Her Cyborg Beast, page 12
“So the Hive was controlling someone on the inside and they tagged her.”
“She’s no longer on The Colony,” Kiel replied grimly.
“They kidnapped my mate?” Cold fury held me in check now. Raging like a beast would not do my mate any good, not now. She needed me like this, calm and calculating. “Did they track the transport signal?” The words were bit out, a snarl.
“They’re working on it now. Maxim hoped they would have a location locked down before we returned.”
The device on my shoulder began to hum, the vibration of energy more feeling than sound. But I knew what it meant. I glanced from the transport beacon to Kiel. “I can’t wait. Tell him to hurry up and send reinforcements.”
“What do you mean?” Vance asked, but stepped back with a curse as the energy of the beacon expanded. The hair on my body rose to attention, and they no doubt could feel the sizzle of the transport current in the air.
Marz stepped forward placed his hand on my shoulder. “I’ll go with you.”
“No. That won’t work,” Kiel said. “They can’t transport both of you with one beacon. They’re not designed that way. One warrior. That’s it. If you don’t let go of him, it might not work at all.”
“Good,” Vance said and grabbed my other shoulder.
“No.” I shoved him away, hard. Broke the strong grip. I would have hit Marz as well, but he’d already stepped back, understanding in his gaze, so I didn’t waste words on him. I turned to Vance. “This is going to take me to my mate. Touch me again and I will kill you.”
“By the gods, Rezzer, you should wait for Maxim to assemble a ReCon team,” Kiel insisted.
The beast growled before I could stop him, and I fought to keep my voice under control. “And if the Hive had your mate, or your son?”
I’d won, I knew it by the way Kiel’s shoulders slumped, his gaze fierce. If it were his mate, Lindsey, who had been taken, or his son, Wyatt? Nothing would stop him from getting to them. Nothing.
The buzzing filled my ears until I wasn’t sure they would hear me, wasn’t even sure that I spoke. “This will take me to Caroline. I know it. They targeted me. Took her. We’re exactly what they’re after. Tell Maxim to bring a fucking army. He can have what’s left of the Hive when he gets there.”
Kiel tossed me his weapon so I had two. I gave him a nod of thanks, then crouched down on one knee and stabilized myself on the ground as the transport beacon took me. I had no idea where I was going, but I would destroy anything and anyone between me and my mate.
13
CJ
* * *
I rubbed my face over the soft pillow and took a deep breath. Rezzer. It smelled like my mate, and I snuggled down in complete bliss. My eyes popped open when I heard a ringing. At first, I thought the sound was my cell phone, but the tone was different. Rolling over, I opened my eyes and blinked at the now familiar lines in the ceiling of our private quarters. The room had started out utilitarian. Useful, but not comfy. Not warm.
I’d been adding little touches since moving in. A soft, fuzzy green blanket and matching pillows on the couch. Lamps with antique looking shades on two new end tables so we didn’t have to sit in the stark, standard, bright white lighting provided by the Fleet. I’d even asked Rachel to help me with the S-Gen machine and magically made cinnamon cookie scented candles—which we had to override the computer safety protocols to burn—and a large, red-leafed plant the strange alien in charge of their gardens had recommended when I told him about my black thumb. I had to hope it was kill-proof. Our place wasn’t exactly going to win any awards for interior decorating, but at least it felt like a home now and not a barracks. A real home. Ours.
And soon we’d be moving to a bigger suite, one with another room. A room I couldn’t wait to decorate for the baby. I smiled to myself at the thought.
The ringing sounded again, and I groaned. Moving too quickly, I was swamped by dizziness and nausea. Lying back down, I took a deep breath and fought not to panic as my brain kicked in. I hated being sick. No, I wasn’t sick, I was pregnant now. With an alien baby.
Maybe I’d have to get used to not moving quite so fast…
Seemed that if the Coalition scientists could eliminate the need for cell phones, and implanted everyone with an elaborate NPU, Neural-Processing-Unit—the fancy gadget imbedded in my skull that acted like a universal translator—they could figure out a way to get rid of morning sickness. I’d have to talk to Kristin and Rachel about it. They wouldn’t stand for throwing up if the doctor had a way to avoid it.
