Aramus (16 page)

Damn. They’d have to move
, and quick. He set Riley down and took a closer look at the capsules. He hoisted one. Heavy, too heavy for him to run with, protect Riley, and get back to the ship and return for more.

A tap on his shoulder had him growling, “I’m a little busy right now.”

“Yeah, but while you’re busy weightlifting, I thought I should mention these stasis chambers have wheels and these cool gizmos called motors to turn them.”

He peeked down. So they did. “Smartass.”

Her muffled laughter didn’t ease his annoyance. “Always glad to help. You guide one, and I’ll follow with another.”

Kentry
, who arrived in a stomp of boots with Xylo at his back, took two more. In the end, they managed to recover five of the sleep units before they had to pull away from the vessel about to self-destruct.

They also brought along a few extra passengers, some new faces, some familiar—and
some unwelcome.

Aramus deal
t with them first.

Back on board and in one miraculous piece. Since her rescue, Aramus refused to let Riley leave his sight. Even after they boarded his ship and he barked out orders, preparing them to disengage and set a course to somewhere safe, he insisted she remain with him. She didn’t argue. After everything she had gone through, it felt nice to be wanted. Of course, Aramus didn’t phrase it that way. His excuse was, “The spy is still at large.”

But if he wanted to use Deidre as his reason for seating her on his lap as he
snapped commands, who was she to gainsay him?

A few of his shipmates raised a brow at his breach of cyborg protocol, but none dared speak
, probably because he glared at anyone who even looked her way.

Once they’d cleared the airspace and zone of impact expected from the self
-destructing enemy ship, Aramus wasted no time in calling forth their newly rescued passengers. Percy entered the command center along with Carmen. Just like a rat, the two faced female saved her skin.

Percy at least
wasted no time showing his gratitude. “Th-thank you for saving me.”

“Don’t thank me. It wasn’t my idea.” On the contrary, it seemed this Joe person who oversaw most of the cyborg affairs
, had asked them to bring back anyone who might prove useful to their home planet. “Since you seem to have not been involved in the subterfuge involving the company, you may go to your room. I warn you though,” Aramus leaned forward and fixed Percy with a stern glare. “Keep yourself out of trouble or, orders or not, I will eject you from my ship.”

Head bobbing
and Adam’s apple bobbing, Percy almost ran out of the command center, Carmen, quiet for once, stuck close to his heels, obviously hoping that command applied to her too. Think again.

“Not you, woman. Get you
r treacherous ass back here.”

Carmen froze
, and when she turned, the snake had tears welling in her eyes, and her lower lip trembled. “I didn’t mean to betray anyone. They made me. Threatened me to help or else.”

“Liar.” Riley couldn’t help but comment.

Aramus didn’t fall for her fake explanation either. “Did you, or did you not, conspire with the company?”

“Yes, but I had no choice.”

“Did they hold a gun to your head?”

“
Not quite.”

“Lock you in a cell and threaten you with rape?”

“No, but—”

“
I don’t need to hear excuses. You, with foresight and malice, contacted the company and had them attack the space station. You knowingly divulged information about the cyborgs. You put Riley in danger. None of that is acceptable. Xylo?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Take the lying female and toss her out the airlock.”

“What?” Riley exclaimed at the same time as Carmen.

Riley turned her shocked gaze on her lover. “Aramus, what are you doing? You can’t just kill her.”

“Why not?” He meant that in all seriousness. “She led to your recapture. She collaborated with the company. She will probably betray us all at the first opportunity. What else can I do?”

What indeed? Riley didn’t know the answer. On the one hand, killing the other woman seemed cruel. Yes, she’d proven herself a snake, working with the enemy, but to kill her like this? So coldly? So—

With a scream of rage, Carmen launched herself at Aramus, the pointy tip of the knife they’d once again forgotten to strip from her
, leading the way. “Die, you fucking robot!” screamed the Latina.

Riley didn’t even think twice
. She lunged at Carmen, hands reaching for the knife. The slice across her flesh didn’t immediately hurt, but the blood flowed fast and free.

Stunned, Riley sank to her knees
, watching as her essence dripped while behind her Aramus bellowed, “No!”

She barely noted the brief scuffle as Carmen was subdued and carted off
, screaming invectives. Darkness overtook her.

When Riley’s lids fluttered open, she found Aramus at her bedside, face over hers, his eyes boring a hole. “About time you woke up,” he growled.

