Mated To The Cyborgs (Interstellar Brides: The Colony Book 2)

by Grace Goodwin

The Hive was a problem for other parts of the universe. Earth was safe. We were too strong, our defenses too great for them to invade.

  Yeah, right. Earth had just been damn lucky the Coalition Fleet took us under their protection. So far. From what I knew of them now, no military force from any country on Earth would stand a chance against them.

  Ever since we learned of the Hive, of other planets out there, I’d assumed they were just bad space aliens that had to be fought, like in the movies. Not…this. They didn’t just kill, they consumed, destroyed lives. Ruined men. The Colony was proof of this.

  Kiel, quiet beside me, was proof of this. I looked him over again, but still couldn’t see where his scars were, if he had any, but it didn’t matter. Everyone on this planet had survived hell. I didn’t need to see silver on his skin to know he’d suffered. And yet here he was, leading me directly back to the enemy, to those who’d tortured him, who would have ultimately turned him into one of the Hive units standing guard.

  These men were beyond brave.

  “The other day, I came here from Earth, a bride,” I said in a soft voice, sitting down on my butt, my back to the rock. “You came from being tortured by those things. Why would you want to risk your neck again? Especially when what was done to you is so fresh. I mean, aren’t you scared?”

  He studied me closely and I knew he was able to see more than most. As a Hunter, he could no doubt see things that weren’t there for others. “Aren’t you?” he asked me in return.

  Kiel was the only one who hadn’t argued when I said I was going to find my mates. Even the governor had balked at my help. But Kiel? I wasn’t sure if he didn’t care if I got myself killed or whether his hunting senses picked up that I wasn’t just a female all in a tither about her lost mates. The way he looked at me now, I knew it was the latter. I’d been trained for this as he had, although I lacked his extra senses. Even without, I knew what I was doing. I’d lived, breathed, trained to track and save people. I had damn good instincts, and I was cool under pressure.

  This mission was just as important as any other I’d ever been on. Bad guys liked to hurt people, kill them, spread destruction and ruin. Although, we’d never had the Hive where I came from. Didn’t matter. Garbage was garbage no matter what planet I was on.

  “This place so reminds me of a James Bond movie,” I muttered, thinking Dr. No would be in his underground lair with all his minions trying to destroy the world. I was no James Bond. With Kiel’s good looks, he could fill the role, but he was just too big, too powerful. No one would look at the movie. Only him.

  As for me, I had my mates somewhere behind that guarded door. While I admired Kiel, I adored my mates. And nothing was going to stop me from getting to them, not even a giant cyborg monster.

  Kiel arched one brow at my movie comment, but said nothing.

  “You are comfortable with your weapon?” he asked.

  I pulled it from the holster, settled it into my grip. The cool metal was reassuring. Familiar. “Yes.”

  “Good.” He knelt beside me. “While we only see one entrance, there is always another.”

  “Yeah, and where are his friends? You said they always travel in threes.”

  Kiel squinted over the rock, scanning the surroundings. “I believe they must be inside, just out of sight. But we will leave them be. The Hive would not have just one way to escape this place should there be an emergency or attack. We will find their second ingress and infiltrate from there.”

  Fancy Hunter, fancy words? Ingress? But then, maybe that was just my NPU trying to speak Everian. Whatever. I nodded, then followed as he sneaked back the way we’d come, Marz and Rezzer falling in behind us. Rachel had returned to Base 3 and I hoped she was rounding up the troops. Rezzer and Marz were leaving a trail, deep groves in the ground behind us every few feet so they could follow us. Hopefully, reinforcements would arrive soon.

  As a group, we moved quietly. We were so far off Base 3, deep into the planet’s cave and ravine system, that the standard communications weren’t working. That left us a party of four. No backup. At least not now.

  I wondered just how many Hive were inside that cave.

  Kiel crept around a boulder and we fell in behind him in single file, Rezz on my six, which was cool. Nothing was getting past the beast.

