Rebellion (A Titan Romance Book 1) (9 page)

* * *

T
hat night
, after finishing their patrols, Akyra watched Raemus eating and talking with the locals. He was laughing, a young boy in his lap.
How could this man, or whatever he is, who seems so kind and virtuous be the same guy engineered to commit the terrible violence he’s done?

Unless he’s a complete sociopath.

She watched Raemus tear loaves of bindhu bread, handing pieces to the children of the servants as they jumped around him.

I can’t believe he’s anything other than a great man. Sure, he’s created to do horrible things, but can he want to be more than that? I look at him, and my heart shouts that he is good.

Not much of a chance I’ll snoop on him for Ar-Drezar, that’s for sure!

After allowing two laughing children to dangle from his outstretched arm, Raemus turned to see Akyra—once again—watching him. He waved a chunk of bread, smiled, and went back to building invaluable relationships with Minora’s long disregarded settlers.

What the fuck am I doing fantasizing about him like I’ve done?

He deserves so much more than to be the subject of my dirty little daydreams.

Akyra returned to Gayla’s question, which summed up her mixed emotions:
How much of them is human?

And how close can she allow herself to get to one? Even one as irresistible as Raemus.

O
n the outskirts of town
, just outside the sprawling ghettoes, large rolling pleasure caravans circled the town incessantly, day or night.

As they slowly lumbered around the outer rings of the poorest neighborhoods, they drew out the those with coin to trade for the fulfillment of the darkest, most taboo urges. Those who worked the pleasure caravans, often the rejects of genetic mutations, perhaps partially deformed, perhaps physically augmented to fulfill the wildest sexual deviant, some wildly thin, some gorgeously obese. For every wicked perversion of men and women, there was an outcast here willing to touch them, to lust after them, just the way they desired.

The entire convoy from Zebra made its way to these outer rings of the town after finding no evidence of make-shift labs that could possibly handle the complex life support systems of a Bio-Teck cube.

As Raemus took special notice of the pleasure caravans for the first time, he was acutely aware that he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Akyra. Not
fucking
her so much. But talking to her. Digging more into what makes her so amazingly human. For she effortlessly embodied those traits he tried so hard to emulate—those same traits he knew on some level all humans could have if they chose to: kindness, genuine love for her subordinates, nurturing.

He knew from his studies these were traits once attributed to motherhood a thousand years ago. So there was no mistaking his attraction to her, not that he had any clue why her maternal characteristics plucked his heart strings so wildly. Akyra possessed the traits in such a natural way that he wanted to know it, feel it, experience it. If his own destiny had allowed for fathering children—which he knew to be an impossibility given his cause—
this
type of woman would surely send him into a breeding frenzy.

Except… that’s exactly what was happening.

So okay, he couldn’t stop thinking about fucking her, too.

Which is why, for the first time, he eyed the pleasure rovers kicking up dust all around the town—and wondered at the sordid sexual practices happening perpetually within. His naivety hung heavy on him, too.
Do purebreds such as Akyra like the types of things that happen in those caravans? What kind of fantasies does she have that I wouldn’t even be able to imagine?

During the last few days, as his thoughts turned more and more to Akyra, Akino and the rest of his team saw him becoming irritable, often lashing out at his soldiers for the smallest infractions.

There was no dodging around the cause of his new temper, and his team, Akino especially, began openly speaking about Captain Roux and her Banshees as a hinderance to their mission to serve and protect the helpless here on Minora—and if they don’t get killed too soon, the helpless around the galaxy.

For some of the Titans, Raemus' growing anger was reason to consider breaking away from the Banshees altogether, especially as most Titans couldn’t say why they continued playing escort in the first place. They were out of Bin Ar-Drezar’s grip. They were free.

For Raemus himself, his growing anger was the reason to
stay
with
Akyra, to learn more about her.

He once lived in agony, spiritual and physical, at the merciless hands of his human handlers, but he needed to know there was more to the
humanity within him
—and Akyra held that answer. He was sure of it.

“Wanna make a stop, captain?” Raemus’ driver, Nix, asked with a hearty, baritone laugh. “Shit, I’ll cover for you if you cover for me.”

They rumbled alongside a cluster of long, rickety pleasure rovers, waiting until the Banshee vehicles fell in formation before exiting the last ring of the town.

“Sure, Nix,” Raemus replied. “You tell me which one of these rovers is your favorite, and I’m all in.”

