He and his fellow cyborgs marched, varying their stride while moving in unison. They’d take a long step, followed by a short step, followed by another short step.

  Normally, their human officers would walk in their footsteps. That ensured they placed their booted feet on safe ground.

  Fidget was unable to do that, his mind blasted by the drugs. He staggered behind Stealth, torturing him with the blades, shaving his flesh off layer by layer.

  Explosive. Lethal gave the cyborgs the location of the hidden bomb.

  Stealth stepped over the deadly device and then propelled himself forward. He and his brethren ran at their top speeds, relocating quicker than the human eye could track.

  A boom sounded. He threw his body on the ground. A blast of wetness, a spray of dirt and gravel, splattered against his back.

  Stealth stood, dusted off his palms, and returned to his place in the line. They continued to march, the group whole except for one missing human officer.

  There aren’t many females on the Homeland. Finding his female was Lethal’s obsession. The E Model had drilled Stealth with questions, claiming he wanted to be the best male possible for his female…whenever he found her.

  I’ll process that when I’m standing on Homeland soil. Boom remained focused on his sole goal.

  One of the E Models has found his female. She thinks his eyes are beautiful. Lethal had the black dead eyes of all of his kind. E Models scared most humans.

  His friend didn’t frighten Zebrina.

  My female said your eyes make you appear mysterious. Stealth often talked to her about his brethren. She knew them by name, had expressed caring for the warriors.

  Is mysterious good? His friend was as unknowledgeable about females as Stealth was.

  I asked her the same question. Stealth chuckled through the transmission line. She said many females love mysterious males.

  I would like to be loved. Lethal admitted, yearning edging his words. Just once. Just for a moment. I could die happily then.

  The E Model believed that to be the truth but Stealth knew differently. One moment would never be enough. At the end of the rest cycle, he would want more time with Zebrina. He’d yearn to run his fingers through her soft curls, to taste the sweetness of her mouth, to hear her panting as they bred.

  And that wouldn’t be possible.

  She would be safe. He focused on that all-important goal.

  You’re not dying. Boom remained in denial. And don’t damage yourself about your eyes. If a female can love Stealth, one can love you. He teased. He’s a tiny warrior.

  Ha. Stealth was taller and broader than any human, but compared to his friends, both earlier models, he was small. At least, I didn’t try to catch a missile in battle this planet rotation.

  I almost succeeded. His friend replayed the scene. That would have surprised the enemy.

  That would have surprised all of us. Lethal’s tone was dry. Stop trying to catch missiles. You nearly lost your arm.

  It flew right over my head. Boom showed them the footage once again. How could I resist it?

  Missiles fly over my head, the E Model retorted. I manage to resist them.

  You have no sense of fun, Boom muttered.

  Stealth laughed. The other cyborgs joined in until the transmission lines echoed with mirth.

  He loved the males, was honored to fight with them, to die with them, knowing his female would soon be far away from the upcoming battles.

  Chapter Two

  Zebrina’s father was leaving her on Ahki to die.

  She stood on the threshold of his private chambers and watched as he packed everything that was most precious to him. They had never been close. When she was younger, he’d been as preoccupied with his career as he was now. Her mother had tended to her, talked to her, loved her.

  She’d been surprised when, upon her graduation, he’d requested she’d join him on the war-torn planet. At first, she believed he missed her mother as she did.

  Now, she had other suspicions.

  Her father slipped an ancient Earth gun into his pack. The weapon had belonged to their ancestors, had been passed down through generations to him. It was a prized possession, would never be taken on a casual trip.

  It had somehow survived the attack solar cycles ago that had taken her mother from her. She fought to keep a smile on her face. Any Rebel she knew would have stolen the gun.

  Her father closed his pack with a snap. He wore his favorite uniform, every decoration he’d ever earned sparkling on the chest covering. Those had also survived.

  There were too many coincidences for her comfort.

  “Where are you going, Daddy?” She played the brainless role expected of her.

  Her father viewed her and all other females as being mentally inferior to males. As he viewed cyborgs as being emotionless machines.

  If Stealth, the warrior she loved, could feign lack of feeling for an entire lifespan, she could maintain her daft act for one more planet rotation.

  “There’s a meeting of commanders in the next sector.” Her father met her gaze. His blue eyes, the only physical trait she shared with him, were chillingly cool. “I’ll be back in ten planet rotations.”

  That was a lie. He was never returning.

  According to the angry verbal communication he had exchanged with his superior the previous planet rotation, the Humanoid Alliance would be overrun by Rebels in less than six sunsets. Her father was fleeing before that happened.

  And he wasn’t taking her with him. He was using her presence as cover, as a means to reduce suspicion. She was his daughter, his only child. What type of monster would leave her behind?

  Her father would.

  He walked through the domicile, carrying his pack. She skipped beside him, her curls bouncing against her face, her expression as carefree as she could manage.

  He didn’t realize she’d overheard his conversations, had snooped through his devices. Her survival hinged on him not finding that out.

  “Can I go with you, Daddy?” She gave him an excuse to save her lifespan, her soul demanding more proof of his treachery. “I’ll be good.”

