Breathing Vapor

by Cynthia Sax

  Her future would be filled with lies. That thought was unbearable, as was the pressure building within her. “Vapor.” She wiggled, needing him inside her.

  “Behave.” Her cyborg sounded more pleased than disapproving. He raised her above him, his tip grazing her wetness, and slowly lowered her.

  Stars. Her eyes rolled back in her head, a moan escaping her lips. She felt all of him, the bloom on his tip, the veins on his shaft, the pinch of his base.

  “You’re mine.” He gazed at her as though she was the most beautiful creature on the planet, his eyes dark and his skin flushed.

  “Your kill.” Her chest felt tight, her breathing strained.

  “My universe.” Vapor cupped her burning ass. She gasped. He drew her upward, gliding her pussy lips over his length, and dropped her.

  Mira cried his name, reaching out to him, her fingernails leaving pink trails on his tanned pecs and abs. Her ass connected with his thighs, pain radiating from the contact and her pleasure climbed skyward.

  He ravished her again and again, his pace fast and hard. She held onto his shoulders, riding the solar storm of desire. Her breasts jiggled. Her curls bounced against her cheeks. Her pussy juices splattered over his thighs, oozing between his balls.

  She was alive with emotion, flooded with feeling. Mira licked the rivulet of sweat trickling down his cheek, tasting the salt of his efforts. He shuddered, his rhythm disrupted for one, two heartbeats and then resuming.

  That’s the effect she had on her normally restrained cyborg. Pride straightened Mira’s spine. One flick of her tongue and he forgot what he was doing.

  She laved his cheek again.

  “Mira,” he groaned, his cock twitching inside her.

  She fastened her mouth over his chin and sucked.

  “Frag.” Vapor flipped her onto her back, smacking her skin against the leather seat. She shrieked, her ass having not yet recovered from the spanking. He thrust into her with vigor and the air whooshed from her lungs, silencing her.

  She struggled for breath. He covered her mouth, giving her his. They fucked, like wild things, all thoughts purged from her brain, all control stripped from her cyborg.

  Mira wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her legs around his hips, and drove her heels into his clenched ass cheeks. He grunted, plunging in and out of her, his ferocity making her pussy hum and her heart race.

  Sweat covered their forms, wetting her hair, slicking the sensual slide. He was her world. The Humanoid Alliance, the purifying, the deaths, her enemies no longer existed for her. All she knew was the male on top of her, the green and gold sparks in his eyes, the starkness of his face, the rippling of his muscles.

  How would she survive without him? He kept her emotions at bay while they were in public, allowed her to release them in private. She couldn’t go back to being cold, to being Mira the Merciless.

  She no longer wanted that role, didn’t think she could convincingly play it, not after knowing him, knowing this, her pussy stretched around his cock, their breaths intermingled, her heart beating against his.

  “Vapor?” Torn between not wanting their encounter to end and needing to come, she handed that decision to him, allowing him to once again manage her emotions.

  “Three more, female.” He pulled out to his tip. “You can do it.” He slammed back into her, rocking her body.

  “One,” she whimpered, wanting to please him, not knowing if she could.

  Vapor retreated. “You’re strong.” He thrust, slapping his balls against her skin.

  “Two,” she cried, clutching his shoulders. Her body shook, her teeth rattling.

  “You’ll come for me.” He withdrew once more. “Come.” Vapor filled her with his hard cock. “Now.” He swiveled his hips, grinding against her clit.

  Mira screamed, pushed upward, hit solid chest, unmoving male. He roared and surged deeper. Nanocybotics-infused cum spurted from his tip, splattered against her inner walls and her mind fractured into a million points of light and sound.

  She was a star gone supernova, blindingly brilliant, heated to the boiling point and beyond, her orgasm engulfing her entire form from her fingertips to her toes. Only her cyborg could hold her and he did exactly that, his forehead dropped against hers, his arms around her, his hips pinning hers to the seat.

  He rumbled. His words were too quiet to be deciphered but she felt their meaning. She was his. He’d never let her go.

