“Yes, thank you.”
Pilar grabbed his mug and refilled it, putting it back and retaking her seat.
“We have coffee. It’s as good as this. Stronger, I think. Chocolate too. Dad bought the seeds with him. Both had been successful but if we had milk, that chocolate would be something special.” She sat back, relaxing in the chair. It felt natural to be sitting quietly while Lion finished his meal. No words needed. She’d always felt relaxed in Cyborg company. She didn’t have to be on her guard around them and realised that that was probably the only time she had that luxury. It was no wonder she enjoyed their company.
“The females would like the Chocolate. There isn’t much in the Empire.” He told her.
“Great, we’ll trade.”
Lion finished his meal and picked up the mug. The female was quiet. Contemplative. He needed to make her understand that he hadn’t meant to harm her. His logic told him she might not be any more receptive than she’d been the night before, but he needed to try.
“I apologise again for upsetting you last night. That was not my intent.” She looked up at him warily. Lion carried on slowly. “I was concerned that you were making decisions based on the influence of the alcohol. Ones that this morning, you’d regret. I did not want that for you.”
He watched her sip her coffee while she thought over what he’d told her. “You could have just been a guy and gone with it.”
Lion cocked his head and a smile creased his lips. She still wanted him, and she was now sober… “What Cyborg have you ever seen that would have ‘gone with it’?”
She drank some more coffee. Then sighed. “Yeah ok. None. Apology accepted. I was rather too sensitive about the whole word’s thing. Actually, the whole ‘interested in females’ thing is new. None of my Cyborgs show the slightest interest in any women on our world or men either. I’d began to think they didn’t have it in them. Guess that was wrong.”
“No not wrong, just not the right timing for them and we don’t like men only females.”
“Ok, your gonna have to explain the timing thing.” Did he really have to sit there looking so good?
Lion pushed his plate away. “Our Cyborgs have evolved. Moved beyond the fighting machines they once were. Exposure to other life influences. Most of us have our emotions turned off. It’s how we cope with the war years. We don’t randomly feel them as what we do affects us. Like it would humans. So, we remained in that isolated state until the Admiral of the Empire met his mate and over his neuro net, which was still connected to his people, he flooded them with the emotions he was feeling for her. It was so strong that even with Cyborg emotions cut off, it penetrated with a revelation to all of them and started to change how Cyborgs saw the world. It triggered something in them and later, in our group too when we joined them. Life had other possibilities. New meaning. Our long lives were more than wondering the universe alone. It gave us time to find the female that was compatible with us. Not everyone is.
“You know we have nano’s that fix us?” The female nodded. “It also appears that our nano’s objective to keep us healthy and alive for a long time, took a turn with that new information. Somehow the option of having a mate, gave reason to live to the Cyborg. The nano’s worked with that. Looked for data to support that happening. Pushed us into that evolutionary leap. Then we were all upgraded away from the original Earth Corp programme and finding our females took hold.
Pilar was nodding still with him. “Finding them isn’t easy. The universe is large, and we are only compatible with one female at a time. It can take decades to find one if at all. And if the nano’s do not believe it a good match, do not recognise her on a DNA level. It won’t happen. Doesn’t matter who or what she is. Nano’s have the final say.”
Her mouth had dropped open. She closed it, swallowed and frowned. “That’s a lot of chance right there.”
He gave her a slow nod. “It is. Logic tells us that most of us will not find a compatible female no matter how long we live.”
“How long will you live?”
“We do not know.”
“No one has died?”
“Not from old age no.”
“But if you do not age, then if you find a female, she will age and you will stay the same.” She asked confused.
“The evidence suggests that the mated females are evolving too. Shared DNA and nano’s are reverting their age or illnesses, to bring them to their natural peek condition.”
Pilar’s mouth dropped open again. “The fountain of youth is in your DNA?”
Lion smiled. It was a logical response. One he was on firmer ground with. “Not exactly. Sharing DNA has to be transferred from body to body to be kept alive. Taking us apart will not give it to you.”
She nodded solemnly. “So, sex then. That’s a bummer.” She smiled cheekily at him.
Lion liked her playful. “Yes. During sex the DNA is transferred by our seed. Our nano’s are also needed but they can be shared too as part of the experience and added by injection and blood for conception.”
Pilar’s mouth dropped open again. “You can have children?”
Lion chuckled. Her shock was not unexpected. “Yes. If our fertility is turned on. We learnt that new data early on. Our Commander Morgan and the Admirals Counselman Pain were the first parents to the Empire. They found out by accident of the possibility. Their daughter is called Joy. She is very smart and beautiful like her mother. We have many children now.”
The female was thinking. He could almost see the wheels turning over the information. The change in her body language at each new thought. The slight change in her scent. She glanced at him a couple of times and looked away again. It seemed a pivotal moment. She would accept everything he’d told her and embrace it or she would reject it as not for her. Lion wondered if he could accept that? His optic flashed red. Guess not. But he would have to somehow, if that was her choice.
