Shark Bite (Cyborg Shifters Book 3) Page 6

  Zeph laughed and tore off his shirt. But didn't move forward in challenge, instead, he moved away from him and strode to the ladder.

  “We're wasting daylight. My advice? Stay here and focus. I'll check out the lot,” he said, slipping off his boots. Netto approached him, his frame towering over the other Cyborg, inhuman in his height.

  ‘I'm not done with you.’

  To anyone who would see them, Montihan or his daughters, potential spies on the horizon, they looked as if they were having a tense conversation. No one would guess that he and Zeph were on the brink of a fight.

  “For someone who is needling me to lose control, Zeph, I wonder who actually needs the time to focus.”

  “Sharkman, we want the same thing. We just want a different prize. You haven't told them what you are, what we are yet, and right now the beast is about to erupt. We can't risk you changing in front of them without warning. I can't risk it because if you do, their terror will spur my beast to come out as well.” Zeph kept his voice low and looked out over the inlet.

  Netto followed his gaze, feeling the turmoil ebb, as his eyes followed the water that crystallized more with each passing second as the last of the fog dissipated.

  He's right. They don't know what we really are. His eyes caught the girls perched on a nearby rock with what looked like a giant oyster between them.

  “Keep away from her,” Netto said. His eyes landed on Rylie, who glanced back at him at that moment. Her beautiful murky blue eyes went wide for an instant before she looked away. The thought of Zeph near her was enough to splinter his composure.

  “I'll stay.” It took everything within him to relent. Even his beast couldn't argue with the part of him that truly ruled his mind...his systems.

  Without a word, he turned away and heard Zeph get into the water. The Cyborg was as silent as he was deadly, and though he heard the telltale signs of his partner’s glide, he knew no one else would. He knew because he was just as quiet in the water.

  “Don’t get your hopes up.”

  Netto caught Montihan looking at him through his holo-screen. He took a deep breath and tried to find that control, that focus that Zeph talked about even though his auditory system zeroed in and picked up Rylie’s heartbeat.

  “Sir?” he asked and sat across from him.

  “She doesn't like contact. Buggy’s always been hesitant to take one step off our land.” Montihan sighed. “It's a shame but we did the best we could for our eldest. And it's hard to raise a kid so far from civilization, all you have is hope. Hope that you don't fuck’em up. We raised her on the job, learning the tech. She spent most of her time with machines and the ocean but not much else. Rylie tolerates those who live and work on the settlement but she prefers being alone. I think strangers...large groups make her anxious. Sheryl and I did our best.” He laughed, looking beyond and out into the horizon. “At least she isn't stupid. Buggy thinks with her head and not her heart. She won't follow you if you choose her.”

  Netto didn't know what to say, not at first. He always had retorts running through his head but rarely ever spoke up. This time he felt comfortable opening his mouth but had no words to do so.

  Rylie didn't seem strange to him. She was guarded and that was a trait he cultivated and understood. It was a strength, but as he pondered Montihan's words he did recall her tension, her shuffling, her eyes always looking everywhere but at him. He thought it had to do with his horrid appearance, but now he wasn't certain.

  Far in the background, laughter rose up with Zeph's voice accompanying it. Netto all at once wished this mission had ended when it was supposed to, before yesterday's dinner, before he met the Montihan family, before he felt the ever-burning desire to protect those who didn't want his protection.

  “What do you plan on doing with her?” Montihan asked.

  “Nothing.” Netto wished it were honest. He wanted it to be the truth.

  “I know you Cyborgs have a 'way' when it comes to something you desire. I've met a few of you in my younger years. A soldier of the first order, front lines of the space fleet, and I often flew a drone alone. I commanded. Fought behind the walls of a spaceship. I also fought by hand when I had to. A man doesn't set his feet on the ground during a space-war without the ability to do so. I've met your kind before.”

  “Thank you for your service.”

