by Lucas, Naomi
Why had she said that? Alexa sucked in her lips. She never talked to anyone about her parents.
“Makes sense.”
Her eyes snapped to Pigeon’s. “What? What makes sense?”
“That you’re here, doing a job like this, when you could be anywhere else in the universe.” Pigeon smiled, and it almost brought a smile to her own lips. “My ex would never have let our kids leave Earth.”
“That’s a shame. Earth sucks.”
“Yeah,” Pigeon laughed. “It does.”
Someone cleared their throat, and Alexa and Pigeon turned in unison. Standing in the doorway was the last being she wanted to see. Hysterian’s black eyes—the ones she knew—were watching them.
How long?
“Captain,” Pigeon greeted. Both he and Alexa stood, straightening out their uniforms.
“Captain,” she said as well, nodding.
“The day shift is about to start,” he warned, making her stiffen. “You should be at your posts.”
“Yes, sir,” Pigeon agreed, walking to the door; Hysterian moved to the side. Pigeon turned back and met Alexa’s eyes. “It was good talking to you, Dear. Come with us to get a beer next time. It’ll do you good. I’ll make sure you get back to your bunk safe afterward.” He smiled and left, strolling past Hysterian before she could respond.
Silence filled the lounge as she listened to Pigeon’s footsteps recede, wishing she could escape just as easily.
“Sorry, Captain,” she mumbled, dashing for the exit.
“Stop.”
She came to a halt. Tall and stiff, and ever watchful, Hysterian glared at her when she met his eyes. Now she remembered why she never left the menagerie if she could help it.
Hysterian sucked the energy out of her every time she encountered him, and she always left him bewildered.
“Yes, Captain?” she asked hesitantly.
His eyes shot over her, and she bit down on her tongue from his blatant perusal.
“You do know we’re landing on Titan tomorrow, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Have you prepped the habitats?”
The ones she and Raul spent all day yesterday preparing? “Yes. They’re prepped.”
“I want to see them.”
Her heart dropped into her stomach. “Of course.”
“The creatures that the Titan people want will only be on our ship for a short time, but they must receive intact, unharmed specimens to study. This is our first real job, and we want to do it right. The specimens can’t be introduced to anything that doesn’t meet Titan’s code of standards for their wildlife. That includes tranquilizers.”
Alexa nodded. “Raul and I—”
He waved her off. “Show me.”
“Yes, Captain. Follow me.”
She led him out of the lounge when all she wanted to do was punch him in the face. Alexa glowered, glad Hysterian was behind her. Maybe it was a good thing she couldn’t see the Cyborg’s face either. One scowl or sneer her way and she was going to the brig. Today was not the day for games.
She was going to fucking punch him if he talked down to her. She might even try more.
This is good, she told herself, trying to calm down before her body reacted in a way Hysterian would surely notice. She needed to spend more time with him to glean information.
Because hell, she wasn’t finding anything out about him elsewhere.
She wasn’t on a timeline, but she knew her clock was ticking. Someone was going to discover her secret eventually. And staying employed by the very creature that killed her father made her want to vomit. She couldn’t get comfortable. If she did…
Alexa inhaled. The guilt would kill her if Hysterian didn’t kill her first…
They walked past Raul’s station—she waved at him when he lowered his headset and sent her a questioning look—and headed for the habitats in the back. The male locust thumped on the glass and perked up as she glided by.
“We chose the habitats nearest the loading hatch. We figured since these critters aren’t staying long, loading and unloading them with ease was the best course of action,” she said to fill the silence.
The thumping of the male locust grew louder when she came to a stop at the habitats she and Raul calibrated. Turning back to face Hysterian, he was gazing at the empty glass cages like they were the most interesting things in the universe. Alexa glanced back to see what he saw. Nothing. Nothing but empty space.
There was literally nothing.
When her gaze returned to Hysterian, his eyes were teal.
She blinked. His eyes remained teal.
Hysterian continued to study the habitats like she wasn’t standing right beside him waiting for his response. She studied him while she waited.
He wasn’t at all like what she thought he would be. He wasn’t a robot monster like how she’d pictured him, cold and unfeeling. What stood next to her was a man. A beautiful, dangerous-looking man, but a man all the same. Why couldn’t he be deformed and hideous?
After a minute she gave up. “Is there something you want to know, Captain?”
“Why do you dye your hair?”
“I—”
He faced her.
What to say? Fear zipped through her. “I like the color.”
“It doesn’t suit you.”
“I think it does.”
“You’re too pale. The black washes you out.” He cocked his head and reached up. Alexa stilled as his gloved hand vanished behind her head.
What is he doing?
She felt a tug.
He pulled her bun loose, and her hair fell in a crimped wave down her back.
She swallowed thickly hoping her heart wouldn’t jump out from her throat. Hysterian held her hair band between his fingers.
“You’re naturally blonde,” he said.
How did he know that? “I… Yes…” she stammered.
“Blonde would suit you better.”
“How do you know I’m blonde?”
“I searched the network for pictures of you just now, prior to the dye. You’ve worn it black for a long time, it seems. There were very few of you blonde, and you’re very young in them.”
