Page 15

“What’s wrong?”

Sythius asks when I drop myself in the copilot’s seat. “You killed the crazy Creator slash Captain Cerzsl, this time. Right?”

I sigh and watch as Fracture, back in his whole form, closes the ramp and guides us out of the outpost’s space. “I’m not so sure these days. Damn clones.”

“Lovely.”

Sythius keeps working on repairing the gun controls in the ship’s floor. “Stars, this beast is a Frankenstein.”

“A what?”

Fracture asks.

“Don’t worry about it,”

I say. “Where are you taking us? Do you know where you are?”

“I know everything Menace does.”

“Everything?”

Fracture nods as he gently banks us northeast and into the denser woods. “A shield generator was left behind at an abandoned outpost. They couldn’t carry it. But we need it for the ship so we can lift the ghostcloak. We’re going to pick that up.”

I look back as Menace walks into a room, and the door closes. “Why didn’t he tell me the truth about Mintaka?”

Fracture’s eyes shimmer with images. “Because they loved her. All of the stealth models, even Savage. Losing her was like losing Mother Besha. She was a tragedy because she was strong enough to become one of us.

“She wanted to understand us. And then she sacrificed herself to save them because she realized what Quris was doing, manipulating all of them by dangling her out there.

“Relics are older models. Titans like Menace and others who served with Savage are the oldest CyberTitans built after Blood Cyphers were considered too dangerous and uncontrollable. More of them didn’t make the final cut.”

“But the years don’t make sense. Cara’s mother was a Creator. She worked with Amp, Menace, Savage, and the others. My mother, too, but she wasn’t a Creator. She was a sentinel for the resistance.”

“Is it so farfetched to consider that time has moved differently for those of you descended from Creators who made us immortal? You are so certain she was only ever a sentinel.”

“My father was the Creator.”

“Perhaps he turned her into a Titan,”

Fracture suggests.

Suddenly, my father’s insane behavior and his obsession with work make sense.

“My mother was injured in a raid when I was about fifteen. When she came home, she was different, gentler, and more patient with my father, who was continually losing more of his mind.

“Three weeks later, the Solcrue raided our camp looking for resistance members. I never saw any of my family after that day. I wasn’t at their posts. I didn’t take the ship out of there. I never heard from any of our mediums what the whispers were. I have never been able to hear them.”

“Maybe that was best,”

Sythius remarks.

“How can you say that?”

He replaces the panel in the floor and leans back against the wall. “I found my family. Wish I hadn’t.”

The anger drains from me. “I’m sorry.”

“Solcrue sent Venoms to kill me, but they only found the human hunters who raised me. My Kilthrian mother was an anaja. She died bringing me into the world. My father is General Predu.”

Even Fracture looks back at him. “How do you know?”

“I confronted him. He confirmed it. I barely escaped alive. I’ve always been torn about whose side I’m on because of what I am. But I guess since I found my guardians slaughtered, I’ve been searching for a way into the Solcruean world, not because I want to be like them but because I want to destroy them from the inside out like they’ve done to me, my mother, and my human guardians.

“But it’s easy to get lost in the hatred and forget my human half has the ability to be better. I’m pretty sure most Solcrue aren’t redeemable without their life in the balance. Even then, I’m not sure. Anyway, sometimes not knowing can be a good thing. Because knowing haunts me constantly.”

Fracture hovers the ship lower and snakes under the cover of the tall mountains. “Sefina, I don’t know if you will be comfortable with this, but Menace is not in a good headspace. I have tried talking to him, but he has switched off coms. The last sense I got from him was regret and desolation.

“I must fly. Sythius’ presence is not going to comfort Menace. It has to be you. We are going to need him to focus in the hours ahead, or we may not make it back in time to help Clover get the BlazeStar ready. I do not want to leave this planet without every single Brother and Sister on board. Please consider talking to him.”

“How long until we land?” I ask.

“Eight minutes.”

I can tolerate eight minutes before landing gives me an excuse to get away from Menace. Unbuckling my harness, I reluctantly get up and walk down the main hall to the room Menace has entered. The door doesn’t open when I approach, so I knock.

“Menace?”

“What?”

comes his muffled reply.

I hang my head and drag the words out. “Can we talk?”

He’s quiet for several moments. The door slides open. Menace walks back to the bed and sits on its edge. I enter and cautiously join him.

It’s unusual to see him sit on something so civilized when, just a short time ago, I watched him rip out the throat of a Quris clone with his teeth.

Menace won’t look at me or speak. I check him to see if he’s hiding an injury or another physical indication of what’s upsetting him. But I can’t figure it out. Unable to take the silence without even a glance from him, I rest a hand on his arm. “Hey.”

He inhales deeply, the breath lifting his shoulders. Menace pulls my hand across his body, and leverages me into his lap. Menace still doesn’t speak or look at me. He simply gathers me inside his arms and curls himself around me. I don’t fight him because I don’t have a reason to.

As Menace corrals my head against his shoulder, I sense his upset has something to do with me.

“Talk to me,”

I whisper. “Tell me what’s wrong. Maybe we can fix it.”

Menace shakes his head and pulls me tighter against him. “I couldn’t save her. I almost couldn’t save you.”

“It’s not your fault,” I offer.

His whole body tenses. Menace growls, “It is my duty! Protecting humans is my purpose! If I can’t do that, what use am I?”

I cringe and tuck myself into a ball, knowing he could easily crush me if he lost control.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Sefi,”

he rasps, slowly relaxing. “I just don’t know how to cope with repeated failure.”

