Page 15

Lenarro grunts when I peel open the damaged power cell in his side.

He’s been beaten to hell. And as much as I hate that I’m helping the enemy, I’m really trying to get some answers for myself.

Seeing how he’s put together, how similar it is to what Myria had on her, makes me think she’s not in a shell but part of the cybernetics like him.

A Wrecktank.

Stars, Solcrue made Myria into their version of a Wrecktank!

“How did it start?” I ask him. “Your augments.”

Lenarro looks up at the ceiling lights. “Burned my hands saving my friend Joey. At least, he was my friend, once.”

His voice is filled with regret.

“Not the same?” I ask.

Lenarro snorts and looks away.

I repair the power cell and the muscle pistons that have been crushed around it.

“Let me guess. Hand augments caused renal failure. Then the synthetic kidneys caused spleen failure, then liver failure, then toxic conditions for your brain, so they had to add an extra filtration unit near your spine for your cerebrospinal fluid? Then back augments to protect and strengthen your spine and the hardware there.”

“It just keeps going.” Lenarro shakes his head. “For now. Don’t know how long I have.”

“Five years, maybe.”

He rasps a breath in hopelessness.

“Wrecktank history. It’s why they moved onto BloodCyphers and the first Relics. Put every Wrecktank in hibernation until they could fix the Augment Contagion Effect. Truth is, a simple bloodtoner with the right meds would’ve solved the whole mess.”

I bump his fractured lateral femur support when I sit back to grab a different tool. Lenarro sucks air in through his teeth and grabs my leg.

Armor is in the room in a flash. He grabs Lenarro by the throat. “Let her go.”

Lenarro releases his hand as his face reddens.

“It’s my fault, Armor. I bumped an injury.”

Armor asses me, then lets Lenarro go, huffs, and storms out.

The door swishes shut.

“Fucking hell.” Lenarro gasps for air while I disconnect the control panels and cords in his thigh.

The CSP ship has a lot less stock than I thought I’d find. But after a glance at the Cyborg Security Patrol sign on the wall with Security scratched out and Submission written in marker underneath, I’m reminded of why they weren’t as interested in saving Titan parts for Titans.

I repair his thigh and a bullet wound in his back.

“I know why you’re really helping me.” Lenarro strains at his cuffs as I pry out a bit of burnt wiring. “I saw your sister. I know you’re using me to learn about her. But I accept that.”

“You know Myria?”

“Saw her in the lab on Vessna last round. They move her a lot. Heard she has her own ship now.”

I replace the panel in his back and pack up my bag. “Do you know what she was before this?”

Lenarro sucks on his split lip. “They always took Creators. I just got lucky, I guess.”

“Doubt that.” I scour his body, mapping the parts that I can, and scan his body with my tablet so I have notes for if I ever find my sister again.

He struggles like he wants to sit up. “Can you rotate me so we can have a legitimate conversation? I hate talking to the ceiling. I feel like a crazy person.”

I turn the table so he can look at me better, then I walk away from him.

I don’t owe him shit. Besides, it gives me a good opportunity to see more of his back and the augmented filtration system they added along his spine that gives him a monstrous look.

It’s armored and looks like lying back might be uncomfortable.

“We don’t have time for a lot of talk. So I’m going to tell you the most important things,” he continues. “First, I work for General Erdox, not by choice.”

I circle the cell. “The one who led CSP in the revolt against Titan and Omega Forces?”

He closes his eyes and nods once. “When I was younger, I had a crush on Joey’s half-sister, Leah.

I saved Joey’s life before he was a piece of shit because he was my friend, and Leah still had hope they could be a family.

I wanted that for us, for all three of us.

But General Erdox held her life over my head.

In exchange, I served him by protecting his son. Serve him.”

I glance at Joey, slumped in his cuffs in the neighboring cell. “Joey Erdox ?”

“Yeah. General Krader and General Erdox screwed the same chick and hated each other for it. Fought over her. And now look at us all. Fucking mess. But Erdox has a very manipulative way with words. I think Krader was a far better man. So their mother and I share something in common, falling for Erdox’s bullshit promises. ”

I sit in the guard’s seat by the door. “Do you know where he is now?”

“Stays out of conflict orbit. Always remote. But I know of a few places.”

“Then you’re useful enough that the Titans won’t kill you.”

He shifts like he’s uncomfortable. “Is Leah still alive?”

“As far as I know.”

He swallows like his throat aches. “I know she hates me. I just wish she knew why I did it.”

“She’s Bonded.”

Lenarro laughs sadly. “You think we don’t know how to line up Titan personalities with humans or to follow the Blood Heir Code? I’m sure it’s Savage. He was General Krader’s Titan in Command.”

The door slides open. Armor looks from me to Lenarro. “Venom Squadron. We need information.”

Joey shouts at us from the other room, but I can’t make out what he says.

“Use Iridithatium smoke to tint the ghostcloaks. All I can say is hydramidium can hold up to the acid. But I haven’t overheard anything else about the ships. Just watch out. The Solcrue on these ships have venom augments, too. Now somebody better hit me in the face to help me keep my cover.”

“Gladly.” Armor walks in and tags Lenarro in the nose, sending his face gushing blood.

