Hawk

by Jessie Rose Case

  Pleading starvation had been the only escape, after he’d thoroughly cleaned her and planted kisses on her clit, his tongue running around her entrance and slipping in and licking her.

  Hawk stopped her at her door and held her face between his hands. “You know we’re mated right?” He needed to say the words and for her to hear them. “If you don’t want it, I’ll try to leave. I can’t promise anything but, I would try.”

  Franny looked at the male who had spent days making sure she had everything she needed, who’d done everything to make her happy. Not only had he given her the kind of sex, women only dreamed of, he’d been attentive, seen to her needs first and wanted nothing more than to make her happy. He was interested in what she wanted out of life and encouraged her to get it. He listened to her concerns and complaints and told her to go fix it. He was intelligent and thoughtful and everything else, worked around the two of them.

  She didn’t know if that was a Cyborg thing, but it was a Hawk thing. He was asking for a commitment and for once, Franny couldn’t think of a reason to say no. It was never getting better than this. The world was open now, free of oppression, she could live, have a life, a future. Suddenly things became crystal clear.

  Everything her life had been missing was right in front of her. He’d waged a war in her name to stop her from ever being hurt again. He would always put her needs first, he’d never lie to her and she would never want for anything if it was within his reach. She knew it for what it was, ‘love’. She’d been difficult and prickly, aggressive and rude and all the while, Hawk just kept coming back for more. He didn’t care. He wanted her and all her demons.

  “I know,” she told him brushing her lips across his. “You’re not going anywhere Cyborg, I’ve found my home.”

  The End …….

  The Author: Hello. As a thank you for buying this novel. Here is a bonus chapter. Chapter One from Rage. Book 1. Galactic Cyborg Heat Series.

  Enjoy! Jessie x

  Galactic Cyborg Heat Series Book 1. Rage.

  Chapter One

  Kim walked towards the Bridge from the engine room. It was running like a dream. Mack would be eating his words and she would be one proud owner of a new laser gun. Kim grinned and picked up the pace. She couldn’t wait to see his face when she told him. He’d give her that, ‘I don’t believe it look’, then look all pissed at her, then slap her on the back and hand over the gun. Kim rubbed her hands together. Easy pickings. She told herself. The explosion threw her hard against the wall banging her head and bruising her arm, as she’d reached out trying to stop herself and her ribs, hitting hard against it. Fuck that hurt. Screamed across her mind as her body protested being abused.

  The alarm bleared out. She tried to focus. “Kim you in engineering?” Her comm blurted. Mack. Her partner. She made a grab for it nursing her damaged arm, trying to focus passed the banging in her head.

  “J..u..s..t….. left …… what the fuck, heading back,” she told him peeling herself off the wall and wiping blood from her face. “What the hell was that?” She shouted out over the noise on the Bridge over the comm. It told her everything she needed to know. They were in trouble and Mack confirmed it.

  “Under attack, pirates, give me all you can girl.”

  Fuck! “On it.” She squeezed out determinedly. Her head banging from the impact, she staggered back down the corridor towards engineering. Blood ran down the side of her face. The ship rocked again, then shuddered and the alarm blearing in her ear drums. Kim looked around her at the ship. She hoped to god it held together.

  Slapping her hand on the scanner to give her access, Kim walked into chaos. Fuck. She’d only just left and it was fucking perfect. She rushed to the controls and checked the damage. Dam it. This was going to take some work. She berated herself getting down to work. Shutting down both generators, wasn’t easy. By the time she was finished, the strain on her arm or ribs was killing.

  She turned her attention to the engines. They were badly over heated as they continued to spark and try to fire back to life. She re-routed the coolant and shot it passed both. Steam started pumping out. That was easier to deal with than a fractured engine. She knew both the coolant and the engines weren’t designed to do that but she just knew, both could handle it. And when her gut told her that, she knew to rely on it. She checked the temperature gages. It was going down dramatically but still taking time. Kim frowned. It was time she wasn’t sure they still had.

  “How long Kim?” Mack called out over the comm. Another hit rocked the ship. It threw her across the consol. Dam it. Her head pounded. Another streak of blood ran into her eye and she swiped at it, getting it out of her eyes. Now her chest hurt from the impact of the consol. For fuck sake. She gritted out.

  “They’re coming in to board us girl, we’re dead in the water, get us moving. Now.” Mack was starting to piss her off. She ran around the core and bi-passed and patched several components. Ripping wiring out of one then another.

  “Give me a fucking minute here Mack.” She told him through gritted teeth.

  She manually pulled out cable and turned back to the control. The generators were cool enough now. She patched a connection to forward drive and linked it to both generators. Again, she knew they weren’t meant to work in tandem like that, but if they wanted any hope in hell of getting away, she needed both. Kim connected them and hoped it didn’t blow up in her face. Her gift told her it was the right move. Kim took the coolant off line. She turned it all back on and all switches went to green. Another hit rocked the ship. Now or never, she told herself. She punched the restart. Both generators kicked in. The core powered up.

