by S. E. Smith
“Okay,” Jana whispered, watching as he placed the lettuce on the counter before pushing open the screen door and stepping out.
“He likes you,” K-Nine commented as he stepped into the kitchen.
Jana turned and scowled down at the wolfhound. “Where are the kittens?” She asked, deciding to ignore the question glimmering in K-Nine’s eyes.
“Sleeping in their bed in the living room,” he replied. “Do you find Matrix attractive?”
Jana paused as she set the items she was holding down on the counter. She stared at the picture hanging above the sink, Follow your heart and you’ll always be at home. She swallowed and nodded.
“Might I remind you that we just met less than an hour ago?” She retorted before her gaze softened on the back door and she continued. “Still, he’s different. It isn’t like anything will come of it,” she went on, clearing her throat. “I’m just an ordinary girl from the backwoods of Michigan. How could someone like him be interested in me?” Her lips twisted and she glanced back down at K-Nine. “Besides, we are literally worlds apart. I don’t think a long distance relationship would work.”
K-Nine released a soft sneeze and walked over to the door. He pushed it open with his head before holding it in place with a broad shoulder. Turning his head, he looked back at her.
“You are perfect the way you are, Jana,” K-Nine replied. “You are also the first female ever to knock out Matrix. That is almost unheard of for a Zion warrior. I can’t wait to share that with the rest of the unit.”
“Go help your friend,” Jana scolded, turning away. She glanced over her shoulder at the huge wolfhound, who was anything but normal. “And don’t you dare tell anyone about me knocking him out. Something tells me that he might not appreciate that very much.”
Jana ignored K-Nine’s gruff chuckle. Instead, she turned back to the task at hand. She gently ran her tongue over her lips, remembering the feel of Matrix’s firm lips against hers. A grin curved her mouth as she began preparing their meal.
He could make more than my panties sizzle. He could melt them right off, she thought as she began to hum under her breath.
Eight
The Crawler moved underground, snarling in frustration when she became entangled in the roots of another large tree. Snapping and clawing through them, she worked her way toward the surface. She had felt the pulse of the beacon the moment it had been activated. It had pulled her away from her intended course – toward the many life forms a short distance away.
She had fought against the pull, but she had been programmed to seek out and destroy the beacon. It meant danger – the seekers were here. She could not feed until they were eliminated. Pushing upward through the mixture of dirt, roots, and rocks, she broke through to the surface.
Using the dozen enormous legs attached to her underbelly, she pulled herself out of the hole and shook. Her six large eyes scanned the area and documented the terrain. The hard, interconnecting plates that made up her back rolled together.
Turning her head, she scanned slowly from side to side. Her head froze when the signal from the beacon pinged against the sensitive receiver embedded in her skull. She barely had time to lock onto the signal before it disappeared. No matter, she knew the direction now. It would take her at least a day to navigate under the thick growth of the forest.
She would need to be cautious. The seekers always traveled in pairs, her internal memory informed her. The emergency signal meant the seekers had become separated and were unable to communicate. The signal usually indicated that one of them was injured. It was her chance to terminate it before she began feeding. Once she had eaten enough food to sustain her, she would lay her eggs.
The guards had also traveled in pairs when she had been confined on the asteroid, never traveling alone and always having a way to signal each other. She had learned that when she had killed one of the guards escorting her. Others had quickly come and they had drugged her. At the place with the dark rock, she could not dig to escape because the ground there was impenetrable, but here, she would have the advantage.
Twisting around, she crawled toward the hole she had created. She closed thin, translucent inner eyelids over her eyes to protect them. Back in the hole, she began digging and ripping through the ground again. Soon... soon her species would populate this world.
“Admit it, you are attracted to her,” K-Nine said, following Matrix as he moved to the back of the transport.
“It’s been awhile since I’ve been with a female,” Matrix grunted, pulling open one of the cabinets.
“She’s different from any of the other females you have bedded. I could feel your instant attraction to her. Zion males instinctively know when they meet their life mate,” K-Nine insisted. “Jana has a heart. She took in the kittens and she took care of me.”
Matrix threw K-Nine a heated glare. “You could have taken care of yourself. And for your information, it isn’t scientifically proven that Zion warriors immediately recognize their life mate. As with any other species, if we see something pleasing, we are bound to be attracted to it,” he retorted, gripping the medical kit in one hand and slamming the cabinet door with the other. “I can’t believe you were distracted by a… what did she call it?”
“A squirrel,” K-Nine said with a tilt of his head. “It was small, fast, and had been teasing me for quite some time. I would have caught it if that transport hadn’t come around the curve when it did.”
“You are lucky you have a reinforced frame and the repair bots could fix the internal damage,” Matrix pointed out.
“You are trying to change the subject,” K-Nine grunted.
Matrix ignored his partner. Instead, he walked to the small galley. Small was an understatement. The transport was designed to house a team for a few days to a few weeks during missions. It was their base of operations while they were on another planet.
He opened the kit, drew out a small cartridge and inserted it into the injector. The medicine in the cartridge contained enhanced healing bots. He leaned forward and looked into the mirror above the sink. A soft curse exploded from his lips when he saw the black muck still clinging to him. He looked like he had rolled in Crawler dung!
