by Anna Hackett
Ever took it all in and thought she had it worked out. It was a little bit like chess. “You go first.”
He moved his piece, and before she knew it, Ever was completely sucked into the game. She was fairly competitive, but her sister had been ultra-competitive growing up. Ever had learned quickly how to hold her own.
When he made another quick move, Ever laughed. “God, you remind me of Neve. You’re so aggressive!”
He tilted his head. “Yes. It was how I was trained. And my programming enhances it.”
Her gaze slipped over his implant. “You aren’t using your uber-fancy systems to cheat, are you?”
“No. I would never do that.”
She already knew that Magnus Rone didn’t need to cheat at anything. “How did you become a cyborg?”
“I was born and bred for the military. As you know, I was created from genetic material from several species. Each species was selected for their various strengths. As I got older, enhancements were added.” He lifted his cybernetic arm. “The enhancements depended on the specialization of the soldier or agent.”
He spoke so clinically. She swallowed, hungry to know more, but hurting for the young boy bred to be a soldier, and unsure whether or not to dig further.
Magnus looked back at the game. “It’s your move.”
She moved her piece, waiting as he puzzled over his next step. He was controlled and composed, but she hadn’t imagined the night together in the desert. He’d been more open, so demanding. He’d wanted her, like he’d been starving for the taste of her all his life.
“Magnus?”
“Yes?”
She swallowed. “How much do you…feel?”
His cybernetic eye glowed. “Not much. Emotions are inefficient. I have emotional dampeners that keep my emotions in check.”
His bland words were like a punch to the sternum. He’d mentioned his dampeners before. “You care about your House and the people here.”
“The House of Rone is my purpose. Protecting my people, growing the House, and making it a success are my top priorities.”
Her throat was suddenly dry as dust. He wasn’t talking about love and caring. She forced herself to make another move on the board. “How is the search for Zaabha going?” She tried not to think about the horrible, vicious place, but there was still another human woman imprisoned there.
“You don’t have to worry about it.”
Ever felt a spurt of anger. “Don’t worry my pretty little head about it?”
He looked up, his dark brows drawing together. She realized he was confused by the Earth phrase.
“I was a captive at Zaabha, Magnus. I was forced to fight. I still have a reminder of it every time I look in the mirror.” She touched the implant at her temple.
“My healers will remove that soon.”
“But not the memories. And Sam is still stuck at Zaabha. She saved my life, more than once. She’s still trapped there, fighting for survival. Neve told me that she sacrificed her own chance to escape so that we could get away.” Ever pressed her hands to the table and saw that they were shaking. “I will do everything and anything to make sure she gets out. I need to be a part of this search.”
“Calm yourself. Galen is searching for Zaabha.”
“And?” she urged.
His lips flattened. “It is proving elusive.”
She closed her eyes. “You have no idea where Zaabha is? Where Sam is?”
“Galen and I, including all our gladiators and allies, are tearing through Kor Magna. We are questioning anyone who has any knowledge, or any link to the desert arena or the Thraxians. Anyone who may have been invited before.”
“So you have leads?”
“No one has received an invite since we rescued you.”
She sucked in a breath. “No one?”
He shook his head. “Many are unhappy about it.”
Unhappy they didn’t have the chance to see people forced to fight to the death. To stain the sand with blood. “Sick bastards.”
“We will find it, and Sam.”
Nodding, Ever tried to focus back on the game, but her emotions were churning inside her.
Magnus moved once more. “I win.”
She didn’t detect any pleasure in his announcement. “Do you always win?”
“Yes.”
Suddenly, the baby gave a large kick, and Ever gasped. She pressed her hand to her stomach and saw Magnus tense.
“It’s okay. The baby’s kicking.”
When his gaze dropped to her belly, she fought back a smile and without thinking, reached out. She took his hand and pulled it closer, pressing his big palm to her stomach.
His entire body went still, and as his baby kicked his hand, she saw something move through his eyes. “Incredible.”
He did feel. For a second, she saw the man who’d made love to her in the desert.
But then his gaze cooled and he abruptly stood. “I need to go. Enjoy the room, Ever.”
Ever sighed. It was one step forward, two steps back with this cyborg. She wondered if she was beating her head against a brick wall that would never break.
Chapter Three
Magnus leaned back in his office chair, staring at the wide expanse of his desk in front of him. It was late and his comp screen glowed in the corner, filled with data on the work he’d been doing.
Or trying to do.
He had an arena fight with the House of Kali to plan. New gladiator recruits to assess. A possible sighting of factory workers in the industrial district with crude, illegal body enhancements that were probably forced on them to investigate. He was also coordinating with Galen on the search for Zaabha, but his mind kept wandering.
“Magnus? Magnus?”
Magnus lifted his gaze. Jaxer was staring at him from the other side of his desk.
“Are you even listening to me?”
Magnus cleared his throat. “Of course.”
Jax shook his head, his long, brown hair brushing his shoulders. He was several years younger than Magnus, with a leaner build and fewer cyborg enhancements. They’d been born and bred in the same military program. Jax was a brother and a friend.
