by Cynthia Sax
He had sent out a transmission to every cyborg in the universe, asking for their input, seeking a possible repair, however unusual. Some had relayed information he already had. The J Model’s female, the expert, was applying herself to the problem full-time and hadn’t yet derived a solution.
His female’s niece didn’t have time to wait for it. Her light barely illuminated her color-drained face. She struggled for each breath.
He’d already applied a prolonger to her. That had worn off. She was too weak, too fragile for another application.
The girl had very little time left.
He had to relay that to his female. “Allinen.”
She glanced at him. “No.” Her eyes flashed. “There has to be something more we can do.”
His female’s sister, his patient’s mother, sobbed, pressing the girl’s Candida deneb-covered hands to her face. She was infected also.
As was the sister’s mate…to a lesser extent.
Lanko leaned against a far wall, watching their activities at what he must have perceived to be a safe distance. The male had put his own mate, a precious female, at greater risk by refusing to tend to the daughter.
That was not the cyborg way. A male should protect his mate. Always.
Doc didn’t have the bandwidth to rebuke the Khambalian. “We have no more repairs to try.” He told his female that unfortunate truth.
She looked at him and at the girl. “I love her, would do anything, make any sacrifice to save her.” Her gaze returned to him, the sadness in her eyes damaging his heart. “If you gave her your nanocybotics, she would be immune…like I am. She’d repair.”
“She’s not my female.” They weren’t compatible. “My nanocybotics would fade quickly inside her.”
“Inside her.” His female flinched.
Was she having second thoughts about her proposed blood transfer? “The probability of this not working is 74.5698 percent. We don’t have to attempt this.”
“No, we do have to attempt this.” His female squared her shoulders. “Your nanocybotics will give her time, and that’s what she needs—time.”
They would give her time. How much of a reprieve would it give her? He couldn’t complete that calculation. There were too many unknown variables.
“Others are working on repairs. Any delay might make a difference.” He glanced at his female’s sister, the mother. “It would require transferring part of me to her.”
His female’s form stiffened beside him. She was unhappy about that prospect.
The father, that unworthy male, was equally perturbed, straightening.
The sister was desperate. Her love for her daughter was her primary driver. “If it will heal my daughter, do it.”
“It might delay the spread of the illness a little.” He was honest with her. “It won’t heal her.”
“Do it.” The sister’s answer didn’t change.
His female nibbled on her bottom lip. “You will want to be alone for this. We should leave.”
“I’m not leaving.” The sister clasped her daughter’s hand.
“I’m staying.” The father crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“I don’t want you to leave.” Doc frowned at his female, unable to decipher her processing. “I need you.”
She blinked once, twice. “You need me.”
He needed her in a variety of ways. His cock, even under these serious circumstances, was hard for her. But he especially needed her for the transfer.
“Your blood type is a match to your niece’s.” He removed a transfusion gun from his medic pack. “We’ll use the nanocybotics I relayed to you.”
“You’ll give her my blood.” His female stared at him. “Not your…your…” She waved her hands at his groin.
Understanding dawned on him. His female believed he’d relay his nanocybotics the same way he had relayed them to her.
“No. Never.” The idea repulsed him. The niece was an offspring, wasn’t his female. “You might be able to make that sacrifice for your niece.” That she had contemplated it spoke of her dedication to the girl. “But I couldn’t.” He lowered his voice so only his female could hear him. “I would die before transferring anything other than my blood to anyone other than you.”
Some of the stiffness eased out of her form. Her face flushed bright gold. “It would have killed me, but I love her and saw no other choice.”
And his female would do anything for the beings she loved. His heart squeezed. Some planet rotation in the future, he hoped to be worthy of that level of her caring.
“You have a choice.” He caught her wrist, pulled her closer to him. “This will damage you only temporarily.”
He set the transfusion gun to extract, pressed the muzzle to her arm, tapped the trigger. Blood filled the barrel.
“The clouds above.” The sister looked away, her light dimming.
His strong female didn’t flinch. She leaned against him, her gaze on his face. “You’re not beautiful.”
“No, I’m not.” Doc was keenly aware he looked nothing like the Khambalian males, with their delicate faces, pointed ears and golden glowing skin.
“You’re a beast.” His female smiled. “And I like that.”
His female preferred his face. He lifted his chin. And like was one step closer to love.
He transferred his female’s blood to her niece, scanned the girl. For one brief moment, she stabilized and hope unfurled within him.
Then the nanocybotics faded.
“The transfer repaired very little damage.” He set the transfusion gun down.
“But it did repair some of the damage.” His female grasped his arm.
“It did repair a small amount of damage.” He conceded that point. “That amount was barely detectable.”
“Then we transfer more blood.” Allinen picked up the transfusion gun. “We continue transferring it until it is detectable.”
That was unlikely to work. “My female—”
“We have to try.” She pleaded with him.
He hadn’t the strength to refuse her. “We’ll try.”
Doc transferred more of her blood to their patient, as much as could be relayed without putting his female at risk.
