Crash and Burn (Cyborg Sizzle #3)

by Cynthia Sax

  Cyborgs rushed on and off the bridge. Crash relayed many of their transmissions, adding her feedback to the discussions.

  As their strategies solidified, she expected his concerns to ease.

  Instead, his muscles hardened under his body armor, his form rigid, unbending. She stroked her cyborg’s nape, seeking to comfort him. Something is bothering you.

  He gazed down at her for one, two heartbeats.

  Tell me, she pushed him.

  You’re more important than my honor. He touched her face. I’d break all my vows to keep you safe.

  All his vows. Oh fuck.

  He’d sworn never to kill again. When they landed on the planet, they’d face both Humanoid Alliance and Tau Cetian forces. There’d be fierce fighting. Beings would die. Her honorable cyborg would have to end lives.

  Take our ship and wait off-planet, she urged. You can manage operations from space. Entering battle alone scared her but she’d do it…for him. There are a thousand and one cyborgs on this freighter. They’ll safeguard me.

  Do you truly believe that?

  Safyre glanced at Death and Gap. The males argued about the best place to crash-land the freighter. They were both big, strong, capable warriors.

  That meant nothing to her heart. She only felt safe with Crash.

  It doesn’t matter what I believe. She couldn’t lie to him, couldn’t tell him she trusted others to safeguard her. There’s no need for you to break your vow.

  There’s every need. Crash removed a strap from his forearm. The mere sight of that long strip of leather tightened her nipples. Where you go, I go, my female. He grasped her hand and wrapped the restraint around their wrists, linking them together.

  This was what she’d always wanted—a deep, lasting connection with another being. Yet it was putting him in danger, forcing him to go back on his word, to forgo his promise to his soul.

  She couldn’t allow that. Someone has to fly our ship. Crashing with it in the hold will damage it.

  That’s true. Someone does have to fly it. He narrowed his eyes. Would you allow another cyborg to pilot your ship?

  I’d prefer that you pilot it. She threaded her fingers between his. Safeguard our home, Crash. Don’t accompany me.

  Her warrior could stay in space. He wouldn’t have to end lives, wouldn’t have to compromise his honor and break his vow. There’d be no resentment. He wouldn’t associate her with pain.

  Their relationship would survive…if she returned from the planet’s surface.

  I’m accompanying you, female. His tone communicated that he wouldn’t back down on that decision. He wasn’t leaving her.

  Safyre blew out her breath. Maybe you won’t have to fight. They’d be surrounded by battle-happy cyborgs. Those other warriors could do the killing.

  I’ll fight. Crash took that hope away from her. You’re my female and I will protect you.

  Then she would have to ensure she was never in danger. Why did you ask about our ship?

  Not every cyborg has to risk his freedom.

  Some of them could stay in space. Cyborgs didn’t require sleeping chambers. They could cram twenty or more males into each ship. They’d remain free. Even if the plans went terribly wrong, they’d escape. I’d like that.

  Crash drew her closer to him. I’d like that too.

  I’d be happier if you were on one of those ships. She gazed at his handsome face, committing the shape of his chin, the blackness of his eyes to memory. Every moment would be locked away in her heart, kept safe.

  His lips curled upward. You’re a stubborn female.

  I’m your stubborn female, she corrected. She was his, in all ways. The possibility of dying was more palatable before I met you.

  She hadn’t anything to lose. Now, she did. Safyre touched Crash’s skin. She had him.

  You won’t die. His grip on her tightened. I’ll be with you.

  Then we’ll die together. Memories clouded her mind. Like my parents. She had never talked about their deaths with any being but she wanted to tell Crash. She wanted him to know. We lived on an agri lot on Lepus 5. The Humanoid Alliance had no interest in it, left us alone for nine of my solar cycles. Then one of the settlers discovered sun stones on his lot. They’re extremely valuable.

  I’ve heard talk of them. Crash nodded. The humans covet them.

