Embrace the Romance

by S. E. Smith

  Godav watched Bogan as the animal was placed on a hover board, quivering but still alive for the moment. “Anyway, you’ve shown us that he does have some use after all and we plan to see if we can duplicate it in future war mongrels.”

  For their stupid spy program.

  “You’re taking him back?” Hunter asked the obvious, though inside he tempered the urge to punch Godav in the face.

  “The damage is severe, and I doubt he can be salvaged but it won’t hurt to try. His memory bank might be good for future study.”

  Narelle gasped behind Hunter and locked her hands on the back of his shirt. Godav waved the drones in white lab coats forward and they left. With Bogan

  Hunter pressed his lips tight, then nodded. “Right. Thanks for filling in the pieces.”

  Jerk that he was, Godav smiled at Narelle before departing. It wasn’t easy but Hunter stayed until the ship carrying the best partner a soldier could have faded in the skyline.

  Narelle pushed at his shoulder. Nothing masked the misery on her face. “Why Hunter? Why did you let them take Bogan?”

  Hardening his heart, Hunter gave her the only answer he could. “I told you in the beginning, Narelle. He belongs to the government.”

  Epilogue

  Gasping, Hunter fell atop Narelle, her legs limply dropping away from the tight clench about his waist. Using the last of his energy, he rolled to the side and tugged her close. “Stay.”

  She moaned, entwining her arms about his neck. “Is that what this was about? I already agreed to stay, Hunter.”

  The last few weeks, Narelle needed the comfort of sex and the reassuring familiarity of hanging at The Zone. Hunter for his part didn’t pressure her. Initially. After a week of watching and waiting, while sleeping on his couch, he’d finally cornered her and demanded she give them a chance.

  “A chance at what?” She pretended confusion in order to watch him spear his fingers through his hair.

  “Relationship, Narelle. A relationship with me. I love you, damn it.”

  Her next teasing words stalled. “You love me?”

  She’d thought it. Almost sensed it without him saying anything. He’d coddled her after the loss of Bogan then let her run a ridiculous tab in his bar which left her passed out at a table. No one had bothered her and she’d awakened to Hunter carrying her to his bed where he tucked her in. Alone.

  Hunter propped up on one forearm and traced a pattern on her shoulder then trailed his finger down to her elbow. “I’m making sure you don’t change your mind.”

  Worry glinted from his dark gaze. Narelle was the cause of it. She hadn’t returned the words he’d said, but he hadn’t pushed. Instead it must have brewed in the back of his mind leaving him wondering if she really meant it when she’d agreed not to take her shuttle and leave.

  Which she’d thought about in a moment of panic. She’d squashed the notion and it was time to let Hunter in on her own secret. Of sorts. Gliding a hand over his sweat dampened hair, Narelle said, “I love you too, Hunter.”

  His mouth parted, but no words came out. Narelle waited until it went beyond normal.

  “Hunter?” She pushed up on her hip.

  “You love me?”

  Did he have to appear stunned? Narelle groaned. “You scared me. Yes, I love you.”

  For a moment he’d actually had her wondering if she should have kept the words to herself. The world flipped around and Narelle found herself on her back a looming Hunter braced above her. “You’re moving in, you’re never leaving. I’ll track you down if you try.”

  Filled with joy at his possessive tone, Narelle laughed and brushed her hands over his shoulders. “It won’t hurt if you keep having sex with me like this to convince me to stay.”

  “Done.”

  He responded so fast she chuckled again. About to tease him more, she was interrupted by a ding from the old fashioned computer on his desk. Hunter was up and out of the bed before she could blink.

  “Yes. Yes. When? Now?” Hunter glanced at her. “How bad is it?”

  Narelle stood and snatched up her black leather pants and a deep leather corset in purple. Hunter had allowed her to retrieve her belongings and only fussed a little about her wardrobe. According to him, the leather drew more stares than he appreciated.

  Hunter ended the call and bent to pull on his own pants. “We need to go downstairs. Ezra’s here.”