  The air smelled dry, like the Arizona desert in July. But it wasn’t hot. I was comfortable in my armor, perhaps even a bit chilled with the faint light of the nearest star far from its zenith. I figured it was near dawn, or whatever they called it here. The light was weak and there was still the chill of night in the air.

  It had been five hours since my mates had missed their check-in. Five hours which had sent the entire base into a frenzy. The news that warriors were going missing was a secret no longer. Governor Rone had everyone on lockdown, security doing room-to-room sweeps. But we knew the Hive weren’t there, knew the bad guys weren’t there. Krael was here, with my mates. I didn’t have to be an Everian to know that.

  If anyone could find my mates inside the labyrinth of caves that had to be under the surface of this planet, it was Kiel. That was why, with ion pistol raised and ready, I was following him into hell.

  We had to find them. Not just my mates, but all the missing warriors. We had to shut this place down, destroy it so the threat would be over. So there would be peace on the Colony. The alternative was unthinkable.

  * * *

  Kristin, Secret Hive Base, The Colony

  The rock ledge where we lay sprawled on our bellies was no more than ten feet above the monsters. That’s what the Hive were to me now, monsters. Just staring at them scared the shit out of me.

  We were deep inside the planet’s crust, the cavern we looked down upon was filled with activity. Two surgical stations were in the center, about thirty yards from our position, complete with lighting and a variety of computers and gadgets the likes of which I’d never seen. I did notice that nothing looked even remotely like anesthesia, which didn’t shock me, but made me even angrier than before. I felt nauseated from what they were going to do to the warriors. What they had done. Was this what it had been like for Hunt and Tyran before they’d managed to escape? The others, too? The warriors flanking me? Knowing they’d been through this kind of torture and survived, only to be returned to Hive control now, would destroy even the strongest, the bravest among them.

  The area appeared to be a natural rock formation, a vast cave, a place where drug dealers liked to use on Earth. Below, we saw three Hive and two prisoners. Those prisoners were my mates, who both appeared to be unharmed, at least so far. My heart leapt at the recognition, but it wasn’t all happiness. I was close enough for my collar to sense them, to feel their emotions. They were hurt, I felt the edge of pain, but they hadn’t been tortured. I felt hatred and determination.

  I watched as Tyran lifted his head, his gaze swinging across the room. He’d sensed me, but didn’t know where I was. My mind stilled, my own determination filling all of me. I couldn’t allow them to sense my fear, my worry. Now wasn’t the time. They needed to keep clear heads and if I was panicked, they would be, too.

  Gripping my weapon, I looked to Kiel. Yes, I would take the others’ strength, buoy myself so the men felt it and that alone. Perhaps my strength would work for them. They weren’t free and they needed it for what was going to be done to them—

  No. I wouldn’t think about that. Focus. I narrowed my eyes and studied the enemy. As my mates had to pay attention to what was going on around them, I had to keep my head. The collars could be our downfall but I wouldn’t let them. I studied the Hive in the cavern. Kiel had filled me in on the various types of units we might see as we’d been searching for the back entrance to their lair.

  The Soldiers, like the one guarding the front entrance to this hell, and the one watching Hunt and Tyran a few feet to their left, were the biggest and strongest, supposedly the hardest to kill. They were integrated with enough technology to ensure that they were faster and strong
er than any of the Coalition Fleet’s warriors, except the Atlans in full beast mode. That Soldier stood between me and my mates, and I didn’t like it.

  Focus.

  A Soldier classification was, I realized, the purpose the Hive had planned for my Tyran. When he’d been captured before, they’d been busy turning him into a Soldier, adding implants to his muscles and bones, making him Superman strong. Making him into the ultimate killer. But he’d gotten away.

  But all the power was still inside his body, waiting to explode from him. They’d created a formidable enemy, and he was mine.

  The Hive who marched behind them with a large weapon pointed at Tyran’s back was a Scout. With odd optical implants and an array of sensory material added to their flesh, the Scouts weren’t meant for hand-to-hand combat. Kiel said they were still hard to kill, but were designed for striking hard and fast and running away. If Soldiers were their front line infantry, the Scouts were their snipers, pilots, or recon units. They were made to be quiet and quick.

