Choosing Chuckles Read online

  Captain narrowed his eyes at Chuckles. That response didn’t bode well.

  “Chuckles is right.” Captain’s female, unexpectedly, came to his defense. “That will tell us immediately if her distress call is a ruse.”

  She winked at Chuckles, like they shared a secret.

  Chuckles frowned back at her, not processing what that secret was.

  Captain looked at his female and then at Chuckles. “Chuckles, you can communicate with her.” He authorized that action. “Make the necessary arrangements.”

  That took mere moments. Captain’s female assisted with hiding the transmission trail. Chuckles blocked his image.

  Then he hailed his female, his heart pounding. Small talk, that useless exchange of non-essential information humans seemed to enjoy, wasn’t his strength. His female’s distress message had been chatty. She’d want words from him.

  “Hello. Hi.” His female appeared on the screen, disregarding all hailing conventions.

  Her multi-colored hair was now pulled into one bundle on the top of her head. Her flight suit was bright pink. A matching strip of fabric encircled her neck. Small pink stones decorated it, adding the sparkle she seemed to like.

  “Is someone there? Please tell me you’re there.” She clasped her hands, her eyes wide with feigned concern. “Please. Please answer me. I’m alone and so very scared.”

  Her act was over the top. Did she think beings were that stupid? “This is Chuckles.” He scrubbed all emotion from his voice. “Do you require assistance?”

  “Chuckles. Ohhh…that’s a great name.” She placed one of her hands over her even more prominently displayed breasts, her curves one jiggle away from escaping her flight suit. “So different. So”—she blew out her breath—“male.”

  Chuckles envisioned her pursed lips wrapped around his cock and his need for her escalated, drumming at him, a primal beat repeating “Mine. Mine. Mine.” over and over.

  But he was a cyborg—part human, part machine—and his lust for her hadn’t disconnected his processors. His female was playing the role of temptress, was using her powers of seduction as a weapon against him.

  “Do you require assistance?” He repeated his question.

  “I can’t see you, Chuckles.” She said his name as though she found release merely forming the syllables.

  That appealed to him. He shifted in his seat, his body armor uncomfortably tight.

  “And I want to see you.” She squeezed her breasts together, deepening the valley between them. “I want to put a face to your sexy voice.”

  This female is too much. Truth laughed through the transmission lines.

  Chuckles glared at him. No one should be speaking about his female. “I’m unable to send you a visual.” Because she was a lying deceitful human and might use the information to damage him and his brethren. “Is that an issue?”

  “Of course not.” The female played with the lapels of her flight suit, drawing attention to the sparkling skin displayed there. If Chuckles hadn’t been a cyborg, capable of moving his gaze quickly, he might have missed the flicker of uncertainty in her blue eyes.

  The female didn’t like not having a visual. She wanted to see who she was trapping, preferred to have that information to prepare for his arrival.

  While he found her treachery abhorrent, he approved of her caution.

  “What is your name, female?” A name would aid him when he searched the databases for her.

  Not that she would give him her real name.

  “My name’s Bettina.” Her eyes widened a fraction as though that statement had caught her by surprise. “But you can call me Baby.” Her eyelashes fluttered.

  Chuckles frowned. Why would he refer to her as a human offspring?

  “You sound like a big male, Chuckles.” She purred that observation. “Are you big?” Her tongue, small and pink and enticing, glided over her bottom lip. “All over?”

  “Yes.” Being an early model cyborg, he was much larger than the tallest human male. Every part of him was proportional.

  “I like that.” Bettina touched the swell of her breasts again. “You talk like a warrior, all decisive and grrr…” He wasn’t certain what that sexy growl meant but the sound excited his already highly stimulated form. “Are you a warrior?”

  “Yes.” Chuckles wasn’t the warrior he once was, but he could defeat any human. He could protect her if that was needed.

  His female glanced downward. Her gaze shifted from right to left.

  The image of a viewscreen reflected off a panel behind her.

