Aramus (15 page)

The lock to her cell clicked
, and the door slid open on its metal track with only a small grating sound. The soldiers who’d accompanied Dennison lined themselves on either side of the opening, guns holstered at their side, Tasers held pointing outward, their smirks clear. They wouldn’t stop the rape about to happen.

She swallowed the knot of fear forming in her throat
as Dennison took one step in. Two.

“I warned you,” Aramus growled. “Stupid motherfucker.”

There was a certain sound metal made when bent in ways never meant by nature, when one force went up against another, straining and pulling.

Scree
eeeeech!

How loud it seemed. How unexpected.
This, along with a few shocked “Holy shit!”, made for a noise she could only describe as wonderful. The smell of flesh as it sizzled? That she could have done without, yet it didn’t seem to bother Aramus as he put his boast into action.

He stepped from his cell, cracked his knuckles and growled, “Who
wants to die first?”

Aramus never understood why
his enemies never took his advice. He warned them not to fuck with him. Warned the little prick to leave his female alone. Stupid humans, they just never goddamned listened, and he was done giving them fair warning.

The fear in Riley’s eyes spurred him into action. Aramus wasn’t about to let the asshole entering her cell hurt one hair on her stubborn head. Only he was allowed to yank her hair or make her cry,
preferably in pleasure.

Beside, human or not, what male didn’t want an opportunity to prove he was the biggest and
toughest warrior around? A reputation like his didn’t come from letting others come to the rescue. What was a little scorched flesh when it came to keeping the legend of Aramus, baddest motherfucking cyborg, alive? That and he loved seeing the whites of the bastards’ eyes as they realized their foolishness—and faced their mortality.

Before
, he’d had to temper himself, let the human militia that boarded his ship think they held the upper hand. He’d not completely agreed with the plan when Aphelion first proposed it, but he had to admit it made the most sense. If he wanted to ensure they didn’t massacre Riley or any other prisoners on board, then he needed to get on the enemy ship and find out where they’d stashed them. The best way to accomplish that was as a captive.

So the
cyborgs engaged their pursing enemies in a mock battle. Not too fake. He didn’t want to rouse their suspicions, especially not when he knew they harbored a spy, but not intense enough to cause permanent damage to either vessel or its passengers.

The fact he ended up
in a detention cell across from Riley proved an unexpected bonus. It checked off a few items on his to-do list. Of course, the way she got him to admit he loved her in front of an audience, something he’d never live down, meant his list got longer as now he’d have to kill those who’d overheard.

Which can be arranged.
He’d miss his brothers, Xylo especially, who’d snickered the entire time he’d conversed with Riley. But he’d get over it.

Or he could let his brethren live and swear them
to silence. Threaten them with a visit from his iron fists or, even more horrifying, threaten to sic that crazy cyborg female Deidre on them. The female would not leave him alone. She seemed determined to bed him, despite his numerous refusals. But now wasn’t the time to mull over his plan already in motion. With danger courting his female, he needed to act.

It was almost too easy.
Despite the boast of the slimy human in charge, there was no cell, electrified or not, that could hold him, not when his little doctor needed him. It seemed the company had not updated all of its personnel on the fact that cyborgs could resist electricity, or some of them at least could, like Aramus. During his last update, Einstein had modified his core programming and put him on a specialized regime that saw him playing with electricity on a regular basis, the dosage increasing each time, until he could handle more than the average cyborg. They’d learned their lesson with the Tasers the military used on them during a previous encounter.

The voltage still
hurt as it coursed through his body, but he was cyborg. He wouldn’t let it stop him, not when Riley needed him. He swallowed past the pain. The bars bent before his brute force with a high-pitched squeal. Out he stepped of his temporary cage. He cracked his knuckles as he asked who wanted to die first. Intimidation was always so much fun.

As usual, no one volunteered.
Pussies.

“Don’t just fucking stand there,” screamed the idiot in charge. “Taser him.”