“You didn’t fail. I’m right here.”

Menace finally meets my gaze. “I know, but—”

I can’t stay mad at him for long. He’s not Menace because he’s evil. He is what he is because of people who hurt him in terrible ways when he was vulnerable and impressionable. I no longer want to give him a chance to doubt himself, so I grab his face and kiss him.

Menace inhales sharply and digs his fingers into me as he draws me close. His mouth meets mine with hunger, and he breathes me in like I am his lifeline.

Menace’s brows knit in an expression most would call angry. Now I’m certain it’s pain, desperation, guilt, and momentary relief all rolled into one.

“Sefi,”

he whispers to my mouth. “I don’t know what all happened to you since you were taken from Earth Minor, but I want—need you to know I will never hurt you on purpose. Do you believe me? I know it counters who I am on the outside, but I wasn’t always this way. And stars know I tried to save Mintaka like everyone. I always try.”

“After what Quris put you through and how you still tried to protect me, I believe you. And I’d be a total bitch if I blamed you.”

“Trying isn’t enough. I must succeed.”

“You did.”

When he doesn’t respond, I find his mouth with mine again. “I’m here. And I don’t ever want you dragging yourself out of a cave with one arm over me. That was a past life. I want us to be a team. No more secrets.”

His breath mixes with mine, the scent changing to something more musky and metallic. “I respected your mother. I didn’t…didn’t want her for myself. Not like I want you.”

The idea makes my core tense, and my pussy slicks with anticipation.

“But I will willingly give my life if that’s what it takes to protect you. You can’t change that,”

he clarifies.

I take his bottom lip between my teeth and pull until it slips from my grip. “Then I’ll just have to keep making sure you don’t sacrifice this sexy beast you’ve become. Because I need you, too.”

Menace shakes his head, picks me up, and lays me back on the bed. “Let me serve you, Sefi. I won’t take you like an anaja. I just want to make you feel good for a change.”

Just looking at the brute leaning over me, muscles bulging like the crotch of his pants, all tense with the need for me, has me wet and ready. But I’m not sure I’m prepared to handle a monster of his dimensions. I’ve only ever been touched by humans and Solcrue.

“Just say no,” he adds.

But I can’t. I don’t want to. I just don’t know what he’s thinking.

“Okay, then—”

Menace leans over and kisses my neck as he unbuckles my belt and relieves me of my weapons.

“We don’t have a lot of time,”

I gasp. I want him, I’m falling for him, and I don’t want him to stop. But I also don’t want to be discovered with my pants down. It’s never ended well. “We should be landing soon.”

“I just want a quick taste and a chance to prove I’m not 100 percent my name. I was someone else once.”

A taste?

Menace’s hands roam my body, then work my pants lower. He trails kisses down my stomach and almost reaches my pussy when a jolting lurch rattles the room.

Menace ignores it to root his nose inside my pants and force his tongue between my folds like he can’t wait.

Need floods my aching core. I want him. I want a memory of his body to push back the others.

“Menace, are you good?”

Fracture asks.

I reach for my pants to pull them back up so we can get on with the mission, but Menace shoves my hands aside with a playful glower.

“Give me a minute,”

he growls, his breath warming my belly.

“Sefina?”

Sythius calls to me.

Menace sways and rumbles, “She’s fine!”

I cover my mouth to stifle the urge to laugh in embarrassment. I’m not winning this battle. They think we’re fighting, and it’s just the opposite.

Menace guides my pants down to my boots, drags my hips to the edge of the bed, lowers my feet to the floor, and spreads my knees.

I shake my head, not wanting to give away what’s going on. Menace gives me a dark look of satisfaction, proving he’s in control, and then nibbles each of my folds. After a deep inhale as he nuzzles my clit, he glides his tongue through my delicate flesh, moving deeper until he’s in position.

Menace plunges his tongue deep inside me.

The euphoric rush makes me arch. His tongue is thick and hot and strong as it flexes, swirls, and licks. Menace suckles my clit then continues his pulsing magic, thrusting his tongue into me and me to the edge of a powerful climax.

I clench around him from the quickly building high. His chuckle of devilish delight rumbles through my pussy into my body and thrusts me into a shimmering field of light and bliss.

Menace clutches me so tightly over his face I fear he’ll suffocate himself.

I tense in quivering waves and hopelessly buck over his tongue as he penetrates me to the max. I wish this moment didn’t have to end.

As I descend, he doesn’t get up and walk away like everyone else who has ever touched me. No, he glides his soft tongue out of me and up my folds, cleaning me, until there’s nothing left. After a final sweep of his tongue over my clit, leaving me with one last feverish, inundating wave of desire, he closes my knees and slides my pants back up to my hips.

He gets to his feet, rubs a hand over his mouth, and moans a deep note of satiation. Menace offers me the other hand and helps me lift myself.

I stand to jump back into the hips of my tactical pants. After putting on my gear belt, I notice his erection hasn’t eased and reach for him. “You need release probably more than me.”

Menace jerks away from me. “We don’t have time for that kind of mess. We need the cloak up.”

I watch, dumbfounded, as he grabs his gear and walks to the door. “Come on, Sefi. There’s work to do.”

What the fuck, Menace?

As much as I thought he was frustrating before, watching him push away his needs for mine is somehow worse. He’s got to be doing it because of some self-deprecating need buried deep in his core.

I’m going to take him later. As much as I like the attention, I want to know what Menace looks like when he feels good. He deserves it.