by Cynthia Sax
Chapter Seventeen
Vector stood guard over his female. After he had removed the final piece of shrapnel, she had regained consciousness for a brief moment, muttered a few unrelated words, and then promptly fell asleep.
He listened to her breathe, reveling in that proof she was alive.
Wires, pulled from the walls, their ends stripped, were attached to Vector’s wrists. Energy rushed through his form, restoring his depleted levels. Some of the warriors had brought him nourishment bars.
He could protect Kasia if that was necessary.
The attackers would first have to defeat the warriors stationed around them. The males watched as Mayhem’s female carved away pieces of the commander. The human shrieked until he lost his voice and now opened his mouth in a silent, unending scream. The pool of blood around his feet expanded, creeping across the tile floor.
Gap would have approved of that retribution.
Countless warriors, stationed on the ship, on the Homeland, across the universe, voiced their support. They cheered through the transmission lines as the female inflicted pain on the human.
All of the tortures, all of the deaths had been broadcast, allowing the warriors to witness that vengeance had been served. Dissent had transmitted the confrontation with Commander Smith, giving Kasia the credit for Commander Alakai’s capture.
His female had become a hero to his cyborg brethren.
“Is she fully functional, Captain?” Truth moved beside him, his gaze concerned.
Vector had covered his female’s naked form with a concealing cloth. Cyborgs were comfortable with nudity. His little human wasn’t. “She is repairing.”
“You’re not repairing.” Truth looked pointedly at Vector’s feet.
“That’s old damage.” Vector transmitted their conversation to every cyborg in the universe. Over a thousand warriors had seen the feet he now claimed as his. His shame was no longer secret. “I had to replace my feet during battle. They belonged to Bastion, a friend of mine. He died facing the enemy.”
Truth’s mouth fell open. He stared at Vector for a moment, then shook his head as though seeking to reset his programming. “C Models are beasts.”
Vector couldn’t wrap his processors around the admiration in the warrior’s tone. “Other C Models have more honor than I do.”
“No warrior has more honor than you do.” Truth replied without hesitation. “That is why males fight to join your crew. You do what’s right, whether or not that action has the approval of council.”
That is why, not that was why. Vector stared down at his female’s beautiful face. His defectiveness hadn’t shifted Truth’s perception of him. It hadn’t compromised his ability to lead.
“I’ve completed the system changes on the new ship, Captain.” Truth informed him. “The Reckless has been cleansed, scanned for lifeforms multiple times, and is ready to be occupied.”
The Freedom had been destroyed beyond logical repair and would be scrapped for parts. Vector had claimed a new warship, named it the Reckless, after his female.
He’d been offered both the helm of the Vault and the J Models’ battle station and had refused those two opportunities. They might have to evade warriors sent by the cyborg council. A warship was small, fast, powerful.
“My female will be pleased with your efforts, Truth.” Vector gathered her into his arms, folding the cloth around her sleeping form.
She would wake in their new home.
“I hope so, Captain.” Truth stood taller. “Your female is special to all of us.”
Vector tapped down the possessiveness surging through him. His female had earned the loyalty of the warriors, would always be loved by them. He had to accept that. It was a part of her, the female he adored.
He carried her out of the chamber, through the hallways, the floor cool against his soles. His feet were bare, bare of boots, bare of skin and flesh.
Warriors lined the space, their shoulders straight, showing respect.
Toward his female. Toward him.
Vector wasn’t a fool. He realized the cyborg council could view his feet and his past as the defect it was. Even if they eventually forgave him for disobeying their orders, they could declare him unfit to lead. But that he maintained the regard of the warriors lent him hope.
He entered the docking bay claimed by Dissent’s team. The new warship shone to the far right, the lights reflecting off its surface. His female, if she were awake, would call it beautiful.
Chuckles polished one of the exterior panels. “I placed handhelds in your chamber.”
Those handhelds would replace the one that was damaged during the explosion. “My female will appreciate that.” Vector’s feet smacked against the ramp.
“I didn’t say I did that for her.” The grumpy warrior scowled.
He didn’t say he hadn’t done it for Kasia either. Vector shook his head as he carried her into their ship. His female had won over another male.
Being an A Class warship, the Reckless’ layout was identical to the Freedom’s, that familiarity giving Vector comfort. Its furnishings were much more luxurious, the best materials utilized. That pleased him. He wouldn’t care for himself. Cyborgs were only concerned with functionality. But he had a female now and she deserved every indulgence.
As he moved toward their chambers, he scanned the ship for lifeforms, found only two, his female and himself. Once his crew returned, the doors closed, and they departed for open space, his female should be safe. Her feet could touch the floor.
He entered their chambers, the space sparsely decorated, and set her carefully on the sleeping support. Unwrapping his female, he gazed at her.
Her wounds had closed. He’d cleansed the blood from her skin, had tidied her from the top of her head to the soles of her feet. Those feet hadn’t fully repaired. They remained swollen.
Vector still found them beautiful. He bent his head, kissed the tips of her big toes, one at a time, gently, reverently brushing his lips over her bruised skin.
“Vector.” Kasia murmured, reaching for him.
