Cyborg Seduction. Grace Goodwin
not take control. No, the mark was too powerful. I stood naked, cock hard, my need still thrumming through my veins and tried to think through the fog of lust clouding my mind, the fog of her.
The governor of our base called upon me to be the Hunter I was. That was my value to this planet. But my need? The intense pull the mark now had on me? It was for a different hunt entirely. I had to find her, to find my marked mate, wherever the hell she was, on this planet or another.
And what was that strange room in her dream? The small child in the strange, metal walled bed? The older woman sleeping slumped in a chair? Was that her home? Was that where I would find her? Lindsey.
“Hunter Kiel,” the Governor Rone repeated, breaking my thoughts. My mark burned, reminding me of my priorities. Finding her was my personal mission now, but I also worked for the governor and for every warrior who was trapped on this planet with me. The Hive had caused trouble here the last few weeks, infiltrating our sanctuary—or our prison—depending on one’s point of view. The Hive had turned The Colony into a dangerous, uncertain place. The guarded looks the warriors here gave one another, the fear they tried to hide—fear that the Hive would once more have control of their minds, their bodies—the thought made me shudder as well. I was born to fear nothing, but even I could not deny the tremor that raced through me at the thought of being captured once more.
Tortured.
Changed.
The only way to control the fear was to hunt. And hunting the Hive was my specialty.
“Kiel? Can you hear me?”
“Yes, Maxim. I will come to the command center directly,” I replied.
“Hurry,” he replied, ending the communication.
I went to the S-Gen unit in the corner and stood on the black scanning pad. The thin green lights activated as the Spontaneous Matter Generator created fresh armor and weapon for me. The armor was standard Coalition, the mottled black and grey a fitting camouflage for most expeditions in deep space. The ion blaster was small and I strapped it to my thigh. The armor was light and comfortable. Some warriors on the base had begun to wear civilian clothing once more, colors and soft, flowing fabrics in designs common on the various home worlds now brightened the main areas and dining hall.
The brides had done that, brought a touch of normalcy to a situation that was anything but. I, however, felt naked and exposed without my armor, as did many of the others. And with a traitor still loose and the Hive building secret, underground operating stations in caves, I needed to hunt, not sit, chat and sip wine with the women like a trained pet.
Groaning, I shifted things around in my pants. Apparently, I was going to have a meeting with the security team and the governor of Base 3 with a hard on. My desire had not waned and my cock wasn’t going to stand down, no matter the topic. I had to hope the armor shielded the obvious. My mark had been awakened and nothing was going to ease me except finding and claiming my mate.
“There.” The governor, Maxim, pointed at the vid screen. I followed his finger and saw the intruder. The image was crystal clear, crisp. The male wore the usual armor of a Coalition fighter; pants, shirt, even the helmet, and moved with the lithe ease of an athlete and the surety of one who knew exactly where to go as he removed a grate and disappeared inside the ventilation tunnels that ran beneath the entire base.
“How long ago was this taken?” I asked. Maxim and I stood side-by-side. I rivaled him for height, but I was less bulky than the Prillon, allowing me to move swiftly on a hunt. I was dexterous and nimble, yet it took hard work and constant training to remain in top form.
“Twenty minutes.” The governor was a powerful warrior; he now served The Colony with his leadership skills. He’d been chosen, elected by the warriors who would answer to him. There was no higher honor among warriors and I respected that. He served as The Colony’s liaison to the Brides Processing Center on Earth and had been mated, with his second, Ryston, to a brilliant human scientist with dark hair and a stubborn slant to her eyes that I admired. Together, their bond had lit the spark of hope through The Colony. They appeared together in public often, trying to inspire the others to hope, to dream, to submit to the mental invasion of the Interstellar Brides Processing protocols. Many had and waited for a match.
I was Maxim’s opposite, my strengths sending me out to hunt in the shadows. Unseen. Deadly.
Not exactly inspiring. Seeing me usually inspired fear, not hope. No matter that I’d picked up a team of sorts including the human hunter, a bride named Kristin, who’d arrived to mate the Prillon warriors Tyran and Hunt. Also in the group, a Prillon warrior named Marz who’d become one of the few males I trusted during our time with the Hive. Lastly, a big, pain-in-my-ass Atlan Warlord with a temper to match. Rezzer. He fought his beast every fucking day. And every day, I wondered if I’d be called upon to terminate a friend.
“Has he been picked up by the other surveillance nearby?” I asked. The surveillance in the storage area had caught the heat shift of a living being and set off the warning sensors.
“Negative,” one of the security team said. He sat before the controls, his fingers sliding over the glossy panel as his eyes followed the results on the various vid screens before us. The entire wall was of different images from around Base 3. At first it was difficult to process, so many places to monitor and observe, but I recognized it was an organized system. The screens were arranged north to south, east to west geographically throughout the Base.
The tech, a warrior from the planet Trion, frowned. “The first warning signal came twenty minutes ago and from within the storage area. No sensors have picked him up in the corridors or anywhere else before that.”
“He had to come from somewhere,” the governor added, his voice a mixture of genuine surprise and a hint of frustration. He glanced down at the security tech, then back up at the display.
“There is no data that shows he actually did come from somewhere. It’s as if—” He didn’t finish the words.
“He didn’t transport in,” I added, saying aloud what I knew to be true. One thing the Coalition did control with an unbreakable fist, was their transport technology. If you weren’t authorized, you didn’t go anywhere. Ever.
“No, he did not,” the second security tech confirmed. “I’ve checked with the transport station. No transports in the last two days. In or out.”
It was possible to transport onto the Base elsewhere besides the transport station with the correct coordinates, however the team would know, even if someone attempted it without appropriate approval. That kind of data was easily picked up and ensured the Hive weren’t just popping in for a quick battle.
“Then he must be someone we know. Sabotage?”
I didn’t want to consider the possibility of another traitor in our midst.
I watched the male move across the display, his pace quick as he went from behind a storage container and to the large air shaft on the west wall. His helmet-covered head moved left and right as if scanning the area, but nothing slowed him down. He even knew where to wave his hand on the wall to have the access panel open.
My mark flared, pulsed with a heat that almost burned as I watched the recording. I rubbed the spot, but it didn’t lessen.
“Why would he bother going into the air shaft?” the governor asked. “The entire system is automated and controlled from elsewhere. Even if he wanted to poison the air, or gas us in our sleep, it would be impossible.” He turned to me, his shrewd gaze meeting mine as I looked away from the display. The pulsing in my hand lessened. “There’s no fucking reason for anyone to be in there.”
Looking back at the male who was the latest mystery on our struggling planet, my mark flared again. “Except to hide.”
“What?”
“I’ll find him,” I muttered under my breath. Why was