Peyton 313

by Donna McDonald

  Kyra sighed. “Yes, but I don’t want to interrupt what you are doing. You look. . .busy.”

  “I couldn’t sleep so I decided to use the time to run maintenance again. I was investigating my occasional blips, as you call them. Sometimes it’s a thought I can’t bring forward. Sometimes it’s a short-lived, but numbing indecision about how best to act. You warned me those situations were going to happen, but I’m trying to reshuffle my data storage until information access is instant and mentally comfortable. My mind never stops thinking. Even asleep, processes keep running. I am getting better at disconnecting from them though.”

  Kyra nodded against her pillow. “I don’t think I can change your human-cyborg dynamic without completely removing all the cybernetics from your body. Your current body dynamic is as good as I can make it for you. I will keep trying to improve it for as long as I live.”

  Peyton fought the urge to shrug. Absolute stillness made the processes run fastest and he could better study them while they did. “I wasn’t complaining, Doc—not really. It was more like mentioning a fact. My current situation is better than my life has been for years. I’m sure about that now.”

  “Is it?” Kyra whispered the question and then waited for an answer.

  Peyton ordered his processor to stop and mark where to pick up next time. He walked to the bed and slid in beside Kyra. “Yes, Doc. It’s not perfect, and still not what Cyber Soldiers were promised, but it is better. I gave that a lot of thought during the days you were unconscious.”

  “Do you think other cyborgs will be able to think the same way about it?”

  Kyra knew it was her fear speaking, but she still wanted to hear what Peyton thought. If they went forward with more restorations, she fully expected to find other cyborgs who would react like Marshall and Alex. They would not be grateful. They would be resentful. Some might even try to kill her. At the very least, they would hate her for what she had not done until now—even if Peyton miraculously didn’t.

  “Each will have to make their own decision in the matter,” Peyton said. “Isn’t that your ultimate goal?”

  Kyra nodded. Peyton always offered rational logic about irrational things, and the man had a memory that was inspiring. “Yes. That is the goal, but that doesn’t make my responsibility for their pain any easier to accept. I never intended to invent a way to enslave people, but that’s what my prosthetics code turned out to be.”

  “Well, let’s look at your actions from another perspective. If you hadn’t had your change of heart and done what you did for me, despite all the challenges, I would still be in the Cyber Husband program without any freedom at all. Would you rather some other wife was lying beside me, keeping warm right now?” Peyton asked.

  The question about how they came to be together caught her off-guard, but her surprised reaction was the real shocker. Kyra reached out while shaking her head and Peyton wasted no time pulling her on top of him. Her mouth was on his before she could give herself anymore time to analyze why she didn’t want any other woman doing it.

  “I really like the way you kiss me. I don’t want to kiss any other woman, Doc. How about you try believing that for a while?” Peyton whispered between breaths.

  Kyra’s groan of surrender was as much for herself as it was for him. Her hand slid to the front of the pants he was still wearing. She stroked the evidence of his desire and looked for fear inside herself. Maybe enough time had finally gone by because she felt absolutely none. Or maybe it was just that Peyton was not like any other man.

  “You’re wearing too many clothes for this to be done efficiently, Captain Elliott. I suggest you remove them as quickly as possible if you want this to happen.”

  Kyra found herself promptly deposited back on her pillow while Peyton removed all his clothes. She swallowed hard because her throat was tight with nervous anticipation. It wasn’t that she was afraid of sex with Peyton. She was more afraid she wouldn’t be able to respond enough to enjoy what was happening between them.

  “Okay, I’m naked. Now your turn,” Peyton ordered, assisting by pulling her shirt over her head. But he left her shorts on while he pulled her naked chest against his because he couldn’t wait any longer for some real skin contact. He hadn’t even noticed the absence of a bra under her shirt earlier. It wasn’t like him to miss such details. It was probably one more blip he needed to study, but he’d worry about it later—much later.

