by Cynthia Sax
Finally, she had her own ship. Never again would she be trapped on a planet, unable to leave. She would control her own fate, would rescue whoever she wanted to rescue.
Lethe glanced at the C Model cyborg.
The first being she’d rescue would be him.
Chapter Three
On board the warship, Ghost waited in the chamber where he’d seen his female. He stared at the viewscreen, concentrating on it with all of his shattered soul, willing her to reappear.
Its fragmented surface had been dark for half a planet rotation. He hadn’t moved from his post in front of it. He would stand there for a solar cycle if that was necessary.
The viewscreen was his only link to his female.
She would return to it. She had to.
And he’d be ready. Ghost’s muscles flexed. His fists were clenched.
The other female, the older one, had belonged to his brethren. The golden-haired female belonged to him. His gaze remained fixed on the device. He wouldn’t fail her, not like he’d failed the others.
His wounds healed. The blood on his skin dried. Ghost continued to wait, his entire focus on the viewscreen. His female’s image flashed through his broken mind.
She was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen in his long battle-filled lifespan. Her face had no sharp angles. Her curves were lush. Her eyes were the brown of freshly blasted dirt. They sparked with intelligence.
“Mine.” She was his to protect, his to claim. Ghost knew that in his big cyborg heart.
Panels in the walls opened and cleaner bots rolled out. They buzzed and whirred, removing the blood and the gore from every surface.
They irritated Ghost, distracted him from his monitoring of the viewscreen. He didn’t like them for other reasons, reasons he’d rather not recall.
One of the bots moved toward him. Ghost stomped on the floor tiles.
It squeaked and sped away from him.
Once the bot had put a safe distance between them, it turned and beeped, chirping its admonishment. Ghost narrowed his eyes. The bot flashed its lights, taunting him.
Ghost was a warrior. Warriors didn’t tolerate disrespect from any being. He stepped forward, determined to teach the insolent bot a lesson.
The doors opened, diverting his attention. He lowered his form, prepared to leap, to attack the intruder, rip him to pieces, killing him as he had killed the Humanoid Alliance officers.
Ghost took a deep breath and all thoughts of killing evaporated. A scent, the most tantalizing aroma he’d ever smelled, filled his lungs, short-circuiting his processors, making him weak in his knees.
His female had arrived.
“Mine.” Ghost gulped air, taking that part of her into him, his body vibrating with excitement, his cock hardening.
“Yours.” She entered the chamber, her generous hips swaying. Her long blonde hair was no longer pulled away from her beautiful countenance. The tendrils were loose, wafting against her golden cheeks. Her lips were pink, her chin rounded. Her lush breasts and hips were encased in a dark-blue flight suit. She carried a large pack.
“Mine,” Ghost bellowed, overcome with joy.
He rushed toward her. She stiffened, bracing herself for his approach, but she didn’t retreat. He swung her into his arms and burrowed his face in the curve between her neck and shoulder.
She was warm, tiny, fragile, soft, so soft. He trembled, humbled that she was his, grateful she had survived. Not all the females had lived to meet their males.
Guilt jabbed at him. That had been his fault. He had failed to protect those females.
Alarm gripped him. He could fail to protect his female.
Ghost lifted his head and gazed around them. The chamber appeared to be secure. It had only one entrance, the entrance through which his female had walked. Those doors had closed behind her.
But there were horizontal supports, chairs, other structures littering the space. There were large compartments behind the wall panels. Some of those spaces could conceal a small warrior.
The enemy could be hiding, waiting to harm his female.
The chamber wasn’t safe.
Ghost slung his female over his right shoulder, strapped one of his arms over her legs, pinning them to his body. That left one of his hands free to fight any attackers.
“Set me down.” His female smacked her pack against his back.
Ghost ignored her protest. He exited the chamber, ran along the corridors at cyborg speed, carrying her. She weighed almost nothing, smelled exquisite.
“Where are we going?”
“Mine.” He tried to reassure her. She was his and they were relocating to terrain he knew, a chamber he was familiar with. He jumped over a dead body, avoiding the pool of blood.
She gasped and gripped his back.
His female was touching him. Ghost turned right and increased his speed, determined to protect her.
“We should talk first.”
Talking wasn’t a strength of his. He entered his chambers, smacked his palm on the control panel. The door closed.
Cleaning bots rolled around the small space. He stomped on the floor tiles and growled at the annoying machines. They beeped and retreated, disappearing into the wall panels.
Alone, safe, Ghost lowered his female, sliding her curves over his muscles. “Mine.” He splayed his fingers over her back, holding her to him.
“My name is Lethe.” His female mumbled against his chest. “Lethe,” she repeated slowly. “Captain is acceptable also.”
“Mine.” He turned her, placing his almost indestructible form between his female and the door. Any assailants would have to get through him to damage her. He’d die before he allowed that to happen.
“Or you could call me Mine.” She sounded breathless. “That works too.”
Even pressed against him, she was too far away. Ghost lifted her higher on his body, rubbing, rubbing, rubbing, seeking to be closer.
Her scent intensified. He pressed his face between her breasts, searching for the source.
“I doubt you can understand me.”