  That had to be a lie. He was leaving at the end of the next planet rotation. But Vapor was a cyborg. Cyborgs always told the truth.

  “I’m flattening you.” He lifted her limp form and hooked his arms around her.

  What was he doing? She gazed up at him. The seat was too narrow for rolling.

  They were airborne for a heart-stopping moment. Vapor twisted, moving her body with his and he landed on his back, with her on top of him, that show of strength and skill impressing her.

  “You are the best,” she murmured against his chest.

  “I am.”

  She grinned. Modesty wasn’t one of his strengths. She lay with him, relishing the quiet, the company, the caring. He might still be planning to kill her but he did care for her. She knew that in her soul.

  “You like offspring.”

  Where did that comment come from? “I do.” She loved babies, had risked her life protecting them, cyborg, human, humanoid.

  He stroked his big palms over her hair. “Cyborgs can’t have offspring naturally. Offspring have to be created in a laboratory.”

  “That’s what all of the scientists believe.” She was the Designer’s daughter. She was aware that the breeding programs had failed. “But they could be wrong. Offspring might be possible for you.”

  “They’re not.” Vapor sounded certain.

  “Anything is possible.” Mira had lived long enough to see exceptions to every rule.

  “Look at me.” He grabbed a handful of her hair and tilted her head back, forcing her to meet his gaze. “Anything isn’t possible. Cyborgs can’t have offspring naturally.”

  “Okay.” She suppressed her urge to add a sarcastic ‘if you say so.’

  He sighed, released her hair. “You’re a stubborn female.”

  Mira smiled, considering that to be a compliment.

  He petted her curls. She waited for him to speak, to give her an indication of where this bizarre conversation was going.

  “A human male could give you offspring,” he finally said.

  Ah. He was worried about possible competition. “There will be no human males for me.” Vapor was the only being she trusted. She’d never confide in one of her own kind. They lied as she did and would eventually betray her. “This is all I will ever have.” She pressed her lips against his skin. “I’ll always be yours.”

  That seemed to ease his concerns. Vapor didn’t say anything more. He played with her hair, brushing strands away from her face, winding them around his fingers.

  Mira closed her eyes and focused on his touch, his breathing, the scent of him, capturing them in her memories for the planet rotations ahead.

  Her stomach growled. He laughed. They ate the nutrition bars she’d stored in the ship, touched, talked. Vapor shared stories about his training sessions. Mira made him chuckle with tales about previous cyborgs.

  The time passed too quickly.

  Vapor shifted under her. “It’s growing late.” He reached out, accessing the control panel of the ship. “We should return to the compound.”

  “I don’t want to be alone.” She reluctantly moved away from him, dressed in the garment Aumakua had designed for her.

  She stared down at the white fabric. Aumakua would never design another garment, would never hold Pepe, would never see another sunrise.

  Sadness dissipated Mira’s post-orgasmic glow, reality toppling her temporary sanctuary. She missed them so damn much.

  “You won’t be alone.” Vapor donned his battle armor, covering his tanned skin. “You’ll stay with me.”<
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  Staying with him meant spending time in the final stage holding structure with the other cyborgs. “I don’t think I can be Mira the Merciless this rest cycle.” She didn’t have the energy. “I can maintain the act while in public but your friends will see the true me.”

  “You can trust them. They’re cyborgs.” Vapor said that as though trusting another being was an easy task.

  It wasn’t, not for Mira. But if she wanted his company, she’d have to trust his friends. “They won’t betray me?”

  “They won’t.” Her cyborg’s voice was solemn, his words a vow. “I won’t allow them to hurt you.”

  She wanted to believe that but she couldn’t. “They’re your friends.” His first loyalty was to them.

  “You’re my female.” Vapor met her gaze.

  What did that mean? Would he choose her over his friends, put her first? No being ever had. She studied him. But none of those beings had been cyborgs.

  “You’re being deployed,” she reminded herself. He would spend a lifespan with his friends. He’d never see her again. Vapor was intelligent. He wouldn’t choose her.

