by Cynthia Sax
She hurried through the hallways, fighting the urge to turn around. That one encounter with Vector hadn’t been enough. His fucking had altered her body forever, his nanocybotics fizzing inside her, his dominant touch addictive. She craved him with every part of her being.
But she had to do the right thing.
She couldn’t be selfish, couldn’t put him in peril and bind him to her. He deserved the future she’d never have.
Kasia entered the bridge, claimed Vector’s spot. The warship was his home and she felt a tinge of guilt about taking it away from him. But it was either he lost his home or he lost his place in the cyborg world.
He had the battle station, his brethren, his future. He’d survive.
She set the handheld on the console and placed her palms on the embedded control panel. The warship had formerly belonged to the Humanoid Alliance. She’d studied all of the instructions on how to fly every type of vessel they’d manufactured, had practiced on simulator programs.
How hard could it be?
Closing the warship’s doors was easy. Opening the docking bay was simple also, that task completed with a mere communication. She had previously hacked the battle station’s systems. Multiple times.
Emboldened, Kasia started the engines. She’d been an unauthorized passenger of similar vessels. The engines sounded as though they were operating effectively.
She could do this.
Kasia slowly raised the warship. It tilted to the right. She overcorrected. It tilted to the left. It took a couple of moments to steady it.
She turned the ship, struggling to keep the ship level. Something hit an outside panel, the twang making her jump. The ship shuddered as the right wing dragged against the floor.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Kasia fought to control the vessel. Sweat beaded on her forehead. Her muscles strained.
Metal screamed, the high-pitched whine temporarily deafening her. Air rushed around her form, tugging at her flight suit. The engines grew louder.
She lost control of her ship. It spun, battering nearby vessels.
“Fraggin’ hole, female.” Vector pushed her aside. “Are you trying to kill yourself?” He stabilized the warship, cut the engines and closed the docking bay.
“I’m trying to escape.” She crossed her arms under her breasts. “I had everything under control until you arrived.”
And now, she was stuck. She couldn’t fly a ship with no door. She knew enough about space travel to realize that wasn’t possible.
She also couldn’t run and hide in the battle station, though she was tempted to try. He was a cyborg with cyborg speed. He’d catch her.
“You had nothing under control.” Vector grasped her shoulders, lifting her off the floor. “Nothing.” He shook her and her teeth rattled.
Kasia stared up at his hard face. Her normally stoic, restrained warrior was furious, his lips flat, his brilliant blue eyes lit with energy.
“I should end your lifespan for you.” His fingertips dug into her skin, his grip bruisingly tight. “You’re putting us all in danger.”
“But you can’t end my lifespan.” She said the words for him. He wouldn’t physically harm her. He’d restrict her freedom and that would be as damaging to both of them.
“But I can’t end your lifespan.” He captured her mouth with his, flesh crashing against flesh.
She fought him, pushing her palms against his chest, kicking his knees with the toes of her boots, refusing to submit to him. He smacked her ass hard, the shock of that contact jolting her, pushing the air from her lungs.
Her lips parted. He surged forward, filling that space with his tongue, his nanocybotics, the metal and male taste of him.
As he ravished her mouth, he spanked her cloth-covered ass, each swat of his hand pressing her against him, his unrelenting ridge communicating his arousal. Her warrior wanted to fuck her.
And she wanted him. Kasia wiggled, the burn from his palm spreading throughout her form, morphing into the flame of desire. She gripped the collar of his body armor, tugged.
“No.” He wrenched his lips from hers, grabbed her wrists, drew her arms behind her back.
“Let me go.” She struggled, bumping her body against his. He calmly, quickly bound her wrists, ignoring her feeble efforts, and her anxiety increased. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Don’t I?” He raised one eyebrow. “I left you unbound in a locked chamber and you almost stole my ship.” He glanced down at the embedded control panel. Red warning lights were flashing. “You severely damaged it.”
Kasia winced. The warship was his home and she had nearly destroyed it. “It can be repaired.”
“You cannot be repaired.” Instead of softening his countenance, her apology made his jaw jut more. “You’re not a cyborg. You can’t merely hack off a dead warrior’s parts and attach them to your own form.”
“You did that?” She stared at him.
The pigment on his face deepened. “You remain mostly human.” He ran his free hand along her ass, leg, boot-clad foot. “My nanocybotics will speed your repair but they won’t replace any parts. They won’t bring you back from the dead.”
“The cyborg council wants me permanently dead.” Kasia pointed out. “If I died, they might reward you, give you your freedom.”
“If you died, that freedom would be worthless.” Vector kissed her harshly, the metallic tang of blood flavoring the embrace.
She remained docile, allowing him to vent his savage emotions. Her lips hummed and her body ached. She wanted him. Badly.
“You will never escape me, female.” His eyes glowed.
“I wasn’t trying to escape you,” Kasia confessed. “I was trying to escape the situation and keep you safe.”
“By running?” Vector’s forehead furrowed. “How the frag would that keep me or you or anyone else safe?”