  She clicked the comm. “We have power. Go for broke Mack.” She told him and felt the moment the core engaged. She hadn’t had time to re-set stabilisers. The whole ship shot forward as she landed on her ass and with relief, it kept going.

  Kim grinned. Take that suckers. O yeah she was good.

  ***

  They’d been caught with their pants down. Rage stormed around the Bridge. They’d been about to board and then they were gone. That pissed him off. He looked around the Bridge holding on to his temper. He was called Rage for a reason and spoke aloud. “What the hell went wrong? We had them.” Pain, his First, turned from his comms station.

  “That ship is not meant to have that capacity. It was dead in the water.”

  “Well it isn’t now. I want to know how that was done. We need that cargo back.” He told him. He looked at the vid screen, the vessel no longer in view. They’d be seeing that again and soon.

  ***

  Kim spent the next six hours nursing the engines and her bruises. Putting out fires, both figuratively and literally and patching up equipment. Those pirates were cleaver, she’d give them that. They ‘d hit the engine room for a reason. They wanted to incapacitate the ship and had done it. Something sour burnt in her stomach. Pirates. That meant they wanted the ship or something on it or both. Her gut twisted. It had been a long time since she’d had to run from that. She clicked her comm.

  “Mack how’s it look?”

  “Good job Kim. No direct pursuit. But they must known our route so I’m going to zig a bit. Engines up to that?” He asked her. Kim blew out a breath. It would put an extra load on it.

  “We’ll need a Port soon but they’re ok for now. It’s a mess back here, but it’s working. I need a month on those engines Mack and soon.” She could imagine him nodding and looking pissed. A month in docks meant no revenue and spending some. Mack didn’t like that.

  “Get some rest. I’ll keep an eye on things.” He told her.

  Kim didn’t need telling twice. She checked everything was secure and in the green and walked back towards her quarters. She stopped at the medical bay and grabbed a scanner. Two ribs damaged. A sprained wrist. Two nasty cuts on her head and concussion. Fantastic. Not that any of that was a big surprise. She’d been fending off the aches and pains for a while.

  She grabbed the med pads, cleaned th
e areas and patched herself up. On her way out she grabbed some pain meds. They’d make her sleep. Her head still banging, she made her way to her cabin. Ready to crash into a healing sleep. Kim opened the door and shuddered. That had been a close call.

  ***

  “So tell me, how’d we lose that ship?” Rage sat behind his desk in his office off the Bridge. His men around him. He’d given them enough time. Now, he wanted answers. Burn, one of his team leaders, gave him the run down. He’d been monitoring the ships systems while they’d attacked.

  “The spec and intel from that ship was clear. It has hold capacity for 100 cubic. Is run by its main computer. Has manual back up. Designed for 5 crew. We had two life signs. Our intel told us it this ship only had two crew. It was a match. We waited until the one in engineering was clear before firing. The ship was already running at twice the capacity of its registration. The only way to slow it down was to targeted the engines. They should have been knocked out and stayed out. We hit it several more time’s to show we meant business. Sent over desist and prepare to be boarded, no one answered. Then their engines fired at almost light speed. It shouldn’t be possible. That suggests some fancy re-model not registered or tec we don’t know about.”

  Rage didn’t like the answer. “What information do we have on these modified engines? Can we catch them?”

  “We were faster before we knocked out their engines, now they are.” Burn told him. “Whatever they did, we could use that.”

  “Agreed.” Rage told him. “Find them.”

  ***

  They had been in port for two weeks and Kim had never been happier. Mack was pushing her to finish. But not this time. Kim headed towards her favourite place on this Port. Well, favourite that didn’t include food on the menu.

  She’d had to strip everything out and re-build from scrath. And to make her designs work, she’d needed to get creative and she had. New ideas on engine capacity that she hadn’t been able to use before, she put in. Now, she wanted to tweak it. She was sure they would get another 25% out of the new design, compared to the old ones and what she’d managed under fire. It was a good move, if he would just give her the time to get it done.

  She wanted it new and perfect. She couldn’t help it. Her gift saw how things worked. How it could be improved and a need in her just wanted to make it happen. This would hold them for a very long time. Unless, Mack let her upgrade again. Kim smiled. If they didn’t come under fire again, that is. It might be years before another full upgrade would be possible. She knew her gift would itch at that.

  But this design was that good and the new one, the next gen one, was even better. Way beyond anything she’d thought of before. She just knew, it would work. So when Mack started to umm and err, she’d got nasty and threatened to quit if he didn’t let her do her job. And a reminder that her work had saved his ass had helped. Kim grinned as she walked in the door of the shop she wanted. Mack loved her and she loved him but he was a pain in the ass.

  “Good morning Lady Kim.” She smiled at the unusual way Remix always spoke to her, when she came into his chop shop.

  “Good morning to you Remix. I’m here for my order.” She told him cheerfully. Then leant on the counter. “What did you think of the new engine design I sent you?” Kim noticed he looked a little distracted. That wasn’t normal for Remix when money was involved. She narrowed her eyes, as the hair on the nap of her next stood up.

  “It was very creative Lady. Would it work?” He asked her, not really committing to the conversation.