  He held her soft breasts flattened against his hard muscles and then remembered that Kyra still had a weak wrist. The break had partially healed, but he didn’t want to hurt her again by having her lean on her bad arm. He released her and rolled until he was partially over her. Her hands came up instantly to explore his shoulders. It made him feel even bigger than he knew he was.

  “Were you built like this before the enhancements?” Kyra asked.

  His non-cybernetic hand swept across her soft stomach and felt it ripple under his touch. “I was military lean, but stronger than I looked. It amazes me still that I don’t have to work out to stay this way. I’ve concluded the cybernetic pulses affect my muscles like exercise.”

  “Actually, that’s true. Your intelligence far surpasses what your records indicated was possible for you. I’m glad you know so much about what’s happening. I’m doubly glad you got there on your own. It means all cyber scientists were wrong about cybernetics being able to control a human mind completely. I’m sincerely and ecstatically happy about that,” Kyra whispered.

  “Back to talking science again, Doc? Let me see if I can distract your mind with something more interesting.” He fastened his mouth to hers while he slipped a hand inside her sleep pants. Finding a trim set of curls, he brushed knuckles through them as Kyra moaned and shifted restlessly.

  Careful not to tear the material of the meager clothing available to them, he swept the shorts off her hips until they slid to her knees. Moving the clothing farther down her legs would require stopping and he had no plans to do that. Instead, he moved the hand not propping him up to cup a breast. He must have gotten the pressure right because Kyra moaned again and kicked her shorts off the rest of the way.

  Peyton lifted his head. “Tell me if I do anything that worries you. I’m trained to be patient and not rush a woman, but my urges for you keep overriding my programming.”

  Kyra lifted a hand to his face. “I tried dating after I lost Alex. I even got to this point with a man once, but I ended up not being able to go through with it. I don’t think I’m going to have that problem with you. What I feel for you amazes me.”

  Peyton chuckled under her hand, which had gone exploring again. This time it was on his stomach and inching lower. He smiled in the dark. “Don’t even think about this not happening. Those restraints were torture, but that pain is nothing compared to my concern about not getting inside you.”

  “Why do you think you feel that way about me? I’m trying to understand it and I can’t,” Kyra said, her hand stopping.

  Peyton gently took her hand and moved it lower until he could show her. “Because you make me feel like this. Given our history, the arousal I get around you is totally illogical. Yet it is also very real. Maybe it’s just one of those emotional outbursts you said I might experience while I adjust. Since this particular part of me does feel close to bursting, I assume you were right to warn me about such things.”

  Kyra closed her eyes and snickered at Peyton’s joke. When she stopped laughing, she pushed his hand to the side so she could grip his erection the way she wanted. She stroked and felt him lean into her hand. Her heart beat hard and for a moment it fluttered in mild alarm. She pushed away the panic and opened her eyes to see Peyton’s interested gaze on her face.

  “Please don’t look so alarmed, Doc. I find you very pleasing to stare at for long periods of time,” he said.

  For some reason, his compliment struck her as incredibly funny. “I’m sorry I’m laughing, but you’re supposed to say you find me beautiful, Peyton.”

 
Peyton grinned as he rolled on top of her. Her grip released him, which let him settle his erection in the crease of her thighs. “I was trained to tell women they’re beautiful, but what does that ever mean? I was trying to offer you a more sincere compliment. That was the closest truth I could share with you. Would you rather I said you were beautiful? Because you are.”

  His revelation had her melting under him. It also sent more tears streaming down her face. Kyra shook her head and let her legs fall apart until Peyton’s hips fell between them. “No. And I’m sorry I ruined your moment of honest sharing. I’m glad you find me pleasing to stare at for long periods of time. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a nicer compliment.”

  Peyton eased up and forward, his body asking if it was time. Kyra spread her legs farther in answer. In his excitement his mouth came down hard on hers, harder than he intended as he began to slide inside. Her body was hot, wet, and so appealing. Her hips arching up changed the angle and allowed him to burrow deeper. Lights flashed through his brain at the extreme pleasure. It even hurt a little, but not as much as stopping would have.

