Breathing Vapor

by Cynthia Sax

  She wanted to be a female he would respect.

  Mira dried her cheeks, straightened her shoulders, grabbed her pack, and left her chambers, determined to make him proud.

  The sun was high in the sky. The ground continued to rumble under her feet. The compound was devoid of life.

  That was normal after a deployment. Her father celebrated by spending time in his laboratory. Workers not on guard duty snuck away to the nearby entertainment quarter. Hun would be passed out somewhere.

  She placed her palm on the final stage holding structure’s access panel and slipped inside. It was achingly empty except for two naked cyborgs.

  One male, Strive, faced her. The other. Her breath hitched. The other had hair, shoulder, ass, legs like Vapor.

  But it couldn’t be him. He was gone.

  She dropped her pack on the floor. “Vapor?”

  He turned. “Female.” His dark eyes glimmered with want and need.

  He was here. She splayed her fingers over her bodice, her chest tightening. He hadn’t left.

  Her cyborg, her warrior male stood before her, his body hard, his cock unabashedly erect.

  “I thought. I thought.” Mira couldn’t form a coherent sentence.

  “What is it, Mira?” He strode toward her, his long legs eating up the distance between them, his bare feet smacking on the tiled floor. “You’re pale.” He cupped her face.

  He was real, touching her. She stared at him, unable to say a word. She had thought she’d lost him forever.

  “And you’re shaking.” Vapor drew her into his fit physique, his chest flattening her breasts, his cock pressing against her stomach. “Are you damaged?”

  “Yes. No.” She was damaged, but not in a life-threatening way. “You’re here.” She splayed her fingers over his chest, feeling the triple beat of his cyborg heart under her right palm. “You weren’t deployed.”

  “I swapped places with Grin.” Vapor skimmed his cheek along hers, his touch sinfully light, his breath wafting over her hair. “Your father was distracted. Hun was inebriated. No one noticed the change.”

  “You didn’t trust me with your plan?” She’d trusted him with everything.

  “I didn’t have a plan.” He traced the vein on her neck with his tongue and she trembled, her concerns washed away by his caresses. “The ship’s captain, the male in charge of the deployment, arrived, battles raged all around us, and I knew I couldn’t leave you unprotected, not for one moment.”

  Vapor sucked on her skin where her neck met her shoulder, the tug of his lips felt down to her pussy. She moaned, tilted her head, offering more of herself to him.

  They had an audience but she didn’t care. Her cyborg hadn’t left. She had more time with him.

  “You’ll have to leave me.” Mira threaded her fingers through his hair, curving her palms over his scalp. “You’re guarding Lydna, not me.”

  He lifted his head and met her gaze. “I’ll always protect you.”

  Vapor didn’t lie. If he said he’d protect her, he would. But she didn’t know how he’d accomplish that feat. They’d be apart. He’d soon escape, leave the planet, never to return. “How could you—”

  “Are you questioning me?” Vapor pressed his right index finger against her lips, stopping her words. “Again? I heard the hurt in your voice when you spoke to Hun and he told you that the other cyborgs had deployed. If he hadn’t been inebriated, he would have noticed it also. You would have put yourself in danger.”

  She would have put them all in danger. “I thought—”

  “I know what you thought. You thought I lied to you when I said I’d fill you. You believed I promised things I couldn’t deliver.” His eyes flashed with anger. “Unlike you and your fellow humans, I tell the truth and I always deliver.”

  “I know that. At least, part of me does.” She trembled. “But—”

  “No buts.” He spun her around. “Bend over and place your hands on the wall.”

  She glanced at Strive. He gazed at them, a grin on his face.

  “Don’t make me repeat my command, female,” Vapor barked.

  Mira complied, her legs shaking with trepidation and anticipation. “Your friend is watching us,” she whispered.

  “Strive will continue to watch us. He’ll learn this planet rotation how a cyborg must handle his bad human female if he wishes to keep her safe.” He pulled her skirt upward. “You doubted me, Mira, and that compromised my ability to protect you.”