  They covet them AND the planets they’re found on. The Humanoid Alliance tried to evict the settlers. My parents refused to leave. It was their home, her mom had argued. They couldn’t force them to leave their home. We stood, my hand in my mom’s, my mom’s hand in my dad’s, facing them, three unarmed beings against three dozen warriors.

  It wasn’t logical. Safyre braced herself, expecting her cyborg to tell her exactly that, that her parents had been foolish beings.

  Crash said nothing. He rubbed her back with his free hand, waiting for her to continue.

  The Officer-In-Charge told his warriors to aim. One of the males, a young human, argued that I was a child. The Officer-In-Charge replied that the warrior knew their orders. His face had been hard, cold, as though carved out of rock. The warrior darted forward and grabbed me. My mom let me go.

  Safyre didn’t know why she did that. The plan was to stand together, in solidarity, strength in numbers.

  I tried to escape, to scream. She hadn’t known how to fight then. She couldn’t break free. The warrior covered my mouth with his hand and held me still. He told the Officer-In-Charge that I wasn’t resisting and their orders were only to kill those who resisted.

  She’d learned from that mistake also. Now, her default mode was resistance.

  The human saved you. Crash transmitted, not hiding his disbelief. I owe a human warrior for saving my female’s life.

  For saving my life only. Pain filled her. My mom wrapped her scarf around my dad’s wrist, much like this. Safyre lifted their bound hands. But it wasn’t needed. The warriors fired on my parents. They had danced in the air, their bodies riddled with projectiles, circles of red blossoming over their garments. They never broke their grip on each other. Even as they fell, as they breathed their last breaths, they held onto each other. They loved each other so much. They didn’t want to live without the other.

  We’re not dying together, my female.

  I understand. It was foolish to think he cared that much for her. No one ever had. Even her own mom had let her go.

  We’re living forever, you and I. Crash hugged her to him, his body heat encompassing her. I’ll keep you safe on Tau Ceti. I won’t allow any being to damage you. He pressed his lips to her forehead. My nanocybotics will extend your lifespan, ensuring you don’t age. I’m never letting you go.

  I’ll never be alone. Safyre closed her eyes, wanting desperately to believe that.

  You’ll never be alone.

  Chapter Ten

  The next planet rotation, Crash watched his very naked female rush around their chambers, laying flight suits on the sleeping support, debating with herself the benefits of the tried and tested flight suits versus the merits of the brand new ones. They were constructed identically. Her concern was illogical.

  But he didn’t say anything. He was struggling with his own illogical concerns.

  He was, to borrow one of his female’s favorite phrases, scared shitless.

  Not about the mission itself. Their plans were solid, every detail thought through, the warriors all knowing their roles. During the rest cycle, the cyborgs had intercepted a Humanoid Alliance communiqué mentioning Erinomean Green Fire. That had been concerning. But the humans would be foolish to utilize the weapon. He dismissed it as a real possibility.

  Crash was prepared for the more violent part of the mission. He’d fought countless battles, killed more beings than he cared to recall. He didn’t enjoy ending lives, not like his brethren did, but he’d killed for less worthy causes.

  Keeping his female safe was the most important task he’d ever undertaken.

  That was what terrified him. If he fail
ed in that task, he’d lose her and if he lost her, he lost everything. She was his present and his future, his sole opportunity for happiness.

  He’d bred with her three times during her rest cycle, once at sunrise, once more in the cleansing chamber. Crash stalked toward her. He had to have her again.

  “This flight suit smells like you.” She brought the garment to her nose and inhaled. “I—”

  She squeaked as he picked her up and pinned her against the wall. Her feet dangled in the air. Her eyes shone with a sexual excitement. Her nipples were tight and pink.

  Crash couldn’t resist them. He bent his head, licked first one and then the other.

  “We have to.” She wiggled. “We have to.” He sucked. “Oh fuck. I don’t know what we have to do.”

  “We have to breed.” He hitched her legs higher. She wrapped them around him and satisfaction filled his soul. “This is exactly where you should be.”

  “You’re not where you should be.” She gripped his shoulders, her fingernails biting into his skin, the pain exciting him. “You should be inside me, warrior.”

