Zero's Heart (Lathar Mercenaries: Warborne Book 1)

by Mina Carter

  He was so intense. Over everything. What would it be like to be the focus of that intensity? Just the thought made her shiver, heat washing through her. If she wasn’t holding onto her suit for grim death, she’d have gone all weak at the knees.

  Then, as soon as it had started, the noise and rattling surfaces around her cut out to leave blessed silence.

  “Thank fuck,” she murmured, making her way around the suit and using it to keep herself upright. She couldn’t feel her right leg, but for now, it seemed to be working. As long as she concentrated. It wouldn’t last long, though. She knew that. It was a last gasp, the implants firing sporadically to power the movement. The only way she knew that was because the muscles in the back of her calf, bared by her cutaway pants, were jumping like a box of frogs.

  She needed to be sitting down when they finally gave out. That or she’d sit her ass down on the deck without warning, and she’d rather not suffer that indignity in front of her new crewmates. She’d rather explain the situation to them than give them a front-row demonstration as to how useless she’d just become.

  Pushing off from the suit, she made it to the door of the airlock, clinging to it as she shuffled through to the right side. Breathing heavily, she triggered the inner doors.

  “Sorry, old girl. I’ll come to fetch you soon,” she promised as the doors rolled shut and sealed. Only then did she allow herself a sigh of relief. At least she was no longer at risk of sucking cold hard space because someone cut corners with the repair routine.

  “Head for the Pheidian Belt,” Sparky, in the copilot’s seat, advised as he brought the guns and tactical systems online. Zero concentrated on the propulsion systems, spoofing traffic control clearance to get the clamps to disengage and then dropping the Aegis out of the docking cradle.

  As soon as they were clear, he gunned the engines, the punch of g-forces pushing them both back in their seats. Part of his mind worried about where Eris was. If she was in the corridors, he hoped she’d found something to hold onto.

  “Think we got them on the hop, big guy,” Sparky kept up a constant stream of chatter while Zero kept his focus on getting them clear of the station. The Aegis systems were a little different than what he was used to but nothing he couldn’t handle. Bringing the star charts online, he located the Pheidian Belt.

  “Course set. Burn in three, two, one… Burn initiated,” he announced, his voice a combination of his own and the measured digitized tones of the ship’s computer. “Did any of them follow us?”

  Sparky kept his eyes on the tactical screens, slowly shaking his head. “I don’t think so.” He motioned with his hands, bringing up a close view of the station, now rapidly dwindling behind them. He focused in on a large, bulky ship on docking arm four.

  “SO13 standard transport. I may have revoked their clearance to leave,” he winked up at Zero. “And thrown in a shelter-in-place admiralty order just for kicks and giggles. It should take them a couple of hours to figure that out. By then, we’ll be in the belt, and they can’t track us.”

  “Sparky, you are one scary son of a bitch!” Zero whooped, levering himself out of his chair. With the ship on autopilot, he could indulge in his need to find Eris and make sure she was okay.

  “Hey! My mom resembles that remark!” the human threw back as Zero left the bridge.

  He was still uplinked to the ship’s computer, enough to monitor most of what was going on, so it didn’t matter exactly where he was onboard. He couldn’t control everything, though… the reason he needed to track Eris down himself… and again that feeling of something wrong with his onboard assaulted him.

  No, not wrong…

  He frowned as a new fragment of information emerged from the shattered mess of his long-term memories… the place that the nightmare came from. His onboard was functioning correctly, but it just wasn’t the right type for controlling a whole ship all by himself. He wasn’t built for that, his specialty was…

  And the knowledge slipped away again. He hissed in frustration. He’d almost had it then—so close he could practically taste it.

  The frustration disappeared in a heartbeat as he turned the corner and spotted Eris. His immediate reaction was to smile, pleasure to see her rolling through him. But then his expression fell flat as he saw the way she was clinging to the wall. She had a look of pain on her face, and something seemed to be wrong with her leg.

