Chapter 11

Calie perched, statue-still, on Kaden’s lap, while her nerves jangled, and invisible butterflies burst into flight in her stomach. Her pulse sped in her veins, shooting tension into her forehead.

Terrans.

The name sounded very Earth-like.

And from the way everyone watched her, with serious poker faces, something big was happening.

“I have you, Calie.” Kaden’s voice was soft. Meant to be soothing.

Her right leg began to twitch.

Directly in front of her, the outside view disappeared.

A human man with a super short, high-and-tight, military cut and a you’re-in-trouble-now expression on his sun-weathered craggy face, filled the screen. He inhaled, and his chest expanded the fabric of his stiff-looking black uniform with a neckband reminding her of a priest’s collar.

Behind him, Calie could make out little of the room he stood in, other than a wall with a floor-to-ceiling window, through which a sky streaked blue and green was all there was to see.

Green. In the sky. So...probably not Earth, then. Calie kept her disappointment to herself, along with her many questions, starting with what the heck a clearly human military guy was doing out here, in another galaxy—the Aurora Cluster, Athena had told her a while back—so very, very far from Earth?

None of the cyborgs spoke, and the man seemed to be expecting them to, since he didn’t say anything either, just stared down Rex.

After a long, awkward-for-her bout of silence, the human man’s brown eyes—dark like straight black coffee, which Calie would love to be drinking right about then, preferably laced with whiskey—settled on her.

“Greetings, Calista Grivas. I’m General Thorne.

“How do you know my name?”

“You have two choices, Ms. Grivas,” he said, completely ignoring her question. “Remain on the planet the cyborgs are transporting you to presently, for the remainder of your natural life. Or return to Earth, without any memories of what you’ve experienced...here.”

Okay, the dude was seriously starting to annoy her. If he could look any more pompous, he might explode from the force of his bad attitude.

Skipping over his mysterious without memories comment, she leveled a stony expression right back at him. “I know we’re in the Aurora Cluster, so you can stop being so cagey.” She tried to keep the snark out of her voice. A little bit. Okay, not at all. And if he starts mansplaining anything, all bets for proper social etiquette are off.

The general flicked his cranky gaze to Rex. “You were told not to reveal a single—”

“They didn’t,” Calie interrupted Mr. Stick Up His Butt. “Athena told me all about this galaxy. Well, except for you, it would seem.” Something I should ask Athena about later. “Why should I listen to you, anyway?”

General Grumpy Thorne opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off, “You know what? Forget I asked. I say no thanks to both of your options.”

“You have no other choice.” A sinister gleam entered his coal black eyes. “Need I elaborate on the most... permanent alternative?”

Under her butt, Kaden’s legs grew taut. An honest-to-God growl trickled from his throat. The other cyborgs stilled, their silence charged with sudden tension.

Right there with you, guys .

She patted Kaden’s arm, which tightened around her after the barely veiled death threat from the asshole, then extricated herself from his hold to slide off his lap. Rising to her full five-seven height, chin up, shoulders back, she squared off with the asshole stranger.

“No, thanks. I’ve heard enough. I’d say it was nice to meet a fellow human, but I’d be lying.”

Yeah, she could give bad attitude as good as she got. She was soooooo over bossy people. Scratch that. Bossy beings. Just because this guy looked human like her didn’t mean he actually was. Either way, she was dee-oh-en-ee done with them all.

“You can take your offers and shove them up your ass, if there’s even room for it, what with that huge pole already stuck in there.”

Trace expelled a gush of air. The other cyborgs seemed to freeze even further, but the tension eased from the space. If she were a betting kinda gal, she would wager they were trying really hard not to laugh.

Warmth bloomed in her chest. Between the gifts and the subtle signs of support, it seemed she made some new friends. She glanced behind her. And one very special friend who makes my body sing, and who’s worming his way deep into my heart.

The general sputtered, and it sounded like he was swearing in some non-English language that sort of resembled a Romance language, so she snapped back at him with a colorful insult in Greek. Thanks, Dad, for making me bilingual.

Trace’s shoulders trembled.

The screen disappeared, and the outside world of stars and other space stuff surrounded them once again.

Everyone in the room shifted their attention to her, while Trace laughed so hard tears leaked from his eyes, and he doubled over in his chair.

Kaden rose then scooped her off the ground into a firm hug. “You are fierce, my little mate,” he growled into her braids, then set her back on her feet.

“That was, without question, the best thing I’ve witnessed in a long time,” Rex murmured from the command chair, amusement glittering in his gray eyes.

“Yeah, I hate that guy,” Gunnar added from across the room, where he flipped a dagger and caught it, over and over. “Deserves a beatdown.”

Kaden threaded their fingers together. “You have more options than the general outlined. And total autonomy. Now, and forever.”

“Now and forever,” the other men agreed in unison.

It sounded like a promise, a vow, a sign of solidarity. After so long alone in a violent and alien world, she simply couldn’t stop the tears of gratitude from welling in her eyes.

“Oh fuck, we made her cry,” Trace said.

“Happy tears?” Kaden squeezed her hand. His touch soothed her and felt so...right. He’s beginning to feel like home.

“Yeah.” She sniffled. “Happy.”

Her stomach growled. “And hungry.”

The men laughed.

“I could eat,” Gunnar said. “Especially if Dash is cooking.”

Dash nodded. “Sure. Cap’?”

Rex nodded. “Yes.”

“Auto-pilot engaged,” Dash murmured then flashed from the room so fast, Calie could barely track him.

She glanced up at Kaden. “You have actual food? Not just tubes and discs?”

