Baring Grudge

by Cynthia Sax

  Lips he yearned to taste.

  He gritted his teeth.

  It would be a long fraggin’ journey.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Thirteen planet rotations of travel later, Taelyn once again occupied the bridge. She was perched on her cyborg’s lap. He wouldn’t allow her to sit anywhere else.

  And she’d grown accustomed to that seat. She no longer wanted to be situated elsewhere.

  That scared her…a bit, but as he often told her, she was strong. She could take the risk.

  It had its rewards. His arms were wrapped around her waist. His hardness prodded against her ass. His body heat surrounded her. She was warm, was connected to him. It felt…nice.

  They weren’t alone. The kid sat in her normal position to the right.

  Her too-thin body was hunched over the console. Lines furrowed her forehead. Her bare fingers pressed against the embedded controls.

  Grudge had encouraged Jasny to discard her hand coverings, had told her to feel the vibrations.

  That hadn’t increased her speed. The kid was flying the vessel extremely slowly toward their destination.

  “You’re doing well, Jasny.” Taelyn gave her the encouragement she needed.

  Some of the lines around the kid’s lips smoothed.

  “This is the last one.” Grudge passed Taelyn a small block of Aquilan Nitro. He’d prepared it, had applied the blasting cap.

  “We should have enough explosives to blow up the space station.” She wrapped green wire around it, creating an intricate design on its surface. The timer and fuse were fastened to the block also, ready to be attached when the explosive was set.

  “It is more than sufficient.” Her cyborg took the completed bomb, placed it in the pack by their chair. “We could blow up three space stations with the same number of explosives.” He grinned at her. “I like big booms.”

  She enjoyed big booms also. “I prefer to be thorough.”

  “I’ve noted that.” His blue eyes flashed with emotion.

  The damn male was referring to how thoroughly she had sucked his cock at sunrise. Her pussy grew wet. She had drained him dry, would do it again if it weren’t for the kid’s presence.

  “We’re veering slightly to the right.” She advised the girl. “Enter a 0.5 percent course correction to the left into the guidance system.”

  “Okay.” The kid bit her bottom lip and complied, entering the change.

  “That’s perfect.” Taelyn nodded.

  Jasny relaxed.

  Taelyn’s tension lowered also. She draped her form over her cyborg’s much-larger physique. His warmth engulfed her.

  They’d crafted the bombs. The mission had been completely planned and the roles allotted. They couldn’t train without the kid’s presence. That would upset her. They also couldn’t leave her on the bridge alone. She’d freak out.

  There was nothing more to do. Taelyn stared at the images of open space on the main viewscreen. Distant suns sparkled in the darkness.

  Grudge swirled sensuous circles into her leather-clad stomach with his fingers. “Rest.” He whispered that order into her right ear. His breath was hot against her skin.

  She quashed her natural instinct to fight his command.

  His suggestion was logical. Damn it. She required sleep. Her cyborg didn’t have that need. She could rest now, and they could fuck later, when the kid finally succumbed to slumber.

  Her eyelids lowered.

  Moments passed.

  Grudge’s chest rose and fell against her back. He touched her, stroking her sides, her arms, nuzzling against her neck. She floated, buoyed by his caring.

  “She’s not watching me.” The kid squeaked that realization. “I could crash the ship.” Panic edged her voice. “We could all fuckin’ die. Because of me. And—”

  “I’m watching you.” Grudge shut down the girl’s freak-out. “And we won’t crash because there’s nothing to crash into. Check your readings, pilot.” His tone was curt. “Are there any ships, planets, anything else within range?”

  “I’m checking them.” There was a pause. “There’s nothing on the monitoring systems. But they could be wrong.”

  “That’s good.” Grudge’s chin brushed against the top of Taelyn’s head. He must have nodded. “They could be wrong. Great pilots never rely 100.0000 percent on their systems. Visually verify the readings.”

  There was another long pause.

