Alien AI's Marine (Warriors of the Lathar Book 14) Read online

  That was something she couldn’t understand. How could a male walk away from his mate and offspring that way? But she supposed that was her Latharian nature coming out. Or rather, the fact that the only culture she’d been exposed to was that of an Imperial Latharian family. No male would ever dream of leaving a fertile female and his own offspring. Human customs and mores were very, very different.

  Jay’s snort was bitter and derisive. “Yeah, that’s just the problem. My father didn’t leave, but he might as well have. He was never there. Same with my mother.”

  She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand.”

  Lifting a big hand, he stroked her hair back from her face with a gentle touch.

  “I’m adopted, love.” At her confused expression, he smiled and carried on. “It means my birth parents didn’t want me and gave me up.”

  A heavy wave of something washed over her, squeezing her chest in a vise-like grip and her eyes tingled weirdly. “How could they not? How old were you?”

  He smoothed a thumb over her cheek and she felt the wetness there on her skin.

  “Don’t cry. Not for me,” he murmured, his deep voice a gritty rasp. “Not for that. It was a long time ago and it doesn’t bother me. I came to terms with it and the fact they didn’t want me years ago.”

  She nodded, too caught up in listening to him, in needing to hold him, to marvel at the fact this body could create tears. She’d always wondered what it would be like.

  Now she knew… she’d happily have not found out. Even tears, as beautiful and delicate as they seemed in all the holoplays and vids she’d analyzed from the captured human databases, weren’t worth this awful, crushing weight and ache in the center of her chest.

  “But you had other parents?” she pushed gently, leaning against him. It was partly for comfort and partly because she liked being in his arms. Being close to him. Her smaller frame fit perfectly against his larger one, like she was made to be there. “Clan members who took you in?”

  He gave a small laugh. “Adoption doesn’t work that way. My parents aren’t biologically related to me. They wanted me. Chose me. Apparently. Don’t know why because they barely saw me growing up. I was eight before I realized most kids saw their parents on Christmas day rather than spent it with the housekeeper.”

  Her heart ached at the note in his voice. Hard-edged and unemotional, it held a hint of decades-old hurt buried deep down.

  “I don’t want to talk about that.”

  His voice dropped an octave, whispering over her skin like an auditory caress. She managed to suppress the shiver. Where they still playacting? If they were, she really shouldn’t notice the way his eyes had darkened, nor the small, wicked smile that curved his lips. But it wasn’t just that. The nature of the way he held her had changed as well. Instead of sheltering her against his larger body, his hand spread over the back of her hips, pulling her up against him. And something was pressing into her stomach…

  Her eyes widened, the realization of what it was hitting her at the same moment he bent his head to whisper his lips over hers. “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

  Then he kissed her.

  The instant his lips touched hers, her brain short-circuited but didn’t reboot. Instead, she was in some kind of sensory-overload limbo—a state she was only capable of limited responses in, and none of them verbal.

  Her senses locked onto small things. The way his lips, softer than she’d thought and somehow hard at the same time, moved against her mouth. For a moment she wasn’t sure what to do. None of her subroutines had any information on the correct response to such a move, or, if they had, the short-circuit had stopped her being able to access them.

  His shirt was rough under her fingertips, the heat of his skin beneath penetrating the thin fabric as though it were reaching out to her. Her hands clutched at the material, and she crumpled it in her fist as he swept his tongue against her lip.

  Her thoughts stuttered again and then instinct took over. Parting her lips, she surrendered and allowed him access. He growled and pulled her closer, his free hand driving into her hair as he invaded her mouth.

  And… it was like nothing she’d ever experienced before. A soft moan welled up from the center of her chest as he stroked her tongue with his, teasing and tempting her. Heat hit her, sliding through every vein in her body to start a fire low in her belly, right where he pressed against her. The feel of the thick, hard length made her ache, between her legs, and she was forced to press them together.

  “Oh…” she whispered when he broke away. His breathing as compromised as hers and he looked down at her with darkness still in his eyes.

  It had felt good. Very good. She frowned, looking up at him. “Why did you stop? Did I do it wrong?”

  He chuckled, his hand on the side of her neck as he swept his thumb over her lower lip. “You didn’t do anything wrong, sweetheart. I stopped because if I didn’t, I’d make you mine right here against this crate and your first time? That should be special… in a bed. With candles and all that.”

  She looked at him, confused. “None of my research into human mating customs mentioned candles were required for procreation.”

  His smile widened, his thumb pausing to pull slightly at her full lower lip. “You’ve been researching human mating customs?”

  “Well… yes. I wanted to…”

  She couldn’t complete the sentence. Heat hit her cheeks again and she looked down.

  “Wanted to what?” He hooked strong fingers under her chin to make her look up, pinning her with his darkened gaze. “You wanted to find out about how humans have sex?”

  She nodded, unable to look away.

  “Why?”

  The small whimper escaped her before she could stop it. He was going to make her say it. She just knew he was.

  “Keris?”

  “I wanted to know what it would be like! Okay?” she managed on a hiss. Her face was so hot now, it felt like she’d face planted on a star’s surface.

