Eric lifted her chin and made her meet his gaze. “Stop. My willpower has a damn limit and nobility is not my default setting when it comes to sex. Now record this so your protocol will be met. You are the most perfect companion ever made. I think I could probably watch you open beers for me the rest of my life, even though feeling that scares the shit out me in ways I can’t describe. Now take me to see your prisoners, Lucy Hellcat. That’s how you can best meet my needs this evening.”
He felt her sigh and nod against his hand. She walked to the door and impatiently waited while he pulled on his shirt.
Chapter 7
The first thing Eric saw in the cage room were two swords, two illegal leather scabbards, and two cross-chest weapon belts lying on Kyra’s workbench. Lucy had completely disarmed the attackers which didn’t surprise him. He’d bet money the companion protection protocol she was running was just a redefined copy of her military programming.
In two of Nero’s five holding cells, figures covered all in black lay motionless on cots. Both looked like ancient Japanese warriors in their dark clothing. What were they called? He was not as good at military history as Peyton was. Oh, yes… now he remembered. Ninjas. The attackers were dressed like ninjas. The dark, head-to-toe, full coverage clothing was meant to completely hide their real identities, and in their case, probably also their gender.
For whatever reasons, Lucy had taken the time to make sure no stray limbs were dangling over the edges of each narrow sleep platform. Yet she had not bothered to remove their face coverings. Either Lucy knew who they were or she didn’t care. At times like this, her New World Companion reasoning eluded him. It was obvious to him that Lucy’s personality was mercurial even under the companion code influence no matter how polished her subservience act seemed.
He turned to Lucy and smiled genuinely. “Nice work, Lucy Hellcat. Are the cages locked?”
Lucy nodded. “Yes, I thought it best even though I knew they could not leave until someone releases them from hibernation.”
“You were right to take precautions,” Eric praised, holding Lucy’s gaze, “but can you open the cages for me? I want to see who they are. Later we might need to wake them up and ask some questions. Who knows? There might be more of them coming. If so, we need to be prepared.”
Lucy sighed and shook her head. “Of course. I am sorry to say that never occurred to me.”
The cage doors clicked behind him and opened instantly. Eric held Lucy’s gaze a moment, then left her to walk inside the first one. That whole cage opening trick of hers needed researching. Once Kyra figured it out, maybe he’d ask for an upgrade to get that ability.
Up close now to one of the attackers Eric could immediately tell two things—the body he viewed was female… and it was cyborg. Electrical pulses were keeping her in stasis with a strange code even his distracted receptors could detect. He pulled the face covering off the woman completely. It revealed a silken-haired, dark mocha-skinned female who could have passed for Nero’s sister, if his parents had bothered to have a second child.
He turned to Lucy, who was watching closely through the bars. “Do you know this woman?” he asked.
Lucy’s eyebrows scrunched together as she frowned and shook her head. “No. I do not recall having known her identity before today—if that is your question. She and I share some common code, but that is the case with all New World Companions. I cannot explain how I knew precisely how to deal with her when she attacked. Both she and the other female kept having heated discussions, but their commentary concerning me did not make any sense. I’m sorry that I did not bother to record it for your review.”
“No problem. I see you did the best you could,” Eric said, and maybe he was starting to. He left the woman’s face cover off and moved to the other cell.
Repeating the process, he pulled off the dark material to reveal a dark strawberry blonde with a milky white face this time. She was of Irish descent, most likely. Some cosmetic work had been done to enhance her face. Here and there were a smattering of freckles across her skin, which looked like they’d been deliberately left. What struck him most was that she looked young… very young… even younger than him. He wondered if he was possibly looking at the youngest Cyber Soldier ever created.
This time he spoke to his attentive audience of one without looking at her. “How about this one, Lucy? Do you know her?”
“No. But I had the same ideas as I did about the other one. The dark-haired one attacked first. This one tried to dissuade her from doing so. After I neutralized the dark-haired attacker, this one attempted to run away from our fight. Since I feared she would return, I neutralized her as well. The Other helped me.”
“The Other?” That term got his attention and Eric’s gaze instantly swung to Lucy. “What exactly did the Other help you do to them?”
Lucy looked nervous about sharing what happened. He heard her take a breath.
“It’s okay, Lucy. Whatever you have to say, I want to hear it. Nothing will make me displeased with you. I am very happy you protected me so well.”
Sighing with relief, Lucy finally nodded. “The Other provided me with a code that put them into the hibernation state. I think she might know who these women are because they called me by her name.”
Eric walked back to where Lucy stood chewing her lip and looking thoughtful. This was getting more and more interesting. “What name did they use?”
“They called me—Captain,” Lucy whispered. “Both attackers called me that. It was highly disturbing and all I could think about while you slept. But it is not a name. I looked it up to be certain. In all instances, it is a rank title of some sort. Do you think I inherited military cyborg chips instead of getting new ones during some upgrade?”
