True As Steel (Cyborg Redemption)

by Regine Abel

  I cast a glance towards Jarog, forcing myself to keep a neutral expression despite the worry gnawing at me. They were entitled to their revenge, barbaric though it was. As the future leader of a mercenary city, he couldn’t go martial law on their asses, especially not under these unusual and tragic circumstances.

  “I said that I will not tolerate vigilante justice within our streets,” Jarog repeated in a calm voice and with the same emotionless expression on his face. He waved at the area around us. “We’re not in Tarkis.”

  My jaw dropped, and the two Fereins’ eyes widened in almost perfect sync as understanding dawned on them.

  “No! No! You can’t let them do this!” Grellik exclaimed when a vicious grin stretched his former people’s lips. “You’re supposed to take me in!”

  Jarog took a step back, leaving the Fereins to rush Grellik. I wasn’t a fan of standing idly by while a man was getting beaten to death with unfair odds. And yet, no pity entered my heart as they broke his bones, punched and kicked him until his gurgling pleas turned the wet, meaty sound of inert flesh getting pummeled.

  By the time the Fereins relented, their former leader—who had actually been a fairly handsome male—was an unrecognizable bloody mess. They turned to Jarog, as if awaiting his verdict or next orders. My man stared at them for a second then turned to Lanish, gesturing with his head for him to interact with them.

  Intrigued, I observed the Narengi male as he approached the two Fereins, who seemed just as curious as I felt. Lanish tapped a couple of instructions on the interface of his armband before looking back at them.

  “Please transfer your bank information to me so that you can each receive your half of the bounty,” Lanish said.

  “Whoa!” I whispered in shock in a voice so low I doubted anyone heard it—except for Jarog with his enhanced hearing.

  The same stunned expression descended on the Fereins’ faces before confusion replaced it.

  “But… you’re the ones that caught him,” the female argued.

  “And you are the ones that killed him,” Jarog said, matter-of-factly.

  Both Fereins stared at my man for a few moments, studying his features. Then a look of respect replaced their confusion. They bowed their heads in gratitude, then tapped some instructions on their respective armbands to transfer their bank info to Lanish.

  I stared at Jarog with new eyes, seeing the formidable leader he would be for the new Cyborg city. He had not only given Haelin the victory she wanted, but also earned the respect—and likely loyalty—of these two Fereins. They would go home avenged, wealthier than any number of black-market trades would probably ever make them, and would undoubtedly spread a very positive word about their new leader.

  With Lanish taking care of Grellik’s remains, we all headed home.

  Epilogue

  Jarog

  An almost overwhelming wave of emotion—at least for a Cyborg—washed over me as I watched more than a hundred Cyborgs disembark in Tarkis’ spaceport. It had been a strategic move and a political statement to silence any attempt at a coup by the locals. Haelin had used her influence to have one of her trusted contacts with a top-of-the-line frigate rendezvous with my brothers to spare them from landing on Xyva aboard the beaten down vessels they had limped to Svaalis with after escaping the transport ship.

  When they began their approach, Yelena had flown up there, meeting them before they entered Xyva’s orbit to deliver the fancy armor Haelin had ordered for them. First impression was everything. If we wanted the local population to willingly follow us, we needed to show we had the power to protect them.

  And what a first impression my brothers made.

  They marched out of the frigate with the rigorous discipline acquired through years of elite service in the military. They looked spectacular with their strong, lean, and muscular bodies, their don’t-fuck-with-me faces, and their Cyborg Rebel brand proudly displayed on their cheeks. Tamryn was standing to my right and Loreus to my left when Dakran and Marik—his two pod brothers—approached us as representatives of all the newly arrived Cyborgs.

  My throat tightened as we shook hands, the need to feel the presence of my brothers in my neural network hitting me harder than ever.

  “Hello, Jarog,” Dakran said in a friendly voice. “It is good to see you again under such auspicious circumstances.”

  “And you as well,” I responded before turning to greet his pod brother. “Welcome to Tarkis, Marik. I look forward to getting to know all of you much better over the coming months.”

  “We’re counting on it,” Dakran replied, his voice making no mystery of his meaning.

  I gave him a coy smile. It was good to feel wanted. I didn’t doubt for a minute that I would end up joining their pod in the not-too-distant future, especially since they had agreed to draw in Caylan, damaged though his presence was. Whatever had happened to him, my pod brother survived in some state. Sooner or later, I would get a clue that would allow me to rescue him. Until then, I could only hold on to hope.

  Although we made a display of the Cyborgs’ arrival, there were no celebrations organized. We weren’t here as conquerors. Instead, thanks to Loreus’s efficiency, we introduced some of the Cyborgs to key Ferein residents that he had identified as people who would hold important management roles in running the city. Having some of the locals in key positions went a long way towards allaying their fears as to what the future would look like.