“It kept my family safe.” Her immediate disassociation with her family had hurt her deeply but it had saved their lives. “If it worked once—”
“Only a reckless fool would try it again.” Vector’s frown deepened.
She gazed back at him, perplexed. Her logic was sound...wasn’t it?
Moments passed. His face softened. “You were attempting to protect me.”
“Yeah, well.” Kasia looked away from him, embarrassed. “Protecting you is something a reckless fool would do.”
Vector’s lips twitched once, twice before flattening into a straight line. “Cyborgs are half machine. Machines are skilled at detecting patterns. Your pattern is to run away.”
Shit. She was predictable.
“You won’t run away again.” Her warrior was back in full captain mode, issuing orders. “From me or the situation.”
“I’m not agreeing to anything.” Kasia wanted to have the option to run.
“Cyborgs view incompetence even less favorably than disobedience.” Vector slung her over his right shoulder and slapped her ass, the burn exciting her. “You will not humiliate me, female.”
“No one would ever consider you incompetent.” She rolled her eyes.
“Show me respect.” Vector marched off the bridge, jumped out of the open hole in the side of his warship, landing soundlessly.
Her brutish male had ripped the door off. Kasia watched the muscles in his back ripple as he moved. He would never allow himself to be confined to a small chamber.
“Whoa.” A male expressed his astonishment. She recognized the voice as belonging to North, Vector’s second in command. “Are we under attack, Captain?”
“Not all human females can fly ships.” Vector’s tone was dry.
“It was my first attempt,” she muttered. The instructions appeared simple. The reality was much more complex. “I’ll do better next time.”
“There will be no next time.” He swatted her ass and she jerked.
Another male chuckled. “I like this female.” Only Truth would be so flippant around his captain.
Vector stiffened. “She’s not yours to
like.” His possessiveness curled Kasia’s toes. “Repair the Freedom and the surrounding ships.”
“Yes, Captain,” multiple males replied.
Kasia’s face flamed as Vector carried her past them. The warriors gazed at her with open curiosity. Truth’s eyes twinkled. North appeared as solemn as his captain. Chuckles glowered at her, leaning heavily on one of his legs.
Cyborgs were often injured during battle. The Humanoid Alliance usually decommissioned severely damaged warriors.
“What body parts have you replaced?” Kasia returned her attention to Vector and his previous revelation.
“Be quiet.” He smacked her ass.
She wiggled. “Is it a secret?”
“I’m not discussing this.” Vector moved faster, exiting the docking bay, moving through the hallways, as though he was attempting to outrun the conversation.
“Your crew doesn’t know you’ve had parts replaced.” She guessed. Her proud, private warrior wouldn’t share information like that.
“Silence.”
Judging by his curt response, she was the only being who knew. That pleased her. “Would a warrior’s brethren judge him for having his parts replaced?”
“Enough.” He stopped, sliding her down his body until their gazes met. “We are in public. Warriors could be listening to your questions, might make assumptions.”
“They might make assumptions about you.” She was putting him at risk in some way. “I’ll save my questions for the privacy of our chambers but I will ask them, Vector. I need to know the answers.”
“Your curiosity will get you killed, female.”
“That is likely,” she admitted. “But it is part of my nature as your restraint is part of yours.”
Vector gazed at her. She gazed back at him, her breasts flattened against his chest, his every breath felt. Energy snapped around them, lit his eyes.
“Restraint wasn’t always part of my nature.” He surprised her by confiding. “It isn’t a C Model trait. I had to learn it as you will learn how to control your curiosity.”
He continued walking, holding her against his chest. It was an awkward position but she said nothing. She liked being able to see his face, feel his form along hers.
“I’m an intelligent being.” Kasia accepted that truth about herself, recognizing it as both a strength and a weakness. “I realize my curiosity will kill me and have attempted to control it. That isn’t possible.” It simply made her curiosity stronger.
“Then I will control it for you.”
“You can try.” And she would try to uncover his secrets. That was a temptation she couldn’t resist.
“I’ll be successful.” He carried her into one of the large meeting chambers.
J Model warriors crowded around the perimeter, their backs pressed against the walls. Some of the males had private viewscreens and handhelds in their hands. All of them were naked.
That didn’t shock Kasia. When not fighting, cyborgs were stripped of their costly body armor and stored without clothing. The reasoning was machines didn’t require garments.
The males were accustomed to being bare. She was accustomed to seeing them that way.
“I can’t view what is happening,” she grumbled. Her back was to the center of the chamber, where the action seemed to be.
Vector turned her. He didn’t set her booted feet on the floor, didn’t relinquish his hold on her.
She wasn’t free but she could now view what he could.
In the center of the space, Dissent faced one of his friends. Kasia recognized the handheld in the J Model’s hands. It was hers.
“I left that for you.” She leaned her head back and frowned up at Vector.
“I kept one of them.” He encircled her ankles with his fingers, organic shackles she couldn’t break. “Are we out of its range?”
She eyed the distance. “Yes. Barely. Are they testing the EMP programming change?” Vector had taken away her handhelds and her earpiece. She could no longer listen to the cyborgs’ transmissions, was excluded from their preferred means of communication.
