by Aurelia Skye
That he had panicked over her state of well-being was a surprise. He’d reacted in an illogical manner, which was also a surprise, but he didn’t have time to dwell on his actions at the moment. Instead, he flipped the mode on his sensor to check her over, scanning her quickly. “You haven’t broken any bones, but I suspect you’ll have a large contusion on your hip.”
She was gritting her teeth, but this time he didn’t think it was because she was angry with him. Rather, she seemed to be trying to control her breathing and keep back a cry of pain.
“I figured. I’m amazed I didn’t break any bones.”
“I should probably make sure though. The sensor isn’t always accurate with interference from the thickness of the caves down here, or radiation from the surface.”
Even as he said it, he wondered if she would call him on it. This close to her, there was no reason why the sensors wouldn’t pick up an injury, and he had no explanation for why he had suggested manually examining her. At least not an explanation he wanted to explore.
After a moment, she nodded once. “I guess it’s probably a good idea to make sure I don’t have any internal injuries or broken bones.” She seemed to be steeling herself for something unpleasant.
MX tried to be brisk as he moved his arm to lay down the sensor on the floor of the cave before bringing both hands to her body. He started at her shoulders, moving his hands down in roughly the same time and pattern; only pausing when she let out a little whimper as his hand touched her left wrist. He spent a moment exploring it, ensuring there were no broken bones, before nodding at her. “Just a sprain.”
She nodded, eyes closed, and her breathing was slightly uneven. At first, he thought it was from pain as his hands moved down her chest, checking the integrity of her sternum before sliding over to check her ribcage. It was only when he accidentally pressed against the side of her breast, causing her to inhale raggedly, that he realized she wasn’t in pain. She was trying to keep herself from having any sort of reaction to his touch.
Experimentally, he touched the other side of her breast in the same spot, carefully looking at the mounds pressed against her gray shirt. He let out a ragged sigh of his own when her nipples hardened, confirming what he had suspected—his touch was arousing to her.
Surely that could only be if she was attracted to him? Or perhaps it was strictly a physical response? He didn’t know, and he also didn’t know why he was intrigued and wanted to spend long moments stroking her breasts to gauge her reaction. Of course he’d had sex with other cyborgs before, but he hadn’t been attracted to a human since before he’d no longer been one, and he’d never had a deep appreciation for breasts. His coupling with other cyborgs was a way to release tension and ease sexual frustration. There was rarely an extensive period of foreplay involved, and he wondered for the first time if he and the other cyborgs were doing it wrong.
“Well?”
He blinked. “Well, what?”
She frowned up at him. “Your hands have been on my hips for the last minute. Do you feel something broken? Because it’s starting to hurt.”
He was convinced she was lying. Oh, Heather was probably in pain all right, but he was certain his hands lightly touching her hips weren’t causing her pain, but were obviously distressing her because it made it impossible for her to hide her reaction. “I don’t think anything’s broken.”
“Then kindly remove your hands from me.” She pushed the words out through gritted teeth, clearly annoyed again.
It clicked into place for him suddenly, and he let out a startled laugh before he could hold it back.
She was shooting a death glare at him. “What’s so funny?”
“I just realized why you’ve been in such a bad mood. You might not like me, but your body likes me. Your frustration is more sexual in nature than springing from a place of concern for the enclave. You want me, but you don’t want to want me.”
Her eyes widened, and she glared at him a moment later. “You’re so full of yourself. Why don’t you take your superior ass across the floor so I can get away from you?”
He didn’t move. He struggled for a moment to identify the emotion rising in him before realizing it was a sense of lightness that came from fun. MX didn’t remember much about his past, but he was certain he’d always been serious and focused on the task. It wasn’t like him to be playful or to tease, but he felt the urge with her.
Instead of moving backward, he put his hand across her abdomen. It was in a perfectly respectable position, but he was certain she was just as aware as he was that it could move up or down and be less respectable in a matter of seconds. “How long have you been attracted to me, Heather?”
She flinched. “I hate when you say my name like that.”
He frowned. “Like what?”
“Like it’s something unpleasant or lesser. You have this tone when you speak my name. You have it with any of the humans. Even Carrie.”
MX started to deny the accusation, but then hesitated. It was no secret he didn’t believe they really needed an alliance with the humans, despite Carrie and Davis’s insistence. He was here to make amends for accidentally shooting Elena Sanchez, but that didn’t mean he embraced the idea of being allies with humans.
He didn’t see what benefit they brought to the cyborgs, other than some of their technology, including the pulser and the sensors that detected the synthetics. Those had the fault of being too sensitive to disruption from the surrounding environment, and he’d already made a mental note to see about improving the technology. He was certain at some point the cyborgs would have come up with similar ideas as well.
