Systembound: Rise of the Dronemancer [Book 1. Complete] / Systembound: Rise of Androxis [Book 2. Ongoing]

”Who are you calling a child!?” Her voice ripped through the night air, raw with defiance that vibrated against his eardrums. Her eyes—amber with flecks of gold—burned with an ancient fury that seemed out of place on her youthful face.

Her small hands disappeared beneath her cloak, emerging with two wickedly curved daggers that caught the moonlight like liquid obsidian. The blades were thin and elegant, etched with glowing crimson runes pulsing with each beat of her racing heart.

In one fluid motion that defied her apparent stature, she closed the distance between them. The sound of her boots barely disturbed the damp earth as she lunged. Her movements spoke of countless hours of training, a dance of grace and precision honed in shadows and on battlefields far from this moonlit field.

The first dagger aimed straight for his sternum, its point gleaming with lethal intent. Searanox’s reflexes, honed by countless battles and enhanced beyond human limits, responded before his mind even processed the attack. He caught her wrist, the bone small but surprisingly strong beneath his grip. Her skin was cool, with a strange smoothness speaking of non-human heritage. He twisted her arm aside with minimal effort, using the momentum to pull her body flush against his own. The contact was electric—her lean form pressing against his armored chest, her breath catching in a sharp gasp as he immobilized her.

As the second dagger descended toward his exposed neck—a silver blur in the moonlight—he moved with equal speed, catching her other wrist before the blade could find its mark. His thumbs pressed firmly against the delicate bones of her wrists, applying precise pressure that sent bolts of pain through her arms. A choked cry escaped her lips as her fingers spasmed, releasing the daggers to fall silently into the damp grass below.

”So, you’re not a child?” His voice remained calm, a stark contrast to the tension thrumming between them. He could feel her feminine curves pressing against him through the thin fabric of her dark clothing as her body writhed with desperate intensity to break free. Each movement sent unfamiliar sensations through him—her warmth, her scent like night-blooming jasmine mixed with something unknown.

”Stop calling me a child. I’m not a child.” Her voice was a ragged whisper now, the earlier fury laced with something else—frustration, desperation, perhaps even a trace of fear she refused to acknowledge.

Her struggles intensified, muscles coiling and releasing in a display of raw power that belied her size. With a smooth motion that disoriented her completely, he shifted his weight and swept her legs out from under her. They landed together in the damp grass, the soft earth muffling their impact as he pinned her beneath him, his body creating a cage she couldn’t escape. His position was dominant but not crushing—controlled, precise, leaving no room for misinterpretation.

”If you listen and do what I tell you, I won’t hurt you. As I did with your associates.” His voice dropped lower, a rumble vibrating through her body where they were pressed together.

For a moment, her struggles ceased. The wild defiance in her eyes softened, replaced by something calculating and predatory. Then, in a move that caught him completely off guard, she shifted her hips and wrapped her legs around his waist, locking them behind his back with surprising strength. The action changed everything—the dynamic shifted from combat to intimacy in a breath.

”If you wanted sex, you just had to ask for it.” Her voice was a sultry whisper, the earlier fury transformed into something else entirely. Her tongue emerged, tracing the curve of her lips with deliberate slowness. ”I haven’t had a good meal in a while. That stingy prick hasn’t fed me since yesterday.” The words hung between them, loaded with implications that sent a chill down his spine despite the heat of their bodies pressed together.

Searanox exhaled, his breath misting in the cool night air as he pushed himself up with the smaller woman still clinging stubbornly to his front. Her limbs locked around him like a predator refusing to release its prey, her body a surprising weight of muscle and bone beneath the thin fabric of her clothing.

”Why does everyone instantly jump to the same thing?” He brought his hand up, fingers brushing against her cheekbone before delivering a gentle slap that was more of a reprimand than a punishment. ”Not everything is about sex.”

Her amber eyes narrowed, the gold flecks burning with renewed intensity as she dug her fingers into his shoulders, the points of her nails pressing through his armor with surprising force. ”You started it, now finish it. I’m already starving.” Her voice dropped to a husky whisper vibrating against his chest, each word carrying a hunger that went beyond mere physical need.

”Shut it.” Searanox’s voice was sharp, cutting through the intimate atmosphere that had formed between them. He tensed as her lips began to trail up his neck, leaving a path of fire against his skin that sent conflicting signals racing through his nervous system. ”The fuck?” The words escaped him as a frustrated grunt, his mind struggling to process this unexpected turn of events.

