by Cynthia Sax
Her fingernails dug into his shoulders. She gritted her teeth.
He didn’t move, his gaze fixed on her face. “Damaged you.” Despair colored his voice. “Am beast.”
“I wanted the beast.” She reminded him. “And the damage is temporary. The hurt is already easing.”
He groaned, that sound coming from his soul. His gaze lifted.
He didn’t move, didn’t reply to her comments.
Allinen lay under her cyborg, waiting, not knowing what she should do next. This was all new to her, the situation not covered in any of the mate training.
When Doc finally lowered his gaze, his eyes had reverted to a pale gray. “My release will relay my nanocybotics to you, my female. They’ll repair your damage.” He brushed his lips over hers, that light touch soothing her fears.
It conveyed respect. The tension inside Allinen eased. Joining with him hadn’t destroyed his good opinion of her.
Her cyborg didn’t judge her for being with him, a male who wasn’t her mate. She smiled up at him.
Doc must have interpreted her response as a sign her body had adjusted to his. He pulled out to his rim, the emptiness now as strange as the earlier fullness, and he pushed back inside, pulled out, pushed back inside her.
His pace was slow, his rhythm smooth, controlled. The cool, unemotional medic was joining with her, that part of her male securely in charge, intent on studiously building her passion and suppressing his own.
Later, she’d provoke his beast. She would ensure he found satisfaction also. But in the current moment, restrained and predictable was exactly what they needed.
Because they were a disaster as temporary mates. Their forms bumped together, the two of them on separate agendas, and that was all her fault. She rose when she should retreat, retreated when she should rise, her tempo out of sync with her cyborg’s.
As she began to despair, to question if they were meant to join, everything magically fell into place. Her body found his groove. Her timing matched his.
They moved together as though they were made for each other, as though he truly was her mate, her permanent partner in life. Her breasts brushed against her cyborg’s chest. Her hips hitched to greet his.
He increased his pace, thrusting into her harder, deeper. The fire inside her relit, burning higher and higher. There was no pain, only pleasure, and mind-numbing desire and belonging—something she’d never experienced yet recognized with her entire being.
She responded to it, to him. Her glow brightened, bathing Doc’s primitive face with light. Her perspiration coated his skin, making it shine. She panted, undulating under him, needing to touch more of her male with more of her.
Doc grunted, adding that sound to their joining noises. He was once again losing his battle with his more savage side, and that thrilled her.
She wanted him wild, wanted him so lost in their encounter he couldn’t think, couldn’t hold back. His lust was a stimulant to her after a lifespan of not being wanted. It turned her on.
He turned her on. Allinen pumped her hips, meeting her cyborg halfway. He varied his angle with every drive forward, alternating his attention between her upper and lower clits, keeping her in a constant state of arousal.
Too much of his restraint remained. She grazed his pecs with her fingernails, marking his gray skin.
He snarled, baring his teeth, his eyes a dark void of desire. His actions became more frenzied, his joining more erratic.
“Mine.” Her cyborg drove into her. “Mine.” He drew away from her. “Mine.” His declarations filled the domicile as he pounded his cock into her pussy, taking her hard and fast, the way she wanted, the way she craved.
She was close, so close. “I need—”
“Give.” He thrust deep and swiveled his hips, grinding first against her lower clit, then against the upper, not pausing, not giving her an opportunity to recover from his actions.
The dual assault shattered the last feeble bits of her composure. Passion exploded out of her, bits flying everywhere. Bliss, powerful and sharp, pierced her soul. She screamed, arching her back, raking his chest with her fingernails. Her inner walls constricted, clenching down on her male’s hard, thick cock.
“Mine.” Her cyborg threw back his head and roared, the sound echoing in the small space. There was no medic left in him. He was all beast, his face stark with emotion, his muscles rippling.
And he was determined to claim his mate. To claim her. Completely. A blast of hot cum shot from his tip.
That essence slammed against her inner walls. Ecstasy, more intense than any Allinen had ever experienced, hit her. It made her previous orgasm seem like a warm-up, like a precursor to the real thing.
Her cries grew louder. She didn’t care who might hear her. All she knew was pleasure and him.
It was too much. She writhed, fighting her male, fighting the bliss, trying to flee the onslaught of sensations bombarding her.
He wouldn’t allow her to escape him. His hips secured her ass to the ground. His arms formed a cage around her.
Her male came and came and came, every spurt of his cum ripping her mind to pieces, relaying more fulfillment than she could absorb. It flowed from her fingers and toes, from her skin and from her hair, lighting the chamber.
The barrage finally ended. A tremor shook her cyborg’s shoulders and he collapsed, flattening her.
She released a loud sigh of appreciation, welcoming the heavy weight of him. It tied her to reality, to the here and now, and she needed that, didn’t want to miss a moment of their encounter.
Because it could be their last joining.
Allinen pushed that dark thought away and focused on her male. She stroked his back, held him to her. His chest rose and fell rapidly as though he’d run a long distance.
They stayed like that for a moment. He lay on top of her, his cock in her pussy, their limbs entwined. Their breathing slowly synchronized.
