by Cynthia Sax
The cyborg accelerated also. “I can’t go away,” he mimicked her tone. “I must follow you and ensure you don’t damage yourself. Those were Crash’s orders.”
Her escort wasn’t for her safety. Crash didn’t want her to escape. Safyre’s lips flattened. “Wouldn’t you rather torture the captain?”
“Yes, but you’re Crash’s female. Protecting you is a higher priority.”
“I’m not Crash’s female.” Safyre entered the docking bay. More cyborgs were gathered there. The huge warriors stopped talking when she approached. She navigated around them, her heart pounding, her palms moist.
The G model slapped their backs and bumped shoulders. He didn’t say anything.
Out loud.
They were probably discussing her on their fancy transmission lines, lines she couldn’t access. Fuckin’ limited B model communications device.
She rounded an impressively modified shuttle, saw the state of her ship and all sense of caution vanished. Cyborgs were removing exterior panels, stomping up and down the ramp, carrying parts of her beloved vessel, parts of her home, the only home that had ever been hers alone.
The damn cyborgs were taking it away from her.
Anger swelled within Safyre.
“That’s my ship,” she yelled. “Leave it alone.”
The warriors ignored her, continuing the dismantling, their expressions blank. They didn’t give a fuck that they were destroying her life.
“I said stop.” Safyre raised her gun, a veil of red shrouding her gaze. She’d shoot every fuckin’ one of them, stunning the unfeeling bastards.
One moment, the weapon was in her hand. The next moment, pieces of it were skittering across the floor.
“What the fuck?” She turned.
The G model was standing right behind her, smiling like life was one hilarious joke, like beings weren’t tearing her home apart. “You don’t want to do that, Crash’s female. You’ve already earned reprimands for stunning him. Stunning his brethren will make Crash even more angry.”
“I’m not his female. Get that through your thick skull.” Safyre glared at the young cyborg. “And that’s my ship they’re demolishing.”
She glanced at the vessel. Her home was gone, demolished beyond the point of repair. Her things, the reminders of her past and the beings she loved, were lost to her.
All she had left was Nymphia. She had to reach her.
“First, I have to escape this damn freighter.” She surveyed the docking bay, not expecting any assistance from Crash’s friend.
There was the modified shuttle in the berth beside her ship. It was newer and fully intact. She rushed toward it.
The cyborg matched her pace, not breathing hard. “You are Crash’s female. You smell like him.” He breathed deeply, his nostrils flaring. “Though you smell like something else also, something good. Hmmm…I wonder if a female could have more than one male.”
She didn’t have time for one male. Safyre stomped up the ramp.
“I’m Gap.” The G model followed her. “You must have been wondering who I am.”
She didn’t care who he was. She wanted him to go away.
“I’m a skilled warrior,” he continued. “Though not as skilled as Crash, not yet. But all of the females I’ve met say I’m much more handsome than he is.”
Those females were wrong. Crash was a grown male, confident, powerful, sexy. Gap was a boy, chattering at her heels. “Then talk to them, not me.” She located the bridge.
“They have males. Joan has Rage. Mira has Vapor. Shelby has Green.”
“You only know three females?” There were two seats positioned closest to the main viewscreen. Which one belonged to the captain? They appeared identical.
“I know four females, including you.” Gap sounded proud of that number. “Crash sits there.” He pointed to the seat on the left, claiming the other one for himself.
“I’m escaping this freighter alone.” She sat in Crash’s chair, set her pack on the floor and stared at the controls. It was unlike any other ship she’d flown. “You can leave.”
“I’m staying here with you.” Gap stretched out his legs, getting comfortable.
Fuck. She’d never get rid of him. “I’m not staying here.” Safyre placed her palm on a control panel. Nothing happened. “I’m flying this ship to Tau Ceti.”
“There are battles waging on Tau Ceti.” There was a hint of happiness in the warrior’s voice. “You’re a fragile human, not a cyborg. Crash won’t risk your lifespan by bringing you there. I won’t either.”