He looked at the area where he had attempted to clean some of the dirt off with the damp towel. It didn’t look much better. There was a significant amount of swelling and he could see that he had the beginnings of a black eye.
“Jana really hit you hard,” K-Nine observed, jumping up onto the bench against the back wall.
“You think?” Matrix growled. He pressed the injector against the bruised skin and injected the healing bots. “She came close to taking my head off. If I hadn’t been distracted….”
Matrix’s voice faded as his mind thought back to the creamy flesh displayed by gaping towel. K-Nine was right – Jana was different from any other female he had ever met. The Wolfhound was also correct about life mates – a warrior knew when he met his future life mate. There was an instant awareness that was missing with other females.
Zion warriors became very aggressive when confronted with their life mates. The need to possess and protect their females was a part of their genetics from the days when they would invade other worlds, capture the females and take them back to their home world. It looked like he was about to live up to his ancestors' primitive tradition, he thought with a sardonic shake of his head.
Jana had luscious curves that he could actually hold onto and wrap his arms around without fear of breaking her in half. Her hair was the color of rich wood and the glow in her eyes… Another soft curse escaped him when he felt his body harden.
“You like her,” K-Nine said, sniffing the air.
Matrix replaced the injector and closed the medical kit before turning around and leaning back against the sink. He folded his arms and glared back at K-Nine. He vaguely wondered how much heat he would get from their commanding officer if he requested a new partner when they got back.
“Forget it. General
Ajax said we are stuck with each other,” K-Nine interjected before Matrix could voice his thoughts. “No one else wants either one of us.”
“I only thought about it for a moment,” Matrix muttered before he lifted both hands and ran them through his hair. “I just met her.”
“That has never stopped a Zion warrior from claiming his life mate,” K-Nine pointed out.
“She isn’t familiar with our ways. She is different,” Matrix growled, throwing his hands up in the air. “You said that yourself. What am I supposed to do? Bed her and kidnap her? Something tells me she isn’t the type of female who is used to that type of treatment. Galactic balls! Up until a couple of hours ago, I thought she was a criminal! We should finish the mission and get out of here before it becomes more complicated.”
“I have imprinted on her,” K-Nine stated quietly. “She is family.”
Matrix’s arms froze in the air as he stared at the wolfhound in disbelief. Imprinted… That meant that K-Nine wouldn’t leave Jana and the kittens behind – no matter what he told the wolfhound. Once a wolfhound imprinted, it was until death.
That was what had happened between the two of them. Matrix had walked onto the training field where K-Nine was finishing up. One of the trainers had decided that he needed to beat the wolf out of K-Nine. Matrix had taken one look at the trainer beating a chained K-Nine, then walked over and knocked the man out. By the end of the week they had been matched as a team because K-Nine refused to work with anyone else.
“No,” Matrix growled and shook his head as he tried to fight against the inevitable. “I told you that it was too dangerous to have a family! You know what our life is like. We are continually on the move. We live in a small spaceship. We are constantly in danger. This would endanger our life mate as well.”
“Jana knocked you out – with a small wooden brush. She is fierce and loyal and has the heart of a wolf. I have chosen her as your life mate,” K-Nine stated, jumping down off the bench. “I will scan the area. You need to wash before dinner. You have dirt in your ear.”
Matrix’s mouth snapped shut as he watched K-Nine disappear through the narrow opening. Since when did he let anyone – much less a cyborg wolfhound – choose his life mate? Turning, he gripped the sink before emitting a loud, frustrated growl. He stared at his reflection in the mirror. A grimace of distaste flashed across his face.
“I kissed her looking like this?” He asked himself in disgust before he bowed his head. “I should have left his mangy hide to the trainer. Everyone warned me to stay away from K-Nine. But no, I had to see what a Despairing Wolf hybrid looked like. When will I ever learn?”
Matrix looked at his dirty face in the mirror one more time before he pushed back and turned on his heel. He started stripping off his filthy clothes as he headed toward the rear of the transport, which housed the small sleeping and bathing areas. He would take things one step at a time. They needed to find and destroy the Crawler. Then he would figure out what to do about the situation with Jana.
A soft groan filled the air as he stepped into the cleansing unit and waved his hand over the control panel to turn it on. He closed his eyes as he thought of Jana. A reluctant smile curved his lips and his right hand moved down over his stomach to his suddenly stiff cock. He wasn’t surprised when he felt the taut bands swollen with need. He braced his left hand against the wall as he began moving his right hand up and down.
K-Nine was right. Jana was fierce. A strangled hiss escaped him as he came. His head fell forward and he breathed deeply as the heavy mist surrounded him. He held his pulsing cock and shuddered.
“I am in deep trouble,” Matrix muttered, slowly opening his eyes. “Deep, deep trouble!”
Nine
Matrix paused just outside of the screen door and watched as Jana moved around the kitchen. A smile tugged at his lips when he heard her quietly singing slightly off-key. He didn’t know what she was preparing for their meal, but it made his mouth water. He drew in a deep appreciative breath.
