Shark Bite (Cyborg Shifters Book 3) Page 3

  And stopped short at the sight of the giant, truly gigantic, blue-grey man hunched over the kitchen island.

  In an instant, she turned around and escaped before the door had a chance to close, her Ma’s voice lost under her heavy breath. There’s a large blue man in our kitchen. Rylie closed her eyes and counted to ten before going back through it again.

  The stranger was now staring at her with a knife in his hand.

  “What’s gotten into you?” Ma frowned at her. “This is one of our guests. Netto, this is my daughter, Rylie. Rylie, this is Netto. He’s been sent here by the government and has come a long way at your father’s request.”

  Her mother’s voice faded into background noise.

  “You’re blue,” Rylie said lamely.

  “Yes.” The man turned away from her and focused back on what he was doing. Her eyes followed the knife as he ran it across a whetstone. She vaguely heard her mother apologizing, but it fell on deaf ears as she looked at the bizarre man.

  He was the largest human she had ever seen, towering, and so incredibly out of place in her ma’s kitchen that she forgot he was anything more than a badly-created machine. Rylie joined him at the island and watched him sharpen the knife.

  He didn’t look at her.

  “Why are you blue?” she asked. She had never been good with people, so why start now?

  The Cyborg shrugged. His muscles bunched as the movement tightened his blazer across the entire upper-half of his body. Her eyes landed on the EPED tag and it brought her back to reality.

  “Why are you here?”

  “Rylie!” Ma scolded her from across the room. Rylie flushed with embarrassment.

  He continued to sharpen the knife in easy, fluid movements, the wisp of the metal against the stone her only answer for the next minute. When he let go of the knife to move onto the next one, she picked up the finished one and pressed the side of it against her thumb, judging his work. Perfect. It was perfect.

  When she looked back up, the Cyborg was watching her. Grey eyes pinned her to the spot.

  A shiver went through her as her neck strained under his intimidating gaze. Even the sounds of her family, the distant conversations throughout the nearby rooms, and the clicks of items being moved couldn’t unpin her. Rylie wanted to look away but he held her, unmoving. She wanted to leave.

  His jaw ticked as if he was about to say something and it was enough to break the spell of his eyes. She dropped her gaze and reached for a modicum of control. She set down the knife and turned right into another man.

  Oh no. A hand settled on her shoulder to balance her. She peeled herself from under it in a matter of seconds but backed right into a hard wall. Oh god.

  Not a wall, she realized, but the blue Cyborg.

  “Woah, calm down. You okay? Your heart is beating way too fast,” the new man muttered. “No one’s going to hurt you.”

  She was on the other side of the room the next instant, her heart pounding and her brow slick with sweat. Rylie ducked into the nearest bathroom and splashed her face until the red blush she sported cooled.

  Fleeing had never seemed more attractive. She would take a dozen dates set-up by her parents over her current, rapidly growing embarrassment.

  The Cyborgs were not what she expected. They were so much worse, and she found herself letting out a breathy laugh as she wished she was dealing with an entire crew of officials instead: stodgy, judgemental officials.

  The blue one was unnerving and unusual. He was hard for her to grasp. She hadn’t wasted any time looking at the other one.

  When she entered the dining room, Da was already sitting at the head of the table conversing with the other Borg whose name she didn’t know. He looked up at her and smiled, revealing eyes that were almost too bright to meet. They glowed, a piercing radioactive green. Rylie turned away and sat next to her youngest sister on the other side of the table.

  “That’s my daughter, Rylie.”

  “We met in the kitchen,” the other man said. “My name’s Zeph. Sorry if I startled you earlier.”

  “You didn’t,” she lied and turned toward her baby sister, ending the conversation before it started. “What’s that on your screen?” she asked Lily.

  Lily shook the device. “Space pirates,” her face lit up with neon color as an animated rainbow nebula appeared on the screen.

  “Is it fun?”

  “Fun.”

  Lily wasn’t going to save her. Already, Rylie noticed movement at the periphery of her vision as the rest of her family entered and sat at the table. She didn’t want to look up from Lily’s screen to save her life, but the sound of the chair on the other side of her forced her attention away.