  “Shit. Sweetheart, what happened?”

  He was across the space that separated them in a heartbeat to sweep her up in his arms. If she’d been injured because of him—because she hadn’t been strapped in when they took off—he’d never forgive himself.

  She didn’t complain, though tears pooled in her eyes as she curled up trustingly against his chest. His heart, both organic and cybernetic, stopped at those tears. Eris Archer was a strong woman… to see her so broken was a shock to the system.

  “Please,” she whispered against his neck. “Get me to medbay.”

  7

  “What happened? Did you fall… shit, was it during acceleration? Oh fuck, sweetheart, I am so sorry. I should have waited until I knew you were secure.”

  The self-recrimination in Zero’s voice almost broke her heart as the big cyborg gathered her into his arms and practically ran toward the medbay. She clung to him, hiding her face against the strong column of his throat, and prayed for the strength to get it together before they reached their destination.

  “We’re here. Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay,” he promised her, laying her down on the examination bed in the middle and then looking around at the equipment. For the first time since she’d known him, he looked lost… bewildered.

  “Fuck! I need Talent.”

  She shook her head, pointing to the medication cabinet. “Nope. You don’t need special skills or to be a doctor. Just get me some painkillers and a neuro-stim; they should be in there.”

  Her voice tightened as a wave of agony washed up over her, her abused nervous system letting her know there was a problem. Like a baby, it didn’t have words, so screaming was its only option. If she could just get the pain to dull down a little, she could think and then try and figure out what to do.

  “No. I mean… Talent’s the Warborne’s doc,” he explained, shoving a hand through his close-cropped hair.

  “Meds!” she hissed to remind him.

  “Oh shit, yeah. On it.” His voice was clipped as he practically tore the door off the medication cabinet and located what she needed.

  “Terran is a fucking awful language,” he told her as he returned. “But thankfully simple. Interfacing with the medical systems now.”

  “You do that, handsome,” she nodded, grabbing the medication from his outstretched hand. Ripping the lids off, she jammed the injectors against her neck and sighed in relief as the high-strength drugs hit her system. The stim worked through her body, her abused nervous system flaring to life. She hissed and gritted her teeth to ride the wave out.

  Zero stood next to her, his large hand enveloping hers and his expression concerned. But his eyes were slightly unfocused for a few seconds before they snapped back, and he looked at her.

  “I need to do a full scan,” he told her, letting go of her hand. “We need to see what kind of damage we’re looking at and then treat you.”

  As he stepped away, she reached out and grabbed his hand.

  “There’s no need,” she told him desperately.

  The last thing she wanted was to appear weak in front of him. And yeah… Well, what guy would want to stick around for a crippled woman? Once he knew, she wouldn’t see him for dust… or worse, she’d see the same kind of pity in his eyes she saw in every medic and doctor when they figured out what had happened to her.

  “It’s fine. I read the manual.” He patted her hand in reassurance. “The scans are perfectly safe. I promise.”

  As much as she tried to keep him with her, he easily disengaged his hand and stepped away. Sighing, she dropped her head back
and closed her eyes. The familiar hum of the scanner filled the air.

  “You…” Surprise colored Zero’s deep voice. “You have implants?”

  She opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling squares above. “Yup. All tank operators do. Sixteen implants with a full neural net to interface with our suits.”

  “Uh-huh. I can see them. The technology is crude.” His voice rang with disgust. “Fucking assholes shouldn’t have messed with things they didn’t understand.”

  Anger rose. “Fuck off, my implants are…” were “cutting edge. And what would you know about it anyway?” she demanded.

  A metal hand appeared in her field of vision, and the fingers wiggled.

  “Wanna rephrase that?”

  She hissed. Asshole. “Okay, they were cutting edge for humanity. I’m assuming your fancy-dancy alien technology is far better.”

  He grumbled in the back of his throat. “It wouldn’t damage the host like this for sure. Shit, your right leg is toast. I’m surprised it didn’t cook the limb. Your left leg isn’t much better.”

