by T. J. Quinn
Chapter Eleven
Sabrina felt a lump in her throat and looked away. Life would never be the same, that was for sure. She would have to figure out a way to live around this man and not letting him know just how much she loved him.
“Yes, well, we better get back, before Luciana decides to come looking for us. I told her not to, but she usually finds a way to bend the rules to fit her purposes,” she warned him, turning around to head back to the cabin.
Stretching his arm, he grabbed hers and stopped her from walking away. The heat of the passion they had always felt for each other, immediately reignited and he felt it spreading through his body. “Did you know you were one of the reasons I decided to come back to this planet?” he asked.
“Me? Why would you want to see me after all this time?” she asked, showing all her disbelief in her tone.
He opened his mouth to tell her the truth, to tell her just how much he had missed her during all that time and how many times he had wanted to come looking for her. He had never done it because he was sure she would reject him. After all, he had practically abducted her, keeping her prisoner and exposing her to the risk of being imprisoned by the government for helping him.
He had no reasons to believe she would want to see him. And he still didn’t. If all of that hadn’t been enough, he had also left her alone while she was pregnant with his child.
He cleared his throat. “There are some ruins in Arcadia we need someone to look at. I thought you might be interested,” he said, instead, keeping his feelings to himself. It was safer that way.
Sabrina almost let out a loud cry of sheer pain. For a brief moment, she had thought he would tell her he had missed her and that he wanted to start over. His words had been an ice-cold shower, and she had to make a considerable effort not to show him how much he had hurt her.
“You’ll have to tell me more about it. As you may imagine, I couldn’t finish my studies,” she pointed out, pulling her arm from his grip. His touch was too intoxicating.
“Because of your pregnancy,” he concluded.
“Yes. It developed at such a fast pace that by the time I was three months pregnant, I looked as if I was six. People were starting to ask questions, especially the doctor that was seeing me. That’s when I decided to call Sandra and disappear,” she explained. “The last thing I wanted was to become a lab rat for the government.”
“You made the best decision. If they had discovered the baby was mine, we would have lost Luciana, probably forever,” he replied, in a stern tone. “Who knows what they would have done to her and to you. They have no problem whatsoever torturing cyborgs and experimenting with them as they please. That’s one of the reasons they legally take away our humanity. Androids have no right to protest.”
Sabrina scowled. “I had no idea things were so bad, but I knew I would be in trouble if people found out the truth about Luciana.”
“Yes, you would have been. Either way, I believe your knowledge of past civilizations would be quite useful in Arcadia,” he continued. “If there was something beyond your comprehension, I’m sure you would know who we could call.”
“There are a lot of people with more knowledge than me. Why not take one of them?” she asked, not sure she wanted to go anywhere with Lucas.
“None of those know anything about cyborgs or about Arcadia. We would be risking the planet’s safety, and that’s the last thing we want,” he explained.
“I’ll have to think about it.”
With those words, she headed back to the cabin, and he accompanied her, without saying another word. She only stopped when they were about to get inside the cabin.
“Please, watch what you say. Though she looks and acts like a very mature girl, deep down, she’s very vulnerable.”
“She’s my daughter, too. I would never do anything to hurt her,” he assured her with a cold tone.
“It’s easy to hurt a child’s feelings unintentionally ,” she warned him.
He nodded but said nothing else. They entered the cabin and found Luciana waiting for them sitting on one of the couches in the main room.
“So, did you tell him?” she asked her mother, sounding anxious.
Sabrina smiled at her. “Yes. I did.”
She jumped up from the couch and walked up to where Jarcor stood, not sure how to act.
“And? Are you happy I’m your daughter?” she asked him, stopping only a foot away from him.
Jarcor crouched until he was eye to eye with her. “I’m more than happy, little one. You’re the miracle I never thought possible, and I can’t thank the universe enough for having given me a daughter like you,” he assured her.
Letting out a small cry of happiness, she threw herself into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back and closed his eyes.
Sabrina was so touched by the scene occurring in front of her, she had to wipe a couple of tears that rolled down her cheeks. She had dreamed of this day more times than she was willing to admit.
Of course, in her dreams, he had confessed his love for her first, but she had learned a long time ago, things were never like you expected them to be.
Luciana kissed Jarcor’s cheek a few times. “I’m so happy you’re my father,” she told him, still clinging to his strong neck.
With his eyes suspiciously shining, he got up with the girl still in his arms. “I’ll do my best to be the father you deserve, little one,” he assured her, hugging her tight once more before he put her down.
Sabrina cleared her throat, not sure how to act. “Sandra told me you were here because you needed to work on some upgrades on the cyborgs’ systems,” she finally said.
“Yes, that’s right. This place has everything I need for it,” he confirmed.
“Then perhaps we should go back to Montana and let you work in peace,” she suggested, wriggling her hands, not sure what to do or how to act.