  “With a human?” he demanded, still holding her jaw.

  She glared at him. Humans were so draanthing stubborn at times. Get them stuck on a theme and they just did not stop.

  “Yes, with a human. With you, you thick Terran!” she hissed back. “Do you see any other human males here?”

  Triumph rolled through him at her words and he slid his hand further into her hair to cup the nape of her neck.

  “No,” he murmured, drinking in the beauty of her face as it was upturned to him. “There’s just me.”

  She was still annoyed, and it was adorable the way she wrinkled her nose at him. “Then why did you ask?”

  “Because I wanted to hear you say it.”

  The admission was dragged from him, leaving him open and raw to her. He’d always had trouble with acceptance and belonging. He wasn’t an idiot. He knew it was because of his childhood. You didn’t need a couple of degrees to realize that.

  She studied his expression and he let her, ignoring the need to make a joke or kiss her again to distract her. For some reason it seemed important to let her look, to let her see him, even though he’d resisted it his entire adult life.

  “I wanted to know what it would be like… with you,” she said softly, reaching up on her tiptoes to brush her lips against his. He knew she hadn’t been in a physical body for long, and he knew he was the more experienced of the two of them, but he still felt like a green youth kissing his first girl. That sense of wonder and anticipation… he was so fucking hard he was surprised he hadn’t burst through his damn fly already.

  “Bed. Candles. Soft music.” His voice was rough when she pulled away and he wasn’t sure if he was trying to persuade her or himself.

  She smiled, the sweet expression more erotic than any practiced seductive look from another woman. “Okay.”

  He blinked. “Did you just agree to sleep with me?”

  Her look was long and considering. “I’m beginning to reconsi
der my assessment of the intelligence of human males.”

  “Bear with me. I’ll catch up.” He chuckled and pulled her close for a second, kissing her again. Then he nuzzled her nose. “You do realize we’re alone. Don’t you?”

  His little AI-turned-seductress started and looked over her shoulder. The B’Kaar who had been watching them from the exit had gotten bored at some point during their short clinch and wandered off somewhere. He’d heard the door go, but she obviously hadn’t.

  She looked back at him. “The console.”

  His smile broadened as she grabbed his hand and all but dragged him to the back of the hangar. The Lathar were so linear, which he’d always found frustrating before. But on her, it was downright adorable.

  They reached the back in a rush of soft giggles and he stole another kiss before turning her around.

  “Okay, sweetheart,” he urged. “Do your thing.”

  She stopped dead in front of the console and as he watched, her face fell.

  “Jay,” she whispered. “I’m not sure I can do this.”

  “Sure you can, doll,” he murmured, sliding his hands around her waist so his chest was against her back.

  “Look at how far you’ve come already. You’re telling me you’re going to let a little keyboard stand in your way?”

  His voice was low and unconcerned, but inside, he held his breath. “All” she had to do was hack into the system and hide their activity from the B’Kaar. He might not know what those asshole cyberwarriors were capable of, but there were lots of them.

  Every time he’d walked through the command suite, most of the twenty had been jacked into the system, standing as motionless as statues with cables trailing from their wrists. How could she beat so many of them? But she could… she had to. They needed the advantage.

  “This is so primitive,” she grumbled, activating the console. “I have to type? Barbaric.”

  He hid his smile as her hands flew over the keyboard. He had never been a computer geek so there was no way he could match her speed. But… she was an AI, and one of those superior Miisan-level AIs. He knew she had this and he was right as the screen in front of them scrolled through different systems.

  Then he blinked. “Hey, I recognize some of the words.”

  “Yeah?” she asked, looking over her shoulder at him with a smile. Her fingers didn’t stop moving. Figured his girl would turn out to be badass with a keyboard. “Sounds like the new implant is settling in.”

  He smiled at her, trying to pick up more, but then huffed. It was only a word or so, and they were few and far between. He wouldn’t be reading the Latharian version of War and Peace any time soon.

  “O…kay,” she murmured, rapidly adding another set of commands on screen before hitting what he assumed was the enter button with a flourish. “That should be that. I’ve set an algorithm to disable internal sensors in grid three-four-seven, with intermittent glitches in three-four-five and three-four-six.”

  “Let me guess?” he grinned. “Three-four-seven is ours?”

  She nodded. “It’s the residential sector on the VIP level and two decks below. I’ve also disabled the sensors in here and triggered a wave of randomly fluctuating glitches across the station. Hopefully they’ll think they’re all connected rather than deliberate to take out the sensors in our rooms.”

  He grinned and scooped her up. “You, sweetheart, are a genius.”

  10

  She’d been summoned.

  Keris stood in the base CO’s office doorway, a room now taken over by the leader of the B’Kaar, Risyn. The male lounged in the chair behind the desk, scowling at the empty air in front of him. Since he had one elegant forearm extended and an uplink cable jacked into the port there, she knew he was logged into the system looking at something she couldn’t see. By the rapid movement of his eyes, he was flicking through screens. Perhaps searching for something? Whatever it was, he wasn’t finding it, the frustration written on his patrician features.