  The rhythm of their lovemaking happened organically. He moved in and out of Kyra’s writhing body, feeling awe the whole time. Something more was happening than he recalled ever experiencing in the act. Maybe it was new synapses firing. Maybe it was just that he was inside Kyra Winters.

  When he was so close that he feared he would disappoint her, Kyra’s body suddenly tightened around his with an urgent grip that held him captive and at the same time sent him reeling in release with her. He moved against Kyra as much as her body allowed, rocking away the orgasm that had taken over both of them. Lights flashed through his mind again as his body did what was natural.

  When the lights cleared away, his thinking was laser sharp and clear for the first time in days.

  He kissed Kyra in gratitude, and tried to kiss her tears away, but there were too many. Kyra had wept all through her release and continued to weep afterward. He’d had that happen before with other women, but it had never bothered him the way it did with her. He wanted to know why she wept over pleasure, but didn’t want asking to ruin her enjoyment. Her arms were still tight around him when he felt her heartbeat finally calm.

  “Thank you,” he whispered. “I feel much better now.”

  Kyra laughed, her face hidden against a rock hard shoulder. “Thank you back. I feel much better now too.”

  When he lost the last of his erect state, Peyton slid from Kyra and rolled them to their sides. “I didn’t worry about having unprotected sex with you because I can’t give you children. The heat from my cybernetics keeps me sterile. The heat also keeps me disease free. In the military, I thought both of those would be good. Now. . .well with such a long life ahead of me, it might have been nice to have a family. . .even if I followed the suggested limit of one child per adult.”

  Kyra swallowed back her groan of dismay. Okay. Cyborg sterility was just one more thing she would have to work on fixing. She mentally added it to her already long list before she spoke. “Well at least it crossed your mind. Protection didn’t even occur to me. I confess I wasn’t thinking of anything at all except what we were doing.”

  “Good,” Peyton declared, letting the smile take over his face. “That’s all I wanted for our first time.”

  Kyra snorted at his assumption. “First time? You think this is going to happen again?”

  Peyton bent his head and playfully bit a nipple until it sprang to attention against his tongue.

  “Maybe,” he whispered, licking the pebbled tip.

  Kyra knew he was making fun of her using that word, but she couldn’t find it in her to care as much as she should have. All she wanted was for Peyton’s mouth to close firmly around the nipple he was torturing. She glared at him for making her want him again.

  “Maybe it won’t,” she warned. She put her still healing hand over her aroused nipple to protect it from his talented mouth.

  Peyton’s laughter as he pulled her hand off her breast had her struggling, but that ceased the moment his mouth did the very thing she had wanted so badly. A couple minutes later, they were both breathing hard again. But after he stopped, it was another shock to her when Peyton’s fingers pried hers away from gripping the bed covers. They stared at each other in the dark, each absorbing what their renewed arousal meant.

  “I think there is a ninety-nine point nine percent chance of it happening again,” Peyton declared softly. “But just so you know, there’s a hundred percent chance of it lasting a hell of a lot longer next time, Doc.”

  Kyra groaned softly as she pulled his hand up to cover the breast he had tortured. “I’ll run the percentages myself later to check, but maybe you’re right,” she admitted, closing her eyes in pleasure at what his fingers were doing.

  Chapter 15

  Kyra eyed the restraining cages with trepidation. She and Nero had constructed the one in her lab before she’d bought Marshall. At Norton they were part of every lab. For her, the cage had been a necessary piece of equipment for one specific purpose, not something she’d ever planned on having to use again and again. She found it alarming to see five cages spaced out around the large room. These were deliberate too—and planned—and they had the same purpose as the one she’d built.

  She drew in a ragged breath and let it out. Her gaze went back to Nero, who was looking at the cages with satisfaction. She wanted to say something to discourage him from feeling that way, but that wasn’t fair. He had saved her and given her sanctuary. She owed him loyalty not criticism.

