Fifteen
Ghost lay on top of his female as she slept. He monitored the terrain around them, guarding her. The fighting on the ground edged closer and closer to them.
The warriors finally entered what he considered to be their space. He lifted his head, pushed himself upward.
“What is it?” His female’s eyes opened.
“Fighting too close.” He jumped to his feet, determined to end that conflict.
“Are we moving?” She grasped her dagger, her small fingers closing around the hilt.
“Stay.” He would quickly clear their terrain.
“But—”
“Protect.” Ghost waved his hands at the chamber. He could protect her in the underground chamber. No one would see her, touch her.
“Oh.” Her eyes widened. “Yes.” She nodded. “I’ll protect our space. I won’t allow anyone else to enter it.”
That wasn’t what he meant but if her misinterpretation of his words kept her in the chamber, he wouldn’t correct her.
She looked at the dagger in her hand and then at him. “You should take this.” She held the small blade out to him.
Ghost didn’t move, stunned by the gesture. She carried that weapon with her always. When they first met, she had slept with it in her hands.
And she was giving it to him.
“Cyborg.” His voice was gruff. He didn’t require the dagger to clear their terrain of warriors. His bare hands were sufficient to do that.
But he would always remember she had offered her little weapon to him. That knowledge would be held close to his heart.
“You’ll be careful?” The caring in his female’s eyes warmed his soul.
“Yes.” Ghost removed a container of beverage from his thigh compartment, handed it to her.
She looked at it and then up at him. “You’ll return for me?”
“Always,” he assured her. The sound of gunfire was now detectable by his enhanced auditory system. He had to leave her. “Mine.”
He pulled her close to him, rubbed his hands over her back, burrowed his chin into her hair, wanting to take her scent with him.
“Try not to kill the Rebels,” she mumbled against his chest.
“Try.” If they threatened her, they would all die. He drew back from her, gazed down at his female, the being he’d trade his life to save.
“I’ll ensure no one enters this chamber.” She pressed her lips together, looking determined.
He’d ensure that also. Ghost grunted, turned, ran up the ramp. A scan of the exterior told him the warriors would be out of visual range.
He pushed the slab of stone aside, exited their hiding place, took one last glance at his female’s upturned face, and replaced the square.
She would be safe. He’d protect her.
Ghost sprinted toward the conflict on the ground. His feet were shielded from the sharp edges of the debris by his boots, the gift his female had given him. The rest of his body was bare.
He jumped over the rubble, raced around partially demolished walls. His speed was cyborg-fast, faster than a human’s vision system could lock on but he wasn’t operating at optimal levels.
He wasn’t yet fully repaired. His sense of purpose offset that damage. He wasn’t running into battle for an enemy he hated. He was entering battle to safeguard the female he cherished.
The faces of the other females, the females he’d failed, flooded his processors. The images made him wilder, more desperate to clear his terrain.
His gaze locked on the battle. Two Rebels hid behind a small downed ship, their green hair and skin telling him they were Denebs. The female—obviously the leader—barked, demanding more projectiles. The male patted the ground around them, looking for ammunition. Even at a distance, Ghost could see there wasn’t any available.
Three Humanoid Alliance warriors advanced. They were in full body armor, wore helmets, had long guns in their hands. One male lugged a huge weapons pack.
The Rebels were outnumbered and outgunned. If Ghost waited, they would be dead within moments.
But his female had asked him not to kill them. And without ammunition, they posed little threat to her.
He turned his attention to the Humanoid Alliance warriors, racing toward them.
They didn’t see him coming. He rushed them from behind, grabbed the first warrior’s helmet and tore it off his shoulders. The male’s skull was still inside. Blood spurted. The human’s arms and legs twitched.
The other two warriors turned. Ghost yanked the long guns from their hands and then beat them with their own weapons. They shrieked. The metal dented. Bones crunched.
The males fell to the ground.
The Rebels stood, their useless guns in their hands, their mouths open. Ghost turned and glared at them. They didn’t move.
He tore off one of the headless Humanoid Alliance male’s arms and threw it at them.
That spurred them into motion. The humanoids ran, stumbling over toppled walls, scrambling to get away from him.
His terrain was clear of threats.
Ghost opened the Humanoid Alliance warriors’ pack, stripped the weapons off the males, put them with the rest. Their body armor was too small for him. It was also too large for his female but he could modify it.
He sat on a block of building material, tore the other arm off the headless male. Blood splattered over his skin. He extracted a dagger from the pack, cut the body armor at the male’s waist, slicing into flesh.
Ghost continued to monitor his surroundings as he fashioned a protective chest covering for his female. In the distance, the Humanoid Alliance pounded the ground with missiles, their ships hovering out of reach of the Rebels. Fires burned, filling the air with smoke and ash. A layer of gray covered everything.
