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Rin’s face lit up as she talked, and Axe found himself paying more attention to her than to what she was saying. Her brown eyes gleamed with intelligence and enthusiasm while her dark, wavy hair bounced and swayed in its ponytail as she moved her head and free hand to emphasize her words. He found her intriguing and attractive in a way he hadn’t experienced before. Was he experiencing a cognitive malfunction? Fraxx, he hoped not.
As Rin spoke, the bird hopped from her arm to her shoulder, its talons gripping the thick leather padding secured by several straps that crossed her chest. It took less than a second to call up the name of the contraption she wore—a pauldron.
“And you brought these animals here to study them? Why?” he asked.
Rin gave him an assessing look, one hand reaching up to stroke Hera’s head. “Because Hera and her batch-siblings are military property, and they don’t like it. This place is as far away from the IAF’s influence as I could manage. I’m grateful your council agreed to allow it.”
Her statement included a lot of words Axe didn’t like, but the words military, property, and batch-siblings held the majority of his attention. Before he could ask her to expand on her statement, a cascade of images and emotions bombarded his mind as something huge and heavy dropped onto his shoulder.
He was under attack!
3
When Rin imagined being able to observe the hawks in a natural environment, this day was exactly what she’d had in mind. What she hadn’t envisioned was how their first interaction with the inhabitants of the colony would go. Hell, she wasn’t even sure this guy was a member of the colony. He was huge, menacing, and rough in every definition of the word. His clothes were patched and worn, his beard was scruffy, and the only clean thing he owned seemed to be the gleaming length of metal he’d called a kes’tarv.
He was also the sexiest man she’d ever seen. He had deep green eyes, chiseled features, and a low, rumbling voice she liked far more than she should.
Not that she had time to deal with any of that before things got tense. He growled and barked questions at her… and for a moment she’d thought things were headed to hell in a hyper-driven handcart.
Hera had swooped in to help, risking herself in the process. Axe was a dangerous unknown who could have hurt or even killed the hawk. If that happened, it would be Rin’s fault. She wasn’t supposed to be out here, even though she’d snuck out expressly to try to achieve the mission’s goals despite Douglas’s ridiculous rules.
Thankfully, Hera hadn’t done more than dive-bomb the new arrival. Now the bird sat safely on her shoulder while she and Axe talked like two civilized beings. Axe seemed calmer now, and he was interested in both Hera and the project. Maybe he’d be willing to interact with the birds or at least introduce her to someone who was.
The thought had barely formed when Subject One streaked out of the sky and attacked Axe.
No! This could not be happening. Rin sent a panicked message to Hera, who chittered at her in mocking tones instead of doing anything about the unfolding disaster.
Then she realized she’d misinterpreted Subject One’s actions. The bird wasn’t attacking Axe. It was… holy hells and gravity wells. It couldn’t be.
Axe spun in place and reached up to grab the hawk, but instead of striking the bird or trying to dislodge it, the big man turned to glare at the psy-hawk latched onto his shoulder.
“Get your talons out of my shoulder and your thoughts out of my fraxxing head, bird,” Axe snarled.
“You can hear him?” she asked, almost giddy with excitement and relief. This could have gone horribly wrong, but instead she’d gotten her wish. Subject One had bonded with Axe!
Axe grimaced and tapped his temple with one hand. “He’s in my head and he won’t shut up. It’s all a jumble of feelings and images. How do I get him to let go of my shoulder before he does any more damage?”
“Ask him and try visualizing him landing on the ground at your feet when you say it.”
Axe grunted. “Sure. Why not? Talk to the bird with daggers on his fraxxing feet.” He cleared his throat, scowled, and said, “You need to get off my shoulder, Amun. Your talons are tearing me up.”
The psy-hawk immediately released Axe’s shoulder and fluttered to the ground.
Rin had to bite back an unprofessional squeal of delight. Subject One had bonded with Axe. Fraxx, was her drone still recording? She hoped so. The little device was programmed to capture images and audio, but she’d left it sitting on a tree in her hurry to put some space between her and the walking mountain of muscled menace when he’d stormed into view.
Axe kept all his attention on Subject One while Rin stared at the growing bloodstains on his shirt. “Um. You’re bleeding. I have a small first aid kit with me. Maybe I should look at that?”
He waved her off. “In a minute. I’ve turned off my pain receptors, and my medi-bots will stop the bleeding on their own. I want to know what the fraxx happened and what comes next?”
He could block pain and had nanotech? Veth. Axe had to be one of the cyborgs confined to this planet because they were too dangerous and unstable to be allowed to roam the galaxy. Why would Subject One—no, she corrected herself—why would Amun choose to bond with a cybernetic soldier after rejecting so many other members of the military?
She dragged her focus back to the questions Axe had asked. He needed answers, and she was the only one who could provide them.
“The short answer is this: The psy-hawk you call Amun has bonded with you. This is only the second time a bonding has occurred, so the longer answer is complicated and includes a lot of unknowns.”
“Only once?” Axe finally looked at her, and she was instantly struck by the uncertainty in his eyes. “I assume the other incident involved you and Hera.”
“That’s right. Hera and I were the first. They’ve showed no interest in bonding with anyone they’ve been introduced to. They don’t like the IAF personnel in general, so I assumed they wouldn’t bond with anyone in the military.” She shrugged, careful not to jostle Hera.