  And that’s what they’d had in mind for Hunt.

  But that was before, when my mates had been captured and tortured. I wondered what horrifying things they planned for my mates now. What else could there be? Tyran’s strength didn’t appear to matter. He was marching like a docile servant behind Hunt who followed the third Hive, this one a small, vicious Integration Unit, as the Scout brought up the rear.

  The Scout that I recognized with a flash of horror. Next to me, Kiel stiffened as the Hive turned to scan the cavern and we both got out first clear look at his face. “Perro,” he murmured.

  The missing warrior. Shit. I hadn’t met him before, but it wasn’t him any longer.

  But I didn’t have time or energy to dwell on that. I returned my attention to the biggest threat in the room. The Integration Units, according to Kiel, were smart. While they followed orders, they could process various options and take the most ruthless action. And while the Soldiers followed orders and killed without mercy, they weren’t cruel. They were little more than mindless killing machines manufactured by the thousands by the Hive central command.

  But the Integration Units were sadistic, enjoyed torture, by programming or design, they enjoyed their work a little too much. And the way that little black-eyed bastard was watching my mates, he had plans to make them suffer.

  Big plans.

  Focus.

  My eyes narrowed and I squeezed the ion blaster in my palm with impatience.

  I was going to kill that one myself.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Kristin

  Kiel leaned in close, lifted his chin. “The Hive Unit with your mate, Tyran. That’s Perro.” His voice was no more than a whisper. “He’s been integrated.”

  Shit. “So we shoot him?” I whispered back.

  He nodded once, his lips tightening into a thin line. “We will not leave him here like this.” Which meant he would kill him, put him out of his misery. “He will die a warrior’s death.”

  I wanted to swear, stomp my feet, scream. Anything to let the anguish out. But no. I needed to keep my head. My mates, the others, needed me. I couldn’t let my mates sense anything wrong, especially from me. Besides, they obviously were well aware of Perro’s fate.

  I nodded once, more determined than ever to finish this. I was about to tell Kiel that I was ready when the hair on my arms rose and a shiver raced down my spine.

  Instincts were king, and I blinked once, slowly, to clear my vision and my head before turning back to look down into the cavern again. I’d missed something. The chill racing over my skin was screaming at me to look again.

  Beside me, Kiel’s pointing finger uncurled and shifted a few degrees to the left, pointing. He sensed it, too. Looking in that direction, I trembled with adrenaline when I saw Krael leaning casually against the wall like he didn’t have a care in the world. I’d only seen pictures of him, but I recognized him instantly. I had no doubt as to his identity. I’d spent hours and hours studying his military records, interviewing the people he knew and worked with on Base 3. I knew more about that asshole than his own mother.

  He was dressed in Coalition body armor, like he was still part of the Fleet. He didn’t look Hive. Being new to the Colony, Kiel hadn’t met him either, but he’d seen the same pictures and the Coalition attire was a dead giveaway, especially since he didn’t have an ion pistol pointed at him.

  So what the hell was going on here besides the fact he thought he’d won?

  In fact, that evil fucker was grinning at my mates, no doubt impatient for their torture to begin.

  Over my dead body.

  Focus, Webster.

  I scooted back a few inches and Kiel followed. When we were face to face again, I didn’t waste time and I didn’t give him a chance to argue. My whisper was barely audible, but I knew, with his supposed advanced Hunter hearing, he’d have no trouble deciphering every word. “You get the Integration Unit. Let Rezz and Marz take care of the other two. Krael is mine.”

  Kiel didn’t argue, he smiled, and I decided right then and there that we were going to be friends. “How are you getting down there, Lady Zakar?”

  “You’re jumping, right?” There was enough ledge that we could run around to a point where it dipped close to the floor of the cavern, but that low point was halfway across the room. We’d never make it without being seen. At this location, we were between ten and fifteen feet off the ground. It was high, but I’d landed worse.

  “Yes.”

