Surrender To The Cyborgs (Interstellar Brides: The Colony Book 1)

by Grace Goodwin

  “Indeed.” I could not help but agree as I looked at my beautiful mate.

  * * *

  Rachel

  I met Jessica’s mischievous gaze across the table and nearly burst out laughing.

  The cream filling in the middle of a Prillon Oreo?

  Really?

  Of course, she would know. And her mates were even bigger than mine. The Prime was scary, with his strange silver eye. But the other one just looked mean. The scar that ran down the side of his face gave me a shiver as I wondered what it would be like to be bossed around by him in bed.

  Hot. That’s what. Really fucking hot. Not that I had any complaints. My mates kept me well occupied, and they hadn’t even taken me together, not yet. I’d heard that Jessica let her mates claim her on a live broadcast to billions of people, after some kind of gladiator-style battle, in the middle of a freaking arena. With thousands of real people watching, in person, cheering her on.

  Sex as a spectator sport. The woman had balls of steel. Seriously.

  Holy crap. Jessica was awesome, like a sister already, and the queen of an entire freaking planet. Captain Brooks was a Chicago Cubs fan, loved crime thrillers and super-hero movies, and swore he could make the best apple pie on the Colony, thanks to his favorite grandmother’s secret family recipe.

  Here I was, sitting between two alien warriors, eating with a table full of aliens from at least five different worlds, and it felt like home.

  God, life was weird. And unpredictable. And sometimes, totally amazing. Three days here and I already knew I couldn’t go back to the life I had before.

  Some die-hard rebel I’d turned out to be. Blow my mind with a couple of aggressive lovers with huge cocks, make me scream from a few orgasms, make me feel beautiful and cherished and wanted…long story short—I was a goner. Suddenly, all the political bullshit on Earth didn’t matter quite as much.

  But still. People had died. And they’d covered it up so they could pull the same crap again.

  Unless I stopped them. Somehow. From halfway across the universe. I knew I was on a different planet, but it suddenly struck me that I had absolutely no idea where I was relative to anything else. Earth. The sun. Everyone and everything I’d known my entire life.

  All I’d cared about for the last three days was hot, bend-me-over-and-make-me-yours sex. Being with Maxim and Ryston was so good, so consuming, that I’d completely lost myself in them, in their emotions and their physical dominance. In the pleasure I found between them. I’d always prided myself on being a smart, educated, independent woman. But they made me feel like—more. And less. And my brain was having a serious argument with my heart about the whole damn mess.

  Guilt assailed me and I took another sip of the wine they’d transported in from a planet called Atlan. It was quite good, but not strong enough to wipe away my desire to make sure GloboPharma’s CEO couldn’t hurt more people back home.

  I would have to find a way to contact my attorney, John, and make sure something was done. I might be on another planet, but that didn’t mean I had to let it go.

  I lifted my gaze to discover Jessica’s huge second mate, a warrior named Ander, watching me closely. “Like my mate, you were innocent of your crime?”

  I was rather proud of myself for not fidgeting under his scrutiny. “Yes.”

  “Just as our Jessica was innocent. It seems your Earth judicial system is somewhat defective.”

  Jessica leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Ander responded immediately, wrapping his arm around her and rubbing her back in a gentle gesture completely at odds with his massive size and frightening face.

  “Yes, it is. I followed the letter of the law. When I learned the truth of the crimes, about all the people being hurt or dying, I shared it.”

  “People don’t want the truth, Rachel. We are the truth, the truth about Earth’s new enemy, and yet they hide us here,” Captain Brooks’ voice was resigned and filled with bitterness. “I can’t go home, any more than you can.”

  All eyes turned to him.

  “No longer,” Prime Nial raised his voice to make sure it would carry to the far corners of the room. Yet there was no need. The captain’s words created a vacuum of sound, as if none dared speak the words themselves, but waited to hear the Prime’s response. “My mate has been quite insistent, telling everyone who will listen of your bravery, veteran. Prillon laws are not Earth’s laws. You are free to leave, to return to your home planet where you will be lauded for your service.”