  Cool air hit the back of her calves, legs. Oh fuck. Her ass was exposed. Mira’s face heated as Vapor draped the fabric over her back. His friend would view her nakedness. “Vapor, he’ll see--”

  “Silence.” His heavy hand landed on her ass and she jerked, the contact more shocking than painful. “This is part of your punishment. Whenever you meet Strive in the future, you’ll remember that he saw you like this, your ass in the air, red from my hands, your pussy dripping with wanting, and you won’t misbehave again.”

  She wiggled, embarrassed, excited, needing this, needing him.

  “Be still.” Vapor spanked her again, the crack of his palm against her skin ringing out. “Behave and I’ll fill that pussy as.” Smack. “I.” Smack. “Vowed to do.” Smack.

  Mira cried out, arching her back, the burn on her ass warming her entire body. She had misbehaved, questioning him, his integrity, their relationship, thinking she’d never see him again. She deserved this punishment.

  “I won’t doubt you again,” she pleaded, wishing for him to believe that, yet not wishing for him to stop.

  “Liar.” Vapor cuffed her between her legs, striking her pussy with his fingertips and she called his name, each reprimand pushing her toward release. “You’ll doubt me again and I’ll punish you again.” He blasted her ass with rapid-fire smacks. “You’ve doubted beings during your entire lifespan. It will take solar cycles to cure you of your bad habits.”

  Would they have solar cycles together? His hand connected with her ass and she swallowed a sob, wanting that, wanting a future with her cyborg.

  Vapor dealt out chastisement until her body hummed, her pussy throbbed and tears dripped down her cheeks, off her chin, splattering on the tiled floor.

  “Look at how red her skin is.” He rubbed her well-used curves.

  Her legs were spread. Moisture streamed down her inner thighs. When his friend looked, he’d see what a bad female she truly was, how she desired this spanking.

  “That’s a pretty ass.” Vapor drifted his fingers over her feminine folds, spread her wetness over the burn, and her embarrassment ratcheted higher, perversely turning her on. “She’ll feel it when I breed with her.”

  She tilted her hips upward, silently asking for the fucking he’d promised.

  “You will follow my orders without any hesitation this planet rotation, female.” He stroked her with his hands, building her desire. “Lives depend on this. Understand?”

  “I-I understand.” Her voice was wobbly.

  “Good human.” Vapor leaned over her, the solid weight and strength in his physique reassuring Mira, and he kissed her under her jaw. “You’ve earned a reward.” He straightened. “What would you like?”

  He’d make her ask? In front of Strive? “To be fucked,” she whispered.

  “What did you say?”

  She scowled. He was a cyborg and had advanced senses. He heard her. “To be fucked,” she yelled.

  His body shook against hers. The damn male found this amusing. “Human females are demanding.”

  “I’m not all human females,” she grumbled.

  “Quiet.” He swatted her ass.

  She pressed her lips together.

  “I should spank the sass out of you again.” His cock head bumped against her pussy lips as he aligned himself, positioning himself at her entrance. “But that delay would punish both of us.” He pushed inside her.

  Finally. She moaned, forgetting his order to remain quiet. The fullness was divine. She had thought she’d never
feel this way again. Alive. Needed. His.

  Vapor folded his fingers over her hips, gripping her tightly and slid deeper and deeper. She turned her head. Strive unabashedly watched them, his cock twitching along his leg.

  That should have mortified her. Instead, his gaze drew more moisture from her core. Vapor was claiming her in front of his friend. No being would doubt she was his.

  His hips pressed against her scorched skin. He stopped, their bodies joined.

  “You short my circuits, Mira.” Vapor massaged her ass, rubbing his fingertips into her tensed muscles. “Every time we touch.”

  “Strive is listening to us.” She struggled to adjust to her cyborg’s size.

  “And what does he hear?” Vapor pulled out slowly, his shaft tugging at her pussy lips. “That my female is the best.” He drove back into her, shaking her body. “And she is. She’s fierce, strong, beautiful. No other female can compare to her.”

  He pulled out, drove back into her, pulled out, drove back into her. Mira swayed against him, her fingers spreading over the wall, her clutch on his cock loosening.