  Narelle hadn’t gotten to really know Hunter’s shadowy friend. One glimpse from those frigid blue eyes and she’d wanted to avoid further contact. Downstairs in The Zone, Hunter activated sensors to turn the main overhead lights on only.

  Leaning against the bar, her hand on the knife at her hip, Narelle waited while Hunter opened the door and let Ezra in. Behind him a hoverboard floated with a familiar tan and black animal.

  “Bogan!” Narelle crossed the room, her hands rubbing the short furred coat, blinded by tears of happiness.

  To her dawning horror, Bogan remained reclined on the hoverboard and didn’t react to her presence by so much as a twitch. Hunter came over to exchange a glance with Ezra. “What happened?”

  “Your pal Godav had K9-15 upgraded. New adjustments because he’d blown the ones in his brain. Unfortunate for them considering how much credits went in to saving him for future use, Bogan hasn’t responded. Won’t sync which was a problem before hand. Won’t follow commands. Shit according to Godav he won’t move at all and all their tests show he’s fully restored.”

  Narelle gasped. “They sent him here?”

  She found it hard to imagine. The government certainly weren’t doing it out of the kindness of their hearts.

  “Godav said he was to be decommissioned but remembered you seem to have a soft spot for the war mongrel.” Ezra flicked a glance in Narelle’s direction. “He also mentioned your girlfriend might want to say goodbye.”

  “Bastard,” Hunter snarled, coming closer. “Is he going to show up with a pack of white coats and take Bogan back?”

  Ezra raised his hands. “Said he’s yours free and clear if you want him. Sent a data chip confirming ownership.”

  Ezra tossed the silver disc at Hunter who caught it, gaze never leaving Bogan’s prone form. “Thank you, Ezra. I owe you.”

  “I’ll hold you to that.” The man’s eyes darkened in a way Narelle couldn’t define. Then he turned and left, the door closing behind him.

  Narelle licked her lips and continued to glide her hands over Bogan. “Do you think…do you think you can help him?”

  She hated to ask. Hunter had been as devastated as her at the loss of Bogan. Perhaps he thought he hid the hurt but she’d caught the pain in his eyes when he thought she wasn’t looking.

  “I can try. I’m not sure what they did or what they changed.”

  “It doesn’t matter. Do it for Bogan. He saved our lives, Hunter.”

  He gave a succinct nod and released the jack output. Hunter palmed the war mongrel’s head and lowered his own but not before Narelle caught a glimpse of his eyes going completely black.

  Hunter refused to disappoint Narelle. He saw the tripwire designed to notify the government the moment Bogan came online. Fucking Godav. It was nothing to deactivate it along with the standard failsafe regarding attacks on soldiers. Hunter didn’t want to risk losing the war mongrel again if placed in a similar circumstance. Bogan would be free to defend against anyone who posed a threat, soldier or not.

  As to the reason Bogan remained catatonic, Hunter identified the problem and corrected it. A simple thought and Bogan’s biotronics clicked over, operating at optimum efficiency. He dropped his hand to his side and Bogan lurched up. He licked Hunter’s face, whining as his tail wagged then shifted as he tried to crawl into Narelle’s arms. She staggered back on a laugh and Hunter caught her from behind. “Whoa.”

  He helped lower Bogan to the floor and went to one knee. The new wireless additions negated a live probe for the next step. “Trijl, Bogan.”

  The connection snapped int
o place with ease. Joy burst through Hunter’s chest. “Gott biet rel.”

  Narelle placed a hand on his shoulder. “Looks like you have your partner back.”

  He did. He did indeed.

  Perfect fucking sync.

  Also by Michelle Howard

  About the Author

  @mhowardwrites

  www.michellehowardwrites.com

  Rescued by the Cyborg

  (A Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance)

  By

  Cara Bristol

  About Rescued by the Cyborg

  A Novella in the Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance Series

  A cyborg’s haunted past and a Faria’s clouded future entwine…

  Hostage and sole survivor Solia waits for death at the hands of vicious predatory aliens when Cy-Ops agent Guy Roarke disobeys orders and charges in. A former medic, he initiates emergency medical procedures before rushing her to Cybermed.