“That’s neither your nor Crash’s decision.” She pressed a button. There was no reaction. “Leave me the fuck alone.” She slapped all of them. The ship didn’t activate. “Aargh.”
“Only Crash or I can pilot our ship.” Gap bent over and sniffed her arm. “The nice scent is stronger here.” His eyes darkened.
The cyborg was aroused. She didn’t desire him, not like she desired Crash. But Gap wanted her and he could pilot the ship and she might, just might, be able to manipulate him.
She had to get to Tau Ceti.
Safyre pushed away her misgivings and placed her hands on Gap’s armor-clad shoulders. “Could you pilot the ship?” She leaned closer to him. Her nose twitched. He smelled…wrong. “Do you have that ability?”
Gap’s eyes widened. “Yes.”
“Could you show me?” She brushed her nose against his. Her body screamed a protest. Gap wasn’t her male. She shouldn’t be touching him.
She didn’t have the luxury of having qualms. Nymphia was alone and scared.
She had to do this. “Take me to Tau Ceti. I want to see how you fly.”
Gap’s forehead furrowed. He opened his mouth.
He’d refuse her and Safyre couldn’t allow that. She captured his lips with hers.
As soon as her flesh met his, she realized she’d made a mistake. Her heart and body rebelled. The nanocybotics Crash had relayed swept over her, rushing to her mouth. Her stomach heaved.
She closed her eyes and pictured Crash’s black eyes. That didn’t help. Because she knew she wasn’t kissing him. She knew another male’s lips were pressed against hers. The taste, the feel of this other cyborg disgusted her.
Bile rose in her throat. Her head spun. The pain in her brain returned, jagged bolts of agony piercing her skull.
She opened her eyes. The spinning continued. The burn crawled up her throat. She couldn’t seduce Gap, not even for Nymphia.
Safyre pulled back, gagging. “Ugh.”
In the past, she’d loved kissing, loved that connection with another being, the meeting of mouths, the slide of tongue over tongue, the wetness, the flavor of horny male. Now, a peck on the lips made her nauseous.
Crash, that damn warrior, had ruined the experience for her.
Gap’s face screwed up in disgust. “I don’t like kissing.”
“Because she’s my female,” a familiar voice rumbled behind her. “She tastes like me.”
Gap spat on the floor. “Fraggin’ hole.” He rubbed his lips.
That was flattering. Safyre rolled her eyes.
She glanced over her shoulder and her mouth dried.
Crash stood on the threshold, clad in his black body armor, his fingers clenched into tight fists, his face dark, his eyes even darker.
He’d witnessed the entire fiasco and he was very, very angry.
Chapter Four
If the male kissing his female were any being other than Gap, Crash would have put his fists through his rival’s teeth.
But Gap was his friend, a kid, and not the being responsible for the kiss.
“Get away from her,” he barked.
The cyborg scrambled out of his chair, moving away from Safyre, pressing his back against the far wall. “Crash—”
“The kiss was my idea.” Safyre stood, the image of defiance, her chin tilted upward, her brown eyes sparking with gold, her orange hair sticking straight up.
“I know whose ide
a it was.” Crash stalked toward her. She had shot him, left him, kissed his friend, all three actions causing him pain.
To make the situation even worse, the J models had jeered at him as he rushed through the hallways, asking him if he needed help handling his female, proposing unflattering theories as to why she ran from him.
Crash knew why she ran from him. He loomed over his female. The bond he felt for her hadn’t been reciprocated.
Concern flickered in Safyre’s eyes but she didn’t retreat. His fraggin’ female was fearless and that earned her even more of his begrudged admiration.
“Your friend didn’t enjoy the kiss.” That she defended Gap also gained her his respect.
“And you?” He captured her beautiful face between his hands. “Did you enjoy it?” He knew the answer, her distaste for the kiss obvious. He wanted to hear it from her.
“No.” Her bottom lip curled. “I should have enjoyed it. I would have in the past. What did you do to me?” She smacked his armor-clad chest.
