“He shouldn’t be hitting you.” His female placed her hands on her hips and glared at their offspring.

  “He requires the practice.” And it gave Stealth a reason to grasp his son. “His training has been inadequate.”

  “Fuck you.” Their son punched the ground faster, his movements faster than a human visual system could follow.

  Stealth wasn’t human. He dodged the predictably placed blows.

  “Vow, language.” His female clucked her tongue.

  “Who is the other being?” Stealth required more information. The humanoid was drawing nearer to them. Was the being a threat?

  “Are we under attack?” A big blue-skinned male burst into view. “Fuck. We are.” Odoon, Zebrina’s contact on Ahki, drew his guns, shot at Stealth and Vow.

  His aim lacked accuracy. The projectiles bit into the ground, spraying dirt everywhere.

  Stealth tossed his son to the side, out of the guns’ range, and surged forward. “Don’t shoot at my offspring.” He grabbed the guns from Odoon’s hands, flipped them and pointed the weapons back at the male before his opponent registered his proximity to him.

  “Fuck.” Odoon and Vow said that word at the same time, one with irritation edging his voice, the other with wide-eyed admiration.

  “Language…everyone.” Zebrina hurried to his side and put her hands on Stealth’s arms, her touch immediately easing his irritation. “Lower your guns, Stealth. Odoon is—”

  “Is he your male?” Was the Ahkian his rival, the being she called her male?

  “Yes.”

  “No.” His female answered a heartbeat after the male. “I was going to say he’s a friend.”

  “I’m more than that.” Odoon jutted his jaw. “In eleven planet rotations, we’re returning to Ahki. You’ll be my mate. Vow will be my son.”

  “That is not happening.” Stealth growled. No one was taking his family away from him.

  “I haven’t agreed to that.” His female frowned at the male.

  “You implied—”

  “You decided that without me?” Their son had rejoined him. Twigs were stuck to his head, his hair the same shade of black as his mom’s. His flight suit was dirty and disheveled. “Don’t I get a say in—”

  “Nothing has been decided,” his female yelled, her big voice silencing the two males.

  Stealth stared at her, aroused to the point of pain. Zebrina hadn’t lost any of her ferocity during his absence. She remained the strongest being he knew.

  He would fight to the death to claim her as his female, to re-confirm his worth, to win back her love. She, and now his son, were his sole reasons for being. He would be successful.

  “Odoon, we’ll talk about this next planet rotation.” She addressed the Ahkian, her tone implying her patience was strained. “It’s best if you return to your domicile right now.”

  That command revealed her choice. Stealth relaxed. In his female’s eyes, he took precedence over his rival. He was her male, belonged with her and their son.

  The Ahkian realized that also. “You’re telling me to leave?” Odoon lifted his eyebrows. “I’ve been by your side all this time. He hasn’t been there.” He jerked his head in Stealth’s direction. “My kind took control of Ahki two solar cycles ago. They can confirm he wasn’t on that planet. Where has he been?”

  Everyone looked at him, including his female.

  Stealth grimaced. He had wanted this discussion to be between him and her. She was the only being in the universe he trusted with his emotions.

  He had dreaded that private communication. Sharing his pain with others, a rival and a son he had met mere moments ago, didn’t appeal to him.

  But his offspring was owed an explanation. His absence had hurt him also.

  Stealth met his female’s gaze, focusing on her and her alone. “I was on the Homeland.” He forced himself to answer.

  Chapter Eight

  “I see.” That was all she trusted herself to say, red-hot rage crushing her wild, ecstatic joy over discovering the male she loved was alive.

  For more than two solar cycles, she had raised their son alone, carving out a new life for them on an undeveloped planet. She’d worried about her warrior, crying too many tears for him.

  During that time, he had been on the Homeland with his friends, safe, unconcerned about anything, including her. Like her father, the commander, Stealth had placed her low on his list of priorities.

  Her patience with such treatment had run out.