  She expected to see Janet but instead, an arm filled her personal bubble because it was too large for its own. It was the blue Cyborg and he took up all her space.

  Janet had taken the seat next to Zeph, putting her in-between both Cyborgs. Ma came in and sat down on the other side of her da, leaving the next two seats between her and Lily open.

  She wondered who the other seats were for as Steven entered. He wasn’t family but was close. His da was like an uncle to her.

  “Sorry, got tied up at the facility,” Rylie watched him enter and sit down. “My dad won’t be able to make it.”

  “Why? Did something happen?” Da asked.

  “He’s got a cough, not feeling well enough to venture out tonight.” Steven’s eyes landed on Janet, absorbing the sight of her sister between two frightening Borgs.

  “Lily, lose the tablet. It’s dinner time.”

  And for the next few minutes, everyone helped themselves to the platters of food in the middle, the quiet falling like a wet blanket over the party, and Rylie felt the atmosphere stifle under the tension. She picked at her salad and observed.

  Steven was brimming with jealousy; it was written over his face. Da was stuffing his face with food. Her baby sister was ignorant to everyone as her game kept her interest, having never put it away. Rylie filled Lily's plate and cut up her meat before helping herself. Ma poured half a bottle of wine into her cup, without offering any, and Janet was smiling.

  Zeph was smiling back at her.

  His plate was filled with a little bit of everything while Netto’s had one cut of meat—meat he didn’t seem to want to eat.

  The oppressive silence continued. Rylie focused on not knocking her elbow into the Cyborg. The Cyborg who, even when sitting, was a head taller than her, who radiated enough heat to suffocate her, and who intimidated her into a puddle of nerves.

  “Why is he blue?” Lily broke the silence.

  Everyone stopped and looked at her baby sister, who was openly staring at Netto.

  “Sweetheart, you can’t ask—” Ma was cut off by a burst of laughter.

  “He’s blue so he can hide in the water,” Zeph answered.

  “I want to be blue.” Lily set down her tablet with the game still running and crawled into Rylie’s lap to get closer to Netto.

  “Now, honey—”

  “You can’t be blue,” Rylie hugged her sister.

  “Yeah, why are you that way?” Steven shot out, an edge to his question. “Why would the government make you that way when you’re meant to kill aliens?”

  Netto’s head tilted, giving Steven the same horrible stare down that she herself had received in the kitchen. Rylie held her sister tighter, feeling a wave of guilt. He must hate humans.

  Everyone was looking at Netto while Rylie was looking at Steven. His eyes widened as his bravado died.

  “You tell me?” Netto said under his breath as a pulse of violent intimidation emanated from him. Rylie shrank away.

  An eruption of voices sailed through the air.

  “What the fuck! Your teeth...”

  “Steven, that’s enough! You should go.”

  “I want teeth like that,” Lily bounced in her lap. Rylie hadn’t seen them. Her mother topped off her wine.

  “Oh my god, what are you?�
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  Da slammed his fist against the table, the flatware shook. “That’s enough!”

  Everyone fell into silence except Lily, who grabbed onto Netto’s sleeve, adoration in her eyes. “Can I have teeth like that?”

  “I think we should adjourn,” Zeph said. “Thank you for the delicious meal.”

  “I agree, let’s go down to the docks.” Montihan stood up, followed by Zeph and Netto, the latter still having not eaten a bite of his food. “Rylie, Janet, come with me.” Da turned to Steven, “You should go. Tell your dad we’ll speak in the morning.”

  Ma came over and took Lily from her arms, who continued to struggle to get closer to the Cyborg.

  “I want to be a blue Cyborg when I grow up. Can I be like you?”

  Netto canted his head at Lily but didn’t answer her. Instead, he held out his hand to help Rylie stand. Rylie narrowed her eyes and after a moment, feeling another twinge of guilt, took it.

  And let go the moment she was up. He didn’t react, he didn’t respond at all, except to turn toward the front door and leave.