  “Cyborgs often go missing while on deployment,” he quoted her.

  “They should stay missing. Anything else is too risky.” Mira looked at her reflection in the control panel. She was a mess, the immaculate image others expected from her nowhere to be seen. “Promise me you won’t return to Tau Ceti once you leave.” She straightened her hair, removed a smudge of dirt on her nose. “There’s no need to return. I’ll be fine.”

  He bent over and adjusted her footwear. They were filthy but would be partially hidden by her garment. “You’re lying to me, female.”

  He was right. She was lying. She wouldn’t be fine. The primping and preening hadn’t banished the emotion from her eyes. Her disguise was unraveling. She couldn’t dredge up the needed disdain, the coldness. “Promise me, Vapor.”

  He sighed. “I won’t return to this planet once I leave it.”

  “Good.” Mira relaxed. She would be in danger but he’d be safe.

  He’d live, might find love, happiness with another female.

  Her heart ached.

  The ship slowed as it entered the compound.

  “You’re strong, female.” Vapor cupped her chin with one of his palms, his touch firm and reassuring. “You can do this.”

  She’d do this for him, for his fellow cyborgs. Mira froze over her feelings, sealing them behind a wall of ice. The ship stopped.

  She exited and gazed around her, seeing no one in the darkness. Beings might be hiding, watching. She sniffed haughtily and walked toward Vapor’s quarters. He followed her, moving soundlessly.

  They passed a group of three guards, the males hunched over, chatting, laughing. Beings had died, an entire race might have been extinguished, and they found humor in the situation.

  “My father didn’t hire you to chatter like socialites.” She whipped them with her words, venting some of her turbulent emotions.

  The males scattered, muttering about nasty females and privileged daughters. Good. She nodded. Her reputation might survive for another planet rotation, helping her protect the cyborg she cared for.

  She reached the final stage holding structure, Vapor walking close behind her. Mira placed her palm on the access panel and the doors slid open.

  The cyborgs stood naked in their docking stations, hooked up to nutrition and energy tubes. Their eyes were closed. Their bodies were still. They appeared dormant.

  Mira knew otherwise. Cyborgs were always aware of everything around them.

  The doors closed behind them.

  “You die.” A huge form flew at Mira, moving too quickly for her to identify. Vapor stepped in front of her, blocking the attack with his arms. The male was flung backward. His body smashed against a wall.

  “She’s mine,” Vapor declared. “No one touches her.”

  “Strive, we agreed to wait to take action.” Ace, Vapor’s friend, stepped forward. “There are doubts.”

  “Doubts?” Strive, one of the about-to-be-decommissioned cyborgs, stood, shaking his arms and legs. “We all read the messages she sent. She’s assigning us as playthings for her friends. How can there be any doubt?”

  The cyborgs looked at Vapor.

  Mira held her breath. Vapor knew the truth. He’d tell his friends everything, betray her trust as she knew he eventually would.

  He said nothing.

  “She’s here, alone and unprotected.” Strive pressed. “I say we kill her now.”

  “We have to kill her,” Raw, another cyborg, agreed. “Strive tried to attack her. That’s enough to get us all decommissioned.”

  “And whose fault was that?” Thrasher mumbled.

  “She dies. Now.” Strive glared at Mira and she trembled, seeing the hatred in his eyes. “Before she can hurt or humiliate us further.”

  “Try to touch her and you will die.” Vapor widened his stance. “She is under my protection.”

  Strive raised his eyebrows. “You’d choose her, a human, over us, your cyborg brothers?”

  The other cyborgs rumbled, gathering around them. Thrasher and Ace motioned to some of the males. They gave no indication that they would support their friend.

  Vapor was good, the best warrior her father had ever manufactured, but he couldn’t defeat hundreds of cyborgs. If they attacked as one group, they’d kill him.

  He was intelligent. He’d know that. There was no choice. He had to relay her words, breaking her confidence to calm his brethren.

  “Tell them,” she whispered, accepting her warrior’s imminent betrayal. His life was more important than the trust between them, than their relationship.