Lanko left the domicile. His female’s sister stayed by the girl’s side, brushing back her damp hair, forcing liquids down her throat.
His female would be as dedicated to her own offspring. Doc reached out for Allinen and she moved into his arms, rested her beautiful face against his chest.
“My daughter is still ill.” The sister frowned at them.
“Allinen has to recover from the transfusions.” Doc leveled a hard gaze on the female. He wouldn’t jeopardize his mate’s lifespan for any reason. “A dead donor has no blood to give anyone.”
The sister’s lips twisted. She said nothing.
“She worries.” His female said that for his auditory system only. “I do, too.”
He petted her hair, wishing he could repair that emotional damage. There wasn’t much more he could do. He hadn’t felt this inept since his first battle.
Some of those early patients, his brethren, males he cared about, had died due to his lack of knowledge.
The niece, a being his female loved, could die also.
Moments passed.
Lanko, that dishonorable male, returned. His expression was grim. “Three of Vauva’s friends have died. Many beings are ill.”
The sister sobbed.
“But Vauva lives.” Doc’s stubborn female clung to hope. “Your daughter has been ill the longest and she remains alive. She can conquer this.” She clasped the transfusion gun. Her hands shook. “I’ll give her more of my blood.”
“It’s too soon, my female.” He covered her hands with his. “Your nanocybotics count is too low.”
“Then increase it.” There was no desire in her eyes, only exhaustion and determination. “Relay your nanocybotics to me.”
His cock bobbed against his body armor, his ph
ysical form anticipating the encounter. His processors rejected it. Breeding with his female now, in her current state, might damage her. “You require rest.”
“I’ll rest after you give my niece more of my blood.” His female was so weak; she had to lean against him in order to stay upright
Yet her voice had been firm. She was determined to do this.
“You are obstinate.” Doc set the transfusion gun aside and scooped his female into his arms. “I projected you were frail when I first met you.”
He carried her outside. Gray clouds peeked between the branches of the hollow-trunked trees his female’s kind utilized as their domiciles. The settlement was devoid of life. The scent of scorched flesh and sulfur contaminated the air.
That combination relayed that the dead were being disposed of in a uniquely Khambalian way—they were being dissolved in lava.
“I feel frail at the moment.” His female’s fingertips fluttered against his body armor. “I want to please you but…”
But she was weary. He brushed his lips against hers, savoring the tart taste of her. “Being with you pleases me.”
He decided upon the darkened pathway for the site of their encounter.
The probability anyone would see them was 12.5742 percent. The residents of the settlement were staying in their domiciles in a futile attempt to stop the spread of the illness.
But he would show his female respect and conceal their breeding. He propped her against the side of her domicile and removed his body armor.
“You’re my beast.” Her soft hands danced over his chest. “Powerful.” She skimmed her fingertips over his abs and his muscles rippled. “Virile.” She stroked his hard shaft, her teasing bringing out his savage nature. “Alive.” Her gaze flew upward to meet his. “And you’ll remain that way.”
“You will remain that way also.” He’d ensure that. Their lips collided once more. Her legs wrapped around his waist.
That action bunched her garment, baring her pussy. An appreciative growl vibrated his flesh against hers.
He moved, rubbing his hard shaft over her wetness as he ravished her mouth. The connection, always present between them, strengthened.
Everything else around them was damaged and dying, but their link was fully functional, was right. The two of them fit.
His female’s breathing turned ragged. She struggled to match his energy and that was damaging her.
A slow leisurely breeding wasn’t possible, not in this moment, not with her level of exhaustion. The savage side of him, now fully in control, would protect its mate.
Doc drew his hips back, found her entrance and thrust deep. His female’s lips parted. He covered them, swallowing her scream, muffling the sound of her pleasure.
She held on to him, her form yielding, welcoming, as he drove into her again and again and again. He lost himself in her arms. There was no frustrating lack of repairs, no possibility of failure. There was only him and her, a cyborg and his female, a beast and his mate.
He grunted into Allinen’s mouth as he bred with her, meshing their bodies, making them one. Her passion rose quickly, her pussy constricting around him.
She dug her fingernails into his skin. That pain edged the euphoria of their joining, as his female called breeding.
He moved faster and faster. The exquisite pressure built within him and he didn’t attempt to battle it.
The primitive part of him sensed his female was damaged. It didn’t care that the damage was self-inflicted, that her sacrifice had benefited a loved one.
All it knew was she needed his nanocybotics. His little humanoid required the burst of energy, of healing, that she could only get from him, her mate.
She was his. He would keep her safe, give her what she required.
“Doc.” She sucked on his chest, that sensation felt down to his shaft. “My mate.”
The mark she’d left on his skin would fade. His nanocybotics would erase it. But her ownership of him would remain.
“My beast.” She nipped him.
Doc howled and surged forward, smacking her ass against the side of her domicile. Once he had secured his female to that hard surface with his hips, he let go, capitulating completely to the primitive part of himself.
Cum blasted from his cock, the impact threatening to fry his circuits. His female tilted her head back and screamed her surrender.
