Fourteen
Lethe groaned. She was stiff, her muscles ached, but she no longer felt the excruciating, mind-dissolving pain. That was gone. Ghost had taken it away.
“Ghost.” Her voice was a croak.
There was no answer.
He gripped her hand. Tightly. She knew he was with her.
Lethe opened her eyes. Ash danced on the tips of her eyelashes. She blinked it away. Her surroundings were dimly lit. Light slanted into the space from a crack in the stone.
That stone was above her. She was in an underground chamber.
Lethe looked to the left. Multi-level supports reached the ceiling.
She moved her gaze to the right. Silver metal gleamed through marred burned flesh.
It took her a couple of heartbeats to realize what she was looking at.
Who she was looking at.
“Ghost.” Lethe carefully slipped her fingers out of what remained of his hand and sat.
She was nude except for the boots on her feet. Strips of fabric lay on the floor, along with what appeared to be a hunk of flesh. That wasn’t her flesh.
It had to be his. Her cyborg had been injured, could be—
No. She couldn’t think of that could be.
“Ghost.” She crawled to him, her head light. “You made me believe in forever. Don’t you dare take that away from me.”
He had to be alive. He had to be. She couldn’t survive without him. Even if she was rescued, if she physically lived, she would emotionally perish. She’d be dead in her heart.
“Ghost.” Lethe cupped her hands over his mouth. His breath wafted over her palms. She exhaled raggedly. “You’re alive.” She hadn’t lost him, like she lost everyone else she loved. “Thank the stars.”
Because she did love him.
Lethe had realized that as they were crashing, when he had wrapped his form around hers, trying to protect her. He was her always, her forever.
He was now severely injured. She surveyed his big body. Her cyborg had been burned from his head to his boots. Chunks of him were missing, his frame showing.
“You need pain inhibitors.” If they were on her warship, she’d grab a medic pack but her beautiful warship was gone, blown to pieces.
She scrambled to her feet and frantically searched the multi-level supports. They were filled with what appeared to be rations, garments, antiquated and non-functioning devices and dust.
The chamber shook. Some of that dust flew into the air. She twitched. The Humanoid Alliance were continuing to bomb the planet.
She cared only about her cyborg. There were no medic packs, no pain inhibitors.
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” Lethe returned to him. She had to help him. He had helped her.
He had helped her.
Ghost had fucked her, transferring the nanocybotics in his cum, nanocybotics that he now needed to heal himself. She gazed at him, warmth spreading across her chest. He could have walked away. She had nothing to offer him, nothing that would prolong his lifespan or allow him to leave the battered planet. Yet he’d stayed. He’d saved her, sacrificing a part of himself.
Fucking him would do nothing except take more from him. She bent over Ghost. His nanocybotics fizzed on her tongue. She could give some of those back to him.
“I love you, Ghost.” The words slipped out of her mouth.
She stiffened. She hadn’t meant to say that.
Ghost didn’t move. Her cyborg was unconscious. He hadn’t heard her admission.
The knot in her stomach unraveled. “I would only do this for you.” She licked the edge of his burn. He tasted of ash, charcoal and blood, the combination making her gag.
Her efforts were effective, however. The redness faded. The torn skin pulled together.
“I love you.” Lethe would ease his agony as much as she could. She laved more of his back.
The moisture on her tongue, in her mouth and throat evaporated. Tears pricked her eyes. She remembered that dryness, not having enough saliva to swallow. She had nightmares about it, had sworn to herself that she would never experience it again.
For Ghost, she would suffer through it. She swept her tongue over him.
The effectiveness of that action decreased. He healed slower.
“Your nanocybotics must need wetness to work.” She removed her boots. “Fortunately for you, I’m prepared.”
She opened the hidden compartments in the heels. These were her emergency packets of liquid. They could be the only remaining source of consumable beverage on the planet.
She didn’t know when or if they would be rescued. Using the liquid to heal Ghost might result in her own death.
“I’ll make a deal with you, cyborg.” She opened a packet. “I’ll do my best to heal you and you’ll live. Deal?”
He said nothing.
“Deal,” she answered for him. Lethe sucked a few drops from the packet, holding the liquid in her mouth, and she flicked her tongue over his shoulders.
He healed a little bit more.
She drank and licked, drank and licked, opening packet after packet. A thin layer of new skin formed over his battered form. His breathing deepened. Ghost didn’t open his eyes.
He couldn’t leave her. A sense of wild desperation filled her. She cared for him.
“You have to survive, Ghost.” Lethe grasped the last packet. “That’s our deal.”
She’d lived most of her lifespan alone. She wouldn’t live the rest of her lifespan without him.
Lethe opened the packet, sucked the liquid into her mouth, and laved his torched skin with the flat of her tongue, focusing on him, the male she loved, applying herself to the last task she might ever undertake, hoping it would make a difference, hoping it would save his life.