  “Why five cages?” she asked instead.

  Nero shrugged. “Because I didn’t have money for six. We’ll just have to capture a few cyborgs at a time.”

  “And just how are we going to do that?” Kyra demanded.

  Nero barked out a laugh and shook his head. “What did you and Peyton talk about last night? I guess I know what you didn’t talk about. I hope you enjoyed each other’s company at least.”

  Shaking her head, Kyra turned away. She didn’t want Nero’s censure. She had enough of her own worry about what she had let happen between her and Peyton.

  “We didn’t discuss abducting other cyborgs. Sorry if I just didn’t have it in me to discuss the impending cyborg revolution while I was falling asleep.”

  Kyra turned away and started back toward the door.

  Nero huffed out a frustrated breath. “Kyra—wait. I’m sorry. I’m tense and taking it out on you. I barely got the rest of my money into safe accounts before the UCN tapped my records. They’re probably watching to see if I give any of my money to you. I had to buy my dream game system just to throw them off the trail.”

  Kyra bit her lip and raised her face to the ceiling. There were never any answers there, but she kept hoping. “Your involvement in this crazy scheme is on my head as much as anything else. I just hope like hell I’m right about all this.”

  Nero walked over and turned her to face him. “I’m sorry I made you doubt yourself. You’re right about this and you always have been. Humans should not be made into cybernetic slaves. If we let that happen without attempting to disrupt it, eventually no one on earth is going to be safe. We need to free those we think will work together in the best of ways to help us stop that future from happening.”

  Kyra closed her eyes and nodded. “I know. I just. . .God, Nero. Watching Peyton struggle to adapt is difficult. I see even more clearly now that there were many other ways we could have ended the world wars. We didn’t have to treat our soldiers so cruelly. I changed his life forever when I developed the creator code, and now I will never be able to completely undo all the damage.”

  Nero nodded. Kyra’s enormous compassion was one of the reasons he liked her so much. It was probably also the reason she had slept with Peyton Elliott. But whatever came of Kyra and Peyton’s relationship, in the end Kyra would be the one standing alone when she faced the wrath of the other cyborgs she freed. Only an original creator could go near a rebooted
cyborg without fearing death. They might try to hurt her, but Kyra had codes that would keep them from killing her. That failsafe had been built into the programming all along. But he didn’t envy Kyra having to endure each individual awakening to the horrible truth of what she had helped do to them.

  “Look at me, Kyra,” Nero ordered. When she did, he held her gaze. “What’s between you and Peyton Elliott is your business. Just promise me you’ll be careful. I feel like there’s a traitor to our cause nearby, but I haven’t been able to figure out who it is. Peyton is the most likely suspect. There is still so much we don’t know about his military programming and we haven’t had the time to be sure he’s as fixed as he thinks he is.”

  Kyra nodded. She trusted Nero’s instincts. He had given her many reasons over the years to do so. “Okay. I’ll keep watching for anything unusual, but cybernetic anomalies are becoming a daily occurrence for Peyton. On the plus side, he seems more and more human each passing moment.”

  “I’m well aware of his changes,” Nero said, dropping his hands from her arms. “Peyton has a plan for how to draw the other cyborgs out, and I think he’s right about how it could work. Since you’re the key to it working, you really need to talk to him about it yourself. I suggest you do so as quickly as possible.”

  Kyra nodded. But it was hard to ignore the ball of dread growing in her mid-section.

  ***

  She tracked Peyton down and found him reading. His explanation about learning how to build a pulse cannon had her running an agitated hand over her freshly cut, shorter hair. Peyton explained the pulse cannon was needed to capture those cyborgs who refused to come with him willingly. He had no qualms about using it because it rendered them completely unconscious. He informed her being unconscious was a lot better fate than being tortured with controller pain as the processor fried.

  Kyra nodded, the ball of dread expanding as she did so. “How close do you have to be to the others to activate the military protocol code?”