  “Odoon, I’ll walk you to the main pathway.” She needed to put space between herself and her male and she had to speak with the Ahkian. The situation involved him too.

  “But—” Odoon protested.

  “Now.” She moved toward the opening in the wall, her temper frayed.

  For a moment she was alone, which suited her just fine.

  Then the Ahkian caught up to her. “The machine has my guns.”

  “Stealth is a cyborg, not a machine.” She didn’t tolerate name-calling from her son. Odoon was a grown humanoid. “I’ll ask him to give your weapons back to you next planet rotation.”

  They were normally decorations for her friend. A pacifist, he used violence only when absolutely necessary.

  She didn’t know why he had felt it necessary to use it against Stealth. He could have shot her son.

  “I don’t want him staying in your domicile.” Odoon’s tone irked her.

  It was her domicile. She could make that decision on her own. “Cyborgs don’t sleep.” Stealth didn’t have to stay anywhere. “And this is the male I love. If your female had returned—”

  “My female loved me.” The Ahkian stopped at the gap in the wall. “Does your male love you? Because I feel that way about you and I certainly wouldn’t wait for over two solar cycles before returning to your side.”

  “He could have a valid reason for waiting.” Her defense was weak because they both knew where Stealth had been—on the Homeland, a planet inhabited by his brethren, his friends. “He’s Vow’s father.”

  “He’s violent.” The male’s face darkened. “And he encourages violence in Vow. They were fighting, rolling around on the ground like savages. Is that the future you want for your son?” He gripped her shoulders. “Do you want him to become a weapon like his father, knowing only war?”

  “Vow attacked him. Stealth was defending himself.” And he hadn’t struck back at their son. Her lips flattened. Or shot at him.

  She kept those insights to herself because Odoon did have some valid points. Stealth believed fighting was in a cyborg’s nature. He might not discourage their son from employing violence to solve his problems.

  She didn’t want to lose Vow as she’d thought she’d lost Stealth. That would kill her. “Give us some time, Odoon.”

  He opened his mouth as though to argue with her and then shut it again. His gaze lifted to a point over her head.

  She glanced over her shoulder. Stealth and Vow were watching them. Neither of them looked happy.

  “Don’t take too much time to make a decision.” Odoon returned his gaze to her face. “The ship leaves in eleven planet rotations.” He bent his head, a gleam lighting his eyes.

  Oh fuck. He was going to kiss her.

  She froze in place, not knowing what to do. If she moved away from Odoon, she’d humiliate him. Her friend’s ego was as fragile as any other male’s. If she accepted the embrace, she would be betraying Stealth. Since the moment they’d met, her kisses had belonged to him.

  Odoon’s lips grazed over hers. The contact was brief, light and…wrong. She’d made the wrong decision. It took all the willpower she had not to rub her hands over her face, the urge to erase everywhere he had touched her intense.

  Her friend, however, appeared satisfied, his smile smug. “I’ll see you next planet rotation.” He glanced over her shoulder, nodded, and walked away, a swagger in his stride.

  She turned around. Both of her males were staring at her, their faces as hard as stone.

  “You let him kiss you?” Vow was the first to speak.

  Stealth looked at their son. “She has never kissed him?”

  “Not on the lips.” Vow wrinkled his nose. “Though he has tried numerous times.”

  She had thought those earlier attempts hadn’t been noticed. Clearly they had been.

  By her son.

  To use one of his favorite words, ugh. That was embarrassing.

  “She’s my mom.” Vow had a cyborg’s possessiveness, considered her to belong to him only. “Why would anyone want to kiss her?”

  Stealth’s lips twitched, his body loosening once more. Had he dismissed Odoon as a possible rival?

  He shouldn’t.

  The Ahkian was right. He had been there when Stealth hadn’t been. That earned him consideration.

  “You don’t know everything that goes on.” She narrowed her eyes at the two males, her comment directed at her son yet meant for her warrior. “Odoon will be returning next planet rotation. Do not shoot him or knock him to the ground.”