But he was discomfited feeling superior, especially around Heather. He often felt awkward around her, but struggled to hide it behind a wall of calm indifference. Until a few moments ago, he’d assumed it was because he felt uncomfortable around her, a visible reminder of how he had failed when he had misread the situation with the general’s mate and the humans and had acted before thinking. That had led to Heather’s great-grandmother’s death at his hands, so he’d assumed that caused his anxiety.
Now, he probed carefully in his thoughts and quickly reached the conclusion that yes, it made him uncomfortable, but his reaction to her had far more to do with physical attraction than guilt. “I’m sorry.”
Her eyes widened. “For what?”
“For saying your name in a condescending fashion. It wasn’t my intention to insult you, and I’ll certainly try to focus on saying your name more respectfully.”
She nodded, looking satisfied, if a bit puzzled. “Okay, thank you. Now will you scoot back so I can get up?” She looked pointedly down at his hand that still rested on her abdomen, and his gaze followed suit, which brought the light focused fully on the spot where their bodies were touching. His hand trembled for a moment as he had to hold in check the urge to lift it higher and drift across her breasts.
She licked her lips, and her heart rate shifted. Her temperature rose just slightly as well, and he was certain it was visible proof of her arousal, which she was trying to hide.
“You do want me, don’t you, Heather?” This time, he made sure to say her name without any hint of condescension.
She glared at him. “You’re so full of yourself.”
He grinned. “I believe you already said that. What you didn’t say was an actual answer. If you answer the question, I’ll let you up.”
She glared at him as she struggled to wriggle away. He simply clamped his hand a little tighter on her abdomen, holding her against the floor of the cave. He wasn’t hurting her, but he wasn’t allowing her to escape either. “Answer the question.”
“If the question is, are you a bastard, the answer is yes.”
He laughed softly. “You know that’s not the answer I’m looking for, and that wasn’t the question I asked. Are you afraid to answer the question?”
She made a scoffing sound. “I’m not afraid of anything.” Her expression shifted slightly. “At least n
ot when it comes to you and the other cyborgs.”
It was an oblique reference to her fear of the synthetics, which he completely understood. He didn’t exactly fear them, but he knew the damage they could do, especially with their new weapon that obliterated all organic matter that it touched. He started to call her on it, but a green flashing caught his attention. His sensor lay on the floor, but that wasn’t what caught his attention. Rather, it was the other sensor strapped to it from Leith that detected synthetics. The device sensed an overwhelming number directly below them. The fear she felt of the synthetics crept through him too when he realized just how many they might be facing.
He lifted his hand from her stomach and placed his fingers against her lips for a moment until she nodded to understand she wasn’t to speak. It seemed like it might be too late to muffle or silence themselves to hide their presence, since they’d just conducted their conversation in the range of multiple synthetics, according to the sensors, but he didn’t want to further risk giving away their position if the synthetics weren’t aware of their presence yet.
When she sat up, wincing visibly, he got to his feet and helped her to her feet, almost surprised when she took the hand he held out to her. He put an arm around her waist until she was steady on her feet and pushed him away with a warning look. He bit back a sigh of impatience as he bent down to pick up the sensors, showing her the one Leith had given him.
Her eyes widened, and her fear and horror were obvious as she realized what it meant. She looked around, clearly searching for an escape route, but finding none except forward. That was in the direction of the synthetics that had to be below them, and it was the only way they were getting out of this part of the cave.
He took her hand and squeezed reassuringly, almost surprised by how tightly she clung to it for a moment before clearly regaining her composure and stepping away from him. She squared her shoulders and donned a mask of calm confidence, but her accelerated heart rate gave her away.
He went first this time, not allowing her a chance to slip in front of him. She didn’t make a move to either, which revealed either she was seriously frightened, or she was injured and realized it. Perhaps it had influenced her not to insist on taking the lead as she was prone to do at least half the time, assuring him it was her job too.
They had landed on a ledge, and it extended a few feet in front of them. He shut off the headlamp as they neared the drop-off, finding ample light from some source below—at least enough to illuminate the path before them and reveal a couple of rocks blocking the way. He stepped around them and turned to offer her a hand over them. He was slightly concerned when she accepted his help, worried for a moment that her injury was worse than he had thought.
After a moment, they broached the edge and paused. She wasn’t able to completely stifle her indrawn breath, and he was barely able to avoid making any noise of his own. Beneath them was a shocking and terrifying sight—there had to be at least a hundred synthetics standing in formation less than twenty feet below.
Chapter Four
When Heather trembled, MX moved closer and put his arm around her instinctively. Despite her fear, he was still surprised when she didn’t shove him away, but instead cuddled closer. Fear spread through him as well, and he quickly realized it was more for her than himself. He couldn’t keep her safe against all the synthetics below them. As soon as they realized MX and Heather were there, the synths would decimate them.
Not that he wouldn’t put up a fight, and he was certain Heather would do the same. He turned his head to reassure her of that, but found himself kissing her instead of speaking. She was stiff for a moment, her lips resistant to his, until she shuddered again—this time probably not from fear—and gave a small sigh of surrender before her lips softened to his.
