Four
Astrid had been prepared to die. She ran toward her domicile, following the pathway. That damn cyborg hadn’t allowed her to perish.
And now she owed him, her enemy.
She entered the structure, grabbed the medic pack, swung it over her right shoulder, and sprinted back to where she had left him, her muscles burning with the effort.
He wasn’t there. An outline of rubble surrounded the spot where he’d landed after the explosion, his body covering hers. He’d endured that barrage of natural shrapnel for her, had experienced extreme agony to save her lifespan.
That made it even more difficult to hate him, and as she told him, she needed to do that. His kind had killed her clan.
Although the Humanoid Alliance had given the orders, they hadn’t been the beings her kinfolk had fought. If humans had been their opponents, the outcome would have been very different.
Her kinfolk were trained warriors, had lived and breathed battle. They would have defeated the humans easily.
They couldn’t defeat cyborgs.
Astrid understood now why his brethren had fought her clan. It had been a choice between the survival of his kinfolk and the survival of hers. The cyborgs had chosen to save the lifespans of their loved ones.
If their roles had been reversed, she might have done the same thing. And that truth made killing him almost impossible.
Almost.
“I brought you pain inhibitors.” She yelled that offer into the woods. “That makes us even.”
That was a lie. She had tried to kill him, multiple times, and he had spared her lifespan. They weren’t close to being even.
A boom sounded, coming from the other side of her domicile. The ground shook. What was he doing? Another boom pained her ears. That originated a little more east.
The damn cyborg was setting off her tripwires. It had taken her half a solar cycle to erect her defenses. He was dismantling them in one planet rotation.
She removed an injector gun and three tubes of pain inhibitors from the medic pack and set those supplies on a rock. That should be enough for the big male.
She was tempted to hunt him down and administer the pain inhibitors herself, shooting him in the ass with the injector gun, but that might result in touching him, which might lead to kissing him and more.
Her fingertips drifted over her lips. They were bruised and battered from his previous embrace, her flesh bubbling.
Fuck. That kiss had been hot. She rubbed her thighs together, her arousal not having abated. It was best that she avoid him, allow them both to cool down.
A swim would help with that. She headed toward the river, hefting the medic pack with her. The sun was low on the horizon, painting the sky red and orange. Soon, darkness would fall.
She wasn’t concerned. Second Buoir had two large moons. They reflected sufficient light to guide her way home, and she knew the terrain.
The predators on the planet, although starving, hadn’t yet become brazen enough to attack a human, their sole enemy.
The only being who scared her was Vengeance.
And her reaction to him.
Her continuing need disturbed her. Astrid set down the medic pack, stripped off her garments, and removed her boots, her movements jerky.
She’d been alone for too long. Battle had excited her. Cyborgs were designed to be every female’s wet dream.
The excuses flowed, but they were merely that—excuses. She’d been alone for longer periods. She’d fought in hundreds of battles. She’d faced numerous cyborgs.
Astrid had never desired a male as she desired Vengeance.
She strapped a dagger to each arm and to each upper thigh, left her garments and the rest of the weapons on the bank, and entered the slow-moving river. The water was cold compared to the air, causing her nipples to tighten.
She waded up to her hips, dove under the water, came up spluttering and shivering. Her fingers trembled as she loosened her braids and shook out her hair.
Had Vengeance found the pain inhibitors she’d left for him?
She shouldn’t care. He was a grown male. He could take care of himself.
The cyborg didn’t need her, and she didn’t need him.
She hated him. She had to feel that way.
Reclining in the water, she floated on her back, closed her eyes, and listened to the explosions detonating around her. Being a warrior, she found the sounds of battle comforting.
***
She knew the moment he reached the riverbank. Her skin prickled with awareness. Her pussy warmed. She found her footing in the water, turned toward him.
He stood tall and broad and proudly naked, his bare feet braced apart. His face, once flawlessly handsome, had been ravaged by the multiple explosions. Flesh hung from his shoulders. The moonbeams reflected off hints of silver frame, illuminating him.
His cock was massive and erect, standing straight out from a hairless base. Astrid’s mouth dried. That hadn’t been damaged during their battle.
Fuck. She wanted him.
But she couldn’t have him. That would be a betrayal of her clan.
“Cyborg.” She acknowledged his presence.
“Human.” He stared at her.
She gazed back at him. Silence stretched, filled with intention and meaning, the connection between them impossible to ignore.
“I couldn’t stay away.” Guilt edged his voice.
“You should have.”
He dipped his head. Both of them knew this was wrong, their need for each other burning out of control, jeopardizing lifespans built upon bases of honor.
“Do cyborgs swim?” She scooped handfuls of water, wetting her breasts, a visible taunt she couldn’t resist extending to him. “That can’t be good for your machine side.”
“I wouldn’t be much of a warrior if a little water damaged me.” He was as soundless in the river as he was on land, barely breaking the surface as he strode toward her.