  The captain glanced at Lady Jessica. “You’re from Earth. From the United States. Do you think I’d be lauded for my bravery looking like this?”

  The captain rose from his seat and lifted his armor off over his head. None moved to stop him and I stared, shocked at the sight of his bare chest. More than half of his torso was covered in the strange silver circuitry that was identical to what covered Ryston’s temple. The lower half of his left arm was completely silver, so much so that I wondered how I had not noticed the dark glove he wore earlier, when he’d shaken my hand. I’d been so happy to have someone from home to talk to, that I hadn’t paid it any attention. His right arm, from the elbow down, looked like a robotic attachment, with not an ounce of human skin in sight. Odd black markings, like veins, streaked in bizarre patterns within his remaining human flesh, starting at the edge of the implants where man met machine. He was like Inspector Gadget meets the Terminator.

  “There is more. On my back, down my left leg.” He bowed at the waist, first to Jessica, then to me. “Lauded, ladies? Or feared? I thank you for the pretty dreams, Prime Nial, but Earth is not so advanced as you might believe.” He held Jessica’s gaze, demanding an answer. “Well? This is our reality now, my lady. There is no going home. Not for any of us.”

  Jessica stood and every eye in the room followed the movement. “I was a soldier on Earth. I spent eight years in active duty military, in the Army. My mate, the Prime of your world, carries the marks of his time with the Hive. I love him. The silver in his eye, the marks on his flesh, mean nothing to me. He is mine. Lady Rone is the first bride matched to the Colony, and from the way she looks at her mates, I do not doubt she feels the same way about her warriors. Go through the testing, gentlemen. Have a little faith. If you don’t believe you can return home, to a normal life, then make a new life here with your matched mate. A new normal. Live. Don’t allow fear to stop you. The brides program will not send you a mate who can’t love you for who and what you are. Rachel? Am I wrong?”

  The silence lingered and Jessica turned to me. Both of my mates watched me with rapt attention and I knew they, too, awaited my answer.

  Chapter Nine

  Rachel

  These warriors on the Colony planet were hurting and lost. I didn’t understand when Warden Egara had tried to tell me how important the Interstellar Brides Program was. I didn’t get it. But seeing Captain Brooks bare himself to all, vulnerable and ashamed, was like a knife to my heart. He was human, a former special ops soldier. Tough as nails, reduced to shaming himself in public and defying me to reject him.

  I stood slowly, feeling the weight of every word before I spoke it. “Meeting a matched mate for the first time goes far deeper than anything you can imagine. I knew as soon as I saw them. I felt the connection. I can’t describe what happened to me when I first glimpsed Maxim, when I heard his voice, or the first time Ryston kissed me, but had one of them been like you, Captain Brooks, nothing I see now would stop me from wanting them.”

  Maxim’s hand settled on the back of my thigh, Ryston’s reached for mine and entwined our fingers as a cheer went up in the room.

  Hope was like a drug, and now it appeared every warrior in the room was drunk with it.

  The rest of the meal passed in a blur. Captain Brooks put his shirt back on and we ate a feast of fresh fruit that burst on my tongue like half-melted orange sherbet and blueberries with lime. The main course served to the men
was some strange type of meat nearly two inches thick. Ready to groan in protest, I was delighted when a plate of fresh lasagna loaded with marinara and cheese was placed before me.

  Happy, I looked to Jessica, who grinned at me like a coconspirator. I noticed that Captain Brooks, too, had been served the Earth dish. It seemed that conformity on the Colony was to not conform. No one had the same Cyborg integrations. Everyone was different. Different planets, different experiences, even different tastes in food.

  As the meal progressed, so did Maxim’s hand, moving from my shoulder to my back, then to my knee. That lasted a few minutes before his hand tugged on my right knee and Ryston’s on my left, pulling my legs apart beneath the skirted table.

  I really should have protested, but the lust and pride, the raw desire and tenderness bombarding me from my mates made me helpless to resist them as they teased me, their fingers so very close to my center, but never quite touching.

  Not that I was a horny teenager, and I knew this wasn’t the place, but their hot, heavy hands so close to my pussy kept me on edge, a constant reminder that they were mine.