  She waited a few minutes before she followed him outside.

  Chapter Four

  Netto stepped into the watership at Montihan’s request, annoyed at how the day had gone. Zeph was already in the lounge with Montihan’s daughter, Janet, sitting next to him. The boat swayed under his feet as he entered.

  The first thing he noticed about the vessel wasn’t the design, the materials, the tech, or the stability, but the smell. It smelled like the brown-haired daughter: sun and ocean.

  “So you were in the war?” Janet asked, facing Zeph.

  “You bet. Since the turning point.”

  “So that makes you an old man...”

  “Do I look old?” There was a twinkle in Zeph’s eyes. “Because I can assure you, I’m anything but old.”

  “I don’t know if I can believe that. You’d have to prove it and I’m not sure if that’s possible.” Janet added after a pause, “Old man.”

  He watched the ease with which Zeph flirted with the girl. It was like watching a dog fetch a ball. Netto understood it, accepted that for the pursuer it was fun, but it was beyond his personal understanding. He never held the attention of anyone long enough to ease into a conversation and the few times he had—with humans—their discomfort was enough to keep his mouth shut. Their eyes always went to his mouth and to the rows of razor-sharp teeth within.

  When a woman flirted with him, it ended before it began, with her eyes widening and her body tensing with fear. Opening his mouth did that.

  Netto tuned them out and focused on Montihan, who was obliviously running a scanner over the rails throughout the interior. His daughter is already halfway in bed with a Cyborg. Doesn’t he see that?

  “What are you doing with that scanner?” he asked.

  Montihan didn’t look up, “Checking for bugs.”

  It took Netto a breath to scan the watership and discern that there was no tracker tech or espionage gear. “It’s clear.”

  The man nodded before clicking off his handheld. “Thank you. Rylie did it this morning but one can never be too careful.” He sat down in the captain’s seat and swiveled his chair to face the group.

  “Why are you checking? Are you having problems with one of the factions on Kepler?” Zeph asked, his voice hard.

  Montihan rubbed his mouth. “Not lately, beyond the issues that everyone is facing in the Eastern hemisphere agri-lots, but I’m not quick to place my trust in those beyond my homestead.”

  “Military-man to the bone,” Zeph leaned back and spread his arms along the headrests, his left enveloping Janet into his space. “We appreciate that. Have you had trouble in the past?”

  The ship rocked slightly, unnoticeable to everyone but a Cyborg. Both he and Zeph turned to see Rylie join them. Netto’s nostrils flared as her sea-swept perfume punctured the space; it replaced all hints of her sister’s lavender oil. She perused the room, and her eyes met his briefly, uncertain and ocean blue, before quickly looking away.

  Few seats are left. Netto sensed her dilemma because it would be his too. Will she sit next to me? He shifted, prepared for her slight body to be next to his. His muscles relaxed, diminishing his strength for her comfort.

  He looked up to see Zeph smirking at him. Rylie walked past them and sat next to her da.

  A strange emotion coursed through him.

  “Some time ago, yes, we had a shark take over a fellow agri-lot settlement south of us.” Netto tensed as Montihan continued, “But they were fined and have been quiet since. We still find bugs now and again on our equipment, especially since the colony expanded and the additional corporations broke ground.”

  “Yes, KepOil and Mining, the helium extraction industries, and Fert Tech, a fertilizer plant. We know of their transition. Has it affected you?” Zeph asked.

  Netto listened but watched Rylie out of the corner of his eye. She was staring at his partner, and a spit-fire flare of jealousy hit him. I saw her first.

  He shut his eyes and cleared his mind, unsure why he cared.

  “I don’t know. Yes and no. There’re more people available for work, new alliances to be had, but like I said, I don’t trust outsiders. And the bugs and not knowing who keeps planting them has only made my stance stronger on the issue.”

  Zeph sat forward. “Is that why we’re here? Because of your paranoia?”

  “Don’t insult him,” Janet clipped, speaking for the first time, her eyes narrowed.

  “They’re just musings of a long-time business man, I’m telling you now,” Montihan said, calmly.