Her connection to him remained, had strengthened, and that scared her. They had joined and beastly lust was fleeting. Often after the pahas rutted, the male left to return to his own pack and the female never saw him again.
She fortified her heart and waited for that to happen, for him to leave her.
Moments passed.
Doc didn’t dismount her, didn’t attempt to put distance between them. He braced himself upward slightly, alleviating the pressure his larger form put on hers, but didn’t otherwise move.
She shifted uneasily under him, not knowing what to do, what to say. Mate training hadn’t prepared her for this situation, for a temporary joining.
Doc frowned down at her. “I’m damaging you.” He rolled.
She moved also, her cyborg taking her with him. They’d merely switched positions. He lay on his back. She sprawled on top of him. His cock continued to fill her pussy. Their physical link hadn’t been broken.
They had joined fiercely yet she felt no discomfort. “I’m not damaged. Your nanocy..cy…” Paha teeth. She had forgotten what he’d called it.
“My nanocybotics.” He supplied the word, his tone sleepy, her male sated.
“Your nanocybotics must have healed…repaired me.” She strived to use his terminology. “There’s bubbling inside me.” Those two things must be related. “It started when you kissed me and intensified with our joining.”
“Those are my nanocybotics.” He brushed her hair back from her face.
Allinen wiggled. The elders were right. Males valued tidiness.
His cock hardened inside her. “Be still.” His big hands clamped down on her ass. “Unless you want another round of breeding immediately.”
He said that as though he wanted to another round of breeding.
She lifted her head and stared at her cyborg. “Beasts join…breed only once.”
“This beast plans to breed with you two more times this planet rotation.” His storm-filled eyes glowed.
Her face heated. She shouldn’t want that. He wasn’t her mate. They had no
future together. But her rebellious pussy didn’t care about that. It already dripped with yearning. “You’re a primitive being.” As, she was discovering, was she.
“I’m your primitive being.” His declaration thrilled her. “Your nanocybotics tell every cyborg you’re mine.”
That meant very little to her. “I haven’t made contact with any other cyborgs.”
“You’ll meet Truth and Dissent soon.” He talked as though he had already decided to take her with him when he left.
She would have a transport to the next planet…and perhaps Doc as her temporary mate for a little while longer. Happiness bloomed inside her. “Those are your friends, the brown-haired male and the male with the blue eyes.”
He nodded. “Truth has the blue eyes. He’s a D Model and he’s never serious.”
She didn’t know what D Model meant but she stored those words in her mind. If he used them often enough, she could determine their significance.
“Dissent, with the brown hair, looks the most human. He’s a J Model and he’s often very serious.” The warmth in Doc’s voice communicated that he loved both of them.
She suspected she would like them also.
“Both of them will ask you many, many questions.” Doc warned her. “All of my brethren will ask you questions.” He touched the mark on his cheek.
The other two males had similar marks. It must be a sign of his kind.
“It won’t indicate disrespect.” He told her what she had already guessed. “It’s our way.”
If it was their way, they would expect her to ask questions also. She nibbled on her bottom lip. That made her uneasy. She didn’t want to disrespect anyone. But she would attempt anything to belong…with him, with other outsiders.
“The prospect of them asking questions emotionally damages you.” He misinterpreted her silence.
“Asking questions is a skill I must learn.” Allinen added that task to her list. “But I won’t view your brethren’s asking of questions to be a form of disrespect.” She assured him. “Now that you have explained your ways, I understand them.”
His lips curled upward. “You are as intelligent as you are beautiful.”
“I don’t feel intelligent.” She felt the exact opposite at the moment. “Many of your words are strange to me.”
“You’ll learn them.” His certainty reassured her. “And many of your words are strange to us also. As are your creatures. Dissent has claimed the miljoonasuut as a pet.”
“Pet.” She repeated that word. “I don’t know the meaning of pet either.”
“He has claimed it as his beast friend.” Doc grinned.
“He has a miljoonasuut as a pet.” She laughed at that ridiculous notion. “That pet will eat your friend.”
Doc chuckled, his joy adding to hers.
Chapter Nine
For a cyborg, there was nothing in the universe better than breeding with his female.
Two shifts later, having bred with his female three processor-melting times, Doc could verify with 100.0000 percent certainty that was correct. He had never experienced any bliss equal to it.
His beast was calm and sated. His mechanics were securely in command.
Allinen was thoroughly claimed.
His pretty little humanoid belonged to him. He would never let her go.
Though they might have to part yet again.
“I could enter the settlement in a different place.” He presented his case for accompanying her while he attached the sensors to her fingertips.
They were seated on the fabric-covered ground. Both of them were naked.
Nudity didn’t bother Doc. The Humanoid Alliance, viewing them as machines, had stored him and his brethren without their valuable body armor.
Since escaping their rule, he had viewed many beings without their garments. As a medic, that was often necessary to determine damage.
His female appeared to be as unconcerned with her lack of clothing. She sat with her long legs casually crossed, all of her open to his view.
He liked that…very much.
