Three hundred cyborgs in stasis? They just left them there? Kydel exclaimed.

That was my conclusion. Vyken said through their private link. Black is going to let us take care of them, but I think we should bring them all onto the ship. Do we want to take them out of stasis or bring them aboard in their stasis modules?

I think we should get them out of those modules as soon as possible. Then they can move to the ship under their own power. Kydel said.

All at once or in groups?

If we bring out a group of thirty, we can orient them to help us orient and finish training the rest. Kydel said.

Star can upgrade their databanks.

The other three cyborgs agreed.

We will do our recon in the city, then come back and get the first group of cyborgs out of the lab. Vyken said.

Have you claimed your female yet? Jolt asked.

I have not.  Vyken admitted. She is still considering it.

How do you stand it? She is your female.

It is her right to choose to mate or not. But she is mine, and she feels it. She wishes more time to bond non-sexually before breeding.

Do you think we will find our mates here, too? Matix asked. Females will be scarce on Phantom.

We’re going to be here awhile. There is always a chance you will all find more mates as we work our way through old Chicago and the suburbs, even with the other cyborgs. Vyken said.  I will go get Danya and James and meet you in the cargo bay.

The whole conversation took only seconds through their internal network. It was almost like telepathy. It had been an extreme advantage on the battlefield. Vyken wished he could share such a connection with Danya. Then she would know what she meant to him. She was his heart; she had always been. Vyken just didn’t know who she was until he found her. If it took a while to get her to see that, he would wait.

As they left the first level conference room, Vyken walked to the lift to the second level to get Danya. When her door opened, she stepped aside and gestured for him to enter. He stepped inside and picked her up in his arms, holding her chest to chest, and took her mouth in a deep, passionate kiss. Danya wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his narrow hips, moaning softly in her throat at the sensations surging through her with his erection pressing against her core.

Her nipples tightened into hard sensitive peaks as she pressed them against his hard chest. She wanted nothing more than to get naked with him and fuck him until they both screamed their pleasure. It was just as clear that Vyken wanted the same thing.

“Vyken,” she whispered when their lips parted. Danya stared into his eyes and caressed his face with her fingers.  He was so handsome, but it was his heart in his eyes when he looked back at her that told her all she needed to know.

Vyken, we’re waiting.  Matix said.

He groaned as he looked into Danya’s sparkling green eyes. “We have to go, they’re waiting. I’d much rather finish what we started.”

Danya sighed and kissed him lightly on the mouth. Mine! “Okay, there’s lots to do, that’s for sure.” Reluctantly, she unfolded her legs from around him, and he lowered her until her feet were on the floor. She felt just a little shaky, fighting down her arousal. She gave Vyken a weak smile as he was apparently having the same problem.

“I better use the lav,” she said and hurried to take care of business. She needed a quick clean up because she didn’t want to get in the transport with three other cyborgs scenting her desire. They were not Vyken even though they would know it was for him.

Vyken gave her a knowing look when she came back out but didn’t say anything. While he was waiting, he had signaled James who was waiting in the hallway when they emerged from Danya’s cabin. He also gave his daughter a look but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t hard to figure out what they had been doing with one look at her kiss-swollen lips.

Actually, she thought her father seemed content with Vyken wooing her. He was powerful and capable of protecting her and enamored. Danya smiled. She was smitten too. They walked to the lift together with Vyken resting his hand on Danya’s back. 

On their way to the landing bay, they stopped at the storeroom, and Vyken went inside and brought out two side arms with belts and holsters for Danya and James. He handed one to each of them.

“We’ll just go outside for a few minutes, and I will show you how to used them,” Vyken said. “Jolt and Brekar set up a target for you to practice.” James and Danya put on the belts and went out into the grassy field beside the ship. Vyken showed Danya the settings and how to sight it while Brekar showed James. It didn’t take long for then both to get the hang of shooting the beam weapon. Neither was a crack shot, but a broad beam setting could be used if necessary.

It made Vyken feel better for them to be armed in case they got separated and he couldn’t protect Danya or her father. He and his brothers would protect them with their lives, but they all knew how things could go wrong in a battle situation.

Half an hour later, they were headed back to Chicago. James directed them to a section where he knew of people who would jump at the chance for a better life with food and shelter for their children.

Matix set the transport down in an open lot near where Danya and her father had lived for the last three months. Three other families lived in the same building that was just a hovel. It didn’t look safe to enter with only two stories, and the basement left. The windows were gone.

