Fifteen
Vengeance had, using his female’s words, fucked up. He had been so focused on how she saw him he hadn’t seen how she saw herself, how his proud human believed others viewed her.
He stood in the mock battle chamber, a sword in both of his hands, his form clad in black body armor. The sheath his female had branded with her scent hung from his waist.
The viewing area was filled to capacity. The news about this mock battle had spread quickly. The fight would be broadcast to every cyborg in existence.
Nineteen warriors stood behind him, all hand chosen based on their skill and potential. They chattered on private transmission lines about strategy and targets.
He ignored them. His gaze was fixed on his female. So was the gaze of every other male. Astrid wasn’t an object of pity, as she believed. She was an object of lust, of admiration, of yearning.
And he had emotionally damaged her.
She was giving up on him.
The words she’d shared in the ship had sliced into him. The sadness, the pain reflecting in her eyes had blasted holes in his soul. Watching her walk away from him, unable to stop her, unable to move, had been the cruelest of tortures.
He had been rocked to his core by her revelations, had sat on the bridge for half a shift after he regained mobility. The only reason he had showed up here, at the mock battle chamber, was because fighting helped him to process.
He was a C Model. Fighting and breeding were what he was manufactured to do. Fulfilling one of the goals of his design might clear his databases, allow him derive a solution.
He’d arrived to find his female in the space, across from him, on the opposing team, fighting for Power. Her face was flushed with excitement. A smile curled her lips.
To the crowd, it looked like she was making her preference clear. She had chosen the E Model.
The shameful truth was…Vengeance hadn’t given his female a choice. He hadn’t asked her to be on his team.
This mock battle had been fabricated to impress her, and, in his processors, he had relegated his take-action human to the passive role of watcher. He had selfishly envisioned his always-moving Astrid positioned in the seating area, her full focus on him.
He was a fool.
That wasn’t who she was or where she belonged. His warrior female’s place was at his side, in battle and in life. There was no being he trusted more, respected more, cared for more.
She didn’t know that because he hadn’t told her. He hadn’t asked her. And now, Power, his rival, had the honor of fighting with her. The E Model stood by her right hand, chatted with her about strategy, not caring that Vengeance and his males could hear them.
“Study the faces.” Power advised Astrid. “Cyborgs can lock onto their targets. You, being human, don’t have that option.”
“I could kill my own warriors in the melee.” She scanned Vengeance’s team, lines etched between her eyebrows.
Vengeance stood straighter. Her gaze glided over him without pausing. There was no flicker of recognition in her brown eyes, no flare of heat.
He was merely another warrior, was no longer special to her. Pain sliced through him.
He was losing her.
“Target the K Models.” Power gave Astrid another tip. “For many of them, this is their first mock battle.” His gaze met Vengeance’s across the chamber. “I know the warrior I’m starting with.”
“You’ll be ending with me.” Vengeance tightened his grip on his swords. “I’m winning this.” His gaze shifted to his female’s face. “And all other battles.”
He’d defeat his competition quickly, removing Power from the space. Then he could concentrate fully on Astrid.
“The K Models are likely receiving the same advice as I am.” His female, having a human auditory system, had only heard Power’s side of the conversation. “They’ll be told they should target me. This is my first mock battle also.” She clasped her daggers, one in each hand, her stance strong, stimulating. Vengeance’s cock pressed against his body armor. “And I’m human, don’t have their speed or strength.” She blew out her breath. “I might fuck this up.”
“History predicts you will.” Power smiled, the E Model edging closer to her. “Everyone fucks up their first time.”
His tone implied he was referring to more than mock battles. Vengeance growled a warning. She was his, whether she continued to believe that or not. No other male would touch her.
Power glanced at him and smirked. “I’m honored you chose me for your first time.”
He reached out his hand. Vengeance rumbled with unhappiness.
Power flicked one of Astrid’s warrior braids.
Vengeance bellowed, rushing forward at cyborg speed with his swords extended. He would kill the warrior, would slice both of Power’s hands off.
No one touched his female.
He funneled all of his anger at Power, at the situation, at himself into his attack, his surroundings blurring around him.
The crowd roared their approval. Warriors on the mock battlefield stared at him, their jaws dropping.
“What are you doing?” Astrid yelled. “The battle hasn’t started yet, you big brute.” She threw her daggers at him.
The blades skimmed along Vengeance’s arms, one on each side of him, perfectly placed, leaving trails of scratches across his body armor. His female could have easily aimed for his unprotected head.
She hadn’t…because she still cared for him.
A little.
He would show her he was worthy of that caring, would protect that small flicker of hope, coax it into an explosion of feeling, of love.
“I’ve got this, my female.” Power extracted his swords from their sheaths, and his supporters in the audience cheered, stomping their feet.
“She is my female, not yours.” Vengeance swung both of his weapons.
The E Model leaned back, his shoulder blades grazing the floor. The swords whizzed over his face.
Power retaliated, jabbing upward. Vengeance spread his arms and twisted his body, barely avoiding the counterattack.
He couldn’t lose this battle. He had too much at stake.