He got up and re-filled both their mugs and placed the breakfast things in the recycling. Everything would be broken down to their natural elements and reused. Wiping the table down, he returned the cloth to recycling and sat down.
“You like me right?”
He nodded. “I believe you to be a mate to me.”
“What if you are mistaken when seeing someone you think is a match,” she asked him.
“You mean about us?” she nodded unsure. “Cyborgs can die from imprinting on a female and bonding with her if it is not reciprocated. Pining away. As their animal DNA dictates. It is not something taken lightly. We try to give the female as much information as we can and hope she accepts it for what it is. Sometimes, that doesn’t happen, and it is hoped with the safeguards we put in place that the Cyborg will have a chance to move on.”
“And that’s happened?”
“Yes.”
She sighed and nodded. Her body language showed relief. Females didn’t like being cornered. “So this could all be a mistake,” she told him.
Lion saw the moment flight took hold. “This is no mistake. I feel you. Want to share time and space with you. Have an undying need to taste and fuck you. To be buried so deep, it would be hard to tell where I ended, and you began. No other female has made that happen for me.”
Her body turned to jello. He certainly had a way with words…. Pilar tried not to squirm in her seat. Her clit pulsed. A rumbling growl sounded around her. Pilar looked up at Lion. “I can smell your need of me. Your desire fills the air.”
“Stop breathing then!”
He blinked at her and she knew she was acting like a child. It broke the tension. He gave her a resigned look. But damn him. He could smell her? Who liked that much? No one she knew! She held both hands up. “Sorry, you keep throwing me and I react badly.”
“You needed to know,” he told her simply.
“Yeah well, there is such a thing as over sharing,” she mumbled.
“Not to a Cyborg.”
Pilar huffed. “Then we’ll have to work on that…”
/> Lion smiled and decided to change tack. “Four informs that you have been the target of attacks.”
Pilar nodded. “Yes.”
“You train in fighting and the use of weapons?”
“I do normally, most days in fact.”
Lion stood. “Good, I will train you while you are on this ship. Twice a day. Morning at 6am for two hours and an hour in the evening at 6pm with weapons. You will join me for dinner at 8pm. Starting now.”
Pillar looked up at the huge male now standing in front of her. He didn’t look like he was going to take no for an answer. “I err need to get changed.”
Lion glazed over like he was communicating. Then his eyes cleared. “You have 20mins.” He turned and walked out. Was that an order? She knocked back the last of her coffee, put the mugs in to the recycler and got moving. She needed a quick shower and the replicator to come up with a training kit. How had she gone from simmering on the thought of that cock to a training session? Was this his ploy? Wear her down? Sadly she doubted it.
He was Cyborg. They didn’t work with deception of any kind. It was more like a logical link. She passed the corridor and activated the lift. She’d been talking about working on his Cyborg abilities. He was then talking about her abilities. That was the logical link. It had nothing to do with her per sa. Just logic. Right?
She was so lost…. The lift door opened, and she stepped in and pressed for her level. Four did all her training. Was that who Lion had connected with? Four had been on her door this morning when she’d exited and told him to stay put, she was going for breakfast. Normally he’d have followed her but not today. Had he known Lion was in there? Not much passed a Cyborgs notice. He would have noticed her hang over too. Probably been smelling the booze for hours. Yuk! Not a good look…
The doors opened again on her level. Pilar jogged down the corridor to her room. Five was now on duty. “Got training, just picking up some bits.” He gave her a nod and moved aside to allow her in.
Pilar stripped and walked straight into the shower only stopping at the replicator to order a training kit and shoes in her size. By the time she was out of the shower, mouth washed and teeth cleaned, the items were waiting for her. Removing them she dried quickly adding deodorising pads to her underarms while she dressed, removing them again before she donned her top. Pulling her training shoes on, she dumped the pads in the recycling and opened the door stepping out. “Coming?”
“Yes. I will escort you.”
“Know where it is?”
“I have been given the information.”
“Good lead on.”
Pillar was ready for this and followed on behind. She stretched and warmed up as she walked the corridor. Hand to hand with Lion. Pilar smiled. If nothing else, this was going to be interesting. …
Chapter Five
Two weeks of Lions idea of training and she had started to notice the difference. He’d been harder on her than Four or Five ever were. He’d pulled his punches otherwise she’d have been broken on the floor in pieces but other than that, he’d kept his speed and put her through her paces. Giving no consideration for her sex, only that she was human. She realised now, Four and Five had been giving her the watered-down version. Enough to keep her safe and fight back until they had cleared the field. Lion’s worth ethic was different, he was giving her the tools to bring her own war to the pic-nic. She liked that better.
It felt good. That first day, she’d gone in over-confident. Showed him what she knew. He’d glazed over for a moment. Clearly communicating with someone. Then focused on her. “That’s self-defence. It’s good but it relies on someone coming to finish the job. You need more. We start now.” And they had.
