Rogue Cyborg

Chapter 1-2

And me? I knew my legion on Rogue 5 would take me in with open arms, but our leader, Kronos, would put me to use. He was nothing if not practical, and a Hive enhanced Forsian descendant would be the most terrifying weapon he would have. He would not hesitate to use it. Use me. And that was why I’d lived roaming space on my trading vessel instead of settling onto any specific planet. Until now.

I didn’t kill on demand.

I didn’t fight or steal on demand.

I didn’t f**k on demand, either.

I owed none but Kronos a shred of loyalty, and even that had come at too high a cost.

I was here, still paying it. I ran my ship fast and hot, avoiding Hive and Coalition forces alike, getting Kronos what he needed from all corners of the galaxy. Until now.

Someone had given the Coalition news of my imminent arrival, and notice of the precious load of transport tech and weapons I’d been carrying. The Coalition’s newest designs, and some illegal rifles manufactured on a non-Coalition world were among my cargo.

Guess it was the rifles that got me into that Coalition brig. And a captive of the Hive. And now, still a prisoner on The Colony, left to rot for decades, work in the mines, and die. The governor, a hard-a*s named Maxim, wouldn’t even allow me to leave the surface, go on a single mission off planet. He was afraid I’d escape.

He was right. But nothing he did would stop me. I simply waited for the right set of circumstances to arrive. The plan I’d had in place for weeks.

Despite Governor Rone’s wishes, I refused to take a mate, to be tested for a bride. The truth was my own, my curse. I respected his frustration with me but was unable to comply with his demand that I mate. I just wanted to get back into space and mind my own f*****g business. To be free, unchained to anyone or anything.

Taking a mate and leaving her behind? Not possible. The very idea made me growl again, the sound masked by the roar of the spectators as the first fight began and a Prillon in the pit landed a hard blow to his opponent. No, I was a smuggler, a rogue, a rebellious male who refused to follow commands, but I was not without honor. Even if our official claiming wouldn’t physically kill her, I refused to hurt a female’s tender heart in such a way.

A female was not just a huge risk, but a liability I couldn’t afford.

The governor and the rest of the Coalition leadership had decided I was too unstable. Too much of a menace. Rogue 5. Hyperion. Forsian. Cyborg. I was a f*****g freak among freaks. And the governor believed only a mate would calm me, anchor me to this planet and their war against the Hive. Ensure my loyalty to the Coalition cause.

But I was not Coalition born. I was Rogue 5. And I truly was a prisoner on this planet. Which made it hard to be grateful. Some days, I would have preferred to be dead, the need to escape making me feel like I was coming out of my skin.

The crowd roared and I turned my attention to the fighting pit once again. The large Prillon warrior was being hauled away unconscious as another stood with his arms raised in sweaty victory. The winner stepped aside and two fresh fighters entered the center of the ring. One, an Atlan I knew well. The other a Prillon warrior who was about to get his head broken.

“Smash him, Tane!” Braun’s bellow was easily heard above the crown and our friend, Tane, looked up briefly and lifted his head in acknowledgement of Braun’s encouragement.

“You cheer for him, but believe his fight is futile?”

Braun was grinning, leaning forward, his gaze glued to the fight as Tane lifted the Prillon over his head and threw him halfway across the fighting grounds. The Prillon rolled to his feet and screamed a challenge in return, the sound echoing off the stands, rushing at the Atlan with cyborg enhanced speed. He scored a solid strike at Tane’s neck, although it barely shook the large Atlan. “Tane will win this fight and Gwen will refuse his claim. Once that is done, he will not protest my attempts to woo her.”

I chuffed out a laugh and stared wide-eyed at my friend. “Woo her? What kind of word is that for a warrior? You sound like an old female.”

The corner of his mouth tipped up. “That is the word of a warrior who will have the female’s thighs open wide and who will listen to her sweet cries of surrender as her wet p***y rides my c**k for hours, draining me dry, taking my seed.”

By the gods, that was too much f*****g information. I had no response. I should have been able to cheer for Tane, but the tension in my shoulders and chest moved up into my throat and I couldn’t force myself to speak or move. I could only watch and hate every male here for his ability to claim her. And Braun for his strategy to f*****g woo her.

I shouldn’t have come to the pits. Part of me knew watching this was a bad idea. No warrior would ever be worthy of her. Not one on this pathetic prison world. But neither could I bear the idea of not knowing who she would belong to, who would be charged with protecting her. She was an addiction I had been unable to best since her arrival a few weeks ago. My interest in her completely unwanted and impossible. My c**k was ruling my mind. I’d had to take it in hand in the shower tube often enough to will it down, but no matter how many times I sought release, my body remained hard and aching. For her.

Leaning back, I crossed my arms and tried to look unaffected as I watched Tane’s fist connect with the Prillon warrior’s jaw, sending him reeling backward into the crowd along the fighting pit’s edges. The shouting warriors seated there propped him up and shoved him back into the center of the pit where Tane delivered another powerful blow. So far, he was besting the Prillon warrior without calling on his beast. The young Prillon male was fighting a losing battle and he knew it, the swagger leaving his step and his shoulders slumping when another warrior, Tyran, stepped between the two combatants.

Tyran was a Prillon warrior and had a human female as his mate. Kristin. He shared her with his second, another warrior named Hunt. She was beautiful, and a warrior in her own right, like Gwen. I did not know how they could allow their female to work on missions hunting the Hive, but Kristin did so every day, part of a special group of warriors led by an Everian Hunter named Kiel.