  Several times I glanced at Captain Brooks to find him watching me with a strange look in his eye.

  Once dinner was done, I swatted my mates’ hands away and rose. “I want to go talk to Captain Brooks.”

  “I will go with you,” Ryston offered at once, and I was glad of the company. I liked the captain, but being in a room full of strange men, all of them capable of literally ripping my body in half with their enhanced cyborg strength, did make me a little nervous.

  Maxim nodded as we passed. He had been pulled into a conversation with Governor Bryck seated on his right, a giant brute of a man, an Atlan Beast, Ryston told me, who ruled Base 2. I thought my Prillon warriors were big, but an Atlan…

  I approached the captain slowly. His plate of food barely half eaten. He looked a little off, as if ill.

  My hand was on his shoulder before Ryston could stop me. “Are you all right, Captain? You look a little green. And not because you’re a frog man.”

  He’d told me earlier that he was a Navy SEAL and had volunteered to fight in the Coalition Fleet with his older brother two days after the first Prillon ships made contact with Earth.

  He raised his head to look at me and I gasped. The black streaks I’d noticed earlier on his chest and shoulder had spread up his neck onto his cheek, like infection spreading out from a wound. “No. Something isn’t right. I can’t—my head—it hurts.”

  Shit. Shit. Shit. He toppled over and I tried to hold him up, but he was a lot bigger than I was, and dead weight.

  Ryston’s arms grabbed him from behind and kept him from pushing me down with him. My mate shouted over his shoulder. “Get the doctor. Now!”

  Everyone scrambled and the doctor, the asshole I still hadn’t quite forgiven for that almost “exam” he’d wanted to give me, rushed forward with his little wand as Ryston lowered Captain Brooks to the floor.

  “What are those black streaks?” Prime Nial’s voice broke through the silence.

  The doctor answered, but did not look up from his patient. “We don’t know. They started showing up a few weeks ago. Nothing shows on the ReGen scans. After a few days, they fade. I assumed it was a new virus or other antigen native to the Colony. We are still discovering new things about this world every day.”

  “That doesn’t look like it faded, Doctor,” Ryston added.

  “He’s the first human to be infected. Their immune system and physiology is different.” The doctor looked into the captain’s eyes, checked his pulse, looked at his little wand thing again as I held Captain Brooks head in my lap. Brooks was still breathing, barely, and I didn’t want him to feel like he was alone, just in case. I ran my hand through his hair, over and over, just holding him, soothing him as much as I could.

  “He’s got trace amounts of Quell in his system.” The doctor’s words made Ryston stiffen beside me and I ran my fingers along the captain’s brow, hoping he could feel my touch even as I wondered what the hell was going on. Was some kind of infection spreading through him?

  “Quell? Are you sure?” Maxim asked.

  “Yes.” The doctor answered without looking up.

  What was Quell? Why was Maxim’s rage so strong that my throat tightened and I had to fight not to vomit lasagna all over the floor? And was it true, Captain Brooks was the first human affected? Did they not understand human physiology? Didn’t Earth give the Coalition doctors data on human physiology before we sent our soldiers, and our brides, out into space?

  Three stuttering breaths and the captain went into convulsions.

  Ryston yanked me back, out of the way, as four huge warriors came to hold Brooks down. It seemed to go on forever and I held onto Ryston for dear life. Maxim joined us, placing his body between me and the sight of the captain shuddering and shaking on the floor.

  When it was finally over, the doctor shook his head.

  “He’s dead.”

  Chapter Ten

  Maxim

  A warrior had just died before us all. During the celebration meal with the Prime in attendance. It didn’t bode well for the Colony, and especially Base 3. But that was all secondary to my mate. I worried for her most of all. Had she seen someone die before? Everyone in the room, aside from Lady Jessica, had fought the Hive, been captured and tortured. They knew what it was like to endure, to face death and choose. Cling to life, fight and claw back from the brink, or turn away and allow death to take you. From my own personal hell at the hands of the Hive, I had often wondered if I’d made the right choice. Before Rachel, I sometimes imagined death to be a better choice than survival.