  “Don't thank me for shit. You may outrank most red-blooded, woman-borne men but I'm retired and you're on my land now.” He turned off his wristcon and sat forward, wariness and age slowed his movements. “Cyborgs lose control.”

  Netto stiffened and narrowed his eyes at the man. He had misjudged him. Montihan knew exactly what was happening with his daughters. “I don't,” he said under his breath, and for the second time that morning, he felt challenged by another alpha male.

  “My girls can take care of themselves. They're adults and I've long since given up trying to control them. I know when to lose control and when to command it. She won't follow you. I trust you to not do anything stupid.”

  With that, Montihan stood up and leaned over the side, calling out to his daughters for an update.

  Netto sat back and looked up at Kepler's sun. He had seen many in his life but this one was different. It was frightening in its size, appearing closer to the planet than it really was. The sound of swimming roared to the forefront of his thoughts. He already knew Rylie's movement pattern and followed her progress back to the watership.

  Control. He dreaded and waited for the moment she would step over the side.

  Montihan had called him out and Netto knew it should have surprised him. Men rarely engaged with a Cyborg the way he had. It was dangerous, bordering on suicidal.

  Janet stepped over the side and came straight toward him. He looked beyond her to catch sight of Rylie but was blocked by the other sister.

  “You didn’t join us. I would’ve liked to see you swim,” Janet smiled down at him, standing closer than he liked. Rylie looked at him but he lost her as she turned away and went down to the lower deck. “You have the abs for it.” Netto turned toward the dripping wet blonde who trailed her finger over his stomach.

  Netto caught her hand. “Don’t.”

  “Don’t?” She canted her head, exuding a vulnerability that he didn’t think she had. Zeph came over the side at that moment, loaded with the oyster-like rocks under his arm. Netto expected murder, but what he got was stone. “I was told you guys are different than most of your kind.” Janet leaned in and put her hand over the one that still held hers. “Count me curious.”

  “Every Cyborg is different.”

  “Are they?”

  Netto nodded and dislodged his hand from between hers as he stood. “Like every human is different. Let's go see what you've collected.”

  He stepped toward Zeph and Montihan, who both looked over a table now scattered with the sea-rocks. Several were cracked open to reveal the interior contents, while some were pushed aside with their stones already removed.

  “They're all cloudy,” Zeph muttered, annoyed.

  Netto fished through the muck and couldn't find a stone that was clear. At least not clear enough to use. But he did smell the faded, almost indecipherable scent of blood.

  He left the group and followed Rylie down the stairs, regardless of the eyes of the trio boring through his back.

  The subtle smell of blood became clearer and he followed the trail back inside the ship and into the small kitchenette space opposite of the quarters. Netto stopped as Rylie hunched over a waterspout, still in nothing but her wetsuit and shoes. She was small, too small, too slight for any Cyborg, especially for a Cyborg like himself.

  He caught her hand and the cut she was washing. She jerked away from him but couldn't stray far.

  “You're hurt.” Netto peered down at the small scrape. It was nothing, a chafe at most, but he hated that it marred her skin.

  “It's only a scrape. Happens all the time,” she huffed and tugged her hand. He didn't let her
go.

  “It can get infected.” He lifted the tiny wound to his face, the beautiful smell of blood filling his systems, and licked it. Rylie struggled away from him but he held her tight, licking and sucking on the blood.

  “What're you doing!?”

  She went unheeded as her taste filled his mouth. It made him hungry. It made him ravenous.

  It made him lose control.

  Netto didn't hear her protests as he positioned her into the corner, the smell of her sweat and her heart beat flooding his other senses. Her tiny body, toned and lovely, caught up against his.

  He understood why Zeph wanted to kill him.

  He dropped her hand.

  Netto stormed out of the corridor, needing to get as far away from Rylie as he could.

  Because if he didn't, he would force his will on her and feast on her flesh.

  Chapter Eight

  It was near evening by the time they had visited all of the coastal inlets. The watership was heading toward the nearest isle outer-lots. Rylie fiddled with the gel that covered her cut.