As if remembering the devices they held, the hired thugs discharged them all at once. Only two actually hit Aramus, their electrical force coursing through his system. Not entirely pleasant. He forced a smile to his lips. “That tickles. Got anything stronger?”

“How the hell are you resisting it? They assured me the voltage would render you impotent.”

“One, never ever use the word ‘impotent’ with me in the same sentence. Two, never underestimate a cyborg. We adapt. We always adapt. It is, after all, what we were designed for.” That was the wonderful thing about being cyborg. If something broke or didn’t work or, in this case, proved a weakness, then all it took was a programming tweak, some new hardware, and say hello to the new and improved cybernetic unit. He didn’t mention the fact that only some of his kind got the specialized upgrades. With limited resources, not everyone could resist like he could.

“Don’t just stand there. Shoot him!” screamed the idiot with bulging eyes.

It took a moment before the stunned soldiers aimed their weapons and fired. Aramus jerked as the bullets ripped through his flesh, some lodging in muscle, while others went right through. Fucking ill-trained mercs. Didn’t they know only a headshot, and a very precise one at that, could take out a cyborg?

The plink of a bullet hitting the floor as his body repelled them
, echoed in the suddenly silent space. “Ouch. That stung,” he rebuked, his flesh already closing over the holes, his nanos humming as they worked.

Now their eyes showed the panic and realization that perhaps they’d fucked up.
The hired soldiers raised their guns to fire again. Too slow. Aramus bashed their heads together before they could take a second shot. Then he went to work or, as Seth liked to joke, had grown-up playtime with his new squeaky toys.

He could have stripped their weapons
from their hands and used them and freed his brothers, who clapped and whistled, but that would mean sharing the fun. So he went it alone, punching soft flesh, feeling bone crunch, hearing the grunts and gasps of men who thought they were tough until they met someone nastier than them. They soon learned the error of their ways. Pity for them that they didn’t live long enough to truly enjoy the lesson.

A scream from Riley drew his attention as
the little prick who’d taunted him held her in a chokehold across his body, using her as a shield.
Oh no he fucking didn’t.

“Move and she dies
,” his target threatened.

“How did a dumb fucker like you ever get put in charge?” Aramus, with reflexes faster than any human, snagged
a gun from a blubbering soldier and fired.

Riley screamed as the three
-eyed corpse wrapped around her sagged to the floor, dragging her with it. Aramus darted forward and pulled her into the safety of his arms. She trembled in his grip but, at the same time, clung tight to him, safe and sound. “Told you I’d get us out of here.” Yeah. He sounded smug. Nothing like being right and saving the day to remedy a man’s injured arrogance—and to remind those who’d been witnesses to his earlier ignoble admission that he still had what it took to kick their asses.

She hiccupped a sob as she sagged in his arms. “I hate you. No. I love you. You are such an arrogant, idiotic, handsome asshole of
a man.”

He ignored most of her speech and focused on the only important part.
“But you love me?”

“Yes.”

“And you will register for a civil bond with me?” Making her his in the eyes of the law and clarifying her status would also give him a line of defense when he killed the cyborgs who attempted to flirt with her.

“Yes.”

“We will have copious amounts of sex,” he declared.

“Don’t push it.”

“Oh, I will, deeply and thoroughly.” How easy the innuendos came when he didn’t fight against his more human side.

“
How can you think of sex when we haven’t escaped yet.”

“Minor detail.
Be sure to stand behind me while I take over the ship.”

“Are you insane? You’re injured.
Let’s free the others to do it.”

“And let them have all the fun?”
He didn’t quite pout, but it was close.

“I think you should do as she says,” Xylo taunted. “Let someone else get the most kills for once. You can go cuddle with your human
while we clean up the mess.”

“Can we get rid of him and make it look like an accident?” she asked.

“Easily,” Aramus replied with a dark chuckle.

“Hey. Not funny,” Xylo complained.

She laughed, the sweetest sound ever. “Fine. I won’t let him kill you, so long as you keep him safe.”

“I don’t need his help.”
Aramus glared.