  “It’s safer for you here.” He failed yet another moral test. “Trust me, Zebrina.”

  Once upon a time, long ago, she might have trusted him. She wasn’t that little girl anymore. Upon arriving on Ahki, she’d viewed the reality of what he and the other Humanoid Alliance elite were doing. She’d seen how he’d treated the cyborgs, the cruelty he relished, the disregard for life. He’d ordered the killing of Rebel children, had tortured beings to death.

  And he could smile while he left his daughter to be viciously killed.

  “When Mommy didn’t go with you on one of your trips, she died.” Mentioning her mother might raise her father’s alarms but she couldn’t leave the topic alone. The need to know the truth burned inside her.

  She had been far from home, attending an academy, when her mother died. The official story was dissidents had launched a surprise attack on the Humanoid Alliance base while her father was off planet.

  She now suspected it hadn’t been a surprise at all. Her father had sacrificed her sweet, loving mother to save himself and to preserve his career.

  His devious plot had worked. He’d lived. The Humanoid Alliance had promoted him to commander. He’d relocated to Ahki, where he’d inflicted horrors on another set of locals.

  If she died, he’d likely get promoted again.

  “Females and children die in war.” Her father shrugged. “They’re collateral damage. It’s unfortunate but it’s reality.”

  Females and children die. He had told her that more than once and she’d never fully understood what he was saying…until this planet rotation. Females and children were disposable, beings to be used and discarded.

  “I won’t die, Daddy.” She hid her sincerity under a giggle.

  His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Don’t bother my first officer while I’m gone.”

  Narre, her father’s second-in-command, would be sacrificed also, along with all of the males who gave him their loyalty, trusting him with their lives. They were fools. A being who could kill children wouldn’t think twice about ending their lifespans.

  “I won’t bother him.” Much. She lifted onto her tiptoes and kissed her father on his chin. “Good-bye, Daddy.” She’d never see him again.

  He huffed once, twice, and walked out the doors, leaving her without any loving words, without a hug. Her father had never been a demonstrative male.

  His role in the Humanoid Alliance must have always been everything to him. He had nothing left for anything or anyone else.

  Including her. She brushed away a tear.

  It hadn’t been shed for him. It represented the loss of the father she’d wanted since she was a baby, the father she realized she would never have. He didn’t care for her, had no softness in his soul. Her father…the commander…was a monster.

  He had to be stopped.

  Zebrina returned to her own chambers, located one of her private viewscreens. Stealth, a K Model cyborg with more heart, more humanity than her completely flesh-and-blood father, had increased the security in all her communication lines.

  He loved her.

  She accessed the files she’d obtained from her father’s devices. His schedule was classified information. If the Rebels knew where he was, when he was leaving or returning to the planet, they would target his ship, kill him.

  He would never betray another being, never hurt another innocent child, never order the decommissioning of another cyborg.

  “This is for you, Mom.” She sent her father’s schedule to Odoon. Her communication had no signature, couldn’t be traced back to her.

  Her friend couldn’t verify who had sent it and he, himself, wouldn’t take the necessary action based upon the information. Odoon, a former agri-lot tender, was a pacifist. That was the reason he rescued children and wasn’t fighting.

  The Ahkian would forward the communication to beings who had no qualms about killing, however. Although they had never met, she trusted the male to do that.

  Zebrina knew much more about him than he knew about her. Once she realized what was happening on Ahki, what her father was doing, she’d contacted the being of suspicion listed in one of the Humanoid Alliance databases.

  The information she supplied to Odoon allowed him to convey local children off the war-torn planet safely. That didn’t offset the damage done or bring back the millions who’d died. But it ensured the survival of their kind and it was something she could do to help.

  She dressed in a bright-pink chest covering, a frivolous version of the one the commander was wearing. The flower-shaped decorations on its front proclaimed her to be the universe’s best daughter and the number one garment fabricator.

  No one who saw her would ever suspect her of aiding the enemy, of playing the dangerous game of war in her own unique way.

  She pulled on her ass coverings. They were shorter than the thigh-length chest covering. The officers would assume she was wearing nothing underneath it. They’d become distracted, pay less attention to the things she was doing.

  She drew her curls upward, fastening the tendrils high on her head. Except for her eyes, she resembled her dear sweet mom, her skin dark, her hair black, her figure full.

  Fuck. She missed her. Zebrina leaned her forehead against the cool reflective surface.

  Her private viewscreen vibrated.

  She glanced down at the device. Stealth and his brethren were marching into the base. Tingles danced down her spine, her sadness evaporating, burned away by love.

  She picked up the vivid yellow container she’d crafted, swung it as she skipped across the structure, out the doors. Ahki’s single sun was covered, as usual, with clouds. It would rain when the temperature lowered. It did that every rest cycle.

  Water was plentiful on the planet, the vegetation a vibrant bluish-green, the weather warm. Ahki must have been a paradise before the bombing, before the Humanoid Alliance decided they wanted its resources for themselves.