“I claimed you.” Crash wrinkled his nose. He smelled Gap on her and that interfered with his processors. “And I’ll claim you again.” He bent his head and covered her lips with his, seeking to erase the other male’s scent, to reestablish his connection with her.
It wasn’t a gentle kiss. He ground his lips against hers, punishing her, relaying some of his emotional agony. Their teeth clicked together. She struggled, trying to free herself and he tightened his grip, not allowing her to escape him, not again. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth, some hers, some his.
Safyre sank her fingers into his hair and yanked. He growled, the pain inciting his more primitive instincts, a part of him he rarely indulged.
Until her. She angered, infuriated, aroused him, his maddeningly rebellious female. Crash plunged his tongue into her mouth. She met him midway, twining her flesh around his, dueling for control.
Her breasts flattened against his chest. Her hips swiveled against his. She no longer tugged his hair back. She pulled him toward her.
Crash dragged his mouth over her chin, her cheeks, the tip of her nose, removing all traces of his rival. Her mind and heart might not accept him, but her body would know whom she belonged to.
“You like kissing her?” Gap, foolish as always, interrupted their private moment.
Crash leaned his forehead against Safyre’s. “She’s my female. You’ll like kissing when you meet your own female.”
“She smells like she’s my female,” his friend shared.
Was Gap a genetic match to her also? Crash wrapped his arms around Safyre. He didn’t want to share her with any being.
“I’m not Crash’s female,” Safyre muttered against his chest. “And I’m certainly not yours.”
She was his female. Crash frowned. The other females had accepted their bonds with their cyborgs. But he was damaged in the killing instinct, not enjoying it as the others did. He must be damaged in breeding also, unable to form a full connection with his female.
“She smells like she’s mine,” Gap pressed. “More precisely, parts of her do.”
“Parts?” Crash turned to face his friend, taking his squirming female with him.
“Her right arm smells really good.” Gap’s eyes glowed.
The kid’s arousal drew a warning rumble from Crash’s chest. He had allowed his Safyre to be touched once. He wouldn’t allow it a second time.
“Easy.” Gap raised his hands. “I won’t do more than smell her.”
Crash didn’t want his friend to do even that. “Her right arm smells good?” Forcing himself to process, to focus on the problem, he sniffed his female.
“Stop smelling me.” She jabbed him in the stomach with her elbow.
That elbow smelled of another female. Crash yanked on her sleeve, tearing her flight suit.
“You asshole.” Safyre slapped his chest. “You ripped it.”
A red scarf was wrapped around one of her thrashing limbs. Crash caught Safyre’s wrist and held her arm still. The cloth smelled strongly of the strange female. “Is this what you smelled?”
Gap sniffed the scarf and a silly smile spread across his face. “Yes, that’s the scent. It’s delectable, isn’t it? It smells like home, like caring, like—”
“Where did you get this scarf?” Crash interrupted the kid’s musing.
“The scarf is mine.” Safyre tugged on her arm. He didn’t release her. “Nymphia, the friend you’re stopping me from reaching, gave it to me.”
“Nymphia,” Gap repeated.
The kid didn’t want Safyre. The tension in Crash’s lower back eased. He wanted Safyre’s friend.
“Did she take a birthing class at the Academy?” the kid asked.
Safyre would say no. Gap would obsess over some other female. They’d return to the Homeland where Crash would woo his female.
“She did take a birthing class.” Safyre’s forehead furrowed. “Why—”
“I knew it,” Gap crowed, jumping around the bridge. “I knew my female had taken the birthing class.”
Fraggin’ hole. There would be no controlling him now. “She might not be your female,” Crash cautioned. “Many females took the birthing class.”
“But none smell like her.” Gap pressed his nose to Safyre’s scarf and breathed deeply.
“Stop that.” She twisted out of Crash’s arms.
Crash released her. He wasn’t thrilled about Gap smelling her either. He was pleased, however, that she slid behind him, instinctively looking to him for protection.
“Where is your friend?” Gap was fixated on Nymphia. “We must retrieve her.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do.” Safyre rested her palms on Crash’s back, the connection reassuring him. “She’s trapped on Tau Ceti.”