”Mmh~” she hummed, a low purr resonating deep in her chest as she began to grind against him with deliberate, rhythmic movements. ”You smell so good... so much lust... I can’t hold back any longer.” It was at that moment he realized something about this strange woman—she was needier than Iris had ever been, more desperate in her pursuit of satisfaction.

`Is she smelling Iris on me?`

The thought flashed through his mind as the red-skinned woman nibbled on his neck, her teeth scraping against his pulse point in a way that was both threatening and intimate. Her hand had already begun working at his waist, attempting to undo a belt he didn’t possess, her fingers fumbling with the seamless design of his magitech armor.

She pulled back with a frown, her brow furrowed with frustration as her amber eyes darted between his waist and face. ”What is that? How do I get this thing off?” She pushed her slender finger against his suit, gently poking his abdomen through the protective material. ”This isn’t natural armor.”

”You don’t. And now get off.” His voice remained steady despite the confusing sensations coursing through him. The combination of her scent and her proximity was creating an unnerving response in his body that his mind fought to suppress.

”No, I need nourishment.” The word was pronounced with an emphasis suggesting something more fundamental than mere hunger. She brought her lips against his, pressing their mouths together in a kiss that was both demanding and surprisingly soft. ”You say that, but I know that you don’t want me to,” she whispered, her voice echoing in his mind even as her lips moved against his.

Searanox didn’t fight against the kiss. He simply leaned into her as he mounted his drone. The woman’s lips were soft yet demanding against his, her small horns pressing against his forehead as she clung to him with desperate strength. The drone ascended with barely a hum. The sudden lift-off caused her to gasp into his mouth, her legs instinctively tightening around his waist like a child clinging to a parent.

Only when the wind whipped through her hair did her eyes flutter open. Amber pools widened in surprise as she realized they were airborne, the ground shrinking rapidly beneath them. Her companions suffering forms appeared as broken toys on a blood-soaked canvas below.

”You will answer a few questions and I might consider feeding you,” he said, getting off the drone in front of the blood-soaked lawn, his boots sinking into the damp, darkened earth.

She nodded while nuzzling against him, her breath warm against his neck. ”Okay, but you will feed me not just a little... Until I’m full.” The promise in her voice was a velvet-coated threat, her hips shifting against his as if anticipating the feast.

”Sure, sure.” His response was dismissive. His mind already calculated how much this petite creature could possibly consume before reaching her limit.

`You’re small. You can’t eat that much, considering I have six full-sized people of your kin walking up to my city at the moment. How much more can it be?`

Searanox brought his hand up and grasped one of her small horns. It felt firm in his hand, radiating a strange warmth that seemed to pulse with her heartbeat. He pulled her head off his neck. ”You get off now, and answer my question. Or there will be no food and you join your friends over there.”

In front of them lay a broken mess of limbs and bodies, healed by magic but clearly beaten and broken down. The drone hovered above them, its green light washing over the mangled forms, knitting flesh and bone back together with unnerving precision. Limbs reattached with soft sounds of moving flesh, and gaping wounds sealed themselves shut, but the terror in their eyes remained frozen in time.

”Kilyth! You treacherous bitch!” a voice ripped through the night, a raw thing laced with venom and disbelief. ”I gave you everything! Pulled you from the mud, made you one of my concubines, and you spread your legs for the first native you come across!?” His words were a physical blow, each syllable landing with the force of a whip crack across the ruined battlefield where his men lay broken. The speaker’s face was a mask of fury, his features contorting in ways that seemed impossible for a being still recovering from near dismemberment just moments ago.

”Jeez, what’s his deal?” Searanox asked while the woman got off him, her movements fluid as she slid down his body, her boots making soft sounds in the grass. Her small horns caught the moonlight as she turned to face the speaker, her expression unreadable.

”This is the youngest son of the House of Talian. He’s my... We have an arrangement,” she answered softly. Her fingers trailed down Searanox’s arm, as if reluctant to lose contact.

Searanox nodded.

`That explained his outburst. First, he gets dismembered, and now his concubine is leaving him...`

The thought was cold and detached, a flicker of amusement at the irony of the situation before he pushed it aside. This wasn’t entertainment; it was information gathering.

Iris asked over the telepathic connection, her voice a warm anchor in his mind amidst the chaos.

He responded with the mental equivalent of a dismissive wave as he turned his attention back to the situation at hand.

”Alright, that’s how we do it: you offer everything you got. And in exchange, you won’t suffer anymore,” Searanox said, watching his drone heal them into shape. The green light intensified, its hum growing louder as it worked faster, as if responding to his command. The broken men’s breathing evened out, their bodies slowly returning to a state of physical perfection, though their eyes still held the shadow of their recent ordeal.