Eric put his arms around Lucy and hugged. He now had a pretty good idea who the women were. He pulled away. “Even if you share chips and sentience with someone like that, it doesn’t have to take away from you being the perfect companion. It would just be another aspect of you which I would find interesting and want to get to know.”
She looked so hopeful that Eric squeezed her arms to avoid not kissing her again.
“Look—I want to call my friends about this strange occurrence. When they get here, they’ll know what do, but they may need to bring a few other people up here with them. Can you handle a crowd arriving tomorrow? I’ll sleep in your room with you if you’re worried. No one is going to separate us for long. You took care of me and I will take care of you. Promise.”
Lucy nodded, staring into the cages. She hoped he would not put her into one. “I know I will be fine if you are near. When I said I did not know them, it was a true statement. However, I have partial identity information. The dark-haired is Aja 490. The red-haired one is Meara 491. They were not respectful in their speech to each other. Something about my actions surprised them, but I never understood what it was. I felt no nervousness in their presence. I knew I could… do what I did… to them.”
Eric lifted a hand to her face. “It’s alright. Don’t think too hard about it right now. You’ll just get another big-ass headache. Everything is going to work out, Lucy. Lock the cages back and we’ll go get another beer. There is nothing more we can do tonight.”
Lucy nodded and touched her arm. The cages closed with a decisive snick just before they left the room.
***
At Lucy’s insistence, Eric followed her to her room. He stalled their inevitable discussion about sleeping arrangements for the night by heading to the shower. But moments later he heard Lucy come into the bathroom. Suds streaked down his muscles, traveling ridges and valleys. All he could think was how nice it would be to have Lucy enjoying the shower with him.
“Eric 754? May I join you? Joint showers are encouraged by my protocol as a way to create physical connection and…”
He stopped scrubbing when he heard her pause. Lucy sounded more unsure and hesitant than usual. Her vulnerability stripped him of his resolve. “It’s okay, Lucy
. You can join me if you want.”
Yes, it was unethical, unconscionable, and definitely unpardonable to take advantage of a woman who didn’t have much access to her free will. But what if he only granted them both a little release from their traumatic situation? What if he could set a limit on their activities, one Lucy’s programming would accept?
Before he could rationalize any further, a naked Lucy stepped into the shower dissolving his internal debate into white noise in his mind. Her body filled up the remaining space in the enclosure. They were eye-to-eye and practically nose-to-nose. Eric smiled to ease the concern on her face. Her hesitant smile back touched his heart.
He took her by the shoulders and guided her around him until the water cascaded over her hair. Grabbing shampoo, he poured some in his hands and set about working it through her scalp. After rinsing it thoroughly, he added a healthy dose of conditioner, far more than she probably was used to using if she followed directions. He’d once heard Seetha telling Rachel that she had stopped using every product except conditioner on her wild, curly hair. Seetha’s mega-conditioned mane now looked as sleek as any oiled African Queen’s.
He massaged the conditioner deeply into Lucy’s tresses, enjoying her moans of gratitude. The sharp points of her perfect sized breasts pressed into his chest. One hand stayed in her hair when he finished, holding her steady while he rinsed the other and promptly sent it to tease one beaded nipple. Her eyes clouded with pleasure as he thumbed and stroked. Her hips moved restlessly and pressed his arousal between their slick, wet bodies.
“I hope you find something in this worthy of making a manual note in your memory storage,” Eric teased. Either getting the sarcasm in the comment or recognizing it as a joke, Lucy laughed softly.
“I will make a note of this, Eric 754. We can review it later if you wish to be reminded of your prowess.”
“No need. I’m not going to forget this any time soon. Trust me,” Eric said, covering the breast he’d been teasing with his hand. Yes, she was perfect. Absolutely perfect. And her perfect breasts felt just as perfect as he’d imagined.
He pulled her head back gently by her hair until both her breasts were offered up like a banquet. Closing his mouth around one straining tip, he tugged and stroked it with his tongue, finally sucking it in a satisfying rhythm for both of them. When she shook in reaction and thrust her hips hard against his, he moved his attention to the other breast to keep himself in check.
When Lucy shook even harder and squirmed in his grip, his resolve not to slide into her threatened to crumble. The woman was as strong as he was and one lift behind her hips could have her body wrapped around his in a nanosecond. But doing that would be worse… far worse than what he’d already decided there was no choice but to do with her. He couldn’t… wouldn’t… do that without her express permission.
But he was going as crazy as she was. No doubt about it. And it nearly killed him thinking that Lucy’s current sweet response was nothing but her pulses arousing her in order to follow the dictates of some lovemaking program. Hadn’t that been what he’d done as a Cyber Husband? He understood what was driving her actions and he couldn’t let himself forget for a single moment that the real Lucille Evelyn Pennington had never chosen to be in his arms.
