Seven
The sun approached the horizon by the time they arrived at the rock facing. Vengeance clasped his female’s right hand. Their fingers were linked.
That ensured she didn’t run from him as she was apt to do. Or shoot him…with that hand. Her left hand rested on a holstered gun.
She might draw the weapon. His female’s emotional damage had been partially repaired, and for that, he was thankful. The sound of his tough warrior female sobbing had almost pulled his heart out of his chest. In that moment, he would have killed his brethren himself for ending her kinfolk’s lifespans.
That realization had alarmed him. He was a council member. His loyalty had to remain with his brethren. They relied on him to put their best interests first.
“This is it.” His female waved at the view before them.
He gazed at the names engraved in the stone. There were hundreds of them. The text was uneven but it was deep and legible.
“I carved them with a mallet and a chisel.” She beamed, clearly proud of herself.
He touched the rock. It was dense, would be difficult to carve. “You have strength…for a human.”
“You’re observant…for a cyborg.” She bumped against him, that contact exciting him. “I chose this rock because it suffers less from the effects of erosion. Before the attack, there were thousands of these monuments. Names were copied before they eroded. Our clan could visually trace our ancestors back to the first warriors. It was glorious.”
She was glorious, a female without equal. He wrapped one of his arms around her waist, drawing her closer to him.
His female, lost in her thoughts, didn’t protest. “The Humanoid Alliance destroyed all of the rock facings.” Her eyes shone with sadness. “They sought to erase my clan’s presence completely, ensuring no one ever remembered them.”
Cyborgs shared information. All of the memories, the experiences of his brethren, alive and dead, resided in his databases. To lose that legacy would be traumatic.
He squeezed his female’s hip. “You remember them.” And he would remember them also. He never forgot any information.
“Yes.” She lifted her chin. “And the next inhabitants of the planet will see my clan’s names on this rock facing, realize they were fierce warriors, loved and respected.”
“They will know your clan existed.” He said softly. The name carving was not merely a symbol of remembrance. It was an act of defiance, showing the Humanoid Alliance they couldn’t erase her loved ones.
“My clan existed.” She nodded.
He looked up at the stone. The Humanoid Alliance hadn’t merely tried to erase the cyborgs’ existence. They had denied their existences entirely, giving them numbers, not names, treating them like weapons, disposing of them when they malfunctioned.
He pressed his lips together. The Homeland didn’t have walls of rock. It was fully inhabited. But it had multilevel structures reaching high into the sky. Those walls could be carved with names.
Millions of them, representing the cyborg dead, never to be forgotten.
Visitors to the Homeland would look at the names and realize the sacrifices his brethren had made to become free. Warriors and their offspring would honor the fallen on the battlefield and the decommissioned.
Everyone would know they existed.
His head dipped.
He would propose the name carving at a future council meeting.
“We should clean ourselves.” He drew his female away from the rock facing.
“Is my stench offending your enhanced senses, cyborg?” She threw back her head and laughed.
He liked her sense of humor and he liked the way she smelled. “You wear too many garments.”
Her mirth dissipated. “You want me naked.” Her cheeks flushed with pigment.
He didn’t reply because he did want her naked, her bare skin pressed against his, her legs wrapped around his waist. It had been too long since they fucked.
He guided his female toward the river, the sound of flowing water growing louder with each step. She walked quietly…for a human, scanning their surroundings as he did, offsetting her inferior senses with awareness.
A creature snarled.
She stopped abruptly. “Do you hear that?” She tilted her head.
Another creature growled.
“Those are predators. They’re large.” She indicated his chest level. “With sharp teeth, claws on all four legs and barbs on their tails.”
They sounded like formidable opponents, a challenge to defeat.
“They’re normally scared of humans.” His female’s lips twisted. “My clan were the only beings on the planet who could kill them. With my kinfolks’ deaths, there has been nothing to curtail the predators’ population. They’ve depleted all of the prey, are starving and venturing closer.”
“I’ve sensed their presence.” He admitted. “But I haven’t located any of them with my visual system.”
“They’re fierce.” Admiration warmed his female’s voice, her response increasing his curiosity. “And they’ll attack when cornered. Only the most skilled warriors hunted them. That was the meat you ate this planet rotation.”
He wrinkled his nose. “That meat tasted awful.” They’d eaten more of it after they’d buried his female’s kinfolk.
“You’ll become accustomed to it.” She grinned.
Would he become accustomed to it? They continued walking. He should return soon to the Homeland with his female. The council would be making decisions without his input. Power could be giving away their planet to the enemy, expanding the humans’ rights.
His female might be worthy of trust. He gazed at her scarred face with admiration. She wasn’t acting with the Humanoid Alliance, plotting to take over the Homeland.
But she was the exception, and rules had to be made and enforced for the norm, not the outliers.
One more planet rotation shouldn’t make a difference, however.
“I would like to hunt these predators.” He decided on that action.
“We can do that.” Her eyes sparkled with interest. “You’ll have to follow my lead though, cyborg. It’s dangerous.”
