Cyborg Celebration (Interstellar Brides: The Colony #11)

Chapter 12

12

M arz

For a heartbeat, there was nothing but silence and the sound of my own pulse pounding in my ears, louder than the storm outside. Then, the storm’s howl surged back, louder, as if mocking me.

“Vance? Where the fuck are you? Can you hear me?” I shouted into the comms but doubted I would receive a response. If my second could hear us, he would respond. Which meant comms were down. We were stuck here until he came back for us.

And he would return to save our mate. Of that, I had no doubt.

A red haze swirled around us, thick and suffocating, as the wind howled like a tortured beast. Each gust slammed into our armor with the force of a hammer, rattling my bones. Sharp pellets of rock and sand etched thin scratches into my helmet, making it difficult to see clearly. I angled my body to shield Rowan as I scanned the shifting horizon for any sign of Vance and the shuttle. The storm had intensified faster than anticipated. What started as sporadic lightning and gusts had transformed into a chaotic onslaught. The sky above boiled with streaks of violet and white energy.

“Rowan, stay close!” I hoped she would be able to hear me over the roaring wind. I wanted to pull her closer, wrap my arms around her to keep her steady, but I didn’t dare distract her from her task. It took everything I had to fight down the urge, to remind myself that protecting her wasn’t the same as smothering her. That she was here to do a job.

"How much longer?" I yelled again over the roar, the comm-link crackling in my helmet like static. I gripped the hilt of my rifle, keeping it at the ready, my other hand itching to reach out and touch her, as if my touch alone could somehow stave off the gnawing dread clawing at my chest. The air seemed to grow thicker, the weight of it pressing down on us, vibrating with the unpredictable fury of the storm.

The storm wasn’t natural. I sensed malevolence. Intent. The very idea seemed insane, but no matter how I tried, I could not shake the feeling that we were being watched. Hunted.

Rowan’s gloved hands moved quickly, tapping away at the handheld data device she was using to take the planet's geological readings. "Almost… there…" Her strained voice was nearly swallowed by the howl of the wind. Her breath came in short, harsh bursts, fogging up the edges of her helmet’s interior with every exhale. A jagged bolt of lightning lit up the darkness, so bright it seared my retinas through the tinted visor, leaving a ghostly afterimage. The ground beneath us trembled, a deep, resonating rumble that rattled my bones, like the planet itself was letting out a groan of protest. I clenched my jaw, braced my legs to keep from toppling over, focused on keeping my balance despite the ground shifting beneath us like a restless beast.

Rowan glanced up at me, her eyes wide and frightened through the visor of her helmet. "There's something… wrong." Her voice cracked over the comm-link. "The readings—there are metallic structures deep beneath the crust, ones that shouldn’t be here.”

The planet trembled again, more violently this time, as if the very ground was rebelling against the intrusion of our technology.

“Oh, god. Marz. They’re moving.”

The rocks beneath our boots gave off a dull, resonant hum, vibrating with the distant rumble of something shifting far below. I cursed under my breath, grabbed Rowan’s arm to keep her steady. Despite the danger, a spark of warmth shot through me at the contact, a reminder in the midst of chaos. Fuck The Colony. Fuck this red shithole of a planet. Rowan was the only thing that mattered. “We need to get out of here. Now.”

Before she could respond, another flash of lightning erupted overhead, the thunder cracking so loud it shook the air itself. The sky crackled and split apart, shards of raw energy weaving and twisting through the storm clouds, as if the heavens were tearing themselves apart.

The ground exploded behind us, loud as an explosive during battle. I watched in horror as the rock split, a chasm opened, spread, raced toward us.

A wave of heat washed over us, so intense it felt as if my skin was blistering inside the armor. The air vibrated with a low hum, setting my teeth on edge. This was more than just a weather anomaly—it was a cataclysm in the making. The storm's rage was a living thing, unpredictable and primal, and we were nothing but fragile intruders in its path. “Vance? Get us out of here!”

No response. We had to find shelter, and fast.

