by Cara Bristol
Kai Andros’s orders were simple. Get in. Gather the intel on the terrorist organization. Get out. Then he met her. Mariska. Beautiful. Innocent. Ignorant of her father’s atrocities. And marked for death. His orders said nothing about saving her. But he did. He went off-mission.
Can a rogue cyborg outrun both Cyber Operations and the terrorists to save the woman he loves?
Mated with the Cyborg is an action-packed erotic sci-fi romance between a man with a mission and a woman with a secret that jeopardizes their lives and the fate of the galaxy.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
About This Book
Books by Cara Bristol
About the Author
Mated with the Cyborg
Copyright © January 2016 by Cara Bristol
All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this e-book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
eISBN : 978-0-9961452-4-4
Editor: Kate Richards
Copy Editor: Laura Garland
Cover Artist: Sweet ’N Spicy Designs
Formatting by Wizards in Publishing
Published in the United States of America
Cara Bristol
http://www.carabristol.com
This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Mated with the Cyborg (Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance 2)
By Cara Bristol
Chapter One
Mariska’s dress dragged along the metal floor as she headed for the general’s receiving room. People glanced at R981, but the android could have been alone for all the notice they paid her. Her veil seemed to render her invisible.
If only she could truly disappear. Years had passed since the last summons. Why had her father called her? Perspiration slickened her palms, and she had to concentrate to avoid wiping them and leaving a telltale stain on her clothing. The only thing worse than being afraid was showing it. At least her voluminous skirt hid her wobbling knees. Outside her father’s fortified headquarters, she halted and took a deep breath. I can do this. I can do this.
“You are nervous,” stated R981 in his stilted, but gravelly voice. No other android had vocals like his. His rumbling tone vibrated through her in a most disturbing way.
“No, I’m not,” she quickly refuted. Fear was a flaw. Flaws were punished. Although R981 was assigned to her, he had been programmed to report misbehavior and anomalies to her father.
The solid-black orbs of his robotic eyes blinked once. “I detect pupil constriction, increased perspiration, and respiration, which indicate fear.”
“I believe you are mistaken and require a full diagnostic. How long has it been since your last maintenance overhaul?”
“I am a new model, entered into service five weeks ago. I do not require maintenance for another fifty-five point four days.”
She needed to shore up her courage, but R981 pulled open the door, making it clear he served her father. Just like the other droids.
Except C684. He’d been different. Some programming or circuitry glitch had made him loyal to her. He’d paid the price and been dismantled five weeks ago, replaced by R981. Androids were only mechanical parts controlled by a central processing unit, but C684’s stare had been comforting, reassuring. In the three days she’d had him, she’d confided more of her thoughts and feelings than she had to anyone.
Nothing about R981 invited a confidence. Not his opaque eyes, his waxy skin, his expressionless face, his harsh voice. His hulking form. Until he’d been delivered to her quarters, she hadn’t known they manufactured androids as large as him. His synthetic musculature was so overdone, he didn’t look real.
He shadowed her everywhere, gathering and reporting data with every flicker of his eyes.
She took another deep breath, tossed back her head, and entered the anteroom. Two members of her father’s personal elite force, snapped to attention, leveling their weapons. “State your business!” ordered the tallest one.
“Mariska is reporting as summoned,” R981 announced without an inflection to indicate he’d noticed the photon blasters. One solid shot at close range would disrupt his circuits, and he’d blink out. Bye-bye R981.
“Identify yourself.”
“I am Mariska’s service android.”
While the taller soldier kept them in his weapon’s sights, the other unclipped a device from his belt and scanned R981.
The machine beeped. “He’s clear,” the guard announced. “He’s registered to General Obido and has been assigned to the fifth daughter. To her.” He jerked his head in Mariska’s direction, palmed the entry module, and opened the inner door.
Power rolled out in a palpable, oppressive fog. Her father commanded the entire space station from this room. With a silent prayer for courage, she entered then dropped to her knees in front of his massive console and waited to be acknowledged.
R981 remained standing, hands clasped. Artificial Intelligence units were not required to bow.
Mariska ducked her head but peered through her lashes as her father finished a vidconference. One of thirteen children by six mates, she could count on her fingers the number of times she’d met the man who’d sired her.
He hadn’t changed much since her last summons. He was a tad grayer around the temples, but the ferocity of his visage hadn’t softened. Most people probably didn’t notice her father’s small stature because of his fierce features and the iron fist with which he ruled. The reddened Odgidian ridge pulsing with each heartbeat ran across his forehead and down his temples. Mariska’s hand shook as she checked that her hair and veil concealed her deformity.
Her unfortunate mother who’d birthed such a monstrosity had been put to death.