Hers would be worthless without his. They were a team. They belonged together.
Lethe’s mouth dried too soon. She hadn’t licked all of him. He wasn’t yet healed.
“That will have to do.” She slumped to the stone floor, lying beside him, their faces a kiss apart, and she gazed at his primitive profile, not seeing the burns or the blood, seeing him, the cyborg she loved.
The chamber shook again, harder this time. That missile had landed closer to them.
She could die in the next heartbeat. Or it could take two planet rotations for her lifespan to end. Lethe had no way of predicting the timing of her death.
But she knew she’d be with her cyborg. Always.
“Even if I realized then how this would all end.” Her voice was a croak. “I would have still made that first deal with you.” She’d traded her body for the warship, giving herself to him completely. “It was the best one I’ve ever crafted.”
Lethe wished he’d open his eyes. She longed to see that brilliant blue again.
“I love you, Ghost.” She gazed at him until her eyeballs ached, savoring every last moment with him.
Then she closed her eyes and drifted into sleep.
* * *
“Drink, Mine.” Warm liquid splashed over her lips.
Lethe gulped. This must be that afterlife her parents believed in. There was plenty of liquid and her cyborg was with her, her version of a perfect place.
“Ghost.” She opened her eyes, looked into the dazzling blue of her dreams.
He kneeled beside her, naked, his face, neck, chest patchy, his skin different shades of gray. There were bald spots in his shaggy black hair.
He sealed the small container he held in his right hand. His silver frame was detectable under the thin layer of skin on his knuckles.
According to her parents, in the afterlife, no one would be damaged or in pain. He was both. Which meant…
“You’re alive.” She burrowed her face against his chest, her body trembling with relief. “I thought I had lost you.”
“Cyborg.” He set the container on the stone floor and ran his big hands up and down her bare back. “Repair.”
“There was a lot of damage.” Her laugh was shaky.
He was alive. She pressed her lips against his skin, savoring his heat. He held her to him as though he shared the same wonder, the same joy of living.
“Where did you find the beverage?” There had been no containers stored on the multi-level supports.
Ghost tapped his thigh. A compartment opened. There was another container hidden inside the small space.
“You carry beverage with you?” She frowned at him. “But cyborgs don’t require much liquid.” They had internal processing systems.
“For you.” He brushed his fingers over her surprisingly wet cheeks. She must have cried. She hadn’t noticed, too enthralled with him. “Safe. Always.”
Her cyborg carried containers of beverage inside his body for her, to ensure she never lacked liquid, never again suffered from dehydration. Lethe sniffled, touched by his actions, his thoughtfulness. Without being asked, without saying a word, he’d taken that step, easing her fears.
“You’re a good male,” she murmured.
He grunted. She’d learned how to read his animalistic noises. That one told her he didn’t believe he was a good male.
“You are.” He had a big heart and she loved him for it.
“Crash,” he grumbled. “Danger.”
“The crash was my fault.” She accepted full responsibility. “You suspected it was a trap and you were right.” She had thought, at the time, he was being overprotective. “They were waiting for us to lower our shields.”
The Denebs had delayed their attack until their target couldn’t escape them. It had been a clever plan. The battle strategist in her admired it. And it had been effective. They had downed her warship.
Her beautiful A Class Warship.
Ghost rumbled with unhappiness.
“The beings we were trying to rescue shot us out of the sky.” Lethe wondered how many other rescue ships the Denebs had destroyed, mistaking them for Humanoid Alliance vessels.
If those tragic errors were happening on Deneb 9, it was logical that they had happened on Mercury Minor also. That realization eased her guilt over the invasion.
She’d taken one seat. A ship could have held hundreds, thousands of beings.
The stone floor shook under them. Dust swirled in the air.
“Should we move to a safer location?” She would help him walk if he wasn’t able.
“Safe.” He shrugged, his gaze remaining fixed on her face. “Already bombed.”
The Humanoid Alliance was unlikely to waste missiles and bomb it again. Not immediately.
“Then we can stay here for a while.” Lethe summoned a smile. He could heal, add a couple more layers of skin to his metal frame.
Ghost grunted and pulled her closer to him. Her knees rubbed against stone, the friction heating her skin, exciting her.
They were both naked. His cock was hard, pressing against her stomach. His chest brushed along her sensitive nipples. His face was in her hair, his warm breath wafting against her curls.
Lethe wanted him now, always. Guilt was attached to that desire. Her thoughts of fucking were selfish. He’d been injured, had almost died. “Are you in a lot of pain?”
“No pain.” He mouthed down her neck, leaving a trail of nanocybotics.
Her breath hitched, her body aching for his. “You must be weak. You were badly damaged.” That comment was for herself, a reminder he was recovering.
“Cyborg.” Ghost nuzzled into the curve where her neck met her shoulder.
Her pussy dripped. “You need all of your nanocybotics.”
