Cyborg Fever

by Grace Goodwin

  I’d kill the fucking king on Prillon Prime or the leader of my home world, if I had to.

  I wanted this to last forever, our connection, the sweet, blissful feel of being deep inside her, but the smell of her skin, the softness of her pressing against my chest, the softness of her ass as it bounced against my hips was too much. Her wet core pulsing. Coaxing. The orgasm built, drawing up into my balls in a blissfully painful twist, and I knew I wouldn’t last, needed to take her with me.

  I dropped one hand to her clit, found her swollen and slick and stroked her, increasing my speed, pumping into her like the primitive animal she turned me into.

  Her scream was my cue to let go, and her pussy milked me as my roar filled the entire lower level of the Academy building where they’d held me.

  I coated her pussy with my seed until it overflowed, slipping down her thighs, over my balls. I’d marked her. There was no going back. The claiming was complete.

  The Mating Fever was instantly gone. My beast was soothed.

  Hot, sweaty, barely breathing, I held her there, pressed to the wall as my beast settled, completely content for the first time in years. Hell, I never recalled being this sated, this much at peace.

  Lowering my head to her shoulder, I kissed her there, gently. Finally, gently. I knew my voice would be hoarse, but I had to say it. “I love you, Kira. You’re mine.”

  I saw her smile as I brushed her damp hair back from her face. “I love you, too. You’re my beast now, Angh. No more of this dying bullshit, okay? You scared the hell out of me.”

  The bliss I’d felt dimmed. She’d only come here because she thought I was going to die. She hadn’t chosen me, she’d chosen not to let me die.

  Before I could process that, someone cleared their throat.

  Instantly, I moved my body to block the other’s view. But that was all I could do. The cuffs were still activated, holding her wrists locked to the wall above her head. And my cock was still buried deep. I didn’t want to pull out. Not yet.

  If I was honest, I wanted to stay there forever.

  With Kira sheltered from the stranger’s eyes, I turned my head to find the Vice Admiral standing with her arms crossed over her chest and a victorious grin on her face.

  “Now that you’ve got that sorted out, finish up and be in Transport 2 in an hour.”

  I growled, the beast coming from deep within me, taking control. It was no longer raging out of control, but fierce and focused.

  “Kill you.”

  This was the person who had threatened our mate and the beast was angry.

  The Vice Admiral didn’t bat an eye at the threat. “Yes, well, can you do it after you get back from Sector 54? You’re mated now. You will go together. Fight together. I’m counting on the two of you to be my strongest team and we’ve got an I.C. asset that needs immediate extraction. So, one hour.”

  With that, she turned on her heel and took three steps. Stopped. Faced me again. “Oh, and in case you were wondering, I relieved the guards monitoring the prison cell vid feeds, and a certain period of time will be mysteriously missing from Academy data.” With that, she left me alone with my mate. Both beast and man at a complete and total loss for words.

  Was that the same woman who’d had me sent to the brig, strapped to the table and being readied for execution? Had this been her master plan all along? Was Kira here because she truly loved me, or because this manipulative female had forced Kira’s hand?

  I couldn’t think on it now, for my cock was still hard, the vids were down and we were still alone. We might have to head to Sector 54, but I’d fuck my mate once more before we did so. This time, I would be in control, not my beast. But Kira would come again. Her pussy would pulse and spasm as I watched. I wanted to see her face this time. She was mine to pleasure. Mine to tame. And even if she had only come here to save my life, the beast didn’t care about the rules. He didn’t care about the Vice Admiral’s schemes. He’d taken what was offered and it was too late to change anything.

  Kira was mine now, whether she truly wanted to be or not.

  And I wasn’t strong enough to let her go.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Angh, Sector 54, Hive Integration Unit Outpost, Prisoner Cell Block

  I heard the Hive drones. They were everywhere. What was normally a random buzzing sound in the back of my mind was now full-blown conversations between Hive trios moving around the base.

  I understood everything. Every. Word.