Her father’s newest mate and acquisition, Janai, sat on the floor next to the console. Exaggerated ridges so thick and beautiful Mariska had wondered if they’d been cosmetically enhanced, framed her comely face, further enhanced by siska, scars of affection gouged into her skin. Janai was close to her own age, only two years younger, and, once, she’d hoped for a friendship, but Janai had snubbed her like the others.
Two armed robot soldiers stood poised and programmed to kill at the slightest threat to the general or his mate. Her father’s military force consisted of both Lamis-Odg and androids. The former to make decisions, the latter to execute orders without question.
An android had no fear of death.
Her new android was bigger than either of her father’s soldiers. Stronger, too, if his build was any indication. But she didn’t fool herself. In a ski
rmish, R981 would defend her father before he would protect her. Women’s value was measured by their ability to produce children, preferably male ones. A disfigured, homely female never to be mated wasn’t worth saving.
“Consider it my gift to you,” Obido said into the vidscreen. Mariska faced the back of the unit, so she couldn’t see to whom he was speaking. Her father smiled broadly, pleased with his transaction. “A down payment on a fruitful endeavor. You’ll receive her within a fortnight.”
The vidconference ended. Her father pushed back his chair and patted Janai’s head before rounding on Mariska.
She dropped her gaze to the floor. Her stomach was already there. Show no fear. Show no fear.
“Stand up,” Obido ordered.
She attempted to rise, but her feet tangled in her skirt. R981’s arm shot out as if to keep her from stumbling.
“What are you doing?” Obido glared at the android.
“I am performing my duty and assisting her,” he replied.
“Your duty is to report to me.” Her father confirmed what she’d suspected.
“She was about to fall.”
It sounded like R981 was arguing. The general must have thought so, too, because his eyes narrowed on the android, but then he jerked his attention back to her. “Remove your scarf.”
No one had seen her face since she was a child teased to tears by her siblings. It had been a relief to be ordered to wear the veil to spare the sensibilities of others and escape their horrified looks. While bathing, she avoided the reflection glass and its taunting reminder of her ugliness. Stomach clenching into a hard knot, she released the opaque fabric from one side of her headdress.
Her father grimaced, and Janai, who’d never seen her naked face, gasped.
Mariska held her head high and stared straight ahead.
HOLY HELL! KAI Andros almost fell over. This was what Lamis-Odg considered deformed, ugly? Fortunately, his black contact lenses concealed most of his shock. Intel intercepted by Cyber Operations had reported the fifth daughter of one of the most infamous terrorists had a “significant facial defect.” Her eight sisters had been married—mated was the term these people used—but no one wanted her, fearing she would produce hideous offspring.
He hadn’t seen her face until now.
In the genetic game of chance, Mariska had been dealt a royal flush. She was fucking gorgeous.
Don’t gawk! A real android wouldn’t react, but as a cyborg, a red-blooded heterosexual man working undercover as a robot, how could he not? Her creamy skin was flawless without so much as a bump or a freckle. She had regal features, a classical nose, large symmetrically placed golden-brown eyes, and a full, pink mouth drooped in obvious distress, though no less alluring for it. He would have sworn she had some Terran blood, except the notoriously xenophobic Lamis-Odg wouldn’t have “tainted” their gene pool with the DNA of another race.
He glanced at Janai. White and red, old and new scars crisscrossed her mottled skin. Besides the irregular ridges outlining her face, two lumps protruded from her forehead like vestigial horns. Talk about unattractive—
“I have found someone to ignore your imperfections and take you as his….concubine.” Obido averted his gaze as if he couldn’t bear the sight of his daughter.
Her throat moved as she swallowed. “May I ask who?”
“You do not know him, but his name is Zog.”
Kai ran the name through his microprocessor. The identification popped up. That couldn’t be right. Maybe the information was outdated ? His databank hadn’t been refreshed in a couple of months. Maybe there was another Zog of another race?
The general eyed his daughter. “Do you still bear the mark?”
“Y-yes.”
“Show me.”
Her hands shook as she pulled aside the neckline of her dress to reveal a small, rosy splotch. Nothing remarkable, just an insignificant reddish birthmark removable with a simple laser treatment, but the general’s face tightened with displeasure, and he executed a sharp pivot. “Cover up.”
She reattached the veil before she adjusted her clothing.
“You leave tomorrow,” Obido said. “If you please the Ka-Tȇ, we’ll send others, and, in exchange, we will be permitted to establish an outpost on Katnia.”
Fuck. Zog was Ka-Tȇ. Obido had sentenced his daughter to a savage death. Didn’t he have any idea who the Ka-Tȇ were? What they did?
