by Cynthia Sax
The miljoonasuut, perched on what was left of Zloy’s chest, looked back at them and gave them a ‘Why are you so excited? This is what I do.’ expression, before returning to his devouring of the male.
Zloy’s legs were completely missing. There were crimson smears on the pathway where they had once been. Nibbler had eaten both limbs, in their entirety, chomping through skin, flesh and bone.
The male would have been alive while that happened, would have felt every nibble, every bite. It was a horrific way to die. The pain would have been excruciating.
He deserved that ending.
Greer stared at that bloody scene for a moment. She should be angry. Zloy was dead but not by her hands. Her plans for vengeance had been thwarted by a baby creature with an insatiable appetite.
Instead, she felt…relieved. That portion of her lifespan was over.
The next part could begin.
“The shade works.” Dissent, the male she wanted to share her future with, stood protectively by her side. “The sun isn’t damaging him.”
Her cyborg slid his guns into their holsters and gripped one of her hands, linking their fingers.
That contact restored the peace within her. “Yeah, the shade works.” It bobbed comically above Nibbler as he feasted on Zloy’s skull. “It looks ridiculous but it works.”
Her cyborg laughed.
She experienced the same giddy joy. They were alive. Her tormenters were dead.
The three of them were together.
Her mirth bubbled over, joining her warrior male’s. The two of them laughed until a nourishment-stuffed and extremely sleepy Nibbler waddled back to them.
Dissent coaxed the baby creature into his cage. Her cyborg slung the pack over his right shoulder, gripped the carrying container with one hand and Greer’s fingers with the other.
Then they left the settlement and they didn’t look back.
Chapter Thirteen
Dissent killed the males who had taunted, tortured, touched his female. That satisfied his possessive, protective soul.
Greer had revealed a depth of caring for him he could have never projected. That pleased all of him.
The damage he’d obtained from the battle didn’t interfere with his happiness. The pain inhibitors deleted his agony. He was already starting to repair.
Truth’s widening eyes relayed he hadn’t fully recovered. The D Model stood by the ship Captain had loaned to them. “Fraggin’ hole. I missed another battle, didn’t I?”
“It was a small skirmish.” He hadn’t come close to reaching his top kill rate.
“Fighting eleven armed males is a small skirmish?” His female frowned at him.
She had been concerned…for him. Dissent’s chest heated.
“You added eleven males to your tally?” Truth, in contrast, was focused on the fight he’d missed. “I projected we were friends, J Model. Yet you waged war and didn’t include me in that fun.”
“We are friends.” Dissent valued the D Model’s company. “I added twenty-one beings to my tally.” More males had joined the fight. “And the battle wasn’t planned.” Though he had expected a confrontation. The enemy had been watching their structure for many planet rotations. “I will tell you about the next conflict.”
“I will hold you to that vow.” Truth shifted his attention to Dissent’s female. “Your warrior can’t have all of the fun. We’re cyborgs. Cyborgs are designed to share information and experiences.”
Greer’s fingers fluttered against Dissent’s palm, that response signaling her unease.
Seeking to comfort her, Dissent wrapped one of his arms around his female’s waist and pulled her tight to his side. She was in no danger. He trusted Truth completely…but she didn’t share his faith in the male, not yet, and was understandably skittish around him.
Until she grew comfortable with his friend, he would protect her from her fears, whether they were real or imagined.
“We’re not designed to be solitary.” The D Model was unaware of Greer’s trepidation. His gaze flicked to Dissent. “You won’t hide with your female in your private chambers for the entire duration of the voyage and leave me alone on the bridge. I expect to have some contact with you.”
“Truth will be flying our ship.” Dissent offered that explanation.
He was grateful to his friend for assuming that role. It would free his time, time he could now spend with Greer and Nibbler.
“You’ll have the skills of one of the best pilots in the universe.” Truth grinned. The D Model was not at all humble. “And all I ask in return is the reward of your company.”
Greer ducked under Dissent’s arm and slid her body slightly behind his.
Dissent broadened his stance, providing his nervous female with the physical shield he sensed she needed. It had taken time for her to trust him. It would take time for her to trust his friend.
“We’ll become good friends, you and I.” Truth, oblivious to the situation, winked at her.
Greer’s form stiffened against Dissent’s back. “No.” She stepped backward. “We will not become good friends.”
Dissent turned to face his female. She was already in full retreat, walking away…from the ship, from Truth, from him.
He gazed at her. Her hips swayed. Her hands rested on the handles of her guns. Her boot heels rang against the stone-covered landing site.
Something had emotionally damaged her.
“Care for Nibbler.” Dissent handed Truth the cage and the pack and hurried after her.
He caught up to her easily. His legs were long. Hers weren’t. She strode between the vessels parked on the terrain. Her body shook. Her lips were pressed together.
“Did Truth offend you?” He had observed that human customs varied. What pleased one human distressed another. “Tell me how and I’ll communicate with him.”
“I don’t care about him.” His female walked faster.
He matched her stride. “Did I offend you?”
