Page 25 of Her Alien Cyborgs (The Drift: Haven Colony #10)

Even with the inertial dampeners on, Kalan found himself staggering as he fought to keep his balance when the Gambit accelerated.

He tried to spread his wings, but they were clamped to his back by the EVA suit he wore.

He’d almost forgotten about that while he was moving along the hull of the ship. Being out in the void, with nothing but blackness in every direction, was almost like flying.

Once the ship’s acceleration smoothed out, he unlatched his helmet and removed it. Zero-G was fun, but having his head crammed inside a helmet with a limited field of vision and stale-tasting air hadn’t been enjoyable.

“What was it like?” Fyr’enth asked once he had his own helmet off.

“The sims were mostly accurate. The views are better, though. Open sky in all directions instead of one. It was more disorienting than I had expected. It felt like I was falling much of the time, and I couldn’t use my wings.”

“I felt the same thing every time I looked out the hatch. We’ll have to find out what adaptations the Vardarians use for their suits. No doubt we’ll learn more than we want once we reach Haven.”

They’d talked via their internal link the whole time Kalan was outside the ship and had agreed that the colony was the obvious choice.

That made things problematic too. Even if the plan worked and they could stop the tracker from sending a signal, the ones chasing them would have to come to the same conclusion.

If they left messages before leaving this system, it was possible, even likely, that the IAF would beat them to the colony.

In fact, they probably had ships on their way there already.

It meant they’d be flying into a dangerous situation.

He grinned as he began freeing himself from the EVA suit. Danger had been their constant companion since they’d met their mahaya . He wasn’t worried about himself or his brother. And if he won the argument he knew was coming, he would be less concerned about Hezza, too.

By the time they’d stowed their gear, Hezza had announced they’d made the transition to hyperspace. “We’re clear for now, but there’s not a snowball’s chance in a supernova that they’re not following us.”

“Did they fire on us?” Fyr’enth asked.

If they had, Kalan hadn’t detected any indication the shots had actually hit the ship.

“They did, but I’ve been dodging weapons fire longer than that crew has been alive.

Their gunner used the same standard firing patterns every gunner learns during their first year of training.

” She sounded pleased and relieved, but he didn’t miss the note of strain still in her voice.

Their escape hadn’t been as easy as she claimed.

“When you’re ready, meet me in the galley. We’ve got cinnamon bites to eat and plans to discuss.”

“We’ll be there shortly,” Kalan said. Then he turned to his brother and spoke via their internal comms. “We’re still in agreement about our zana ?”

“We are.”

“Then I’ll grab what we need on the way to the galley.”

“See you there.”

He walked into the galley with a small bag slung over his shoulder. Inside were the items they needed, though there was still some question of whether Hezza would be agreeable.

If she argued, they had a plan for how to convince her to change her mind. It involved sweet talk and orgasms.

“Are you contributing to the stack of snacks?” Hezza asked. A bowl full of the sugar-dusted morsels they’d brought back to the ship sat in front of her along with three mugs of his new favorite beverage—hot cocoa topped with marshmallows.

“This?” He patted the bag before setting it down on the floor near his stool and taking a seat. “Contains a gift for you, but I am afraid it’s not food.”

“Then I’ll have to have another one of these.” Hezza picked up one of the cinnamon bites. “Grab one before they’re gone.”

Fyr’enth offered him the bowl. “Take two. They’re delicious. Hezza told me that the version our food dispenser makes is not half as good.”

“We need to get a better model. One that can make pizza, too,” Kalan said before popping one into his mouth.

“It’s not the model that’s the problem. It’s the ingredients. I don’t know how he does it, but Flek always sources the best of everything for his food, and it’s fresh. That’s not easy to do on a ship.”

“Then why don’t we get our supplies from Flek?” Fyr’enth asked.

Kalan wanted to know the answer, too, but he was too busy enjoying this new taste experience to ask.

Hezza opened her mouth, but for several seconds she didn’t say anything.

“Huh. That is a damn good question. And it gives me an idea about how I can pay him back for the favors I currently owe him.”

“What favors?” Kalan asked.

“While you two were getting the tracker off the hull of my ship, I sent him another message. I’ve got no doubt he’ll come through for us, but it won’t be easy.”