“Run! There!” I pointed toward a jagged opening in a nearby rock formation, a cave entrance that loomed like a black mouth yawning wide. The wind clawed at our backs as we stumbled forward, nearly driving us to our knees. I grabbed Rowan’s arm and pulled her away from her task. “The scans are almost complete. Just one more minute.”

“Rowan, NOW!”

Without another word I picked her up ran, the fierce wind nearly knocking me off my feet. She screamed as I leaped over a new fissure that opened beneath us, tried to devour us. “I’ve got you, mate.” I wanted to hold her. Kiss her. Tell her I loved her. It was madness to be thinking such things now, but I needed her to know, to see me, truly see me. My shame. My failures. All of it. I was tired of hiding, tired of holding part of myself back when I wanted to give her everything. Most of all, I was tired of hating myself for Perro’s failures, his choices.

We stumbled into the cave, the sudden stillness inside a stark contrast to the chaos outside. The darkness wrapped around us, thick and stifling, like a shroud pulled tight over our senses. I activated my helmet’s light, casting a narrow beam into the shadows. The hollow echo of our footfalls on the rocky ground filled the space, as if the cave were breathing us in.

"Are you hurt?" I couldn’t stop the way my gaze lingered on her face, the soft curve of her lips, the determination in her eyes. The longing that surged through me was like an ache, deep and unyielding. I swallowed against the now familiar sensation, one I welcomed. I’d never felt more alive than here, now. Never been more compelled to keep her safe.

Rowan’s cheeks were flushed. “I’m fine. But those readings… Marz, there’s something buried deep in this planet. Something not natural.”

“I guess we found what we were looking for.” I moved closer to her, pulled her into my arms despite our armor. “Is it Hive tech?” I reached for her datapad and she handed it to me without protest. Confusion tugged at my mind as I looked at the results of her scans. “These things are ancient. They must have been here before we built The Colony.” I wasn’t sure if I was trying to reassure her or myself. “I don’t think they’re Hive. Just hold on. Vance will come back for us. We’ll get that data to base, and we’ll figure it out.”

I looked down into her beautiful face. Her gaze met mine. I saw the doubt there. Worry. “What if he can’t fly through that storm? What if?—”

“He’s the best pilot I’ve ever seen. He’ll make it.” Her fear cut through me, exposing every crack and fault line inside. I’d let her down already just by bringing her here, to this dangerous place. I should have told the governor to go fuck himself. Taken Rowan somewhere else. Maybe back to Prillon Prime. Perhaps to Earth? Anywhere but here. The storm’s rage was a living, breathing entity outside the cave, and we were hiding in its belly.

“What if he can’t?” she whispered, her breath warm against my skin. “The storm… it’s too strong. The energy is interfering with our communications. He might not even know where we are. What if we lose him?”

The thought clawed at my gut, but I pushed it away. “He will find us.” I’d felt his determination, his love for our mate. He would not stop until he found her.

“He should go back to base and wait for the storm to blow over.”

“This storm will not stop, my love. It is growing.” I stepped back, pacing the small cave like a caged animal. The jagged walls seemed to press inward, the shadows shifting with every movement, closing in around us. I could feel her eyes on me, feel her concern. I didn’t deserve her worry, her affection, her trust. Didn’t deserve her .

Rowan must have sensed something through our collars because she stepped closer, her fingers curling around my forearm. Her touch was like fire despite the impenetrable material, searing into my skin and sending a shiver through me that had nothing to do with the temperature. “Marz.” My name on her lips was a balm to the storm’s violent clamoring outside. “You don’t have to lie to me. I know you’re worried, too.”

I let out a bitter laugh, turning away even as my pulse thrummed with the desire to accept the comfort she offered. The cave watched me, judged me, the darkness worse than a mirror, forcing me to face the truth. Memories pushed at the edges of my mind, my past clawing its way into the present. “There was… another mission,” I began, my voice low and rough. “A long time ago, during the war.”

She stayed silent, waiting. Her patience only made the words harder to force out, my chest tightening as the shame bubbled up.