“We’re not landing on Tau Ceti.” And she wasn’t involving the kid in her reckless schemes.
“I realized that.” Her tone was dry. “Which is why I left you.”
She had left him to save her friend, not because she disliked him. Crash fought to conceal his satisfaction. In time, he’d make her his, completely his.
“I planned to pilot my ship but I couldn’t, could I?” She rounded his body. Her gaze was hostile. “Because you had your cyborgs tear it apart. What gave you that right?”
“One, they’re not my cyborgs.” Crash placed his hands on his guns, not giving her the option to stun him a second time. “They’re free beings. Two, your ship was already destroyed. It was a flying refuse bin.”
“What?” She flew at him.
He caught her wrists and held her at arm’s length. Frag. She was magnificent, passion rolled into a curvaceous package. And she wanted him. Her musk filled his nostrils. “Three,” he continued, his voice flat. “Whether you like it or not, you’re mine. That gives me the right.”
“I’m not yours and my ship is not a refuse bin.” His fireball female kicked him in the shins.
He was wearing body armor and didn’t feel a thing. She howled, shaking her foot.
“What did you do?” He scooped her into his arms.
“Let. Me. Down.” His female beat his armor-clad chest with her tiny fists.
She’d hurt herself again. Crash removed a leather restraint from his armor’s sleeve, caught her hands and bound them behind her.
Her arousal increased.
“Release me.” She body slammed him, smacking her generous breasts against his chest. It had no impact, except to strain his patience. She was too tiny to inflict any damage upon him. “You’re a brute. Do you know that?”
He met her gaze. “I know you like being restrained.”
Pink pigment crept up her neck and she dropped her gaze. “Let me go.” She didn’t deny her wish to be restrained. “You’ve already destroyed my home. My friend is the only connection I have left. I have to reach her.”
He had destroyed her home. Crash gazed at her. “Your ship is your home?”
“Fuck you,” she mumbled.
It
was her home. And he’d had it dismantled. Crash inwardly groaned. He’d repair the damage he’d created, make it right with his female.
“I claim Nymphia, your female’s friend, as mine.” Gap’s eyes glowed with a zeal Crash was unfortunately familiar with. “We have to rescue her.”
Frag. Now there were two individuals plotting to rescue Nymphia. “She’s not your female and we’re not rescuing any being.”
“Her scent tells me she’s mine.” Gap wasn’t backing down.
“She might be his female.” Safyre joined the discussion. “You don’t know.”
Crash’s lips flattened. Gap was an impulsive cyborg. He’d take unnecessary risks and get himself killed, and she was encouraging him.
“There is no might. She is my female,” Gap insisted. “And I do know this. Here.” He patted his chest.
“You know it in your body armor?” Crash deliberately misunderstood him. “You haven’t seen or spoken to my female’s friend. You know nothing.”
“Nymphia will die scared and alone if you don’t free me.” Safyre wiggled. “What does it matter if you let me go?”
“It matters.” Crash slung her over his right shoulder and strapped one of his arms across her calves, stopping her from kicking him and possibly damaging herself again. “You know too much about us.”
He walked with her through the ship, down the ramp. Gap followed them, carrying her pack.
“I won’t tell anyone.” Safyre’s voice was muffled. “Who would I tell?”
“The Humanoid Alliance.” He ignored his brethren’s stares and their wiseass comments. “The humans will realize cyborgs have free will and decommission all of the warriors remaining under their control. Millions of our males will die the most painful, torturous death a being could conceive of.” The cyborgs would be sliced to pieces while alive, stripped of all working parts.
“The Humanoid Alliance is my enemy too. I wouldn’t share any information with them.” She sounded sincere.
“I can’t take that chance.” He strode toward the bridge of the freighter. “Resign yourself to a lifetime of captivity, female. I’m never letting you go.” She was his. Forever.
“You will let me go.” She squirmed, her efforts to free herself entertaining him. “I won’t be your fuckin’ captive. I’ll escape.”