Burning Up Flint

by Laurann Dohner

  Burning Up Flint

  Laurann Dohner

  Book 1 in the Cyborg Seduction series.

  Flint is tall, gorgeous and dangerous. He’s a cyborg—the absolute ultimate alpha male. He takes what he wants and holds what is his. Mira is his now. He takes her aboard his ship and has her branded with his mark. He captured her, owns her, and she will serve his every need.

  Mira is instantly drawn to Flint, fascinated by his seductive appeal. The sex between them is smoking hot. Until she finds out he is a breeder, contracted to a dozen cyborg women, and she is no more than a possession.

  Mira won’t share her cyborg and she belongs to no one—not even to a man who has captured her heart. She doesn’t know if cyborgs feel…anything. Can Flint love her? Mira is determined to find out, no matter how much trouble she makes for the big guy.

  An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

  www.ellorascave.com

  Burning Up Flint

  ISBN 9781419926747

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Burning Up Flint Copyright © 2010 Laurann Dohner

  Edited by Pamela Campbell

  Cover art by Syneca

  Electronic book publication March 2010

  The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.

  With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

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  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Burning Up Flint

  Laurann Dohner

  Dedication

  I want to thank my husband David—for being who you are, for making the last twenty years the best ones of my life, and for inspiring me to follow my dreams. I couldn’t do it without you! You’ve made me a believer that love grows stronger with each passing year—and I still think you’re smokin’ hot.

  Chapter One

  Mira frowned as the shuttle vibrated violently when it shouldn’t have. The flight from Space Station Abaccas back to Earth was a straight shot of bursts. Sudden navigational changes caused vibrations, and judging by the way the shuttle was bouncing her around in a teeth-jarring way, they had to have changed their trajectory a lot, which frightened her. Was something in their flight path?

  It happened very rarely but sometimes shuttles were attacked by pirates. It was a horrible thought and an even worse reality if that’s what was happening. The short four-day flight in the shuttle from Abaccas to Earth was never attacked since thieves liked to go after the heavily supplied, larger ships. The shuttle was a poor target to hit with its meager resources and few passengers to rob. She soothed her fears by thinking it had to be just space garbage the pilot was trying to avoid.

  Alarms screamed in the cabin and Mira’s gaze flew to the only other passenger, General William Reed, who was her father’s age—in his late sixties—and he looked furious. He met her gaze and reached for his side blazer. She stared at him, wondering what he meant to do with the retractable blade of synthetic steel. Knives and side blazers were the only weapons permitted. Guns or any other weapon that shot projectiles were regarded as dangerous to a ship’s hull and weren’t allowed on shuttles because, with the constant pressure changes, they could accidentally misfire.

  “Shit,” the man cursed. He grabbed his seat, pressing the com link to the cockpit. “What is it? What is going on, pilot?”

  “Two vessels, Sir,” the pilot sounded panicked. “We’re being overtaken and they are blocking us in. They are faster than we are and we can’t escape.”

  “Who is it?” The general was yelling now.

  “I don’t know, Sir,” the pilot yelled back. “They aren’t marked so they are probably pirates since they won’t respond to our calls.”

  The general cursed again and released the com. Mira watched him yank off his wedding ring to shove it behind the backrest cushion. He looked around the cabin critically until his gaze finally rested on Mira, who wasn’t fond of the pompous man. The evening before, when she’d boarded the shuttle, he’d annoyed her with boring conversations and his inflated ego.

  “They won’t get much but you.” His lips turned downward into a frown. “I’m sorry, my dear. I have a daughter your age.” He released his belt and stood. “I won’t let them take you alive.”

  She watched the man grab for his blazer again, his intent becoming clear as the blade shot out at the press of his thumb. The blazer looked like a dagger until the blade extended into a short sword. Horror washed over her as she lurched for her belt release. Her fingers shook as she pushed the button, knowing he was going to kill her before he would allow the pirates to get her.

  “Stay away from me. You can’t kill me.”

  The man was thrown off balance as the shuttle jarred violently before the engines died and Mira felt the gravity on the shuttle waver. Her ass left the seat for a second before it was restored. Both actions caused the older man to stumble sideways as she slammed back into her seat. He tripped and fell hard when gravity sucked him back to the floor.

  “Do you know what pirates do to women?” He hauled his body up slowly. “You’ll be lucky if the men on those two ships just rape you to death. I’ve heard stories that some women get taken back to their planet and forced into pleasure houses where you’ll be used by dozens of men every day until you die within a few months.”

  She clambered out of her seat and barely missed the blade he sent downward where she’d sat a second before, the sound of splitting fabric loud in her ears. She backed up and then screamed. There was a loud crunch of metal as the shuttle was suddenly shoved hard to one side, as if something had slammed into it, causing another alarm to shriek while red lights flashed in the large cabin. She was thrown across the shuttle but as she looked up from the floor where she’d landed hard she realized it had been a blessing.