  Guy is taken with Solia, but the guilt of a past mistake won’t allow him to plan for a future with the delicate, brave beauty. Life is so uncertain, he can’t even keep Mittzi, the kitten his niece gave him. What he can do is see to it Solia gets the help she needs for a full recovery. But when best intentions place her in greater danger, it’s up to a little kitten to make everything all right again.

  One

  Hissing and growling, the Ka-Tȇ emerged from the jungle.

  Solia hid her face under her good wing, feigning unconsciousness. Will it be me? Please, not me. Tears trickled from her eyes. If her life was spared, another’s would be taken.

  Her hair registered disturbance in the air as the Ka-Tȇ approached. Through a tiny gap in the vanes of her wing, Solia caught sight of dirty, razor-like claws. Two sets of feet stopped beside the electro-cage.

  No. no. no.

  A hiss. “Save this one for last.” A long tail snapped.

  Her hair prickled as they moved on; her heart pounded as she listened for an indication they’d stopped at the adjacent cage containing the human girl. She heard no buzz of the force field shutting off or cry from the captive.

  It would be the other one, then—the sentient who rolled silently in her cage. Without legs, she moved on a rotae, a natural wheel. Solia had never seen such a creature and wouldn’t have guessed she was female except the Ka-Tȇ somehow knew. They’d killed the males first, reserving the females for a special torture.

  The force field hummed.

  “Get out.” The microimplant behind Solia’s ear translated the snarl into Faria. “Now.”

  The hiss was followed by a cry of pain from the sentient. Make it quick. Make it quick. Nothing could save the creature, but Solia prayed she wouldn’t suffer for long.

  “Run. Run for your life.” The Ka-Tȇ laughed.

  Branches snapped as the sentient fled. She wouldn’t get far. None of them did. Solia bit her lip until it bled and squeezed her eyes shut.

  Laughter. Grunts. Screams. Then growling, chomping, and slurping. Bile rose in Solia’s throat, and tears seeped past her shuttered eyelids. Finally, the jungle rustled as the predators moved on. Silence fell. The rusty scent of blood drifted on humid air.

  “She never had a chance,” the human girl whispered.

  Holding her broken left wing tight to her body, Solia sat up. “No.” Traffickers had delivered to the Ka-Tȇ eighteen hostages: six males and twelve females. All the men, one of them the human girl’s husband, had been slaughtered at the start then, each day thereafter, the Ka-Tȇ came for a female.

  Now, only two remained.

  “Which—which one of us do you think they’ll take next?” the human asked. Rachel, her name was.

  “I don’t know,” Solia said. The human woman had never stopped hoping for a rescue. It wasn’t going to happen. No one knew they were here, and no one would risk a landing if they did. The Association of Planets had charted Katnia as a forbidden zone.

  Rachel choked and pressed a knuckle to her mouth. “If I hadn’t complained so much…John was working long hours. I hardly got to see him. So he booked a cruise to surprise me.”

  Solia had heard the story several times. “It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have guessed slavers would attack.” Thinking the pirates coveted the ship, the overwhelmed, outgunned crew had directed the passengers to the escape pods. The slavers had swooped in and scooped up Solia’s pod, taken everyone aboard prisoner, and handed them over to the Ka-Tȇ. Each day, another female was raped and murdered, the victims’ screams and creatures’ laughter and grunts breaking the silence of the jungle. Dwindling numbers marked the passage of time.

  “How’s your wing?” Rachel asked. “Does it still hurt?”

  “It’s all right, unless I move it.” With a swipe of his powerful claws, one of the Ka-Tȇ had almost torn her wing from her body to prevent her flying out of reach.

  “If we could talk to them, reason with them—but they can’t speak. They hiss and growl,” Rachel said. “How can you communicate with animals?”

  “They’re not animals, exactly,” Solia said. The Ka-Tȇ were humanoid felines, vicious, indiscriminate predators who had decimated their ecosystem by hunting nearly to extinction most large animals on their planet. Birds, which could sometimes escape, and rodents too small to catch, had survived. “They have a language.” An ugly, guttural one.

  “All I hear is growling.”