He just scanned the network while she stood in front of him? Prying into her past like he had a right too? Blood rushed to her face. “You have no right.”
Hysterian shrugged.
“I’m allowed privacy. Even from my captain.”
If he searched too deep into her past, he’d find out a lot more than she would ever want him—or anyone—to know. Yet he didn’t seem to care. He pocketed her hair band instead of giving it back.
“You are, and I wouldn’t snoop on any normal occasion, but I’ve been curious. Most women change their looks to enhance themselves, and you may think you are going black.” He indicated her hair. “But the dye you’re using is cheap. It smells.”
“I haven’t dyed my hair in weeks. There’s no smell anymore.”
“Maybe to you. To me, it reeks.”
Alexa reached up and pulled her hair behind her, stepping away. “I’m not changing my looks to suit you, Captain,” she spat. “That’s beyond protocol. I’m sorry you don’t like the smell. You’re going to have to get used to it.”
His brow arched. “I’m not asking you to change. I’m insisting you use better dye from here on out. I’ll have the replicator make some. Though it would be easier if you stripped it out and went natural.”
His eyes roved over her hair, and she wanted to gather it back into a bun more than anything but couldn’t. It made her uncomfortable, how much he had noticed about her.
“No more of the shit you’re using. It doesn’t work for me.”
The audacity. Her anger took over. “No.”
His eyes finally met hers. “No?”
Alexa stood her ground. “No. You don’t have a say in my appearance. I’ll use what I’ve always used.”
“Not many people have the courage to tell a Cyborg no.”
“I’m your captain.”
“And I’m a woman, unowned by any man, including you. Do you want to hear about the habitats or not? Because you’re wasting my time.”
His eyes flashed, making her wince. Somewhere behind her the locust banged on the wall of his habitat. Alexa refused to back down, meeting Hysterian’s gaze head on.
He took a step toward her.
She strained her neck but didn’t back away. If he was going to hurt her, so be it. He could not possibly force her to change her hair, in this life or the next. He’d have to hold her down and do it himself…
Pulse racing, she was afraid that might just happen.
He leaned down. She clenched her hands. Cloying heat plumed from him to envelop her. It made it hard to breathe.
When his face was before hers, he whispered, “I’m not a man.”
Her lips flattened.
“I’m a Cyborg,” he continued.
“Are you trying to scare me? Intimidate me?”
“I’m correcting you.”
He was so close they were nearly touching. Every fiber in her body was tense, waiting for the moment he would reach out and make contact. Death or bliss? What would he give her? Her belly danced, and her toes curled as he only stared at her instead, sending her into a tailspin.
Fear? Anger? She didn’t know what she felt anymore. All she knew was that she wanted him to touch her. She wanted to find out.
She needed to know how she’d react to it. Because right now, she wasn’t convinced she’d hate it. She wanted to believe she’d fight him.
“Cyborg or not,” she breathed, “you can’t tell me what to do.” But she took a step back, putting her spine against the glass. She pressed her hands flat against it at her sides.
It was an invitation.
One she’d given without first acknowledging it. Her cheeks burned.
Do it. Touch me. Remind me that I loathe you. I’m ready. But her sex clenched at the thought of him putting his hands on her… Alexa swallowed. This was wrong. Why was she reacting to him this way?
Like a bitch in heat.
He cocked his head, the lights of his eyes so bright they washed out everything else. Curiosity lit them, and she swallowed again.
Slowly, his hands came up on either side of her and locked her in.
He leaned in until their faces were level, and all she saw was him. Him, and blue, and nothing else. No death, no evil villain, just him.
“Your heart is pounding, Dear. I wonder why.”
She licked her lips. His eyes snapped to them.
“Do it,” she whispered.
“Do what?”
“What it is you’re thinking right now, before I come to my senses.” Test me.
His face moved closer.
“You have no idea what I’m thinking, and if you did, you wouldn’t like it.”
She blushed.
He continued, “What is it you want me to do? To you, that is?”
Her lips parted, the soft breath that escaped barely easing the pressure in her lungs. She couldn’t breathe, not with him so close. She should run screaming, better yet, she should have a dagger in her hands to stab him in the back, but they were the last things on her mind. Right now, she didn’t want him to die. She wanted him to pull down his mask and…
“I’m waiting for instruction,” he said, his voice lowering, his face a gasp away.
“Captain…”
“Alexa.”
Kiss me. She didn’t even say the words aloud; she only formed them with her mouth.
He jerked back. A look of horror flashed across his eyes.
Her hands came up to fold over her chest in surprise.
Hysterian eyed her and took several steps back, like…like he was mortified.
Alexa pulled away from the glass, feeling her soul drop from her body from embarrassment, feeling the heat from him finally suffocating her.
“Get yourself cleaned up, “Hysterian growled, turning away. “I can’t have someone on my crew fucking up today. You’re dismissed.”
He stormed through the lab and out the door, barking a command at Raul.
Inhaling, she twisted away and sagged to the floor, glad she was shielded from the rest of the room. She pressed her brow to the cool glass of the habitat.
What just happened?