The days flew by. Some, she’d turned up for dinner too exhausted to eat and he’d practically fed her, telling her she didn’t eat enough. Had he met her? She ate tonnes. She’d find him waiting on her in the training room in the mornings and evenings at the allotted time. He made her muscles ache and strain as they worked on her strength as well as her skills. They’d been plenty of hand to hand. They’d go at it and he’d stop it in mid action to explain what she could do to improve and go again. She was always going to be smaller, so she had to be sneakier, he told her. Do the unexpected. What wasn’t logical. So she’d got creative. And he’d approved.
Pilar found being around him exciting. She’d held her feelings in check. She liked him and as the days passed, the words of mates and the Empire would stir something in her she wanted to believe in. But she never again came on to him. She now knew the risks and it wasn’t the place. He was teaching her, and she wanted that knowledge. He’d been right. She had relied on Four and Five too much. She’d become complacent that they’d always be there. Expecting, that whatever came at her, they could deal with.
And she soon realised, she wanted to be able to deal with it herself. It was time she held her own.
Pilar bounced on her feet warming up. Today was their last session and she was ready for him. They’d be landing back on her home world tomorrow. Her last communication with her people had been interesting sent via her own ship weeks behind her. She’d not told them she’d be coming home sooner. The conversation had been strange. They’d kept it light and breezy. Factual on the dealings and not a whisper of any problems. Did they think she was stupid? There were problems every day! The fact that she wasn’t hearing anything from Ben was telling. Something was seriously up. She wasn’t sure if they were trying to prevent her worrying or actually believed that or something nastier was at work. Whichever way it was, it wasn’t good. She’d had Four send a message to his men to check it out.
It was going to be a big surprise when she rolled in nearly two months early. If they were tracking her own ship, it would tell them it was on course. But she wasn’t. She’d come to marvel at this ship of Lions. She wanted the upgrades and would pay handsomely for it. It was a masterful piece of engineering. Someone was very skilled at making ships go faster. Apparently, it was Kim. The Admirals mate. Pilar thought she’d like to meet her. If she would hog tie the Admiral, she had to have skills apart from working on engines and was her kind of gal.
She twisted and turned warming up, noticing not for the first time, her better muscle tone as the days progressed. Once she’d got over the driven exhaustion in her mind and body of those first few days, she realised she’d lost that puppy fat that had plagued her since puberty and for the first time in her life, had a flat stomach and packing muscle.
Since that first night, the spark of being near Lion never diminished. She’d try and control it, but it was never far from the surface. He’d be there waiting on her in loose trousers and a T. Bare footed. All that hair tied back looking good enough to eat. She wasn’t stupid, this seemed more than just attraction and it nibbled away at her. After two weeks she still wanted a piece of that. Or the whole package. She’d take both.
It wasn’t just hunger for Lion either, she was eating better to. On this ship, it was protein and a balanced diet. And Lion made sure she ate well. They’d go from their morning session to breakfast and he’d get it ready for her. The fact that he could cook was fantastic. She’d never learnt and didn’t have the slightest inkling to try. And Lion seemed to like doing it for her. It worked for her. As the days passed, she’d come to look forward to these mornings. And the evenings had been a revelation. Dinner. Just the two of them. Talking about their lives. Getting to know each other. Trying hard not to make any moves either one of them might regret. Boiling emotions simmering under all that sexual tension.
It was enough to break a girl.
The doors opened and Lion stepped in. “You are already here.”
Pilar smiled. “Yep, getting a start on the day. Our last one before we land.”
He came towards her. “Before we land, I will want to do reconnaissance with my men, check in with yours. I’ll go down in a off-worlder. Once we have a clear picture, then we’ll all go down.”
Pilar stopped moving facing him. “Y
ou want to go down to my world, to my business without me?”
“Yes. We do not know what we face, and it would be unwise to risk you until we do.”
Pilar put her hands on her hips. “You don’t get to decide that.”
He studied her for a moment. “Are you ready?”
He was ignoring her, and it pissed her off. She wagged her finger at him. “You don’t get to do that either.” She’d noticed that about him. Rather than argue with her, he deflected. Pilar clenched her teeth. She wasn’t so easy to get rid of or so easy to ignore. She held up her hands and stood in a defensive position. “Ready.”
Before he was even in position, she went at it harder than she’d probably intended. She’d caught a gimmer of surprise in his eyes before he’d reacted and kept the pressure up. She got inventive. Caught slightly off guard, Lion went down. Pilar leaped on top of him. Grinning. He smiled and gave her a slow nod.
“Good, don’t let your anger rule you. Keep it where you can control it. Always in control.”
Lion instinctively grabbed her thighs to stop her moving on him. It was becoming more and more difficult to ignore the female. Dinner had become torture. He’d come close to taking her on that table night after night. Her scent all around him day after day it kept filtering into his system. The training was essential to keep her safe but, the whole situation was slowly driving him crazy. His optic displayed his readings. They were all over the place. Having her now sitting on him wasn’t helping. He didn’t have to look at his readings to know he liked the feel of her against him.
Lion Page 7