“No,” Luciana’s cry was simultaneous with Lucas protest.
“No, there’s no need for you to leave. I’m sure I can work perfectly fine with you here,” he assured her, pulling Luciana closer to him.
“Yes, mamma. I don’t want to leave. Not now that I found my papa,” Luciana agreed, holding her father’s hand tight, as if she was afraid he would be taken away from her.
She sighed and nodded. “Very well. We can stay for a few days,” she agreed, not sure how she was going to survive being so close to him and yet so far.
Luciana closed the distance between them and hugged her tight. “Thank you, mamma.”
She looked at Jarcor. “I guess you haven’t eaten anything today, right?” she asked, looking for something to keep herself busy.
“I’m fine, don’t worry about me,” he replied, in a courteous tone.
“You need to eat and me too. I’ll prepare us something while you two chat.”
She headed to the kitchen area as Luciana walked back to where her father still stood. Sabrina couldn’t hear them, but it was probably better. After being the center of her daughter’s universe, it was a bit hard to see how in love she was with her father.
She would have to learn to share her daughter. At least, while Jarcor was on Earth. Things would become a bit more complicated when he had to go back to Arcadia.
She prepared some scrambled eggs, bacon and toast, along with coffee and orange juice and called him to the kitchen when she was done.
Jarcor watched Sabrina walking away from him, and for a moment he wished he could call her back. He had been alone with Luciana before, but now that he knew he was her father, he had to admit he felt a bit nervous. He had no idea of what being a father implied. His father hadn’t been the best example.
“How did you know I was your father?” he asked, curious to learn a bit more about how her mind worked.
She shrugged. “I’m not sure. I just looked at you, and something inside me told me it was you. Your eyes helped,” she said, with a smile. “Not many people have eyes lik
e ours.”
A hint of a smile cracked his face. “I guess you’re right.” Over the years, people with blue eyes had become rarer than ever. No one knew exactly why it was just a fact.
“I’m glad I was right, and you really are my father,” she said, with a shy smile.
“I hope I never let you down, baby girl, but you’ll have to help me out here since I’m new at this.”
“Mamma is the best mother in the world. I’m sure she will teach you all you need to know,” she assured him.
They joined Sabrina in the kitchen area when she called them, and soon they were enjoying an abundant meal.
“You should get to work when you finish eating. Staying here for long periods can be a bit too dangerous,” Sabrina pointed out. “Though we’re far away from the nearest neighbor, I’ve had more visitors than I would have liked.”
“Is that the reason you don’t bring Luciana here often?” he asked, with a slight frown.
“Yes. People are too curious and ask way too many questions. Those that live on the ranch are used to her and know she’s special, but the rest of the world notices she’s not quite like a normal little girl.”
She was right. It hadn’t taken him long to realize there was something different about Luciana. The wrong words in the ears of the wrong people and they would have serious trouble heading their way.
He nodded, deciding he would have to discuss that situation with Sabrina in the near future. “I’ll work as fast as possible.”
After he finished eating, he locked himself up in the studio, and the girls went for a walk down to the stream.
That night, after they had sent Luciana to bed, they sat on the cabin’s porch, enjoying the blue moon shining above their heads.
“Tell me about Arcadia. Does it have a moon like this one?”
“Actually, it has two. One like this one and another one a bit smaller. They travel the skies together as if they are linked somehow. It’s an amazing show,” he explained.
“It sounds great. You were fortunate to find such a place.”
“We didn’t. When we left this planet, we took a couple of Taucets with us. After some negotiations, they decided to help us in exchange for their freedom,” he told her.
She frowned. “Are you sure that was a wise decision?” she asked.
“Yes, they have proven to be excellent allies. I understand your feelings about them, and I have to admit I shared them, once. After all, they came here to invade us and take our women. But they are only struggling to survive, as we are.”
She had too much trouble seeing eye to eye with him on that subject, but her rational side was able to admit he made some sense.
“Well, I’m glad they helped you find the planet. Why didn’t they occupy it instead of coming here?”
“The planet had no intelligent life forms. It lacked what they most needed: females,” he confessed with a scowl.
“You have to be kidding me. We’re at war with them because they need women?” she asked, outraged.
“Their species is running out of females, and they need them to reproduce themselves urgently,” he explained.
“But as far as I know, they haven’t been able to breed with a human woman,” she said, frowning.
“They hadn’t until they discovered a way to use them as incubators for their offspring. They got the idea from the way humans breed cyborgs.”
“Oh, that can’t be good,” she said.
“It’s not that terrible, believe me. Taucets offspring develop really fast, and they don’t cause much harm to the women’s bodies,” he explained.
“Even so, it’s terrible. They won’t give up, this war will never end.”
“Yes, it will. Soon, they will reach an impasse, and they will have to negotiate a way out of this mess.”