“Perro.” His name had become a curse, heavy on my tongue. “He was my second. My closest friend. He trusted me, followed me into a situation that… was too dangerous. I made a bad call. We didn’t make it out.” I swallowed hard, the guilt as fresh as the day it happened, regret like ash on my tongue. “We were captured by the Hive. And it was my fault.”

Rowan’s hand tightened on my arm, her touch grounding me as the storm raged outside. She held tight, her acceptance and love soaking into the fragmented shards of my heart, pulling the broken pieces of me back together. She had no idea what happened to us. All of us. Vance and the others under my command as well. The torture, the years of loneliness and isolation on The Colony. The rejection by family and friends who could not accept our integrations. The feeling of being worthless, unable to fight, unwelcome at home, helpless to change any of it.

Rowan wrapped her arms around my waist and held tight. “You can’t blame yourself. I’m sure you did everything you could.”

“Did I?” I shook my head, the motion jerky, critical. “I’ve asked myself that every day since. When we came to The Colony, the Hive taunted him. He never got them out of his head. I didn’t notice, too caught up in my own pain. I failed him twice. Failed everyone on The Colony. He betrayed us all. But in the end, he fought like a fucking warrior. Regained control just long enough to?—”

“Stop,” she interrupted, pounded her fist against my chest, her eyes fierce and bright, filled with a compassion I didn’t deserve. “Don’t torture yourself with ‘what ifs.’ You can’t change the past. It wasn’t your fault.”

“He sacrificed himself. I couldn’t save him.”

“He was a warrior. He knew the risks. He made his own choices. He could have told you that he was struggling. Could have asked for help. He chose not to. It wasn’t your failure. It was his.”

Her words sank in, settling somewhere deep, where the pain and regret were intertwined. Even so, I couldn’t let go. “I don’t deserve…” Rowan cut me off again. “Don’t deserve what? Happiness? A mate? A life?” She shook her head. “Is this what you’ve been hiding from me? Is this the darkness I feel when we’re together?”

“Yes.”

She relaxed her fist and slid her hand up to rest against my chest, covered my heart where it hammered beneath the armor. I imagined that I could feel the warmth of her touch seeping through, spreading outward, a contrast to cold reality. “If Perro loved you as much as you loved him, he would want you to be happy, not carry around his memory like poison. Everyone makes mistakes. He didn’t talk to you. Didn’t trust you. That was his mistake, not yours. You can’t save people who don’t want to be saved.”

I stared at her, the weight of my grief and guilt warring with the warmth that was slowly spreading through my chest. I was a male who had lost too much, who had failed too often. I didn’t know how to be anything else. “Rowan,” I whispered, her name like a prayer, an offering. I wanted so desperately to be the male she saw, to be worthy of the way she looked at me. “You don’t understand. I’m not… I’m not worthy. You should choose another.”

“Neither am I,” she said quietly, her gaze never wavering, the faintest tremor in her voice. “Do you know why I came here? Why I left Earth?” Her voice dropped to a bitter whisper. “Because I was a criminal. A whistleblower, actually. I knew what the company was doing, how they were poisoning the water supply, but I went along, too worried about my paycheck to say anything. When the guilt got to me, when people started getting cancer and dying, I finally exposed what the company was doing to the environment. They used their army of lawyers to frame me for embezzlement. They put me in prison. Made sure I had nowhere else to go. But I deserved their punishment. People died because I waited too long. I was afraid to speak up. I didn’t volunteer to be a bride because I wanted a mate. I just wanted to escape. I don’t deserve you or Vance. You shouldn’t feel the way you feel when you look at me.”

Her confession hit me like a punch to the gut, the air leaving my lungs in a rush. “Rowan…” I reached for her hand and clasped it tightly, as if I could anchor us both with the contact. Her emotions were as volatile as mine, but they reached through my shame and guilt, grounding me in this moment. She did not want a mate when she came here. Did not want to be matched. Did not want me. “And now? Is escape still what you seek?”

