My Man Michael (9 page)

“Yes, they do. I paid extra to have them fully equipped with all known sentiments. It makes it easier to enjoy their company.”

Because her mother kept herself so aloof? What about her sisters? Did they treat Kayli the same way? Like a stranger, an employee, rather than family?

That thought bothered Mallet a lot. He knew what it was to be without family. To have family but be distanced from them would surely be worse. “They’re like friends to you, even though they’re not real?”

“They are real,” she insisted again. “They’re just not human.”

Her tone showed her defensiveness of her AMAs. The same defensiveness one would have for a friend.

Mallet softened his tone. “All right.”

That just made her pricklier. “Please remember that things are very different here. I know that for you, your world consisted of one planet and one known being. Here, with me, you will discover many planets with many forms of beings.”

Enjoying her gumption, Mallet tweaked her chin and smiled. “Am I going to be freaked out?”

Proving she had an adequate grasp on his lingo, she fell into a smile, too. “Quite possibly.” Turning back to the room, she lifted her arm. “This, sir, is a media room. Here you can relax and take in an assortment of depictions of our colony and the worlds that surround ours.”

Mallet surveyed all that blank white space and cocked a brow. “All I see are walls.”

“That’s because nothing is activated yet.”

“Yeah, well . . .” Still skeptical, he pointed out the obvious. “I don’t see anything to activate.”

She sighed. “Everything is voice-activated. Everything is also prerecorded, so you don’t have to worry about intruding on anything or anyone in a personal manner, as I did with you and with your new friend, Travis Stockman.”

Travis wasn’t really a friend, but Mallet let that go. “Good to know.”

“I’ll enter your voice into the database, and then you can command the system to show you our wildlife, our food sources, our housing, and education. Anything you like.”

“How about your firearms?”

“Oh, no.” She looked appalled at such a question. “Weapons of that sort are forbidden.”

She had to be kidding. “I thought you were at war.”

“We are, but it is hand-to-hand combat. That’s why we need a man of your ability, power, and . . . size.”

“So there’re no guns, no bombs?”

Her hazel eyes flared, and she hushed him in a rush. “No,” she whispered. “Even the mention of such a thing can cause alarm.”

“So . . .” He tried to think through the idea of a weapons-free existence. “Are knives, sticks, things like that allowed?”

“Yes, though they’re frowned on as being the tools of cowards.”

Ingenious. The world would rid itself of a lot of problems without fear of one group annihilating another. “So we’re to go it
mano a mano
?” When Kayli just looked at him, Mallet said, “Men, or in your case, women, going at it hand to hand.”

“That is the preferred way, yes.” She paced a little while formulating more explanations. “I told you how the colonies are self-sufficient, each tending to its own problems. The Cosmos Confederation, which is our form of government that spans the galaxies, issues very few rules. One of them is a strict forbiddance of weaponry, lest it be used to unfair advantage against another.”

Nodding as much to himself as to her, Mallet said, “I like it.” He gestured at the room, which looked like a barren, hygienic rubber enclosure meant for nut jobs. “So how’s this work?”

Kayli put her hands together. “Hauk, wildlife please.”

Mallet grinned. “Is that a pun?”

“Not at all. Hauk is—”

“Spelled with a
u
,” said a thick masculine voice that resonated throughout the room, giving Mallet a start. “Not a
w
, like the extinct fowl.”

Eyes heavenward, Kayli continued, “Hauk is the name of the system in charge of this room.”

“In charge of everything,” clarified the voice. “I have ultimate control of the vessel in every conceivable way. I just set your voice to the system so that you are now able to issue commands of your own.”

Crossing her arms under her breasts, Kayli said, sotto voce, “Hauk can be a little . . .”

“Cocky?” Mallet asked. But he understood, and added, “He’s male. I get it.”

“He has a male voice,” Kayli clarified, “but he’s a computer.”

“A male computer,” emphasized Hauk. “Unlike some gender-free units.” Then he added, “And Kayli, I’m quite pleased you didn’t say
just
a computer.”

“Now Hauk, would I insult you that way?” Kayli taunted.

“On a daily basis,” Hauk confirmed. “But I tolerate it because I love you.”

She snorted. “More likely because I own the ship.”

Hauk sniffed in return—but didn’t refute that.

Chuckling at their sibling-like banter, Mallet asked, “You name all your robots and computers?”

“But of course, otherwise, what would I call them?”

Hauk asked, “Shall I proceed, Kayli?”

“Yes, please.”

And suddenly Mallet found himself in a heavily wooded setting. He could smell rich earth and moss and the scent of running water carried on a balmy breeze. All around him, leaves rustled, large unfamiliar birds screeched, and animals snarled.

Shocked, he took Kayli’s hand and pulled her behind him as he searched the area, looking for the source of those angry animal roars.

“That’s enough, Hauk. Thank you.”

The woods disappeared, placing Mallet back in the stark white room.

He stared at Kayli. “Holy shit.”

Disapproval warred with amusement. “I see that I’ve surprised you.”

“Again.” He ran a hand over his head. “I take it we weren’t transported?”

Amusement won out. “We were not. The room provides a three-dimensional vision of all commands. To get the full benefit, you need to sit in one of the chairs. They can provide simulated motion and air disturbance, along with temperature changes.”

“No, thank you.”

She laughed—and the sound was so rusty, but rich and pure, that Mallet found himself heating with temptation.

“It’s all an illusion, Michael. The chair will simulate other affects of your command, but no harm can come to you.” She lifted their laced hands. “Or me. That is why you put yourself in front of me, isn’t it? To protect me?”