  Kim nodded wondering what was going on and played along.

  “Yeah it would. It would be something special and I’m keeping that one to myself. The parts alone would cost many credits but once completed it would out ran everything out there.”

  Remix started shuffling from one foot to the other. She knew this to be a sign of his agitation. They’d been to this Port enough times for her to build up relationships with those that lived here. Something was wrong here. Kim then sensed the presence. She grabbed her gun and held it by her leg. Remix wasn’t easily upset and that told her everything.

  “You ok Remix?” She asked him guarded. He glanced to his right and she followed his eye line. Two males came out from behind some large shelving. She hadn’t noticed them at all. That was bad and stupid. They made no sound as they came into view. And how the hell had she missed them she couldn’t figure. They were just so ….. huge.

  “That’s far enough.” She told them and lifted her gun. Even at this range she had to look up. “I’m going to assume this was opportunistic,” she told them. “Wrong place, wrong time. I’d rather things didn’t get messy here.” Kim wrinkled her nose in distaste.

  Both the men looked at each other and grinned. Ok that couldn’t be good. The larger one stepped forward and Kim took one back. He pointed to Remix.

  “This one tells us you re-built the engines on your ship. It now has more than three times its capacity to light speed.” Kim glanced towards Remix keeping a firm check on the two males. She gave him ‘what were you thinking’ look. Kim thought he looked a bit green.

  “Telling tales Remix? That’s bad for business.” She told him. They goes your payday.

  She noticed the larger male take a step closer to her. “Move again and I’ll blow your fucking head off.” She told him. He put up both hands.

  “We are interested in the information.”

  Kim considered lying, but Remix knew the truth. She’d bet a years wages, these guys already knew who she was and what she could do. They were just playing with her. She started to back out the store.

  “Remix, we will discuss this.” She told him keeping her eyes squarely on the men in front of her. She saw Remix bob his head from the corner of her eye. Was he tearing up?

  Kim reasoned, if she could get outside, she could lose herself in the crowd. The men moved apart faster than she could track. She fired ahead of the first one and heard a grunt as she turned and fired wildly at the second. She ran hell for leather into the crowd outside. Keeping low she dodged and weaved.

  Rage favoured his left leg walking out the doorway of the chop shop. She was fast. His mind registering the obvious. Dark stood beside him, checking his arm. It was bleeding.

  “She’s fast.” Dark told him. Rage nodded. She’d caught him in the leg. She’d deliberately shot low to incapacitate not kill and had anticipated his speed and direction by just that initial movement. That was …… unusual. She’d done the same with Dark and that was on the fly.

  “I think we need a little chat with our firefly.” He told Dark, his body expelling the bullet. His med bots going to work to heal the damage. Rage looked in the direction the female had ran. He liked this one.

  ***

  Kim headed back to her ship. She checked behind her and doubling back several times to make sure she wasn’t followed. She hoped, they’d come looking for the tech not her specifically. If not, she was so screwed. Seeing the ship in sight, she hid behind some crates and watched. If anything was out of place, she’d find cover and contact Mack to take off. Nothing looked out of place. No one hanging around suspiciously. When she spotted Mack coming down the loading hatch she made a break for it.

  Running straight to him, she grabbed hold and tried to move him back inside.

  “We need to move.” She hissed looking around. “Now. Some large men were asking about the ship and engines, it got a bit testy Mack. We need to go.” She started to run up the ramp.

  “We’re staying.” He called after her. “That cargo was lifted and re-sold on. The real owners are here and want a meet. Its cleared by Corporate so we’re staying.”

  Kim turned back. A sick feeling hitting her. No. No. No.

  “We can’t stay Mack. Wait what? Those weren’t pirates?” He shook his head.

  “Nope. They thought we were.” Kim wasn’t sure what was going on but every instinct she had, was telling her to blow this joint. And if they weren’t pirates, then she had a bone to pick
with them over her injuries, Mr Sparky was gonna be busy.

  She felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise again. “Just remember Mack, the only thing you control here is the cargo and jobs.” She told him turning back and heading inside. This was a disaster, not good. She told herself. Mack had a habit of talking before he started thinking, but he would never betray her.

  Kim walked into the kitchen area and pressed for the beverage that was laughingly classified as coffee. She pulled her gun from its holster and checked it was fully charged, then placed it in front of her. She reminded herself you could get used to anything when you had too, and slumped into the bench seat around the table, keeping an eye on the doorway.

  Grabbing the data pad she sent a message off to Remix. She felt sorry for him but he’d given her up to those goons. That was bad business. He owed her for several of her designs. He sold them on, on her behalf as well as some jobs she’d done for him. She reminded him he’d better pay or the gravy train was over. That he didn’t want her to come calling. She gave the account details again. Business had been good and she liked this Port and its people, but nothing was forever. It’d be a shame to have to move on.

  Kim felt the movement of the automated unloading arms engaging inside the ship. She guessed that Mack had secured payment and was happy to unload the cargo to the rightful owners. They still got paid, those were the rules. Her comm pinged. “Kim, our guests would like to see the engines.” Her gut clenched. Here we go.