Page 6 of A Mate For Matrix (Cyborg Protection Unit #1)

Chapter Four

J ana giggled as she watched the newest member of her family struggle to walk under a wave of kittens. It wasn’t easy when you had three kittens attacking you all at once. She knew that from experience.

It turned out that Linguine was a total sweetheart.

He was endlessly patient—and just as curious as they were.

She hadn’t known what to do with him at first. Once she’d finally reassured herself that he wasn’t going to eat the kittens or her, Jana had given him a quick exam and found no injuries.

Her best guess? The truck had grazed him and knocked a few circuits loose.

Hoping his natural instincts would guide him home, she’d opened the back door to the office. Instead of taking off into the woods as she’d expected, he had sat down and stared up at her with wide, curious gray eyes.

Unsure of what she should do, she had loaded him and the kittens into the back seat of her ten-year-old, dark green Toyota Camry, made a quick stop at the gas station and the grocery store, and then headed home.

“Butter, I swear, you’re going to choke on a tail one of these days,” Jana warned as she lifted the forty-pound bag of dog food out of the trunk of her car.

“Ugh! This is heavy,” she groaned. “Honeybun, keep up, sweetheart.”

Jana blinked, frozen in place, as Linguine turned, opened his jaws, and—like a mother wolf—gently lifted Honeybun by the scruff.

The kitten dangled with a sleepy mewl, utterly unbothered.

When she released a pitiful meow, Biscuit lunged for her tail, as if trying to save his sister from certain doom.

Shaking her head, Jana turned back around and toe-opened the back screen door, which was slightly ajar, waiting for her ensemble of misfits to enter.

After she’d put the dog food in the pantry, Jana knelt down and gently extricated Honeybun, who was staring back at her with a sleepy look, from Linguine’s hold.

She tucked the kitten against her chest and reached out with her free hand to scratch behind Linguine’s ear.

Once again, the look of pure bliss came into his eyes.

She was about to stand up when a glow on Linguine’s ear caught her attention.

The soft red glow blinked steadily at the edge of his ear, no brighter than a firefly’s pulse. Her fingers brushed it and found a raised bump beneath the fur—metallic, smooth. Not natural. Not wild.

“What’s this?” Jana whispered, her eyes glued to the light.

Linguine’s ear twitched and he sat frozen, his gaze on the door. Jana carefully lowered Honeybun to the floor. Realization dawned on her, and she released a groan.

“That’s a tracker device, isn’t it?” she asked, twisting to sit on the floor.

“Of course! You were probably raised in captivity, which is why you are so good around people, before you were released back into the wild. They are probably tracking you to see how you are doing. They are so not going to be happy to find that I’ve adopted you,” Jana groaned in despair before she looked at Linguine with a twinkle in her eyes.

“Oh, well. We’ll just tell them that this is Jana’s Resort for Wayward Animals. It will be our little secret, okay?”

Jana bent and pressed a kiss to Linguine’s forehead before scooping up the three tiny attention-seekers clamoring around her feet.

She pushed up off the floor and wiped her hands on the back of her jeans.

With a shake of her head, she scratched the wolf’s head once more before she turned her attention to her daily chores.

“Okay, guys. Momma’s got to clean up yesterday’s mess before someone else gets stuck in the laundry basket,” Jana informed them with a grin. “Who wants to help fold clothes?”

Almost immediately, the three kittens took off for the living room as if they’d understood what she’d said. Jana paused in the doorway and looked back at Linguine, who continued to stare intently at the door. A slight frown creased her brow, and she gave him a sad smile.

“Do you want to go out?” Jana asked in a slightly uneven voice.

Her eyes widened and her breath caught when Linguine turned to look at her and shook his head.

“Well, how about you keep the kittens occupied while I fold clothes? Mr. Marker, the landlord, came by for the rent last week, and the cheeky little furballs had taken my panties out of the basket just as I opened the door. I was mortified that he saw them playing tug-of-war with them! You know what that dirty old man said? He said he wouldn’t mind playing with my panties as long as I was wearing them!

He’s got to be, like, in his, I don’t know, sixties?

I was like ‘take the money and go already!’”

K-Nine’s eyes danced with amusement at Jana’s rambling commentary. He had learned over the few hours that she liked to talk… a lot. He’d never encountered anyone so entertaining in his life. Even Matrix didn’t talk this much.

He also liked the fact that she was very affectionate. She was always cuddling him and the other three creatures. His gaze turned to the fluffy balls of fur. Kittens. She called them kittens.

He’d learned—often painfully—that they loved ambushing his paws, tail, and ears whenever he rested. Actually, they attacked just about anything that moved and were surprisingly pretty good at the stalking part. They just needed instruction on their execution.

K-Nine settled down near the long, brightly patterned piece of furniture where Jana sat. She was lifting clothing items out of the pre-formed material used to house them. The kittens were halfway through tugging a sock through a hole in the basket when they spotted him.

The moment he lay down, he saw them coming. A soft bark had two of the kittens darting under the low wooden table while the third, Honeybun, plopped down in front of him and looked up.

A long sigh escaped him, and he lowered his head. Once again, a tiny, sandpaper tongue swept over the sensor embedded in the tip of his nose. Honeybun, the golden one. The information flashed through his sensors and into the database in his brain.

Within seconds, he could feel one of the other kittens trying to climb on him. Biscuit, the climber. The little gray kitten enjoyed climbing on everything and was much better at it than his siblings.

K-Nine’s head jerked around when he felt a tug on his tail. Butter, the cream-colored one. She had grown very attached to his tail and even slept with it tucked around her little body. K-Nine marveled at how different they were—and how much he already recognized them.

They were as fascinating to observe as Jana was, K-Nine thought with a wince when Biscuit dug his sharp claws into his side. A moment later, Biscuit was passed out, sprawled across him.

He lifted his tail—still trailing Butter—and gently placed her beside her brother. Honeybun had pushed up under his front leg and was softly purring as she settled down to sleep. It wouldn’t last long, but it would give Jana time to finish her chores and perhaps feed herself.

With a sigh, K-Nine lowered his head beside Honeybun and listened as Jana talked about the vet she worked for. His eyelids drooped as her soothing voice washed over him.

He absentmindedly tried to connect with Matrix. He could feel the emergency locator beacon pulsing in the tip of his ear. A vague urgency buzzed at the edge of his consciousness—he was supposed to be doing something important.

He knew he was here on Earth with Matrix.

They’d been searching for something, but he couldn’t remember what.

His memory files were still partially offline while the repair bots continued working on the damage to his communications system and memory storage, but K-Nine knew there was something important that he needed to remember.

The trio piled on top of him like fuzzy little invaders, purring, snuffling, and kneading his side with needle-claws. He adjusted and maneuvered, tucking tails and toes into a pile. He hadn’t known what bonding felt like before—but this… this had to be it.

K-Nine moved his chin when the kitten stretched, pushing closer to him. The soft purr came again, warming him. This was a different feeling from what he had ever had with Matrix.

This felt—good.

Not that what he felt for Matrix felt bad, but this was—warmer, more comforting.

“You guys… you’re all I’ve got,” Jana whispered, reaching over and carefully lowering the two kittens sprawled on his side so that they were next to Honeybun. “It’s nice.”

K-Nine released a soft rumble of satisfaction. Yes, it is nice , he thought as he lowered his head.

His thoughts buzzed—Matrix, mission, malfunction—but they were quieted by the warmth of the golden fur ball snoring under his chin. He decided right then and there that Jana and the furballs were now his family—along with Matrix.

There is room on our ship for them all.

K-Nine’s eyes fluttered shut. They were a pack now. Matrix would surely understand.