  Stealth lifted his chin. Vow lowered his.

  They should talk—about the past, the present, the future. She didn’t have the emotional reserves for that. Not yet. A buffer was needed.

  She gazed around them. Many of the plants had been flattened. They wouldn’t survive. “It looks like we’re eating roots tonight.”

  “Ugh.” Their son grimaced. That wasn’t his favorite nourishment.

  “Get a digging tool and start extracting them.” That task should burn off some of his excess energy.

  “I hate roots.” He stomped away, moving slower than the slowest human.

  She met Stealth’s gaze. “He’ll take the longest path possible.”

  “Then we have time for this.” He hooked his arms around her waist and pulled her to him.

  Their bodies collided. She gasped, the contact jolting her. He held her to him and captured her mouth, sealing his lips against hers, plunging his tongue into her mouth.

  She should push him away. He had been in no rush to return to her. She shouldn’t welcome him back. That would be as wrong as accepting Odoon’s kiss.

  But fuck, it felt right. Her cyborg tasted delicious, like metal and male and memories of the passionate love they once shared. It had been so long since she’d been kissed like this, as though she was the only being in the universe, the center of a male’s world.

  Her flesh twined around his. His nanocybotics bubbled and fizzed inside her. His breath wafted over her cheeks. All of her senses were enthralled. She’d missed this so much.

  She’d missed him. He’d changed. Not physically. His appearance remained the same. But there was a sadness hanging around him, a hard edge, a world-weariness.

  If he seemed that way now, perhaps his stay on the Homeland was warranted, her foolish heart argued. He might have been too tightly wound to be around her, around his son.

  Ugh. She was already making excuses for his behavior.

  That couldn’t happen. She had to stay in control. Her actions no longer only involved herself. She had a son to consider. She had to do the right thing for him.

  They’d kiss for one moment more and then she’d break away from him. He cradled the back of her head and ravished her mouth. Her lips hummed. Her passions escalated.

  She leaned into Stealth’s muscular form, cursing the body armor barrier between them. The protective garment didn’t conceal the bulge pressing against her stomach, that proof of his arousal exciting her.

  She wanted him, her nipples tightening and her pussy growing wet. Her fingers crept upward, curling around his nape. His skin was warm against hers. His hair was soft and short.

  A winged insect buzzed by her cheek.

  What was she doing? She returned to reality with a thump, pulling her lips away from his. He had chosen his brethren over her and she was throwing herself at him.

  “I’m not ready for this.” She gazed at his square chin. If she looked into his eyes, she’d relent, capitulate to her desires. “I might never be ready.”

  “You’re not ready?” Stealth sniffed the air.

  Her face heated. “I’m not ready emotionally.” She clarified her words.

  Her cyborg knew she was ready physically. He could smell her arousal.

  “Oh, fuck.” Her son would be able to smell her readiness too. “Let me go.” She wiggled, needing to get away from Stealth. Fast.

  He released her, dropping his arms. “What is it, my female?”

  She stepped backward, putting distance between them. “We have a child now. We can’t be doing this in front of him.”

  They shouldn’t be doing anything at all. Not until she decided on the future.

  “Our offspring…our child is very noisy.” Stealth’s lips twisted. “His tread is heavier than a human’s. We’ll hear him return.”

  Hearing wasn’t the sense that concerned her. She wiggled her ass, trying to dissipate the scent.

  “Why isn’t he answering transmissions?” Deep grooves appeared on her warrior’s forehead. “I could have killed him.”

  She wouldn’t have allowed that to happen. “He refuses to listen to them.”

  “How can that be?” Stealth frowned. “Transmissions aren’t something we can turn off or on. We constantly receive them.”

  Did that mean their son had been receiving transmissions from other cyborgs all this time? She was as perplexed as her warrior appeared to be. “I don’t know.” There was very little information about cyborgs in the Rebel databases and she no longer had access to Humanoid Alliance systems. “I can stand directly in front of him and he doesn’t listen to me. It’s a gift he has.”