  “I will tell them.” Vapor folded his fingers into tight fists. “Mira isn’t merely a human. She’s my female. And yes, I choose her over you.”

  He put her first. She gaped at him.

  The cyborgs were as speechless as she was, the chambers growing quiet.

  “You chose her?” Strive was the first to recover. “You’re a traitor to your own kind, have no honor, no right to wear your model number.”

  He sprang toward Vapor. One group of cyborgs, led by Ace and Thrasher, turned, creating a ring around the three of them, blocking anyone else from attacking them. Another group of cyborgs pushed against this circle, trying to join the fight.

  Vapor flipped Strive over his shoulder, tossing him to the floor. “You know nothing about honor or about fighting.” Rage darkened her cyborg’s face. “Prepare to die.”

  Shit. He’d kill his friend to protect her.

  Mira couldn’t allow that to happen.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Vapor wasn’t mentally deficient. He knew he couldn’t fight all of his cyborg brethren and win. But he also knew he didn’t want to live in a universe that didn’t have Mira in it.

  She was part of him, the best part. If she died, he died.

  Strive, that fool, struggled to his feet and launched himself forward once more. Vapor punched the cyborg in the throat, using all of his superior strength. The blow stopped his friend in his tracks. Strive sucked air and dropped to his knees.

  “Vapor,” Mira cried a warning.

  Grin and Raw had broken through the cyborg barricade, were running toward him, death written on their faces. Strive and Grin were suboptimal fighters. That was the reason they were slated for decommissioning. Raw was…adequate.

  Vapor cracked his knuckles. Defeating all three of them at the same time would be a challenge, one he’d gladly accept.

  “Tell them,” Mira yelled. “Tell them everything.”

  It wasn’t his everything to tell and even if it was, Grin and Raw weren’t in a listening mode. Vapor’s body collided with theirs. Grin’s fist connected with his jaw, pain shooting up his face.

  Vapor took the blow and pushed them away from him. His movements were restricted. Mira stood behind him and he wouldn’t allow them to hurt her. She was delicate, human, his. He’d protect
her.

  Strive got to his feet, wheezing. Grin and Raw bumped shoulders with him. They must be communicating through a restricted transmission line.

  “Vapor, tell them. Please.” His female sounded frantic.

  The three cyborgs attacked, their efforts coordinated. Vapor struck Raw with his skull, Grin and Strive with his fists. Agony rippled from all points of contact. Vapor staggered, some of his weapons clattering to the floor. He didn’t fall.

  Strive and Raw landed on their asses. Grin slugged Vapor. There was a crack. Pain exploded in his brain. Vapor slugged him back, nailing him with both hands. This time, the cyborg went down.

  He’d never been this strong, this fast. That triple attack should have flattened him yet he remained standing.

  “You’re bleeding.” Mira tugged on his arm.

  “It’s my nose, nothing serious.” The cartilage was already straightening, healing, his nanocybotics working quickly. “Get back.”

  “No.” She picked up one of his guns. “If they want me to die, I’ll die. I’ll kill myself so you don’t blame your friends for my death.” His reckless female pointed the weapon at her own chest. “I don’t want you to be hurt.” She looked up at him. “In any way.”

  She couldn’t bear to see any being hurt. His female was too blasted soft-hearted. “This isn’t worth dying for, Mira.”

  “You’re worth dying for.” The emotion in her eyes almost brought Vapor to his knees. She cared for him, a cyborg.

  The fighting stopped around them, every cyborg watching them.

  Have you recalibrated your guns so she can use them? Ace asked through the cyborgs’ open transmission lines. All of the other warriors listened to their conversation.

  No, but she doesn’t know that. Vapor gazed at his weapon-inept human. She really would die for me. “Mira—”

  “I’m doing this.” She was delightfully stubborn.

  “Then you’re dooming us all to death.” He appealed to her emotions. “When your body is found in our holding structure, we’ll be blamed for either killing you or not protecting you. We’ll be decommissioned.”