Cyborg Heart

by Anna Lewis

With the offhand tone of someone remarking on the weather, Maksim said, “So you’re telling me the only reason I’ve never seen you let your hair down is that I’ve never seen you out of your clothes?” He didn’t quite look at her as he said this, almost as if he was nervous about the answer.

  Reilly raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t seen me naked? Strange, since I wasn’t wearing any clothes when I woke up in that bed.”

  Maksim’s mouth twitched. “Alright, but that was a little different.”

  “Fair enough,” she replied. “Well it seems to me we have some time; it's not like we can go anywhere without getting some more information.” She reached up for the knot of platinum braids at the back of her head and began to unwind them, letting soft, silky curls spill out of their confinement. With the same matter-of-fact tone she might use to propose an experiment, Reilly said, “That kiss on the rooftop was really good. I'm interested to see what other skills an experienced merc like yourself might have acquired over the years.”

  Maksim smiled and met her eyes. His eyes might have been mechanical, but their synthetic nature did nothing to hide the hunger in that gaze, as he gave her a long, lingering look, up and down. “I think I know a few things you might like.” The big Russian leaned in and pressed a kiss against Reilly's lips. She kissed him back, arching her back so that she pressed into him. One muscled arm snaked around her waist, and then his broad hand was pushing firmly against the small of her back, holding her tight. Their tongues met for a moment, then Reilly bit down on his lower lip—not too hard, but with enough insistence to get his attention. Maksim growled, low in his throat, and lunged forward, not breaking the kiss, and his momentum would have bowled her over were it not for his hand on her back guiding her smoothly to the couch.

  Reilly's heart was pounding, and her breath was coming more quickly. A bright, hot spark of need was kindling down between her legs, and with every movement of Maksim's lips, every touch of his tongue, she could feel little wires of pleasure spiraling up through her body. Though he did not stop kissing her, Mack did not leave his free hand idle. His rough fingers slipped beneath the edge of the t-shirt and began gently caressing Reilly's skin, starting with her belly and working their way slowly, torturously, upward. One fingernail grazed the underside of one of her breasts, and she felt a little spike of pleasure there, instantly echoed by the gathering heat below. She let out a little moan. It had been a long time for her, and she needed this. Especially today, she needed this so badly.

  Reilly reached up and ran her fingernails down Maksim's stubbled cheek with one hand. The other found his magnificent abs beneath his shirt and slipped downward to grasp his cock through his pants. He was already hard as an iron bar, and he groaned as she slipped her hand past his waistband and wrapped her fingers around him. “Is this real?” She whispered in his ear. “Or does it come with ‘improvements' like your arm?”

  Maksim chuckled and kissed her freckled cheek. “I guess you'll have to wait to see.” He bit lightly at the side of her neck and then began to lay a line of kisses down toward her collarbone. His questing fingers stroked gently over her breasts, and Reilly let out a little cry as the fire in her built, and she knew she was getting wetter by the moment. She began to pull at his cock in long, slow strokes, and he took her nipple between his fingers and rubbed it until she gasped. The line of kisses came to the collar of Reilly's t-shirt, and Maksim pushed it up, exposing her breasts to the chill air inside the trailer. She gasped again, and without meaning to she began to stroke his rod faster and faster, driven by her own need, her own desire. He kissed both of her breasts and bit gently at each nipple before sucking on one of them with steady insistence. Reilly writhed beneath him as the pleasure mounted higher and higher. But she did not let go of his penis, warm and firm in her hand, and she stroked it faster and faster.

  They teased and tantalized each other for what felt like forever until Reilly knew she couldn't stand waiting a moment longer. Maksim suddenly seized the waist of the too-large jeans and simply yanked them down past Reilly's knees. She giggled as she kicked her pants free, unzipping Mack's own jeans and freeing his cock. She shuddered with anticipation, opening her legs wide so he could take her. For a moment he didn't move, he just held himself above her, devouring the sight of her pale, freckled body. But Reilly didn't want to wait another second. She took hold of him and guided him in so that the head of his penis pushed a little into her. She sucked in a breath. Maksim moved, just a little, somehow still holding back and teasing her. He rubbed the tip of his cock against her clit, and Reilly cried out, “Come on! Just do it! Oh, please Mack, just fuck me!”