Unlike the young Prillon fighting Tane, Tyran was rumored to be the strongest cyborg on the planet with implants running not just through parts of his body, but imbedded deeply in both muscle and bone. He was a legend in the pits but had stopped fighting once he was mated. It seemed he had other, more pleasant ways, to ease his anger and aggression.

I envied him the newfound method of release.

Tyran stepped into the center and proclaimed Tane the victor. Braun settled back, more relaxed now that Tyran had arrived. That warrior would not allow things to get too far out of hand, and he was strong enough to handle Tane, even if the Atlan went into beast mode.

“Told you Tane would win.”

“It’s not over yet,” I reminded Braun.

“Yes, it is. He didn’t even use his beast.”

But he would. We both knew he would. “Stupid to challenge an Atlan,” I added, referring to the young Prillon.

“Yes. None but Tyran, or perhaps the Hunter, could defeat one of us.”

One of us. He included me among the Atlan ranks, as always, but I was not one of them. Never could be.

The next two fights went as expected until four warriors remained. Tane, two Prillon warriors, and a male from Trion whose skin shone silver in the afternoon light. I had not met him, but he was rumored to be more machine than man, and his fighting instincts were superb.

Tyran raised his hand, waiting for the crowd of warriors watching to quiet. “Here are the remaining four. Chance will decide their fates.” Tyran held out a deck of cards, face down. “Highest values will fight first.”

The crowd cheered again as the warriors each drew a card and lifted it into the air. The two Prillon warriors would face off against each other first. Then Tane would fight the male from Trion. After that, they would be down to two and the champion would be the last male standing.

Every single one of the four looked smug. Confident. As if Gwen already belonged to him. I wanted to jump into the pit and pummel them all into dust, but I didn’t dare move, not even to frown. Stone. I must be like Stone.

A woman’s bellow of rage filled the air and the cheering crowd of warriors went silent.

The door built into the side wall of the fighting ring was flung open, striking the side with a loud bang as Gwen marched into view wearing full battle armor. Her hair flowed down her back like black flames and fury rolled off her shoulders in almost perceptible waves. Eyes narrowed, muscles tense, she looked like a warrior goddess, too beautiful to be real. My breath caught, my c**k lengthened at the sight of her.

Two other human women, both mated to Colony warriors, stood behind her in formation, like a strike squad, but they paled in comparison to Gwen’s fire and I ignored them easily.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” Gwen yelled at Tane, clenching her fists. The giant Atlan Warlord actually flinched, as if he were a small boy being scolded by his mother.

Tane looked confused, then bowed before her. “My lady… I—”

“Don’t you dare my lady me!” She marched up to his towering form, completely unafraid.

Next to me, Braun could barely contain his laughter, his shoulders shaking quietly as he watched the drama unfold. I wanted to punch him as well… for being right, for understanding more about Gwen than I had.

Covered in sweat and blood, the four warriors turned as one to face her, closing in, pleading their individual cases. I could not hear what they said, but none of it pleased her. Her hands moved to her hips, her head tilted to the side as if she listened and considered their words. But her eyes were like fire, feminine fury shining brightly. f**k, she was gorgeous.

Braun’s increasingly smug smile had my hands clenching into fists of my own as he leaned back and put his hands behind his head, stretching. Resting. Amused.

I looked back to Gwen, afraid if I kept my gaze on Braun I would punch that knowing and very possessive look right off his face. The males in the pit had lost any chance they had with her now. Braun just had to wait until she pulverized them all and then step in.

Gwen’s gaze darted up into the stands and Braun held his breath as her attention flitted over him, then moved to me.

Air trapped in my lungs, her gaze like a physical blow, the gaze narrowing, her cheeks flushing even darker.

Yes, I wanted to be the one to put color in her cheeks. I had to wonder how far down it crept beneath her armor, if her n*****s were that same deep shade.

It was over in half a second. The glance. The look. The stare. The intensity.

Gwen looked away, rolling up the sleeves of her uniform shirt, although I had no idea why. Her voice, when she spoke, was not overly loud, but cold. Hard. “You want to fight? Okay. Let’s roll.”

Moving almost too fast to track, Gwen lifted the closest Prillon warrior and threw him even farther than Tane had thrown his opponent earlier. The Prillon offered no resistance, rolling to his feet after he landed, keeping his distance. When the other three warriors backed off with their hands out in front of them, clearly refusing to touch her, she kept pace, shoving the Trion warrior in the chest. She attacked in silence, each strike of her hands on male flesh loud in the distinct quiet. The warriors watching had no idea what to do. Cheer? Cringe?

The silence seemed to enrage her, for she yelled as much at the crowd as she did the four fools left in the fight. “Come on. f**k all of you. You wanted to fight. Let’s fight.”

“Gwen, are you sure about this? I think we should wait for Maxim.” Rachel, the governor’s mate who stood near the open doorway, tried to plead with the irate female but to no avail.

“Get out of here, ladies.” Gwen looked over her shoulder at the other two human females, motioning them away with a graceful wave of her hand. “This has nothing to do with you. These idiots should know exactly who they’re messing with. Who they’re fighting over like dogs would over a piece of meat.”

Kristin, Tyran’s mate, burst into laughter, taking hold of his hand and leading him away when he would have interfered. Shocked, I watched the strongest male on the planet let the small human female—his human female—to pull him away from the fight. Braun had been right; Kristin believed herself independent, in control of her mate. He was allowing her to lead him away.

Looking back over her shoulder, Kristin had a huge, happy smile on her face. “Go get ‘em, girlfriend.”

Gwen smiled then, coldly. Darkly and full of menace. “Oh, I will. I’m going to kick a*s and take names.”

I had no idea why she needed the names of warriors already familiar to her, the Earth slang beyond me, but I had a feeling it wasn’t anything good.