Defending with one sword, he went on the offensive with the other. Blades connected. Sparks flew. Power, not having a C Model’s tremendous strength, broke first, spinning out of reach.
They were well matched, the E Model’s speed compensating for his lack of muscle. Vengeance hacked away at Power’s body armor. Power did the same to his. Metal clanged.
The notification for the battle finally sounded and the space around them burst into activity. No one interfered with their fight, realizing correctly it was a private dispute between the two of them.
The warriors didn’t give his female the same space. They charged at her. She charged at them.
“To your right,” Vengeance yelled.
She turned and threw her daggers blindly, trusting his warning, trusting him. A J Model fell to the floor, a blade piercing his unprotected throat. A second dagger bounced off his body armor. The warrior’s arms and legs spasmed in mock death.
Vengeance grinned, avoiding Power’s swords. His female had her first kill of the planet rotation. She was fierce.
“Concentrate on our fight.” Power’s eyes glinted. “You’re a C Model. You don’t have the bandwidth to both battle me and protect Astrid.”
“I will always protect my female.” Vengeance cleaved the E Model’s chest armor into two. “Behind you.”
She spun around. Her daggers flew through the air. One of them punctured a D Model’s forehead. The warrior fell.
“You’re causing the deaths of your own males.” Power carved the body armor off Vengeance’s right shoulder.
“She’s human. They’re cyborgs. I’m evening the odds.” And he was on her side, always. He wanted his female to win, even if that meant he lost.
Power didn’t understand that because he had never truly cared for another being, not the way Vengeance cared for his warrior female.
Astrid might believe he valued his pride more than he valued her, but that wasn’t the truth.
He would give his life for her.
The tip of one of Power’s swords grazed Vengeance’s exposed side and he sucked in his breath, the pain intense, warmth dripping down his skin. He lifted his right sword, slicing the blade into his opponent’s bare left biceps. Blood spurted.
“Fraggin’ hole.” Power’s arm went limp, his weapon dropping from his fingers.
“What did you say about my bandwidth?” Vengeance, fully on the offensive, bombarded his opponent with blows, not holding back anything.
Power struggled to block the strikes. “Female.” The E Model retreated, shuffling backward. “In danger.”
Astrid targeted the warrior in front of her, blitzing him with daggers as quickly as she could throw them. She hadn’t noticed the male approaching her from the opposite direction.
“Behind you.” Vengeance rushed toward her at cyborg speed, knocking the warriors in his path away from him. Their blades shredded the skin on his face, chest, arms. He didn’t feel the abrasions, his gaze on his female.
She turned too late to defend herself. Wrong, the K Model Vengeance had chosen based on his potential, jabbed his daggers into her chest three, four, five times in rapid succession.
No human could survive those wounds.
Astrid screamed, clutching her chest. Her blood gushed, scenting the air. She fell.
Vengeance roared, catching her before she hit the floor. Her body convulsed against his, her beautiful face turning pale, her eyes closing.
It was a mock death, wasn’t real. In his processors, he realized that truth. His heart, however, was convinced he’d lost her.
Forever.
“Astrid.” Gathering her limp form into his arms, he ripped open her body covering, removing the ineffective protection. Crimson bathed her breasts. The wounds were shallow, but they would feel bone deep.
Her pain must be excruciating.
“Stay strong, my warrior female.” He laved the lacerations in her skin with the flat of his tongue, desperately trying to repair her, to ease her agony.
Power moved to his side. “The battle isn’t over.”
“It’s over for me.” Vengeance licked his female’s damage, not caring about Power, winning or revenge. He had been fighting for her, to prove his worthiness. Without his female, everything else in his lifespan was meaningless.
“Then I win.” Power sounded pleased with that result. He sprinted toward another opponent, his sword raised, showing no concern for Astrid.
None of the other warriors approached Vengeance, which was wise. All of his processors were occupied by his female.
She lay still, so fraggin’ still in his arms. He didn’t know how to repair her damage, how to rouse his female. The sight of her unmoving form ripped his heart to pieces.
She was the most precious being in the universe to him and he had allowed her to be harmed. Her blood stained his hands.
Vengeance tilted his head back and howled, releasing his torment into the air. Warriors paused in their fighting, turning their gazes toward him. The audience grew quiet.
Astrid spluttered, shuddering, slapping his arms with her hands. “Fuck.” She wheezed. “That was awesome.”
The crowd cheered, her words winning his brethren over completely. She was one of them now, could take a deathblow like a warrior.
Vengeance never wanted to relive that experience.
“My female.” He claimed her lips, covering them with his, pouring his relief, his worry, his caring into her mouth.
She resisted for a moment, trying to block his tongue with hers, push him away from her. He sank his fingers into her hair, pulling on the base of her braids.
Her lips curled upward and she switched from defender to aggressor, grasping his bare shoulders, pulling him to her, sucking on his tongue, stroking it.
Frag. He’d missed this, had missed her, her taste, her touch. His circuits surged with energy. His processors lit up. He felt as though he’d been the one who had died and was only now coming back to life.