She stopped abruptly and turned to him. “Do you want me to become good friends with Truth?” Her gaze scanned his face. Belief in him warred with doubt in her eyes. “Because I thought you wouldn’t want that.” She touched one of the sunstones on her neck decoration. “I thought…” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “I thought you wouldn’t want to share me.”
“Share you?” He stared at her. There must be a communication malfunction. She couldn’t be implying what he projected she was implying.
“Like Zloy shared me.” Her gaze dropped, her head bowing. “He allowed his cronies to use me. I didn’t think you’d want—”
“I don’t want that.” Dissent bellowed his answer, his big form vibrating with the force of his emotions. “I don’t want that at all.”
Her gaze lifted once more, locking with his. “Cyborgs are designed to share experiences.” She quoted Truth.
“You are not an experience.” He grasped her shoulders, needing that physical contact with her. “I will never share you.” That prospect turned his vision system red. “No male, other than me, will breed with you. If another male touches you, I’ll tear off his limbs one by one, strip the skin from his torso, and gouge out his eyes.”
She stared up at him as though riveted by the expression on his face. The musky scent of her arousal intensified, flavoring the air around them.
Dissent strapped his arms around her waist, drawing her close to him. “I might not own you.” As she owned him. “But you are mine.” He was never letting her go. “I will kill any male who tries to take you from me.”
She tilted her head back and looked at him for a heart-stopping moment. Her lips curled upward. “That’s what I thought.” Her tone was satisfied. “I don’t want to be shared either.”
That was good because he wouldn’t allow that. He held her to him.
Some of the wildness inside him dissipated. Logical processing returned. He replayed the conversations.
His female associated being good friends and sharing with
breeding. She had misunderstood Truth’s flippant comments. The male constantly tested new communications.
“Truth would never voluntarily touch you.” Dissent told Greer. “There is 0.0000 percent chance of that happening.” She was safe with his friend.
Her expression was skeptical.
“Cyborgs refer to the females of other warriors by their connections to those warriors.” He stroked her hair, those caresses calming both of them. “They would refer to you as Dissent’s female.”
Her back straightened.
“They don’t refer to you that way because they project I own you.” He rushed to reassure her. “The naming convention is due to you hosting my nanocybotics.” He breathed deeply, smelling them on her. “Nanocybotics are unique to each warrior and other warriors find them abhorrent. To them, you smell like me and they would have no desire to touch you.”
His female studied him.
Dissent remained silent as she absorbed the new information.
“I am your female.” She nodded. “Not because you are my master, but because I share a part of you and will share it…forever. We will always be linked.”
She would never be truly free. His female didn’t have to say the words. He knew her, felt them deep in his soul.
“Even when you find your female, the female you endured torture to be with.” She sucked in a ragged breath. “And you form a link with her, our connection—”
“There is no other female for me.” There hadn’t been since the first moment he heard her voice. “Cyborgs are genetically compatible with only one being. You are that being for me.”
She blinked once, twice. “I am your only female.”
“You are my only female.” He confirmed that truth.
The tension eased from her curvy form. She pressed her cheek against his chest, said nothing. But he sensed her contentment, her happiness.
Silence stretched.
“Truth wanted to be my friend.” She said that as though she struggled to believe it, her words muffled by his body. “He genuinely didn’t want to be anything other than that.
“That’s all he wanted.” Dissent nodded. Cyborgs didn’t lie.
“Fuck. And I told him we wouldn’t be friends.” His female lifted her gaze to meet his. “He must think I’m rude.”
Dissent smiled. He and his brethren had endured far worse than his little human’s rudeness. “Truth rarely takes any situation seriously. He’ll laugh and then try to alter your decision.”
Her eyes glowed. “It will be easy to alter. I don’t have any other friends.”
That wasn’t true. “You have me and you have Nibbler.” Dissent bent his head and brushed his lips teasingly over hers, sweeping along her flesh, tasting her sweetness.
His female surrendered readily, opening to him, leaning against his body, and he delved into the hot wetness of her mouth. Their tongues twined and twirled. She gripped his shoulders. Her hold on him was thrillingly intense.
It felt as though she didn’t want to ever let him go, that she planned to stay by his side forever. He stroked into her, losing himself in her.
But not completely. They weren’t in a secure location. Conscious of the possible dangers around them, he constantly monitored their surroundings, running scans, listening intently, keeping his eyes open.
Protecting her ranked higher than the desire riding him. He slipped one of his legs between his female’s, lifted his knee. Hard body armor-clad thigh connected with yielding leather-covered pussy and she moaned, sucking on his tongue.
Fraggin’ hole. She was exquisite. Her lush body rocked. Her breathing became strained. She—
A humanoid appeared on his lifeform scan. Dissent drew back from his female. “We should return to the ship.” He could better safeguard her there.
“What?” Her gaze was unfocussed. Her bottom lip was plumped by his mouth.
He’d marked her and that pleased him. “There are too many dangers here.” The humanoid wasn’t one of them. That being had moved out of range again. But there could be more threats to her in the open space. “We’ll have planet rotations to kiss while in space.” His voice lowered. “And Greer?”