  She couldn’t see him. All she could do was feel, his hips branding her ass, his balls smacking her skin, his rock hard thighs pounding her curves.

  “Yes. Yes. Yes.” She filled the silent chambers with her sex talk, urging him to take her faster, deeper, meeting each of his thrusts midway.

  He lowered his physique once more over hers, clasped her shoulders, and pistoned in and out of her. Skin glided over skin. His muscles rippled, his biceps bulging. The delicious scent of him—metal and male—filled her nostrils.

  Her arms and legs ached. Her ass was on fire. Her pussy constricted around his shaft. Yet Mira smiled, unable to contain her happiness. Vapor was here, with her, inside her.

  Then he hooked one of his arms around her, cupped her mons, located her clit with one of his fingertips, and her smile faded. It was too much, the pressure, the need.

  “Don’t fight this.” He teased her earlobe with his lips. “I have you. I’ll always have you.” He rubbed her clit.

  “Fuck,” she screamed, bucked upward, her world shattering. Her spine smacked against unrelenting cyborg chest, skin and muscle covering his metal frame. Shards of her flew in all directions, fragmented by passion.

  She clenched down on his cock.

  He roared and drove deeper into her. Hot spurts of nanocybotic-infused cum hit her inner walls, setting off another wave of brain-frying bliss.

  “Fuck.” She tried again to dislodge him, writhing under Vapor’s big body. The remaining pieces of her ground into dust, the ecstasy making her head spin and her legs shake. He wouldn’t release her, holding her to him.

  “Can’t.” She lost her grasp on the wall. Her knees buckled.

  He caught her and she hung in the air, supported only by her cyborg. This show of strength would have impressed the fuck out of her except her mind was liquefied.

  Vapor mumbled comforting words she didn’t have the capability of interpreting, her form ablaze with joy, with him, his nanocybotics bubbling within her.

  As she calmed, he straightened, taking her with him. Her skirt lowered, covering her nakedness. Although he’d pumped her full of cum, none dripped down her leg. All of his essence stayed within her.

  Vapor brushed her hair over her shoulder and pressed his lips to the back of her neck. “That is how a cyborg handles his bad human female, Strive.” The bastard sounded smug. “She won’t misbehave again.” He turned her. His face was soft with caring. “This planet rotation.” His lips twitched.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Moments later, Vapor’s fingers twitched once more, the need to smack Mira’s lush ass intense.

  None of the cyborgs had known they had three tracking devices hidden on their forms. His fraggin’ human, however, had been aware of their existence. She hadn’t mentioned this possible blip in their escape plan to him. Not once.

  She’d prissily stated that she assumed they knew and, in case they hadn’t, she had planned for their removal to be broadcast. But that would have been placing the fate of the entire batch in Strive’s and Grin’s hands. If the relay of information had failed and the tracking devices had remained in the cyborgs, the Humanoid Alliance would have easily located them.

  “We’ve extracted the two tracking devices from Strive’s wrists.” His female recapped for him and for the cyborgs watching the broadcast. The ship his brethren had been loaded on wouldn’t depart until sunset. They’d have time to duplicate the operation. “The third tracking device is attached to the twelfth vertebra.”

  She counted down from the base of Strive’s skull. Vapor didn’t like that she touched another male but the contact was necessary. Only she knew where the devices were located.

  “Here. See.” She grabbed his index finger and placed it on his friend’s spine.

  He felt the ridge under his fingertip. “I’ve got it.” He raised the laser scalpel.

  “Make the incision as small as possible.” She hovered over him. “Minimize his pain.”

  The pain can’t be worse than it was with the wrists, Strive shared over their private transmission lines.

  It is, much worse. When Mira had removed Vapor’s tracking devices, the agony had almost blinded him. Hide your reaction. I convinced my female not to risk her life to steal pain inhibitors for us. If you make her feel bad about that decision, I’ll detach your skull from your neck.

  Vapor cut into the tanned skin.

  Strive inhaled sharply. Fraggin’ hole. Kill me now. Blood seeped from the wound.