“Yes.” Kaden tugged her toward the door. The others followed.

A family dinner, then. The thought made her smile.

* * *

The food was fantastic. Of course, after so long consuming dry, cardboard pucks, anything would’ve tasted heavenly. Still, Dash made magic with their high-tech cooking equipment, and she scarfed down a salad of leafy greens—who knew spinach and kale grew all over the universe?—some pink potato-like objects, and a thick slab of protein that looked like and almost tasted like beef. She washed it all down with an interesting booze reminiscent of alcoholic apple cider, and now she had a wicked-good buzz.

Seated at the oval dining table with the cyborgs, she sipped her drink, enjoying the warmth of Kaden’s arm stretched along the back of her chair. Around them the others traded smack talk and finished their second and third rounds of food—these big guys could sure pack it away—and Trace kept refilling all their cups with the tasty cider. None of them looked the least bit drunk. Probably took a lot to get them even remotely tipsy.

They sure were a handsome, fun, and deadly bunch. She was truly beginning to like them all a lot. Which was a good thing, since one of her options for a next move included possibly hanging with them. Exploring the galaxy surrounded by cyborg super soldiers didn’t sound half bad, especially with her ever-increasing attachment to Kaden.

A flashback of their vigorous sexual gymnastics against the bathroom wall flitted through her mind, and her wonderfully sore and achy girl parts awoke, interested in more. She squirmed on her seat and expelled a big breath. Kaden noticed, of course, and dropped a soft kiss to her forehead before replying to Trace’s latest jibe.

Aaaaand cue the warm fuzzies.

One little kiss from this man and look at me. She bopped him in the shoulder with the side of her head then smiled at Trace sitting on her other side.

“Refill?” Trace asked, lifting their fourth—or was it fifth?—bottle of cider and waggling it at her glass.

“I’m good, thanks.”

“Better than good,” Kaden murmured, stroking her shoulder and sending shivers down her spine.

Between the nice buzz and the little pets and kisses from Kaden, she was well on the way to euphoria. And wouldn’t it be nice to feel this good every day? While traveling around outer space and visiting new planets? She’d thought she wanted to go straight home, if she could figure out how to circumvent General Thorne, but...

I have some big decisions to make.

“I tire of your endless banter, cyborgs,” Athena piped up from her shiny golden orb hovering above Calie’s bracelet in the center of the table. Trace had worked some beyond-Calie’s-brain techie magic, and Athena currently glittered like a ball of fairy light that pulsed every time her AI friend spoke up. “And I am not, nor shall I ever be, a table ornament,” she added with a huff.

“You know we love you, Athena,” Trace purred at her.

“Not enough to let me into your system,” Athena snapped back.

“That’s because we admire your abilities too much. Our system isn’t worthy of you,” Trace lied through his shiny white teeth.

Calie let the back-and-forth between Trace and Athena wash over her as her buzzy brain decided to ponder the Big Deal decision, playing the question over and over in her head like some old song she’d once heard in her former life on Earth.

Should I stay...or should I go?

Terra was one option... In between shoveling food into their mouths, the cyborgs had filled Calie in on who exactly the Terrans were, and to say she’d been shocked would be an understatement. To think humans had not only existed before they did on Earth, but they had then founded Earth as some sort of ongoing bio experiment? It boggled her mind, to say the least.

Equally shocking was the fact they had some sort of super-advanced, proprietary portal technology they kept locked down for their—and the cyborgs’—use only. It allowed them to reach the Milky Way galaxy—and specifically the Terran’s observation station on Mars—in mere minutes versus the months it would take to travel there by ship. In other words, the Terrans could take her home in about the proverbial blink of an eye, if they wanted to, with no one the wiser on Earth. Of course, they also wanted to mess with her brain and delete all her memories of their galaxy and what she’d experienced there.

Including Kaden...

The thought of losing Kaden in any manner at all—physically or mentally—tightened her chest. They may have only known each other a short time in the grand scheme of things, but her gut was yelling at her loud and clear.

There’s potential here. And I like him. A lot, a lot.

Aaaaaaand that thought brought her back to the fact that, if she retained her memories and managed to go home with Kaden in tow, his skin color would be like a spotlight beaming, Alien Guy, right this way.

Maybe they could meet on Mars? If the Terrans agreed to it, because apparently, they were the boss of the operation.

No one other than the Terrans and cyborgs were currently allowed in Calie’s galaxy, the cyborgs had explained. And safeguarding her significantly less-technologically advanced quadrant from intrusion was one of the many tasks the cyborgs took on for the Interstellar Aurorae Coalition, of which the Terrans were the head.

She could only hope not all Terrans were as horrible as General Thorne, since she would have to meet them. Soon. Maybe she could talk them out of the mind wipe option? Maybe she would stay with the cyborgs and take the long way home, do it behind the Terrans’ backs. Screw their portal option and the brain surgery.

But no. She didn’t want to get her new superpowered friends in trouble, even if it was clear they could handle any crap thrown at them by anyone in the universe.

Well, damn. Her eyes burned, and she blinked a few times to quell the tears. I have to leave them. Leave him.

They didn’t need or deserve her bringing any more trouble to their door.

“More booze?” Trace asked her again, his expression oddly sober for the irreverent goofball.

Ah, he’d been watching her think. Oh, and so had Kaden. They were both observing her and—

The silence registered. Oops, the entire band studied her as if they could read her mind, or well, her expression, anyway.

She shook her head then drained her glass, setting it on the table. “I’m good, thanks.” She mustered up a smile, even though her heart was beginning to break.

“I think it’s time for me to go.”