Until that moment, he hadn’t realized just how much he wanted Heather. He’d been attracted to her, and the realization that she was attracted to him had been gratifying, but he hadn’t accepted the intensity of his interest in the human until that moment.
She was the first to pull away, looking dazed for a moment before the fear returned. She frowned, but didn’t chastise him for the kiss. Instead, she looked down at the synthetics, eyebrows knit with worry. “They haven’t moved.” Her voice was little more than a whisper. “Do you think the cave’s interference blocks their sensors as well?”
He shrugged a shoulder as he leaned forward just a bit more, wanting a better vantage point, but without tumbling into the sea of synthetics beneath him. The more he looked at them, the more convinced he was that they were inactive. A wave of relief shot through him as he scanned with his own internal processors and the sensor in his hand.
They were plugged into some sort of power source, but drawing only minimal input, and registering only a slight output. He turned his head and gave Heather a small smile of encouragement. “They’re asleep at the moment. I don’t know why, but they’re dormant. This must be a storage facility.”
Her eyes widened, and she let out a small sigh of her own. “They don’t know we’re here then.” She said it as a statement, squaring her shoulders in the process.
He nodded and opened his mouth to speak as she did the same.
“We need to explore—”
They had spoken simultaneously, and he was a little put off by how they shared a thought process, down to the same structure of their sentences. They’d even stopped speaking at the same time, as though they were far more in tune with each other than he’d realized. He wasn’t certain whether to be excited by the prospect, or to be apprehensive about their connection. At the moment, he didn’t have time to be either one. “Yeah, we need to check this out. Do you think you can belay down to the lower level if we run a line?”
Heather’s teeth sank into her lower lip, and she was clearly debating it before nodding hesitantly. “I think so.”
He nodded once before looking at her back. “Where’s your pack?”
She reached back to touch her shoulder and upper back, which was clearly an automatic response. A moment later, she frowned. “I was wearing it before I fell, but both of the straps had been repaired several times. It must have broken and fallen somewhere when the floor gave out beneath me.”
MX nodded, deciding not to waste the time it would require to find her backpack. Instead, he moved to the edge of the ledge, stood up before crouching, and jumped down twenty feet to the next level. He landed with a small thud, but there wasn’t a flicker of movement among the synthetics clustered in the room. This close, he could see they were lined up in precise order, and each one had a cable through the back of its head that led to a large machine in the corner. He intended to explore that more closely, but first he needed to get Heather down.
He opened his arms and stretched up his hands. “Jump.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Even from twenty feet above him, the horror was obvious in her expression. “If you can’t catch me, I’ll—”
“I will catch you. I’ll always catch you, Heather.” The intensity of his words surprised him, but he must’ve been successful in conveying his sincerity. A moment later, she sat down to scoot to the edge of the ledge, sitting there for a brief second before closing her eyes and launching herself forward.
He caught her as he’d promised, stumbling just slightly at the impact. A moment later, he slowly lowered her to her feet, admitting to himself that he was holding her longer than necessary, and much closer than he had to. Her gaze locked with his, and it was full of questions, along with an unspoken awareness that neither of them had time to acknowledge. MX wasn’t even certain he wanted to acknowledge what he was feeling, at least not until he had a chance to process it.
As soon as she was steady on her feet, he moved closer to the machine to which all the synthetics were plugged into and spent a moment examining it. He was far too aware of Heather’s presence when she came to stand beside him, though she didn’t touch him. She was just outside the range of touching, but he could sti
ll sense her proximity, and it distracted him for a moment.
With a stern mental scolding, he forced his attention back to the matter at hand. “I can’t be sure, but I think this machine is programming them, while also keeping them turned on at a low level. It makes sense to store them this way when they aren’t in use. It minimizes the necessary power output, but I have a feeling whatever controls these things can turn them on at a moment’s notice, if required.”
She swallowed audibly. “Which means we need to make sure they don’t realize we’re here.”
He nodded as he touched the device. He linked to it within milliseconds and started downloading the data that he could glean from the connection. When he released it, he turned to her. “The datalink is originating from another room in the area, so it can’t be far. I think we should see what it is that powers these things, so maybe we can figure out how to turn them off permanently.”
She was clearly frightened at the prospect, but all she did was nod and firm her shoulders while straightening her spine. He admired her resiliency and determination to proceed despite her fears.
Before leaving the room, he quickly inventoried the number stored there. “One hundred.”
“I’m sorry?”
He looked at Heather. “There are a hundred synths here. If this is just one of many rooms, this could be a disaster. I wonder how long they’ve been mass-producing these things?” He asked the question aloud, but certainly didn’t expect her to have an answer. “It seems like they’ve been going at full production for a while, doesn’t it? They’re putting them in this dormant state until they need them, but what do they need them for?” He was thinking aloud more than expecting any input from Heather.
She surprised him when she said, “They must be planning something big.”