  Chuckles expanded that image, flipped it to read the words.

  No visual. Big. Warrior. Can’t track the signal. Abandon this, Bait.

  Bettina’s chin firmed for a heartbeat. Then she smiled up at the recording device, at Chuckles, and his heart malfunctioned, stopping for a moment and restarting.

  “I’ve been alone for so long.” She continued her deception.

  Satisfaction flared inside him. His lying little human had deliberately disobeyed the messenger’s orders, refusing to abandon her ploy. She wanted to meet with him as much as he wanted to meet with her.

  “I don’t have any credits to pay for repairs, but maybe we can work out other arrangements.” Her hands lowered to her rounded stomach. Her hips were wide, his female built for a D Model like himself. “Would you like that, Chuckles?”

  She was offering to breed with him. “Yes.” He would like that.

  But he doubted her words were genuine. He suspected she made that proposal to every male who answered her fake distress call.

  “Then you’ll help me?” She batted her eyelashes. “Alone? It’ll be just the two of us, right? I’m shy.”

  Chuckles stifled his snort. There was nothing shy about her. She was the most brazen being he had ever encountered.

  “It will be just the two of us.” He wouldn’t sweep anyone else into her trap. “I’ll come for you.”

  “Oh, you will come for me.” Her voice coiled around his cock, gripping him in the most sensual of holds. “I’ll ensure that.” Bettina was referring to breeding again, issuing promises his foolish body believed. “I’m sending you my coordinates.” She tapped her fingertips against the viewscreen. “I’ll see you, all of you, soon, Chuckles.” She laughed.

  The transmission ended.

  “I thought cyborgs couldn’t lie.” Captain’s female broke the silence. “You implied you’d meet with her.”

  “I am meeting with her.” Chuckles placed his hands on the console before him and pushed himself to his feet, his knee screaming with pain. “I require one of the shuttle crafts, Captain.”

  Captain’s female and all of the warriors gazed at him.

  “You don’t need a shuttle craft, Chuckles.” Captain’s female spaced her words far apart, speaking to him as though his processors were malfunctioning. “You were right. It’s a trap.”

  “I’m aware it’s a trap.” He hadn’t veered from his original assessment of the situation. “Everything she said was a lie. Her every movement was manufactured, cleverly designed to lure unwitting males to their doom. Even her hair is false. I will never trust my female.” That disappointed Chuckles, yet it didn’t surprise him. He trusted few beings. “But I will retrieve her.”

  “Your female,” Captain repeated.

  Captain’s female’s mouth fell open.

  “You, the most cynical bag of bolts in the universe, are paired with the most colorful female we’ve ever encountered.” Truth, that foolish warrior, laughed, his entire body shaking with mirth.

  Chuckles’ lips flattened. He was glad someone was amused, because he certainly wasn’t. Other warriors had honorable females. He had Bettina, if that was truly her name, a being skilled in deception.

  She was colorful. Truth was correct about that. Chuckles looked at her image. Once, after a rainstorm, he’d seen an arc of colors in the sky above the battlefield. The sight had given him a deep sense of happiness before the feeling disappea
red, never to be seen again.

  Bettina was like that arc, as stunningly beautiful and as inconstant, a vision a warrior could admire but couldn’t count on or predict.

  “She could have a good reason for trapping beings.” Captain’s female recovered from the shock of his revelation. “I had good reasons for hacking into Vector’s transmissions.” She exchanged a fond look with Captain.

  “She doesn’t have a good reason.” Chuckles held no illusions about his female. “It’s a ploy to gather credits.” She was either holding her rescuers for ransom or relieving them of whatever wealth they had on their forms.

  “She could have a noble use for those credits.” Captain’s female clung to her positive view of Bettina.

  “I doubt that.” He shook his head, his expectations of her and of life low. “I will uncover her plans when I meet with her.”

  “I shouldn’t authorize that action.” Captain looked grave. “You’re knowingly walking into a trap, risking your freedom and your lifespan.”