  It took less than two weeks to get the spaceport to be fully operational again. During that time, with the aid of Haelin’s architects and some Ferein civilians, the Cyborgs revived and expanded the village that had begun to grow around Rygow—the trade post where Tamryn and I had slept on the eve of reaching Satos. While Tarkis would remain our main city and commercial district, the Cyborgs and rebels would mostly settle around Rygow to keep our rebellion efforts separate from the black market and the weapons trade and development that occurred in the city.

  I would lie if I said that the first three months were smooth sailing. While the other mercenary cartels had stayed out of Haelin’s and Grellik’s quarrel, a few tested the waters to see if they could take over the Ferein territory through a few incursions and skirmishes. Some of the local residents also grumbled that one of them should be in charge instead of us foreigners. It was a fair complaint. After all, the way we had instated ourselves as their new leaders could be viewed as a coup or hostile takeover.

  However, a little logic and a major serving of reality check usually put them back in their lane. None of them had the means, the trusted manpower, the fighters, the allies, or the weapons to defend the city. If they tried to appropriate the stash Grellik previously had and was developing, the other people coveting his position would fight them over it. It didn’t take a genius to realize this would have otherwise turned into a bloodbath, not only internally, but also from outsiders looking to get a foothold.

  The fact that I didn’t impose restrictive rules, but followed the standard lax ones found in most mercenary cities, went a long way towards quieting the muttering. In the end, my new people only wanted to make money and live in relative safety, which our presence provided.

  For a short while, we feared Emperor Shui would attack us, once he received word of this blossoming little Cyborg city. But Xyva wasn’t Gorkon. However greedy the mercenaries could be, they didn’t tolerate outside interference when it came to dealing with their own. There was a reason Haelin had wanted the Fereins to be the ones killing Grellik. Her alliance with us had also made our presence as new leaders more acceptable. But the Kirsian Emperor sending his armies to nuke a Xyvan city would set a precedent they would never accept. The entire planet would rally with us should Emperor Shui be so foolish as to send his minions after us.

  In truth, we weren’t that big of a threat to him… yet. While a hundred Cyborgs appeared impressive, we were just a drop in the ocean of the number of Cyborgs that had been created. We didn’t expect all of them to join us. Many were pursuin
g plans of their own, building their own army or assisting different rebel groups—just like I had initially intended to do with Tamryn.

  Throughout that period, my woman was steadfast in her support. Unfortunately, we never heard anything about her brother. Although she didn’t say it out loud, Tamryn no longer held any hope that he had survived. It broke my heart for her, but I believed it as well. If nothing else, our new city allowed her to be reunited with her father and uncle. It was amusing getting the third degree from both men, trying to assess if I was worthy of Tamryn, while my poor female was dying with embarrassment.

  In the month that followed her family’s arrival and that of the other rebel civilians in Rygow, Richard—Tamryn’s dad—turned out to be a phenomenal cyber engineer. My woman had not been kidding when she’d mentioned her father was quite the tech head. In no time, he took over the management of the weapons development lab, and upgraded both Rygow’s and Tarkis’ defense systems. All of that technology would also be put at the service of Bionus.

  I was reviewing the results of the latest weapons tests and realized we needed a safe place to run some large-scale simulations. I commed Dakran about it and described what I had in mind.

  “Hmmm, I’m not sure I fully understand what you need,” Dakran said.

  “Yeah, it’s a little hard to explain,” I conceded. “Give me a minute, and I will send you a composite that should make it clearer.”

  “You know, we could get this done faster and without ambiguity through a neural network,” Dakran deadpanned.

  My heart lurched. Loreus, Dakran, and Marik had been on Xyva with me for a little over four months now. While other broken pods had also expressed their interest in me joining them, I had not connected with any of them the way I had with these three men. In all the ways that mattered, I already considered them as my brothers. Since their arrival, I’d been grateful for them not pushing or pressuring me into joining their pod. However, as they had not brought up the topic again after all this time, I’d begun to wonder if maybe they had changed their minds. It hadn’t felt appropriate for me to bring it up, but I’d been ready to accept for a while…

  “I agree,” I conceded, my heart pounding.

  “Should we go that route then?” Dakran asked, a sliver of tension seeping into his voice.

  At that moment, I realized that he felt as worried I would reject them as I’d feared they no longer wanted me.

  “Yes. I would like that very much,” I replied.

  “I’m happy to hear it,” Dakran said, this time making no effort to hide the emotion in his voice. “Incoming…”

  Seconds later, the firewalls of my neural processor fired up at an incoming connection attempt to my neural network. I granted him access, establishing the neural link between mine and his. My throat tightened as the connections formed with Loreus and Marik, and that all three men also brushed over Caylan’s damaged presence.

  “Welcome home, brother,” Loreus said through our closed neural network, his words echoed by the other two.

  “Thank you, brothers,” I replied, deeply moved.