  “I don’t see anything around us.” The kid’s voice lowered once more. “There’s nothing to crash into.”

  “There’s nothing to crash into.” Grudge kissed Taelyn’s neck.

  There was another stretch of silence.

  “If I make a mistake, she’ll leave me.” The kid’s quiet confession shredded Taelyn’s heart. “She says she won’t, but I know she will. Everyone leaves me. I’ll be alone again, and I can’t…I can’t—” Her voice broke.

  The kid couldn’t deal with that. Taelyn squeezed her eyelids closed, trapping her tears. Jasny had been left in the past and she didn’t want to be left in the future.

  As Taelyn had lost beings in the past and didn’t want to lose more beings in the future.

  They were all fucked-up.

  “She processes you make mistakes. You’re not a cyborg.” The arrogance in her male’s words made her smile. “You’re an enhanced humanoid. Yet she would trade her lifespan for you. You’re part of our team, and that team is forever.”

  Her chest warmed. She was starting to believe in that forever.

  “And we won’t allow her to leave us.” He reiterated his plans to be a complete pain in her ass. “We’ll follow her wherever she goes.”

  “She could escape us.” The kid whispered that fear.

  “She could try to escape us.” Grudge’s tone turned conspiratorial. “I placed a tracking device in one of her holsters. And in her weapons pack. And on the heel of her right boot. There are five tracking devices hidden in the ship…thus far.”

  What the fuck? It was a battle for Taelyn to remain still, to not pummel the shit out of her damn cyborg.

  “You did that?” Jasny’s laughter stole all the energy from her outrage.

  The kid rarely laughed.

  “I did that.” He reached into one of Taelyn’s holsters. “See.”

  There was a pause.

  “Do you have more tracking devices?” The kid’s voice bubbled with excitement. “I could put them on her arms. She won’t find them there.”

  Grudge and Jasny chattered about how to construct tracking devices, where to place them.

  Fuck. Taelyn’s lips curled upward as she listened to the two beings she’d do anything to protect.

  She would be covered by tracking devices by the end of their mission.

  Chapter Fifteen

  They approached the Humanoid Alliance space station sixteen planet rotations later. Their target appeared on the freighter’s modified monitoring system.

  Grudge had extended that system’s range, had improved every part of the ship’s functionality. His female and their offspring deserved the best. Keeping them safe was his priority.

  He sat on the bridge in the captain’s seat, had earned the honor of flying their vessel.

  Taelyn and Jasny chattered behind him. They whispered about surprising him and doing that now, not waiting too long or it would distract him from the mission.

  Nothing would distract him. He was a cyborg. And surprising him was an unlikely occurrence. His lips curled upward. He could hear everything they said or did. There was little he didn’t detect.

  Right now, they were removing their previous arms and attaching new arms. There was an 89.1458 percent probability that was the surprise—they were wearing arms he hadn’t yet seen.

  Cyborgs required only one set of functional arms. His little enhanced human and enhanced humanoid preferred to have multiple sets. That made them happy, and their happiness gave him joy.

  He would ooh and aah over the new arms, would relish s
eeing the delight in their faces.

  “The space station is visible.” He expanded the image on the main viewscreen.

  It resembled a moon, its design similar to that of the space station near Rohini 9. The surface of the second space station was merely a darker shade of gray, matching the other planet’s moons.

  He shook his head. The Humanoid Alliance wasn’t skilled in creativity. The enemy used the same tactics until they were no longer successful.

  “We should wait and watch the space station. Look for any activity on or around it.” His female placed one of her hands on the back of his chair. “None of the others were occupied, but we shouldn’t take any chances with this one.”

  Grudge glanced at her. The leather of her garment was rolled up to her elbows. He blinked slowly, not trusting the input from his visual system.

  His view didn’t change.

  Her mechanical arm was shiny and silver.

  Like his. He curled his left arm as he stopped the ship’s advance.

