Sixteen
She shouldn’t have fucked her stubborn cyborg. That was a tactical error.
When she had revived from the mock death and had heard that horrible howl of his, she couldn’t resist him. The pain in his voice had pulled at her heart.
He cared for her. The predator tooth dangling between his pecs, her gift to him, had confirmed that truth.
Caring wasn’t enough. She would settle for nothing less than his love, his complete and utter devotion.
But it was a start. Their relationship had finally progressed past the hate.
She stomped along the corridors, naked except for the boots on her feet. Warriors gave her a wide berth, moving to the side as she passed them.
Their wariness could be due to her recent stunning-everyone-she-saw rampage or it could be because she had decorated her face with the blood of one of their council members. She wasn’t certain which one was the cause.
They weren’t looking at her with pity. Her lips curled upward. At least she’d fixed that irritating problem.
“I thought humans had issues with public nudity.”
“I’m a warrior.” She turned to face Truth. “Half the universe has seen my bare ass.”
“Then you don’t need this?” The laughing warrior held out a folded flight suit.
“Has there been a complaint about my nudity?” She grabbed the garment, shaking the fabric out. The flight suit was C Model-sized. She brought the cloth to her nose and breathed deeply. Her pussy dripped. The garment belonged to Vengeance.
“It’s a gift.” Truth grinned. “He couldn’t deliver it himself as someone had mock killed him.”
She pulled the flight suit over her boots. It was that large. “If you had participated in the battle, I would have mock killed you too.”
“I doubt that. You can’t distract me like you distract him.” The warrior’s eyes sparkled. “We’ll battle when I return.”
“You’re leaving?” She swallowed her disappointment, having viewed Truth as one of her allies on the cyborg planet.
“My mission was to be a straightforward rescue.” He nodded. “I was to fly the two of you from your planet to ours and return to the Reckless, captain’s orders. Vengeance, being a council member, was able to delay my departure for only so long.”
“Why would he delay your departure?” She frowned. Were they that close of friends?
“He didn’t share his logic.” Truth shrugged. “We had a discussion about females, and shortly after that, he informed my captain I was needed here.”
“What type of discussion about females did you have?” Had Vengeance reassured yet another male he hadn’t touched her? She would kill him.
“I expressed my belief that my female exists, is waiting for me somewhere in the universe, how I hope she isn’t alone.” Truth’s lips twisted. “Solitude can damage an emotional system. Vengeance suggested I hone my fighting skills so I could protect my female when I found her. He gave me access to the training chambers all of the council members utilized. It’s the best on the Homeland.”
Her cyborg had deliberately given Truth access to the same space she’d utilized. “I visited those training chambers.” As Vengeance knew she would.
“I was happy to see you.” Truth’s grin widened. “Not every being laughs at my jokes or threatens to kill me.”
She’d been happy to see him also. He’d been a familiar face in a crowd of strangers. Vengeance must have realized the warrior would amuse her, make her feel less lonely.
She touched the lapels of the flight suit her male had sent for her. He hadn’t deserted her, not entirely.
“I’ll kill you when you get back.” She teased Truth. “Don’t allow anyone else to complete that mission for me.”
They reached the spot where two corridors intersected.
“I’ll try to stay alive.” The warrior laughed as he strode forward, heading toward the docking bay.
“You do that.” She turned left, moving toward the private chambers she shared with Vengeance. The doors in front of them were once again guarded by two large C Models, the same warriors she’d stunned.
Their gazes lowered, their big bodies bracing. She turned her palms upward, showing the warriors her hands were empty.
The males relaxed. They turned their heads, stared straight ahead of them.
She followed their lines of sight.
Her heart pounded. Her pace slowed.
The stretch of wall facing the entrance to the chambers was no longer flat.
She touched the simulated stone, tracing the names carved into it, each of them holding a special place in her soul. It was a perfect replica of the rock facing on Second Buoir, including the gouge in the last letter of Siv’s name.
Astrid stared at the wall for countless moments. Vengeance had done this for her. No other being in the universe had that knowledge about her.
It would have taken time to complete, even for a team of cyborgs. He’d put thought into this gift.
It was a memorial to her kinsfolk, humans who had died fighting cyborgs and it had been placed in a cyborg structure, in front of a council member’s private chambers, where Vengeance’s brethren could view it.
Some of those brethren hated humans, all humans, as she had once hated all cyborgs. The display of clearly human names could cause conflict for her warrior, could result in his expulsion from the council.
He’d done it anyway.
For her.
It was a selfless act of adoration, a declaration of her cyborg’s feelings to everyone who passed it. He might never express those emotions verbally. He was a C Model. But there was no doubting how he viewed her.
He loved her.
A tear dripped down her right cheek. She swiped it away, glanced furtively at the warriors guarding their door. They showed no sign they’d seen her moment of weakness, their expressions blank.
“These are the names of my kinfolk.” She explained to the males, her voice watery. “They were some of the fiercest warriors in the universe. I carved their names into a rock facing on my home planet so they would never be forgotten.”
“And now they fight in the Great Battle.” One of the C Models drawled those words. “We have been told of their battle prowess, Astrid Ragnhild, the Buoir Berserker. It is an honor to escort the last remaining member of their clan.”