  He began to thrust into her, slowly at first, pushing all the way into her, so that she felt every inch of him. She groaned and wrapped her legs around his waist, using her thighs to make him go faster. She didn’t know how he could stand to be so controlled, so methodical, so damned frustrating; he felt amazing, and she just wanted more. She dug her fingernails into the muscles of his back and dragged them painfully down toward his waist. He growled and thrust harder, faster, each movement an explosion of warm ecstasy that washed over Reilly like the waves of the ocean. “Yeah,” she moaned. “Like that! Oh, please don't stop!”

  Maksim seized Reilly's swollen breasts in both of his hands and sat back on his heels, maneuvering her long, perfect legs so that her ankles crossed behind his head. And then he was thrusting even deeper than before, and Reilly felt her eyes widen, even as the pleasure became more and more overwhelming. She was crying out with each stroke, her voice rising higher and higher as she climbed. She could feel it gathering within her, each movement another push closer to that bright, wonderful edge. Nothing else mattered at that moment. Reilly felt no pain, no stress, no worry, she just felt Maksim driving hard into her as he completely lost his control. And then he let out a loud cry of his own as he came, shooting hot seed deep into her. Reilly's body reacted to his, and her orgasm came crashing in, clenching her tight around him and making her arch her back up off the sofa. Ecstasy so incandescent it was almost agony exploded up through her body, and she screamed, digging her nails hard into his abdomen as the crashing waves swept her mind away in a hurricane of bliss.

  When Reilly came back to herself, Maksim was still inside her, breathing hard and propping himself up over her with his arms. She could feel the flush suffusing her pale face as she looked up into his dark gaze, her own eyes bright with satisfaction. Mack drew his cock out of her, then shifted his weight to lie down next to her on the couch. A little echo of the orgasm twitched through Reilly’s body, and she sighed happily.

  “Was that what you needed?” Maksim murmured in her ear.

  Reilly didn't answer; she just wriggled her back against his chest until she was comfortable and closed her eyes. She wasn't tired, but she liked the warmth of him, the obdurate strength of him, and at that moment, she felt like her worries were far away. After a few minutes, Maksim's breathing became slow and regular, and she knew he was asleep. She smiled. Yes, she thought to herself. Yes, this was what I needed.

  Noon Saturday: Breach Day plus one

  Maksim and Reilly were eating lunch when Abdul came back in the mini-gunship. He brought the aircraft to a gentle landing in a clearing not far from the hidden trailer, and it didn’t take him long to meet Mack and Reilly inside. Reilly noticed with a pang in her heart that the slender pilot was alone. She stood up from the couch as he entered the little trailer and smiled. “I don’t think I got the chance to thank you for flying us out of there.” She held out her hand. “Reilly McAllister.”

  Abdul took her hand and shook it, his expression neutral. “It was nothing,” he said in a light, melodic accent. “I owed Sokolov a favor.”

  “Did you find them?” Maksim asked quietly, from the sofa.

  Abdul shook his head. “No. There was no trace. Most of my neighbors are gone as well. It is possible they all got out together, though I do not know where they or my family would have gone.” He forced a slight smile
onto his angular face. “There is still hope.”

  Maksim nodded gravely. “I'll help you find them, one way or another. You have my word. But what of the government. Is the military doing anything? We haven't heard much on the radio other than various canned emergency messages.”

  Abdul shrugged. “It is chaos out there, my friend. Utter chaos. It is hard to tell if the military is able to do anything at all. The sky is full of smoke. I don’t think I passed a single city that was not burning.” He bowed his head for a moment, and Reilly could see the exhaustion lines etched into his face. Then he took a deep breath and continued. “Some of my friends with M&J Engineering have been in touch, however, and they say that the eggheads at their lab in Detroit have some ideas about what this disaster might be.”

