Page 7 of Grounded (Convergence #1)

Commander Vor of the Nethren Ranuvul Army growled and grabbed the woman's hips harder as she rode him.

Seated in a stable chair perfect for intercourse, he was braced for her greedy fucking.

He needed it too. After coming back from that mission alone, he had to get the fury out, and copulation was always a great option.

But he didn't look at the woman on his lap.

Vor stared over her metal shoulder at the rest of the room.

Other couples fucked on furniture, on the floor, or against the walls.

That's what the place was for. If you wanted a sexual release, you went to a copulation club.

Simple. That was the Nethren way. No need for complications or useless emotions.

You needed sex, you found a willing partner, and had sex.

Nethren only took marriage vows if they wanted to procreate, and that was more of a contract for raising children together than an emotional tie.

Otherwise, you fucked whenever you wanted, whoever you wanted, as long as they wanted to fuck you.

But something was off tonight. The sex wasn't working. His mind kept flicking at something like a piece of meat caught between his teeth.

Up on the surface, standing in a pit beneath a sun he hadn't seen in years, Vor had felt something.

An urge. No, a longing. He was drawn to someone there.

He could feel her. She watched him, but he couldn't see her.

She was the one who fixed the barrier he brought down.

Had his destruction and her repair created a bond between them?

Ridiculous. And yet, it must have, because his connection to her warned him that the barrier was closing.

It was how he got away. Which was not ridiculous—it was inexplicable.

The feelings. The bond. The warning. None of it made sense.

Nonsense. And yet, as he thought of the woman beyond that glass eye, his hips jerked up into the soft, wet body above him, a surge of lust wiping away his reasoning.

Nethren weren't all metal. Tech fused with Nethren babies randomly during gestation.

It chose which parts to make into machinery and which to keep flesh, varying that choice with every pregnancy.

At that moment, Vor was grateful the Source of Technology had seen fit to give him gears in his hips.

They powered his thrusts, sending his lover into a bouncing frenzy.

An image appeared in his mind—a woman of pure flesh, her dark hair glossed red. Her features were soft, but her expression was hard. Despite her vulnerable body, devoid of metal, she was a warrior. Her full lips parted on his name, and her eyes flashed blue.

Suddenly, Vor knew the Medean woman would be his, and the epiphany was exactly what he needed to push him over the edge. Gears locked his hips into place, and his cock pulsed as Vor closed his eyes to enjoy the greatest orgasm of his life.