“Yes?” She slanted her body toward his.
“I plan to kiss more than your lips.” He shared his intentions.
She trembled. The scent of her arousal grew stronger. “Fuck, yes.” She held onto his arm as they walked.
He savored that contact.
“You don’t have to call me by my name.” Her tone was a manufactured casualness. “I like it when you do that. Fuck, do I ever like it. It reassures me that you view me as a being. But you can refer to me in other ways.” She paused. “You can call me your female, for example. Now that I know what it means, I wouldn’t mind…if you wanted to do that. If you didn’t want to—”
“I want to do that, my female.” Joy crashed over him.
She accepted their connection, accepted him.
They walked side by side. His female asked about the vessels they passed. He relayed their specs, told her stories about the air offenses he’d viewed.
They entered their borrowed ship. The ramp receded and the doors closed behind them. The engines hummed. The floor tiles vibrated under their booted feet.
Are we ready to depart? Truth asked him through a private transmission line.
“Truth is asking if we’re ready to leave.” Dissent shared that message with his female.
“I’m ready.” She clasped his arm more securely. “Is Nibbler on board?”
“He’s in our cleansing chamber.” The miljoonasuut’s presence showed on his lifeform scans. We’re ready. His female and the baby creature were on board.
“We’re leaving.” His female’s voice was soft with wonder. “I’ve dreamed about this moment all of my lifespan. I worried it would never happen.”
She had never been off planet. Dissent led her toward the bridge. “You want to explore the universe.” She was a good match for a warrior who belonged to a crew with that mission.
“It’s more than that.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement as she gazed around her, his clever female noting every detail. “Off planet, no one knows who I am, what I was.”
The beings they met wouldn’t know she had once been a slave.
“It is a new beginning.” His head dipped. He understood the appeal of that. “You will be free of expectations, of your past.”
“I’ll be free of the bad parts of my past.” She squeezed his biceps. “Which was almost everything before I met you and Nibbler.”
He would strive to give her more good parts. The doors opened and they walked onto the bridge.
She gasped. “Is that the settlement?” She gaped at the main viewscreen.
“I projected you’d want to see it, Dissent’s female.” Truth grinned, appearing pleased with himself.
The ship hovered over the structures. Beings hurried along the pathways.
“I’ve always been concerned about what they thought of me.” His female watched the settlement’s residents. “But seeing them like this, I realize they’re small beings.” She gazed up at Dissent. “They’re not important, not to me.”
He put one of his arms around her.
Your female is wise, J Model. Truth conveyed his approval of her thought processes.
“Thank you for giving me this gift.” She addressed the D Model with a grace worthy of more admiration. “I can see why Dissent considers you to be his friend. I hope, some planet rotation in the future, I can count you as my friend also.”
Your female is very wise. Truth teased him. “You can count me as your friend now, Dissent’s female.”
His female and his friend had made peace. Dissent’s lips lifted into a small smile.
I met her mere moments ago and your female considers me to be her friend. Truth crowed. By the end of this voyage, she will love me.
Dissent grunted. At the end of the voyage, would Greer love him?
He wanted her to
love him. Above all other things.
Truth guided the ship slowly over the settlement, allowing Greer to view her former home.
Dissent led her to a chair closer to the main viewscreen, drew her onto his lap. She didn’t protest, didn’t fight that decision. Her attention was fixed on the images before her.
He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on top of her head, relishing the softness of her curls, the way her curves fit against him. Her scent coiled around him.
She leaned into his form. “I’ve lived a lifespan on this planet and have never seen any of this.” She waved her hands at the waterfalls, the stone cliffs, the vegetation covering the rocky terrain. “The settlement and the small walkable band of land around it was my world.”
Dissent knew about having a limited view. “Before we escaped our manufacturers, our world consisted of fighting and death and destruction.”
She covered his hands with hers. “You also cared about your brethren.”
That was how the Humanoid Alliance controlled them. “We couldn’t express that caring.”
“You expressed it by your actions.” Her fingers fell into the spaces between his. “You didn’t have to say the words.”
She hadn’t said the words.
He hadn’t either.
Dissent squared his shoulders. He would take the lead, go first. “I care for you.”
Yes. Yes. You care for her. She cares for you. Truth made kissy noises through the transmission lines. Have mercy on a female-less warrior.
“I know you care for me. You’ve showed me that. Multiple times.” Her lips twisted. “And I’ve shown you. But you’ll make me say the words, won’t you?” She sighed. “I care for you. Clearly. I was willing to give up my freedom and my life for you. Zloy would have killed me.”
Dissent would never have allowed that to happen.
“I care for you even though I know you could use that caring to control me.” She shook her head. “That’s how much of a fool I am.”
“I might use your caring to control you.” Being a cyborg, unable to lie, he was forced to admit that. “If that is the only means I have left to protect you, to keep you safe, I will use it.” He would use it solely as a last resort. “I would sacrifice everything to ensure you survive.”