  “Yeah… I know. They said my next mission would be my last.” She closed her eyes, refusing to allow the tears to stream down her cheeks. He knew now. Knew the damage was permanent. After the stim wore off, she probably wouldn’t walk again.

  “What?” he demanded. “You knew this would happen? And you still got into the suit?”

  She jumped at the anger in his tone, opening her eyes to find him looming over her. “Why the fuck would you do that?”

  Eris had never seen Zero angry before, not even when they’d been facing down the worst of the worst special forces troops trying to kill them. If anything, he’d just seemed slightly amused at the bullets slicing through the air around them and dispatched any that got into his sights with lethal efficiency. But now that calm, joking man was gone and in his place was a towering tsunami of fury.

  She looked away, unable to meet his eyes. A large hand slammed into the exam bed by her head.

  “For fuck’s sake, woman, look at me!” he ordered, his voice little more than a snarl. He didn’t move, looming half over her as she lay on the bed, his blue eyes cutting like lasers when she lifted hers.

  His anger made her shiver, but only a little. Even though he was killing mad, the tiny veins in his temple pulsing, she wasn’t scared of him. Far from it. Instead, she was aware of every inch of him. Every hard plane of muscle, the strength in his corded arms as he leaned over her. The full, kissable softness of his lips as he glared down at her.

  All she wanted to do was sit up and press her lips against his. Divert his attention. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, her body moved to suit thought to action.

  The feel of her lips pressing against his surprised Zero and stopped his tirade instantly. The fury still surged through him, but the instant he registered the softness of her lips, it changed, flipping and burning faster than the Sprite. Growling, he slid his hand into the hair at the back of her head and crushed her mouth beneath his.

  She gasped, and he took advantage, parting her lips with his in a savage kiss before thrusting his tongue within. She didn’t stop him, a soft sound of surrender in the back of her throat as her hands bunched in his shirt. Her taste exploded through him again, that little sound getting him hotter and harder than he’d ever been in his life.

  Warning, elevated hormonal levels and heart rate, his onboard announced in the back of his head. Recommend sexual intercourse to reduce levels.

  No shit. He silenced his onboard and tightened his fist in her hair. Pulling her head back, he kissed along the slender column of her throat. They were hard, almost biting kisses that he couldn’t control… that he didn’t want to control. Hard and fast. He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted a woman in his life.

  Pulling back, he looked down at her, and the sultry look in her half-lidded eyes sent a surge of arousal through him. His cock, trapped against the exam bed, jerked savagely.

  “Make a choice,” he told her, barely recognizing his own voice. “Tell me to go, or I’m going to fuck you right here and now.”

  “I…” She blinked and wetted her lips. Her eyes were dark with heat and desire.

  He groaned, the sound turning to a growl more feral than any sound he’d ever made. “Don’t do that or I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

  She shook her head. “But why? In case you missed it, Zero, I’m a fucking cripple. This will not get better. Ever. I’m done.”

  He pulled back his lips in a soft snarl. “One… do you think I give a crap about whether you can walk or not? One of my original crewmates was embedded in a fucking ship for god’s sake. And two… you’re like me, a cyborg. We’re fucking modular, baby. We can fix you.”

  “A ship?” She shook her head. “I’m not a cyborg… wait, did you say you can…” The hope in her eyes speared him to the core. “You can fix me?”

  He nodded, sliding a hand around her waist and pulling her toward him. At the same time, he altered her position, making her sit up. Like a bulldozer, he forced his hips between her thighs. His heart sang as she welcomed him, her hand sliding up the side of his neck as he claimed her lips again.

  This kiss was only marginally less bruising than the first. He’d intended to be gentler but didn’t have it in him. She was a fire in his blood and he couldn’t get enough, would never be able to get enough. He’d suspected it from the moment he’d first seen her, but now he knew for sure. She was his.

  And he was irrevocably hers.

