Her Cyborg Champion (The Drift Haven Colony #2) - Susan Hayes Page 0,51

home and every friend she had left. She’d be giving it all up and becoming Magpie again.

She didn’t want that.

Resolution stiffened her spine and made her turn back toward the colony. She wasn’t running again. Her hand fell to the kes’tarv at her hip. This time, she’d stand and fight for what she wanted.

12

Striker’s anger swirled around him, as familiar as his favorite boots. He hadn’t felt this way in a long time—not since Reamus Station. Back then he’d used his rage as fuel, letting it burn hot and bright even on his darkest days.

Time and Maggie had helped him leave some of that fury behind, but now he’d been cast into shadow again, and Maggie had sent him there. He’d trusted her…

Another sapling toppled as he lashed out with his kes’tarv. As it hit the ground, he had a flash of insight. Destroying trees wasn’t going to solve anything. It wasn’t making him feel better. He looked down at the weapon in his hand and then at the surrounding woods.

All the platitudes he’d heard since living here came rushing back, only this time, they made more sense. He was more than his programming. Anger and violence weren’t his only choices. Feeling slightly foolish, he took several slow, deep breaths and tried to shake off the dark mood that gripped him.

To his surprise, it worked. The bright edges of his anger dimmed a little. His thoughts cleared. He twisted the grip of his kes’tarv and the weapon retracted into itself. Maggie had fled out of earshot, but he replayed the last few moments of sound. She was headed in the right general direction to make it back to the colony. A little off-course, but she knew these woods well enough to find her way.

Still… things weren’t safe right now. He should let someone know Maggie was headed back. He activated an internal link to Skye. “I hear you were at my place this morning because you were worried about Maggie.”

“I’m sorry I misjudged you,” Skye replied.

“I’m not the only one you misjudged. Maggie fooled us all.” He summarized things for Skye.

“So that’s what she was hiding.”

“You knew?” he demanded.

“About the cheating? No. And I didn’t know about her past until today. Shadow told me after we left your place. Shadow had every human colonist carefully vetted before they were allowed to make the journey. The lottery wasn’t nearly as random as I thought it was.”

“Shadow deliberately brought a thief to Haven? Why the fraxx would she do that?”

“I asked the same thing. She said Maggie and her friend Jade were both excellent candidates. They’re resourceful, determined, and smart.”

“And they cheated to get here.”

“That’s new information and we’ll have to address that. But she’s not the first to manipulate the system to get here.”

“Who else?”

“Every cyborg here,” Skye reminded him.

“River did that. I was locked in a cryo-pod because you and the others told the humans we were too dangerous to be woken up.” He’d been forced into a pod by his captors with no idea if or when he’d ever regain consciousness. When he woke again, he was here, bound by rules he hadn’t agreed to. Haven was their sanctuary, but it was also their prison. None of the cyborgs here were allowed to leave. They had fewer rights than even the rest of their kind.

“And because River and her allies forced Torex Mining Corporation’s hand, we’re free.”

“Not entirely.”

“Would you rather be back on Reamus?”

He growled. “Never.”

“Me either.” Skye was silent for a moment. “You said Maggie was on her way here. I should set out and meet her on the bridge and make sure she’s okay.”

“She wasn’t at my place. I found her in the woods. She thought she could hide at my cabin. I sent her back to the colony.”

“So, you and she are both out in the woods right now despite the danger?”

“For the moment.”

“You two are a lot alike.”

The comment made him smile and then scowl. “I’m nothing like her.”

“If you really believe that, you need to book some time with our new counselor… once she gets here.”

“Not happening. I’m fine. Happy. Sane.” He looked around at the trees he’d broken in his anger. So, maybe not happy. The only time he’d ever truly felt that was when he was with Maggie. Maggie, who had lied to him.

Maggie… who should have made it back to the colony by now.

He was on the move before he even thought about what he was doing. He followed her trail