Cyborgs' Claim Read online

  Cyborgs’ Claim

  Michele Mills

  Cyborgs’ Claim

  Three outlaw Cyborgs. One human female...

  Axel, Steel and Gage.

  Merciless supersoldiers. Forbidden cybernetic experiments gone awry. They escaped from their Hurlian programmers and now live hidden in a desolate area of space where few enter and none leave.

  They crave one female to claim, one who will satisfy all their desires. But Cyborgs are illegal, so finding a mate has proven difficult.

  Until Megan.

  As a survivor of horrific abuse at the hands of her alien captors, this tiny female from the original planet is both strong and fierce. Her white-hot desire brings all three men to their knees.

  They want this female. Forever.

  But will she choose to live on the bleak edge of space, with three exacting, contraband Cyborgs, who have been stripped of human emotions?

  Or is their time up? Will the original programmers return for their ultimate weapons, destroying their female and all they’ve constructed?

  Warning: Please be aware this book contains explicit descriptions of previous, off-page rape and torture. There are also discussions of recovery from rape and abuse.

  Copyright © 2018 by Michele Mills. All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, email to [email protected]

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Cover art by Meljean Brook

  Edited by Aquila Editing

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  About the Author

  Also by Michele Mills

  Rayzor’s One

  Excerpt

  1

  “What the hell is that?” Axel shouted over the buzzing of lasers slicing through metal.

  Steel turned around from his work station. “What?”

  Axel cut the power to the shredder and pointed at the holo screen. “That. Look, right there.”

  Steel narrowed his eyes and noticed a trace of unexpected red light. A flicker and flash amidst the browns and grays of the thorny wreckage of the shuttle they were prepping to shred and recycle.

  Axel sucked in a breath. “It moved.”

  Moved?

  Steel frowned.

  Impossible.

  Nothing ever moved of its own accord in this quiet edge of space. The Swirl was a giant flow of heavy metal objects sucked by deep space currents into an enormous jostling circle of junk. An unrelenting parade of metallic waste with the occasional glint of light bouncing off a reflective surface. Steel and his two brothers worked a defined section of the mass, shredding scrap, separating and melting it into base metals, which they sold to individuals in need of raw materials.

  It was a good job.

  A quiet, high-paying job.

  A boring job.

  And that was the way they liked it. After the hell they’d all been through, boring was good.

  “What is it?” Steel asked.

  Axel shrugged his massive shoulders. “I don’t know, but the log shows something recently shifted and entered the space behind the shuttle.”

  Space junk was rarely stationary. The fact that waste had moved into a new position was nothing new. But…usually debris moved along reliable space currents, never with a mind of its own. “We need a better view,” Steel remarked.

  Axel nodded and stepped back to his station. He worked the controls, maneuvering the drone.

  Steel stood in front of the holo screen, watching for their quarry to appear. “Stop,” he ordered. “There. Zoom in.”

  Axel brought the unknown into high resolution. Then he stepped next to Steel, so the two of them could examine the object that appeared to be…

  No.

  Steel stared past the scratches and dents and gave a slow, disbelieving shake of his head. Their quarry obviously wasn’t just an ancient, unused piece of junk. It looked new. But… “It can’t be,” he said.

  “It is,” Axel replied with the distinct rasp of his scarred larynx. “It’s an escape pod. And…see? It’s functioning. Computer, keep the drone aligned with the object in Section twenty-four. Follow its movements.”

  “Affirmed.”

  Steel grunted. “How could it be functioning?”

  Axel responded via their internal communication link. A titanium-plated pod with redundant systems could survive this far. If it was lucky and caught the right currents to navigate correctly between the black holes… Then when it entered this area and crashed against the debris in The Swirl, it could remain mainly intact.

  Steel crooked an eyebrow. “That’s a lot of luck,” he replied out loud.

  Axel turned to meet his gaze. One dark brown organic eye glittered with hope, and his other, cybernetic eye glowed a brilliant white. “There could be a biological life form inside the pod,” he said. “A citizen of the four sectors, still alive.”

  Steel rocked back on his heels. “That’s impossible.” He was barely on board with the idea that the pod was functioning, but anything organic surviving this far into The Swirl? That was beyond belief. They’d never pulled in anything working or alive from the broken scrap metal caught in the inexorable current of The Swirl. The lack of oxygen and the flash-freeze of space froze up machinery and killed anything organic still inside long before the three of them touched the material. This was uncharted, unclaimed space with four hungry black holes to bypass for survival, an area where no one visited and mothers told stories about to scare offspring into submission; blank space filled with nothing but the accumulated trash of the four sectors.