“You mean guard the last remaining member of my clan.” They were guarding her, not escorting her. She was Vengeance’s captive.
“We’re cyborgs. We say exactly what we mean.” The other C Model responded, his tone flat. “Great warriors don’t require guards. They do warrant escorts.”
The warriors had been assigned to her as a symbol of Vengeance’s respect, a declaration of the esteem in which he held her, in which he expected his brethren to hold her. Astrid’s heart squeezed. He had told them of her clan, speaking of her loved ones and her with admiration.
Fuck. She loved him.
He had to communicate more, use some of the words stored in those big databases of his. But she had been as guilty of that as he had been, assuming when she should have asked.
She’d also stunned him. Multiple times. Stabbed him in the gut. Cursed at him in front of his subordinates. She winced.
“Your information is incomplete.” Seeking to offset some of the damage she’d caused, she addressed the two C Model warriors. “My full name isn’t Astrid Ragnhild, the Buoir Berserker.” She lifted her chin. “It’s Astrid Ragnhild, the Buoir Berserker, Vengeance’s Warrior Female. Transmit that to all of your brethren.”
The warriors glanced at each other and smiled. “That message has been transmitted,” they said in unison.
“Good.” She grinned at them, took one more look at the simulated rock display, and entered the private chambers.
The sleeping support dominated the space. That was another act of love by her male. Being a cyborg, he didn’t sleep. He’d obtained the sleeping support for her.
She roamed around the chambers, picking up weapons, examining them, putting them down again. Her warrior didn’t walk through the doors.
He must have recovered from his mock death by now. What was the delay?
She wanted to see him, talk to him, touch him.
He might not realize that. Astrid’s lips flattened. She had stabbed him the last time they spoke.
Better communications between them could start with her. She moved in front of one of the viewscreens hanging on the wall, tapped the image of him.
“Are you damaged, my warrior female?” Her cyborg’s deep voice filled the chamber. A heartbeat later, his handsome face appeared on the viewscreen, his expression concerned.
“I’m not damaged.” She took a deep breath, counted to ten, exhaled. “I want to speak with you.”
“We’ll speak in our chambers.” He ended the communication.
She stared at the viewscreen, her image reflecting in the black surface. That was it? She’d reached out to him and his response was to push their conversation to an undetermined future time?
“He loves me.” She was certain about that. “I don’t know all of the details. I shouldn’t draw conclusions.”
Like believing he was an insensitive brute.
He was a member of the council. There could be an emergency situation only he could handle. She doubted anyone could surpass him in battle.
Except herself, of course.
And even that was questionable. She’d seen him fight Power.
Loving a male on the cyborg council meant dealing with interruptions. She picked up a nourishment bar, unwrapped it, bit into it, chewed.
Their conversation wasn’t time-sensitive. Perhaps she should send him footage, detailing her thoughts and concerns. He could watch the footage when he had a break in his more urgent tasks, send her a reply when—
The doors opened. Vengeance skidded to a stop, his boot heels denting the floor tiles, his chest heaving.
He must have run at cyborg speed to their chambers.
She blinked, blindly setting the nourishment bar down on a horizontal support. “We could have talked through the viewscreens.”
“You’re my female.” He scowled. “We’ll communicate face-to-face.”
He was naked except for the predator tooth and the boots on his feet. Her gaze lowered. And he was hard. She licked her bottom lip. His cock bobbed.
“We should communicate.” His voice was low and deep and oh-so-arousing.
“We should.” She dragged her gaze away from his cock and looked into his brilliant blue eyes. “When you decided to sever our connection, that hurt me.” She blurted the first fucking-free thought that crossed her mind. “That you wanted to leave me—”
“I wouldn’t have left you.” He denied.
She lifted her eyebrows.
“Not permanently, not after our emotional bonding on your home planet.” He revised the declaration. “I would have allowed my nanocybotics to fade inside you long enough to prove the connection between a warrior and his female could be broken. Then I would have re-established that connection.”
She stared at him. That must be true. Cyborgs couldn’t lie. “Why?”
“Because not all females are as honorable as you are.” He frowned fiercely. “If the connection could have been severed, those females might not have aligned with us and—”
“That’s not what I meant.” She understood why he had to test the connection between cyborgs and their human or humanoid mates. Granting full rights on the Homeland to a being with no true loyalty to the cyborgs would be dangerous. The female could destroy the entire planet and simply fly away. “Why would you re-establish the connection with me? Is it because I can supply you with offspring?”
Furrow lines appeared on his forehead. “Offspring can be manufactured as I was—in a vat. A female isn’t necessary for that process.”
She waited. He didn’t volunteer any more information.
“Is it because I’m genetically compatible with you?” She tried again.
“It’s more than that.” He crossed his arms in front of him. That was a defensive move. He was seeking to protect himself. “You’re vital to my emotional system. Without you, happiness isn’t achievable for me. Everything is less. The future is unappealing.”
He loved her. She didn’t say that because she didn’t believe he was ready to hear those words. “That’s how I feel about you.”