She yearned to reach for him, but that would be admitting she wanted him and she couldn’t do that. Instead she extracted her daggers from the arm sheaths, tilted the blades to catch the light.
“You move too slow, female.” His tone was mocking. “You’ll never stab me.”
“Never is a long time.” She skimmed the daggers over the surface of the water, watching the light dance on the weapons. It was almost hypnotic.
She peeked through her lowered eyelashes at Vengeance. He gazed at her face, not at the blades, the yearning in his brilliant blue eyes hitching her breath.
The cyborg desired her as she desired him.
Acting on that passion couldn’t happen. They couldn’t happen.
She lunged toward him, striking quickly with her daggers.
He grasped her wrists, held the weapons away from his big body. “You’re too slow.” He chuckled.
She tugged. He restrained her easily, not allowing any movement. Heat radiated from his form. Energy crackled in the air between them.
He plucked the weapons from her fingers, threw them into the darkness, the splash far away.
“Those were my best daggers, you brute.” She reached for the weapons strapped to her thighs. Those sheaths were empty.
“You’re much too slow.” Humor lightened his voice, his eyes shining. “It’s a wonder you remain alive.”
“A projectile to my head knocked me unconscious, and your brethren thought I was dead.” Battling the urge to touch him, she placed her hands on her hips, a defiant and safe stance. “That’s the only reason I’m alive now.”
“Cyborgs can sense lifeforms.” He stepped closer to her. “My brethren knew you were alive.”
They were aware she had survived. She blinked. “Then why didn’t they finish me off?”
He shrugged. “The humans wouldn’t have known you were alive.”
The cyborgs had merely been following orders. She gazed down at the dark water. If her sister had been the being knocked unconscious, she would have lived.
Vengeance bracketed her face with his big hands. She jerked, but he didn’t release her. “Let me repair your damage.”
He bent his head, licked the cut on her forehead.
Her skin fizzed and bubbled. “You’re covering me with your nanocybotics.” She’d studied her enemy, knew about that unique feature.
“Yes.” He laved her with the flat of his tongue.
Nanocybotics helped cyborgs heal quickly. A layer of pale-gray skin already covered his frame, dulling the silver. They also reversed any damage caused by aging, allowing the warriors to live forever.
That he was using them to heal her confused her. His tenderness threatened to strip the tough shell wrapped protectively around her heart.
She couldn’t allow that. “No.” She slapped his chest.
“No?” Vengeance pulled away from her.
She tilted her head back. “No healing.” She stood on her tiptoes and bit his chin, hard, leaving a mark on his gray skin.
Energy brightened his eyes.
“We’re enemies.” She reminded him. “Enemies don’t heal each other. Enemies don’t care for each other.”
“I said nothing about caring for you.” He scowled.
“You shouldn’t care for me.” She shouldn’t care for him. Astrid raked her fingernails over his pecs and he hissed. “The battle lust is confusing us.” His hard cock pressed against her stomach. “You should go.” She hadn’t the willpower to walk away from him.
“Leaving you didn’t dispel the battle lust.” He hooked his arms around her, drew her tighter to him. She wiggled, fighting, but not too hard. He felt too good against her. “You’re the only female on the planet. I’m the only male.”
They could ease the battle lust with their own fingers but she didn’t mention that, such a solution not appealing to her. “Then get it over with.” She nipped his collarbone with her teeth.
“We’re not breeding.” He growled, lifting her higher against him.
Her feet no longer touched the river floor. She was at her enemy’s mercy.
“We’re not breeding.” She agreed. “We’re not mating. We’re not making love.” Her top lip curled. “There will be no tenderness, no caring, no soft feelings. We’ll be fucking. Hard. This will be a purely physical release, one we both need. Then we can return to killing each other.”
She could avenge her clan. He could seek justice for his brethren.
“We’ll fuck.” He nodded. “And then I’ll capture you.”
“You’ll never capture me.” Astrid didn’t know why that was his goal, whether he was planning a public death for her or some other equally horrible fate. She didn’t want to know, fearing the fellow warrior would evoke more sympathy and understanding in her battle-hardened soul, making it even more difficult for her to end his lifespan.
“I’ll capture you, my female.” He raised her until her gaze was level with his. “You’re slow.” He captured her lips, grinding against them, an act of sexual aggression, of dominance.
She pushed back. They battled, each of them trying to force the other’s mouth open. Her lips split, her flesh stinging.
He slapped her ass. Hard. She gasped. The brute gained entrance, triumph reflecting in his eyes.
Since he had abandoned all rules, she would do the same. Astrid wrapped her legs around him, pressing her heels against his wounded ass.
He sucked in a breath. She surged into his mouth, claiming that space. They fought, stabbing with their tongues, nipping with their teeth.
She squirmed, rubbing her breasts against his chest, her pussy lips over his stomach, branding those sections of him as hers. Vengeance’s abs rippled. He cupped her ass, squeezing and releasing, squeezing and releasing.