  “Do you hear that?” Crouched next to me in the side corridor was my beautiful, courageous mate in full battle gear, ion rifle out and ready. She looked fierce, professional, and so fucking sexy I had a hard time keeping my eyes off her. I’d never thought of anyone as being sexy while behind enemy lines, but there was a first for everything.

  Behind us, a small strike force of human, Everian and Viken fighters waited for orders from their leader. Kira. Not me. ReCon teams were normally made up of warriors from the smaller races. They could get in, get out, and move quickly in tight spaces. I was a novelty here, and they looked at me like I was a clumsy giant, despite the fact that I could kill them with one strike of my bare fists. So I ignored them.

  Kira was here. I went where she did. End of discussion.

  Our target to extract, a Rogue 5 weapons specialist and secret I.C. operative from the Styx legion, was supposed to be located on the second level, on the far end of the cell block. How the Vice Admiral had come by her information, I had no idea and I knew she wouldn’t tell us if I asked.

  There was only one way in and one way out of that corridor. The back of the prison section was made up of stone several hundred feet thick. We had transport beacons, but they wouldn’t work this deep underground.

  This meant we had to break him out and get him to the surface. Alive or dead. Those were our orders. We couldn’t allow the Hive to break into his mind.

  I cursed under my breath and shook my head to clear it of the racket the Hive drones were making. There were nine Hive on this outpost. Three trios. And I could hear every single one of them like they were standing next to me.

  The Hive did love their dark, desolate caves.

  “Warlord?” Kira’s whisper made me lean down to hear her, but I didn’t take my eyes off the corridor before us, or lower my weapon. There were seven of us, but if the Hive discovered our presence, they’d swarm our position, lock down the exits and transport drones in by the dozens until we were trapped.

  That was not happening. I’d die before I allowed them to capture me again. Or Kira. No fucking way would they get her.

  “Yes, Captain?” I addressed her with respect, because I expected the other warriors with us to do the same.

  “Do you hear that?” She pivoted in her crouched position to address the others. “Do any of you hear that?”

  “Hear what?” The Viken warrior closest to her shrugged. “I don’t hear anything.”

  “That buzzing.” She knocked on her helmet, just over the ear, where the comm link would be. “I think my comm is going out.”

  I returned my full attention to the seemingly deserted corridors ahead of us. The Hive were moving, a trio heading in our direction, coming for the prisoner we were here to recover. How I knew that, why I knew that, I refused to think about.

  I clenched my fists as the beast raged, the cuffs the only thing holding him in check. We were with our mate. We had to protect her. Nothing else, not even the rage and pain of torture creatures like these had inflicted on me, mattered now.

  Kira mattered. And the mission mattered to her. That was all. My only reason for existence. The Vice Admiral was smart, her strategy worthy of the best in the galaxy. She had gotten what she wanted. I had what I wanted. But Kira? I just didn’t know.

  Had she really chosen me? Or had the Vice Admiral forced her hand? Or—

  The beast howled at me to shut the fuck up and go rip up the Hive Soldiers coming down the hall. For once, I agreed with him. Anything to rid my mind of the t

houghts circling like hungry carrion.

  “Three Hive approaching, left corridor.”

  Kira whipped back around and raised her rifle. “How long?”

  “Now.”

  The Hive Soldier who rounded the corner first was once a Prillon, big and mean, his entire face was silver. His eyes solid metal, like Denzel’s. There was nothing left of the warrior he’d once been and when he spoke, his voice was monotone. Mechanical and empty. “Intruders. Level—”

  His head was bloody pulp in my hand where I’d smashed it into the wall. But the other two took up the call before I could finish the job.

  “Level Two. Intruders on Level Two.”

  Ion rifle fire came around me from behind and took down the remaining Soldiers, Kira’s cursing flying from her lips almost too quickly for my NPU to keep up.

  “What the fuck, Angh? We wait for them to pass, strike from behind. Get in. Get out. Don’t get caught. Got it?”

  The Viken behind her was laughing when I turned around, the Prillon’s lifeless body still dangling from my hand, forgotten. “That is not how Atlan’s normally approach battle.”