“My warrior female.” Vengeance opened his arms. She rushed to him, pressing her cheek against his chest and he folded her into his big form, holding her tightly, as though he feared she’d escape him.
“I am your warrior female.” She accepted he was a part of her.
“You’re Astrid Ragnhild, the Buoir Berserker, Vengeance’s Warrior Female.” Pride edged his words. “That transmission is stored in multiple places in my databases, burned into my organic brain.”
“It will never be forgotten.” She was a part of him also. “Why didn’t you trust me with your strategy, tell me you planned to re-establish our bond? I would have supported you.”
“You would have supported me, and every warrior would have known of that support.” He drifted his fingertips over her scarred cheek. “You’re too honorable for plotting and subterfuge, my female. You wear your emotions on your beautiful face.”
He was right. Fuck. Her reaction to being expelled from the Homeland would have been too calm, too accepting. His brethren would have become suspicious. “I haven’t yet mastered the cyborg blank stare.”
“You will never master it.” Vengeance’s chest shook. “It is beyond your capabilities.”
She frowned. Was he laughing at her? “Nothing is beyond my capabilities.”
“My determined female.” He kissed her forehead, his lips firm and warm against her skin. “My lifespan has been dull without you.”
“You were always in my thoughts.” She admitted her weakness.
He grunted. She chose to interpret that as she had been in his thoughts also.
Silence fell between them.
She touched the predator tooth. “It took me a while to settle upon this design.” She wanted it to be perfect.
Because she loved him.
“I like it. It reminds me of your hair.” He tugged playfully on one of her braids.
Her face heated. That hadn’t been intentional. “It’s custom in my clan that you take a trophy from your first kill. It communicates to others that you are a warrior to be revered.” She gazed up at her cyborg warrior. “I admired you long before the hunt.”
And she hadn’t seen the full magnitude of his skills then. She had now.
He had impressed the fuck out of her during the mock battle. His attacks had happened so quickly; his arms and feet blurred. His countenance was stimulatingly primitive. His muscles had rippled under his skin-tight body armor.
“I might be too slow to kill you,” she admitted.
“You damaged me.” He held up his finger. “I’ve fought thousands of battles and no one had ever done that.”
She kissed the tip of it. “Are you saying I could kill you?”
“No.” His lips twitched. “You’re too slow.”
She laughed. Her male was an arrogant brute…and she loved him for that. “We’ll have a mock battle, you and I, and I’ll show you my skills.”
He lifted her until he met her gaze directly, the strength in his form thrilling her. “I haven’t seen all of your skills?”
She hooked her legs around his waist, tightening their connection. “You haven’t seen a fraction of them, cyborg.”
“And you haven’t seen a fraction of mine, human.” His eyes glinted with a challenge she couldn’t resist. “Is your damage repaired?”
She unfastened the flight suit, shrugged the garment off her shoulders. It fell to her waist, the cool air and her arousal tightening her nipples. “My wounds are almost healed.”
The pain had evaporated. Pink lines, the length of a blade, decorated her skin.
That was healed enough for her.
But not for her cyborg. He bent his head and licked each mark. His nanocybotics bubbled over her chest, fizzing on her breasts.
“That feels so good.” She held him to her, leaning her head back, savoring the flick of his tongue, the heat of his mouth. “Mock dying was…an experience.” It had temporarily scared the fight out of her.
“Seeing you like that destroyed me.” He met her gaze, his handsome face positioned between her breasts. “I should have protected your back.”
He should have protected her back, should have been fighting with her, not against her. Her heart warmed. It had hurt him to see her mock die, yet her protective male hadn’t ordered her to stop fighting.
He loved her for who she was—a warrior—and she appreciated that. “When facing outside threats, members of the same clan should always fight together.” She threaded her fingers through his short black hair, curving her hands around his skull. “You’re a part of my clan now, Vengeance.”
“And you’re a part of mine,” he murmured against her skin. “We’re no longer alone, my warrior female.”
“We aren’t.” Joy spread over her form.
He carried her to the sleeping support, set her down, bent, removed her boots. She wiggled her toes in anticipation.
“Are we fucking?” Her gaze lowered to his hard cock.
“We don’t fuck. We breed.” He pulled off her flight suit. “There will be tenderness, caring, soft feelings.” He revised the words she’d told him early in their relationship. “We will also breed hard because we’re both warriors and we enjoy breeding that way.”
“We do.” She reached for him.
“But we’ll rest first, restore our energy levels.” He kicked off his boots and pushed her over, making space for his big body on the sleeping support.
“Are you tired, cyborg?” She teased, knowing cyborgs didn’t require sleep.
“I want to hold you.” He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her tight against his chest.
His hard cock pressed against her, proof of his unabashed need for her. He was delaying their fucking…their breeding, for her.
Not a fragile female, she had one more breeding left in her. She considered fighting him on that decision.
But she remained silent. Being in his arms felt good. Sleeping beside him was yet another activity she’d missed during their stint of no-touching.
He was with her now. His huge muscular physique cradled her smaller form. His breath wafted against her neck.
She would allow him to win this battle. She closed her eyes, her lips curling into a small smile. They could breed when she woke.