  After five planetary rotations working this section, Steel thought he’d seen everything, retrieved and recycled every variation of junk possible. But maybe not. He lifted his chin and raised his voice, seeking confirmation. “Computer, evaluate the functionality and purpose of the object in Section twenty-four.”

  “Object is an operational escape pod,” the computer verified.

  Axel grunted. He enjoyed being right.

  “Unbelievable,” Steel muttered.

  “Scan for biological life,” Axel ordered.

  “The escape pod contains a humanoid female calculated at twenty-three planetary cycles,” the computer continued.

  Steel sucked in a rough breath and grabbed the edge of the console. His newly installed emotion chip blasted sharp pangs of both hope and fear throughout his system. Feelings he’d never before felt in his twenty-six years of existence. Hope was pleasantly warm, a soothing sensation he could grow accustomed to, but the fear and worry he felt over the outcome of this female was…uncomfortable. He rubbed his chest.

  Axel stiffened beside him. “Is she alive?” he asked loudly, his voice urgent.

  “The humanoid is alive and requires immediate medical attention. Life signs are depressed. The escape pod is damaged, and oxygen is near depletion.”

  “Well, shit, let’s get out of here and rescue her before it’s too late,” Axel said.

  Steel shoved back from his station. “Affirm that.”

  He pounded out of the mini-forge and into the outboard tunnel, Axel right behind him.

  Minutes later they’d both donned ventilators and snapped on personal force fields. Axel belted rescue tools to his chest. They opened the outboard tunnel and tethered to the exterior of the facility, working with more efficiency and intent than they’d ever shown during their routine scrap retrieval missions.

  A human female of breeding age was in their vicinity. They moved faster than the speed of light.

  They jetted around the jagged sections of the deteriorating space shuttle they’d worked on that diurnal cycle, closing in on the damaged escape pod that floated directly behind chunks of debris.

  Axel sliced open the non-functional door of the pod with the precision laser embedded in his bionic eye lens, compromising the pod’s tenuous environment, exposing the tiny cabin to the blast of harsh space. He seized a section of the door panel, crunching the metal with his formidable cybernetic strength, creating room to reach their female. Steel rushed inside. He immediately snapped a personal force field and ventilator on the female, along with a coded transporter beacon, assuring her safety and protection from the elements.

  Steel let out the breath he’d been holding and studied her features, her shapely form. Tendrils of long, dark hair floated in the zero gravity. Her features were luminous and delicate, her lips full and shapely. Steel cursed as he noted her injur
ies. The female was bloody and cut. Her right arm lay at an unnatural angle, obviously fractured. Tenderness bled through his normally stoic cognition. Yet another raw emotion for his circuits to identify. He placed his fingers at her wrist, timed the flutter of her pulse, and let out a sigh of relief. “She’s alive.”

  A growl rumbled from Axel’s chest. “Computer, teleport the female directly to the medical bay and begin life-saving measures.”

  “Confirmed.”

  The small, dark-haired female shimmered and disappeared.

  Steel turned and met his brother’s bright gaze. “You felt it too?” he asked. All three of them had recently upgraded to emotion chips, preplanning for the day they would meet their female. They’d wanted to give their future mate and offspring more than just males with expertise in quantum computing and advanced weaponry.

  They wanted back what had been taken from them by the Hurlians, their original programmers.

  A future filled with the love of a mate. Love for offspring.

  Love. That elusive emotion none of them had ever felt.

  But they wanted it. Badly.

  “Yes,” Axel answered, his dark eye blazing with hunger and need. “I felt it too. She’s the one.”

  2

  Hope continued to spark across Steel’s circuits, both fiery and inviting, burrowing deep inside his organic wiring and brightening his programming.

  Designing and building their mini-forge and the ensuing development of their high-level business model had kept them all busy these last five planetary rotations. They’d spent years creating a safe environment for themselves here, beyond the four sectors, hiding effectively from the Hurlians who’d captured them as children and rebuilt them into barely-recognizable-as-human tactical killing machines. They lived in anonymous isolation, on the edge of space, safe and free.

  But this monotony of sleep, eat, work and survival proved ultimately unsatisfying. They’d recently concluded they required something more to fill their life spans.

  They required a mate.

  Not one mate for each of them, individually. They did not want or need three separate females. Instead, they required only one female to share. Three Cyborgs who were originally built as an integrated unit to plan and coordinate attack via remote link could not live a life divided between three separate females. They needed one female to link through, with and around. One female who would become the center of their network.

  One female to breed.

  But finding the correct female who wanted to pursue this austere, integrated lifestyle—or finding any female of breeding age, whom they could all three agree upon, while living hidden on the edge of the known universe—was proving impossible.