She gave a small, gentle smile. “I didn’t come here looking for true love or some kind of fairy tale ending. I came here because I had nothing left to lose. But then I met you and Vance…” Her breath hitched, her eyes glistening in the dim light, her voice barely a whisper above the storm's echo. “You changed everything. I don’t deserve you, but I fell in love with you anyway.”

The world seemed to narrow until there was only her, standing there in the dim light of the cave, her eyes full of truth. Vulnerability. She cut through my defenses, stripped me bare. My heart pounded behind my ribs like it was trying to leap into her hands. “I?—”

She silenced me with three words.

“I love you.”

Fuck. I’d never loved anyone as much as I loved her in that moment. I stared into her eyes and I knew, with absolute certainty, that I was done running. I was done hiding from my feelings, from the possibility of happiness, from a future I never thought I could have. I loved her, completely and irrevocably, and I would do anything to keep her.

I tightened my grip on her, as if she might slip away if I didn’t hold on. The thought of losing her now was unbearable, like losing a part of my soul. The storm outside raged on, as fierce and violent as my feelings for her.

I didn’t know how long we stood there before the faint buzz of static broke through the comm-link. It was distorted at first, cutting in and out, but then Vance’s voice came through, rough and urgent.

“Marz! Rowan! Can you hear me?” The comm-link crackled, the background noise a garbled roar of wind and thunder. “Come in, damn it!”

Rowan’s eyes widened, and I saw relief flash across her face before I responded. “We’re here. We’re in a cave near the last drop-off point. The storm’s getting worse. Can you?—”

“I’m bringing the shuttle around,” Vance interrupted, his tone clipped with tension. “You need to get out of that cave and be ready to jump onboard. It’s going to be tight.”

Tight was an understatement. The fury outside had intensified. The storm threw rock and debris around like missiles. The sky was alive with a frenzy of lightning bolts that scorched the air with every strike.

“Come on.” I reached for Rowan’s hand as we hurried toward the cave entrance. “Be ready to run.”

The howl of the storm increased in volume as we neared the mouth, the wind gusts so strong they nearly knocked us back.

Outside the cave was total chaos. The landscape was barely visible through the swirling red dust and flashes of electric blue, white and violet streaking across the sky.

“There!” Rowan shouted, pointing upward as the shuttle came into view. It descended at an angle, tilting and bucking against the wind. I could see the flare of the thrusters as Vance fought to steady the craft, the nose pitching sharply to one side as a particularly vicious gust slammed into the hull.

“I’m bringing her in as close as I can. Be ready to jump.” His tone was all business, but I could hear the raw edge of fear underneath. Not fear for either of us. For her.

The shuttle dipped closer, the thrusters flaring bright as Vance wrestled it into position. The wind hammered against us, nearly lifted us off our feet. I wrapped my arms around her and braced myself. When the shuttle was just close enough, I pulled Rowan forward. “Now!” I shouted, keeping my arm around her waist as we sprinted toward the shuttle.

We leaped together, the ground vanishing beneath us as the wind tore at our limbs. The open air seemed to swallow us whole, but then the ramp of the shuttle was right there, just within reach. I hit the edge hard, pulling Rowan up with me as my boots scraped for purchase against the hatch. I felt her slip. My heart seized in my chest. I tightened my grip, used all my strength to haul her up the rest of the way.

The moment we were inside, the shuttle jerked sharply upward. The engines roared as Vance pushed the thrusters to full power. The ramp closed behind us, sealing out the chaos of the storm as we were thrown against the interior bulkhead from the force of the ascent. I kept my arms around Rowan, shielding her from the worst of the impact. The floor vibrated beneath us, and I could feel the tension in the metal as the shuttle climbed, fighting the storm’s relentless grip.

“Strap in!” Vance’s voice came over comms, strained with the effort of keeping the shuttle steady. “This isn’t over yet.”

I helped Rowan to one of the seats. We barely managed to secure the harnesses before the shuttle lurched again, tilting nearly sideways as Vance fought the violent winds. The sensation of weightlessness swept through my stomach as we dropped, and the storm seemed to batter us from all directions, like an animal intent on tearing the shuttle apart.