  “I’m on that task.” Jasny slipped into her seat.

  The fabric of their offspring’s flight suit was rolled up to her elbows also. Her mechanical arm was shiny and silver.

  He was wrong. They could surprise him.

  “Your arms—” A big ball of emotion formed in his throat, choking off the rest of his statement.

  Their arms both resembled his. He gazed at his Taelyn, at his Jasny with wonder, his processors whirring, besieged by sentiment.

  Before meeting them, he had perceived his left arm as being damaged, inferior.

  Yet they had designed limbs similar to his, now wore them proudly.

  The visual communication of his female’s, his offspring’s, caring and acceptance overwhelmed his systems.

  “We’re tackling this mission together.” His Taelyn’s voice was brusque. “Our matching arms send that message to the universe.”

  “We look like a team.” Jasny beamed, appearing happier than he’d ever viewed her.

  “Frag that.” His female dismissively waved her hands. “We look like a family.”

  “A family.” The kid whispered those two words. As though saying them louder might make them evaporate. Her eyes gleamed, covered by a sheen of wetness.

  Grudge’s eyes threatened to malfunction in a similar way.

  Because fraggin’ hole, his female was claiming both of them. Forever.

  They were a family.

  He pulled his little enhanced human onto his lap and buried his face in the curve where her neck met her shoulder, unable to speak, incapable of looking at her, of doing anything other than feeling.

  She petted the back of his head, his nape, his shoulders. “If either of you get yourselves killed, I’m kicking your ass.” Her words sported a sharp edge.

  His brave strong female was terrified of losing the two of them.

  Grudge feared that possibility also.

  He lifted his head, met her gaze. “I would die for you.” He would trade his lifespan for hers in a moment. “But I will make it my mission to live for you, to ensure Jasny lives also.”

  “I’m a badass warrior.” Their offspring’s chin tilted upward. “And badass warriors don’t die…Mom.”

  “I’m not your mom, kid.” His female glared at the girl. “I don’t have that many fraggin’ solar cycles.” Her tone was dry. “I’m more like an aunt or a fierce, take-no-bovine-shit older sister, someone you can send after your foes, a being no one else would fraggin’ mess with.”

  “Yeah.” Jasny nodded, appeared pleased with that relationship. “And Grudge is your mate.”

  He waited, expecting his female to dismiss that assumption also.

  “He’s my badass mate.” She surprised him yet again. “Someone you can count on to have your back, to defend you when I’m not around, a being you should listen to as you listen to me.”

  “Fuck.” The kid kicked the console, the sound ringing in the bridge.

  “And don’t fraggin’ say ‘fuck.’” Grudge’s female barked at her. “Medic Neidan will kick my ass. Say ‘frag.’ She doesn’t seem to mind that word.”

  “Medic Neidan is like our aunt.” Their offspring happily added that female to their makeshift family. “And Mulls is like our uncle.”

  “You’re supposed to be watching the space station, kid.” Taelyn jabbed her right index finger at the main viewscreen. “I knew this matching-arm shit would be a distraction.”

  “It is a good distraction.” Grudge wrapped his arms around her, drawing her closer to him, enjoying her softness, her warmth, her embracing of their unique bond.

  He had a female and an offspring and, judging by Jasny’s chatter, an ever-expanding family.

  “We’ll be cautious.” He wouldn’t risk that good fortune, would protect both of them. “We will move slowly, will watch the space station until we’re satisfied the probability of it being occupied is low.”

  “That probability has to be fraggin’ zero.” His female covered his hands with hers. “I’m not placing either of you in peril.”

  Reducing the probability to 0.0000 percent wasn’t possible. But he would lower it as much as possible, safeguard his newfound family.

  Grudge linked his fingers with his female’s and scanned the space station, looking for activity.

  Failing his fragile little enhanced human wasn’t an option.

  Three shifts passed before his female was comfortable with landing on the space station.