As he met Lucy’s lust-filled gaze, Eric ordered himself to remember the angry hellcat crying in her cage. That version of her was just as much reality as this willing version was… maybe more so… no, definitely more so.
Pulling away, he let go of Lucy’s hair and ran fingertips over the scars around her collar bone and those on her breasts. “Can I order you to heal these scars permanently?”
Lucy nodded. He lowered his head and let his lips find each one as he slid down her body.
“Make them all go away then, Lucy. I’m commanding you to do it. And tomorrow I’m going to see if Kyra can do a flush of all your companion memories. If we get very lucky… very, very lucky… you’ll have a complete loss of memory about those times, just like my friend King did about his Cyber Husband years. That part of your past is not worth hanging onto.”
“Most of what you said exceeds my understanding, but I can remove the scars for you. I have accessed a healing acceleration program and it is already starting the process. I cannot estimate how long it will take. The amount of organic energy required for cellular renewal may also cause me to require additional sleep. You may be alone while my body regenerates those cells.”
Eric fell to his knees, kissed her navel, and covered the cut wounds down her sides with his hands so he wouldn’t have to see them. He looked up and met her gaze. “Sleep for a week. I don’t mind. I’ll take care of you.”
Lucy nodded, looking confused but grateful. Her super conditioned hair fell wetly forward to frame her expression. Eric couldn’t imagine ever forgetting how utterly feminine she looked in that moment. He felt her hand stroking his hair.
“You are not like any other contract I’ve ever had,” she whispered.
Eric smiled at her statement, and then returned to his task, stroking hands down the backs of her thighs. He rocked on his heels to kiss the scars encircling them. Then easing back, he lifted one ankle at a time to his mouth’s reach, running his tongue in the bracelet of chain scars there. He recognized those… had known what they were the first time he’d seen them. He’d once had a set just like them. His scars were healed now like hers would soon be. But unlike Lucy, he knew he could never have the luxury of forgetting, not unless he gave up every piece of data that made him who he was.
That had been Kyra’s worst news about his restoration. Escaping the past was never going to be possible for him. But hopefully it would be possible for her.
Rising to his knees again, Eric kissed her stomach and put his head against it, knowing full well what was beneath just a few layers of skin. If the weapon inside her had detonated at that moment, he wouldn’t have cared for either of them. Lucy wasn’t crying in her cage. He wasn’t standing outside it feeling helpless. There had not been many blissful, peaceful moments like this one in his life. God only knew what trauma had created the woman he called Lucy Hellcat.
But none of that was here. Today… tonight… he was determined to create a blissful, liberating, and perfectly human moment for both of them.
Lowering his head to the juncture of her thighs, Eric set about doing just that. Lucy’s fingers dug into his shoulders at the first stroke of his tongue in her most intimate place. She protested that he had to stop, that it was forbidden for her to receive without giving, but for once he couldn’t do as she asked. He ran his lips over soft skin and shushed her.
Her head fell back and her body arched as he pleasured her. Pressing against one of her legs, his over-stimulated body erupted in sync with her orgasm, something he’d never had happen to him before. And then Lucy fell over him, mumbling codes frantically. He rose as he caught her falling body, shocked to realize she was now completely and utterly unconscious in his arms.
“Oh God. What have I done to you now?” Eric said roughly.
He swung her body up higher in his arms and let fly every swear word he knew. Some hero he was turning out to be. He held her comatose body under the pouring water and frowned about how vulnerable she looked. What kind of negative program trigger could he possibly have activated by merely giving her sexual pleasure?
Eric stood there for a while, holding Lucy in his arms while the water washed over both of them.
Chapter 8
Eric glared at the metal bars in disgust. Because no one could guess what version of Lucy would be in control when she woke up again, the collective decision was to put her back into a cage. Nero had secured this one with an old fashioned chain and non-electronic lock, something the forward thinking scientist had brought with him just for this exact purpose. Which to be fair, Eric had to admit, was a valid precaution to take with a former military cyborg packing an anti-security program.
Nero had pretty quickly found Aja Kapur’s and Meara MacDon
ald’s files among the forty-two military women who had been converted into Cyber Soldiers along with Lucy. They were still in cages because of their attempts to rescue her. Nero and Kyra were discussing their restorations. The companion code added another layer of complexity to the regular process.
The captivity of all three women were on his head. Lucy’s fellow soldiers had eluded the UCN for years. Now they’d been taken down by the very woman they’d spent their lives trying to find. And all of it happened because Eric had accidentally flipped the switch on Lucy’s processors.
“When are you going to yell at me and tell me how stupid I was for going alone to see her?” Eric turned to see Peyton shaking his head. “Just say it. I deserve your anger, but I swear I’d do it all again. What if you had triggered her companion program delivering the information? Think how complicated that would have made your life with Kyra. You can call me whatever names you like. I’m still glad it was me Lucy accepted as her new contract.”
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