  “And you trust them?” Her voice rose, “You tell us now that you’re paranoid? And ask outsiders to come here when we could’ve come up with a plan ourselves?”

  “Janet, please,” Rylie pleaded. “He’s telling us now.”

  Netto and Zeph shared a look and remained quiet.

  “We’ve always helped you protect our lots. We’re prepared to take over when you retire and we don’t even have your ear anymore? How do you expect us to do our jobs when you keep stuff from us?” Janet continued.

  “Da, does ma know?” Rylie intervened.

  “She knows enough—”

  “And she agrees with how you’re handling this?”

  “I don’t like how you and your sister ‘handle’ things.” The girl stiffened under his gaze, a matching blush powdering her cheeks. “I wanted to protect you from yourselves for once. If you two had known what your ma and I planned before this afternoon, you wouldn’t be here right now, instead getting yourselves in trouble somewhere I can’t help you!” Both girls cowed under his increasing anger. “There’re big fish in the waters now and if you two caught the notice of one of them, if KepOil or Fert Tech are involved, especially since they might have nothing to do with this, I’m not sure your ma and I could protect you. Not without a stand-off and not without either us or them dying.” Montihan took a deep, ragged breath.

  Netto felt bad for the man. For all of his strength, he could see the tired look of countless hours of work on Montihan’s face. His daughters resembled him, both different yet similar in the way sisters were. Rylie’s mouth was pressed into a hard line, her face half-covered with hair and looking away while the one in Zeph’s circle had her arms crossed, glaring at her dad. Neither one said anything.

  Thirty minutes ago he would have gladly gone back to the ship and left Kepler behind for good. Thirty minutes ago he would have logged his time here to the back of his database. But as Montihan sat stiffly, his brow wrinkled, and concern marring his features, Netto found himself interested in offering his help.

  He felt a needle of possession as he studied the family, a tiny stab urging him to give them his protection. His muscles bunched back up as his plating shifted from within.

  Zeph broke the silence of the static atmosphere.

  “We’re here because you requested us and because we need your glass. For a price, we can offer our assistance.” />
  Montihan nodded, “I know.”

  “So, let’s make a deal then. The EPED receives the rest of your crop this season, at a quarter of the price, for us, and for whatever you called us here to help with.” Zeph waved his hand.

  “That’s absurd,” Rylie was the first of her family to respond. “We have contracts that we can’t fall out of, not without severing relationships with longstanding buyers. You’ll ruin us.” She turned toward her dad. “We can take care of it ourselves like we’ve always done, like we always do.”

  “It’s a deal.”

  Janet sat forward as Zeph sat back, “Da, but the crops—”

  “Shush, Jan,” Montihan snapped.

  “This’ll destroy us.”

  “Our financial situation is already in the red.”

  “Who will supply the Trentians?” Rylie asked before Janet erupted on their father. Netto looked back at Zeph, who sported a slight smile of satisfaction on his lips. A verbal contract. Another job completed.

  The EPED needed something from Montihan, and Montihan needed something from them.

  That something was off. Netto wasn’t sure if it had to do with Zeph or Montihan, but he had the urge to negate the verbal contract and to provide a Cyborg’s services pro-bono. He wanted to intervene and follow his instinct.

  He couldn’t.

  This was why he hated working for the government. One of the many reasons he had left the EPED in the first place.

  “Tell us what you need,” Netto asked, finally speaking. There was only one way to find out.

  “Nothing,” Rylie hissed.

  Montihan got up and poured himself a drink. “Quiet, girls, and I’ll explain. The deal is set and to our benefit.”

  “It’s true,” Zeph shrugged, catching Janet’s eye. “One Cyborg is worth a fortune alone, but two Cyborgs? Well, we could start a war. Could probably take out half the population of Kepler before the end of next week.” He sat back down, nonplussed, a fraction closer to the girl. Netto knew it was calculated.

  “I don’t believe that for a second,” Janet taunted, eyeing Zeph, “Not you. Now two of him,” she tilted her head in Netto’s direction, “I’d believe.”