  Chuckles knew exactly what he was risking. His female, a being with no honor, had the ability to destroy him.

  But the alternative was an endless lifespan of solitude, with no female, no offspring. An image of Future, Captain and Captain’s female’s newly manufactured son, filled his processors and a wave of wanting swept over him.

  “She’s my female.” Chuckles would risk everything to secure her.

  The warriors around him nodded, silently agreeing with his decision.

  “I’ll go with you.” Truth stood.

  The warrior would voluntarily walk into a trap to assist him. Chuckles was temporarily struck silent by the offer. Truth was a brave warrior. He was honored to serve with him.

  But he wouldn’t risk the cyborg’s freedom. “I do this alone.”

  Truth opened his mouth.

  “If she captures me and I can’t escape, I’ll call on you.” He made that compromise. “Keep your transmission lines open.”

  “They’ll be open.” Truth’s head dipped.

  “I’ll search the databases for information on your female.” Captain’s female’s fingers already tapped against her private viewscreen. She was skilled at uncovering data. “Have faith in her, Chuckles. Give her a chance.”

  Chuckles grunted. He didn’t have faith in very many beings.

  “You can have any ship in the docking bay.” Captain gave him the authorization he needed to leave. “Take weapons and any other resources you require to succeed in your mission.”

  They were supporting him in his foolish quest. That humbled him and firmed his resolve.

  Chuckles hobbled toward the doors. He would retrieve his treacherous female, capture her using whatever means were necessary.

  And he would never let her go.

  Chapter Two

  Almost a planet rotation later, Bettina continued to deal with the fallout from her rash decision.

  She had a specific role to play in their undertaking. The others called her Bait. Curvy and flirty, she lured horny beings to the modified shuttle craft.

  When the beings arrived, thinking they’d take advantage of a helpless solitary female, Keeper zapped them with her stun gun and hauled their predatory asses to the containment ship. The beings were dropped on the next habitable planet, unharmed, armed with the weapons they arrived wearing.

  They weren’t physically hurt, but they were taught a costly lesson, one that might make them think twice about preying on trusting young females in the future. Bettina’s lips flattened.

  Pilot 1, 2, 3, and 4 commandeered the beings’ ships. Those were not returned to the predators. The vessels were wiped of all identifying marks and sold for credits, the proceeds split between the procurement team.

  Smarts organized the entire endeavor. She formed the team, split the proceeds, set the rules. She also decided who they would target.

  The female had not wanted to target Chuckles. She was so angry with Bettina she had sent Keeper to confront her.

  The Dracheon female stomped along the shuttle craft’s hallway, moving toward Bettina at an alarmingly fast pace, her eyes blazing with flames, her blue scales rippling.

  She was a formidable warrior, skilled in all weapon usage, had an ability to breathe fire so hot it melted metal and reduced bone to ash.

  Bettina preferred to stay on Keeper’s good side…when that was possible.

  It wasn’t possible in this case. Chuckles’ voice had turned her on, intrigued her. She had to meet him, knew she would always regret it if she didn’t proceed with the procurement, if she didn’t ever see his face.

  “You shouldn’t be here.” She faced Keeper, standing her ground while inwardly quivering in her boots, wondering if those words would be her last. “If he performs a lifeform scan, he’ll know I’m not alone and—”

  “And what?” The warrior female huffed, smoke puffing from her flared nostrils. “He’ll turn the fuck around? That’s what you should want him to do, Bait.”

  The tips of Keeper’s claws extended and Bettina battled the urge to take a step back. The Dracheon could end her lifespan with one slash of those deadly natural weapons.

  “Smarts is pissed.” Keeper told her something she already knew. “She thinks this male is bad news and I agree with her.”

  Smarts had blasted Bettina, fuming at her for forgetting all of her training, for disregarding messages, telling her she was putting the entire team in peril by venturing ahead with the procurement. She was risking her life, the lives of Keeper, the Pilots, everyone, by continuing.