Of course, Nix knew Raemus would never venture within a pleasure caravan. “You kidding? I can’t pick a favorite. If I remember,
that
one right there has a lady with three tongues that’ll work miracles on your whole undercarriage.”

Raemus tried not to laugh. “She’s all yours, brother…
all
yours.”

Then, Nix stiffened up. “Captain? We got an incoming call.”

Raemus kept his eyes out the blast shield. “Yeah?”

“It’s from Zebra.”

It was Bin Ar-Drezar.

Raemus nodded and sucked in his lips.

Finally.

Bin Ar-Drezar’s blue holographic image shimmered on the middle console of Raemus' off-road command vehicle, the image shuttering with every bump of the uneven ground. “Greetings, Captain Raemus. I hope absconding and abandonment of duties is serving you well. And hello to you too, Lieutenant Nix.”

Nix shouted jovially, “Well hello, your excellence. How’s things?”

“Just fine, thank you. Lots of unanswered questions, of course. Captain Raemus, I trust your adventures are unfolding profitably?”

“Greetings, Bin. How’s the outpost doing without us?” It was the first time in their fifteen year relationship that Raemus had called this aging father figure by his familiar name.

The hologram lifted a palm. “We miss you. You should come back.”

“Not a chance. Any luck finding your Bio-Teck cube?”

“Not yet. Not unless you’re willing to admit you have it.”

“I don’t have it.”

“Nor did you, I’m sure.”

“Positively sure. Bin, I’m a little busy helping the Sec-Ops team who is, as you know, actually trying to find it for you. What can I do for you?”

“You can turn yourself in. You can return Bio-Teck Laboratories property.”

“Wouldn’t do it even if I could.”

“Yes. I know.” Bin Ar-Drezar clasped his hands behind his back. “All my prayers are yours, Captain Raemus. But defying my advice to suppress your curiosity about humans again and again has driven a wedge between us, and I’m afraid this curiosity has finally become your downfall. You… were once a great Titan. I miss the old you immensely.” Then, Bin Ar-Drezar took a deep breath, closed his eyes, finally adding, “Crush your enemies. Crush your rivals. Glory to The Almighty.”

In the purple sky of the setting sun, a hovering drone skimmed into position from behind a particularly large pleasure rover.

There was no time to react. Not even for a Titan.

The drone spat out a dozen high velocity rounds that pulverized Raemus' vehicle, sending it rolling twice in an explosion of red dirt and shreds of armor until it crashed against a pleasure rover, nearly taking it off its own wheels.

The headsets of every Titan and Banshee exploded with voices. “Incoming! Incoming! Aircraft on top of the captain’s vehicle!”

Before the remotely controlled drone could unload more rounds into Raemus and the occupants of his vehicle, simultaneous blue plasma blasts from three other vehicles melted it in the air.

Raemus, who already ripped free of his vehicle, now on its side, watched the drone drop next to him, turning into a glob of metallic foam, billowing rancid black smoke. Suddenly the air smelled of sulfur and sizzling ozone. And blood. Diving back into the cab of his vehicle to help his brothers, he saw the huge hole in Nix’s face visor.

Almighty, please give me strength.

Raemus grabbed a plasma rifle and scrambled to the first solid structure he could take cover behind. It was also where the rest of his vehicle-mates had retreated to. Luckily, no one else but Nix had taken a round, so all of Tomohiko’s Alpha Squad was together.

Raemus shuffled to the other end of the building, a derelict cluster of habitations, to peek around at the rest of the convoy’s situation. All he could see was that Sinjin and his Bravo Squad had dismounted their own vehicle, also taking cover behind the adjacent crumbling building.

Akyra’s voice came over the comm. “Thunder Leader, this is Banshee Leader. What do you got up there?”

“One Titan down. I’ve got Thunder Alpha and Bravo behind cover until I figure what’s going on. You okay?”

“Copy. Yeah, I’m okay. As for what’s going on, we’ve two more drones whipping up and down the convoy. Their scanning vehicles but not firing. They could have taken out my radio guy but didn’t.”

“Copy, Banshee Leader.”

“Raemus, it looks like they’re hunting for you. Maybe you should sit tight a for a sec.”

“Sit tight?”

Akyra laughed into her mic. “I know, right?”

Raemus heard a furious barrage of both plasma and kinetic rounds sixty meters away, out of sight. “Akyra?”

“Raemus, I’m coming for you.”