  Kepler's sun was on its descent and the heat of the day began to fade into an evening chill. Her shoulders hunched into the towel draped around her.

  She and Janet, along with the Cyborgs, had collected samples from every single lot. It made for an exhausting day. If her head hit a pillow, she would be out before her next breath.

  She burrowed into the towel further as the night digressed into open cans of beer, seawater all over the ship's floor, bags of snacks and chips scattered about, and the descent into suffocating strain.

  Every single nugget had produced a cloudy gem. Every one they had collected today. They had not encountered one large group of swimmers nor had they come any closer to a conclusion to what may be happening.

  The men had grown quieter as the day went on, but Janet had gotten more boisterous to make up for it, leaving a trail of silence behind her wherever she went. Rylie was hanging onto the thread of her last nerve.

  Her eyes lifted to watch Janet brush out her hair and talk to Da. She sat across from them, not devoting her full attention to either.

  Rylie was almost impressed with the Cyborgs for not coming to blows over Janet. It had happened in the past with men, in less time and with far less flirtation.

  Her hand tingled. She bit the inside of her cheek and ignored it. She’d been on edge ever since this morning.

  “This is our last stop.”

  There was a pause before anyone responded.

  “Is there any reason for us to check this one? Or do you think this will be different from the rest?” Zeph groused. The tension was thick enough to cut through.

  Rylie was far too tired for it.

  “You can stay here while Netto and I check it then,” Janet teased.

  She's playing with fire. Just stop, Janet, please stop.

  Netto hadn't spoken to her since this morning. Not since he had licked and sucked on her hand.

  Since he had trapped her into a corner and blocked out the overhead light. She still felt his mouth on her palm, pulling at her skin, sending shockwaves straight through her nerves. Her skin broke out in goosebumps just at the thought of it.

  But it died as her sister got up and stretched, thrusting out her chest toward their guests, and cracked her back.

  Zeph stood up, “I'll go.”

  Janet smiled as Zeph followed on her heels and into the water.

  “Anyone hungry?” Da asked.

  “No.”

  Netto shook his head. He hadn't eaten once since he arrived.

  “We'll turn in after this then.”

  “Shouldn't we head back?” Netto asked.

  Rylie refused to look at him; her hand tingled every time his mouth moved. “It's dangerous traveling after dark. We wouldn't make it back before then.”

  It didn't make any sense to her. Whenever a new man came into their lives and Rylie thought she could make a connection with him, Janet swooped in and took him away. Was it her? Was it because Janet was so open and friendly while Rylie kept to herself? Was she so unapproachable? Was she not...attractive enough?

  Why does he affect me? Why did he follow me? When she looked back at him, he was watching her, an unreadable expression in his eyes. Rylie shivered and the hair on the back of her neck rose. She pulled the towel around her tighter. They had spent an entire day within each other’s vicinity and it had only made the unease worse...

  “Netto and I are different than most Cyborgs,” Zeph took the nugget from her sister and cracked it open. “We’re better in bed.”

  Janet laughed. “So you’re lazy? Would’ve never guessed.” She dug her hands through the contents of the rocky shell she held and pulled out the stone. Rylie attributed her blush to the rising sun. “Or is that your ability? Kill the aliens by getting them into bed?”

  Zeph shrugged. “If that were so, the war would’ve ended decades before it did.”

  Rylie handed him another nugget while Janet cleaned and collected the stones. The edges were rough but after years of handling them, her hands had sealed over with callouses and tough skin. She reached below the water and ripped another one from the surface.

  “Is that so? I wonder what Netto’s teeth do to a girl beneath the sheets. I’d imagine bedding him would be...intriguing. Maybe even messy if you know what I mean.”

  “If you want biting during your bedplay, sweetheart, you need to look no further.”

  Rylie kept her mouth shut and palmed the nugget. She wasn’t aware of the cut until a plume of red spread out through the water. She didn’t want to hear what her sister was saying, especially when it came to things Rylie knew nothing about. Despite being the eldest child, she knew little when it came to intimate relations and it had always bothered her.