  You’re acting like a newly manufactured unit. Vapor handed the laser scalpel to Mira, took the grippers she held out. Cyborg up.

  Strive wasn’t the best cyborg, not by the Humanoid Alliance’s standards, and not by Vapor’s. The male’s kill rate was embarrassingly low. His body was weak. Vapor had defeated him easily in battle.

  But Mira had taught Vapor that strength came in different forms and not all skills were obvious. Strive had bravery and honor and had pledged loyalty to his female.

  “Reach between the two metal plates.” Mira leaned over his shoulder. “Don’t yank the device out. There’s a button on one end. Press it and the tracking device should easily detach.”

  Vapor followed her instructions, extracting the mechanism. She buffed it with a cleaning cloth and he wiped the blood from his friend’s skin. The wound had already pulled closed. He taped the tracking device over the vertebrate directly above it.

  Another boom rocked the space. The structure shook. The insurgents were attacking closer and closer to the compound.

  “We have to leave.” Vapor donned his body armor. Strive did the same. “Before the fighting begins in earnest.”

  Beings gathered in the tunnels below them. The fools were planning to storm the compound. They had more of a death wish than his female.

  The floor shook once more. Powder fell from the ceiling.

  “We should stay here.” Mira returned the medical supplies to her pristine white pack. “I can deliver you to Lydna’s domicile next planet rotation.”

  “No, you can’t.” Their transport off Tau Ceti would leave before then, and she might do something reckless, like try to save the newly manufactured units.

  Vapor filled holsters and sheaths with guns and daggers. The next stage cyborgs would protect the youngsters, decimating the insurgents if that was necessary.

  “But—”

  “No buts.” He leveled a hard glance on Mira. “You promised to obey me.” His gaze dropped to her feet. Her footwear wouldn’t protect her from shit. Strive, find my female some boots.

  Consider it done. The cyborg slipped out the door.

  “Do you know how to use a gun?” Vapor chose his smallest, lightest gun.

  Mira eyed it with trepidation. “I’m not a good shot.”

  “But you could use it in an emergency.” He slid the lever to inactive, pressed her thumb to the trigger, and then accessed the controls,
calibrating the weapon so she could shoot it.

  “Well…”

  He positioned himself behind his lush female, relishing her curves, and he placed her fingers around the gun. “Slide the lever toward you.” He forewent that step, not wishing a projectile in his foot. “Aim.” Vapor guided her hands, lifting the gun, pointing it at the far wall. “And press the trigger.” He moved her right thumb over the button. “That’s it.” He rested his chin on top of her head. Her curls were sinfully soft. “You can protect yourself if you’re parted from me.”

  “I will be parted from you.” She sighed.

  “No, you won’t be.” Vapor tucked the gun into a pocket hidden in her full skirts. “Lydna is the new target.”

  Mira glanced up at him, her eyes widening. “You can’t kill her, Vapor.”

  His lips flattened. “Do you doubt my abilities?” He was the best. He could kill any being.

  “At the moment, I’m doubting your logic.” She turned within the circle of his arms. “The Humanoid Alliance is fighting multiple wars. They’ll consider finding two misplaced cyborgs to be a low priority. Eventually they’ll forget you existed. Kill the wife of a council member and that will change. They’ll hunt you with all of their resources and when they find you, you’ll be decommissioned. You’ll die.” She placed her small hands on his battle armor, her eyes reflecting genuine concern.

  His female cared for him. His chest warmed. “You’re assuming we’ll be blamed for her death. We’re in the middle of a battle.” Judging by the activity in the tunnels below them, the battle would grow fiercer before it ended. “Their domicile has already been breached once.” The insurgents would target it again. Capturing a council member would be a prize they’d be unable to resist. “No being would be shocked if Lydna was killed.”

  They wouldn’t be surprised if Mira, the Designer’s daughter, went missing in the chaos of battle either. They’d presume she was dead and not search for her. She’d be free.

  Strive returned. These are the smallest I could find. He lobbed the boots at Vapor.

  They’ll suffice. Vapor placed the footwear on the floor and knelt before his female. “Give me your foot.”