  She sighed. “This isn’t battle, this is ReCon.”

  “Then I will study ReCon strategies when we return.”

  “This is why Atlans aren’t on ReCon teams.” Grinning at me now, I knew all was forgiven and her gaze dropped to the Hive hanging from my grip. “You done killing that one? I’d like to get our target and get out of here.”

  I dropped the Hive like a stone at my feet and moved in the direction she indicated, down the corridor leading to the prisoner from Rogue 5, the man with information in his head so valuable to the I.C. they were willing to sacrifice all of our lives to keep it out of Hive hands.

  Finding his cell was easy. The locked door was hinged metal with bolts imbedded in the cave’s rock walls. Pathetic.

  I tore it off its hinges just as easily as I’d done to Kira’s classroom door and stepped aside so someone from the team could go in. I was half beast, as he’d refused to remain dormant when there was so much fun to be had, and I knew if I walked into that prison cell, the poor male would likely have a heart attack.

  I held the door to the side as Kira and the Viken walked by me. He grinned. “And that is why Atlans should be on every mission.”

  “Shut up, Farren,” Kira snapped at him, tapping the side of her helmet again, but her words only made the other members of the team laugh.

  “Rokk? I’m with ReCon. We’re getting you out of here.”

  Moments later, the large warrior stumbled into the hallway leaning heavily on Kira and the Viken, his arms wrapped around their shoulders. Rokk was weak and battered. Nearly naked, the remnants of torn pants barely covered him. His skin was coated in dried blood. But I knew the Hive hadn’t started the true torture yet, as I saw no Hive implants on his body, no silver pieces burrowing into his flesh like living parasites.

  The beast wanted to howl at the memories and I held him back by force of will. It should have been easy to control him, now that I had a mate. But he was like me, frustrated and unsure.

  Did our mate truly want us? Did it matter?

  Fuck yes. It did. And until we knew for sure, the beast wouldn’t calm completely, and neither would I.

  I watched them stumble for a few steps under his heavy weight as the bastard looked to be part Atlan and part Hyperion, the strange fangs in his mouth all the evidence I needed that he belonged to that primitive species. His body was covered with a significant number of tattoos, each one of them in a language I didn’t recognize.

  Kira saw my interest. “They’re names, Angh. Names of the people he is sworn to protect. The names of his people. The higher their rank in Styx legion, the more names they have inked into their flesh.”

  My respect for the alien warrior grew as I noticed hundreds of names swirling down his torso, covering a large portion of his back and chest. He caught me looking as well, so I asked. “How many?”

  “Two hundred and thirty-four. I’m only a lieutenant.”

  I grunted at that. “Leave him to me.”

  With a shrug, the Viken stepped aside and I took his place. When I had him, I nodded at Kira and she, too stepped aside. Rokk was big, but no larger than an average Prillon. If he were Atlan, it was only half, and I’d carried many brothers off the battlefield without assistance. “Go. I will do this.”

  With one last glance, Kira nodded, trusting me, and took off back down the way we came. Farren, the Viken who seemed to be her closest ally, was with her, running formation. Checking corners. There was no need. I could hear them. All of them. That didn’t keep me from panicking having her farther than arm’s reach. She couldn’t go far from me, thank fuck, because of the cuffs and that soothed my beast.

  “There are three Soldiers and three Scouts coming. Half on the left and other half blocking our exit.”

  “Fuck. How do you know that?” The two ReCon members behind me cursed but didn’t argue, moving ahead with their weapons. But I stopped them.

  “No. Take him. I will deal with the Hive.”

  “Yes, sir.” They weren’t new recruits, and they weren’t stupid. They had seen what an Atlan in beast mode could do in battle. And since this was no longer a stealth op, thanks to me, I would clean up the mess.

  I handed the prisoner off to them and ran forward, a bellow of challenge ringing ahead of me in the halls. I would draw them to me and allow the rest of the team to pick them off with ion rifles, one by one.

  “Damn it, Angh!” Kira yelled, but I had been in more battles than she would ever know. I knew the Hive well, how they worked. How they thought. I’d been one of them and the rage I felt toward their kind still simmered.