  The kiss went supernova in a heartbeat. He broke away with a gasp to trail kisses along her jaw and down the slender column of her throat. Her hands stroked over his shoulders, pausing for a second as she registered the metal of his shoulder. He pulled back, stripping the shirt off in less than a second to drop it on the floor behind them.

  He didn’t say anything, simply watching her face as she took him in. Sitting on the edge of the bed as she was, he couldn’t miss how tiny she was compared to him, and a thrill of arousal speared through him. He’d never thought of himself as the sort to find a woman’s fragility appealing, but he found he liked being larger and stronger than Eris. He could protect her, look after her… and that fed a need deep inside he hadn’t realized he had.

  Her face was rapt, her dark gaze flicking to his as he took her hand and pressed it against his shoulder.

  “It’s okay,” he rasped, voice heavy with need. “You can touch it.”

  “You can feel that?” she whispered, her voice low and intimate, just between them. His cock throbbed at the husky tones and then went into near meltdown as her fingers stroked the join between his skin and the metal of his arm. He managed to nod.

  “My cybernetics are as sensitive as human flesh,” he was talking but had no idea where the words were coming from. His mouth was merely filling in while his brain was occupied studying the shape of her lips and the beauty of her face. “More onboard sensors as well.”

  “Good.”

  She leaned in, her lips brushing against his chest just below the hollow of his throat. He groaned, his head dropping back as she trailed soft kisses along his collarbone. His hand slid through the silken length of her hair, returning to cup the back of her neck gently as she reached his shoulder.

  She didn’t pause, her kisses continuing across the metal, and he moaned as his lips parted. He’d never had a lover who accepted every part of him so readily. Most just ignored his visible cybernetics and avoided touching them. That she did so without prompting…

  He growled again, metal hand sliding to spread out over the back of her hips. He pulled her closer and ground the evidence of his arousal against that part of her he ached to be buried hilt deep in. The movement broke the dam of restraint. He gripped her hair to pull her head back again.

  His mouth crashed down over hers, her whimper as she met him kiss for kiss the sweetest damn thing he’d ever heard. He couldn’t stop touching her, his hands sliding down her curves and around. His tongue wrapped
around hers as he cupped her breasts, a growl of need and approval deep in his throat as he cradled their weight. She was curvy rather than slender and toned, but he didn’t care. He loved women in all their shapes and sizes. They were a beautiful mystery to him. Her more than any other.

  Breaking away from such a delicious handful, he went for her belt buckle, quickly dealing with the barrier between him and what he wanted. Hand behind her hips, he tilted them to where he wanted her, sliding his left into her pants. She gasped against his lips, pausing to look up at him as he parted her pussy lips with strong fingers.

  She was hot and wet, biting her lip as he located her clit. Her hands bit into his shoulders as he began to stroke her, holding her gaze. Heat blazed in her eyes as he teased her, his blunt fingertip smoothing the slick heat he found over the tiny pearl. She gasped, closing her eyes as her hips rocked in reaction.

  He growled, wanting to watch her as he brought her to pleasure, and moved, sliding a finger deep into the tight, wet heat of her body’s embrace.

  And was undone…

  “Fuck! You’re tight,” he managed, shoving her chin up with a nuzzle so he could kiss along the underside of her jaw and down her neck below her ear. “I’ll take it slow, baby. I promise.”

  He would have to. There was no way in creation he would ever hurt her, but… gods, it would be awesome. His cock jerked in anticipation, all his male instincts howling at him to get on with it. To spread her out over the exam bed, strip those pants from her and get himself where they both wanted him to be.

  Needed him to be.

  She nodded, the softest whimper in the back of her throat as she rode his hand. With a grunt of triumph, he pumped slowly, adding a second finger to stretch her gently as he brought his thumb to bear against her clit. Her nails bit into his shoulders, sending his arousal higher and higher. Once he got inside her, he was going to make her scream all night long, maybe all tomorrow night as well…