Strive For Forever, the fourth core story in the Cyborg Unity series, releases next week! Woot!
Today, I’m sharing the fourth and final scene from the very first chapter.
You can read the first scene here:
http://tasteofcyn.com/?p=10875
***
“Fraggin’ hole.” Raw was oblivious to his state. “Is that another weapon?” He delved his right hand into the space to grab the pack.
“It’s mine.” Strive pushed his friend away from his prize.
“It isn’t yours, you malfunctioning bag of bolts.” Raw shoved him back. Harder. “This isn’t a pretty rock or an interesting splatter of mud. Weapons are my domain.”
“Stop it.” Grin propelled both of them away from opening. “The contents of the pack were given to us to guard, not to utilize.” He extracted the pack from its hiding place. “In order to properly protect them, we need to process what they are and who might be searching for them. Which is where your expertise is required, Raw.”
Grin opened the pack.
The tantalizing scent intensified. The aroma teased Strive’s nostrils and drove him completely wild. He was overwhelmed with the primitive need to take, to claim, to move the pack far away from anyone and everyone.
“Mine.” He grabbed the pack and turned his back to his friends, hunching over his newfound treasure, protecting it.
“What has gotten into you?” Raw circled Strive. His friend stared him. “You’re acting like…me.”
Raw’s female grinned.
“Strive isn’t you.” Grin’s forehead furrowed. “There’s only one thing or one being I can process that would make him act that way.”
“One being.” Raw repeated those two words. “Ohhh…” His eyes widened. “You’ve found your genetic match.”
“Strive has found an object belonging to his genetic match.” Grin’s expression turned grimmer. “That doesn’t mean he’ll locate that being.”
“All the objects in the pack were stolen by the Humanoid Alliance.” Grin’s female’s tone was equally solemn. “My kind’s guardians died trying to stop that from happening. Others might have died also.”
“My being is alive.” A wildness gripped Strive. She or he had to be alive. He peered into the pack. One of the objects it contained would lead him to the being he was fabricated to protect, to care for, to create a future with.
He grasped the first object. It was a glowing dagger.
“Careful.” Grin’s female hovered closer to him. “We don’t know the powers of the objects or what activates those powers, but Euryale, the being who gave the pack to us, cautioned they were dangerous.”
Strive brought the dagger up to his nose and breathed deeply. The scent clung to it.
But it was less intense than the aroma wafting upward from the pack.
His genetic match could’ve handled it briefly. It hadn’t belonged to her or him.
He passed the dagger to Raw.
“The Humanoid Alliance Commander we…encountered mentioned a magical glowing dagger.” Raw’s female touched the blade. “He said it belonged to a Valkyrie. And she wanted it back.”
“Fraggin’ hole.” Grin cursed. “We aren’t prepared to battle a Valkyrie. They’re some of the best warriors in the universe. And it’s nearly impossible to kill them.”
Strive didn’t care about battles or Valkyries. His focus was on locating his being.
He extracted the objects one by one, smelled them, passed them to Raw.
Until all he was left was the empty pack. The appealing scent originated from it.
He caressed the interior, the handles. The pack had once belonged to his being. His genetic match had touched it, possessed it.
Resolve filled Strive. He had to meet with him or her. “You were given this by a being named Euryale.” That name felt good on his tongue. “Where is this Euryale located?”
Grin exchanged a look with his female. “She was situated on Keid 9, a Humanoid Alliance-controlled planet, when we met with her. But—” He took a ragged breath. “—there’s only a 2.3764 percent probability she’s alive, Strive.”
“She’s alive.” She had to be alive. He couldn’t come so close to finding her and not see her, hold her, claim her.
The universe wouldn’t be that cruel.
Except Strive had witnessed it was that cruel. Again and again.
Despair swept over him. His systems strained.
“Find the calm.” He repeated that mantra and centered his processing on the decadent scent swirling around him. His anguish dissipated. A warmth flowed through him. His emotional system stabilized.
“When we met with Euryale, she was serving as a host to a powerful deity.” Grin’s female’s voice was soft. “She’s human, and that was killing her. Euryale was resigned to death, was almost cheerful about it. And then, when we escaped, a different deity was freed from its container. As we ran to our ship, it was killing the Humanoid Alliance beings, crashing their vessels, crushing their structures. The likelihood of her surviving that violence is—”
“She’s alive.” Strive jutted his jaw. The alternative was unprocessable. “And I will retrieve her.”
Or he would die trying.
She was his future, his hope, his calm. He had to save his female.
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Strive For Forever
This cyborg seeks to vanquish an ancient entity and save his curvy human female.
Euryale made a terrible mistake. She opened a container she shouldn’t have touched and released one of the oldest lifeforms in existence. That all-powerful entity is now utilizing her as its host body and is slowly draining her energy.
Soon, she’ll die.
Euryale has accepted this fate and is determined to use her remaining moments in the universe to save as many lives as she can.
Her plans do NOT include a smoldering-hot, poetry-wielding cyborg willing to decimate entire planets to save her.
While under the control of the Humanoid Alliance, Strive, a K Model cyborg, disobeyed direct orders and refused to kill on their behalf. If he hadn’t escaped their cruel clutches, his defiance would have led to his death.
The male knowingly risked that fate to save the lifespans of complete strangers.
There is nothing he wouldn’t do to protect Euryale. The curvy human female is his genetic match, the one being he is destined to defend.
And she is in danger.
Strive would break every vow, cross every boundary, risk absolutely everything to keep her from harm.
Including battle a deity no one has ever defeated.
***
Strive For Forever is Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features an inspired cyborg, a joke-cracking scientist, and an all-powerful deity with plans of his own.
Pre-order Today:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Strive-Forever-SciFi-Cyborg-Romance-ebook/dp/B0BSMXYHPC
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Strive-Forever-SciFi-Cyborg-Romance-ebook/dp/B0BSMXYHPC
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Strive-Forever-SciFi-Cyborg-Romance-ebook/dp/B0BSMXYHPC
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/strive-for-forever/id6445480449
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/strive-for-forever-cynthia-sax/1142963331