“Nice to see you too,” she murmured. “What happened?” Last thing she recalled was her ignoble faint at the sight of her blood.

“You were a fucking idiot. What were you thinking throwing yourself in front of me like that?”

“I was protecting you.” Okay, so it sounded dumb when she said it aloud, and the twin brows that shot up on his forehead attested to it
.

The incredulity was probably called for too. “You were what? You do realize that nothing short of a sword decapitating me would have actually done me permanent harm?”

She winced. “Yeah, well, I wasn’t thinking at the time, just reacting.”

“
You are human.”

“I am well aware of that. Thanks for reminding me.”

“Apparently you do need reminding. I am built to handle danger. You are not. Do not ever,
ever
, put yourself in danger like that again. Do you know what it did to me to see you injured and bleeding like that? It hurt, Riley. I hurt! Don’t you understand how defective you’ve made me? Even the thought of losing you is enough to make me unfit. I need you. ” His voice actually broke on the last bit.

Suddenly, she found herself blinking back tears. “I’m sorry. Or not. I can’t say I won’t do the same again. I love you, Aramus. Tough cyborg or not,
I can’t help but want to protect you.”

“
If you feel a need to coddle me, then do so with less dangerous things.”

“Like?”

“Xylo’s cooking when we run out of rations. Or from Seth when he does laundry and uses too much soap. It chafes.”

She couldn’t help but smile. “I guess asking you to stay away from danger is too much to ask.”

A pained expression creased his face. “Anything but that.”

“I won’t promise, but I’ll try. Next time, given the choice between me getting knifed and you, I’ll step aside.”

“Good. And that goes for bullets too.”

“Are you planning to go to war?”

“I won’t go searching for one, if that’s what you’re asking, but neither will I run. My people need me on the front lines, protecting them.”

“I won’t let you go alone.”

“Good. I think it’s better if you’re where I can keep a watch over you.”

“Why
? Don’t you trust me?”

His brows drew together. “
You misunderstand. I don’t trust my brethren, and Joe would probably get mad if I killed off most of our colony for lusting after you, especially since it wouldn’t be their fault.”

A backward way of saying he found her attractive, but she’d take it. She’d take anything this big
, brash cyborg gave her because she loved him. “How long until the doctor releases me?” she asked, peeking at her bandaged arm, which didn’t hurt.

“Now. He says the wound was shallow and stitched it up tight. He’s numbed the area and applied a topical unguent that will speed the healing process.”

“So why are we still here?” She raised a brow. “Didn’t someone promise me tons of copulation once he rescued me?”

“I am a cyborg of my word.”
Sweeping her into his arms, Aramus strode to the door, which slid open before him.

Riley had to ask. “What happened to Carmen?”

“She’s dead. By her own hand.”

She gasped. “What?”

“When her attack on me didn’t succeed, the crazy female turned the knife on herself, slashing the arteries in both thighs. She died before we could stop the bleeding.”

“
Oh, my god. I can’t believe she committed suicide.”

Aramus shrugged. “I’m not. She knew she was slated for death. She just chose the method and did it on her terms.”

It didn’t make it any less gruesome. “And what about Deidre?”

“That was ugly. It took four of my crew to subdue her. But you were right. She was a spy.”

“So she confessed?”

“Not exactly.
However, Aphelion found the makings of a bomb in her chamber as well as attempts to contact unidentified vessels. Thankfully, none went through because of the blocks I had put into place. We’ve got her in holding currently, where she is screaming the end of days is coming for both humans and cyborgs. She is also causing herself damage.”

“
What are you going to do to her?”

Sadness, an emotion she was sure
Aramus was unaware of, creased his craggy features. “I don’t know. Her programming is corrupt. Her emotions out of control. She injured cyborgs during her capture and has vowed to kill us all because we are unnatural. We might have to terminate.”

“But she’s cyborg
. Can’t you just wipe her clean, and I don’t know, reboot her?”

“Too many things have been done to her.
Too much damage. I don’t know if we have the parts necessary to repair. The decision will be left to the colony. In the meantime, she will be placed in stasis.”

“Using those capsules we found?”

He nodded.

“But don’t they already have passengers?”

“Not for long. MJ is waking one of them as we speak. A cyborg unit, or so the manifest claims.”