Vector tilted his head to the side. He would hear everything. “They’re performing baseline tests.”
“Countdown to the EMP.” Dissent announced. “3...2…1.” He tapped the handheld.
Both of the males froze in place. The warriors in the audience laughed and jeered at them. Some males called out readings.
“Why are they performing baseline tests?” Kasia demanded, seeing no reason for them. “I gave you the programming change for the EMP vulnerability. Implement it.”
“Not everyone is as reckless as you are, female.” As Vector spoke, warriors conveyed Dissent and his friend to the edge of the chamber.
Two males took their place.
“The change is straightforward.” Her voice raised with her frustration. “A simple range extension. How is that reckless?”
“The change is to core programming.” Vector spaced out each word. “It might affect our entire being.”
Kasia hadn’t thought about that aspect. She understood now why they were being cautious but it remained an easy programming change.
One of the warriors counted down and administered the EMP. Both males froze in place. The idiots around them laughed.
The warriors were carried away and two more took their place.
“Stop.” Kasia yelled. Heads turned. Males gazed at her. “There’s no need for two warriors.” They were insisting on this futile baseline testing step and she wouldn’t fight it. “I’ll administer the EMP.”
“Female.” Vector growled, his unhappiness level equaling hers.
“I’ll be surrounded by warriors.” She squirmed, trying to free herself. “You’ll be watching me. I won’t be able to escape you.”
“You could increase the range to encompass the entire chamber.”
Yes, that was possible. She could increase the range to encompass the entire battle station if she wanted to. “I won’t do that. I give you my vow.”
Vector strode forward with her. “If you break your vow—”
“I have never broken a vow.” She drew herself upward. “Don’t question my honor, warrior.”
Honor was as important to her as it was to him.
“Bring my female a chair.” Vector barked.
Warriors rushed to obey him.
Her male never allowed her booted feet to touch the floor. Her booted feet. She glanced down at his huge boots. He hadn’t removed them while they fucked. Was that the body part he had replaced?
Kasia looked up, met Vector’s grim gaze.
“We’ll speak about this in private, my clever female.” He confirmed her suspicions.
“Oh.” She blinked.
Warriors found her a chair. Vector set her on it, using the seat as a pedestal.
“You won’t touch the males and they won’t touch you.” He stated that stipulation loud enough for the entire chamber to hear.
“I won’t touch them.” Kasia agreed, smothering her grin, his possessiveness turning her on.
Chapter Nine
Vector tried to be tolerant. His female had uncovered the Humanoid Alliance fail-safes. She deserved to be involved in eliminating them.
But C Models weren’t known for their easygoing natures. He was positioned too far away from Kasia. And Dissent was standing too close to her, the J Model now fully recovered from the EMP, his lips curled into a smug smile, his perfect form naked.
Of the far too many males who adored her, that warrior was Vector’s biggest rival for his female’s affections. Dissent was the leader of the J Models and he and Kasia had a history filled with secrets.
Vector was her male. He should know more about her than any other being.
He did know his female was becoming frustrated with the lack of progress, however. “The EMP programming change is simple.” She waved the handheld in the air. “We don’t require more testing. It’s time to implement that beautiful block of coding.”
&n
bsp; His reckless female didn’t believe any testing was required. She didn’t realize how dangerous tampering with a cyborg’s core programming could be.
“We could design a simulation program,” Dissent suggested. “That—”
“We don’t need a simulation program,” Kasia shouted. “We need one brave warrior to volunteer.” Her gaze slid to Vector. “Someone who trusts me.”
Without processing his actions, Vector answered his female’s request for assistance, stepping forward.
Dissent moved closer also.
Vector growled his unhappiness. The warrior glanced at him, his humanlike eyes sparkling. Vector folded the fingers of his right hand into a fist, smacked that fist against his left palm.
“I’ll volunteer.” Dissent ignored the warning.
His female’s attention returned to the J Model. “You will?” She gazed at Dissent as though he were her hero, her eyes glowing.
Vector’s control was held together by one slender strand and that strand was under strain. She should be looking at him that way.
“I will.” The J Model confirmed. “I’d do anything for you.”
Vector’s big form shook with fury. Those were his words to say to his female. Another male had no right to speak them.
“That means the universe to me.” Kasia smiled at Dissent.
She smiled at another warrior.
The last strand of Vector’s restraint snapped.
“No.” He roared, rushing forward. Other cyborgs stepped to the side, clearing a path between him and his rival.
Dissent faced him. “What—”
Vector slammed into him. The warrior flew backward, crashed against the far wall, the panel cracking under the impact. He slid to the floor.
Vector positioned himself in front of his female. “She is mine, J Model.”
“Vector, nothing happened.” Kasia’s voice conveyed her distress.
“Nothing will ever happen.” He widened his stance. “He won’t touch you.”
“You’re right.” Dissent jumped to his booted feet. “I won’t touch her because everyone knows she’s yours. Your scent is all over her.”
“You want to touch her.” Vector discarded his body armor. His rival was naked. He would be naked also. Except for his boots. Those would stay on the feet he’d obtained. “I see that in your eyes.”