Every once in a while, my head ached from the NPU. But I understood every language in existence. That was technologically cool, but being connected to an alien computer system that had matched me to my new mate was even more amazing. Rezz. My beast.
I missed him. We’d only been together a short time, but I found that I loved sleeping in his arms, loved waking up to his heated touch, loved that his beast liked to come out and play rough. I loved that he was big and virile and had no problem at all with a six-foot, smart-mouthed woman for a mate. He didn’t call me an Amazon. He had no idea what the term even meant. To him, I was small. The more I sassed, the more orgasms I seemed to get. The more I denied his dominance, the more he asserted it. In bed. Out of bed. Up against the wall. Naked. Dressed.
I squirmed beneath the sheets, wishing he were with me now. Maybe, just maybe I’d let him take control. Yeah, right. As if he’d have it any other way.
Really, the beast had zero limits and absolute, unbreakable control when he took me so skillfully, making me scream with pleasure.
He hadn’t figured out my diabolical, orgasm-producing scheme yet, or at least he pretended not to know what I was doing. Which was even better. I closed my eyes and smiled once more as the room stopped spinning. My pussy was a little sore—in a good way—and I was sticky there with his very potent seed. He was virile, and wild, and he’d worn me out. That, combined with the news that I was carrying a baby had been all I could handle once he left with the others on his mission. I felt bare without his cuffs on my wrists—I hadn’t realized how I’d become used to their heft, the cool feel of them until they were removed—but I knew he would come back to me.
For the first time in my life, I had absolutely no doubt that I was wanted. Needed. Loved. The feeling was both heady and addictive and probably why I’d fallen in love with my beast so hard and so fast. It was insane. I remembered the conversation with Warden Egara, how I’d insisted that I didn’t have to like my mate. No wonder she’d practically rolled her eyes at me. I’d been stupid. Naïve.
I know how true love feels. What it can be between mates. Her words stuck, and I would have to call her on the comms unit, tell her she was right.
I opened my eyes, blinked away the sleep. This room already felt like home. It was safe. Ours. Instead of going to eat with Rachel, I’d come back here and fallen asleep within minutes of his leaving.
I’d tried to stay awake waiting for Rezzer, but obviously that hadn’t happened. He hadn’t returned, since his side of the bed was still made, and cold. I longed for him, but I was thankful I wasn’t doubled over in pain from the separation. It had hurt that one time the mating cuffs had shocked me, and I had no interest in experiencing that again. But I also longed to put them back on. I’d adjusted to wearing them, and after seeing the intensity in Rezzer’s gaze when he refused to remove his, I learned their value.
They weren’t just bracelets. They were a sign, proof, of so much more. He wore my claim still, choosing to endure the pain from the cuffs rather than be separated from me even in that. It was humbling, and worrisome that I held so much influence over such a powerful being as an Atlan Warlord. Exhilarating and frightening and sobering.
Would the constant shocks from the cuffs distract him? Put him in danger? I shook off that thought, knowing Rezzer was a Warlord. Skilled at fighting. He wouldn’t do anything stupid.
Yet the cuffs were also proof of just how vulnerable he was. His beast was strong. Terrifying to his enemies.
And lost without me.
I put my hand on my belly, thinking of the baby within. Our baby. I wanted Rezzer safe, here in bed with me. If something happened to him, well, he wasn’t the only one with an inner beast, and mine was going to rage.
A ringing came again.
“Hello?” I looked around the room, realized the sound was coming from a doorbell of some kind.
“Hello? Is someone there?” I padded across the room on bare feet, the wrinkled dress I’d been wearing all day embarrassing, but not the end of the world.
Ring. Ring.
Pushing my hair back from my face, I froze when a door opened without my permission, a piece of the wall sliding away and disappearing. A medical officer—I was now familiar with the green uniform—bowed to me. He wasn’t Prillon or Atlan. I recognized him. But from where?
“Lady Caroline. Congratulations on conceiving with your Atlan mate.”