Feeling self-conscious in the face of her amusement, he shrugged. “I guess.” And as his irritation grew, he added, “It’s instinctive.”

“And perfect for our purposes. We need a warrior like you, a man capable and caring.”

That reminded Mallet of something her mother had said, and he jumped on it, anxious to ease the awkwardness of the moment. “What did Raemay mean about a sacrifice?”

Kayli avoided his gaze. “I would prefer to explain that later. For now, we should take you to eat, and then you may either return here to familiarize yourself with our community, or retire to your room to get some rest.”

Mallet caught her chin and brought her gaze around to his. “I’m not tired, Kayli. Food can wait. And I’m not ready to explore this room further just yet. So how about you just answer my question?”

“It is complicated.”

“Un-complicate it.”

She sighed. “Very well. As you know, we are under siege from a neighboring colony. The men are bigger than our norm, though nowhere as massive as you. More along the lines of my height.”

“And you’re a runt,” he teased. But he recalled that her mother stood no more than a few inches over five feet—much shorter than her daughter.

Kayli’s expression contorted with anger. “They are savages. Marauders taking what they want without consideration. At first, we tried to fight them, but that only caused damage to our homes and lands without success in defending our people. When we engage, they go after our men, knowing that we have a shortage and that our men are most valued.”

More valued than the women? Mallet was too astonished to comment. He couldn’t imagine a bunch of women trying to protect men. It wasn’t natural.

“Have they killed many of your men?”

“None.”

“None?” He grunted. “Then . . . ?”

“Sheltering the males leaves our untrained women vulnerable for abduction.” Her hands fisted. “We’ve lost several to them already.”

A knot of dread twisted in his guts. “They murdered
women
?”

“We don’t know!” She paced away, but came right back. “I hope not, but the first was taken almost a year ago, several more since then, and we never again hear from any of them.”

So while warring, they grabbed up available women. Bastards. “What do they want?”

Kayli’s hazel eyes filled with sadness, anger, and impotence. Her ripe mouth turned down in distress.

Eyes closed, she whispered, “Women.” She swallowed, lifted her shoulders with helplessness. “From what we can tell, that’s all they want—our women.”

A very bad feeling came over Mallet. “And the sacrifice?”

She started to turn away, but Mallet caught her shoulder.

“Kayli?”

She didn’t look at him; her voice was small, filled with shame. “To avoid attack against the entire colony, we . . . that is, the hierarchy . . .”

“Spit it out.”

She met his gaze with stoic determination. “It was decided to give them one woman on the first day of every second month.”

Outraged, Mallet dropped his hand and took a step back. “Meaning you hand over six women a year to your enemy?”

Again, she closed her eyes as if unable to face the truths of her colony’s decision. “So far,” she whispered, “the intruders are satisfied with that quota, and our colony is safe from further retribution. Whoever you choose tomorrow will be protected from the practice. That’s why Mother is anxious for you to decide.”

“And whoever I don’t pick?”

“Will be among those determined suitable as a peace offering. A name is randomly drawn from all available women.”

He didn’t believe it, any of it—how could he? But still Mallet went rigid with rage. He was a natural-born fighter; it was the only thing he’d ever found in life that made him feel complete.

But damn it, he fought as a sport, not as a way of bullying others. He detested brutality, especially against anyone smaller or weaker than himself. The thought of cruelty toward children or women left him raging. He hadn’t lied about his instinctive inclination to protect.

Now those instincts slammed into him. “No fucking way.”

Kayli drew a deep, shuddering breath, and nodded. “Yes. And the time for choosing the peace offering—”

“Sacrifice, you mean.”

“Yes. The time grows near. Unless you get familiar with our situation and offer a better solution, another woman will be left in the glen for them to take.”

“Oh, I’ve got a better solution, all right.” Mallet turned and headed for the door. “You fight. Each and every fucking time.”

Kayli ran after him, her voice raised with excitement. “Sir, wait. It was not my decision to cower and give in. Perhaps with your aid, we can convince the others . . .”

“Stop calling me sir!”

She faltered, then launched after him again. “Michael, wait. Where are you going?”

“To find your mother the Arbiter,” he ground out. “And the chicken-shit council who lets her pull this stunt again and again.” He was to choose a woman? Ha! He’d choose them all, and then they could start to figure out another way.

Kayli wrapped both hands around his upper arm. “Wait!”

“For what?” He dragged her along a few steps.

“You have no idea where you’re going.”

That brought him up short. Knowing she had a point, he turned to face her. “Take me to them.”

Kayli grinned, and it made her look so beautiful, Mallet felt like he’d been punched in the solar plexus. “You’re happy?”

Tears filled her eyes as she nodded. “That you’re here,
yes
. That you feel the same as I do,
yes
. That you’re willing to do whatever you can to assist in ending this horrid—”

Mallet couldn’t help but snatch her up and kiss her silly. Her mouth was soft and damp—and quickly pulled back from his. “Come here.”

She fought her way out of his arms. “Michael, you must stop that!”

“Sorry, babe, no can do.” He crossed his arms, and stared her in the eyes. “Now take me to your leader.”

CHAPTER 5

I
T was such a corny line that Mallet almost lost some of his steam.

Almost.

But Kayli’s reaction to his kiss, not at all encouraging, kept his temper on a high note. How was it she’d uprooted him, zipped him through time, turned him inside out—and managed to stay mostly unaffected by the sexual chemistry snapping and crackling between them?

As he watched her rub her mouth with her fingertips, he was far from unaffected.

He wanted to see her smile again, hear her laugh. He wanted to taste her.