Mated to the Cyborgs(53)

I refused to go back into the hothouse like a good little orchid.

I wasn’t a freaking orchid.

My throat burned with unshed tears that I willed away from my eyes. I wouldn’t cry. I wouldn’t give in to the heartbreak of knowing my men didn’t give a flying fuck about what I could do. I needed to be a valuable member of society, not a mate sitting on a damn pedestal. I wasn’t going to be a sex toy and nothing else, no matter how mind-blowing the sex.

Hunt and Tyran followed behind me, but I ignored them, totally tuning them out. One of them, most likely Hunt, reached out from behind me to place a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged him off and increased my pace. I didn’t want them touching me. Not right now. Not when they felt the way they did. Maybe not ever again. They might want to fuck me, but that seemed to be all they wanted.

The tears that leaked from my eyes every few steps? I couldn’t stop them. Those were nothing. Must have gotten some dirt in my eyes.





* * *





Tyran, Two Hours Later, Medical Station



Doctor Surnen ran the ReGen wand over my hand and I used every ounce of control I possessed to hold still long enough for him to do his job. My armor was gone, replaced by plain blue tunic and pants. I wasn’t in battle, but I was more anxious than I’d been in that Hive cave.

Kristin was shutting me out. Shutting us out. I couldn’t feel anything from our collars but emptiness. Disappointment. Ice cold determination. Something was wrong. Kirstin was heat and fire, passion and joy. Not this dark void.

An hour ago, Hunt had emerged from the ReGen pod, his head healed. He was the only one still in his armor. He’d nearly collapsed when we arrived and they’d put him straight into the pod.

Governor Maxim had insisted we all go straight to the medical station and I hadn’t argued, needing to know that Kristin was well. I didn’t care about my damn fingers or my ribs. I cared about her, that she was whole. That she didn’t have one scratch on her after the battle.

Now that the danger was past, and Hunt was healed, I couldn’t take my eyes from our mate.

I wanted to fuck Kristin, to sink into her, into the pleasure that could only be found in her body. To forget our ordeal, to forget that she’d been in danger. That we could have lost her. I wanted to finally claim her, to make the worry of her being taken from us, of her belonging to another, go away. I wanted all the stress of life just to disappear. Hell, I wanted everything and everyone to disappear so that Hunt and I could be alone with our mate.

Once we’d been healed, my fingers no longer broken, Hunt’s head fully recovered, I assumed we’d get her between us. Yes, I wanted to fuck her, but I also wanted to punish her. Gods, she’d gone into danger and she needed to know that would not allowed.

I’d have rather died in that cave than have my beautiful mate suffer or be hurt. Or worse. Gods only knew what the Hive did to females.

Kristin was sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the medical station, arguing with the medical officer who was trying to run a ReGen wand over her.

“I’m fine.”

“Lady Zakar, I must insist.”

She rolled her eyes and sat motionless as the man did his job, the ReGen wand scanning through the cream colored pants and tunic she’d been given by the medical staff. We’d all been stripped, bathed, examined—all but Hunt. I wanted her in blue, my blue, but the tunic was better than the armor she’d been wearing, armor soaked in blood. Hive blood.

It could as easily have been hers.

The moment the wand indicated she was well, she pushed the medical officer away and hopped up out of the chair like she was in a big hurry to go somewhere. And she was. Away from me. From us.

She hurried into the outlying corridor, but there would be no escaping us. Hunt and I both had been cleared by the doctor, and we’d both been waiting for her. We were no more than two steps behind.

Once we walked through the door to our quarters, I did couldn’t hold my tongue for one more moment.

“I want to spank your ass until it’s a fiery shade of red.”

My voice was deep and dominant, but it lacked the usual conviction. I knew Kristin heard it because when she turned to face me, her eyes didn’t tip down in submission, but instead met mine in continued concern. I felt her persistent anger laced with confusion.

“Because I went to save you?” she asked.

“Because you risked your life for mine.”

“For ours,” Hunt added. He tugged his armor off over his head, let it drop to the floor. I felt his exhaustion and it weighed on mine.

“We’re supposed to protect each other,” she countered, hands on her hips.

I slowly shook my head, gripped the hem of her shirt in my fingers. “No, we’re supposed to protect you.”