“What did you ask him to do?” Fyr’enth asked. This wasn’t something they’d had time to discuss before they had to enact their part of the plan.

“I asked him to add more messages.” Her expression turned serious. “We can’t fend these assholes off forever. If we have to face them, I want to stack the odds in our favor as much as I can.”

“Makes sense,” Kalan agreed.

Fyr’enth placed the tracker on the table between them. “Before we talk about the future, we need to deal with this.”

Hezza nodded and then spoke in the tone she used when addressing the AI. “Hey, ship. Is the item I asked you to fabricate ready yet?”

“It is.”

“Good. Have a bot bring it to the galley.”

“Request confirmed. It will arrive in thirty-seven seconds.”

“Is this the shielded container you mentioned earlier?” Kalan asked around another mouthful of sugary bliss.

“Yeah. Now that the AI has had a chance to scan it, it can detect the signal. I’m not an expert on this kind of thing, but from what I understand, the signal it gave off blended with the ambient noise generated by the ship.

Very sneaky.” She tapped the tracker with a finger.

“Now we know about it, I think we should keep it muted until we can use it to our advantage.”

Kalan immediately saw her intent. “You want to reactive it once we’re on our way to the colony on Liberty. We can turn their own trap against them.”

“If everyone gets my message and follows through? Then, yeah, that’s the plan. Do either of you have any objections?”

“None,” Kalan said.

“Me either,” Fyr’enth said.

“Then that’s the plan. When we get to Haven, we’ll find out if anyone accepted my invitation.” She smiled at them. “That’s what I asked Flek to do. I sent an open invitation to every being I consider a friend. We’re going to Liberty, and if we’re lucky, we’ll have allies waiting when we get there.”

“How long will they need to get there?”

“Some of them could be there in a few days. Others will need two weeks. Until then, we’re going to have to keep moving. Without the tracker, the Falcon might give up the chase, but we can’t know for certain without letting them catch up. I don’t want to do that.”

“Neither do we,” Kalan agreed. Today they’d been lucky. If they were caught a second time? No, it was best they didn’t take that risk.

Fyr’enth stood. “It’s a good plan. But there’s something we can do to make it better.”

Kalan got to his feet, too. “Come with us, Alyssa.”

“But we still have cinnamon bites,” she complained.

Kalan scooped the bag off the floor. “They can wait a little while. Or don’t you want to know what’s in here?”

“I think I’m getting hustled.”

“We learned from the best,” Kalan said without bothering to hide his smug grin.

They led her to her cabin, though it was really their cabin now. They’d only spent one long, lonely night sleeping in their own quarters.

Once inside, Kalan pulled out the three items contained in the bag, though he held them in one hand and hid it behind his back.

“What have you got there?” Hezza tried to lean to one side to get a glimpse of what he held.

There wasn’t much room in the cabin, but they managed to find the space to stand in front of her.

“We have something for you, Alyssa,” Kalan said. “If we were truly Vardarian, this would be a harani .” He named the traditional armband mated triads wore to display their status. “But since we’re not, we’ve created a new tradition.”

With that, he held out the smallest of the three wrist cuffs they had made.

Hezza exhaled sharply, her eyes locked on the piece of hammered metal he held out to her.

“Is that…” She leaned down to look closer. “You made this out of a part of a hull patch kit?”

Before he could answer, she took it out of his hand with a soft sound of unmistakable delight. “You did!” She examined it carefully, her eyes bright and her smile wider than he’d ever seen it.

She liked it. That was good. But would she put it on?

“There’s an inscription,” Fyr’enth said. “On the inside.”

She turned it so that the light shone at the right angle. “For our zana . Our lives began the day we met you.”

She blinked rapidly, and her voice cracked with emotion as she turned toward them. “This is perfect. Thank you.”

Then she slipped it onto her wrist. “I accept your gift and everything it represents.”

“You are our mahaya . Now everyone will know it,” Kalan said.

She laughed. “Oh yes, they will. And if they don’t see this, I’ll tell them myself. I’m spoken for.”

She held out her hand. “Please tell me you made some for yourselves, too.”

Pleased to the point of bursting, he handed her the two larger cuffs.

They were identical to hers, except for the size.

All three were cut from the same piece of metal, and then hammered into the proper shape.