  They flew the freighter in increasingly smaller circles around the structure. No movement was detected. No one hailed them, asking them why they had entered Humanoid Alliance-monitored terrain.

  The space station was silent and still.

  His female landed their ship near the hidden docking bay doors.

  Grudge suited up. He would be the being to access the exterior control panel.

  That role had been awarded to him four planet rotations ago in their private chambers. His female had fought him on that decision, as she fought him on everything.

  He pointed out he was a cyborg, was skilled with systems. Then he eased her disgruntlement over those indisputable facts by stripping her naked and ravishing her pussy with his tongue, his mouth, his fingers.

  She found release four times and he added another entry to their rapidly expanding breeding database.

  His lips curled upward. “There’s an image of a tracking device in the corner of all the viewscreens.” He’d added it while his enhanced human was sleeping. “If you tap it, it will connect you to Rancor.” The communications were routed through numerous sites, was highly secure. Even Cadet would approve of its design. “Contact him if something happens to me.”

  His friend had agreed to protect Taelyn and Jasny if Grudge wasn’t able to perform that feat. As Grudge had agreed to protect Rancor’s female if the D Model was damaged or killed.

  A cyborg’s genetic match was never alone. That being had the support of millions of their brethren. His female and their offspring would be provided for and safeguarded.

  “Nothing will fraggin’ happen to you.” Grudge’s female helped him don his hand coverings, holding them out to him as he slipped his fingers into the protective gear. “If you see anything, anything out of the ordinary, cyborg, return to the ship and we’ll get the frag out of here.”

  She worried about him. Warmth spread across his chest.

  “I’ve survived more dangerous missions than this, my delicate little female.” He bent his head and brushed his lips over hers, seeking to soothe her fears with his touch.

  She clung to his shoulders and opened to him, deepening their kiss. Their tongues twined. Her sweet flavor filled his mouth. He—

  “He’s not going away forever.” Their offspring’s voice cut through their fervent embrace. “And even if he did, we’d find him. I’ve put tracking devices in his holsters.”

  “You might survive this mission, but she might not be so fraggin’ fortunate.” His female shook her head and smile
d, the caring in her eyes and voice belying her tough words. “Kid, are you watching for activity?”

  “Yeah. Yeah.” That reply would have been more believable if the kid had been looking at the main viewscreen and not at them.

  “Stay here.” Grudge’s gaze slid from his female’s beautiful face to their offspring’s green countenance. “Both of you.”

  He took one more look at his Taelyn, saving that delectable view in his databases, and he moved through the freighter, putting on his helmet as he progressed. The headgear was necessary. Cyborgs couldn’t survive for a long duration in space. He exited the ship.

  The space station’s control panel was easy to locate. Accessing the Humanoid Alliance systems was ridiculously simple also. He was a cyborg and the enemy was arrogant, had assumed no one would attempt to hack their code.

  He deactivated their security, opened the docking bay doors.

  Then he returned home. That was what the freighter had become—his home. Because that was where his female was, where their offspring was.

  “We tracked you.” Jasny made that announcement as he entered the bridge. Her voice lilted with glee.

  His female met his gaze. “She has placed five tracking devices on you, cyborg.” Her shoulders lowered and the lines around her lips dissipated. “You’re never fraggin’ getting away from her.”

  “I don’t want to get away from either of you.” Having discarded the suit and helmet in the hallway, he scooped his female into his body armor-clad arms, relishing the feel of her against him.

  He claimed the captain’s chair, placed her on his lap.

  His female exhaled deeply, leaning back, melting into his form. He smiled. She had missed their physical connection as much as he had.

  There was no time to relish it.

  “We’re flying into the space station.” She skimmed her fingertips over the embedded controls, guiding the freighter upward, into the structure. “Grudge, once we land, you’ll disable the battle robots and any other hostiles sent our way. I’ll retrieve the medic packs and devices from the docking bay area. Jasny, you will organize them in the cargo chamber.”