“Can I bring Edson? He must approve any mate I would take.”
Jolt eyed the dog sitting calmly at her side. “I see no harm. We are on our way to Farringay, now. You will not need your weapon.”
“I believe you, but I’d rather not leave it behind to get stolen,” Talia said. “I can unload it before we get into your flier.”
Jolt nodded his ascent. Minutes later, they were headed back to Farringay in the flier. While they were speaking, Jolt had confirmed the plan with Commander Dark in case one of the Farringay cyborgs was her male. He would release that male if he wished to return to Talia’s mountain home with her.
“My ancestors, are from Farringay, and my cabin was their vacation home before the war. They fled to the mountains when the aliens started bombing the city,” said Talia. “I am the last of my line unless I find a mate to make a child with.”
As she spoke she unloaded the weapon and put the bullets in the shoulder bag she carried. “I just need to grab a change of clothes and lock up.”
Jolt and Iris waited while Talia gathered her things, then they walked to the flier together. Edson stuck by his mistress’s side and climbed into the flier and sat in the rear passenger seat beside her. If she was nervous about flying, she didn’t show it. They arrived at the complex about twenty minutes later. Typically, it would have taken Talia four to five days to walk it.
The building wasn’t much to look at, but it was a stable structure with more than enough room for the 500 cyborgs it housed. Jolt had notified them that Talia was coming to meet with them to learn if any of them were her male. He and Iris stood with her at the doorway while cyborgs passed by to determine if Talia were their female.
Many of them passed with no sign of awareness, and Talia was starting to give up hope that any of them would be her mate. Then a few stragglers strode in, and Edson’s nostrils flared, and he gave a soft bark.
The one in the middle looked up and zeroed in on Talia immediately, and his usually stoic expression converted into an elated grin. He was a classic tall dark and handsome, broad-shouldered and solid muscle as all the cyborgs. His ordinarily intense green eyes were lit in delight.
The cyborg strode across the room to stand in front of Talia and offered his hands to her. She looked up into his eyes and knew he was the one by the attraction she felt for him. She put her hands in his.
“Talia Cannon, I am your male, Bodee Flint. I would be honored for you to be my female,” he said and inclined his head as a sign of respect as he gently gripped her hands.
She was tall, about 5’10” to his 6’8”, and they made a striking couple. But this was only a beginning.
“I’m pleased to meet you, Bodee,” Talia told him.
“Shall we go for a walk outside and talk. I’ve been expecting you.” With that, he took her hand, and they left the building for some privacy.
As they left, Jolt put his arm around Iris and said, “You haven’t said much all day. Are you feeling okay?”
She nodded. “I’ve just been listening and watching, enjoying just being with you. Whatever your medic did seems to be working. The memories of those men who beat me seemed to have receded into the past like it happened longer ago than it really did.”
“That’s exactly the purpose of that treatment,” he said. “Do you want to go to the mess for third meal before we go back to our quarters?”
“Yes, I am feeling a little hungry,” she agreed.
The mess area was not as full as she expected since most of the crews had returned from the demolitions in Farringay. They had come back with another dozen or so women who were sitting at tables eating though. A couple was seated with cyborgs who had apparently recognized them as their true mates.
They could take up quarters in the front section of the complex that was once a bank of individual offices. That was the only way they would have any privacy with their mates. If they were staying, they would probably have started making renovations on the buildings to convert them into individual living space like the Enclave. But any that were remaining would be moving to the starport residential area. Everyone else would either go back to the Enclave or the cyborg colony Phantom.
Jolt found a quiet place for them to sit together after they had made their selections from the food processor. He arranged it so they could sit across from each other so he could see her face as they talked.
“I think if I had known how nice it was away from the city, I would have left a long time ago,” Iris told him as they both began to eat the mixture of vegetables, meat, and pasta on their plates. “It was a whole different way of life in those places, like that collection of houses near that mountain lake.”
“That’s kind of like the community they’re building at the Enclave only with more people,” Jolt explained. “I’ve never had any plans to stay in Farringay once the Starport and adjoining city are built. I’m not all that anxious to go to Phantom to live either.”
“But you’re waitingto see if I will be your mate?” Iris said astutely.
Jolt nodded, looking hopefully into her eyes. He already thought of her as his. Sometimes he ached to mate her so much that it hurt---especially when he feared she still might reject him because of what those monsters had done to her.
For him it wasn’t something he could just try; once they coupled, the bond would be sealed for him. “I’ve pretty much decided to build a dwelling on the outskirts of the Enclave village. I want to share it with you…”
Iris smiled. “Jolt, I would really like that. There is nobody else. …I’ve come to believe that the only way I will feel whole again is to claim you as my mate physically as well as emotionally. I just don’t know if I can.”
“Iris, you have nothing to fear from me. I only want to give you pleasure, because the more pleasure I give, the more I will get,” Jolt murmured so only she could hear, then took another bite of his food.
Just the way he said it caused a flutter in her core. She tried to imagine what it would be like to feel his caresses and kisses and open her body to him. It made her core clench, and she was sure she felt wetness between her thighs. As she saw his midnight eyes grow even darker, she knew he scented her arousal.