  The older female had wrapped up the admonishment by stating that if it hadn’t been Bettina’s last procurement, she would have been fired.

  That had hurt. She considered Smarts to be her friend.

  “Chuckles is bad news.” Bettina shrugged away her fear and her concerns. “All of the predators we trap are bad news.”

  Chuckles might not have made any disgusting or disrespectful statements during their conversation, like many of the previous predators had done, but he also hadn’t asked about her ship, hadn’t tried to repair it remotely.

  And he had agreed to receiving sex in exchange for repairing her ship. Without any hesitation.

  That made him a predator. She would wrangle under control her unseemly attraction to the male, treat him the same way as she had the others.

  “Your Chuckles is in a different category of bad news.” Keeper retracted her claws and tested a side door, ensuring it was locked.

  Relief rushed over Bettina. The Dracheon wouldn’t be securing the shuttle craft if she was planning to kill her.

  “He concerns me, but I’m more worried about you.” Keeper’s gaze met hers. The flames in her eyes were lower. Her anger had eased. “You disobeyed Smarts’ direction. You told him your real name. Your head isn’t in this procurement, Bait, and that will get us all killed.”

  “I didn’t work this long to die now.” After eight solar cycles of luring dangerous predators into traps, scrimping and saving and spending as little of the proceeds as possible, Bettina had finally reached her goal.

  With this procurement, she’d have enough credits for two beings to live simply for a lifespan. Her fingers closed around the crystal hanging between her breasts. She’d be free, could pursue her own interests, do what she wanted to do.

  “I’m the being most in danger.” As Bait, her role was the riskiest. “He’ll see me first. If you stun him properly, he won’t see you at all.”

  “That’s a big if.” Keeper adjusted the angle of a monitoring device. “How do we know he can be stunned? We have no indication what species he is.”

  “He’s human or humanoid. I’m almost certain of it.” After hundreds of procurements, Bettina was skilled at predicting species based on their voices.

  Plus she wouldn’t be this turned on by a tentacle being or a quivering mass of flesh… would she? She squeezed the crystal.

  “All humans and humanoids listed in our databases can be stunned.”
Keeper conceded that point. “I still don’t like this.”

  “His name is Chuckles.” Bettina’s tone was dry. “How badass can he be?”

  “He’s badass enough that no one teases him about his name.” Keeper removed a gun from the pocket of her flight suit. “Put your thumb here.”

  Bettina complied, placing her thumb on the trigger.

  The female fiddled with the settings for a moment. “Take this.” She held the gun out to her. “Hide it in the chamber somewhere.”

  “I have a gun.” Bettina grasped the weapon.

  “Now you have two.” Keeper rolled her eyes. “Get into position. I have to go.” She manually opened a side door. “He’ll be contacting you soon.”

  It was showtime. Bettina’s excitement was mixed with apprehension, this procurement, her last, making her nervous.

  Keeper paused and looked back at her, her scaly forehead furrowed with worry lines. “No one will think badly of you if you have second thoughts and bail on this procurement, Bait. We can’t capture every predator.”

  The female was genuinely concerned about her. That touched Bettina. “I have to do this, Keeper.” She didn’t know why, but she had to meet the male.

  The flames in the Dracheon female’s eyes flared. “This is a mistake.” She exited the shuttle craft, slamming the door behind her.

  Keeper could be right. This could be a mistake.

  To minimize the possible dangers, Bettina had to prepare for the procurement, get her head in it, as her warrior friend would say. She returned to the central chamber and turned to face the doors Chuckles would be accessing and the viewscreen she’d be monitoring.

  One of the guns was slipped into her right front pocket, the setting on stun. The other weapon was hidden up her right sleeve.

  She knew how to use them. After a male, a sexual predator, had attacked her on her home planet, her dad had showed her how to shoot a gun.

  It was a harsh universe. A being had to be able to defend her- or himself.