A small humanoid approached him. He heard her tread, caught a glimpse of her green skin. She took a couple of steps and stopped, took a couple of steps and stopped.
He breathed deeply. Female. Ours.
Protecting her wasn’t possible. His focus was on his own female, a female the newcomer was drawing nearer.
He growled, expressing his unhappiness, stripped the protective chest covering off the corpse and shoved it into the pack.
Too weak, too shell-shocked to heed the warning, the Deneb female edged closer to him, picking her way through the rubble. Her feet were bare, had been sliced by sharp pieces of the wreckage around them. The scent of her blood meshed with the other aromas.
“Closer. I kill.” He glared at her.
“You speak the universal language,” the female croaked, straightening. Her parched lips cracked as they moved. She was thin, her shapeless body garment hanging from her bony shoulders, her eyes large.
Ghost grunted, eyeing her with irritation, discomfited by the emotions she stirred in him. His female had his first loyalty but he felt guilt that he couldn’t safeguard the newcomer. She belonged to one of his brethren.
“Will you trade with me?” She waved her hands at the pack of weapons. “Give me one gun and you can have this.” She pulled down her body garment, showing him her small breasts.
“Not Mine.” He wasn’t interested in anyone other than his female.
“Please.” She swayed. “I’ll do anything you want.” She fell to her knees.
Fraggin’ hole. When he looked at this Deneb female, he saw his own. She’d been alone on a war-torn planet also, had nothing other than her body to trade. Males had used her, giving her enough to survive.
He wouldn’t use the Deneb female but he could give her enough to survive.
Ghost studied the three males. His second kill had the smallest feet. He unfastened that corpse’s boots, plunked them on a block. The Deneb female could move faster with footwear.
He searched through the pack, found two daggers, placed them beside the boots. She could trade one for whatever she needed, use the other to defend herself, hiding it in the front pocket of her garment.
All of that would be useless if she died of thirst first. He extracted a half-filled container of beverage from a thigh compartment and set it beside the weapons.
“Yours.” He stood.
Her gaze shifted to his gifts. “What do you want for that?”
“Nothing.” Ghost hefted the weapons pack over one of his shoulders.
The Deneb female narrowed her eyes at him. She didn’t move to retrieve the supplies he’d left for her.
He understood why she was wary. He’d view it as a trap also.
Ghost didn’t have the time or the patience to reassure her. His female was alone. The planet was under attack. He strode away, not looking back.
His scans said the terrain was clear but he’d complete a walk around it and visually verify that fact. While he was surveying the area, he’d scout for ships on the ground, preferably vessels that were undamaged.
His first priority was protecting his female. His second priority was getting them both safely off the planet. To do that, they needed transportation.
* * *
When Ghost returned to the subterranean chamber, his female was waiting for him, her dagger in her hand, her lush body lowered in a combat stance, hidden in the shadows.
She was concealed from human view. He was a cyborg and could see his little defender perfectly.
“Safe.” His lips twitched. She was protecting the space as she had promised.
“You are safe.” The relief on her beautiful face warmed his heart. “Thank the stars.”
She slipped her dagger into the front pocket of her garment. It was similar to the one the Deneb female had been wearing. The fabric was primarily green with images of vegetation on it. It pulled tightly across her breasts and hips. The single leg opening stopped at her knee and swished as she rushed up the ramp to greet him.
Halfway up the incline, she slipped on a patch of bryophyte. Her legs shot out from under her. She yelped, her arms waving.
Ghost dashed forward and caught her before she fell. “Careful.” He pulled her to him.
“Tell me all of this blood isn’t yours.” She patted his big body, her touching exciting him.
“Not damaged.” He breathed deeply and frowned. A musty scent clung to her. He sniffed down her neck, between her breasts. “This.” He plucked at the garment.
“Do you like it?” She smiled. “I found it on one of the multi-level horizontal supports.”
“No.” He didn’t like it. It concealed her natural scent.
“Oh.” She blinked. “Do the eyes and the smiling lips on the leaves and flowers bother you?” She looked down at the garment. “I thought they were cute.”
He gazed closer. There were human-like faces on the images of the vegetation. Why would the manufacturer do that? It served no practical purpose.
“Smells wrong.” That was his main concern, not her garment’s design.
He lifted her high against his chest and rubbed her over his bare skin. The enticing aroma of her arousal intensified.
She hooked her legs around his waist. The action lifted the bottom of the garment, exposing her pussy to him. Ghost grunted with satisfaction. That style of body covering did have its advantages.