Unable to deny her, he climbed onto the sleeping support, pulled her toward him. She snuggled against his form, curling her fingers over his shoulders, pressing her cheek against his chest. Her breath wafted over his skin, warm, the rhythm deep and steady.
Vector held Kasia as she slept, awed that she was his.
* * *
She slept an entire shift, her body folded into his. Vector knew the moment she woke. Her breath hitched. She jerked, drawing away from him.
“You’re safe, female.” He cupped her gorgeous face.
Her eyelashes fluttered. Her eyes opened. She looked at him. “We require another breeding session.” Her voice was husky.
His cock, always hard when he was with his female, grew even more rigid, but his concern for her overrode his desire. “Your damage remains?” Vector examined the wound on her side. It appeared to be fully repaired but that appearance could be deceiving. “Are you in pain?” He rolled off the sleeping support. The warship had been stocked with pain inhibitors.
“No.” She caught one of his wrists. “I’m not in pain. I’m not damaged. It’s not that.”
Vector gazed down at her, his heart beating wildly. “You’re not damaged?” He needed confirmation. He’d almost lost her this planet rotation.
“I’m not damaged.” She tugged on his arm and he stepped closer to her. “I want you.”
She wanted him. His female wasn’t damaged. She yearned for his touch.
Fraggin’ hole. He needed her. Vector leaped onto the sleeping support. She yelped. He rolled her onto her back, caging her with his form, covered her face with fast, hard kisses.
“What are you doing?” Kasia smacked his chest with her small palms.
“I’m ravishing my female.” He nuzzled against her neck. “C Models can be reckless also.”
“I didn’t know that.” She laughed, the sound escalating his joy.
“Not all kn
owledge is stored in databases.” He laved her collarbone with the flat of his tongue, enjoying her distinctive flavor.
“Should I search for that knowledge inside here?” His female bracketed his forehead with her hands.
“You have my permission to search there whenever you wish.” He sucked on the swell of her right breast.
She inhaled sharply. “I do?”
“You do.” Vector trusted her with his processors. She would never damage him. He circled her curves with the tip of his tongue.
“You love me.” Her voice was breezy.
“I love you more than any warrior has ever loved a female.” He flicked her nipple and she trembled. “It scares me how much I care for you.” Vector admitted.
“Love is for the brave.” She kissed his forehead. “That information is found in your heart.”
“As you have my heart.” He teased her left breast. “You must be the being to locate that information.” Every part of him was open to her. He sucked on her taut peak.
“Yes.” She arched her back, pushing more of her into his mouth, his wild female throwing herself into this encounter as she did with everything else, not holding anything back.
Her fingers splayed over his skull. Her body quivered under him. The musky scent of her communicated her readiness.
He shifted over her. She wrapped her long legs around his waist and attempted to draw him into her. He resisted, sliding his shaft along her wet folds, rubbing his rim against her clit.
“I need you inside me.” Kasia grazed her teeth over his earlobe.
Frag. She excelled at melting his control.
“You need my restraint.” He swiveled his hips, grinding against her. She cried out. He resumed his stroking, calming her with constant rhythm, bringing her back from the edge of fulfillment.
“You told me C Models could be reckless.” She sealed her lips around his chin and inhaled, the sensuous pull tightening his balls.
“Reckless means fast.” Vector moved over her. “We’ve had that. Too many times.” The breeding sessions in the damaged warship had ended quickly, his goal repairing her, not passion. “I want this to last as long as possible.”
“You want to savor this and celebrate us—being alive, being together.” She understood. “Holding back isn’t my strength.”
He loved that about her. “I’m skilled at taking it slow.”
That willpower would be tested. His balls ached, the pressure in the base of his simulated spine increasing.
They bred without entry. Vector relished the connection, the softness of her body against his, how she danced underneath him, vibrating like the pulled string of an ancient bow.
His female was lean muscle and soft curves, high cheekbones and full lips, intelligent, brave, and his, all his. His nanocybotics fizzed inside her. His arms caged her.
She might be adored by many warriors, but he was her male. Only he would touch her this way, experience her heat, her passion.
“Can’t.” Kasia panted, squeezing and releasing his shoulders. “Can’t. Hold. Back.”
“Then let go, female.” He gave her permission to find release. “I’ll catch you.” He pressed his rim against her clit.
The contact pushed her into the vortex. She screamed, digging her fingernails into his skin, her entrance closing and opening, closing and opening against his shaft, as though she was trying to suck him into her heat.
His female, glorious in her fulfillment, almost overwhelmed him. Vector gritted his teeth, the urge to come with her straining his control.
He lowered his body, transferring more of his weight to her, pinning her hips in place as she gyrated. Vector fought to keep her safe, to ensure his recently repaired human didn’t overexert herself.
She became more and more still, her breathing leveling. “You caught me.” She gazed at him, her face flushed, her eyes glowing.
“I will always catch you.” He brushed his lips against hers. “But now, I have to be inside you.”
“What happened to making this last?” his female teased.
“You happened.” He pushed into her and his systems flickered. Nothing felt as good as she did. She engulfed him, wet and tight and yielding.