They reached the river. He scowled at the slowly flowing water. Did she think he was an incompetent warrior, requiring her guidance? “Your predators can’t be more dangerous than the Mantidae.”
“You fought them?” Envy wrapped around her words. “They don’t use Second Buoir as part of their migration route. I hear they’re savage.”
She stripped off her garments, his female as comfortable with nudity as any cyborg was. That was yet more proof she was different from the average human.
“One of them almost severed my right arm.” He swung that limb, recalling the pain.
“I almost lost my eye.” She pointed to the scar trailing down her face. “Shrapnel from an explosion caused this.”
He traced the raised skin with his fingertips. If the debris had lodged deeper, she would have died. His heart squeezed. He would have never met her.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” She grinned at him, a true warrior, proud of her brushes with death, her body delightfully bare. Scars crisscrossed her beautiful breasts. Muscles decorated her stomach. Her feet were planted slightly apart, braced for an attack.
“I don’t find your face offensive.” His lips curled upward.
“Fuck you.” She slapped his chest, the contact exciting him.
Before he could draw her to him, she turned and ran into the water, splashing for several strides, then diving under the surface, her muscles rippling.
“I will fuck you.” He chased her, moving at human speeds. The water was cool against his skin, energizing. He plunged into the river, spotted the soles of her feet, reached for them.
She kicked his hands, changed direction, broke the surface and then dove once more. He pursued her, enjoying himself.
They weren’t fighting. There was no intent to harm, to kill. They were, what the humans would call, playing.
He couldn’t remember ever engaging in an activity purely for fun.
Propelling himself faster, he encircled her waist with his arms. She spun, graceful and light, a perfectly formed dagger slicing through the water. Conscious of her smaller lung capacity, he drew her upward.
She laughed as she burst out of the river, her brown hair plastered around her face, her eyes gleaming. “Cyborgs can swim.”
“Cyborgs will do anything to catch their targets.” He pulled her to him. She bobbed against his form and he splayed his fingers over her back. “I caught you.”
“Did you catch me?” She leaned forward and brushed her lips over his. “I think not.” His female pushed off his body, shooting backward, toward land.
“You can’t escape me, female.” He swam leisurely after her, allowing her to lead the way, interested in where she was taking them.
“I believe I just did, male.” She crawled onto the riverbank, her lush ass waving in the air.
It was a hail he had to answer. He lunged forward, grabbing her by her hips. “I believe you’re wrong.” He wedged himself between her closing legs and bumped her knees outward, opening her fully to him.
“What are you doing?” She fought him, twisting, trying to break his grip.
He wouldn’t want her to react any other way, the challenge of her thrilling him. “What does it look like I’m doing?” He breathed deeply, seeking reassurance.
She smelled of freshness and of aroused female, her pink pussy lips glistening with her juices. “You’re being a brute.” Her half-hearted wiggles stimulated him. “Let me go.”
“Do you want me to let you go?” He raised one of his eyebrows. Her body sent a different communication.
“No, I don’t want you to let me go.” She glared over her shoulder, her skin slick and wet. “I want to be fucked hard. That’s why I allowed you to catch me.”
He chuckled. “You didn’t allow me to do anything.” He drew her backward, forcing her to ride his cock, and her breath hitched. “I’m the superior warrior. Having apprehended my target, she is now mine to do with as I wish.”
He fucked her without entry, branding his shaft with her heat. His female was clearly dissatisfied with that plan and wanted more. She lifted herself upward, attempting to align her tight little hole with his cock head.
He placed one of his palms on the hollow of her back and pushed her downward. She growled, resisting, the muscles in her long legs flexing.
Frag. She was magnificent, all strength and passion, undeniably female.
“Is the superior warrior going to fuck me any time this solar cycle?” She propelled herself back against him, smacking her ass against his abs. “I have other things to do.”
“The only thing you have to do is service me.” He bent his head and bit one of her ass cheeks, leaving his mark there. She jerked, her wetness dripping over his shaft. His human liked the feel of his teeth.
“I’m servicing myself.” She ground against him.
The blasted female would make herself come, finding fulfillment without him.
He pulled his hips back, aligned himself properly and thrust. Hard. She shrieked, squeezing her inner walls around him, making his entry more intense, her grip on his cock exquisitely snug.
He clenched his teeth, clinging to his control, and surged forward, not stopping until his base met her pussy lips. Fully enveloped by her softness, he released his breath, a sense of rightness falling upon him.
This was where he was meant to be—inside this warrior female.
Logic said otherwise. She was human, his enemy. He couldn’t kill her. That option was lost to him as soon as he touched her. But they were destined to part.
He retreated and advanced, retreated and advanced, his pace slow, steady. His female moaned, that sound coiling around his balls.
Although he was tempted to keep her, he couldn’t, not without placing his brethren in danger. All humans had to be expelled from the Homeland. That was the only way to keep his fellow cyborgs safe. He had to lead by example.
He had to.
“You’re my captive.” He ran his hands up her back, buried his fingers into her hair, balling the strands around his fist.