He dropped the pack of weapons, stomped down the ramp, carrying her, his hands cupped under her generous ass, his cock hard.
They had to leave the chamber soon. He’d spotted a small ship they might be able to steal. It was lightly guarded and could be utilized at any moment.
That mission held danger, could damage his female. Breeding with her would ensure she repaired as quickly as possible.
It would also remove the irritating musty scent on the garment she’d donned.
He propped her against the wall. Her brown eyes had darkened with passion. Her hair was adorably mussed. He wanted her more than he wanted his next breath.
Ghost positioned himself at her entrance and thrust. She squeaked. A grunt of happiness escaped his lips. She was wet, hot, tight, fitting him like a sheath fit a dagger.
He reluctantly retreated and then drove into her once more, retreated, drove into her. She gripped his shoulders, holding onto him. He’d never allow her to fall.
She was his, his sanctuary after a shift of killing, his oasis on a planet ripped apart by war. The musty stench, the smoke, the metallic scent of blood faded and all he smelled was her, her musk clouding his brain, straining his processors.
She panted, crying out for more, more, more, and he gave that to her, ravishing her savagely, knowing she could handle him, handle his needs. Beads of sweat lifted on her golden skin. Her wetness dripped between his balls.
“Harder.” She bounced her booted heels against his ass.
He growled and complied, pounding into her. “Mine.” He’d please her, wouldn’t fail her. Ghost mouthed over her chin, her neck.
“Yes.” She moaned, the sound tightening his already tormented balls. Her fingernails dug into his skin. Her inner walls closed around his shaft.
A sense of urgency infected both of them; an awareness that the enemy could advance in a moment, interrupt their breeding. If they waited to come, they might not get that opportunity.
Ghost rumbled, past words, past thinking, the primitive part of his human half taking over, his machine spinning in the background. His female undulated, the layer of fabric between them warm and damp.
“Ghost.” Her voice stretched with need.
“Mine.” He’d give her what she wanted, now, always. Ghost drove deep, smacking her ass against the wall, and he ground against her, rubbing over her clit.
She opened her mouth to scream. He covered her lips, swallowing the sound, and roared with his own satisfaction. Hard jets of cum pulsed from his body, each spurt bringing a tension-dissolving bliss.
She writhed and shook, her lips vibrating against his, silent screams heard only by his heart. Her pussy squeezed around him and released, an intimate massage coaxing every drop from his cock, draining him until he had nothing left.
Sagging, he leaned his forehead against hers, temporarily weakened by his small human. He knew that in a few moments he would be stronger, faster, a better cyborg. Ghost looked into her eyes. She made him better, whole, repairing his damage.
“Now, do I smell right?” She smiled.
He grunted an affirmative, his lips curving. The musty scent on her garment had faded. She smelled like she was his.
“Good.” His female laughed softly.
Ghost wasn’t given an opportunity to enjoy her mirth. He stiffened, sensing a being nearby.
Her laughter immediately faded. “What is it?”
“Female.” He pointed to the ceiling.
“She can’t be Humanoid Alliance,” his female whispered.
“Ours.” It was the Deneb female. She’d somehow tracked him back to the chamber. Ghost lowered his female until her boots touched the floor.
“Then she’s not a threat.” His female didn’t share his sense of urgency.
“Lead others here.” He retrieved the pack, extracted the protective chest covering he’d crafted. His nose wrinkled. It smelled of the other male.
He swept it over his bare skin. His female should only smell of him.
“Is this female nice?” She smoothed down her garment.
He grunted. The other female didn’t concern him…much.
The female who did concern him ran her fingers through her hair. “Is she pretty?”
“Not Mine.” He pulled the protective chest covering over her head, guided her arms through the holes. The garment bunched around her breasts. His female was more lushly built than the human male.
“What is her name?”
He removed a dagger from the pack and sliced the garment down the center of her chest.
“Why am I asking you?” His female huffed. “You likely called her Ours.”
“Not Mine,” he repeated. The Deneb female belonged to one of his brethren.
The chest covering had sheaths and holsters. He placed two guns in the holsters by her waist, added a dagger to the sheath by her left breast.
“If you want me to be able to walk, that’s all I can carry.” Her tone was dry.
“Human.” He was achingly aware of her kind’s frailty.
“I’m a strong human.” She marched around the chamber, her boot heels clunking against the stone floor. “You should have made one for yourself, cyborg.”
“Chest too big.” He palmed two guns, slung a long gun over his right shoulder, placed the pack over his left. “Stay with me, Mine.”
“I’m yours.” She looked at him, her eyes glowing. “Of course, I’ll stay with you.”
She was his. Ghost’s jaw jutted. He would protect her.
He wouldn’t fail her.