  For up until a few days ago when I was matched to Rachel, that was all I’d been doing. Surviving.

  Just as Prime Nial had said before all fucking hell broke loose, it was time to live.

  But now, fuck. Now our mate had witnessed the cruel death of one of her own. She was in my arms, stiff and unyielding. She wouldn’t give over to my embrace, to the protective shield of my arms. My body couldn’t shelter nor soothe her. She didn’t allow me to comfort her, or shelter her from what happened. No, she fought to be released, to return to Captain Brooks’ side.

  My mate was a warrior in her own way. Perhaps she did not carry a weapon, but her mind was sharp as a blade, and I could feel her emotions clearly through the collar. She was not afraid. She was angry. Determined. Stubborn. And so damn beautiful, her fierce resolve only made me want her more.

  “It was Quell. Without doubt. Clearly, he was weak,” Doctor Surnen’s voice was filled with disgust and Rachel stiffened at his tone. Her contempt for the doctor blasted me through the collar like poison in my mind. Obviously, the doctor had not made a good first impression. And my mate had neither forgiven nor forgotten their first encounter.

  Rachel pushed out of my hold and spun on her heel, her dress swirling around her. “I have no idea what the hell this Quell is, but he wasn’t weak. He was a SEAL, Doctor. Have some respect.” Her words were clipped and full of disdain.

  I didn’t like Doctor Surnen, never had, but he knew what he was doing. He was brilliant, and had saved more than one warrior’s life since I’d known him. Many citizens of the Colony arrived immediately after their rescue from Hive captivity, broken and barely recognizable. The doctor always managed to bring them back. Always. He saved what no one else thought could be saved. For that, if nothing else, he’d earned my respect.

  “My lady.” Doctor Surnen lifted his head to look at my mate. “I meant no offense to you. Quell is a chemical substance well known on the Colony. It alters the chemicals in the brain to make a user feel happy, to soften the agony of their new life. The Hive Integration Units adapt the biosynthetics of our systems to manufacture and release trace amounts. When we are cut off from the Hive frequencies, those command functions are lost and the cyborg cells stop manufacturing the drug. Many can’t adapt. They become dependent.”

  “So it’s a drug?
Is it legal here?”

  “No.” I answered before the doctor could upset her further. “The Hive uses it to speed up the metabolism and weaken the minds of their captives during the integration process. After that, it’s kept at a constant level in our bloodstreams to weaken our minds and make sure we are—biddable.”

  She looked down at the captain, her eyes narrowed with thought. “So, it’s a mind-altering high, like Ecstasy back home. Makes you feel happy? Content?”

  The doctor raised a brow. “I am not familiar with the term ecstasy outside of a sexual context. But, Quell is often misused by our warriors trying to cope with the dark reality of their new status.”

  “Status?” Rachel stepped closer to the doctor, standing over him like a shadow.

  “As less. Contaminated. Outcasts.” The doctor ignored my mate, waving the ReGen wand over Captain Brooks’ corpse from head to toe. I didn’t like the way he worded that. The warriors present did not need to hear such dark words from our healer. Our cyborg implants were a cruel reminder of how we’d fought and survived.

  “You’re an asshole.” Queen Deston pushed to the front to stand next to my mate and the two women shared a look I had no hope of deciphering without the connection I shared with Rachel. Agreement. Accord. Friendship. “And Rachel is right. If he was a SEAL, he was tough. I don’t believe he would rip his shirt off at dinner, challenge us like that, and then curl into a ball and drop dead from a drug overdose. No way.”

  Rachel nodded. “I want to run some tests.”

  The Earth women were not happy about what had happened to one of their own.

  Queen Deston tilted her head as Ander and Prime Nial flanked her, two of the scariest bastards I’d ever had the pleasure to meet. The Queen lifted her hand to Rachel’s shoulder. “Okay, Miss PhD in BioChem. Figure out what the hell really happened. He’s a veteran. He’s ours. I want answers, because this is bullshit.”

  He’s a veteran. He’s ours.