She smiled in the face of his annoyance.
“While I am sure you could take over this ship all by yourself, we have more important things to do, such as locate Deidre.”

“Why?” He’d done his best to shake the annoying female.

“Because she is a spy.”

“But she hates humans.”

“She hates everyone. It’s part of her programming. It’s why you didn’t suspect her. But logic says it has to be her because Avion is here with us.”

“We rescued another male as well
, who is currently unaccounted for. It could be him.”

She shook her head. “Call it a gut instinct.”

In other words, trust her. Looking down at her, he nodded. “MJ!” he yelled for his medic. “Get over here.”

“Just as soon as you let me out. Not all of us have gotten the new upgrades yet,” reminded the cyborg.

Aramus quickly released his brethren and the few other prisoners, Percy included, as sirens blared. He’d just finished unlatching the last cage when the thump of boots echoed from around the corner. He tucked Riley behind him, using his body as a shield, and just in time too, as the mercenaries showed up, weapons firing erratically.

“Take them out,” he yelled. “Before they—
” The hiss and suctioning wind hit before he could finish his sentence. “—cause a breach.” Fuck. While the lack of oxygen wasn’t a big deal to him because he could regulate his body to survive without air, Riley, on the other hand, couldn’t.

“Someone take care of the stuttering moron
while the rest of you subdue this ship. I need to get Riley to safety.” Tossing her over his shoulder, he pushed his way through the tussling bodies in search of an environmental suit or passage back to their vessel, whichever he located first.

She gasped on his back, silent for once, cognizant of the danger and not letting her usual stubbornness stand in the way of what he had to do. She didn’t say a word
, even as he grabbed a soldier who stepped from a room dressed in full space gear, snapped his neck, and proceeded to strip him.

She did utter a soft, “Thank you,” as he stuffed her into the helmet and suit.

Chaos held a free rein as the enemy craft added computerized warnings to the blaring sirens. “Hull breach. Sealing passages in section 4F through nine in order to contain it in thirty seconds. All personnel are to evacuate those areas. I repeat…”

Assuming his brothers were smart enough to get out on their own, he
concerned himself with his most important task. Getting Riley off this ship. No longer worried about her ability to breathe, he nevertheless hoisted her once again—she weighed nothing to him after all—and traced a circuitous route to where his BCI told him the ships were joined together. Having feigned unconsciousness during his foray on board, he had to rely on his computer instead of memory, which would have worked well if he’d known the idiosyncrasies of the craft he was on.

A wall
with a locked door, a new one according to schematics, blocked his way. “Fuck me. Stupid builders not updating their goddamned records.” He didn’t want to waste time backtracking. He aimed his pistol at the control panel and fired. The circuitry spat and sizzled, the smell of burnt wires permeating the air. It didn’t open the door. However, the ragged hole revealed a glint of orange, the color used to identify emergency levers hidden behind the crackling mess. He reached in and yanked. With a grind of metal, the portal slid open, and he stepped into a storage room filled with about six capsules, stasis chambers meant for flesh. All of them blinked numbers and lights indicating they were active.

“Who
do they have in those?” Riley asked, her voice muffled by the helmet.

“I don’t know, but we’d better try and get them out of here before the company decides we’re better off not finding out.” He didn’t want a repeat of the installation where all of his witnesses got terminated before he could question them or bring them home for study.

He sent out a wireless message to Aphelion.
Hey, I’ve found something.

So handle it,
snapped his first mate.
I’m kind of busy.

Stop playing with the
mercs and get some units to hustle their metal asses over here. I might have found some intact test subjects, but we’ll need to move them from this ship to ours.

Ruin a cyborg’s fun
, why don’t you?
Aphelion grumbled.
Do you know how long it’s been since I got to practice with real soldiers instead of simulations?

You’ll be practicing with one hand if you don’t fucking obey. Or did you miss the newest announcement?

While they argued, the enemy craft’s computer had started playing a new message. “Self- destruct sequence activated. Four minutes thirty seconds until core meltdown.”