Taunting Krell
Page 25

“No. We’re almost done with the repairs and we’re going to leave the planet’s surface. You may see him once we reach Garden. I’ll allow him to visit you in our home.”
Her anger spiked. “You’ll allow him? Really? Is that how you think it’s going to work? That you have a say in who I see and who my friends are? You never answered me about a divorce. How do I obtain one?”
“I didn’t mean it that way. You’re seeking to start an argument.”
“You’re right. I’m mad!”
“I understand.” His hands unclenched and he reached for her, paused, but dropped them to the bed inches from her leg. His gaze held hers. “You don’t want to be separated from me, Cyan. They will assign you to another male if you protest our joining. The council isn’t going to allow you to live without someone to protect you and to be your primary male. I won’t harm you and I’d never force you to do anything you don’t wish. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what had been done but I was hopeful that the situation would be resolved before you had to be informed. I wished to avoid upsetting you this way.”
“What does that mean?”
“It is possible that you could be deemed human if you truly are who you claim to be before you were given that body. That means you’d be the female who helped cyborgs escape from Earth and you would be given special concessions.”
“Now it’s your turn to speak English.”
“You’d be considered human regardless of your body’s origins if I could prove you were the daughter of our creator. Cyborg law wouldn’t apply to you and you wouldn’t be required to take more than one male into a family unit. Humans are exempt from that law as long as they provide a child for the male of their choosing. In my case, I’m undesirable and no child is required by me. I’m not part of a breeding pact and my obligation has already been met by Mavo. He had a son, gave him my name, and he’s registered as my contribution to our future.”
She took that information in. “He had a son for you, to cover your obligation?”
“Yes.”
“You just threatened to kill him. Nice.”
He flinched. “I was agitated. He was taking you away from me. I’ll apologize later.”
A nagging thought popped into her head. “Why did you care so much? You should have been happy to have someone want to take me off your hands.”
He looked away to study the wall.
“Krell?”
“I need to see how things are progressing. Rest, Cyan. Lie down and please drink the healing tea. You’ve had a trauma. Stay put.” He stood quickly, turned and strode to the door. “I’ll return soon.”
He fled and she sat there in stunned silence for a few minutes. He’d refused to answer her and that made her wonder why. Was he getting attached to her? Maybe he’d experienced jealousy when Mavo tried to carry her off? Was he feeling possessive? It opened all kinds of possibilities, most of which meant he cared more than his gruff exterior showed.
She carefully rose to her feet, tested her legs to make sure they worked and took a few deep breaths. She rolled her shoulders, shoved her braid out of the way and found her boots on the floor where Krell had placed them when he’d put her on the bed. She sat down, put them on and stood again. He was in for a rude awakening if he believed she’d meekly follow his orders just because they were married.
Her eyes closed as that information still stunned her. I’m married to the grim cyborg. She checked her clothes, made sure they were neat and approached the door. It opened and she was glad he hadn’t tried to lock her inside. She was on the lower deck of the shuttle, near the cargo doors that led outside, and she turned in that direction. Something caught her attention as she stepped inside. Across the room near the open door her weapons had been neatly stored on the wall. She grinned.
Krell had distracted her the first time she’d left the shuttle with him and she’d missed seeing them. She quickly put on her belt and checked her weapons before returning them to the holsters down the front of her thighs. It made her feel more like her old self with them in place. It might get her shot when the cyborgs got a look at them but she didn’t care. The planet had warlike inhabitants and from the amount of men sporting heavy-duty weapons, the threat wasn’t just bullshit Krell had made up to keep her close.
The guard at the end of the ramp turned his head and his grip on his rifle blaster tightened as he faced her.
“Stand down,” she ordered him with a smile. “I’m Krell’s wife. He’d get pissed if you shoot me. You’ve met my husband and know he’s not someone you want to mess with.”
The cyborg frowned in response but he didn’t point the weapon at her. That was good enough. She figured she might as well use her status to do what she wanted. Krell obviously didn’t have a problem using his status as her primary male to issue orders since he’d taken her away from Mavo.
“Where did he go?”
Indecision made the guy hesitate. “To the Vontage to check on their repair status.”
“That’s where I’ll be too.” She walked down the ramp past him and rounded the shuttle. The sight of that big hotel on thrusters on the ground still wasn’t something she’d adjusted to. It looked too weird. The feel of the baked ground under her boots made her step carefully, not wanting to slip and fall on her ass.
The Vontage’s underside was a hive of activity with repair teams working and men watching the surrounding thick vegetation. She glanced along the outline of ugly trees, wondering what could be so badass to make all those cyborgs look that nervous.
She’d been to alien planets a few times and hadn’t seen anything too scary. Of course, by the time they visited a planet, settlers were already there and the military had been sent out to resolve some unrest between them. This planet hadn’t been colonized. Her gaze drifted back to the men under the shade of the big ship. Krell wasn’t too hard to spot with his tall frame and jet-black hair.
