Ashes and Metal

by Naomi Lucas

  “Why?” he asked angrily. “He could just meet me here or ping me on the network. Isn’t Cypher usually hibernating?”

  Cagley shrugged her shoulders and pulled up a stool to sit down next to her. “I don’t know, but I’ll stay with Elodie until you get back.”

  Gunner didn’t move and Elodie wished she could reach out and take his wrist. He stared at the door with a distantly. She felt bad for the door. When he looked at her that way, his attention was overwhelming, but he adored her. Gunner had no care for the door.

  “Go,” Ely urged.

  He glanced her way. “I’ll be back soon.” He looked at Cagley. “Make sure she’s ready to leave when I get back.” Then he was out the poor door and gone.

  Elodie turned her focus to the doctor sitting beside her. “Is everything all right?”

  “I don’t know.” She canted her head. “But there’s always something happening. I stopped caring about the small things long ago. If it doesn’t affect my ability to operate my lab or impact my supply chain I let the others decide what the appropriate response is.”

  The doctor untied her long brown hair, and for a moment, a silken cascade of dark chocolate locks fell around the woman’s shoulders before it was re-tamed. It was alluring, almost unnervingly so, but inviting and warm. Her aura was maternal. The kind that could be clearly seen from a distance and understood without ever knowing the person at all. Elodie had never seen a more beautiful woman in her life. The female Cyborg’s beauty was so different from the imposing men of her species that she found it strange.

  A vixen. I would’ve expected female Cyborgs to be provocative. Not motherly. Cagley looked no older than Elodie herself, yet she was drawn to her like a child to her mother.

  “Why are you different?” Elodie blurted out, kicking herself as she said it.

  “Different?”

  “From the other Cyborgs. You were all made around the same time? The men,” she nudged her head, “look like battle machines.” Elodie briefly bit her tongue. “I don’t mean to offend you, but you make me want to hug you, and the others... They make me want to avert my gaze and walk in the opposite direction.”

  Cagley burst out into laughter, and it went on for some time. Elodie blushed.

  “I am different, but then again, every Cyborg is. I look the way I look to be inviting, and I’m glad I still am.” She released another soft laugh. “I was designed after the head cybernetic doctor’s wife. She had died years prior during the war. He was an old man by the time I awoke in my vat but he was standing over me, shielding me with a towel away from prying eyes. His wife was kind, he told me, and so he hoped I would be too.”

  “And then he sent you off to war? That doesn’t make sense.” Elodie twitched her fingers wishing she could itch more than her palms.

  “No, but I wasn’t meant for the front lines. I was pre-programmed with dozens of years of cybernetic research and human medical care. The cybernetics doctors couldn’t go to the battles, so they needed someone to go in their place, and so they made me. It was my job, along with several others created in my division, to take care of the Cyborgs damaged in battle.”

  “I guess that makes sense. You’re very beautiful.”

  “Thank you.” Cagley smiled.

  “Aren’t you afraid of being surrounded by,” Elodie swallowed, “men?”

  “The Cyborgs? No. They’re honorable for the most part. They wouldn’t come near me unless I invited them to and vice versa. I wasn’t designed to be helpless either. My strength is not at their level, but I’m still far ahead of a human and no Cyborg would jeopardize their relationship with me, as I’m the only one on station capable of rebuilding them. Why?”

  “I was afraid to be around men.” Elodie tilted her head to look back at the door, hoping Gunner would return. When he didn’t, she continued, “Not so much anymore.”

  “I’m glad. Even more so that the jackal has made you feel that way. They mate for life, did you know that?”

  Elodie looked back at Cagley, eyes wide. “They do?”

  Cagley nodded, her eyes twinkling with mirth. “They do. I guess you own Gunner now. Be careful where you point him.”

  GUNNER ENTERED GHOST City’s top deck solarium, bypassing the entrance to the control room, and headed for the conference room. Without knocking he stormed in and slammed his hands on the glass-alloy table. It didn’t splinter, but it did shake.

  Cypher sat heavily in a chair at the front while Breco stood off to the side.

