Weapons Master Galactic Gladia - Anna Hackett

Chapter One

He jammed the weapon under the Edull’s neck, just below the black leather mask covering the alien’s face.

“This is a new design of mine,” Maxon Shaye drawled. “A vibrablade. Right now, the edge doesn’t feel too sharp, does it?” He rammed it harder, and the Edull jerked against the bindings holding him to the chair.

The alien heaved in a breath, and it rasped through the valve in the mask. His dark eyes were wild, silver pupils glinting.

“You’ll tell us everything you know,” Maxon said. “Or I’ll turn on my new weapon, and the vibrations will make this blade slide through your skin like it’s sand.”

“Maxon.” The deep voice held a hint of warning.

Maxon’s imperator, Magnus Rone, stood nearby, his arms crossed over his muscular chest. One of those arms was cybernetic, designed by Maxon, himself.

Magnus Rone was a cyborg. The House of Rone was filled with lethal, deadly cyborgs. Maxon didn’t have any cybernetic limbs or obvious enhancements, but he was a cyborg too.

“You’ll tell us everything about your drakking arena, and where to find Bellamy Walsh, or I’ll put this through your head.” Maxon moved the blade from the alien’s throat, and pressed the tip of it to the Edull’s temple.

The alien’s raspy breathing was fast now.

“It’ll slice through your skull and brain so easily—”

“Maxon,” Magnus said, again.

The sharp stench of urine hit Maxon’s senses. The Edull had lost control of his bladder.

Satisfied, Maxon stepped back. Tension thrummed through his body, leaving him angry, unsettled, and edgy.

“Jax, Mace, find out what he knows,” Magnus ordered.

The two other cyborgs stepped out of the shadows.

Jaxer was the second in command at the House of Rone. He stood tall, with a lean, muscular body, cobalt-blue eyes, and an intricate tattoo that was more than it seemed on one arm. Mace was big, his body all hard muscle, and he looked like the brawler he’d been before he’d become a cyborg.

Maxon swiveled and strode to the door. He flexed his shoulders, trying to ease the tension.

The drakking woman had him messed up.

He slammed into the adjoining room. Two other elite cyborgs, Toren and Acton, stood near a large table. The men’s heads lifted. Toren’s long, blond hair drifted around his face, while Acton’s face was cool, his cybernetic hands pressed to the table’s surface.

Maxon knew every little thing on the table. It was all their data on the Edull’s desert city of Bari Batu, and on the battle arena the metal scavengers had built.

The sand-sucking Edull built giant battle bots, and used captive slaves to drive them. A battle to the death on the arena’s track.

He gritted his teeth and looked at the data. There was a map that had been obtained by another cyborg, Seren, and the House of Rone’s champion gladiator, Xias. The Edull ally hadn’t handed it over willingly, but Seren and Xias weren’t afraid of a good fight.

The rest of the data came from Bellamy Walsh.

Maxon closed his eyes. In his head, he could hear her voice. She’d fought alongside him, as they’d battled the Edull together in the desert.

The woman from Earth had short, blonde hair, tattoos in a multitude of colors on her toned arms, and a compact body. She’d been strong, irritating, and overconfident.

Well, you’re good at weapon design. Not bad at flying, either. Shame about the grumpiness.

Her words echoed in his head. The infuriating woman had kissed him. Maxon had felt like he’d been hit by an electric stun weapon.

Then she’d been snatched by the Edull again. Her fingers had slipped through Maxon’s, her green eyes filled with rage and fear.

He slammed a fist onto the table.

Magnus strode into the room. “Maxon, are you all right?”

Blowing out a breath, Maxon shook his head. “Drak, no.”

“You appear very emotional,” Acton noted.

Maxon flicked a glance at the cyborg.

Acton had always been the most cyborg of them all. He’d only very recently started feeling emotions, after falling in love with a pretty woman from Earth called Sage. Before, Acton had been cool and emotionless, and now, he wasn’t.

Drak, all his fellow cyborgs had been cool and emotionless. Rescuing all these women had changed them. Most recently, Toren had struggled to deal with a deluge of emotions, and then he’d fallen in love with Simone.

Several females had been rescued by the House of Rone. It had all started with Ever Haynes, who was now happily mated to Magnus.

Since meeting Ever, Magnus had…come to life.

The pair had a daughter now.

Things Maxon would have had, long ago, if things had been