  “Let’s get back and inform Gage,” Steel answered. “We need to let him know we’ve finally found her.

  Moments later, Steel burst into the medical bay, his human heart pounding within his chest. He exhaled with relief at the sight of the female on an examination bed, a wand running across her still form, evaluating her injuries.

  Quantum-level calculations streamed through his mind, evaluating the female’s chance of survival. All of his voluntary functions, both remote and stationary—every resource Steel had available was being used to keep this female alive. His brothers, Axel and Gage, were doing the same, their three minds linked seamlessly within the integrated system of their specially designed recycling facility.

  Since her identification and retrieval, the female’s chance of survival had already increased from forty-seven to seventy percent.

  Steel blew out a relieved breath at this news and watched as Axel’s harsh features remained tense with worry. Axel alone had retained the ability to experience actual human emotions beyond the occasional smile. Steel had been stripped of those emotions by the Hurlians, as had their brother, Gage.

  What did Cyborgs designed for battle need with tears and joy?

  Axel had been left with limited human emotions by the programmers, as a control sample. Axel considered it a weakness in his design. But, occasionally, Steel envied Axel’s retention of this human feature.

  Today, Steel, for the first time, was able to join his brother in experiencing emotions. And he now understood why Axel wished at times to have them removed. He felt an almost physical pain as he stared at his female.

  She was damaged and broken. Bleeding. Cut and bruised, with at least one obviously broken bone. They had no idea as to the extent of her internal injuries. And Axel’s features were aligned with the seriousness of the situation and with the emotion he must be feeling inside. Steel knew his own facial appearance remained unaffected, his features unaccustomed to broadcasting the feelings raging within.

  But inside, his body was lighting up, warming to the female before him. The medical program had disintegrated the female’s clothing. Her full breasts, the perfect size to place in his hands, the shadow between her legs…all were on full view. Even in this condition, not being able to touch her and only having her near—seeing her in need of emergency medical intervention…even in this extreme circumstance, his cock twitched within his trousers for this female.

  It was obvious she was theirs.

  Gage strode into the medical bay, his features flushed and his dark eyes flashing. He stopped and took in the situation. “A human female?” he rasped.

  “Yes. We found her moments ago in a wrecked escape pod,” Axel answered. “She’s the one.”

  It was the truth. All that needed to be said. Warmth sparked through Steel’s chest, pleased his brother continued to feel as he did.

  Now all that remained was for Gage to confirm the bond.

  Steel watched closely as his brother’s gaze swept over the hurt female on the examination bed. Her eyes were closed. Dark lashes brushed against her soft cheeks. Gage stepped forward, the gleaming metal fingers of his right hand reaching out, trailing lightly over the female’s soft hair. “She’s fully human?” he questioned, wonder tinging his voice.

  “Yes,” Steel answered. He hadn’t detected any mechanical additions or hybrid species characteristics. She was an organic human.

  Humans were rare in the four sectors. During their last five years working as Cyclers in The Swirl, he and his brothers had only known one other human besides themselves—their sister Trish, who lived and worked nearby, in Section Fourteen. The four of them had never encountered another human in the network of recycling facilities around The Swirl. They lived too far outside of the civilized universe to meet another of their species.

  And yet they’d found one tiny human female. It was a phenomenon.

  Gage looked up. “She is the one,” he agreed.

  Axel let out a huge breath. A slow smile spread across Steel’s face.

  “Will she survive?” Gage asked.

  Steel remotely transferred data of the female’s recent seventy percent survival upgrade to Gage. His brother responded with a curt nod of approval.

  “Computer, provide complete diagnostic for the female,” Axel ordered.

  A holo screen formed, creating a detailed visual schematic of the female’s anatomy. The computer confirmed broken limbs, blood loss, and internal injuries, as well as a recovery plan. They each authorized treatment.

  “Intensive medical therapy in progress,” the computer announced. A translucent surgery shield slid over the female.

  The three of them stepped back and grouped together in the corner of the bay, letting the medical equipment whir to life and do its job—saving their female and erasing her injuries. Bridging that last thirty percent.

  They’d long ago invested in the latest in medical technology, preparing for themselves, Trish, and any future mate and offspring they hoped to eventually include as their family unit. They were able to heal faster than a normal human, due to their nano-infused blood, but out here in The Swirl they were on their own and they needed to be prepared for any unforeseen circumstance. Enormous amounts of time and currency had been spent teleporting rare, specialized equipment piece by piece to their facility. They’d reconstructed one of the most advanced medical bays in the four sectors. And it was now proving its worth. Their female was receiving excellent care.