  “What’s this about?”

  “Nightheart has contacted us, and since he is your boss, and he asked for you personally, we figured you should be here,” Breco mused, flicking something off his sleeve. The Cyborg looked as uncaring as Gunner was irate. It was only the three of them in the large room, but the space felt small.

  Gunner clawed his fingers over the glass before straightening. “And to answer my question?” He didn’t even want to be on Ghost City, let alone in a room with several of his brethren. If it weren’t for Elodie, he would be a trillion miles away, waiting and working on ship repairs with her, spending his cycles the way he wanted to. With her.

  But her health was more important, and this ‘upgrade’ was long overdue, as far as he was concerned. They also needed to resupply. So their little vacation had a minor detour, finding them stationed at Ghost.

  Cypher mumbled, half-growling with his eyes closed. “There’s a problem.”

  Gunner turned his attention to him. The man was in a constant state of ‘hibernation’ although that wasn’t really what was happening with him. Cypher just always appeared to be asleep, but that was mostly because he was regularly tied into the Network, monitoring all of the information that flew across Ghost City. Many underestimated the Cybernetic bear, but anyone who pulled him out of his cyber vigil risked serious consequences.

  A hologram appeared and Nightheart’s figured filled one of the chairs next to the central table. Bastard looks grim. Gunner felt some small pleasure in knowing his boss was...brooding. Nightheart’s eyes searched the room before he started speaking.

  “Gunner.” His eyes landed on him.

  “What is it now?” Fuck greetings. The man had a tracker on his ship. The only reason Gunner continued working for the EPED was because it gave him access to most of their after-action and exploratory reports. And spite. Spite had a lot to do with it.

  “I have your next mission.”

  “And you couldn’t give it to me through Mia, on my ship, where you’re not wasting everyone’s time directly?”

  “It concerns everyone present.”

  Breco stepped forward. “How so? We’re separate entities. The EPED isn’t supposed to know of our existence. Just because a couple of Cyborgs worked as your monster hunters doesn’t mean you can lay claim on all of us. Nothing concerns us. We are sovereign.”

  “This does concern you and it will result in repercussions that will echo across all of humanity if not dealt with immediately,” Nightheart said. “Zeph has gone rogue.” He leveled another look at Gunner. “Like you did back in the day. The EPED is after him, and the government is itching to get involved. We can’t let that happen.”

  Gunner sighed, pulled out a chair, and sat down. “And what do you want me to do? Apprehend him? Retrieve him? Wipe his existence from the universe?”

  Gunner could literally feel Breco and Cypher bristle at his words. The room was growing smaller still by the second. A Cyborg threatening to kill another Cyborg...wasn’t standard practice.

  “Preferably one of the first two but kill him if you must.”

  What a cold-hearted, deliciously unhappy bastard. Gunner smirked. He hated his boss, but who didn’t? But fuck did he really enjoy him sometimes.

  “You’re talking about destroying a Cyborg! One of us!” Breco slammed his fist on the table this time. “And you’re bringing us into this? We won’t help you.”

  Nightheart turned his cold, dead eyes to Breco. “I’m not asking for your he
lp. I’m telling you to stay out of it. If Zeph asks for sanctuary, deny it.”

  “Why the fuck would we do that?” Breco sneered. “What’s the point of having a haven if it’s not to get away from fuckers like you?”

  “Because you won’t like what happens if you do.”

  “Is that a threat?” Cypher spoke up for the first time, eyes half-open now.

  “Absolutely.” Nightheart shrugged.

  Gunner interjected before Breco roared some more, overall amused. “What did Zeph do?” He twiddled his thumbs. “Wasn’t he supposed to be with that shark guy? What’s his name? The one you’re trying to recruit to take over Stryker’s position?”

  “He abducted a woman.”

  “Against her will?” Cypher asked.

  “And a child. Against their will,” Nightheart answered.

  Gunner sat back and closed his eyes. Fuck.