“Thank you. We are very excited.” I offered him a small smile. “I know you, don’t I? Where are you from?” He wasn’t Atlan. Not tall enough. He wasn’t Prillon. Didn’t have the coloring or the sharp facial features. He didn’t move like Kiel, who I learned was from Everis. I wasn’t sure what other planets were represented on The Colony, but this guy’s origin was a new one for me.
“Trion. And no, we have not formally been introduced.”
Well, I’d never heard of Trion. But whatever. He looked almost human, closest alien race to human I’d seen since stepping foot on Base 3. There were well over two hundred worlds in the Interstellar Coalition, and I’d always been hopeless at geography. Adding that many more planets with new places and landmarks to my non-existent knowledge base just wasn’t going to happen.
He stepped toward me, and I stepped back. I frowned. He was a little too close, and I felt like a kindergartener whining because he stepped into my “bubble”. The look on his face wasn’t threatening…but it wasn’t friendly either. A chill raced over my skin as the door slid shut automatically behind him. We were alone. Together.
“Why are you here? Where is Rezzer? Has something happened to him?” I didn’t like this. Didn’t like the way he was looking at me like I was… No. Not looking at me. Looking through me. Like I wasn’t even here. There was no empathy or acknowledgment in his gaze. It was like he was hypnotized. Or a robot.
“Your mate is fine.”
Well, then? What the hell was this? I cleared my throat. “You need to go now. Rezzer will be back any minute.”
His calm demeanor shifted, and all at once he was tense, his dark eyes hard. “It has been confirmed that you are with child.” His voice was deep and menacing. Yet he appeared unarmed. No sexy thigh holster like Rezzer wore.
“Was that a question?” I stepped back again, not liking there was no one else around. The door was closed, providing a privacy I didn’t want. No one knew he was here—at least that I knew of—and Rezzer wasn’t around. And I had no idea who this guy was. What he wanted. Why he’d rung the dang doorbell in the first place. I stepped back far enough to wrap my hand around the thin neck of one of my new lamps. God, I hated to ruin it, but it was the only weapon I had. He was tall, but he was no beast. Had me by maybe six inches. I could swing the lamp at his head. Maybe kick him in the balls. No guy, alien or human, liked getting whacked in the nuts.
His gaze darted to my hand where it wrapped around the lamp, but he looked amused, not threatened.
Bastard.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small disk about the size of a round cracker, and my mind raced, ideas clicking in and out of place like puzzle pieces as adrenaline surged through my body. What was this alien doing here? What the heck was that little round thing? His smile was definitely not human, and he thought it was actually meant to reassure me? Yeah, right.
“Your mate is far from here, Lady Caroline. But do not worry, you are very valuable to us now. And he will be joining you soon.”
Us? Who was us? And joining me? Why did that sound like a threat? Every instinct I had screamed at me that I was in deep shit, but there was nowhere to run. “I don’t remember you from medical. I think it’s time for you to go. As I said, Rezzer will be back any moment, and I assure you, he’s very possessive. He’s an Atlan, you know.” I added the last to remind him that Rezzer turned into a beast and could rip his head off if he did anything to hurt me.
He shrugged his broad shoulders, clearly not threatened by being ruthlessly killed by an Atlan beast. “I only need a moment,” he replied, stepping close. Too close.
I swung the lamp. Prayed for a miracle.
Fuck. He was stronger than he looked. He stopped my assault with one hand, and didn’t even grunt. Didn’t blink. His face never even changed expression. He was empty. Just…empty.
Still holding the lamp in one hand, he reached out and slapped the round disk onto my one bare shoulder. Only then did he step back, giving me the space I wanted. He didn’t even take the lamp from my hand. Glancing down at the disk, I watched as a series of lights blinked yellow, the pattern looked like a…an electronic button.
“What—”
I reached up to pull the disk off my skin, but I felt a sizzle, every hair on my body standing up on end. Then it was like the world twisted me from the inside out. Painful. Strange. I tried to scream, but there was no air. Nothing to hold on to. Just…nothing.