  Reilly jumped at the name of the company. M&J Engineering was the rival high-tech research and development firm to her employer, NextGen Solutions. She thought about a thirty-foot tall red-scaled demon crashing through the side of the NextGen corporate tower. Okay, she amended. My former employer. At this point, company loyalty didn’t mean a damn thing. “They’re working on a solution to this?”

  Abdul held up his hands. “I have no idea. It was only a rumor.”

  Reilly turned to meet Mack’s eyes. “Then we need to go there. I have the hard-drive with my team’s data—” she paused, frowning. “Assuming it was still in my pocket when you took my clothes to wash.”

  Maksim nodded, a ghost of a smile on his lips. “It's in the laundry closet on a shelf. Safe and sound.”

  Reilly breathed out a sigh of relief. At least something had gone remotely right. She turned back to Abdul. “Can you take us to the MJE site?”

  Abdul’s expression hardened. “While I was happy to do a favor for Maksim, I do not know you. I only came back here at all because I said that I would. I am going to take my bird and go find my family. You can find some other way to clean up your—”

  “Abdul,” Maksim interjected, his tone mild. “We will come with you to find your family. Once they are safe, we would take it as a kindness if you would drop us off in Detroit. Family comes first. But getting us to Detroit is a good idea, and it could help resolve all of this.” Reilly sat back down on the couch, trying not to let her anger and shame show in her face. She could tell by the heat in her cheeks that she was failing.

  Abdul flicked a glance from Maksim to Reilly, shrewd brown eyes catching on some detail that he hadn’t noticed when he’d come inside. The corner of his mouth twitched. His expression softened by a degree. He sighed, and all the exhaustion of the last day made him sag forward a little. “Thank you. Both of you. I am sorry for my temper. It was a long flight.”

  Maksim nodded. “Go get some rest. We can plan things out in the morning.” Abdul nodded and shuffled off for one of the bedrooms on the far side of the trailer home.

  Reilly sighed. “Even if a solution is found right away, nothing is going to be the same again, is it?”

  Maksim shook his head. “No. It won’t be the same.” But then his mouth crooked up in a little grin and he said, “But it’s never the same no matter what we do. You can’t beat yourself up over what was. You can’t get lost worrying about ‘what if’.” He wrapped a strong arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “You can only worry about what you have now, and what you’re going to do next.” Seeing the bleak look on Reilly’s face, Maksim reached up with one hand and gently turned her face so that she met his eyes. “You have the data. The MJE guys have their ideas.” He gestured to his outstretched right arm, to the hidden bundles of synthetic metal muscle within. “You have a damaged world, but it isn’t broken completely. And I’m living proof that sometimes damaged things come back stronger.” He smiled, and Reilly couldn’t help but smile with him. His grin was contagious. “So, Reilly, what are you going to do next?”

  Reilly thought about it. She thought about her team, lost when the portal collapsed. She thought about Washington, D.C., torn and tattered by the disaster. She thought about the red-scaled titan and his taunts. And instead of the fear that she had expected to come with those thoughts, she found that she felt only a sense of grim determination. “Maksim,” she said, her voice fierce, her verdant eyes alight, “I’m going to slam shut that fucking Door.”

  The mercenary only smiled. “Damn right you are.”

  THE END

  Special Bonus Full Length Stories

  As a way to say “thank you” for downloading this book, we have included 8 special bonus full length novellas and short stories. Happy reading!

  = Bonus Book 1 of 8 =

  Cosmically Yours

  Rapidly dashing between corn stalks and trees was a woman with purple hair. She was rushing to the site of this great light that glittered over a small area in the field. Her hair whipped behind her in flashes of purple and blue, a reflection of the beautiful cosmos that beckoned her to enter it. As she darted between the yellow and green of the corn, she heard her name being called from just a few yards behind her.

  “Amelia...”