He didn’t like the prospect of leaving her side. “I’m a cyborg.” He emphasized his difference from the other beings she’d met. “I move quickly, silently, have no light shining from me. The shadows would conceal me.”
“There’s no privacy in the settlement.” His female studied her fingers. “And beings watch me.” Her voice lowered. “I’m one of the unmated. That’s unnatural for my kind and it makes the others suspicious.”
“You were one of the unmated.” He corrected her. “You’re mated now and I would like to meet your family, your friends, that rebellious niece of yours.”
“You’re an outsider.” Her lips twisted. “Meeting you is forbidden.”
“If you remain inside when the sun is at its peak, I will meet them.” He applied the last sensor to her fingertips. It was transparent, thin, flexible, was almost indistinguishable from her golden skin. “I won’t be parted from you longer than two shifts.”
Her gaze flew up, meeting his. “That’s something a mate would say.”
“That’s true.” He nodded. “I’m your mate and I said that.”
She frowned.
His female didn’t believe he viewed her as his mate. Doc quashed his frustration. He had to be patient.
Allinen had a poor opinion of outsiders, as she called all non-Khambalians. It would take time to earn her trust.
They had that time. His nanocybotics would repair any damage caused by the stresses of the solar cycles. He would protect her from any other threats. Her lifespan would match his, be almost limitless.
He still didn’t want to spend any of it away from her. “Our lifeform scans relayed there were four hundred and sixty-six beings, not including you, in the settlement. Every one of them must be cataloged.” He placed her hands on his bare chest, savoring that physical connection. “To do that, all you have to do is touch their skin or their hair. Anywhere on their bodies. Their hands, their arms, their—”
“Their cocks.” The sparkle returned to her eyes.
“Not their cocks.” The possessive beast in him wouldn’t tolerate teasing, not about that. “The only cock you touch will be mine.” That part of him was hard as a rock yet again. He couldn’t get enough of her.
“Hmmm…” She stroked his chest as she had stroked his cock during their last breeding, her fingertips exquisitely light against his pecs, their contrasting skin gold and silver, light and dark. “You said anywhere.”
“Anywhere except their cocks.” Doc narrowed his eyes at her. Was she trying to provoke the primitive possessive part of him?
She’d done that many times during their breedings, asking for his beast, pushing him until he lost control and showed her that half of his being.
His savagery didn’t frighten her. Even when he snarled and rumbled at her, she didn’t back down. She trusted he wouldn’t damage her, not permanently, not more than she needed to find release.
His female embraced his machine also, growing wet when he had examined her, gazing at him with appreciation as he chattered about data and theories and experiments. There had been no pauses in her processing when he switched from extreme emotion to extreme logic.
It was almost as though she didn’t perceive him as being damaged…which must be a faulty conclusion. Because he was damaged. Very much so.
“Touch each inhabitant of the settlement.” He focused on the mission. “That’s all you have to do.”
She drummed her fingertips against his chest. “Touching you does nothing.”
It gave him great pleasure. That was what it did. “Trust the sensors. They’ll gather the information.” He pressed one of his index fingers against hers. “This transfers the data to me.”
The relay was quicker than he’d anticipated, the bits of information flashing through his processors. His nanocybotics production had increased. His systems were optimized. Breeding with his female had made him a better cyborg.
; And a much happier male. “I’m transferring the data to the handheld.” He tapped on the device. “Here, it is.” He showed her the display.
“There’s a lot of data about you.” She peered at it, her forehead furrowing. “That’s your heart rate.” She indicated the correct number. “The number is lower than it was the last time I gathered data on you.”
When he had earlier explained all of the complicated specs the handheld displayed, he’d calculated the probability she was listening at 20.3689 percent and the probability she understood any of it at 5.6937 percent.
She had been listening and she had understood some of it. Pride filled his chest. His female was highly intelligent.
“When you gathered data on me the previous time, we had just finished breeding.” Doc placed her right hand over his left pec, above where his heart was situated. “Breeding with you makes my heart beat faster.”
“Hmmm…” She lowered her left hand and curled her fingers around his cock.
He sucked in his breath, that contact taking him by surprise.
“Touching your cock makes your heart beat faster.” Her glittering eyes belied her cool tone. “We should test all actions. That knowledge might be useful.”
Her suggestion appealed to both his mechanics and his organics, his medic and his beast. He was tempted to put the mission on pause and offer himself up for her tantalizing experiments.
But her kind would notice if she didn’t return to settlement. She’d mentioned that to him more than once.
And Truth and Dissent had almost completed their exploration of the rest of the planet. They’d expect him to fulfill his part of the assignment also.
And he would…with his female’s assistance. “We’ll test those actions later.” He reluctantly pulled her hand away from his cock. “The sun is setting.”
“I have to return to the settlement.” She sighed, standing. Her naked body was lean yet strong. All of her glowed, her skin pale polished gold, her light as warm and welcoming.
Before his control could slip, he hurriedly grabbed her garment and helped her dress, wrapping the thin soft fabric around her form, using that excuse to skim his fingers between her breasts, to graze her hips with his palms, to brush back her long, fine hair.