Grace Goodwin - Her Cyborg Warriors

Even if he was seven feet tall.

“Where’s Surnen?” Rachel looked around, confused.

“Who’s Surnen?” I asked.

“He’s your mate, silly.” Lindsay grinned at me like a super-happy Malibu Barbie , which was nice but not helpful. I looked to Kristin for answers, but she shrugged. No help there.

Great. I do a beam-me-up-Scotty, travel halfway across the galaxy, and my perfect man doesn’t even show up to claim me? Wonderful. Perfect end to a perfect day.

“My apologies, my lady. I am Captain Trax, your second. Dr. Surnen has been delayed by his work. He will meet us later.”

“What?” I turned to the alien in question. Trax. Unusual name. He was tall, like all the others, but his skin tone was smooth and rich, like the mahogany desk in my father’s office. His hair shone a dark, rusty-colored brownish-red, and his eyes were glowing amber lined with bronze, like tiger eye gemstones. But they weren’t cold stone. The way they bored into me made me think of a burning sun, a fire so hot my skin tingled. He wore a uniform with camo shapes on it, but instead of the drab army green, his was black and gray and looked to have the same type of armor Kristin was wearing.

He was some kind of soldier and my other mate was a doctor?

A freaking doctor?

Was God playing more cruel jokes on me? It wasn’t fucking funny. I barely tolerated doctors on Earth, hated half of them. In my experience they were either uptight assholes like my father or were players with a God complex who replaced their women every few months like they were disposable toothbrushes with tits—and the bigger the boobs, the better. Size zero waist with a triple-D bra cup? Sure. Totally normal.

I was small. Short. Small ass. Small boobs. If these aliens wanted more than a B-cup, they were out of luck.

Peeking above the collar of Trax’s shirt, a shiny, silver metal overlaid his skin. No, not just lying on top, it was part of his neck, embedded, as if it wasn’t superficial at all. It reminded me of one of the Terminator movies, and I wondered how far down it went on his body. His face was unblemished, if a rich, dark chocolate treat could be considered normal in an alien, but there was a band of silver around his neck and his left ear was made up of the stuff.

He stepped forward and lifted my hand into his. I expected him to raise it to his lips and kiss it or something, like an old-fashioned movie, but he held my palm flat to his and used his thumb to pet me. Just his thumb, running back and forth in a slow, hypnotic rhythm. His touch was gentle, his skin warm. The color contrast between our bodies was impressive. However, the size of his much larger hand holding mine made me feel like I was in way over my head here. Mine looked almost childlike in his grasp.

It was time to remember who the alien actually was. I was alien to all the males in the room, and they were the aliens to me. It reminded me that no one was truly different once the physical was stripped away. The fact that I was standing on an alien world was proof that all living peoples were the same in wants, needs and desires even though outwardly we varied in size and shape and color.

He gave my fingers a squeeze, bringing me from my thoughts. Shivers raced over my skin, and I pulled the blanket tighter around me as he tilted his head in concern.

“Are you cold, mate?”

He was my mate. My second, he’d said. So, this Surnen guy was the one the testing had said was a ninety-eight percent match? The goddamned doctor? Who wasn’t here?

“You are my second. My other mate is a doctor?”

He nodded. “That is correct, my lady.”

“And he’s not here because…?” I wanted to know how this was going to go down right now. No sense getting attached if he couldn’t show up to the wedding—or whatever this was. The warden had said I had thirty days to take them or leave them, and if my mate didn’t even bother to show up, that sounded like a leave them to me.

Behind me, Kristin chuckled. “Oh, this is going to be good.”

“Okay. Maxim’s right. Let’s give them some privacy.” Rachel put on what I thought of as the mom voice and started herding everyone out a large door that had slid silently open like in Star Trek .

Kristin lingered until I looked up. When our eyes met, she lifted her chin in a silent signal of sisterhood—at least that’s how I took it. Her small action assured me that I was all right. She was with me, although I wasn’t exactly sure why she needed to ensure I knew she had my back. “Surnen can be… difficult,” she said. “If you need me to kick his ass, just say the word.”

Difficult? Oh, this wasn’t good.

“Kristin!” Rachel tugged on her arm, and Kristin allowed the other woman to pull her along with a chuckle.

“I’m not lying,” she said as she went through the doorway.

“Tyran and Hunt might have something to say about whose ass you can touch, and ass kicking qualifies,” Rachel reminded her.

“Not really,” Kristin disagreed. “I don’t take orders well. Not when it’s ass-kicking time.”

“You will touch no one’s ass, mate.” One of the big guys was talking to her, but he didn’t sound mad. He sounded… aroused.

Or maybe I just had sex on the brain. I had mentally prepared myself to be swept off my feet by two aliens and taken immediately to bed to be claimed—as the warden called it.

Their bickering faded as the door slid closed behind them, sealing me inside, naked under a blanket and speaking with a complete stranger who wasn’t even my mate. He seemed… gentle. A gentle giant, although I wasn’t going to tell him that.

What was I supposed to do now? Go with him? The warden had mentioned this thing about two mates with Prillons, but what did it mean when the guy you were matched to didn’t bother to show up?

I turned back to Trax, who still held my hand, his touch so light that I’d nearly forgotten he still held on to me. “The doctor is too busy to meet me. What now?”

He dropped to one knee before me and bent his head. My mouth fell open.

Was he proposing?

“I apologize for Surnen’s absence. Please understand when I say I am yours, my lady. Your mate. I will serve and protect you, die to keep you safe. Sacrifice all to make you happy. As a Prillon bride, I ask you now to accept my mating collar. This will connect you to your mates, but will not take on my family color until you formally accept our claim. The collar will keep you safe and inform all the warriors and fighters here on The Colony that you are ours and under our protection.”

“I thought you said you were my second.”

Trax offered the slightest of shrugs. “As Surnen is not here to be your primary mate, I have petitioned the Prime to grant me that right.”

What was he talking about? What right?

Trax pulled something from his uniform and held it out. It was the collar he spoke about, and it was identical to the ones I’d seen around Rachel’s and Kristin’s necks. But this one was black, metallic, but… not. It was made of some unidentifiable metal. I had no idea how it stayed about one’s neck as there was no clasp, but it was an alien thing, so I took it from his hand to have a closer look.

“It’s like a wedding ring, but around the neck?”

He looked up, frowned. “I do not know about this ring you speak of, but it is an outward sign that you belong to your mates. Does this… marriage ring form a bond between mates on Earth? Does it form a psychic connection and link your emotions?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“How do your males keep their mates happy if they cannot share emotions?”

“They don’t.” That was a bit rude to all men on Earth, and I heard the bitterness in my voice. Space aliens had no idea what beach bums and surfers considered a relationship. “Well, some of them do. But it’s not easy. They have to work at it.” My father was a case in point. Very traditional. A surgeon. My mother put up with his stern attitude and alpha-male bullshit and had for more than thirty years. I didn’t understand their bond, but I was grateful for it. Their relationship wasn’t perfect, but it was solid. I’d never been one of those kids who worried about dealing with a divorce.