Ghost Of A Machine will be releasing on May 16th (it is available for pre-order now!).
Over the next four weeks, I’ll be sharing the first chapter of Ghost Of A Machine. Don’t be alarmed if you find much of the action to be familiar to you. You should. It also occurred in Hers To Command. Once you’ve read the chapter, you’ll understand why it is so important to retell the scene from Ghost’s perspective.
This is the first scene.
Ghost stared at the far wall of his holding chamber, trying to ignore the two puny human males chattering in front of him.
“You’d think they’d design cyborgs to talk.” The smallest male gazed up at him.
“They don’t talk.” The other male nicked Ghost in the hip with a dagger. “Not unless they’re asked a question or acknowledging a command. This one is damaged. It doesn’t even do that.”
Ghost, accustomed to their torture, didn’t react. Blood dripped down his leg.
“The silence is eerie.” The smallest male’s lips twisted. “Remember when Rog stuck that dagger up its ass and sliced it to pieces? It didn’t make a sound.”
He said that as though it was a fond memory. The two of them enjoyed hurting beings, hurting him.
Hatred, pure and thick, pulsed through Ghost’s circuits. If given the command, he’d rip their heads off.
But he wouldn’t be given that command. The humans were his masters and although he didn’t know much, his organic brain shattered, he did know he couldn’t act without their orders.
“The Captain was pissed when Rog did that.” The other male dragged a dagger over Ghost’s bare ass, leaving a trail of pain. “He likes it tight when he uses it.”
Ghost’s fury expanded, encompassing every being on the warship. He wanted to kill them all, tear them apart limb by limb.
Instead, he gazed at the gray wall panels, his expression blank, his lips pressed together. The two males’ voices weren’t the only sounds he heard. Millions of beings talked inside his reinforced skull.
What’s the quickest way to kill a Mantidae?
In the Homeland, every cyborg is free.
I increased my kill rate by thirty-two this planet rotation.
Some females have golden hair.
Fe-males. Ghost silently turned that word over in his mind. Fe-males. That meant something to him, invoked emotions within his soul. He didn’t know why it was important but it was.
“We’ll have to clean it up after the battle.” The shorter male wrinkled his nose. “The captain doesn’t like it to be dirty.”
“C Models are disgusting.” The other male curled his top lip. “The newer models have been programmed to utilize the cleaning cloths.”
“This one used to do that. It is malfunctioning.”
“Why doesn’t the captain have it decommissioned and order a new one?”
Decommissioned was another word Ghost still retained. It meant pain, death.
The end of his suffering.
“There’s been an issue with supply. For now, we’re stuck with it.” The shorter male inclined his head toward Ghost. “There are benefits. I doubt the captain would allow us to use a new model for target practice.”
“True.” The taller male moved toward the doors. “I’m itching to test my new long gun. Downing the rebel battle station should earn us that reward.”
“Their commander is a female.” The other male sneered. “Defeating her will take mere moments.”
They exited, the doors shut behind them, and Ghost was left in solitude yet again. He had a vague recollection of a time when he wasn’t alone, a time when he had been surrounded by warriors like himself.
A scene flashed through his mind. A battlefield strewn with bodies, gouged faces, silver frames showing through tattered flesh, eyes with their lights burned out.
Pain surged along his circuits, coiling around his heart, squeezing, squeezing. Ghost hastily deleted the image and focused on the present, on the gray walls, the tiled floor.
There was a space inside him, as though something was missing. A part of himself had been severed. He gazed down. His arms and legs remained attached. He balled his fingers into huge fists. Physically, he appeared to be all there.
Yet the sensation remained. He wasn’t whole. He was defective.
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Fragile. Stubborn. His.
Ghost, a C Model cyborg, has disconnected his machine from his human side. Severely damaged, he knows two things—the curvy human female on his ship belongs to him and he must keep her safe. He’ll stop at nothing to protect her, claim her, make her his.
Primitive. Damaged. Hers.
Lethe has seen the savage side of beings. The courageous Rebel captain has never met a male like Ghost. Overpoweringly dominant, he appeals to her on a primal level, filling her mind with thoughts of sweet surrender, hard kisses, and body-heating encounters against the warship’s walls.
They are two broken beings, one determined to protect, the other intent on flying into danger. Can love heal them both before they face their common enemy?
Ghost Of A Machine is Book 9 in the Cyborg Sizzle series and is a STAND-ALONE story.
It is also a BBW Cyborg SciFi Romance.
Pre-order Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Machine-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B06XR6M6GG/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghost-Machine-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B06XR6M6GG/
Apple/iBooks/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ghost-of-a-machine/id1218969448
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ghost-of-a-machine-cynthia-sax/1126040142