Vector sank into her, her scent marking his cock as her love had marked his heart. Inside her, he was whole, a warrior with no equal.
His base met her flesh and he paused, staring down at her, having no words in his massive database to express his emotions.
“It’s your turn to let go, warrior.” Kasia touched his chin. “That excites me. I love it when you lose control.”
“I love you.” Vector pulled back and thrust hard, pulled back and thrust hard. With her, he could be the primitive C Model he truly was.
“More.” She rose up to meet him, lifting her hips, tightening her legs around him. “Love.” Her lean muscles rippled. Her dark skin glistened with beads of sweat. “More.”
He clenched his jaw and drove deeper, capitulating to his raging desires while striving to give his female what she wanted. She kicked her heels against his ass, her drumming setting the pace. Their bodies slapped together. The sound of skin hitting skin echoed, loud in the otherwise quiet chamber.
“Harder.” Again, she asked for more, pushing him. Vector growled, pistoning in and out of his female. Her wetness speckled his upper thighs. Her scent hung heavy in the air. Her wildness meshed with his.
“Love.” He had to tell her, had to free the emotions inside him. “Love.”
She had granted meaning to that word, had taught him the depths of his warrior heart. He would fight for her, die for her, protect her with every part of his being.
“Love.” Her cry joined his, higher in pitch yet equivalent in power. “Love.”
They worked together for their release, bombarding each other with sensation. Her fingers curled over his nape, her fingernails piercing his skin. Her inner walls closed around his shaft.
He grunted, powering into her. She hitched her hips upward, meeting each thrust. Energy coursed through his circuits, heading for his cock. His balls knotted tight.
“Love.” He couldn’t hold back, had no defenses against her. “Love.”
“Vector.” His reckless female flung herself upward. Her curves crashed against his muscles and he exploded.
“Love.” Vector roared, giving her everything, his cum, his heart, his soul. Kasia screamed and bucked, slapping her skin against his. He pushed deeper and deeper, subduing her with his cock and hips. She was his, would never escape him.
Not that she wanted to flee. His female clenched him tight, propelling every last drop from his shaft, her breasts brushing his chest.
Wave after wave of release cascaded over Vector, the pleasure causing his systems to flicker, his female’s cries filling the chamber. He had come close to losing all of this, this passion, this love, this connection, and that made the encounter so much more poignant.
“You destroy me, female.” Vector rested his forehead against hers. “Every time.”
And he craved that destruction, craved her, couldn’t live without his female.
They remained in an enemy-controlled sector. The cyborg council demanded to see them, would soon lose patience and send warriors after them.
The future was precarious, but whatever it held, they would face it together. And they had now. This immediate moment belonged to them. He wouldn’t waste a sliver of it.
“I love you.” He rolled onto his back, taking her with him.
“I love you, Vector.” Kasia propped her chin on his chest. Her arms and legs sprawled on both sides of him, long and lean and defined. He was surrounded by her.
“You told me once you were tired of not being seen.” He cupped her beautiful face. “I see you, Kasia. I will always see you. You are my co-captain now and forever.”
“Warrior.” Tears glistened in her eyes. She said nothing for one, two, three heartbeats. Then the corners of her lips curled upward. “I’m your co-captain. Does that me
an I’m authorized to fly our ship?”
That was his reckless female. Vector laughed and shook his head.
Epilogue
Twenty-six planet rotations later, Kasia stood in front of Vector on the bridge of their warship. His arms encircled her. His warmth was to her back. His booted feet bracketed hers.
Once they reached open space, multiple lifeform scans had been performed. No insects were on board the vessel. Her cautious warrior had deemed their surroundings safe.
Her boots were firmly planted on the tiled floor.
Warriors surrounded them, the bridge crowded with beings. North loomed to their right. Dissent claimed the position to their left. Truth, along with a small delegation of J Models, had been sent to the Homeland to represent them. The others had stayed in exile with Kasia and Vector.
They awaited a communication from Power and the cyborg council, were outfitted for battle against their foe. Kasia’s garments matched theirs, her body armor hugging her form.
When the protective garment had been manufactured, it had been loose, giving her a full range of movement. Now, it was skintight, especially over her midriff.
Her boots fit. Kasia wiggled her toes. Vector had those specially crafted for her also.
“We will listen to the council’s proposal.” Vector’s voice carried in the space. “And we will take it under consideration. We won’t show emotion, won’t accept it or dismiss it immediately.”
Warriors nodded, signaling their agreement.
“Female?” he murmured into her ear, the brush of his lips over her skin curling her fingers.
“I won’t say or do anything, Captain.” Kasia assured him.
She understood the thinking behind his orders. Her cautious warrior sought to grant them time to prepare should the proposal be deemed unacceptable.
His careful dealings with the cyborg council, combined with the support they’d garnered by apprehending the Humanoid Alliance commanders and the other senior officers, were the reasons the cyborg council hadn’t yet sent warriors to retrieve them.
If those warriors were sent, Vector would fight the retrieval. His crew and the J Models supported his decision. The confrontation would result in battle.