“Damn it, Armor!”

“It’s fine,” Lenarro mumbles with a smile as purple liquid stains his face. “Pain now reminds me I’m not in her lab anymore.”

“Erdox’s?”

“Shivnel’s. Sevrin’s twin sister.” Lenarro lays his head back, laughing. “Sevrin, the maniacal Solcrue that created the welvirs and tortured hundreds of people trying to get augments right, has a fucking sister who’s worse than him. She has a private Poison Arrow docked on Corenge .”

I step out of the room with Armor and glance back at Lenarro. He got suckered into the war without even wanting it. His actions were to protect a human, not hurt one. He just drew an unlucky card with Joey. I give him a subtle nod of appreciation, but it’s all I can do for now.

“You believe anything he says?” Armor asks me when the door shuts.

My gut wants to. “Guess we’ll just have to try iridithatium smoke.” Before I can continue, Armor interrupts.

“Loaded. Javelin found some on a lower deck. Makes sense that CSP are in on it.”

I give him the rundown of what Lenarro’s said as we walk up to where the pilots are. “Have Karambit check Joey for trackers.”

“I already did,” Karambit remarks.

I turn to him. “Do you really think General Erdox would let his son disappear on him that easily? Check him again.”

“Shit. Is that who he is?” Mace asks.

“Unfortunately.”

They disappear down the hall to check on Joey, giving me time to scan the desert plains ahead as I think about what Lenarro said. In the distant sky, I notice a swarm of smaller ships. “What’s that?”

Armor cants toward me. “Titan Holo is projecting that from another location.”

“Distraction?”

He nods. “Esthi, can I speak to you alone for a moment?”

“Right now?”

“Yes. It’s important.”

Armor leads me into a private office not far from the cockpit. When the door shuts, he turns around and guides me back and against it. “You cannot keep doing these dangerous things. You are too special to risk yourself.”

But when I lift my head to retort and see the way his eyes trace my lips, I think there’s something else going on. “Armor?”

“I don’t like this worry I feel for you.”

“I’m sure it’s just overcompensation because of the fall...” I start.

He takes me by the back of my neck, and directs my mouth close to his until only breath slips between our lips. I want to ask him what he’s doing, but the affection is so unexpected, like when we were by the creek, that I’m frozen in anticipation.

Armor’s eyebrows pinch as if he’s expecting rejection.

Go for it. Come on, big guy.

Armor looks away and lets out a breath. “I’m sorry. I’m not used to this freedom of emotion. Our programs always hid it and forced us to feel but not do anything to satisfy the cravings that we have for things. I must be broken.”

“Are humans broken?”

He looks at me like I’ve committed a crime. “No. I didn’t mean to imply that.”

“We are naturally emotional beings. We feel things, and we give in. Part of being human is learning when to give in and when not to.”

“How do you know?”

“If it is something that will make you stronger, go for it. But that’s what a Gray would say. I’m aware of that. If you’d asked my little brother, he’d have said the opposite. It’s a choice. Live hard and fast and short like him, or cautious and longer like me, and any range in between.”

He smirks. “You, cautious?”

“I don’t run into a battle without weapons, hoping my body will be enough.”

His mouth quirks to one side. “We used what we had.”

“It’s a lot more than what humans have.” I reach between us and stroke his swollen shaft. A surge of lust heats my core.

He growls and nips at my neck.

“Consequence is the burden of freedom,” I continue, trying to stay on task. But all I really want is Armor inside of me again. “What are you willing to deal with to have what you want? That’s what being human is all about. We programmed that weakness out of you for a reason. Look at you.”

Armor runs a hand down his bare chest. “We are your creations, not your superiors.”

“You are superior in every way: skill, muscles, and…” I squeeze his cock.

Armor pants and grinds into me. “There’s one we’re not.”

“What’s that?”

He braces the back of my head and guides my lips to his for a kiss so deep and sensual that it makes my heart race. “The way you feel is far superior.”

I had no idea Titans could care so much about humans after everything we put them through and what they’ve endured to fight for us.

“Do you think—” Armor breaks the kiss to trail his nose down my neck. “You could ever love a Titan?”

He curls around me like he’s desperate to hang onto me. His cock presses into my pussy. Then, he suddenly braces us inside the room with his wings. “Hang on!”

The ship jerks hard and surges faster across the desert. I’m slung around inside Armor’s virile arms, pulse pounding in my ears. “What’s going on?”

“We’re entering the battle zone. Skysprinters know we’ve taken over the ship.” Armor carries me to the back of the office. “I need you protected in case my team needs me.”

“What are you talking about?”

He shoves me backward and into a closet that ratchets around me like thousands of little metal fingers. “It’s CSP armor, so just keep that in mind.”

The metal swallows me in a carapace I can’t wrestle my way out of. I’ve never worn CSP armor, but I’m certain by the weight and the diagnostics that light up in my vision that it’s similar to, if not better than, Starjumpers’ in terms of keeping me alive.

Armor leans inside and kisses me once more before my mouth plates over. “I need you protected if I can’t do it. I can’t stand the thought of you getting hurt on my watch.” Then Armor turns and hurries out of the room.