CJ
* * *
I stumbled, putting my arm out instinctively, and it slapped against a wall. I blinked, felt nauseated, realized I’d transported. When I had left Earth, the last thing I’d remembered was Warden Egara counting down and a calming blue light. I’d woken up on The Colony coifed and shaved and wearing a beautiful gown. And the best part? Rezzer had been there. Waiting. Watching me with those gorgeous green eyes.
This time, I hadn’t slept through the travel and boy-oh-boy, the ride really was not enjoyable. It was not as fun as I’d thought it would be. Star Trek made it look so easy. I knew my ions or cells or whatever rearranged, and I went through some kind of vortex.
Oh god. The baby. Had it rearranged the baby? How many pregnant women transported? Was it allowed?
I put my hands on my belly, felt nothing. Of course I didn’t. But I didn’t feel like I was losing the baby either. No cramping or blood.
Glancing down at my dress, I expected to see the one I’d been wearing all day. Instead, I wore a simple white shift that fell to just below my knees. No shoes. No underwear. If it had been open in the back, it would have been exactly like a hospital gown back home. But the material was smooth, oddly unwrinkled—without the smallest crease—and seemed to have some kind of internal circuitry woven into the fabric. If I stared long enough, I saw small bursts of light, or electricity…hell, I had no idea what it was, but it looked like circuits bolting this way and that at seemingly random intervals.
Rubbing the fabric between two fingers, I braced myself on the wall and looked up again. I wasn’t in our quarters. I wasn’t anywhere I’d ever been before.
I was in some kind of personal quarters. The bed against one wall was large, just as big as the one I shared with Rezzer in our suite. A small table was affixed to the floor, the chairs bolted down too, and all three items were bright silver, like shiny chrome. There were no pictures, no other furniture. I peeked through a small archway and saw a bathing unit, sink and a small closet with additional gowns exactly like the one I wore.
No S-Gen unit. No decoration. No smell. Why didn’t this place smell like something? I felt like I was inside a sterile bubble. No dirt, no plants, no hint of food or people or…anything. “Where the hell am I?”
My heart raced, and I had to fight to stay calm as the little circuit lights in my gown went crazy.
“If you are feeling poorly from transport, sit.”
I spun about to see three men in the room. How the hell had I missed them? I gulped and put a hand on my heart to try to keep it from beating out of my chest. No, they weren’t men…exactly. They looked nothing like men from Earth. They weren’t any aliens I recognized either, nor were they the same as the guy who’d put the transport thingie on me.
Remembering it, I peeled it off my shoulder, wincing as it stuck to my skin. It was worse than a super-glued bandage on inch long hair. I was afraid it was going to take the top layer of my skin with it, but decided it was like a Band-Aid, and I ripped it off, hissing out a breath with the sting. I gripped it in my fist, thinking I might need it to get out of wherever I was. If it got me here, it could get me away.
The three stood next to a glass window about as tall as Rezzer but twice as long. No, not a window. More like a sliding door made out of one-way glass. I had a feeling whoever was on the other side could see me, but I couldn’t see them. No natural light came through anywhere, and I had no idea if it was day or night, had no idea of the time. I could have been a mile underground or ten thousand miles out in space. I probably was. All I knew was that I didn’t feel like I was on The Colony anymore.
“Come. You must recover from transport.” The middle alien was slightly shorter than the other two, his skin a deep, matte blue that I’d never seen before outside of the sci-fi romance section of one of my favorite e-book series. He had a weird hook-like thing coming out of the back of his head that seemed to connect into his spine somehow. He was just…strange. But then, with so many worlds in the Fleet, and me having met a total of four or five of the alien races, I imagined there was a lot of strange out here in deep space that I had yet to see. Still, I wasn’t really interested in learning about other alien races now. I wanted to be back in my quarters on The Colony. With Rezzer.
“Who are you? Where am I?” I asked.
“I am Nexus 4. A medical unit. Come. You are dizzy.” He held out his blue hand to me, and even though I ignored it—he wasn’t quite as automated as the Trion man who’d gotten me into this mess in the first place—I did walk closer to the glass, more from curiosity than anything else. None of them made any threatening moves. The situation had become almost dreamlike. Surreal.