She closed her eyes.
She just invited Hysterian, her enemy, to touch her—kiss her. What was she thinking? What was wrong with her? He was her enemy. She was here to find a way to destroy him. Not take him to bed. Not fuck him. Not offer up a challenge.
The thought of doing so should’ve disgusted her. Instead, there were butterflies taking flight within her. A whisper of lust coiled between her legs, and she didn’t know what to do about it.
Because it was there now. It was there, and no matter how badly she didn’t want it to be, it remained.
Alexa buried her face into her hands. Hysterian was burned into her head, and she couldn’t get him out.
She was never going to get him out.
And the worst part of it all, he had no idea how much he ruled her life. Every terrible minute of it for the past decade.
Seven
Dirt and rocks crushed under his boots as Hysterian strode through the mines. He didn’t try to hide the sound.
He was already fucked, that’s what he was. Let Titan’s bugs come after him.
Some giant man-eating bugs weren’t going to change his status. So why bother playing it safe? Hysterian scanned the mine’s winding tunnels, creating a mental map as he followed the blueprints that the taskmaster had given him.
All the while, images of a certain female haunted him.
It was idiotic of him to try to avoid Alexa. He’d managed to do it for a while—her scent, her presence was all around him. The Questor wasn’t that big of a ship; avoiding someone on it took a lot of work. And the more work it took, the more Alexa stayed in his head.
The more he found himself wherever she was, having to fabricate excuses for it.
Her smell followed him everywhere. No amount of air filters could erase her dye. When he wiped her from his mind, he still smelled it, even if the scent wasn’t actually in the air.
Dirt crunched as he barreled headfirst deeper into the shafts. Now and then, he’d pass an android working, but most were powered off.
The deeper he went, the less there was. Old blood and soil tickled his nose, but even then, he still smelled Alexa.
He cursed himself for making her show him the habitats.
I touched her hair. His fingers curled. He’d been wearing gloves, but the fact that he’d still touched her shook him. Hair hadn’t reacted to his touch, but that hadn’t stopped the glands hidden in his skin from opening up and secreting.
And he'd had Alexa there, trapped against the glass, his body so close to hers, his lips so close to hers... The nanosuit under his uniform kept his secretions in, but it had happened. Just one drop of it could have killed her if it had gotten on her skin.
He cursed his body.
If he’d been a normal man—hell, a normal Cyborg—he would’ve shoved his mask down and kissed her. He would have licked her face, run his tongue over her cheeks and down her neck. He would have tasted her.
She wasn’t nearly as cold as she looked.
He could make her hot.
Hysterian was either too far gone to care if she was, or he actually, really wanted her. Either way, he was desperate, and the Questor was too small for the both of them avoiding one another.
I’m going to have to fire her.
The last thing he wanted was to fire her, but it was the only way to keep her safe. Maybe with space, he’d find clarity again—maybe some goddamned patience and calm. God knows there wasn’t enough boiling water to keep him from going insane.
He sensed movement up ahead in the shadows.
A sour smell filled the tunnel. Gla
ncing above him, there was slick, wet-looking webbing in the cracks between the rocks and dirt.
Hysterian tugged off his gloves, shoving them into his back pocket. His eyes went straight to the hairband on his wrist.
His scowl deepened.
He tugged it off his wrist and dropped it on the ground. Next port, he was going to find an AI-operated sex bot and be done with it.
Hysterian only took two steps before he turned back and picked the hairband up again. He stretched the band out between his fingers, wiping the dirt off that had gotten on it.
He’d hoped being away, back on a planet and in the open air, would be enough to fix him, at least for a time, but he was coming to find out even Titan wasn’t going to be enough distance. Once the job was done, he’d be back on his ship, and Alexa would only be several metal walls away from him, one floor down. And he’d be jacking off to the image of her pressed up against the glass enclosure of a habitat, blushing and inviting him to kiss her.
She invited me to touch her…
So that’s why she was outside my quarters the first night.
Alexa Dear wanted him.
It wasn’t unusual for a woman to want him so bluntly, but for one to risk her career and her job to approach her superior? That took courage. There were scores of women who had a Cyborg fetish, and his subordinate was apparently one of them. No one would want him any other way.
He had the looks to attract a woman, but everything else? He had nothing but problems to give. The moment he peeled off his suit and touched her, shit would go downhill from there. Whether his poison was lethal or not, he wasn’t about fucking a body that was out of its mind on drugs—or lifeless.
He killed men for less.
That’ll change.
Once Nightheart delivered on his promise, Hysterian would be able to pick his woman out from a crowd of them. A willing woman. He could have his fantasy—not someone like Alexa who wouldn’t attract him on a normal day.
If she was still around when he was cured, maybe he’d take her to bed—just to get her out of his systems—but until then, he needed to keep his head.
Hysterian slipped the hairband back onto his wrist. At least he’d have it to keep him company until then.
His audio tech picked up skittering, stealing his attention. Shadows shifted, and a rancid aroma met his nose soon after. He pulled down his mask, tugged up his sleeves, and activated his poison. Whether it worked on these bugs or not was yet to be seen.