  Strange, enormous flowers came into view, dazzling her with their myriad of colors, and filling her nostrils with a sweet scent that lured her to the light. The field grew thicker with these flowers that illuminated the ground, their bulbs seeming to glow brighter, as the sky above grew darker. Though she had never been here before, she could have sworn it was familiar and reached out to touch the soft petals of the absurd flowers that stood as tall as the corn stalks. The length of their stems was incredible, their petals stretched towards the sky as if calling for the universe to bring down something otherworldly. A slew of colors decorated them, colors that she could not identify. But they inspired such happiness that she pushed on.

  The beam of light glowed in the distance, expanding and compressing every so often as to alarm the runner. Her heart was beating fast inside her chest as her legs pumped smoothly against the moving earth, feet trampling stalks that were in her path. The light dimmed suddenly and she thought she might not make it in time to see what it was. For all the years seeking this strange, beautiful light, it would be such a disappointment not to be allowed entry into it. This dream had been a persistent part of her existence and she was determined to discover its meaning, even if it meant pushing the physical boundaries of her body and mind.

  Amelia sprinted harder as a loud ringing filled the air and vibrated the very fabric of existence. Heart pounding, she came upon a clearing that seemed to sit outside of time, every minute stopping in that moment as she crossed the threshold into it. She spun around as her eyes danced across the stalks surrounding the area, their stems pushed down to the ground to create a gentle circle. Looking up, she found a metal structure that hummed faintly in the evening breeze coming from the north. It clicked a few times as a circle formed above her head, watching as the metal separated to allow the same light gradually to come into view. It enveloped her and defeated the darkness around the small circle while pulling her up towards the sky, a floating sensation overcoming her body.

  Light of weight and filled with hope, Amelia smiled while floating up into the metal craft. It was as if everything had finally come together and she would be able to see the true nature of this elusive detail in her life. All of her dreams had featured this moment where she was weightless in the glittering light that catapulted her into another world enveloped by mirrors. She looked around to find herself looking back in every direction, turning only to find more clones of her image. They floated in a vast black hole dotted with bits of light that shimmered brightly. It seemed such an odd thing to be caught in a small space that seemed so large, but that’s how she had always felt on earth. This place offered a sense of refuge from the daily torment she felt being trapped on that planet, having mostly nothing to do with social norms and regular human contact.

  It wasn’t that Amelia was a hermit, not exactly. She simply felt that her life was meant for something much greater than attending college and obtaining a degree in astronomy. Her ey
es yearned for the great sights beyond the atmosphere, a universe filled with endless possibilities that stretched towards the far reaches of existence. But how could she discover that by engaging in the ridiculous social demands of her town? She didn’t find much of a need to be part of a group or even to hold a relationship, yet she yearned for the intimacy that the cosmos might provide. Her desire was to know the world and that beyond it, to become one with everything all at once.

  Unfortunately for Amelia, in her cream she would always begin to fall from the mirrored room that depicted the many different forms of her against the cosmos. The lightness would fade and her body would hit the sheets as she gasped for air, realizing that oxygen didn’t exist past the atmosphere where she was catapulted. As she sat up, she reached for the ceiling as she so often did after the wretched dream; a dream which teased her with the hope of escaping the mundane and made her feel as though she might never be able to discover anything other than this ridiculous life she led. Looking about, she found her dorm room in a heap of clothes and books, the shelves cluttered with planetary models and sci-fi figurines.

  There were space ships lining the ceiling and glowing stars decorating the walls. The majority of her decorations had something to do with space. A little blue box next to her bed read 3:03 AM and she sighed upon seeing it.

  “What am I doing?” she asked herself out loud. “Why am I awake at this hour every night?”

  But soon, drowsiness overcame her, and her body began to drift back into the sweet slumber. She would have the answer to her question, though she did not know it yet. Time was moving forward whether the purple-haired beauty liked it or not, and she would soon meet her destiny.

  ***

  Pacing nervously around the cockpit of his ship was the prince of the planet Degau. All of the accomplishments in the universe had made Ero’an one of the most popular Degaurians in history, yet he still felt as if something was missing from the wonderful life he led. While contemplating what had him feeling so incomplete, a miniature blob was sitting atop the gray chairs near the navigating equipment fumbling with a ray gun. The noise the blob made caused Ero’an to twitch with displeasure.