  “I can understand some of their vocalizations. I’m a linguist.” She’d worked day and night, charting the ancient languages for the Farian ambassador’s presentation to the AOP. After completing the project, she’d treated herself to a star cruise. And ended up here.

  “So you can talk to them! Tell them we can be ransomed.”

  Solia touched her throat, shaking her head. “I don’t have the anatomical structures allowing me to make those sounds. My aural implant helps me translate languages, but I can’t speak Katnian. They’re not interested in money. They want the kill.”

  “I never knew such creatures existed,” Rachel said.

  “I knew because of my work with languages and my connections to the Association of Planets.” The AOP had barred Katnia from the alliance and issued a galaxy-wide travel advisory, except pirates and slavers didn’t obey advisories.

  Rachel hugged herself. “I won’t let them rape and torture me. I’d rather kill myself.”

  A swift death was the best they could hope for. Solia had thought long and hard how to provoke the creatures to anger so they would kill her quickly, but doubted she would be successful.

  “But there’s nothing here!” The human girl struck the invisible force field with her fist, crying out as electricity jolted through her with a sizzle. While causing considerable pain, the voltage wasn’t high enough to kill. Rachel flung herself onto the ground, dug her fingers into the dirt, and threw a handful at the force field. Sparks, earth, and rocks sprayed. Her sobs of despair were the most heartbreaking sounds Solia had ever heard, and she realized the human girl finally had lost hope.

  Two

  “Did you like my present, Uncle Guy?” Jessamine grinned. With the loss of another tooth, her smile appeared even more mischievous.

  Guy winced. He’d forgotten about it! “I’m sorry, sweetie. Uncle Guy had to launch the ship, so he didn’t get the chance to open it yet.” He loved his seven-year-old niece like crazy; however, her antics put a cyborg’s patience to the test. R&R on Terra with his sister and her family had gone well, but he’d be lying if he said returning to work wasn’t a bit of a relief. His sister had her hands full with that little moppet.

  “You…open…away.” Jessamine’s image and audio flickered as a solar storm broke up the transmission.

  “What was that?”

  “You…open it right away.”

  “I will. Promise.”

  His sister, Jill, appeared on the view screen. “I’m sorry, Guy. If I’d…inkling…what Jessamine had—”

  “Don’t tell him!” Jessamine cried. “He hasn’t…yet. You’ll spoil…surprise.”

&n
bsp; “Oh, he’s going…surprised.” Although the image pixilated, the censuring glare Jill shot at her daughter still came through. Their mother had employed that look when they were kids. It never had failed to have the desired effect on him and Jill, but it didn’t work so well on Jessamine.

  His niece’s insistence he open the gift immediately and his sister’s apology had him a bit worried. What could Jessamine have given him? His bags had been collected and loaded onto the shuttle by a Cyber Operations robo when he’d kissed his family goodbye. Jessamine had hugged his neck with candy-sticky fingers. “I’m going to miss you, Uncle Guy. I got you a special present. Be sure you open it right away.”

  “Will do. Thank you,” he’d said. “I’ll miss you, too, munchkin.”

  He’d boarded the shuttle, but an unexpected solar storm had interfered with the electronics, necessitating his full attention—and he’d forgotten about the gift.

  Guy eyed his sister and niece. “Maybe you’d better tell me what it is—”

  Their images wavered then the transmission went black.

  So much for that. Once clear of the solar storm, he would run back to his cabin. Many pilots might have switched to computer control during a solar incident, but, like most cyborgs, Guy preferred hands-on when situations got a little dicey. Sometimes decisions had to be made in a flash, and Guy preferred to be the one making them.

  Solar wind rocked the ship, but Guy’s hands remained steady on the stick as he boosted power to the engines. The added thrust would burn more fuel, but he’d clear the storm quicker.

  Once the ship was free, he set a course for Alpha Nine Seven, a space station in the Herlian sector where he would meet up with his mission partner, Brock Mann. Cy-Ops had gotten word the terrorist nation planet Lamis-Odg had set up another outpost, and he and Brock had been ordered to investigate. Guy switched piloting to the computer and left the cockpit. Now, the gift.