He reached down and pulled the door open. Jana turned the moment she heard him. Her lips parted and her eyes widened. He wasn’t sure if it was because she was seeing him for the first time without dirt all over his face or because she was surprised that he had actually showed up again.
“Do you need help?” He asked in a slightly gruff voice.
“What? Oh… Um, not really,” she replied with a bemused smile. “The kitchen isn’t all that big and more than one person makes it hard to maneuver. It’s perfect for just the kittens and me. You can have a seat at the table. I just have to pour our drinks. I don’t have much to choose from, I’m afraid.”
Matrix curled his fingers into the palms of his hands when her voice grew muffled as she bent to look in the box set against the wall. His gaze remained fixed on her rounded ass. Swallowing, he fought the urge to groan and step up behind her.
“I don’t require anything,” he finally said.
“Oh, I have a beer! Christel brought some over the last time she came to visit so we could make some bratwurst. They taste even better if you cook them in beer. We didn’t use it all. I… Would you like it? I don’t drink. Cheap drunk, you know. One beer and I would do a faceplant into my plate.”
Matrix’s lips twitched at the hopeful, yet uncertain expression in Jana’s eyes. He nodded. Her expression changed almost immediately to joy. The second thing about Jana Dixon – she wore her heart on her sleeve.
“I will remember that in the future,” Matrix stated, almost biting his tongue when the words slipped out. “I’m hungry.”
“Have a seat,” Jana said, waving her hand at the table. “I’ll just open this for you. Where is Linguine – I mean K-Nine? It will take me a couple of days to get his name down. I already started thinking of him as Linguine. I still can’t get over him being able to talk! I mean, how cool is that? What’s it like to travel in space? I’ve watched the Discovery Channel. They have programs about space on it all the time.” She paused as she slipped onto the chair across from him. She placed a clear glass with the golden liquid in front of him before sitting back. “I talk too much, especially when I’m nervous,” she admitted in a quiet voice.
“You have no reason to be nervous. We are not here for you,” Matrix replied, almost wincing when he realized that statement wasn’t quite true anymore. “What is this name – Linguine?”
Jana began filling her plate after offering him some of the chicken and pasta dish. “I love to eat and have a tendency to name things after the foods I like the most,” she explained with a grin, handing Matrix the fresh steamed broccoli. “I was having the worst craving for biscuits with butter and hot honey buns fresh from the bakery downtown the morning I found the kittens. It broke my heart to know that someone had ripped them away from their mother like that. They had tied them up in a pillowcase and left them on the steps of Doc Wilson’s office where I work. Only my three survived. No one wanted them and the nearest humane society is over an hour away. I had room and the experience to care for them, so I adopted them.”
Matrix spooned a small portion of the green plant onto his plate. He picked it up and sniffed it before he bit into the soft texture. His eyes widened with at the taste and he quickly added more to his plate.
“K-Nine is securing the area,” Matrix said between mouthfuls of the delicious food. “Sometimes it is very annoying that he can talk, but it is necessary. All Cyborg Protection Unit team members have that capability. We need to be able to communicate with each other. Their advanced systems give us valuable data. It was more cost effective to combine the natural talents of the animals with the technology of cybernetics. To answer your other question, I have not thought much about traveling through space. It has always been a part of my life. It can become very cool if the environmental system is not functioning correctly.”
Jana laughed and shook her head. “I didn’t mean cool as in being cold. It is a slang term for being neat, awesome, different, fun,” she explained. “You really are
an alien, aren’t you?” She asked in a somber tone.
The fork in Matrix’s hand paused near his mouth. He slowly lowered it to his plate and stared at Jana. Once again, he could feel the pull of his attraction for her. There was something about her that affected him at a primitive level.
“Yes, Jana Dixon, I am an alien,” Matrix replied, studying her face carefully for her reaction.
“That’s pretty cool,” she murmured, flushing and lowering her head. “I’m glad you didn’t kill me.”
Matrix chuckled softly and picked up his fork again. “I am, too. I have never eaten anything that tastes this delicious before,” he replied, his eyes twinkling with amusement. “I would have hated to miss it.”
Jana’s head snapped up and she raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, well wait until you try the dessert I made,” she retorted with a grin of her own.
“I look forward to trying it,” Matrix stated, eyeing her as if she was the dessert.
“Oh!” Jana murmured, her eyes widening.
Jana wiped down the last of the counter in the kitchen before drying her hands on the dish towel hanging from the handle of the oven. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she walked through the living room and opened the front door. She stepped out onto the porch. Her gaze ran lovingly over the assortment of colorful pots she had painted and filled with a wide variety of annuals.
She frowned when she saw that the one on the far end was missing. Walking over to the end of the covered porch, she glanced over the edge. She sighed when she saw the remains of the pot and the flowers lying on the ground. It took a minute before the pieces of the puzzle came together.
“Oh, my,” Jana whispered. “That’s why you were covered in potting soil.”
“Yes. I thought you had purposely constructed this hazard,” Matrix stated, walking up the front steps.
