Eight
Restore her energy levels.
Kasia rolled her eyes. Yes, she was exhausted from the long planet rotation and from their fucking. And yes, the sleeping support was temptingly soft. It had been solar cycles since she’d rested on one.
But no one locked her in.
Ever.
She stood in front of the control panel and looked at the layers of security her foolish male had erected around his command. Her lips hitched upward. He thought that would stop her.
She retrieved the handheld she’d hidden in the air conduit, an air conduit too small for her to crawl through. It took her mere moments to unlock the doors.
She programmed the doors to remain open. That would prove her point to a certain stubborn cyborg. Satisfied, she then hid the handheld once more, utilized the cleansing chamber, returned to the sleeping support and lay upon it.
It was decadent, molding to her body. She rolled onto her right side. And then her front. And then her left side.
The sleeping support was too luxurious. There was space all around her.
Kasia turned her body until she lay width-wise, the head of the sleeping support snug against her back.
It wasn’t enough. She was unable to relax. The front of her was exposed. She could sense that with her eyes closed.
Exposure meant possible death. The enemy could strike from that direction.
An attack was unlikely. Consciously, Kasia knew that.
She was resting in Vector’s private chamber in a warship in a battle station, surrounded by cyborgs, some of the best warriors in the universe. They would protect her and themselves.
But she couldn’t undo half a lifespan of conditioning. Large spaces were dangerous. Closing the doors wouldn’t make the chamber significantly smaller, wouldn’t ease her tension.
She had to find a smaller space in which to sleep.
Kasia slipped off the sleeping support and gazed around her. Compartments were risky. She’d hidden in one solar cycles ago and had almost suffocated.
The horizontal support was too high. The chair was too low.
Her gaze drifted back to the sleeping support. There was a space between it and the floor.
She crawled into that space, the tiles cool against her skin. It was dark, cramped, yet had exits on three sides.
It resembled an air conduit.
Kasia curled up into a tight ball. Air conduits were safe. Her breathing leveled. She could hide in them.
Blackness engulfed her.
* * *
Kasia woke a full shift later.
Vector had entered the chamber while she slept. A neatly folded flight suit and her boots were set on the floor. The boots had been polished. Beside them were containers of beverage, nourishment bars, and cleansing cloths.
Kasia was a light sleeper. That trait had kept her alive during the past solar cycles. Yet she hadn’t woken.
Her cyborg was silent.
She crawled out of her safe haven, picked up a cleansing cloth and tidied herself, flicking the square to refresh it. There was no removing the bubbling sensation inside her or the scent of Vector on her skin. She suspected those pieces of him would always remain with her.
If she wasn’t careful, all of her would remain with her warrior. As Vector learned about her evasion tactics, it would become more and more difficult to escape him.
She should leave.
There was no reason to linger. She’d given him the information about the fail-safes, had transferred everything she knew. They’d fucked. Gloriously. She’d never forget that experience, would never forget him.
Staying longer would doom her warrior to a lifespan like hers, something Kasia would never wish upon another being.
Vector had already claimed her privately. The next step she suspected her overly honorable, honest warrior would take would be to claim her publicly and that would make him a target. He’d detailed that danger to Dissent.
The cyborg council would hunt Vector. He’d constantly be on the run, hiding from his enemies. No friends, no family could associate with him, not safely.
Kasia touched her flat stomach, remembering the yearning on Vector’s stark face when they talked about offspring. Her cyborg wasn’t designed for a lifespan spent in isolation.
She couldn’t inflict that fate on him.
Kasia dressed slowly, her limbs weighted down with dread. She drank beverage, ate a nourishment bar. That didn’t revive her.
The doors to the chamber were closed. She moved the covering to the air conduit, reached inside.
Felt nothing. The handheld was missing. Vector must have taken it.
That was yet more proof he never planned to let her go. She had to protect her warrior as he was attempting to safeguard her.
Kasia retrieved the handheld she’d strapped to the bottom of the horizontal support. It was the last device she’d hidden in his chamber. If Vector confiscated it, she wouldn’t be able to leave.
Sweat trickled down her spine. She’d be trapped and he would be also.
That couldn’t happen.
Vector had added extra barriers to prevent access to the doors. That didn’t stop her. Kasia opened the doors, that feat accomplished in mere moments.
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.