Page 12 of Max
“Do you even know that she is alive and didn’t just run away?
“I don’t know that she is dead, but I do know she wouldn’t just run away. If White was short on a shipment, he could have put her into it to fill his quota.”
“I asked White, but he gave me some crap that she probably left because he hadn’t seen her in a while. I know she wouldn’t have left of her own accord. She was excited that I was coming home.”
Thrix almost felt sorry for him, as he seemed truly distraught over the loss of his mate. “I will have Za’Ras escort you through the harem and take you to the holding barracks. If your mate is among them, we will work it out.”
“Thank you, Van’Rel.” Colton dipped his head as a sign of respect, and Za’Ras returned momentarily.
As Colton left with Za’Ras, his mouth compressed into a thin line, and he shook his head. Could Connie be the female the human sought? …The one female he wouldn’t give up?
He hoped not for Colton’s sake. The cyborg convert was one of the few humans he almost liked. Van’Rel would find killing him at least distasteful, but he would if it meant keeping Connie.
She screamed and cried while he punished her, yet she almost relished the pain, and she rarely begged for it to stop like the other females. She could take it so much longer than the others before he pleasured her.
His cock hardened inside his slit. Van’Rel needed release soon. What was it about this female that the thought of fucking her did this to him? He wasn’t the only Mesaarkan who liked to screw human females. That’s why procuring them and selling them had made him wealthy.
Colton didn’t need to know Van’Rel held one female back when he let the cyborg see his harem. He wasn’t taking the chance that Colton would claim her as his female.
Chapter Seven
“Mm,” said Max, spearing another bite of omelet with his fork. “I don’t often get to eat freshly made food. This is wonderful.”
Falyn smiled, enjoying his praise. “It’s just eggs, vegetables, and some goat cheese.”
“I’m just sorry, this is all the bread left. I used the last of my flour to make it; it will be another month until I can harvest the wheat patch. But I have some garbanzos to grind and make bread.”
“You’re talking to a male who lives on meal bars and nutrient drinks. During the war, we often ate insects for fresh meat. You don’t need to deplete your food supply for me.”
Max knew they were skirting the subject of their mating, but he knew not to push her. He could smell her arousal, and he surmised she knew it because of her pinkening cheeks.
Max was unsure whether he should speak openly about it or keep talking around it until Falyn seemed more at ease. His cock was so hard that he wanted to ask her to breed, but he couldn’t get the words out. Her avatar said he never gave her a choice; he just seduced her. Other cyborgs didn’t have such incidents with their avatar mates. His had deliberately hurt him with her disdainful insults and frequent berating. Falyn seemed nothing like her avatar except in her appearance. Pulling himself back from the past, he continued the conversation.
“From what I can see, your homestead is well maintained and self-sufficient. You have solar panels and a windmill with an electric cooler and a cooker, yet you cook on an ancient wood stove.”
“Because I am trying to conserve the batteries for the fridge. They are very old, and some no longer hold a charge. This used to be my great, great grandfather’s off-the-grid vacation home. The town where he lived was not bombed, but the bombings cut off utilities and communications. So, he packed up his family and moved them here.”
“Did he prepare all this before the bombings?” asked Max.
“He did. My family called him a prepper. He never trusted the Earth Alliance because they were always squabbling. He believed one country or another would start a war.” Falyn paused, meeting his gaze. “We never knew the attack came from off-world… Although we wondered, I never knew until you told me.”
“How do you take care of all this yourself?” he asked. It was a small property by farm standards, about a dozen acres.
“I have some machines that still work. Of course, they cannibalized the fuel cells from the hovercraft to keep them running. A cultivator bot tills and weeds, and I have a harvester bot.
“Heck, living alone here for all this time, there is nothing else to do, and certainly not if I want to survive.”
Noting he had finished eating, Falyn got up from her chair at the kitchen table, gathering the plates and tableware, leaving only the empty mugs. She carried them to the sink and quickly washed and rinsed them, placing them in the drainer. On her way back, she took the tea kettle from the stove, came to the table, and poured hot herbal tea into their mugs.
“This is mixed herbal tea. I pick it, dry it, and blend it myself.” Falyn reached for a small jar of amber syrup. “It will taste better if you stir in a spoon of honey. It’s one of the things I trade for in town with some beekeepers.”
“What do you trade?” Max took the honey jar as she passed it to him, took a spoonful, and stirred it into his beverage.
“Anything I can think of: vegetables in season, eggs if I have extras, cheese, goatmilk soap, herbs. I learned how to make all that from my mom and dad. They were always thankful that great-great-grandfather stocked this place with books that told us how to do all of this.”
“Those are excellent skills to have. Everything you have here is what the Enclave wants to teach the urban dwellers,” he said. “Perhaps you could help with that after they clear away the wreckage in the cities and rebuild.”
“Are there enough people to rebuild cities?”