“No, you’re not,” Jax said. “You’re distracted, and I know by who.” Jax rolled his eyes. The man might be a cyborg, but his emotional dampeners had never been as strong as Magnus’.
“I’m functioning at full efficiency,” Magnus said.
Jax snorted. “Don’t pull the ‘unfeeling cyborg’ routine on me. I know you’re more man than machine.” His friend pulled a face. “Though you sometimes prefer to forget it.”
Magnus ignored his friend. “Did you purchase the things Ever requested?”
“Yes.” Jax’s eyebrows rose. “I can’t believe you gave her your own private games room. You love that room.”
Love was a concept Magnus had no experience with. “It’s just a room. She needed a space to call her own.”
Leaning a hip against Magnus’ desk, Jax frowned. “It’s the only place I’ve ever seen you relax.”
“She wants to work. She has a specialty in armor. I told her to ask you for whatever she needed.”
“She did. Mostly lab equipment and every different type of armor we have. She’s been puttering around in there all afternoon.”
“Whatever she wants.”
Jax grinned. “Whatever she wants, huh? And what if she wants to get up close and personal with a cyborg imperator?”
Sometimes Jax was incredibly irritating. “I want to protect her. She’s been through enough and she’s pregnant.”
“I think it’s more than that.”
First Avarn, and now Jax. Magnus scowled. “She stirs…emotions in me, Jax. That could be dangerous.”
“You are not a ruthless killing machine anymore. You aren’t an assassin being pointed at a target, and you aren’t mindless or out of control. You are your own man, Magnus, you have been for years.” Jax pressed his hands to the desk. “I think she’d be good
for you.”
Magnus raised an eyebrow. “You just want to see me make a fool of myself.”
“Yep.” Jax smiled.
It was a smile Jax assured Magnus drove the ladies wild. Jax was also much more interested in sex and women than Magnus had ever been.
“Like I said,” Jax continued, “she’d be good for you. It won’t hurt to have someone shake you up a bit.”
Magnus didn’t want to be out of control, and he certainly didn’t want to be drowning in chaotic emotions. For so many years he’d been an assassin for the military. He’d killed so many people without feeling a thing. He pulled in a deep breath. He had dangerous skills and abilities buried inside him, and he required full control of his systems to keep everything in check.
Wild emotion was just as dangerous as no emotion.
Suddenly, an alarm blared through the room.
Both men shot to their feet. It was the security alarm. The heads-up display in Magnus’ left eye flared to life, spewing information. The House of Rone had been breached. His gut clenched. “Ever’s room.”
Magnus charged out, throwing the door to his office open and sprinting down the hall. A lethal calm wrapped around him. If someone hurt Ever, he would annihilate them.
“Magnus!” Jax’s shout. “Wait.”
But Magnus charged ahead. He had to get to her.
He thundered down the hallway. His heads-up display filtered information to him. There was a foreign bio signature in Ever’s room.
As her door came into view, he didn’t slow down. He tilted his shoulder and hit the wood hard, exploding through the door.
Ever whipped around to face him, a lamp casting her in a soft glow of light.
She stood in the center of the room, wearing a voluminous nightgown. She was unharmed.
The intruder stood beside her.
His vision zoomed in on the woman standing across from Ever. She was tall and toned. As she saw him, she moved into a fighting stance. She was well-trained.
“Magnus.” Ever stepped in front of him, her nightgown so fine that he could see the faint shadow of her nipples against the fabric. His body responded and he increased his dampeners.
“Are you okay?”
“Of course.” She held up her hands. “It’s just Neve.”
The protective need thundering inside him ebbed a little. Neve Haynes, her sister. He looked over Ever’s shoulder, his gaze settling on the woman.
She glared at him.
It was clear that the women were related. Both were tall and athletic, but Neve was leaner, with a harder edge. Her black hair was curlier than Ever’s and pulled back ruthlessly. They both had the same pale-green eyes.
“We have a front door,” he bit out.
Neve lifted her chin. “I wasn’t sure you’d let me in. You’d denied my requests to visit.”
“Only while Ever was recovering. Now, if she wants to see you, you can visit.” If that made Ever happy, he’d grant it.
Several Rone gladiators and cyborgs burst into the room behind Jax, who was holding a large sword.
Magnus held up a palm and they stilled. There was a noise from the hall, and another man shouldered past the gladiators. He wore brown leather trousers topped with a beige, loose-fitting desert shirt. His tawny hair fell around a rugged face dominated by golden eyes.
“Neve.” His tone was angry. “What the hell were you thinking, sneaking in here?”
“I had to see her, Corsair. I had to see for myself that he—” she stabbed a finger at Magnus “—was taking care of her.”
“I’m fine,” Ever said. “Magnus is looking after me very well.”
Neve shot another hard look at Magnus. He bit back the impulse to tell her the look was wasted on him, because he didn’t care what she thought. He stared back, face impassive.
Then he felt a soft hand stroke his arm. Looking down at Ever, he relaxed a little. She moved to hug her sister.
“Thanks, big sister.” Ever pulled back. “I’m fine and feeling pretty good, all things considered.”
“Good,” Neve said.