  “We’re being boarded,” the pilot shouted from the front. “Disarm and hopefully they won’t kill us.”

  “They are coming,” the general yelled at her. “Have a brain and get over here. I’ll make it fast and painless.”

  Mira had no intention of dying, knowing her family and her employer would pay for her safe return. She came from a rich and powerful family and knew she could talk whoever captured her into ransoming her. She ran for the bathroom just feet away from where she’d landed and made it inside. She slammed the door and pushed the lock. In seconds the general was beating on it, trying to gain entrance.

  “Stay away from me,” she shouted. “I’ll pay my way out of this. Are you crazy? I’m worth more alive than dead.”

  “Damn it, they won’t care.”

  “Everyone loves money. They aren’t pirates for the hell of living in space. They are trying to get rich.”

  The man cursed. “Stupid woman!” He kicked the door but then it grew silent.

  Mira’s heart pounded when the shuttle shudde
red. The lights flickered in the bathroom but they stayed on so she wasn’t left in the dark. She backed away from the door as far as she could get in the tiny compartment that housed only a toilet and a small foam cleaning unit in a corner. She bit her lip. Would the crazy general try to put his blazer through the thin metal to stab at her?

  A long minute passed and then another. A knock sounded on the door. Mira jumped, startled. “Go away. I’m not going to let you kill me, General.”

  Seconds of silence passed and then a deep voice with a gruff tone spoke. “I’m not a general and I have no intention of killing a woman. Open the door now or I’ll have to blow the lock. I would hate to risk damaging you.”

  Mira was certain that voice didn’t belong to either of the two pilots or the general. She hesitated.

  “I don’t have hours to spare,” the deep voice rumbled. “Open the door.”

  She moved slowly, reaching for the lock and sliding the bolt. If the door was blown it could end up killing her. Before she could reach for the handle, the door was jerked open. Mira stared in astonishment at the tall man who filled the doorway, knowing her mouth fell open, but she was helpless to stop it as she took in the sight before her.

  It wasn’t a human man who stared back at her. The urge to faint was strong but Mira wasn’t the fainting type. If she were she would have hit the floor. She’d seen pictures of men such as he. He was at least six-foot-four with jet-black hair that brushed the top of his shoulders. Intense dark blue eyes studied her. Dull black leather encased his wide shoulders and powerfully built arms. His full lips curved into a tight smile and when he blinked, his thick black eyelashes drew her attention. The skin of his face was a dull nickel color.

  “You’re a cyborg,” she whispered in awe.

  The smile grew. “You’re human,” he said softly, amusement sparking in his eyes.

  “But…” She swallowed. “They said all of you had been destroyed over twenty years ago.”

  He shrugged his massive shoulders. “They lied. What is your name?”

  Her mind was reeling. “Um…”

  “Um is an odd name.”

  “Mirasia Carver.” She cleared her throat. “I am just shocked.”

  “You look it. Come with me. I won’t hurt you.”

  He hesitated before holding out his large hand to her. She saw that he wore gloves and metal adorned the back of them like a weapon. If he were to backhand someone, it would break bones. She stared at the his hand and then realized he was offering to help her out of the tiny room. She was trembling as she lifted her smaller hand to place it in his, where only soft black material covered his palm.

  His hand closed over hers gently as he tugged her out of the bathroom. She was a little alarmed as she glanced around the cabin of the shuttle to see the general and both pilots were bound—their hands behind their backs, on their knees on the floor. Three more large cyborgs were assessing her and Mira couldn’t help but stare back at each of the large men.

  It surprised Mira that cyborgs looked different from each other. She half expected them to be so similar that they resembled clones, since they’d been manufactured in laboratories on Earth. She had read somewhere that cyborgs had metallic-toned skin to set them apart visually from humans. She took in the varying skin tones of all four men, ranging from a light dull silver gray to an almost pewter color. Their bodies were thick, buff, massive, and they were all tall—the shortest one was about six-foot-two while the tallest was inches more in height—but that was where the similarities stopped. One of the men had shockingly white hair while the other two had black hair like the one who gently gripped her hand.

  “Leave her with us,” the general said gruffly. “You’re machines so you don’t need to rape a woman. Take whatever the hell you want and let us go.”

  The redheaded pilot was unusually pale. “They won’t let any of us go,” he whispered. “They only attack when they’re looking for spare human materials.”

  The general paled noticeably and pure terror showed on his face. The other pilot moaned softly, shaking with fear. Mira looked up at the large cyborg still holding her hand to watch as he tilted his head slightly, studying the three bound men carefully. He turned toward the white-haired cyborg.