She sighed. “I hope you’re right.”
“Just wait and see.”
They sat in silence for a few moments before she dared to ask the question that had been haunting her ever since he had left.
Chapter Twelve
“What happened to you that day?”
He was silent for a few more moments. “They captured me a few miles away from here.”
“You had been expecting them, hadn’t you?”
“Yes. I knew it was only a matter of time before they would track me down. In fact, I was counting on it. It was the only way for me to get access to the main codes that would finally give us the freedom we deserved.”
“Why didn’t you tell me all this?” she asked, feeling a bit hurt for his lack of trust on her.
“It was too dangerous. You could have been captured, and they would have ripped the truth out of you.” He sighed. “I know I shouldn’t have exposed you to that possibility, but after we met, one thing led to the other and time went by faster than I expected.”
“What happened after they captured you?” she asked, feeling an iron band wrapping itself around her heart. His dark expression was answer enough.
“I’ve erased those weeks out of my mind. There’s no use delving into things you can’t change.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through all that.”
“It’s in the past now,” he assured her.
But she knew most of it had changed the man he had been, turning him into the cold cyborg she had in front of him.
She let out a sigh.
“What about you? What happened to you after I left?” he asked, curious.
“I ran away from here as fast as I could and stayed away for a week,” she told him. “By the time I came back, there were only a couple of soldiers hanging around the place. They had forced their way inside the cabin, certainly looking for evidence of what you had been doing in it.”
He frowned. “Did they harm you in any way?” he asked.
“No, they didn’t. I can be a pretty good actress when the time requires, and I put up a show, letting them know how furious I was for finding them in my cabin,” she recalled, with a faint smile. She had been so scared and so worried, it still amazed her how she had managed to convince those guys with her act. “They told me a dangerous criminal had been using my cabin as a refuge and they wanted to know if I had any knowledge on the subject.”
“I knew that was a possibility, but I hoped I had scared you enough so you wouldn’t come back here,” he admitted.
“I wasn’t letting anyone keep me away from this place,” she assured him. What she would never admit was that she had hoped he would come back, that somehow he would manage to escape and would come looking for her. Of course, he never did, and after a while, she gave up waiting. “Anyway, I told him it had been months since I had last been there and showed them how horrified I was at the thought of a criminal being at my cabin. After a few other questions, they finally left.”
“I guess you were pretty convincing,” he said, with a scowl.
“Yes, especially, when I mentioned my godfather would hate finding out I was being molested by a couple of soldiers,” she added.
“Your godfather?”
She sighed. “Yes, my godfather is a high ranked general in the aviation. I haven’t seen him in over a decade, but they didn’t know that.”
“I’m glad they didn’t harm you in any way.”
“After a while, I went back to my house in town, and it was then when I found out I was expecting Luciana.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you with that. You must have been scared,” he muttered, looking at Sabrina and running a finger down her cheek.
A chilling thrill ran down her spine. “A little, yes, but I had a few good friends that were of great help, especially when I had to disappear for a while.”
The moonlight gave them enough light for them to see each other’s face, and so, she saw him lean over to her she did nothing to stop him. When he kissed her, she felt as if she was finally home, after wandering around the world, completely lost.
And one kiss was all they needed to reignite the fire that had burn
ed between them, all those years ago. Jarcor pulled her closer to him, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, allowing him to deepen the kiss, and steal her breath away.
After a few hot, steamy, mind-blowing kisses, he got up and picked her in his arms, carrying her to the main bedroom, up the stairs and away from Luciana’s room.
They ripped each other’s clothes off with such hunger, it was a miracle they didn’t turn them into rags.
Kisses and caresses fueled their passion, and soon they were in bed, entangled in each other’s arms. Sabrina let out a loud moan of pure bliss when she felt the tickling sensation of his tongue playing with her hard nipples. His hands had also joined the game and were kneading and caressing her full breasts, tensed with so much arousal, every touch felt like pure delight.
He kissed, sucked, nibbled, and licked, again and again, as if he couldn’t have enough of her. She was so aroused, so hot, she could feel her wetness dripping down her thighs. She was sure he could smell just how much she wanted him, but she didn’t care. She knew the feeling was mutual, and the proof was right there, pushing against her stomach, hard and thick, pulsating with need for her.
After a while, he slid his hand down her belly and grasped her aching pussy, tearing a needy moan from her lips, as she rocked her hips to meet his touch.
He drew a fire trail of kisses and licks down her belly until he reached her mound and then, making her spread her legs wide for him, he buried his face between them, finding her engorged clit waiting for him.
Feeling his tongue on her was almost too much for her. She had dreamed so many times about this, she couldn’t believe this time it wasn’t just a dream. But the bursts of pleasure rushing through her were enough to let her know this wasn’t a dream.
