, but weighing all of the odds was safer. It guarded her heart.

  They were on opposite sides of a vast spectrum, after all.

  If her feelings for the Cyborg were one-sided, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. At least that’s what she kept telling herself. I have a whole universe of options now.

  She repeated that over and over in her head, but her thoughts always drifted back to Gunner. There was only one option she wanted. Ely never thought freedom would feel so burdensome.

  Her chuckle was filled with self-deprecation. I don’t think I have a taste for it.

  Some of the others had taken jobs with the Peace Keepers. They had all been offered positions within hours of their innocence. It was surprising, but she supposed it made sense. There were far too many jobs on a space-faring vessel and far too few people interested in filling them. With the experience she and the other prisoners had shared, working for the government was a far safer option than working on a ship that could be brought down again.

  The hallway abruptly ended in an atrium and a giant archway, beyond which was the landing zone. The air grew colder as she stepped into the large space, and pungent grease and oil hit her nose. She was bombarded by loud noises from the ships being worked on and repaired in the zone.

  The landing zone was cavernous—larger than any port she’d ever been on. A seemingly endless amount of ships, and the machines that maintained them filled her vision. Her brow creased as her eyes roamed over everything at once.

  Gunner was here somewhere, but she never expected that somewhere would be the end of a labyrinth filled with men and metal. People and androids passed her by with little more than a glance, each heading to a destination set out before them. She envied that they knew where they were going.

  Elodie stepped into the void.

  It was so different from the cramped, dark spaces she’d worked within most of her life, and she craned her neck to take it all in. The liveliness felt unnatural to her. Her fingers curled into her hands and then her hands crawled into her long shirtsleeves.

  The machines she worked on in the bowels of starships were always in motion, but it was a predictable, rhythmic motion. To her untrained eye, the loading docks looked like a small battle.

  She tempered her uneasiness and began her search.

  Before long she was among the flyers and the entry hall was lost behind her. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for but she believed that when she saw it she would know. Gunner had a way of drawing eyes.

  The ships towered above her like skyscrapers and she was lost in their shadows. Some were so large that she couldn’t see the top of them while others were barely big enough to hold one person comfortably.

  Elodie stopped. The hair on the back of her neck rose and she felt eyes on her. She turned slowly around, her gaze darting everywhere, scanning everything.

  Then she saw him.

  Gunner was up a ramp, leaning inside the open hatch of a ship, his body relaxed and yet still menacing in his prowess. Even in his leisure, he demanded caution from those around him. There were androids, ships, and small machines between them, walking and moving through her line of sight, but his watchful stare never faltered.

  Elodie stood motionless, staring right back.

  He’s waiting for me.

  A small smile tugged at her lips. Suddenly, all her worry and uncertainty vanished. Every other option she’d forced herself to consider died like starving weeds in her head.

  In a flash, she ran to Gunner, grinning like a lunatic while dodging the obstacles in her way.

  Elodie slammed into his body before he even had a chance to uncross his arms, hers banding around him. There was no way she was going to let him go. No way was she going to give him a chance to reconsider. She burrowed her face into his chest and clasped him tightly, rubbing her brow back and forth, feeling her Cyborg take over her soul.

  His arms came around her slowly and she tightened her hold. His rough hands touched her back lightly until they moved. One shifted up to cup the back of her neck while the other slid down, positioning under her ass. Gunner abruptly jerked her up—her legs hooking his waist—and caught her upturned mouth. He kissed her desperately, filling her up.

  Elodie slipped her hands all over him, grasping and touching anything in her reach, unable to stop feeling him. It wasn’t until he hefted her further against him that she realized he’d carried her into his ship and away from prying eyes. She continued to press herself into Gunner and held onto hi
m as he lowered her feet back to the ground, his lips chasing after hers the whole way. Breathless, she cupped his cheeks and broke the kiss to meet his eyes.

  Red and bright.

  “You waited for me,” she said.

  “I did.”

  “Why?”

  “I hoped that you would follow.”

  “Of course I would. I thought I might have to convince you.” Elodie smiled. “We’re very different.”

  “Not for long.” Gunner breathed hotly over her brow. She wasn’t sure if he knew how much she liked when he did that, though she suspected he did. It would always remind her of her safe spot, the one place that gave her comfort within that nightmare. “You needed to make the choice yourself.”

  “I made it a long time ago.”

  “And in desperation.”

  “Not for me. When I said everything, I meant everything,” she argued.

  Gunner pulled back with a smirk. “Remember, I’m in exile. You’ll be alone with me for the rest of your life.”

  “I like being alone.” She looked around at his ship for the first time. “With you,” she added, her eyes going over the mess of the interior. Walls had been ripped off, bolts and screws littered the floor, tools haphazardly placed. There were exposed wires and piping, and when she looked farther in, entire doors had been broken off or blasted in. “You got your ship back.”

  “The EPED and the Peace Keepers were able to track it to where the pirates had it stored.” Gunner led her in. “They were already looking for me before your distress beacon went off. Fuckers thought I needed help.”

  Elodie laughed. “I’m glad they did. I’m glad we’re not on that freighter anymore.”

  “What? You didn’t want to help me captain a crew of prisoners and mutineers for a few days? Bring in a new reign of terror?”

  She slanted her eyes at him. “No. Neither one of us is cut out to be around people. We’d make terrible leaders.”