  She rubbed her wet pussy over his shaft, slicking his skin, covering him with her scent. He licked and laved her breasts, tasting salt and hot, willing female.

  His little human squirmed more and more, her impatience arousing him. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. “Crash.”

  “My Safyre.” He pushed into her tight entrance. Her inner walls squeezed his cock head and pleasure rolled along his shaft, up his spine.

  Frag. She was his match. Crash slid deeper and deeper until all of him was engulfed by her. She held him in the most intimate way a male could be held.

  “I will protect this.” He would never give her up. “I’ll protect you.”

  “And I’ll protect you.” She lifted her chin.

  She was strong and fierce and his. Crash withdrew and pushed back in, withdrew, pushed back in, taking her leisurely, as though hundreds of cyborgs weren’t waiting for them to exit their chambers, as though the freighter wasn’t hurtling toward Tau Ceti.

  Safyre was his focus, his world.

  She panted, her pale face flushing, her freckles darkening like planets in a white sky, dozens of Homelands beckoning to him. He nipped and sucked on them, adding pink rings around the brown spots.

  Safyre slapped her heels against his ass cheeks, urging him to move faster, breed with her deeper. He ravished her against the chamber wall, grunting with euphoria, thrilled to be inside her, relishing the glide of skin over skin.

  She was softness all over, endless curves and sparkling brown eyes. Her bright orange hair waved like a banner on top of her head, as wild as she was. She panted and moaned and called out breeding instructions.

  “More. Fuck you. More.”

  He strived to give her that, driving harder into her.

  “Lower.”

  Crash varied the angle of his thrusts, rubbing his base against her clit.

  “Fuck yeah. That’s it.” The bliss in her voice made him grin. There was no speculating with his female. When she liked a breeding action, she told him.

  When she didn’t like one, she told him also.

  “Pay attention to me or I’ll kick your ass,” she warned.

  She was already kicking his ass, her tiny feet drumming against his backside, but Crash’s processors told him not to share that information. “You have my attention, my female.”

  “I’m not a small being. You’re holding me up while you’re fucking me senseless and you’re not even breathing heavily.” She huffed, rutting against him with more vigor. “That’s not fair.”

  “You are a small being. You weigh less than a fully loaded long gun,” he addressed her concerns. “If I was fucking you senseless, you wouldn’t be speaking.” That was an unacceptable situation he planned to soon remedy. “And I’m a cyborg. I rarely breathe heavily.”

  He did grunt with joy, which he did when he increased their tempo, driving into her with enough force to push the air from her lungs. Her eyes glazed over, fogged with desire. He pounded her lush ass against the wall, the smack, smack, smack, of skin hitting hard surface reverberating throughout the chamber.

  “Yeah.” She gasped, her mouth rounded. “Yeah.” She gripped his shoulders.

  Her hands were free. Did she feel uncared for, unloved?

  He couldn’t allow that. Crash grabbed both of her wrists in one of his hands and stretched them above her head, straightening her arms, restraining her. “Keep them there.”

  Her pussy dripped, her reaction immediate. “But—”

  “No buts.” He met her gaze, his expression stern. “You’re bound, unable to escape me.”

  “You have me.” She squeezed his shaft and he gritted his teeth, his control frayed. “I can’t move. My body is yours to use.”

  “I want more than your body, female.” He released her. She didn’t lower her hands.

  Crash braced his feet apart, dropped his head and bred with her with a fervor he’d never experienced. She was his, all of her. He’d show her that, bind her to him permanently, give his reckless female a reason to be cautious, to live.

  He couldn’t lose her. Not ever. Crash drove into her again and again. His balls hugged his shaft. Pressure formed at the base of his spine.

  Safyre trembled and shook, her pussy constricting around him. They both teetered on the edge. He wouldn’t allow her to fall alone, not this time.

  Crash drove into her, swiveled his hips and she opened her mouth to scream. He covered her lips with his and poured everything he had into her. She bucked and struggled, her ecstasy meshing, molding with his, escalating their bliss until his vision system temporarily shorted out.