“
You don’t want to be there when this person awakes?”

“Time enough to meet them later. As a certain human reminded me, I made a promise. And I am a cyborg of my word.”
Aramus grinned, probably because they’d reached his quarters and, more importantly, his bed.

He placed her upon it and began divesting her of her dirtied jumpsuit.

So much had happened though, and much of it had layered her skin in grime she couldn’t stand. “Can we shower first?”

“Can’t we shower after?” he grumbled.

“I’ll make it worth your while,” she teased, rising from his bed and tossing a sultry look over her shoulder as she strolled to his bathroom.

As commander of the vessel, Aramus’s quarters boasted a larger shower unit than the other rooms. Big enough for two.

She stood under the warm spray, careful to keep her bandaged arm out of the water because waterproof or not, she didn’t want to have to go back to the sick bay. Head tilted back, face taking the brunt of the warm spray, she felt him step in behind her, his big body dwarfing hers. His hands spanned her waist and the tip of his erection poked at her lower back. She couldn’t help a little wiggle.

“Riley.” He groaned her name.

“Where’s that famous cyborg control?” she teased.

“Non
-existent where you are concerned.”

She turned in his arms and smiled at him. “You say the nicest things.”

“Only you would claim that when I admit to being defective.”

Laughter spilled from her. “Desire is not a defect.
Only coming before I’m done is.”

His lips quirked. “Is that a challenge?”

“Let’s see how much you can take before you beg me to stop.”

“I don’t beg.”

“We’ll see.” Down to her knees she dropped, the angle of the spray hitting Aramus’s chest and rolling down his defined abs. But it wasn’t his rock-hard stomach she wanted. It was his cock. It bobbed before her, eager for attention, and she was more than ready to give it some.

F
irst, though, some of the teasing she promised. She gripped it at the base, enjoying the silken texture over a rod of steel. Stroking it up and down, she marveled, not for the first time, at the size. He truly had a cock to make any man envious.

L
eaning forward, Riley flicked her tongue against the swollen head. That earned her a groan, so she lapped at it again, bathing his shaft with her tongue, licking it up and down, treating it like the most savory of treats. Oh, the guttural sounds he made at her actions. She swirled her tongue around the fat head of his dick before she took him in her mouth, his width a tight fit.

“Oh, fuck me.” He moaned the words as his fingers threaded
through the wet strands of her hair, his hips thrusting in time to the back-and-forward motion of her sucking.

She worked his cock with her mouth, her cheeks hollowed as she suctioned him
. Mmm, did he ever enjoy that judging by his raspy breathing. While one of her hands gripped the base of his shaft, she used the other to play with his balls, rolling them between her fingers. His hips arched, and he somehow got even thicker.

The more excited he got, the more her own desire grew. She knew if she touched herself she’d find her pussy wet and ready for him. But she’d vowed to make him beg. So
, she continued to suck and play and lick until…

“You win,” he said in a hoarse voice. “I can’t take
it anymore. I need to fuck you.”

Thank god
, because she wanted the same thing—now!

She rose and pivoted at the same time, placing her hands on the wet shower wall and angling forward enough to present her bottom. His hands grasped her hips as his feet nudged her feet f
arther apart. He rubbed her clit with his engorged tip and she moaned.

She gasped.
“Now who’s being a tease?”

He slammed his shaft home
, and she let out a cry of pleasure.

Damn,
that feels good.

His long, thick cock filled her, the throbbing
width buried balls deep inside of her, stretching her. Oh, how she liked it when he swirled his hips, grinding his cock head against her G-spot. Back and forth, he seesawed, each penetration finishing with an extra wiggle that made her convulse before he withdrew. Then he started over again.

His body curved over hers as he thrust, and one of his hands reached under to find her clit, pinching it. Sensation overload! She cried out as her body jerked, the force of her orgasm gripping her by surprise and shaking her. Shuddering waves wrapped around his cock, each squeeze making her whimper then cry out again as he pulsed within her, his climax triggered by hers.

Chest heaving, bodies joined, he said it, without prompting, without threat.

“I love you. For as long as my heart beats
. Which, given the battery life on the sucker is a few hundred years, will be a very long, fucking time.”

“I l
ove you too, Aramus.” And she did. Aramus might think he was more machine than man, but she knew better. Mechanical heart or not, cyborgs felt, and cyborgs could love, even a human like herself.