Page 6 of Raven Blackwood (Cyborg Guardians #2)

Koha’vek

The forest was quiet, save for the rustling of wind through the trees and the distant call of a raven.

I moved silently, my footsteps light against the damp earth as I followed the well-worn wildlife trails.

Hunting had become a means of survival since I claimed the abandoned house in the mountains.

I never intended to stay here at first. When I fled the Mesaarkan base, I had only one goal: to be free.

Free from war, free from duty, free from a life I never chose.

But freedom was an empty thing when you had nowhere to go and no one to share it with.

I had spent months wandering, watching the seasons shift and the land change, yet I was no closer to an answer.

Did I even want to go back? Would my people take me back if they knew I deserted?

I shook off the thought, adjusting the grip on my bow. My quarry was close—a mule deer, its tracks fresh in the mud. I followed them deeper into the forest, letting instinct guide me. Then, a shift in the wind brought a new scent—blood and something else. Something human.

I stilled, scanning the terrain ahead. Just beyond a cluster of boulders, a steep ravine cut through the forest. My gaze followed the jagged slope downward, and there, lying in the brush at the bottom, was a woman.

She was unconscious, unmoving, but not lifeless.

The rise and fall of her chest told me she was breathing.

Her long, dark hair was tangled with twigs and dirt, and her clothes were torn in places.

Even from this distance, I could see the bruises forming along her arms. She had lost a boot, and the ankle was badly swollen.

I descended carefully, the loose earth shifting beneath my boots. When I reached her side, I crouched and studied her face. She was young, perhaps in her mid-twenties, her elegant features strong. A small gash on her temple explained why she had not yet stirred.

“Human,” I murmured, my voice barely a whisper.

I hesitated. She would be trouble. I had spent months avoiding others, ensuring that no one knew I existed. Helping her would change that. It would tie me to her, even if only for a short time. I could imagine her shrinking away in fear when she saw my face. Humans have always called us monsters.

Yet, despite the caution screaming in my mind, I could not leave her here. The night would bring predators, and in her state, she would not survive them. I sighed, resigning myself to the decision I had already made.

Carefully, I slid my arms beneath her, lifting her as gently as I could.

She made a soft sound of pain but did not wake.

Her body was warm against mine, fragile compared to the strength I possessed.

I had spent my life among warriors, trained to endure and to inflict pain.

But here, at this moment, all I had to do was protect.

With steady steps, I carried her away from the ravine, back toward the home I had made for myself. For the first time in months, I was not alone. And for the first time in years, I did not know what came next.

I carried her back to my house in about ten minutes.

Inside, I took her to the sitting room and laid her on a long piece of padded furniture.

I went to the room where I’d made my nest and got a blanket.

Grabbing my scanner while I was there, I went back to cover her and scanned her to determine how seriously she was injured.

It was the same scanner we used on the human captives at the base.

Fortunately, her injuries were not serious. Aside from bumps and bruises, she had sprained her ankle, and she had a concussion, but no more serious brain injury. She would recover with rest and time. Meanwhile, I could bind her ankle and clean her wounds with supplies from my medical kit.

Although I wasn’t a medic, basic first aid was part of our warrior training.

The worst cut was the gash on her head. The rest were scratches that just needed to be cleaned.

There were a lot of them, so it took quite some time.

She hadn’t stirred the whole time I was tending to her.

I could only guess how long she might be unconscious. There was nothing else to do but wait.

Since I had very few food stores available, I decided to go back to my hunt and bring home some game so I would have something to feed the woman I had rescued.

When I escaped the Mesaarkan base, I packed everything I thought I would need to survive on my own.

That included a night vision helmet that would allow me to hunt at night easily.

Checking on my guest one more time, I gathered my weapons and left her in the house alone.

While I didn’t hunt often at night, there was a small meadow along the game trail where I would most likely find mule deer grazing.

Moving with practiced stealth along the trail, I traveled to that field in a short time.

Just as I hoped, there was a small deer herd grazing there.

With my bow already notched with an arrow, I aimed and released it without hesitation. It was a good shot and a clean kill of a small doe that would feed us for several days at least. As soon as I emerged from the woods, the rest of the herd bounded away.

Picking up the carcass, I carried it away from the field to dress it. By then, I had done it enough times that I could complete the task in minutes. Back in the house, I took it inside and hung it in a small room off the food preparation area.

After pouring some water from the jug by the sink, I washed my hands thoroughly. Then, I went to check on the female human. She seemed to be unconscious or at least sleeping still. Since it was late, I decided to retire to my nest in what I assumed had been a human sleeping area.

I wasn’t exactly in a hurry for her to wake up because I was sure she would not be glad to see me.

Humans called us monsters, and I can’t say that I blame them since my kind bombed their world to ruin and decimated their population.

Although that happened before I was born, it was my race that did the damage.

Granted, the humans struck our kind first, killing two hundred fifty of our settlers on Procyon Two.

Another race might have found a diplomatic solution, perhaps punishing those who had done the deed, but not the Mesaarkans.

Their revenge was swift and brutal, nearly a genocide of humans on Earth and every other world we found them.

Had they not made the cyborgs to fight us, we might have succeeded. Our Emperor sent us to Earth to get a foothold here just before the ancient Wholaskans negotiated peace between the humans and the Mesaarkans.

During the war, my people had acquired a taste for human pets.

So, my division remained on Earth to capture humans to send off to that world, as it was a very lucrative enterprise.

I hated it because I was one of the officers in charge of the human captives, and it didn’t seem right to capture and sell sentient beings to be used and abused by my people.

The following day, I woke up and dressed. When I went out to check on the female, she was awake, and she started screaming as soon as she saw me. Although I’d heard such sounds many times before, her shrieking hurt my ears. I finally bellowed, “Enough! I’m not going to hurt you.”

She gaped at me wide-eyed, but at least she had stopped shrieking. “W-who a-are you? How did I get here?”

“I carried you. I found you at the bottom of a ravine, unconscious. You would have died if I had left you there. So, I brought you to my home.”

“What are you going to do with me?” she eyed me warily.

“In a few minutes, I will cook some meat for your morning meal. You are not a captive, but with that ankle, you won’t get far if you try to leave. Perhaps, later, I can look for your horse. Then, when you’re feeling up to it, you can ride home.”

“No, no, I can’t. I don’t have a home anymore.”

Then I thought about it for a moment. “No, I don’t think I can let you go home because if you tell anyone about me, the cyborgs will come after me, and I will be banished. But I can’t go home either.”