Vance's voice echoed through our helmets, a mix of fury and raw determination. “Hang on. We’re almost there.”

The engines screamed, vibrating with an intensity that I could feel in my teeth. I braced myself, gripping the seat’s armrests, the sheer force of the acceleration pressing me back. I glanced at Rowan, her helmeted head tilted slightly, the strain to keep her head straight visible even through the armor as she fought to stay steady. Our eyes met, and for a split second, everything outside ceased to exist—there was only the space between us, filled with the confessions we’d made in the darkness of that cave.

I’d told her the truth. Told her everything. And she loved me anyway.

Be a fucking shame to die now.

The shuttle shuddered again, a metallic groan filled the cabin as Vance executed a tight roll to avoid a surge of plasma discharge. The ship vibrated as if we’d been struck by a giant hammer. The comms crackled with static as Vance cursed under his breath. He pushed the shuttle harder, fighting gravity and the storm, the craft groaning in protest as he flew us back to base.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, the violent turbulence eased. The red haze disappeared. The unnatural buzz of energy that had filled the air dissipated as Vance took us deeper inside Base 3’s shuttle bay.

Rowan slumped back in her seat, letting out a shuddering breath. Relief washed over me, a heavy weight lifting from my chest.

As the shuttle leveled out and settled on the ground, the tension coming from Vance didn’t dissipate. If anything, it thickened. I could hear Vance moving in the cockpit, the faint sounds of switches being flipped and controls being adjusted. Barely restrained rage simmered beneath his calm exterior, hitting both Rowan and I through the mating collars.

When he finally spoke again, his voice came through the comm like a blade’s edge, hard and cutting. “Is Rowan hurt?”

There was weight behind the question, something more than just concern. I felt it settle like a stone in my gut.

“Our mate is uninjured.” I held Rowan’s gaze but spoke to my second. “Thanks to you.”

There was a pause, a tense silence that spoke volumes. Rowan and I had reached an understanding, but I was not the only one keeping secrets. Vance battled for control of his mind, his emotions, his sense of self. Now that I wasn’t fighting my own demons, I could feel the Hive through our connection, their presence a constant hum in the background of his thoughts. When I looked at Rowan’s data, I assumed the massive structure buried beneath the planet’s surface was not of Hive origin. What if I was wrong? “Vance?”

“It’s the Hive. I heard them.” Vance’s words held an unspoken challenge. I knew what was coming; the storm had only been the first battle. The real confrontation was ahead. Could I trust Vance to walk away from our mate if he posed a danger?

Rowan stood and glared at me through her helmet’s clear visor. “Whatever bullshit you too are thinking right now, you better start talking. I can feel you, remember?”

Vance, the fucker, chuckled at our mate’s temper. She was small, but feisty. Perhaps I would order Vance to fuck her so she could wrap those sassy lips around my cock.

Now that we were safe, my cock roared to life, demanded I claim her now, fully, without holding myself back. She knew me. Loved me. I’d never wanted to lose myself in pleasure more. But she was correct. Vance was her second. She deserved to know the truth about him, speak with Vance, understand the danger and make her own decision. I could order him to leave. I could report him to Doctor Surnen and have him removed from our lives. I could kill him myself. I could do many things that would protect our mate but cause her pain. “We’ll talk once we return to our quarters.”

She huffed at us, in adorable female annoyance. “No more sex until you two tell me what the hell is going on.”

No more sex?

Vance appeared in the small cargo area and pulled Rowan into his arms with a growl. “I thought I lost you.”

“Never. You’re mine.” She glanced from Vance to me as she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his chest. Love flowed through our mating bond, love for me. Love for him.

Fuck.

Her next words confirmed what I already knew, losing Vance would break her heart. “You’re both mine.”

Had she felt the darkness in Vance that I did? He’d hidden it well, for a while. But I could no longer pretend everything was all right. We needed to tell Rowan the truth, be honest about the risks, even if it tore our new family apart.