He was a cyborg. There was no denying that. His metal frame had no give in it, his hard muscle the only softness. He held her, a female renowned for her large size, as though she weighed nothing.
She would be fucking the enemy.
But she’d fucked other males, and those encounters had meant nothing. This would be the same. She bit his bottom lip, pulling on that flesh.
He rumbled, positioning himself at her entrance, pushing his tip between her pussy lips. Fuck. She wiggled. He was large, the largest she’d ever taken.
He drove her down on him, and she shrieked, the cyborg giving her no additional warning. One moment, she was empty. The next moment, she was stretched to capacity, full of hard cock.
“Fuck.” She clung to his battle-torn shoulders.
“Yes, this is fucking.” He lifted her. “Not breeding.” He impaled her upon his cock again, not allowing her any time to adjust to his huge size. Pain edged her pleasure.
Vengeance lifted her, drove her down on him, lifted her, drove her down on him, his pace breathtakingly fast, thrillingly savage. Her enemy was inside her, using her like a fuck hole, not caring about her bliss, her release. He was taking her, finding his own satisfaction in her body, whether she joined him or not.
The cyborg was reshaping her, his cock touching virgin flesh, his tip surging along her inner walls. She loosened around him, not much, but enough to ease that sensual slide. Skin smacked against skin. Water splashed. She panted, her breasts hitting the unrelenting wall of his chest again and again. Beads of sweat elongated, slid down her spine.
She kicked her heels against his wounded ass, urging him to go faster, take her harder. His eyes glowed, blue beacons in the dark. His jaw clenched.
“Fucking. Not breeding.” He repeated it as if he needed that reminder.
“Fucking. Not breeding.” She joined that chant. This was a release of energy, was natural, not wrong, meant nothing, wouldn’t change either of their fates.
They remained deadly opponents. She undulated against him, caressing him with her entire body, relishing the skin-on-skin contact. He thrust upward as he drew her downward, as though he sought to be deeper inside her. Her pussy hummed from the erotic abuse. Her arms and legs quivered.
He was a beast, a fucking machine, tireless and intent, his gaze fixed on her, only her. Other humans had viewed cyborgs as unfeeling weapons. Astrid had never believed that. She’d seen them fight. To be great on the battlefield, one had to have a passion for killing.
That passion clearly extended to fucking. He grunted, but not from effort. His body temperature hadn’t elevated. His form showed no signs of exhaustion. Those animal noises were due to enjoyment.
Astrid shared his joy, never wanting the encounter to end. She gritted her teeth, attempting to stave off her release. Her inner walls closed around him. Her trembling intensified.
She held on, digging her fingernails into his shoulders, but it was hard, so hard. To break first felt like losing, like conceding defeat to him, to her enemy. Astrid wouldn’t, couldn’t do that. She was a warrior, the last of her clan, the being others called the Buoir Berserker.
And there was no need for surrender, not when she could push him off the edge first. She clenched down on his shaft.
He roared. His hips snapped upward. His base smacked against her pussy lips, flattening them. His every muscle tensed. Cum shot out of his cock, those erotic projectiles blasting her inner walls.
Pleasure—pure, undiluted, and intense—bombarded her, her battle cry meshing with his. She writhed and shook, ravaged by fulfillment, the dark sky above her exploding with color, sound rushing in her ears.
He tightened his grip on her, holding her in place, forcing her to endure the ceaseless bliss, filling her with hard cock and hot cum. All of her bubbled, from her scalp to her fingertips.
She rested her cheek against his chest. The tremors shaking her form gradually eased. Her breathing leveled.
The sense of connection coiling around them, binding them tightly together, didn’t dissipate. It scared her, felt permanent, meaningful.
Vengeance’s actions didn’t ease her discomfort. He stroked her hair, that action soothing, caring.
Loving.
“You’re my enemy.” She said that out loud, reminding herself.
He stiffened. “You’re my enemy also.” He held her away from his body, breaking their physical link. “That was fucking, not breeding.” The brute tossed her into the river.
The water, after the heat of his form, felt like daggers of ice stabbing into her skin, the cold dousing her lingering satisfaction. She spluttered, swallowing mouthfuls of liquid as she struggled to find her footing.
Finally, she touched bottom and stood, anger replacing any soft feelings she might have had for him. She glared around her, didn’t see anything except the moons reflecting off the surface.
The damn cyborg was gone, had disappeared into the darkness.
“I will kill you.” She hollered the words at the sky, adding that vow to the many issued before it.
“You’ll kill me…with what weapons?” His voice originated from the woods.
With what weapons? She sloshed toward the shore. The bank was empty, except for her boots, the footwear neatly set on a flat rock. He’d taken her weapons and her garments.
Astrid sat on the stone and yanked her boots onto her feet. She really would kill him.