He could understand her. He merely couldn’t find the words to respond.
“But I have to try to communicate this or I’ll feel guilty.” She grasped his shoulders. “More guilty.” Her hands on his bare skin excited him. “Here’s the deal. You can use my body, fuck me anywhere, anytime you desire. I won’t fight you.”
Why would she fight him? Ghost mouthed over her left breast, sucking on her fabric-covered curves, drawing a moan from his female’s lips. He’d never damage her.
He was her male.
“But-but.” She shook her head as though trying to clear it. “I get the warship. It’s mine. I’m the captain. On the bridge, you answer to me.”
He didn’t want the warship. “Mine.” She was all he desired.
“I’ll assume that’s a yes.” Her tone was smug.
Ghost wasn’t as satisfied as his female. He nudged his chin against her taut nipple, hampered in his explorations by her flight suit.
She wiggled, escalating his frustration. Ghost gripped the fabric and pulled. More of her tanned skin and her full curves were revealed. He repeated the action, shredding the garment. A dagger clattered to the floor tiles.
“I suspected you’d rip off my garments. That’s why I didn’t wear my uniform.” His female held on to him.
He needed both of his hands to touch her. Ghost surged forward and pressed her back against the wall. She hooked her legs around his waist. Her hot wet pussy connected with his stomach and he shuddered, his abs rippling against her.
She felt good, right. He dragged his lips over her neck, tasting salt and female.
“I’ll uphold my part of our agreement.” She tilted her head to the side, granting him more access to her. “Take whatever you want.”
Take. He lifted his head and gazed into her brown eyes. That wasn’t what he wanted. “Give.” That was the word.
“I’m giving.” She pushed against him, misunder
standing his communications.
Ghost stared at her, frustrated. He had never been comfortable with words, even while he had been fully functional. C Models were designed for battle, not chatter. And it had been solar cycles since he’d last spoken.
He had to show her.
Ghost sank his fingers into her blonde curls and pulled her head back. She gasped. He claimed those parted lips, surged his tongue between her teeth. His flesh twined with hers.
She dug her fingernails into his shoulders. He welcomed the pain, delved deeper, demanding more, grinding his lips against hers.
Her musky scent intensified. She opened wider to him, submitting to their kiss. Ghost pulsed his tongue into her, breeding with her mouth, giving his female that part of him that would protect her.
She moaned, lifting her chin. He dragged his lips over her skin, coating her with wetness.
“I’m tingling.” Her chest heaved, her breasts rising and falling against him. “Are those your nanocybotics?”
He grunted a ‘yes’. That was the word he’d been seeking.
“Are you transferring them to me?”
She understood. He gave her a quick, hard kiss. “Give.” He drove his hips forward. “More give.”
Once he bred with her, once he filled her with his nanocybotic-infused cum, she would have his healing abilities. Even the normal wear and tear of aging on her body would be repaired. She would live forever.
She’d be safe.
A new sense of urgency, a desperation, raw and primal, swept over him. “Give now.” Ghost had seen what a moment’s delay could mean for a human female. It could be the difference between her living and dying.
He prodded her pussy with his cock, searching for her entrance.
His female’s spine straightened. “Ghost—”
He heard the alarm in her voice but he couldn’t stop, couldn’t calm her. Ghost aligned himself properly. Safeguarding his female was his only thought, his only need.
He thrust into her, the action smacking her ass against the wall. She screamed, clawing at his shoulders, arching her back, bucking, trying to free herself. He pinned her with his hips, not allowing her to escape him.
Ghost’s chest rumbled with satisfaction. His cock was encased in her wet heat. She was tight, fitting him like a garment, a second skin softer than the first.
Being inside her eclipsed any pleasure he’d ever known but it wasn’t enough. He needed to come, needed to transfer his nanocybotics to her.
Not waiting for her to adjust to his size, he pulled out to his tip, drove back into her.
“Fuck,” she cursed.
It was breeding, not fucking. Ghost gritted his teeth and repeated the action again and again, pounding into her.
Her wetness splattered over his balls. Her breasts slapped against his chest.
“Too. Fast.” She panted, her skin flushed.
“Fast. First.” He rode her hard against the wall, intent on finding release quickly. They’d breed slower after she hosted his nanocybotics, after she was protected by that part of him.
His chest and hips heated. Beads of sweat glistened over her form, reflecting the light, making his golden female sparkle. She was a star, warm, glowing, pulling him into her orbit.
He would never leave her.
Ghost grunted. It wasn’t with exertion. He was a cyborg, had inhuman strength. Those were sounds of satisfaction, of acknowledgement. This was where he was meant to be.
Her pussy constricted around his shaft, increasing the glorious friction. Tension formed at the base of his spine. His balls drew up tight to his body.
“Mine.” He sucked on her chin, coating her with his nanocybotics, with his scent. She trembled, shaking in his arms. “Mine.” He laved her neck with the flat of his tongue.
“More.” She urged. “I need more.”
He didn’t have more. He had to claim her now, protect her now. Ghost drove into her. “Mine,” he roared. Cum shot out of his cock, the release frying his processors. His vision system shut down. The chamber was cast into darkness.