  I peeked over the edge, saw that Tyran’s gaze was scanning the room, looking for something. Me. Meanwhile, Hunt was allowing them to lead him toward the first operating table like a lamb to slaughter.

  Fuck. That.

  I turned to Kiel. We were out of time. “Ready?”

  He nodded, the movement almost imperceptible. I nodded back, our gazes locking for a moment. I wasn’t going home without my mates, and I needed him to understand that fact. “Go.”

  With that one word I rolled over the edge of the ledge and leapt to the ground as quietly as I could. The impact was jarring, but I knew what to expect, allowing my knees to bend so I didn’t absorb all the impact, then rolled twice and came to my feet. Adrenaline pumped through me, so I wasn’t even dizzy. I fired immediately at Krael.

  He grunted as I hit him dead center in the chest, but the Prillon didn’t go down. I hit him again in the thigh before he could move or process what was happening as Kiel was already across the room, leaping on the Integration Unit. Behind me, Rezz’s roar filled the cavern like the rumble of a helicopter, making my ears hurt and my bones rattle, but it startled the Scout escorting Hunt.

  I fired on Krael again, heard a scuffle from the direction of Tyran and the Hive Soldier I knew he was most likely fighting. My mate had been wearing manacles of some sort, but I knew those wouldn’t stop him. Not for long. He’d been biding his time. Smart.

  Krael staggered back against the rock wall as I hit him again in the shoulder, but he still didn’t go down.

  Damn this Coalition armor!

  He met my gaze for a moment before slipping into the darkness of the cavern beyond him, a small, nearly black abyss that made seeing impossible. The path was unknown, and he would have the advantage. While I wanted him dead, that hadn’t been the goal of this mission. It was rescue and recover, and there were more enemies to deal with before we could pursue that rat.

  Cursing, I turned to find Hunt locked in a struggle with the Hive escort, a huge Soldier unit. That was, until Rezz walked up behind the Hive, picked him up and literally tore his body in half, the sound making me gag as blood sprayed everyone within range, covering Hunt and the stark white and silver of the operating table next to them.

  I was frozen in place, unable to move as I took in the change that had taken over Rezz’s body. The Atlan had been big before, ridiculously big. Comic book big. But now he looked like a nine-foot tall, non-green version of the Incredible Hulk.

  “Dead.” That one word held a whol
e lot of satisfaction and the air left my body as my mind processed what had just happened and I imagined it happening on a battlefield over and over, hundreds and hundreds of times as hundreds and hundreds of beasts charged or attached together. I couldn’t imagine anything more terrifying.

  No wonder my mates were so protective.

  The pounding of boots sounded behind me and I heard Captain Marz shout as I turned to see two more Hive Soldiers emerge from a tunnel. The opening had been hidden from view by our vantage point directly above it.

  Shit. They were close and they’d sneaked up behind us.

  I lifted my gun, backing away and firing as the first one clashed with Marz. The second was headed straight for me.

  “Kristin!” My name was a roar, and I knew it came from Tyran, his rage and fear for me buckling my knees as it blasted me through the collar. We’d all tempered our emotions, until now. I sank to one knee, fighting to keep my weapon raised and pointing at the Hive sprinting toward me because of the strength of the feelings through the damn collar.

  “Control yourself!” Hunt yelled at him, and the overwhelming barrage of pain and helplessness faded enough that I could move.

  I shoved to my feet, pushing back. Fired at the Hive no more than three paces from me.

  The Hive leapt through the air and I rolled to avoid the strike, the ground hard. He had to have been Prillon once upon a time, before they murdered him and made him something else.

  But the strike never came. Hunt and the Soldier collided in mid-air over my body, the force of Hunt’s strike driving them back. I stayed down—I knew when to stay out of the way and let others fight—as Rezz jumped over me to yank the Hive from Hunt’s arms and tear him in half right in front of me.

  Hunt turned to face me, chest rising and falling with his deep breaths, his features coated in blood, but he’d never looked more perfect. I loved him. I loved him, and I let it pour out of me like an explosion.

  He was walking toward me when I heard more ion blaster fire coming from the other side of the cavern.