There was no heat, electricity or running water almost anywhere in the city, but they were near the river. The quality of the water for drinking was questionable. Rainwater was safer depending how it was collected. Food was scarce, but there were still fish in the river and the lake, sewer rats, and small animals. Grown over lots and greenways provided certain edible plants for those who knew what to look for.

Occasional gunfire could be heard in the distance, and small groups of gang members patrolled the streets of their territory. No place was truly safe.

The cyborgs waited outside the building while James and Danya went inside to talk to the people about moving to the Enclave. They also stopped to pick up a what few possessions that they valued. Though he hated to leave any of them, James didn’t take the entire pile of tattered books he had collected.

It didn’t take James and Danya long to convince their friends that they would have a better life in the enclave. Food, water, and a safe place for their children were more than they could hope for in the ruins of a once renowned city. Seeing their two friends in fresh, clean clothing and well rested was enough to convince them.

While those people collected their meager possessions, the cyborgs accompanied the father and daughter to two more tattered buildings. One woman didn’t want to leave because her mate was out looking for food, but with everyone else going, she was afraid to stay alone.

“Do you know where he went?” Danya asked the woman called Belle.

“I think he went to the river to fish, but I thought he would be back by now,” she said.

“We’re not leaving yet,” said Danya. “Maybe he will get back before we do. I’ll ask Vyken if we can look for him if Nick doesn’t get back soon. I don’t think it’s safe for you to stay here alone, even with Nick.”

“Is there any safe place around here?” Belle asked.

They both knew the answer to that. Danya didn’t say what they were both thinking. Nick would not just leave Belle. In their late teens, they were devoted to each other, and Belle was about halfway through her first pregnancy. There was no way, Danya was leaving her there alone. Instead of just waiting, she went back outside to talk to Vyken immediately.

“I can go to the river and look for him,” he said.

“I should come with you. Nick doesn’t know you, and he would probably take one look at you and run like hell,” Danya laughed softly. “I might have done that had I been alone when you showed up.”

Vyken nodded, aware that even without weapons, he looked formidable.

It didn’t take them long to get to the river where they could see a fair distance along the banks on both sides.

“There,” Vyken said and pointed.

Danya looked in that direction. “Oh, no!” A man lay in the grass on the river bank about a hundred yards away.

Before she could bolt in that direction, Vyken gripped her upper arm. “Wait.” He scanned the area for heat signatures in case someone was lingering to prey on anyone who came along to help. The cyborg could tell the young male was alive but not in good condition.

Taking his ion rifle in hand, he put Danya at his left side to walk along the river bank, and they moved slowly toward the downed man. As they walked, Vyken scanned the area. His primary concern was an enemy with a projectile weapon.  He could take many bullets and survive, but Danya couldn’t.

“It is Nick,” Danya said when they were about twenty feet away. He was laying belly down, with a gash on his head. Anything he might have had with him was gone. 

“He’s injured, but his life signs are stable,” Vyken told her. “Matix will bring the transport. Jolt says we have enough people to fill it so we will take them back to the Enclave as soon as everyone is loaded.”

Meanwhile, Vyken took out a medical injector from a pouch on his belt. He had started carrying one after encountering James and Danya. He squatted down beside Nick, pushing back his shaggy dark hair, and pressed it to his neck. “The nanites will begin the healing process while we wait.” He put the injector back in the pouch and passed his hand back and forth over the young man scanning him.

“His worst injury is the head wound. He has only minor cuts and bruises elsewhere, most likely from fighting his attackers,” Vyken added and stood up beside her.

“There had to be more than one. Nick’s pretty good in a fight. He probably had a decent catch, and someone decided to take it from him. Bastards!” Danya spat out the last. “That’s the way it is here. You always have to be on alert and even then, you risk your life just to get a few pieces of food.”

“He and his mate will be safe at the Enclave. They have enough food stores to feed many until their crops are ready to harvest, but they will need help because there is no machinery to work the fields.”

“It’s better to work the fields than risk your life for a few fish or a fat sewer rat,” she said, looking up at him. “I’m glad we’re doing this.”

“I’m happy it pleases you,” he said with a faint smile that made Danya focus on his oh-so-kissable mouth, remembering his kisses.

Just thinking about it made her body react, and she felt her cheeks heat up at the memory. She turned to look out over the river, watching the water ripple in the slight breeze. Carnal thoughts were never far from the surface when she was around Vyken. It was getting harder and harder to control them. Danya was starting to realize that she didn’t really want to.”