  “Take DNA samples of the males and strip the shuttle of anything we can safely salvage from them.”

  The white-haired cyborg jerked his head in affirmation that he’d heard before reaching into one of the large pockets of his black pants to withdraw a small case. Mira watched silently as the man withdrew a small, white device from inside the case and gripped one of the pilots. He extracted blood and tissue from the man’s arm. The pilot groaned in pain but it was over quickly. The cyborg extracted samples from the other two men and then his gaze lifted to Mira.

  “Her?”

  “No.” The cyborg standing next to her shook his head.

  The other frowned. “But—”

  “Enough, Ice. Don’t question me in front of the humans.” He smiled coldly.

  Ice grinned. “So should we take human materials, Flint?”

  Flint looked amused. “Let me think about it while you strip the ship.”

  Mira eyed the cyborg standing next to her, still gripping her hand. His name was Flint. The government had announced that they’d destroyed every last cyborg model made but they had obviously lied since she was staring at four of them. Supposedly, the last of the cyborgs had been stamped out of existence when she was a child, their destruction having been ordered by the government nearly twenty years before she was born.

  Out of curiosity, she’d read as much as she could about them, and from what she remembered, they had been assigned numbers instead of names. Part of her was excited at seeing that they had survived while part of her was ashamed because what had been done to them.

  As the three cyborgs tore the shuttle apart removing what they wanted to take she let her mind drift to her history lessons. At first scientists and doctors had used cybernetics to replace missing limbs, failed organs, and they’d managed to map the human brain to help the mentally ill. They had also made advancements to help repair brain-damaged people to be fully functional again. Eventually they’d mated humans with technology enough to think they could increase lifespan to a projected two hundred years. With space travel advancing, the scientists had decided disposable soldiers were a brilliant idea.

  Mira had cringed in horror at learning that part of history. The military and the scientific community had gotten together for Project Cyborg. They had grown cyborgs in laboratories, made them tougher, stronger, bigger than humans and with longer life spans. They wanted to send them out into deep space for exploration.

  What they hadn’t counted on were their perfect soldiers becoming self-aware when their human side overrode the programmed chips in their brains. Cyborgs had demanded basic civil rights and when they were denied those rights, the rebellion had started. Cyborgs hadn’t been violent but instead they’d gone on strike, refusing to work for a government that wouldn’t admit they were sentient beings. It had really pissed off the government.

  Fearing that the animosity would escalate and the cyborgs would call an all-out war against their creators, humans became afraid. The government had ordered all cyborgs destroyed. Sympathetic humans had tried to hide the cyborgs to keep them safe but it was announced one day when she was about twelve years old that every unaccounted model had been found and destroyed. Mira had cried when she heard that the last of the cyborgs were forever gone. She thought it was a screwed-up thing to deny them rights since they were human—at least mostly human—and she thought genocide of a created race was a horror.

  The Earth Government had definitely lied to the public. Mira watched as the cyborgs finished removing what they wanted from the shuttle. She realized the large cyborg was still holding her hand so she looked up at Flint. She smiled at him when he turned his head to meet her eyes.

  “I’m glad not all of you were killed. I thought it was wrong what w
as done to your people.”

  She saw his black eyebrows arch in shock at her statement. She flushed a little, embarrassed. “My parents were sympathizers so they raised me to believe in freedom for all.”

  The general uttered a foul curse. “You’re being polite to that thing?” He spit on the floor. “They are machines that aren’t worth speaking to. You may as well talk to the shuttle.”

  “Shut up,” the pilot hissed at the general. “So far they haven’t killed us and they usually do. They usually take people for spare parts.”

  Frowning, Mira looked at the pilot. “Spare parts? I don’t understand.”

  The other pilot flashed Mira a frightened look. “They cut us up and use our skin and internal organs to make more of them.”

  Her gaze shot to the tall cyborg standing next to her. Flint was frowning at the pilot.

  “You know,” he said slowly, “I know a downed model about your size who needs repairs.”

  Horror hit Mira as she yanked her hand out of the cyborg’s hold. She turned, inching away from him, to put herself in front of the pilot. “You can’t really mean that. He’s a living person.”

  The tall cyborg looked at Mira. “So are we. We breathe. It never stopped humans from trying to kill every one of us to benefit themselves.”

  She swallowed. “We didn’t do that to your kind. I wasn’t even born when those idiots made that law to have your kind destroyed and he’s not much older than I am.”

  “You’re right.” The cyborg nodded, his attention turned to the general. “You are old enough to have been a part of it. You’re a military man. Perhaps I should take you for spare parts.”

  Mira glanced at the general. She bit her lip before moving out of the way. She saw Flint shoot her a surprised look, his eyebrow arching again.