  They waited in the branching corridors where we’d been a few short minutes ago. Ion fire blasted into me, behind me. I was surrounded, but I charged through all of it toward the first group, ripping them to pieces with my bare hands and not worrying where the others were. I’d finish these three, and move to the next. And the next.

  My beast was howling with fury, the killing frenzy, the need to ensure our mate was protected making him especially vicious.

  The first three were dead, the fury of battle gone, and my beast turned to look for our next opponent.

  “Angh! Grenade!” Kira’s warning rang through the space as a small, metallic device landed in the center of the room.

  Kira was running. She dove, throwing her body over the grenade as the rest of her team dove for cover. She actually curled her body around it, twisted to place her back between me and the explosive.

  Holy fucking— Protecting me. Saving me.

  “No!” The beast roared. I roared. I panicked. I had seen this weapon before, hundreds of times. I knew exactly what it was and what it would do to my mate, how it would tear her body into pieces.

  The Hive were gone, retreating far enough to escape the blast.

  Silence.

  Kira was on the ground, panting. Curled around the grenade.

  Nothing.

  “What the fuck?” Farren cautiously slid forward on hands and knees, closer to Kira, but I was there first, reaching for her.

  “No! Don’t touch her!” The Hyperion’s voice was crisp, a clear command. “Don’t disrupt the frequency or it’ll explode.”

  I turned to him, frustrated at how difficult it was to speak. She was curled around a fucking grenade. “Why?”

  Kira rolled slowly, the armed grenade flashing with a strange blue light as she held it up, close to her head. “I can hear them.”

  I froze in place and forced myself to calm, to listen.

  She was right. I could hear them, too. And I could hear it, the weapon, the explosive. Rokk explained as she looked up at him. “They’re new Hive tech, designed to recognize one of their own. They were losing a lot of Soldiers in battle, so they’ve made advanced modifications to their weaponry.”

  “Their bombs know if the target is Hive or not?” Farren asked, eyes wide with surprise.

  “Yes.” Rokk looked at Kira. “And for some reason, it thinks you’re one of them.”

  She looked up at me and our gazes locked. We knew; we both knew exactly why it wasn’t going off. Somehow, the added connection had linked our minds, the communication even clearer than what I’d experienced with Chloe and the mine field around Battleship Karter. And that connection was protecting us.

  Holy fuck. We’d had a connection, my mate and I, but that was on a personal level. Now, together, we were connected to hear the Hive as well.

  If we could use this knowledge on the battlefield, broadcast Hive signal and destabilize their weapons, it would be a huge advantage in the war.

  Kira held out her hand to me and I pulled her up slowly so she didn’t jostle the grenade. “They don’t know what to do. Let’s get out of here now, before they figure something out.”

  I looked at Rokk. “Apologies, but I don’t have time to argue with you.” With that, I lifted the heavy male over my shoulder and started running, the rest of the team falling in step.

  The Scouts who blocked the entrance were easy targets, not as large or fast as the Soldiers down below in the caves, and I grunted in approval as Farren and the others made quick work of them.

  We ran, the Hyperion grunting each time his gut landed on my shoulder, but I couldn’t afford to be gentle. He’d survived the Hive, he’d just have to suffer the journey back to our transport location.

  Kira spotted a smaller cave entrance, one positioned to block the main force of the blast, and she threw the grenade as she sprinted. Tossed and ran. Shit. A second later, the explosion rocked the ground, but we kept moving.

  Get in. Get out. Don’t get caught.

  Her words rang in my ears until we reached the extraction point and I dropped the Hyperion on the ground in a heap.

  I was reaching for her when the transport energy surrounded us, tore us into pieces and put us back together on the other side.

  A medical team swarmed the transport pad back on Zioria and I recognized Transport 2 at the Academy. Elsewhere on the grounds, business went on as usual, as if the Hive battle had never happened. Classes. Training. And all the while, the most important missions in the war were being completed right under the cadets’ noses.

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