“Make more.” He burrowed his face into the hollow between her breasts. “Repair faster.”
“If you breed with me, you’ll repair faster?” She gingerly touched his chest, desiring that to be true, needing him.
Ghost grunted, his breath puffing against her curves.
That was a ‘yes’ type of grunt. Fucking him would hasten his healing.
She wanted to fuck him. Very much.
“Then breed with me.” Lethe lay back on the cool stone floor, drawing him over her, careful not to aggravate his wounds. “Let me heal you.”
“No ship.” His eyes gleamed. “New deal?”
Their previous deal was he could fuck her anywhere, anytime, as long as she had control of the warship. That warship had been destroyed.
“There’s no need for a new deal. I never fucked you for the warship,” she confessed as she spread her thighs, opening to him. “I desired you from the first moment you spoke.”
“Mine.” He prodded her pussy with his cock head, every bump of flesh against flesh spiraling her passion upward.
“Ours,” she corrected. “That was your first word. You called the commander that and I was wildly jealous. I wanted you to myself.” She closed her thighs around his hips, keeping her boot treads flat on the floor. His ass remained damaged. She couldn’t wrap her legs around him.
“Mine.” Ghost captured her lips in a hard kiss, driving her head back. He wasn’t as conscious of his wounds as she was. “Always.” He thrust into her, filling her pussy in one fluid movement with rigid cock.
“Always.” She arched her back, pressing her breasts against his chest, having thought she’d never feel him inside her again. Their connection was as strong, as unbreakable as he was.
And she believed in it, in him.
Lethe gazed up at him. He gazed back, not moving, their bodies still, linked, their souls, their hearts in tune. Words weren’t necessary. She saw the caring in his brilliant blue eyes, didn’t try to hide her love for him.
“Mine.” He withdrew to his tip, drove back into her, grunting with the motion. His fucking wasn’t gentle. He was a primitive male. But it wasn’t as vigorous as it normally was. Her cyborg was still recovering from his injuries.
“Come quickly for me.” Lethe gave him permission for a fast fuck. She’d come when he did, his nanocybotics would ensure that, and she didn’t want him to strain himself, to suffer a relapse. His first recovery had scared the shit out of her.
He rumbled, his chest vibrating against her nipples, and pounded into her, his gaze locked with hers. Lethe lifted her hips, meeting each thrust halfway. She was his equal, his, and she would protect him even from his own stubbornness.
They rutted like savage creatures, free and alive, so alive. The floor trembled as missiles fell. Her arms and legs quivered. His did also, the tremors escalating with each surge forward.
“Ghost, come for me.” She gave him one more opportunity to retain control of their encounter.
He growled, his eyes flashing.
“You are an obstinate brute.” And she loved every feral part of him, too much to allow him to hurt himself. She clenched her pussy around his shaft.
He roared, driving forward. Hot cum splashed against her inner walls. Lethe bit his chin to muffle her screams. The chamber spun. Pleasure swept over her again and again.
He pushed deeper and deeper into her, dragging her across the stone floor, pouring his essence into her, crazing her with bliss.
When she thought she couldn’t take any more, he collapsed, flattening her.
She squawked. He pulled his big body lower and rested his head between her breasts, breathing heavily, his weight comforting.
She petted what was left of his hair, the action soothing both of them. “Are you damaged?” Had she asked too much of him?
“Cyborg.”
Her lips twitched. “Cyborgs aren’t invincible. I saw your back.” And his head, his arms, his legs, his ass. “I know you can be damaged.”
He braced himself upward. “Protect.” His eyes blazed.
She’d hurt her cyborg’s pride. “I have never doubted that you can protect me.” Lethe tugged on his shoulders, encouraging him to rest against her. “Never.”
He lifted his eyebrows.
“I doubted that you would protect me,” she explained. “Because no one had ever had. I never doubted that you had the ability to safeguard me.”
“Mine.” He lowered once more. “Protect always.”
“And I will always protect you.” She threaded her fingers carefully through his hair, avoiding his wounds. “Because you’re mine. If you’re damaged, I want to know it.”
“Cyborg,” Ghost grumbled.
Lethe lifted her gaze to the ceiling. She wouldn’t win this argument. Her cyborg would never admit he was damaged. “I need to rest.”
He shifted.
She held on to him. “I feel safer with you on top of me.” She would force him to recover, use his need to protect her to benefit him.
He murmured something she couldn’t decipher. She petted the sides of his head. His muscles relaxed. His breathing leveled.
The stone floor under her body was unyielding. Her cyborg was heavy. The air around them was stale, stinking of old things. The bombing continued, rattling the containers on the multi-level support. And she didn’t know how they would make it off Deneb 9. They had no means of transport.
But she wouldn’t wish to be anywhere else. They were as safe as two beings could be on a planet under attack and they were together.
“Mine.” She whispered his favorite word.
He was all she needed.