  How could she sleep with someone when they had already been with her sister? Her family thought her asexual and she never corrected that notion, but now a stranger—a frighteningly handsome one—had looked at her. Her. And not her sister. She was curious and she hated herself for it.

  “Why is it dangerous?” Netto asked. Heat rose to her cheeks as she realized she had been staring at him. Her eyes roved over his body quickly before she looked away and shifted her gaze toward her da, who was absorbed with the ship’s controls.

  “The fog,” she said, clearing her throat. “It makes it impossible to see at night and it descends every night. It doesn’t matter what time of year it is, the nightly fog is a constant.” Rylie glanced back at him only to encounter his heavy stare. It made her uneasy, even more so since she had been thinking about sex.

  As if, maybe, he knew her thoughts. Her toes clenched. As if he could see right through her. A thought weeded its way into her head. I wish I was Janet.

  “Don’t you have a GPS?”

  Netto turned to face her and the weight of his intimidation blanketed her. She didn’t want to look at him but couldn’t help it. It doesn’t help that he’s half naked. And had been since that morning, since he cornered her and she got a full frontal view of his chest.

  Rylie counted six. Six abdominal muscles—toned and sculpted beyond any she had seen before. She could probably get her fingertip to the first knuckle into the grooves carved between them. No one in the settlement had a body remotely like Netto’s. Large, packed, molded into a perfectly made sea stone, and taller than she thought humanly possible. Zeph matched him in build but not height nor in looks. Where his devilish partner was exotically handsome with short wavy hair the color of amber, Netto was...Rylie swallowed...he was heroic. Heroic.

  Her mouth dried up as she rubbed the tingling from her hand again. “It’s easy to get turned around. Even with the tech.”

  Netto’s brow furrowed and his features hardened. “That’s not possible.” His teeth glinted in the waning light.

  “It’s not reliable. We use the sun and oceanic mapping to find our way, but the mapping gets skewed at night,” Rylie said.

  “Underwater currents. No tides, no
moon. No stars in the fog to follow at night. It messes with a man’s head and many have found themselves lost the next morning. We generally don’t sail after dark unless it’s an emergency,” Da said off to the side.

  Rylie watched the setting sun and the incoming fog. Already there was a milky haze building around them.

  “You’re stuck with us tonight,” she murmured more as a reminder to herself and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. The Cyborgs’ bunks were a wall away and she had a terrible feeling that her sister was going to want to switch rooms.

  She rubbed her cheek against the towel, hoping the heat in her cheeks could be erased.

  Her eyes flickered back to Netto as he stood and approached her. Rylie stiffened when he took the seat next to hers. Stop thinking about him. Stop conjuring him up. Stop. She wanted to scream at her thoughts.

  First, he invaded her thoughts; now, he invaded her space.

  He’s too close, too near. She desperately wanted to jump into the water and swim away. Instead, they sat in awkward silence until he put his hand out.

  She looked at it, then at him, only to look back at it again. Rylie relented and placed her damaged hand, palm side up, in his.

  Her hand was small in comparison. Golden against his blue. Hers was rough, while his was smooth.

  Netto lifted it and it took every ounce of her willpower to not shy away. Is he going to mouth it again? Her eyes widened as she prepared herself for the worst. But he didn’t, and it stopped in front of his eyes.

  She exhaled. It wasn’t just her hand that tickled anymore. The rest of her was now affected and she couldn’t help but take in his intense expression, the steadiness of his strong jaw, or that his eyes dulled to a pasty dilated grey as he studied her.

  “Does it hurt?” he asked.

  “It tingles.” Rylie closed her eyes. Really? “It itches, I mean.”

  “Hmm...”

  He lifted her hand closer to his face. Oh god, he’s really going to do it again. “Don’t,” she stammered but all he did was sniff it. Her mouth hung open as her heart pounded.