  Epilogue: Chapter Two

  GUNNER CARRIED ELODIE back to his ship. Cagley had released her into his care as soon as he returned to the room. He paid the doctor a small ransom in credits, knowledge, and various other goods he still had stored on his ship. It was enough to set him back, but he would’ve gone into debt for Elodie’s procedure.

  She squirmed in his hold and hooked an arm around his shoulder, hefting herself further against him. Her other hand clasped the side of his neck.

  “What’re you looking at?” he asked, looking around at Ghost City himself, trying to see it through her eyes. All he ever saw was a whole lot of the same old shit.

  “Why are all the hatches open? All the docked ships have their hatches open and unguarded.”

  “It’s law. Ghost City’s captain demands a show of trust. If we’re allowed into the city, the city is allowed into us.”

  “So...we can just walk onto any one of these ships and... I don’t know? Steal things, steal them?”

  Gunner chuckled. “Only if you want to die. Or worse, be imprisoned. Just because the hatches stay open doesn’t mean others are welcome. But yes, if we were so inclined, we could board one of these other vessels and do what we pleased.”

  “My dad would like it here.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.” They had found Chesnik, after following his escape pod’s trail to a nearby port after they left the Peace Keeper battlemass. From there, Gunner followed his nose to the slums of the port where Chesnik was hanging out with some of the other escapees from the pirate freighter. They had changed their names and were working off the payment for those new identities.

  To his utter horror, Elodie asked her dad to join them and help rebuild his ship. Gunner would’ve suffered it, suffered him, if it meant keeping Elodie happy, but the nano gods were on his side that day and Chesnik stoically refused.

  Elodie paid off her father’s debt, since she still had access to their funds from her previous job, and got him the best treatment a Cyborg’s ship could afford for his wrenched shoulder. They split ways after Chesnik signed on to another crew, a small mercenary vessel, one that he could manage alone without having to worry about hiding his daughter’s identity in the close proximity of others.

  He learned something fundamental about Elodie then. That she wasn’t good with goodbyes. Of any kind. And to his chagrin, he now kept tabs on Chesnik’s whereabouts that brokered onto stalking.

  “Why do you say that?” she asked.

  “Because there’s nothing for him to do here.”

  Elodie looked around. “You’re right. It’s all too perfect. I expected more.”

  “Oh?”

  “Ghost City... The name seems dreary but also fun? Maybe grungy machines, smoke, and glitz. I didn’t expect it to be so...”

  “Ghostly?” He laughed. Several Cyborgs eyed them from a distance, and he flared his eyes.

  “So boring.”

  “There’s a bar and nightclub,” he argued but he also agreed. “And a gladiatorial pit.”

  “There’s also a lot of Cyborgs,” she stammered as they came upon one standing outside his ship. “A lot of male Cyborgs.”

  “Yeah. It sucks, doesn’t it?” He stopped and looked down at her. “I received another job.”

  “What is it?”

  “To capture a criminal, dead or alive.”

  She sighed and looked from the ship and back at him. “That sounds about right. I’m staying with you.”

  “You are,” Gunner agreed and started walking again. His hold on her tightened as he approached Cypher.

  Elodie pressed her lips against his ear, her breath tickling it and sending a spark straight to his cock.

  “Who is he?” she whispered.

  Gunner turned his face toward her. “An asshole who can hear you,” he whispered back.

  Cypher narrowed his eyes.

  “Tell him I just got out of a procedure and that I’m mutating and tickling, and flustered,” she huffed another sultry breath, “and frustrated.”

  “I think he wants to talk to us.”

  Elodie shifted in his arms, clutching his neck and shoulder with both hands. Gunner hefted her closer. “Tell him it’s not a good time. Tell him to leave.”

  “Leave.” Gunner looked at the man.

  If Gunner was utterly horrified with the prospect of Chesnik living on his ship. Cypher was utterly bored.

  “I scanned your ship for trackers,” Cypher said unfazed. “I didn’t find anything.”

  Elodie sighed again and he gripped her tighter. “I never asked you to check.”

  “You didn’t, but Stryker made the rounds and told the others. I found one on Dommik’s ship so I thought I’d better take a look.”