“Do you have any news on Zaabha?” Ever asked. “Or Sam?”
“No.” Neve shook her head, frustration on her face. “We’re helping Galen’s gladiators question people across the city. Most intel has proved useless, but…” She glanced at Corsair. “We may have a possible lead.”
“What?” Magnus demanded.
Corsair moved up beside Neve. “It could be nothing. Let us check it out tomorrow and we’ll report back.”
“I’m coming back in the morning.” Neve’s chin jutted out defiantly. She looked at Ever. “We’re having breakfast.”
“I’d like that,” Ever said.
Magnus watched the sisters hug again.
“You’d better go,” Ever whispered, clearly forgetting he could hear the quietest sound. “Stop worrying.”
Neve tugged her sister’s hair. “I always worry about you, E.”
Corsair finally gripped his lover’s arm and pulled Neve out. She shot Magnus one more glare and then they were gone, escorted by one of his elite cyborgs, Acton. The man’s half metal face gave nothing away.
“Mace and Toren, I want you outside to stand guard at the window that Neve used to climb inside.”
The cyborgs nodded. Lean, blond Toren exited out the door, but big Mace moved out onto the balcony outside Ever’s room and with a leap, jumped over the edge.
Ever watched, her mouth open.
“I want this window secure,” Magnus ordered. “And the door will need to be fixed.”
Jax nodded. “I’m on it.”
After everyone left, Magnus stared at Ever. She’d dropped into a chair, her arms wrapped around her body.
“Well, nothing like your room being filled with big, silent cyborgs to liven the night up.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I’m fine.”
He studied her face, noting the dark circles under her eyes were worse than before. She and the baby needed rest. “You’re not sleeping.”
A gusty sigh. “No.” Her gaze drifted down his body, then jerked away. She bit her lip, moving restlessly on her chair.
“Are you unwell?” He scanned her. “I can sense your increased heart rate, and a slight increase in your body temperature—”
“Don’t scan me!” She groaned. “Yes. I know all of that. I’m fine.”
Magnus kneeled in front of her. “I can get the healers—”
“No.”
“Whatever it is, I’ll help you.”
She huffed out a laugh. “Can you help me with pregnancy hormones?”
He frowned. “Ah…”
She reached out, rubbing the crease between his brows. “You can’t fix everything.”
Her touch sent a rush of sensation through him. “I can try.”
That got a smile out of her. Her fingers moved, something igniting in her green eyes. She stroked down his nose, across his cheekbone, and then up to touch his implant.
He didn’t see fear in her eyes. Or that edgy, hungry look he sometimes saw in a woman’s face—the one that said she wanted to know what sex with a cyborg was like. As Ever stroked his face, he only saw fascination.
“Your implant will be removed tomorrow,” he told her. “I had a message from my head healer. He informed me that they have finalized the procedure. First thing in the morning.”
“Okay. I’ll be ready.”
She kept stroking, and again, he felt that strange sense of familiarity. “You touched me like this before.”
She nodded
“I want…” Magnus didn’t know what he wanted. Something. He had this unfamiliar yearning inside him and he couldn’t seem to fight it. “Tell me what I can do to help you with your pregnancy hormones, so that you can sleep.”
“No.”
“Yes. Tell me.”
She groaned again, her cheeks turning pink. “Magnus, I’m turned on. The hormones are making me feel aroused.”
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He blinked. Lots of thoughts flickered through his head, including several images from the manuals that he’d studied on sex and reproduction. “I see.”
“I doubt it.”
He pulled in a breath. “I can alleviate your desire.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “What?”
“Whatever you need. I’ll provide it.”
Her hand fell away from his face. “No. I don’t want an unfeeling machine—”
Magnus shot to his feet. “Understood.” She didn’t want someone who was only part man, who had metal and circuitry instead of flesh and blood.
She’d clearly been desperate for companionship in the desert. That had to be why she’d turned to him then.
“No, Magnus.” She stood. “That’s not what—”
“Get some rest.” He pulled what he could from his emotional dampeners. His voice cooled. “I’ll have the kitchen send you a warm drink to help you sleep.”
“Magnus!”
He strode out of her ruined door and marched down the corridor. He fought not to dwell on her words, or the painful emotions trying to break through. His cybernetic hand clenched into a hard fist.
Chapter Four
Ever sat on the balcony off her room, eating breakfast with Neve. There was a huge spread of food on the low table in front of them. Apparently, the House of Rone chefs never tired of sending Ever new foods to try. She had a sneaking suspicion that a certain cyborg was responsible for that.
She rubbed her eyes, tiredness like an ache in her bones. She’d spent the entire night thinking about Magnus. She was pretty sure she’d hurt him with her careless words. Of course, he hadn’t stuck around long enough to let her explain.
She rubbed her temple, brushing against her implant.
“Nervous?” her sister asked.
“Huh?” She looked up at Neve.
Neve gestured. “About getting the implant removed.”
“Oh. No, Magnus assures me that the healers have everything under control. And the procedure is safe for me and the baby.” She didn’t miss the way Neve’s gaze dropped down to her stomach and her jaw tightened. Her sister quickly looked away, taking a sip of her juice.