  For a split second, I couldn’t help the fear they would immediately deep dive into my memories and rampage through the most personal parts of me. But they didn’t… as I had known they wouldn’t. I had chosen them for a reason. Still, I felt them skim over some of the files in the database my brothers and I had built over the years, and I did the same over theirs. It was invaluable knowledge I would happily dig through over the next few weeks. I felt them retreat shortly thereafter from our closed network.

  I mentally shared with Dakran a visual representation of what I needed for the weapons tests. He nudged me as a thank you before retreating as well. I smiled, feeling whole again.

  A knock on the door startled me. As was usual between us, Tamryn opened it without waiting for me to respond and poked her head into my office. Judging by her sudden change of expression, the look on my face made her dismiss whatever she’d intended to ask me.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, worry seeping into her voice.

  “Never better,” I said with a reassuring smile.

  I pushed my chair away from my desk and extended a hand towards her. She willingly came to me, an inquisitive expression on her beautiful face. She settled on my lap and wrapped one arm around my neck.

  “You had the strangest expression on your face when I walked in,” Tamryn said.

  “I just joined Dakran’s pod,” I said softly.

  Tamryn gaped at me for a moment before squealing with delight. “That’s wonderful!” she exclaimed before crushing my lips with a kiss. “I’m so happy for you! I know you never felt quite whole without one. They’re good men. And they’ve become like big brothers to me.”

  “They are good men, and I do feel whole,” I conceded, while studying her face. “But there’s only one thing truly missing for me to feel complete,” I continued while tracing her features with my fingertips.

  “Oh? What’s that?” she asked, slightly tilting her head to the side.

  “For you to be my wife,” I said matter-of-factly.

  Tamryn froze and stared at me with a mix of shock and disbelief. My stomach twisted with nerves at the possibility she might reject me.

  “I am not a man of fancy words, nor am I overly demonstrative with my emotions,” I said nervously. “But for the past few months, you have been my rock, my home, and my haven. With you, I don’t have to try to be something I’m not, I can just be. I love who I am around you, and I love simply being with you. I cannot see a future that doesn’t involve you. All of this, all that we are building here is so that, once we’ve defeated that bastard, I can try to convince you to have a few children with me.”

  Tamryn’s face twisted with emotion, and water welled in her eyes.

  “I may not show it in exuberant ways, but I love you, Tamryn Vakan. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” I said, my eyes flicking between hers.

  I held my breath, unsure how to interpret her reaction as her bottom lip began to quiver. And then she smiled as the first tear slipped down her cheek. It was the most beautiful sight in the world.

  “Well, you sure took your sweet time, you wretched metal head,” Tamryn said in a wet voice. “Of course, I’ll marry you, you silly man. Back when we thought Loreus was going to leave Xyva to rejoin his brothers, I’d already been willing to follow you to the end of the world. Thank you for saving my life on that ship. Thank you for coming back for me. Thank you for choosing to stay here with me. I love you, Jarog Kaijo.”

  THE END

  Want more sexy aliens and badass human females? Check out Escaping Fate, the first book of my Veredian Chronicles series!

  ALSO BY REGINE ABEL

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  THE VEREDIAN CHRONICLES

  Escaping Fate

  Blind Fate

  Raising Amalia

  Twist of Fate

  Hands of Fate

  Defying Fate

  * * *

  BRAXIANS

  Anton’s Grace

  Ravik’s Mercy

  Krygor’s Hope

  * * *

  XIAN WARRIORS

  Doom

  Legion

  Raven

  Bane

  Chaos

  Varnog

  Reaper

  Wrath

  * * *

  THE MIST

  The Mistwalker

  The Nightmare

  * * *

  BLOOD MAIDENS OF KARTHIA

  Claiming Thalia

  * * *

  VALOS OF SONHADRA

  Unfrozen

  Iced

  * * *

  PRIME MATING AGENCY

  I Married A Lizardman

  * * *

  EMPATHS OF LYRIA

  An Alien For Christmas

  * * *

  THE SHADOW REALMS

  Dark Swan

  * * *

  OTHER

  Bluebeard’s Curse


  Alien Awakening

  Heart of Stone

  The Hunchback

  About Regine

  USA Today bestselling author Regine Abel is a fantasy, paranormal and sci-fi junky. Anything with a bit of magic, a touch of the unusual, and a lot of romance will have her jumping for joy. She loves creating hot alien warriors and no-nonsense, kick-ass heroines that evolve in fantastic new worlds while embarking on action-packed adventures filled with mystery and the twists you never saw coming.

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  Before devoting herself as a full-time writer, Regine had surrendered to her other passions: music and video games! After a decade working as a Sound Engineer in movie dubbing and live concerts, Regine became a professional Game Designer and Creative Director, a career that has led her from her home in Canada to the US and various countries in Europe and Asia.

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