Captain Raemus Petrus, Titan Class, had
never
been in a position to have someone come to his aid like this.
Especially
not a human. But as he looked around at his predicament, he frankly didn’t have a choice. Those drones from Zebra were an especially deadly model, even to him. There was no outrunning them. There was no surviving a firefight with them, not from his exposed position. In fact, just one of their rounds could shoot right through these rickety structures if only they could target him accurately.

Sinjin slid into a crouch next him. “Captain, what’s our move? My team’s ready to go.”

It didn’t take Raemus’ augmented intuition to tell him that Akyra was right: they were hunting for
him
. Bin Ar-Drezar was making a point.

Raemus leaned forward to see Tomohiko down the line, who gave him a thumbs up. The Titans trapped behind the line of structures was ready to charge back into the action. But Raemus needed to make a difficult call. He was now dealing with a limited amount of soldiers. He couldn’t afford to loose any more than was necessary. Holding back—the most un-Titan thing he could imagine—was actually the smartest tactic in this situation.

Akyra and her Banshees, it turned out, coordinated a fantastic response.

Most of them began moving behind pleasure rovers rumbling onto the scene, ignorant of the small battle going on. Every Banshee and Titan that could fired continuously on the drones, but the drones proved incredibly nimble as they constantly rose and dived, jagged and weaved around the open lane. Because the drones constantly had to play defense, however, they had trouble hunting for their Titan target.

Eventually Akyra and Emilia’s squad made it to Raemus’ position, while other soldiers from the convoy maintained their relentless pressure on the drones.

The two captains then began to move back down the row of structures, parallel to the open lane that the drones covered. It was a tactic called buddy-bounding. One unit would move while the other unit offered suppressive fire, taking turns as they changed locations again and again.

What made the tactic especially effective was the amount of trust each unit placed on the other. It was life and death in each other’s hands. In the heat of combat, it bonded people like nothing else.

But it worked. Raemus and the two squads that had been pinned down moved farther away from the hunter drones.

Finally, the drones took enough hits from the personal weapons that they bobbled to the ground, unable to lift off again. Legs unfolded from their bodies, and just as they began to crawl, they exploded—one after the other.

Valarae stood on the roof of a disabled, smoking pleasure rover, a recoilless rifle in each hand, looking both extremely pissed off and extremely satisfied.

By the time the dust settled, Raemus and Akyra were on their knees together, panting face to face. She stared into his black Titan eyes, still completely dilated. In that moment, those eyes lost their eeriness. In that moment, they were graceful and magnificent.

Akyra asked while trying to catch her breath, “Are you guys, like, especially engineered to be this handsome, or am I just really, really lucky?”

They kissed each other right there in the dirt, among all the shattered remnants of the firefight. Raemus truly felt gratitude and warmth at having Akyra as a partner. He now had so much to be thankful for.

Still trying to catch their breath, he couldn’t think of anything else to say. “I think I could use a shower again.”

Akyra narrowed her eyes and smiled. “I think I’d like to
watch
again.”

“You can do more than watch.”

They both laughed, but Raemus felt in his gut—literally—how much he wanted to grab her, rip off her armor, and take her right there.

“Raemus? I don’t know what I’m feeling right now.”

“Yeah?” Raemus looked down at the dirt they knelt on. “I feel it too. What
is
it?”

They kissed again, holding it, feeling it, pressing hard into each other’s lips even as they both simultaneously began grinning. Their grins turned into laughter, mouths still together, the laughter feeding off each other until the kiss fell apart completely.

His thoughts about her competency as a military commander, her maternal kindness, her great sense of humor, was continually woven with intensifying erotic thoughts: her luscious ass, her hips perfect for grabbing onto, her tender neck he wanted to kiss over and over and over.

Even in the aftermath of this dangerous, deadly firefight, his entire body was on fire with desire for Akyra.

This is fucking maddening!

When they slowly pulled away, Raemus saw that Akyra was going through the difficult, wild oscillation of emotions common after such a violent fight, her eyes turned red and her chin quivered, even as she smiled.

He said again, “I feel it too.”

Akyra, bouncing back and forth between laughter and the approaching tears, managed to say, “Good. That’s so good. Because I’d feel like a real dope if… if I was the only one.” She took a big, head-clearing breath and wiped her face.

Raemus smiled. There wasn’t much else to say.

Except, “I know that I love you, Akyra.”

Akyra put her palm gently on Raemus' broad cheek, using it as an anchor for her emotions. “I know. I love you, too.”

Raemus brought his forehead toward hers, leaving a small space. Her hand still on his face, Akyra closed the gap, pressing her forehead upon his.