They’d done more hammering to add a decorative design to the outside, and then polished them to a brilliant shine.

“What do yours say?” she asked.

“That is for you to decide,” Fyr’enth said.

“I supposed just putting the word mine , in big letters would be too much?”

“Probably.” Kalan bared his teeth. “Or you could just growl at them the way you did at Sajita. That seemed to work well.”

“It did. Didn’t it? Then I’ll think of something meaningful to engrave instead.” She placed a cuff on his wrist and then Fyr’enth’s. Once fitted, they covered the bar codes tattooed on their flesh.

That felt right.

“You are my mahoyen ,” she declared when it was done. “Always.”

“Always. Do you mean that, Alyssa?” he asked softly.

“I do. I once asked you to give me more time before we talked about the nanotech again. You gave me that time, and I want to give you my answer now.”

He held his breath. Maybe they wouldn’t need to ply her with pleasure after all. They’d still do that, of course, but for different reasons.

“What is your answer?” Fyr’enth asked impatiently.

The corners of her mouth lifted in amusement. “Impatient, are we? Very well. During the time you were both in the void and I was safe inside… Well, relatively safe… I realized I’d do anything to keep us together. Even die. That made my choice easy. My answer is yes.”

“Finally.” Kalan took her hand and dusted several light kisses to her fingers.

“It wasn’t that long!” she protested with a laugh that made his heart fill with emotions he was finally ready to name.

“I love you, Alyssa Bratt. My mahaya .”

“Our beautiful zana , the mate we were always destined to find.” Fyr’enth moved in and took her in his arms for a long, heated kiss.

Kalan watched them, expecting to feel the teeth of jealousy take hold, but it never happened. His heart and soul filled with a soft, warm light. It was more than love. More than happiness. It was a feeling only one being in the universe could provide—their mahaya .

He stripped off his clothes and let them fall to the floor in a pile. He’d tidy up later. Right now, he had more important things to do.

“My turn,” he said when his brother finally raised his head to breathe.

“This is why I need your nanotech. How else am I going to keep up with the two of you?” Hezza laughed as she spoke, her skin flushed and eyes bright with desire.

“That was the third argument on my list.” Fyr’enth released their mate and stepped back to take off his own clothes.

“You had a list?” Hezza asked, her expression somewhere between bemused and surprised.

He folded her into his arms and grinned down at her. “We did. We were prepared for you to be stubborn.”

“I resemble that remark,” she admitted and rose on her toes to kiss him. He bowed his head to meet her halfway and groaned when her lips met his.

It was like this every time. Even now, days after the sharhal had first taken hold. Reading about the mating fever and its lasting effects was one thing, but experiencing it was something else again. The spark between them would never go out.

She surprised him by reaching down to stroke his hard, aching cock. He groaned into her mouth, rocking his hips against the soft touch of her hand.

“I want you,” he murmured several dizzying kisses later.

“We want you,” Fyr’enth said. He stood to one side, his hand on their mate’s hip.

“Then we should do something about that.” She tipped her head to one side, baring her throat. “Because I believe I was promised mating marks.”

The sight made his cock throb. Yes . His fangs lengthened just thinking about it.

“Clothes off. Now.” He spoke without thinking.

She simply laughed and began to unfasten the clasps on her jumpsuit.

“I hate these things,” he muttered as he reached up to help.

“They don’t come off easily,” Fyr’enth agreed.

“But they do protect me from dirt, burns, and chemical spills,” she pointed out.

“Once you have our nanotech, you won’t need to worry about the last two,” Kalan reminded her.

“And if you get dirty, your mahoyen will be happy to help you get clean,” Fyr’enth added.

“If that’s the case, we’re going to need a bigger shower.” Hezza raised her arms to allow Kalan to pull her T-shirt over her head.

“Hells, we’re going to need to reconfigure the cabin space and the cockpit. I love you both, but you’re too fraxxing big for my ship.”

“A bigger bed would be nice,” Kalan agreed. Then he lifted her off the deck, holding her suspended while Fyr’enth tugged off the last of her clothes.

Without a word of warning, he took two steps straight back and then let himself fall onto the bed that filled one end of the cabin.

Hezza squeaked in surprise but didn’t tense or brace herself for impact. She trusted him to protect her. As she should.

She was their treasure. Their mahaya . Their everything .