  She navigated the pathways between the ugly gray structures her father and his males had erected. Officers nodded and smirked as she greeted them with her high and bubbly voice. There weren’t any females in the ranks. Her sex was viewed as being weak, stupid, indecisive.

  She used that to her advantage, publicly giving the males what they expected, while privately gathering and dispersing information. If she didn’t have a loved one in the compound, she would have ended the war many planet rotations ago.

  But she did have a loved one within the walls. She had Stealth. Her cyborg and his brethren were forced to fight for the Humanoid Alliance.

  Her breath caught as she spotted them marching toward the cleansing station. Their silver frames showed, their skin and flesh missing. Blood and dirt covered their forms.

  She located Stealth in the fighting batch and the knots in her stomach unraveled. He had survived, had returned to her once more. Chunks of his face hung off his skull. He was naked except for his tattered boots, his shoulders broad and his hips narrow.

  Being a humanlike K Model, he was shorter than many of the older cyborgs but still large for a human male. He towered over her.

  She liked that.

  Squashing the impulse to run to him, she traipsed over to Narre. The human male frowned at the cyborgs.

  “We lost another officer.” He muttered the admission to himself. “The commander will be irate.”

  “I want to help you and Daddy.” She twirled a lock of hair around her right index finger, giggling like a brain-scrambled being. “Will you let me clean them, Narrey?” She moved the handle of the basket to the crook of her elbow and picked up the hose. “Please. Please. Pretty please.”

  Narre looked around him. The other humans hurriedly walked away, not meeting his gaze. Cleaning the machines, as they referred to the cyborgs, wasn’t a task anyone other than her relished.

  “I can do this, Narrey.” She widened her eyes, striving to look as ditzy as possible. “I clean my dollies all the time.”

  “I do have other tasks to complete.” The first officer’s lips twisted. “I have to find another officer to lead these machines.” His gaze returned to her. “If the commander asks, you’ll tell him you asked to do this.” His voice lowered. “I can’t very well turn down the daughter he dotes upon, can I? He wouldn’t like that.”

  She was the daughter he’d left to die, not the daughter he doted upon. “I’ll tell Daddy I begged and pleaded and you couldn’t say no.” She smiled up at him. “Daddy knows you’re always really nice to me.” Narre believed treating her well would gain him favor with her father, his commander.

  “Tell a male to turn the water off after you’ve cleaned the machines.” Narre punched in the controls.

  “Not too hard, Narrey.” She fought with the hose as water spurted out of it, acting as though it was wiggling out of her grasp. “I’m little.”

  The force of the liquid would inflict more pain on her already injured cyborgs. She didn’t want that to happen.

  Her father’s first officer adjusted the spray.

  “My fingers are cold.” That was her next complaint. The officers tortured the warriors with ice-cold water. She wouldn’t do the same thing.

  Narre elevated the temperature. “If you require anything else, ask one of the officers. I have things to do.” He strode away.

  She swallowed her smile. His instructions would ensure no one voluntarily came near her. She always acted like the biggest pain in the ass when officers helped her.

  Beings could be watching her though. She had to be cautious.

  The cyborgs’ lifespans were at risk.

  She flowed water as gently as she could over the first warrior’s battered form, targeting the few bits of him that remained whole. The male, Lethal, was an E Model and much older than Stealth. He was one of her warrior’s close friends. They often fought side by side.

  She washed the blood and guck off him. Lethal turned, staring blankly into space, but she knew he was aware of everything that was happening around him.

  When he was spotless, she reached into her container and plucked one of the flower-shaped decorations she’d crafted. It was pretty and lightly floral scented, beauty a rarity in the warriors’ harsh lifespans.

  “My dolly is all clean. He gets a decoration.” She pressed the piece of soft fabric against a patch of skin on Lethal’s chest.

  That injected the E Model with pain inhibitors. The Humanoid Alliance didn’t allow the use of them on cyborgs, on the beings they thought of as machines.

  They would never know she’d broken their cruel rule. All any of the watching officers would see was a silly female decorating hapless weapons.

  She reached up and carefully smoothed a flap of flesh over Lethal’s face. “Many females dream of eyes like yours,” she whispered. Stealth had told her about his friend’s worries. “One of them will be fortunate to call you her warrior.”

  His flat black eyes flickered. It was fast, fleeting. No one other than she could have viewed that response.

  It touched her. Her words had meant something to the warrior. As his actions had meant something to her. He had helped keep the male she loved safe.

  She hid her emotion with an irritating giggle and turned to the next cyborg.

  Each warrior was cleaned, receiving an agony-soothing decoration, and a personal comment from her, her way of saying good-bye, a thank you for protecting her male in battle.

  Her fingers trembled as Stealth stepped forward. Being close to him made her heart beat faster and her body quiver.

  The first moment she saw him, he’d been standing with his brethren, his spine straight, his shoulders squared. All of the warriors were big and broad and good-looking. The Humanoid Alliance didn’t design ugly cyborgs. But he caught her gaze and she couldn’t look away from him.

  It was more than physical attraction. There was a connection between them, a feeling of belonging, a soul-deep knowledge that he was hers and she was his.