Needing to be closer to her, he stripped his remaining body armor. She struggled with the remnants of her garment. He shredded the protective fabric, rendering her bare.
She wrapped her long legs around his hips, trapping his hardness between them, her wet pussy pressing against his shaft. Vengeance rumbled his approval, the contact delectable, reassuring. She rubbed along him, caressing his chest with her breasts, his cock with her feminine folds.
They bred without entry and that’s what it was—breeding. They had progressed past their initial hate fucks. This was the claiming of a female by a male and a male by a female, a strengthening of their bond, a sharing of deeper emotions, feelings he couldn’t express any other way.
She was his world. He squeezed and released her ass, squeezed and released, dragging his mouth over her neck, glorying in her form, her passion. Her eyes had darkened, resembling the vastness of open space, that potential, that freedom.
Around them, warriors fought, the scent of their blood meshing with the aroma of her, the combination exciting him even more. He stroked her along his length.
“Fuck me, cyborg.” She bounced her boot heels against his ass. “I need that big cock of yours inside me.”
He needed that also. Lifting her higher, he positioned his tip at her entrance. “You’re mine, human.” He drove her down on him.
She shrieked, piercing his skin with her fingertips. He gritted his teeth, battling the urge to come. His female was hot and wet and soft around him and he’d wanted her fiercely for planet rotations, their solitary fucking not enough, not nearly enough for him.
Nothing rivalled being inside her. Nothing.
He lifted her and drove her down on him, lifted her and drove her down. She smacked his ass with her boot-clad feet, raked her nails down his chest, marking his body as hers, stimulating him until he shook.
It would be a fast and furious breeding. They wanted each other too much. He ravished her pussy, the impact jiggling her breasts. Their passion burned out of control, razing everything in its path.
“Harder.” She challenged him, beads of sweat forming on her skin.
Vengeance grunted. He’d give her everything she wanted and more. Their bodies smacked together, heat radiating from the points of impact. He’d show her they were meant to be together, that he would fight for her, would never give up on them.
His gaze locked on hers, his emotions bared, and her eyes widened. She caught his face between her hands. “Fuck. Finally.”
Finally. He brushed his lips over hers, tasting her erotic little pants. Her hands slid down his neck. Could she feel his pulse racing? Did she see what she did to him, how undone he was around her, how he lived for her touches, for her words, for the defiance in her heart and the strength in her soul?
Pressure flowed down his spine. His female’s inner walls closed around his shaft. Her wetness coated his aching balls.
Determined to make their encounter last, he jutted his jaw and bred with her with all of the savagery in his form. When they were breeding, they were in sync, aligned, on the same side.
She was with him. He couldn’t go back to being apart from her, to that loneliness, that emotional isolation.
But he couldn’t stave off their release forever.
“Vengeance.” The strain etched lines around her lush lips.
“Stay with me.” He shamelessly pleaded, not caring who heard him.
“Can’t.” She pressed her face against his chest. “Can’t.”
She bit him, hard, the pain unexpected and so fraggin’ arousing. He bellowed, driving her down on him, his base slapping against her clit. She screamed, his muscles muffling the sound, her pussy clenching his shaft.
That severed the last strands of his restraint. He came with a processor-melting ferocity, blasting her with his nanocybotics-infused essence, filling her body with that part of him, fortifying the link between them.
Her cries drowned out the sounds of battle. She writhed and wiggled, clawing and biting at his chest, a wild thing in his arms. His arms and legs shook, bliss tearing him apart, darkening his vision system, yet he didn’t release her, didn’t collapse.
He stood tall and proud, holding his female to him, protecting her from the fury of her release, her pleasure meshing with his, amplifying it. His stubbornness had denied them that ecstasy for too many planet rotations.
He had been a fool.
Her tremors eased. He lowered her until her booted feet touched the floor. She leaned against him, her curves flattened against his muscles. He tilted his body toward hers, running his palms up and down her back.
The battle raged around them. Power and his males were winning. Vengeance’s males had lost their leader, were directionless.
He had no regrets.
This was where he was meant to be. She was the only being in the universe for him. He breathed in the scent of her, petted her long brown braids, savoring their softness.
Moments passed. His female’s form stiffened more and more.
They had to communicate. He had to explain. “Astrid, I—”
“No.” She stepped back from him, tilted her head upward to gaze at him.
He gazed back at her and her eyes hardened. She wasn’t ready to forgive him completely, not yet.
He didn’t expect his warrior female to do that.
She would never surrender that easily. To anyone.
“You’re a brute but you’re a great fuck.” She reached down, slid a dagger out of her boot.
Vengeance knew what was coming and didn’t try to stop it. He hadn’t treated her the way a female like her should be treated. He deserved the reprimand.
She jabbed the blade into his stomach. The wound was superficial. The pain was devastating.
He sucked in his breath and fell to his knees.
“A great fuck isn’t enough to win me back, cyborg.” She pulled the dagger out of his gut and wiped the blood on her face, the crimson vivid against her light-brown skin. “I want more than your cock.”
She turned and walked away, her head held high. a swagger in her stride.
Fraggin’ hole. Vengeance toppled over. He loved his female.