The bipedal alien race more resembled hairless, tailless panthers than anything humanoid or Odgidianoid. Ka-Tȇ had sharp teeth and six fingered hands tipped by razor claws with which they slashed and tore at their mates during sex. A non Ka-Tȇ species, Mariska would not survive. How could a father do this to his daughter? Did she have any idea what fate awaited her? From her calm demeanor, Kai doubted it.
“As the Great One wills it, I shall obey.” She confirmed his hunch about her ignorance. “Will R981 accompany me?”
“No, there will be no need. He will be reassigned. You are dismissed.”
* * * *
Returning to the women’s cloister, Kai marveled at her calm. Her respiration and heart rate, monitored by his cybersenses, detected no agitation. Rather, she appeared more relaxed than when she’d entered her father’s office. Inappropriately relaxed.
“You are familiar with the Ka-Tȇ?” He mimicked an android’s digital voice.
“No, but I will find out soon enough.”
“I cannot accompany you.” Nothing about this mission had turned out as expected. “Perhaps you should not go,” he said, and winced. Androids didn’t seek to influence.
Mariska picked up on his slip right away. She halted and stared at him.
“Not without me. I am programmed to protect you.” He attempted to cover his error.
“You’re here to report to my father.”
“I am assigned to you.”
“By my father.”
“And you do not like that.”
She started walking again. “It is what it is.”
He had a lot of questions for her, but he needed to contact Cy-Ops Director Carter Aymes ASAP and update him about the change in circumstances. His orders had been to use Mariska to get close to Obido. If she wasn’t here—then what? They entered the section reserved for Obido’s mates and his daughters, of which only Mariska remained since the others had been mated. Kai deposited her outside the door of her personal quarters.
After she scanned in, she faced him. “You don’t need to come inside. I would like to be alone.”
“I must conduct a security check.”
“My quarters are safe.”
From outside intruders—yes. The odds were 96 percent she was right. Security was so tight, it was highly unlikely anyone who didn’t belong could get aboard. He had—but only by being shipped “from the factory” in a manufacturing carton. The transport wouldn’t have bothered an android, but Kai had nearly frozen his nuts off in the cargo hold. If not for his nanocytes, which had regulated his body temp, he might have succumbed to hypothermia.
Still, it proved Obido’s defenses weren’t 100 percent impenetrable.
After what he’d witnessed, her own people posed the greatest threat to her life. Her father wanted her dead. Why? “I must perform my duty. I must search your quarters,” he said in his affected android voice.
She sighed. “All right, but be quick.”
Tapestries of landscapes draped the walls of her sitting room. If the scenes accurately represented the planet—and the information in his database indicated they did—Lamis-Odg was arid. Desert-like, with rolling sand dunes sweeping across a barren planet, broken by the occasional scrubby tree.
Four low, armless couches took up most of the space in her parlor area, but in the five weeks he had been her attendant, no one had visited. Except for meals with female family members, she remained alone.
He activated his internal electronic bug detector and swept the room for new spy devic
es. The only one he found was the old one, embedded in the 3D emblem of the Lamis-Odg seal positioned on a corner table. He swiveled his head as if conducting a visual inspection. “All clear,” he announced loudly to ensure the audio would pick up his voice.
He proceeded to her sleeping quarters. A low divan covered in fabrics served as her bed. More tapestries adorned the walls, these of some carnivorous-appearing flowers his computer database identified as native flora. Centered in one menacing blossom was a microdot camera. He checked the bathing facility, a ChemShower and liquid-producing basin combo. She’d been granted a modicum of privacy there—he’d previously noted only an audio transmitter.
His internal scanner had detected the bugs the first time he’d entered her quarters, but removing the spy devices would have signaled awareness of them. So all he could do was watch his words. Ironically, common areas afforded the best opportunity for open conversation, except Mariska rarely ventured out in public.
“Clear,” he pronounced her sleeping and bathing chambers.
“As I would expect,” she said. “I doubt anyone could sneak onto the space station undetected, and, if anyone did, it is doubtful he would hide in my quarters.”
“I am performing my duty.” At least giving the appearance of doing so.
“Are you satisfied that I’m safe now?”
Less than ever. “Yes.”
“Then please leave me. I wish to be alone.”
Chapter Two
After the android spy left, Mariska locked herself in the bathing chamber, the only room of her quarters where she was unobserved, although not unheard as the room contained an audio transmitter. C684 had detected and destroyed the observation devices. Shortly thereafter, he’d been removed from service and dismantled. The next day, the bugs were back in place. When R981 arrived and failed to detect the transmitters, she’d known he’d been programmed to serve her father.
Why didn’t her sire trust her? She’d always been obedient and circumspect, her behavior never giving cause to doubt her loyalty.