  “And? Can you trace it and find out its origins?” Gunner already had a hunch, but didn’t have any proof.

  Cypher smiled, a toothy smile with dimples and all. The Cyborg was a big guy, stocky, like a man who lived to lift weights and eat. No one would ever expect that the Cyborg slept at least six days out of every seven day Earth week.

  He pulled out a small bug, no bigger than a pinky nail—or Elodie’s tiny pink clit—and handed it over. Gunner released Ely’s legs and held her tight against his side as he surveyed the piece.

  It was exactly what he’d expected.

  “What is it?” Elodie asked, taking it from him.

  “A bug. An extinct one from Earth. But this one is made of metal and enhanced, like me.”

  Her eyes widened. Gunner wondered how many drugs Cagley had given her. “It’s a Cyborg?”

  “It was. But it’s dead now,” Cypher answered.

  “Can we keep it?” Gunner asked.

  “Sure thing.”

  Cypher moved out of the way and Gunner picked Elodie back up, walking into the hatch. He called over his shoulder, “I’d search Ghost City if I were you.”

  “Already have,” Cypher grumbled, somewhere far off.

  He closed the hatch and ordered APOLLO to disembark. By the time he carried Elodie to his armory, they were already thousands of miles away from Ghost. She was rubbing her body up against his, shivering, pulling at his clothes and grazing her skin with her nails all at once.

  “Cagley told me something interesting.”

  “Oh?” Gunner set her down among his weapons and grabbed a belt from the cabinet, taking her wrists and tying them together and attaching them to the wall at her back.

  “What’re you doing?”

  “What did Cagley tell you?”

  “That jackals mated for life.”

  Gunner smirked. “And I’m keeping you restrained like the good doctor ordered.”

  “Gunner,” she deadpanned. “I itch everywhere! I can’t stand it. It’s like I’m being tickled under my skin.” Elodie twisted on the table and tried to get loose. He grabbed her waist and sat her back upright to face him. “Let me go,” she breathed. Gunner rested his hands on the table on either side of her, caging her in, a smile twitching his lip.

  “Not until it’s over.”

  Elodie’s nostrils flared, her brow creasing.
Her body squirmed. He relished it until she jumped forward and ran her tongue straight over his cheek, licking his tattoo. She slid back languidly, clearly satisfied with herself for catching the Cyborg off guard.

  Gunner leaned into her and ran his nose from her shoulder to her ear. He didn’t touch her otherwise.

  “You never told me,” Elodie whispered, shaking under him. “Why you have tattoos of guns on your face...” Gunner could smell her arousal. It was building and thickening the air by the second. His back stiffened and he bowed over her, moving his nose from her ear and into her hair. He could hear her skin prickle with goosebumps even though his fingers remained stiff on the table.

  Every moment, his ship drove them deeper into space. Every moment, his patience was poked with a hot iron. Every moment, what he had in the cage of his arms became more real.

  Gunner gripped the edge of her pants and stripped them off her legs.

  “Some people refer to their arms as guns because that’s the best weapon they have. My tattoos point toward my best weapon, and I don’t intend to use it for talking.”

  Author’s Note and Dedication

  What’s Next?

  THANK YOU FOR READING Ashes and Metal, Cyborg Shifters book five. If you liked the story or have a comment, please leave me a review! I love hearing from fans. You guys keep me going!

  Gunner’s story wouldn’t have come together if it weren’t for my family, friends, and readers. This past Spring had struck me with some difficult realities and revelations and I had so many amazing people to help me through it. First, I want to thank my sister! She’s brilliant and amazing and I’m so very proud of her for publishing her first story this year. What better way to connect to this world if it weren’t for siblings? She made this story shine.

  Second, I want to thank my husband for always willing to lend a hand and help me out. Ever heard the phrase: Do you live under a rock? Well, I do. I live under a rock and in a hole and he’s both to me. The ultimate protector.

  Thirdly, I want to dedicate this story to Tiffany Roberts (you’ve seen those Kraken books around, yeah?). She’s become one of my greatest friends since starting this journey of being an author and is always, always there when I need her. She made this story sparkle.