She nearly made it to him when a loud roar fractured the sounds of male voices as they worked. She halted, turned her head in the direction of the noise, and didn’t see anything at first but trees. Another loud roar sounded, something ominous and deep, near thunderous, and the ground under her feet thumped.
What the hell? Her hands automatically grabbed the handles of her weapons.
“Incoming,” a cyborg yelled. “Northeast section. Four annihilators are spotted.”
Four what? The ground shook again, trembled as if something big had slammed against it, and the volume of the next roar nearly hurt her ears. She turned toward the teams of heavily armed cyborgs as all of them dropped to their bellies and aimed the biggest weapons they carried toward the trees. Backup cyborgs rushed forward with more crates, tore the lids open, yanked out weapons and rushed to lie down next to their fellow crew members.
Her heart raced and no one seemed to notice her in the chaos that followed. More cyborgs rushed toward the first wave of armed cyborgs, dropping down beside their crew until they formed a long line of men aiming weapons in the same direction.
The ground shook worse, huge thumps that made her brace her legs, and suddenly two of the trees were ripped apart. Something big just seemed to grab hold of the trunks, uproot them, and they sailed into the air to disappear into the thickly wooded area. The thing that stepped out made her back up.
“Holy f**k,” she hissed, taking another step back.
The thing that came into view resembled something between a dinosaur with its massive body, stood two or three stories high, but had a humanoid-shaped torso with large, clawed limbs. The head of the thing was huge, had big black-looking round eyes in a furry face, and as its mouth opened, another roar tore from its vast, gaping jaws. Cyan could have sworn she felt the wind hit her face from that thing’s anger as if it had expelled its breath that far.
The cyborgs opened fire to hit the ground in front of it. Explosions flashed, the noise earsplitting, and flames shot upward from the ground to form a wall between the creature and them. They missed the thing by a good forty feet.
Aim higher, she urged them silently. The creature turned and dived out of the way, disappearing into the line of thick trees, and the smoke from the bomb grenades they’d sent at it rose at that point to hide it.
“Cyan!” Krell grabbed her arm, drawing her attention. “Get inside the Bridden.”
She gaped up at him. “What was that?”
“We call them annihilators. Return to the shuttle. The repairs aren’t completed. We need another ten minutes.” He gave her a gentle shove. “Run. I’m ordering it to lift off. It’s too dangerous for you to remain here.”
“They need to aim higher. They missed it.”
“We don’t wish to kill them unless we have to.”
“Are you serious? Did you see that thing? It’s huge and pissed!”
“They are just attempting to defend their planet.”
Half of her admired the cyborgs for their compassion but the other half, the military soldier inside her, protested. “Will they stay back?”
“Doubtful. They’ll come at us from different angles.” He moved his big body enough for her to witness more cyborgs rushing from the Vontage, all carrying heavy-duty weapons, and they lay down to surround the ship and take positions to cover all directions. “Return to the Bridden.” He glanced down at her body and his jaw clenched. “Now.”
She released her weapons. “We’re not going to blast off and abandon the other ship. Hand me one of those grenade launchers. I can handle them.”
“It’s not your fight.”
“Bullshit!” Anger burned. “You’ve got hundreds of cyborgs on that ship, right? It’s crippled and you need to buy it more time for the repairs to be finished. We’re not abandoning them.”
“I’m not. You’re going on the Bridden and it will lift off to take you to safety.” His hold on her arm tightened. “Move.”
She twisted hard, grabbed his arm and ended up behind him. Her hand gripped his braid. “Don’t fight with me, Krell. Don’t make me kick your ass in front of your buddies.”
She quickly released him, her point made, and jumped back. The ground under her shook and a roar came from the woods. She forgot their argument to turn her head in the direction of the sound. Trees split apart and another big beast rushed out. The ground shook noticeably as it ran at them, bigger than the Bridden they’d flown in on once she got a look at the long back of it. It had six legs, a huge torso, and those huge arms attached to a very wide chest. It also looked really angry.
The cyborgs fired, targeted the ground in front of it, and the ground blew apart in a fiery haze of hell. The thing roared again, more wind hitting her, and now she was certain those things were doing it. It retreated a little but didn’t flee into the trees this time. It held its ground while glaring through the smoke and flames at them.
“Oh man,” she whispered. “Ballsy or stupid.”
“They are determined and fearless.” Krell gripped her arm again. “I’m ordering you to return to the Bridden and the pilot is going to lift off the surface. I’ll join you once we’re back in orbit. I need to help but I want you safe, Cyan.”
“Then stop wasting your time arguing with me.” She jerked out of his hold and ran for the underbelly of the Vontage. A crate of launchers were open, ready, and she headed for them.
She peered inside at the weapons, spotted some other toys, and grinned when she grabbed the miclo twelve. She hadn’t seen one in years but it had once been her favorite weapon of choice for creating mass havoc. The shell box for it sat at the bottom of the crate under it, and she hoisted them up. She nearly turned into Krell’s big body.