Grace Goodwin - Her Cyborg Warriors

Mikki, The Colony, Transport Two

I awoke naked. Why was I naked? I mean, really? What was the point in that? The hospital gown thing I’d been wearing for the testing wasn’t anything to write home about, but at least it had covered me.

The warden had said my mate would be waiting for me. Well, if I was supposed to be mated to three overly excited women, I’d really missed the memo. They didn’t look like aliens, although I wasn’t sure what alien females looked like, so I guessed them to be from Earth.

They hugged me when I pushed up off the hard floor of the transport pad. They introduced themselves so quickly I had trouble keeping track. Rachel and Lindsey, I heard. Crystal or Christy? Kristin… was the third one? Something like that. At least it appeared I would have some friends out here. Very perky, eager friends. That was good news, because the idea of being claimed by the giant aliens standing around the edges of the room checking me out made me want to curl into a nervous ball, sink to the floor and vomit what little I’d eaten for breakfast all the way across the universe back on Earth.

The alien males were all huge. Epically huge. Like The Mountain on Game Of Thrones but handsome and in better clothes. Seven feet tall with sharp features and oddly colored eyes. Their skin tones varied from gold, brown and copper, like they’d been made of earthen elements and metal. They were, to be honest, hot as hell, but I had no idea which one was mine, and no chance to ask questions because the women surrounding me were talking faster than a gaggle of high school cheerleaders at a pep rally.

“Hi! I’m Rachel. My mate is the governor here, and I work in medical, so anything you need, you just find me. Okay?” Rachel hugged me, even though I was naked, which was weird and sweet and, well, weird. She wore a dark green tunic and pants that looked extremely comfortable, a pair of comfy green shoes, and her dark hair was pulled up in some kind of twist. She wore an odd, copper-colored collar around her neck, but she didn’t seem to mind it, so I assumed it was the fashion around here.

Rachel seemed kind, and her brown eyes held nothing to make me doubt her. Up close, it was obvious she was human. They all were. Thank God.

The next woman had pixie-cut blonde hair and wore armor, like she was a soldier or police officer of some kind. I didn’t think the space gun attached to her hip and thigh was for show. Was she police? Military? She had on one of the strange collars as well, but hers was dark green. I didn’t know how this planet worked yet, but she smiled and yanked a blue blanket from the hands of one of the tall, sexy aliens standing near the edge of the platform. She draped it around me, and I thanked her, tugging the ends of it close in front of me. Obviously Rachel was kind, but this woman was sensible. I’d remember that.

“Welcome to the Twilight Zone. I’m Kristin,” she said. “I figured you might want to cover up.”

“Mikki. Mikki Tanaka. And thanks.” I said, gripping the blanket closed.

“Where are you from?” she asked.

“Hawaii.”

“Awesome.” Kristin raised a brow. “You surf then? Or just love working out? Yeah, sorry, couldn’t mistake all those muscles.”

Definitely some kind of cop. They were the type to size people up. Threat assessment and all that. She wasn’t wrong, but I’d made it easier for her since she’d looked at me bare-assed naked. “Yes to surfing. Two-time world champion, but a long time ago. Now I just do it because I love it. Well… did.”

“North Shore? Oahu?” Her eyes grew wide.

“Yes.”

“Big waves there.”

Again, not wrong. I liked her more every second. “The biggest.”

“Nice.” Her face looked as if I were describing the most delicious bite of chocolate. A mixture of pleasure and envy. “A fellow adrenaline junkie. I worked for the FBI before I came here. Now I run scouting missions with some of the guys.” She tipped her head toward the males in the room.

“Nice,” I repeated. We shared a moment of understanding before the pretty blonde standing behind her interrupted. I actually recognized her from some of the videos I’d watched before deciding that being an Interstellar Bride would probably be better than spending a decade in a prison cell.

“Hi. I’m Lindsey.” Sweet, blonde, gorgeous with a softness about her that made one want to tell her all their secrets. No collar. So there went the fashion accessory theory.

“I recognize you.”

She grinned. “I was a blogger back home. Now I do special interest pieces and handle PR for the guys here. We send videos and interviews back to Earth trying to get more women to volunteer for the Brides Program.”

“Yeah, I watched some of those. They were really good.”

“Thanks.” She blushed, which was endearing. She seemed too nice to be real, but then I was used to working in a lab with a bunch of nerds who spent most of their free time gaming. Or hanging with radicals, hippies that rarely bathed and environmental activists that were just as comfortable tracking wild animals through the woods as they were sitting across from their mothers at the dinner table. Kind, upstanding citizens weren’t my usual cup of tea.

Since I hadn’t exactly volunteered to leave Hawaii, the ocean, my life , I wasn’t going to tell her that. Admitting I was a convicted felon probably wasn’t the best way to start a friendship. “Nice to meet you. I’m Mikki.”

We grinned at each other for a moment before one of the giants cleared his throat. I had to tip my head back to look at him. Tall, dark and handsome. Serious expression, equally imposing stance. I’d heard that the aliens who lived on The Colony were soldiers who had been captured in the war, survived their imprisonment with the Hive, but had mechanical features added to their bodies like cyborgs out of a science fiction movie. I hadn’t been able to imagine what those integrations would look like. Until now. This guy had a metallic sheen to his skin on his left arm where it peeked out from his sleeve.

“Rachel, perhaps we should allow your new friend to meet her mates.” I looked over Lindsey’s shoulder as Rachel turned toward the giant with a look on her face I envied. Love. Lust. Adoration. All three. She’d come from Earth and was mated to this Incredible Hulk, and clearly she was happy with the match. Maybe this place would be all right after all.

He had on a collar, too. Copper, just like Rachel’s, and I didn’t think that was coincidence. I remembered the dream, the mention of collars, of a connection that was special for the wearers.

“Sorry, Maxim,” she murmured. “You’re right. We were just excited.”

The look he gave her? Damn. If a hot guy looked at me like that, I’d melt into a puddle on the floor and beg him to rock my world.

Rachel went to Maxim’s side, and he wrapped an arm about her waist. The other ladies moved away from me, each going to a different alien male, matching up. I noticed that both males who surrounded Kristin wore dark green collars that matched hers.

So… they liked to match with their mates here? But why didn’t Lindsey have one?

Whatever. Here I was worried about what they were all wearing when I was the one naked. With the crowd that had gathered, I had to assume I was quite the freak show and everyone had come to see what the new girl looked like.

I was plain. Average at best. Always had been. Brown eyes, black hair. I wasn’t fashion model material by any stretch of the imagination. My parents were from Japan, and I was short, just like my mother. My skin was clear, my lips were mocha—nipples as well—not the bright, perky pink that I’d envied on girls in high school. But that was a long time ago. I’d made peace with myself since then, teenage angst be damned. I was strong and fast and fucking fearless. If I could ride a twenty-foot wave, I could handle meeting an alien who was supposed to be my perfect match. Right?