  His world dark, he relied on touch, smell, hearing, pumping into her once, twice more as she coaxed every drop of cum from his form. The bliss hit him hard. His shoulders shuddered. His legs locked into place.

  Crash murmured words that came from his heart, bypassing his processors, his human brain. He didn’t know what he said but he meant all of it.

  Her tremors eased. Her head flopped forward, her face warm against his chest.

  His vision system flickered back to life. He gazed at her with wonder, stunned by her beauty, by the passion in her eyes, the caring.

  “I will do anything to keep you safe, my female.” Crash brushed his lips over hers. He’d kill his own brethren if that were necessary. “Remember that when we reach the surface.”

  She gazed at him, her expression solemn. “I won’t take unnecessary risks.”

  “You won’t take any risks.”

  She didn’t answer.

  “My Safyre.”

  She lifted her chin, her defiance drawing a rumble from his chest.

  ***

  Moments later, Safyre still refused to make that vow. She’d finally decided upon a flight suit. Before she donned it, Crash had rubbed it over his form, transferring his scent to the fabric. That action seemed to please her.

  They had little time to linger. The freighter would soon enter the Tau Cetian sector, making it more difficult for the ships to depart undetected. Before that stage in the journey, the cyborgs chosen to fill those ships had to escape to the Homeland.

  Crash accompanied his Safyre to her ship, her home, to see it one more time. His little human drifted her fingers over the captain’s chair. She scanned through her collection of images on the viewscreens and shifted a container of pebbles set on a horizontal support. Silence enveloped them. Her mood was subdued. It felt as though she was saying good-bye to her things.

  That worried him. “The cyborgs will be careful with our ship, my female.”

  “I know they will.”

  Did she doubt that he’d protect her? “You’ll see your home again.” He would prove his worth to her, show her that he deserved to be her male.

  “I want to see our home again. That’s the whole fuckin’ problem.” Her lips tugged downward. “In the past, I’d risk my life and not care. I had nothing
to live for. But now—”

  He hooked his arms around her, seeking to comfort her. “But now?”

  “Now, I don’t want to die.” Safyre wiggled out of his grip. “This is all your damn fault.” She glared at him. “You made me care about you.”

  “You care about me?” A smile spread across his face.

  “Aargh.” She stomped out of the ship, down the ramp, her boots ringing against the metal.

  His female was angry.

  Because she cared about him. Crash followed her, sporting a big grin. “What made you care about me? Was it my breeding skills? The plan I crafted? My sexy eyes?”

  “I’m not talking to you,” she fumed, her face turning an intriguing shade of pink.

  His Safyre didn’t tell him to fuck off. She wanted him by her side.

  Warriors clad in body armor surrounded the ships, ready to be loaded. Gap chattered to Death. The J model cyborg nodded his head, his expression blank.

  He looked up as they approached. “Can they board?”

  “Female?” Crash asked. Was she prepared for this step?

  “My name is Safyre, not female.” She hadn’t protested the endearment when he’d bred with her earlier. Perhaps she objected now because they had an audience. “And I don’t care when they board.”

  Death looked toward Crash. “Is that a yes?”

  He didn’t know. “My Safyre.”

  “Yeah.” She waved her hands in the air. “It’s a yes. Fuck.”

  “Fraggin’ hole. Human females are irrational,” Death muttered under his breath. “Cyborgs, board,” he added louder.

  His human female was worried. That was why she was acting irrational. Crash wrapped his arms around her. She stiffened but didn’t attempt to escape his hold.

  The fifty-two randomly chosen cyborgs marched into the two small ships. Many were irritated that the system had chosen them, viewing it as an insult to their killing ability. They wanted to fight, to end lives.

  Before Crash met Safyre, he would have happily taken one of their spots to avoid killing.

  Now he would fight to protect her.

  She leaned against him, her stance softening as her rage slowly dissipated. Like a solar storm, her emotions flared and quickly faded. All he had to do to survive it was hole up and wait.