“Never.” She continued to fight him with her words while her body surrendered.
“Always.” As he fucked her harder, deeper, he increased the tension, tugging on her hair, forcing her to lift her head, to submit to him. “You’re mine.”
He owned her with long, savage strokes, slapping his hips against her ass, his balls against her skin. Heat spread over him, mixed with the pinch of pain.
His female panted, arching her back, riding him as he rode her. Her ass jiggled with his every thrust, her curves turning pink with the passionate abuse. Her fingers curled, digging into the yielding ground.
She was under his command, at his mercy. He showed her none, ravishing her, plunging into her pussy with the wildness of a primitive C Model. She could take his advances, welcomed that savagery.
She was a warrior as he was, reveling in the physical, more comfortable with action than words. He understood her, and she must understand him. Their connection couldn’t be one-sided. She must feel it also. He was certain of that.
Decadent pressure formed, low on his frame. She shook, her arms and legs trembling. They were both close to fulfilment, their passion burning out of control, razing everything in its path, the most effective of weapons.
“Cyborg.” Her voice stretched.
“Vengeance.” He wanted her to know who had claimed her, who filled her pussy with his cock, who held her in his hands.
“Vengeance.” Her grip on him increased. “Fuck.” She undulated in front of him. “Vengeance.”
His female needed more. He released her hair, leaned over her, sliding his chest along her back, caging her with his body.
“Vengeance.” She tilted her head to the side, offering her neck to him.
He nuzzled against her, mouthing over the delicate skin. She quivered. He bared his teeth, dragged them along a raised vein, a vulnerability a true enemy would attack.
Her breathing turned ragged.
His purpose was to give her satisfaction, not death. He was her male, not her enemy.
Vengeance reached the base, the gentle curve where her neck met her shoulder, and he bit down, declaring that spot as his.
Now. Forever. This human female was his.
She screamed, clenching his cock with her soft flesh. The little restraint he had remaining was obliterated.
He roared, surging forward, filling her with his cock and his cum, energy coursing through his circuits, bliss blasting his processors. She gyrated under him, shrieking louder, massaging his shaft. He constricted her movements with his big form, pouring everything he had into her.
He relayed too much to her. His vision system dimmed. His arms and legs gave way. He collapsed on top of his human female, flattening her against the ground.
She huffed yet didn’t protest, taking his weight, supple and relenting under him.
“Frag.” Vengeance pushed himself away from her, rolling onto his back, the cool air on his cock a shock after the heat of her body.
He stared upward. The sun was setting. The sky was a violent orange and red, the colors suiting their fervent encounter.
“Are all cyborgs great fucks?” Her voice was drowsy.
He frowned at her. “You’re not fucking any other cyborgs.”
“I’m not fucking them right now.” She winked at him. “But once I kill you and the next one arrives—”
“You’re not killing me.” He glowered at her, his post-fuck haze destroyed by her flippant words. “And you’re not fucking any of my brethren.” The thought of her touching another warrior turned his vision system red. “You’re my captive. I deal with you.”
“I’m not your captive.” She flipped onto her back. “But I do like how you deal with me.”
He eyed her, unhappy with the conversation. Her breasts were covered with dirt. She would have to swim again, clean that off.
Some of his scent would be removed with it. “I’m fucking you again. In your domicile.” He wanted all males to know she was his.
His captive.
“That’s fine with me.” She shrugged. “I’m not killing you until after the hunt, and a great fuck before a rest cycle always makes me sleep solid.”
“You’re not killing me ever.” Her casual attitude toward their fucking irritated him. “And sleep is a human weakness.”
“It is.” She surprised him by agreeing. “See this?” She touched a long thin scar on her neck. “I got that while I was sleeping.”
“Let me examine you.” He hauled her on top of him, the contact easing his foul mood. “You could have died.” It was dangerously close to her jugular.
“I was exhausted and alone, separated from the others during battle.” Her eyes glowed. “I must have looked dead, and a scavenger wanted to ensure I stayed that way.”
“You shouldn’t be alone.” He touched the scar. She required protection.
His protection. She was his captive. He was responsible for her.
“You shouldn’t be alone either.” She lifted her chin. “But that’s what happens when you have no clan.”
“I have brethren.” He wasn’t solitary.
“Yet here you are—on your own.” His female rolled her eyes. “Clan stick together, are by your side, whether you want them there or not.”
He had brethren like that…in the past, but they were all dead now. His gaze shifted to his female’s face. Like her clan was all dead.
She couldn’t be his permanently. He dismissed that wild thought. She was a human. He was a cyborg and planned to expel all of her kind from the Homeland.
Being together forever was an impossibility. But he would safeguard her from harm, watch over her as she slept. When they parted, he’d designate other beings to protect her.
Those beings wouldn’t be male. His hands curved possessively over her ass. She was his. No other being would touch her.
Once they parted, he wouldn’t touch her either.
He wouldn’t hear her laugh, wouldn’t smell her distinct scent, wouldn’t be pushed to the limits by her constant challenges.
His lips flattened. The future without his female was bleak.