  “You wanted to see me?” she asked, keeping her voice low to avoid startling him too much even though she knew that it wasn’t necessary. All the B’Kaar were linked so he’d have received notification from the guard that brought her here that they were on their way. He was just making her wait in the doorway.

  As she did, she swept a glance around the room. Unlike some areas of the base, it betrayed its age. The paneling was of a type last popular in the empire over a century and a half ago and different to the style in the hallway, lending weight to her suspicion that this base had been more than a cabal secret lair in its life. Whatever else it had been, it was in a sorry state now.

  The lights were not functioning correctly down one side of the room and the display screen on the wall behind the desk should have shown an image of the stars outside or maybe the command deck was blank. More than blank, the “deadness” of the panel told her it was inoperative—something that this body shouldn’t have been able to pick up with the naked eye. Which was… odd.

  Before she could think on that anymore, Risyn blinked and “came back.” Opening his eyes, he smiled at her as the input cable disengaged and clattered to the floor.

  “Lady Kelly, please… do come in.”

  He levered himself up from the chair and rounded the desk to greet her.

  He didn’t touch her, merely held his arm out to usher her further into the room. She still skittered away slightly, eyeing him warily as her heart hammered against the inside of her ribs like a bird desperate to be free. He wasn’t in his suit but that didn’t mean he was harmless. Anything but. He might not be as heavily muscled as his second in command or Jay, but he was still a Lathar male trained for combat practically from the cradle.

  She’d heard rumors of how the B’Kaar trained their children and it was even more barbaric than the Izaean. At least the Berserkers had a relatively normal upbringing before the blood rage was discovered.

  Added to that was the fact he was a lot larger than she was. Had she still been in her metal body, it wouldn’t have been a problem. She’d have been a match for him even if he had been in his kasivar. Now, though… she didn’t stand a chance against him.

  “My apologies, Lady Kelly,” he said, catching her movement. He dropped his arm instantly and stepped back so he wasn’t crowding her anymore. “I am still working out the social mores and rituals of dealing with human females. Your group is the first I have met.”

  “Apology accepted.”

  She waited for him to return to his side of the desk then took the seat in front of it. She had no doubt he was analyzing everything about her: her breathing and heart rate, the set of her body, even down to the micro-expressions on her face. She wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t using the room’s internal sensors to record their conversation for playback and analysis later. It was what she would do.

  “Most human females, and we prefer to be called women by the way, do not like to be touched unless by those we are close to or we have given permission.” Channeling Indra, she added a slightly imperious note to her voice, even if her heart was still hammering away with the fear he’d somehow discover what she was. Given her cover story, though, fear was to be expected. Kelly Stephens was a human woman who had been kidnapped and brutalized by Lathar… Without knowing the differences between clans, she would likely lump them into the same group—males to be afraid of.

  She lifted her chin, letting her lower lip tremble again. Risyn’s gaze locked onto it and his expression softened a little, his movements nonthreatening.

  “As I said before, my lady, you have nothing to fear from us. The B’Kaar revere fem…women,” he corrected with a slight smile. “We revere and cherish women. You will be safe with us.”

  She gave a small nod but didn’t reply, merely watching him. Or rather, she let her gaze land on him and then skitter away, looking around the room and toward the door before she looked back. Playing a part, she told herself. She wasn’t terrified of being shut in here with a male who would happ
ily take her apart to see how she worked... while still alive. Absolutely not.

  “And I must say, you are by far the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,” he added, his smile broadening. “If you had not already been claimed, I would certainly petition you to consider my claim.”

  She stared at him for a moment. The smile transformed his features from almost hawkishly cruel to devastatingly handsome, the warmth in his eyes showing her a glimpse of a different male to the hard-edged B’Kaar leader.

  “T-thank you,” she murmured, feeling her skin pale a little. It was a disturbing experience as her circulatory system adjusted according to her emotions. Nausea rose and she rubbed at her stomach in discomfort. “But I’m happily married. I don’t want anyone’s petition or claim.”

  “Quite right. You’re probably wondering why I called you here… yes?” Risyn asked, changing subject quickly.

  Sitting up suddenly, he leaned his elbows on the desk in front of him, his long, elegant fingers steepled. The ports on the inside of his forearms pulsed with low light, activating the ke’lath under his skin nearby.

  She nodded, watching him with wide eyes.

  He smiled reassuringly. “We just need to get an idea of what’s been happening here and of your interactions with the S’Vaan. So that we can report back to the emperor.”

  “Okay,” she replied softly, not giving an indication she knew he was talking trallshit.

  Nyek had already done all that, as was his right as the first senior warrior to arrive, which meant this base was under K’Vass jurisdiction. Keris M’rln knew that, but Kelly Stephens did not. So she had to play dumb and stick to her story.

  “I was on the Endeavour—”

  “That’s a Terran ship, correct?” Risyn broke in to ask.

  She shook her head. “Human but not Terran. Jay is Terran, I’m Dalkarian. We’re from different systems.”

  He frowned. “I thought all humans were Terran.”