  Stealth chuckled. Then he abruptly stopped, appearing bemused. “I haven’t laughed in…” He tilted his head the way he did when he was thinking hard about a problem. “….solar cycles.”

  She gawked at him. How was that possible? Boom and Lethal always amused him.

  “You didn’t laugh on the Homeland?” Her voice was soft.

  “No.” He looked away from her but not before she saw the flash of pain, the bone-deep agony in his eyes. She sucked in her breath. They had been through so much on Ahki and he’d never looked like that, like he’d lost everything.

  Her anger over being left alone evaporated. Her cyborg had a reason for staying away.

  “Stealth?” What had happened to him?

  He shook his head, gazed into the distance.

  Her warrior couldn’t talk about it. That was how hurtful it was. She wrapped her arms around him, pressed her curves against his body armor-clad muscles. His breathing was ragged, his form stiff.

  They remained like that, not speaking, for many moments.

  She followed his view. He was looking at the wall.

  “Our son built that.” Memories of that planet rotation filled her mind. “He was in a bad mood.” One of the Ahkian boys had called him a murdering machine. “He decided to wall us off from the rest of the planet.” He’d done it over the rest cycle, while she was sleeping, working at a feverously fast cyborg pace. “It originally didn’t have an opening. I had to bribe him with a new private viewscreen to add one.”

  Both of her males were in pain. And she had her own issues to deal with, a huge decision to make.

  “There are raiding parties in the area.” The Palavian males targeted settlers. “They’ve attacked domiciles in the north. They’ve never bothered us.” She and her son had very little. “I like to think the wall will be a deterrent for them if they do approach.” Theirs was the only domicile surrounded by stone.

  “You were in danger.” Stealth slid one of his big palms down her back, his touch curling her toes in her boots. “I should have been here to protect you.”

  “We survived.” She had desperately wanted him to be with her. “You were with Boom and Lethal.”

  He nodded, his lips flattening into a grim white line.

  Had he fought with his friends? Was that the source of his pain? That explanation seemed too minor for the acuteness of his emotions. “Are they still on the Homeland?”

  He hesitated for a heartbeat and his head dipped again. His muscles flexed. He widened his stance.

  Her warrior was one wrong word away from running from the conversation. She stroked his chest, trying to soothe him.

  If she had been the female he first met, she would have bombarded him with questions, seeking to understand the situation. Her experience with Vow had taught her not to push too far too fast.

  Father and son were very much alike.

  “They won’t ever leave,” Stealth finally said, his voice gruff.

  That sounded final. And it didn’t make sense. His friend Lethal had been obsessed with finding a female and, according to her cyborg, there were very few female cyborgs in existence. The E Model was unlikely to find his genetic match on the Homeland.

  She opened her mouth, unable to remain silent.

  “Our son is approaching.” Stealth lifted his chin, some of the light returning to his eyes.

  She retreated from her warrior, stepping to the side. Vow had fumed over a platonic kiss on the lips. She would ease him into whatever type of relationship she would eventually have with his father.

  Her male had other ideas. He reached out and linked his fingers with hers.

  She tried to pull her hand away, was unable to break his grip. “Stealth—”

  “I’m not going anywhere, not without the two of you.” He squeezed her fingers. “It’s important he knows that.”

  Their son crashed into the field, carrying two digging tools in his hands. He looked at them and scowled. “She’s my mom.”

  “She was my female before she was your mom.” Stealth held out his free hand. “Toss me a digging tool.”

  Her son threw it harder than necessary. Metal smacked against skin as her warrior caught the tool.

  “Do cyborgs know how to dig?” Vow was in a bad mood. “I thought all they did was kill.” He flung the words others had tormented him with back at his father.

  “I’ve dug thousands of trenches.” Stealth’s tone was flat. “They slow the enemy.” He spun the digging tool in one hand, the metal blurring. “If you added a wide trench around your wall, it would strengthen your defenses.”