His processors were too stressed to silence her. They were occupied with absorbing the pleasure bombarding him.
He gave his female everything, seeking to repair her, claim her, brand her as his forever. His medic and his beast meshed in that moment, aligned in their mission, becoming whole.
Bliss crested and subsided within him, the intensity gradually decreasing, becoming manageable…for him.
Not for his female. She vibrated in his arms. Her cries grew louder, rising in pitch.
Then her sounds of passion abruptly stopped. Her body went limp. Her eyes closed. She slumped against him.
Terror gripped Doc. What had he done to his precious female?
He swept the sensors on his fingertips over her form. There was no indication of damage. All of her specs were within normal ranges.
The ecstasy of their breeding must have been too much for his emotionally exhausted humanoid. He blew out a relieved breath.
“You pushed yourself too far.” Doc scolded his female. “I should have stopped you.”
She remained unconscious, didn’t respond.
He reluctantly pulled away from the warm softness of her form.
She didn’t wake.
He gently held her as he dressed in his body armor, tidied her garment.
Her eyes didn’t open.
She required her rest and he wouldn’t deprive her of it. “Sleep.” He pressed his lips to her forehead. “I’ll protect you.”
He’d safeguard her from everything, including curious gazes. Doc cradled her in his arms and conveyed her into the domicile.
“We could hear you.” Lanko, that unworthy male, glared at him.
Did Khambalians breed quietly? Doc’s gaze returned to his sleeping female’s beautiful face. They must not experience the same level of satisfaction a cyborg reached with his mate.
Either that or his kind were beasts. That was a possibility also.
“My daughter needs more blood.” The sister remained focused on her daughter. She didn’t appear to notice Allinen’s unconscious state.
There was caring between the two sisters. He sensed that. But Sisko’s priority was her daughter. It was logical. Her state was more urgent.
Or was it? Doc’s auditory system detected breathing from only four beings in the chamber. That meant…
His body temperature plummeted, his grip on his female tightening.
He carried Allinen to the sleeping support, set her on the edge of it and touched the niece’s neck. No blood pulsed through her veins. Her skin was cold.
Her specs were…conclusive.
Doc hugged his female to his chest.
His lifespan had been filled with death and torment. He’d often been one malfunction away from being decommissioned. Many times, when he had marched into battle, he’d projected the probability of his survival as less than 10.0000 percent.
He had never been exposed to the level of fear he experienced in this moment. The loss he faced was staggering. His female, his future, his everything could be taken from him.
Because of his ineptitude.
That possible fate terrified him. The emotional damage he would cause his female caused him even more agony.
But he had to face both of those projections. He had to tell her.
“Allinen.” He gently jostled his mate, seeking to rouse her.
“Wake up, Allinen.” The sister’s pitch rose, her tone hugging the edge of hysteria. She knew. His instincts relayed that. She merely didn’t want to accept the truth. “My daughter needs your blood.”
“Take it.” His female stuck out one of her arms.
“My female.”
Something in his voice opened her eyes. Their gazes met.
Doc was aware the moment she knew. He saw the damage his lack of repairing skills inflicted on her. His strong, reckless female emotionally crumpled, imploding like a malfunctioning ship in space.
“No.” She whispered that one word.
“Yes.” He wouldn’t allow either of them to hide from that harsh reality.
Tears spilled from her big beautiful eyes, streaked down her cheeks. “No.” She flung herself against him.
Against him, the being who had caused her damage, who had failed her.
He wrapped his arms around her and held her as she silently cried.
Chapter Fourteen
Her niece was dead. Allinen sobbed against her cyborg’s chest.
Vauva had a mere eight solar cycles. Her sweet rebellious girl hadn’t truly lived yet. She had so much ahead of her – adventures, joining ceremonies, establishment of her own domicile, children.
All of that potential was gone. Her young niece, the child she sometimes pretended was hers, was dead.
And it was her fault.
Guilt sharpened Allinen’s grief. She should have known her niece would sneak out of the settlement. The girl had left the safety of the community several times on her own before Allinen had uncovered her activities. Her refusal to accompany her wouldn’t have stopped Vauva.
Especially since the ship, her cyborg’s ship, had flown so close to the tree tops. It had been so fast, so shiny; her niece couldn’t have resisted following it.
If that had been the ship Vauva located, the girl would have remained safe. Doc and his kind couldn’t spread illness. Her cyborg hadn’t killed the pahas, a pack of fierce beasts. He wouldn’t have harmed a small child. Her niece would have returned from her adventures unscathed.
Instead Vauva had located another ship, another outsider. But even that wouldn’t have killed her…if she had been taught to clean objects obtained from outsiders before she touched them with her bare hands.
Allinen hadn’t relayed that knowledge because she hadn’t wanted her niece to handle those items. She should have known her curious, reckless girl would want to touch them.
She should have trained Vauva in the process. She should have kept her safe. Her terrible judgment had killed the girl, had ended the lifespan of a being she loved. It would also take the remaining members of her family away from her.
