Page 12 of Grounded (Convergence #1)

Commander Vor closed his metal fist. Opened it.

Closed it again. He could feel his blood pumping through the sparkling tubes within the metal.

The plasma, platelets, and cells gave the tech life while the tech in turn cleaned his blood of any toxins.

The Nethren body was a wondrous machine meant to withstand rough conditions.

Emotional upheaval was not one of those conditions.

“Commander?” General Ankeh slapped the table.

The vid on the table's inset screen flickered.

But Vor didn't look away. It was her. His woman.

She was working on the barrier. Converging in the way of her people.

Just doing her job. And yet, every move she made seemed meant to inflame him.

The way she caressed the metal. How she converged it with magic.

The parting of her lips. The way she knelt. It was all for him.

Vor cleared his throat. “I heard you. And no, the repairs aren't an issue. She isn't altering the barrier, only maintaining it. So, the information I gathered on my first surfacing remains accurate. I will move forward as planned.”

The gears in Ankeh's neck whirred as he leaned forward. His eyes narrowed, the one on the right focusing on Vor with alternating spins of the colored rings in his iris. “Who is this woman?” He tapped the screen.

“How should I know?” Vor finally looked up.

“You do know her.” Ankeh's eyes widened. “How?”

“I don't. I merely lust after her. I'm thinking of taking her the next time I go up.”

“Your mission is the barrier, not the abduction of a Medean whore.”

Vor hissed and leaned forward. “Don't call her that!”

Ankeh drew back. “What is wrong with you? Is that . . . are you emotional?”

Vor blinked. “No, of course not. I'm just eager to take the next step.”

It wasn't that Nethren had no emotions at all.

They simply didn't bother with the tender ones—those that created complications without benefit.

Fury and even anxiety had their places. It drove a warrior to achieve more.

Those were acceptable emotions and as such, weren't thought of as emotions at all.

The fury Vor had just shown, however, was one that stemmed from a very unacceptable place.

“Fine. Do what you have to, to deal with your . . . feelings for this woman,” Ankeh made the word sound like a curse and waved his hand at Vor.

“You completed the first part of the mission by hiding those cameras in the pit.

We finally have a way to watch them. But that's only the beginning. I need you to plant the device within the barrier.”

“I will.”

“Only then can you go after the woman.”

Vor nodded, not at all surprised that the General was fine with him taking a captive. Nethren were a practical people. If something distracted you, you handled it. In whatever way necessary. A Nethren warrior always did what he had to do to get his mind tight.

And Vor needed his woman.

His mind had been slowly unraveling since he had returned from the surface.

Seeing his woman on vid feeds—confirming the image he had seen in his mind—only worsened things.

If Vor had been a more eccentric Nethren, he might have worried that the woman was claiming his heart.

But the heart was only an organ. It couldn't be responsible for his fascination with the Medean.

And it couldn't explain what he was feeling.

Emotions. Soft ones. Weak ones. Ones that should not exist inside him.

Vor couldn't understand it. There had never been any weakness in him.

Not ever. His parents had known since he was young that he would become a soldier.

And he had known since he was young that he would become a leader.

One day, Vor would lead his people back to the surface, and they would make him king for it.

The Nethren didn't have kings, but he would be the first.

If he could focus on something other than that woman!

Commander Vor nodded at the general, got up, and left the room.

He already had a new team selected to conduct a second surfacing.

With the vid feeds aiding them, they'd get it right this time.

Hopefully, there would be minimal losses.

But despite his determination and furious irritation, the woman haunted him.

No, she taunted him. Maybe it was Medean convergence.

Magic! That fucking flighty evil shit. The woman could have sent it through the camera and targeted him.

“If that's the case, she will die,” Vor growled as he stomped through the halls of the military headquarters.

But even as Vor spoke the words, his mind denied them. He couldn't kill her. Not his woman. She needed to live so she could satisfy the needs she had created in him. Or converged in him. However she had done it, this was her fault. So, she would ease his ache and make him strong again.

Light ran through the metal wall beside him, and Vor stopped. Born of technology, he knew when Source called. And he knew how to answer. He laid his metal palm over the light, and the Source of Technology uploaded its guidance.

A few seconds later, Vor strode down the hall with a rare smile on his face. It terrified every Nethren who crossed his path.