His female screamed, her inner walls clenching him. He hollered, pushed deeper, finding release a second time. Her form convulsed. Her hips collided with his. She raked his chest with her fingernails, writhing against the wall.
He emptied all of himself into his female, the scent of their breeding clouding his senses. She’d marked his skin, leaving crimson trails on that gray terrain. The scratches would heal. Her emotional branding of him would remain.
“Mine.” He rested his forehead against hers. His vision system flickered, restarting.
“Fuck.” Her chest heaved.
Energy coursed through his circuits as though giving her his nanocybotics had stimulated the production of more, making him stronger. He flexed his biceps. “Safe.”
The connections between his processors and his organic brain multiplied. The information freely flowed but speaking remained a chore. He wasn’t accustomed to expressing his thoughts. It felt unnatural, forced.
“I’m safer.” She eyed him. “Now that I have a warship.”
“Me.” He frowned. She had him.
“And I have you, a cyborg.” She nodded, her blonde curls bouncing against her cheeks. “That might come in handy.”
Handy? Did she view him as a weapon? “Not machine.”
“Oh, I know you’re a male with all the usual male needs.” She rolled her eyes. “I gave you what you wanted, didn’t I?”
He stared at her. “You wanted.” He wasn’t the only being to reach fulfillment.
“Yes, well.” Pink pigment colored her cheeks. “You pleased me too. That was unexpected but it doesn’t change our arrangement. The warship is mine.”
Was that why she bred with him—to obtain the warship?
“Yours.” Ghost smothered his irritation. His intentions weren’t any less mercenary than hers. He had bred with her primarily to protect her.
To protect her.
Fraggin’ hole. He had been so caught up in his female he’d forgotten the Humanoid Alliance officers would have sounded the alarms before they had died. Enemy ships would be heading in their direction, intent on recovering their warship, recovering him.
“The warship belongs to me.” She nodded. “I—”
His female yelped as he set her bare ass on the cool floor tiles.
“Safe.” He marched across the chamber and smacked his right palm on the control panel, ignoring his guilt. Safeguarding her was his first priority.
Once he accomplished that, they would have their long lifespan to talk, for him to explain.
If he was able to do that.
The doors opened. Ghost rushed into the corridor, locking the doors behind him.
His female yelled his name. Flesh smacked against the metal door.
Ghost paused, tempted to turn back. He was restricting her movements as the Humanoid Alliance had tried to restrict his.
But if she couldn’t leave his chambers, others also couldn’t enter them. He ran along the corridor. She’d be safe where she was.
He had to find the tracking devices hidden on the warship. Ghost reviewed the schematics loaded in his databases, meshed it with the information other cyborgs had loaded. There should be five tracking devices on board.
There were three additional tracking devices hidden within his manufactured frame. Those had to be removed also.
He would require time to recover from that painful procedure. Two of the tracking devices were hidden in his wrists. His hands might not be functional for a few moments after the removal.
He wouldn’t be able to protect his female.
The third tracking device was attached to his simulated spine. He couldn’t reach the spot, couldn’t remove it by himself.
The other cyborgs hadn’t been alone when they had rebelled. They also hadn’t been as damaged as he was. He suspected if he’d been a fully functional cyborg, he would have already derived a solution.
To safeguard his
female, he had to repair himself.
First, however, he would find the warship’s tracking devices.
Even a damaged cyborg could do that.
Chapter Four
He was done with her.
Lethe glowered at the closed door.
The other males had used her and tossed her aside as though she had been worthless, as though they could see all of her compromises, all of her mistakes, all of the prices she’d paid for survival.
She, foolish being that she was, had thought the cyborg was different. Ghost had been so blasted happy to see her, rushing toward her, sweeping her into his big arms, pressing her face against his warm, muscular chest.
He’d kissed her reassuringly hard. Her lips still hummed from that. He’d fucked her wildly and she had come. She hadn’t come when the other males fucked her.
But then he plunked her ass on the freezing floor tiles and left, locking her in the storage chamber. She gazed around at the empty space with disgust. There wasn’t even a chair to sit on.
Lethe searched through her pack, found a cleaning cloth, ran it over her naked body. No cum dripped down her legs. The fizzing sensation continued. It was almost as though he remained inside her.
He hadn’t. She glanced at the door. He was gone.
She was alone as she had been after the attack on Mercury Minor, her home planet.
Lethe’s fingers lingered over the spare flight suit in her pack. That disposable garment wasn’t necessary now. It might not ever be necessary.
He’d had her once. The other males hadn’t wanted her a second time.
She donned her uniform, slipped her dagger into the front pocket of the ass coverings. The weapon, along with the structured chest covering, gave her confidence. Lethe tied her hair back, away from her face.
She was no longer the scared female with fourteen solar cycles, wondering if she’d live to see another planet rotation. She was the captain.
And this was her warship. Blast it. That was their deal. She allowed him to fuck her and he relinquished all claims to the vessel.
Lethe placed her palms on the control panel. Nothing happened. She didn’t have access to the warship’s systems.
He had access. That was why he had been able to exit. She didn’t have access. He hadn’t given her those rights.
