Mated with the Cyborg (17 page)

“I’m not…dead.” Neurons and nanocytes buzzed.

She raised her head and stared.

“I’m not dead,” he repeated. “And…” He swallowed. “I…love you, too.” He’d never uttered those words to a woman before. Until meeting Mariska, he had never experienced the emotion.

Her jaw dropped.

His grin felt lopsided as if the blast had caused partial facial paralysis. His hasty reprogramming hadn’t been perfect, but if he hadn’t had the foresight to increase the protective insulation around his nerve endings and internal fiber optics, he'd be out of commission and twitching right now. If she’d had a blaster instead of a Taser, even the mods wouldn’t have saved him. He would have been dead.

She gawked. “You love me?”

“Yes.” He pressed a quick, hard kiss to her mouth then shifted her off him and jumped to his feet. “But let’s talk about it later. We have to get off the station.”

“You’re injured!” She stared at his chest. Only a few patches of tan fabric were visible through the red dyeing his shirt.

“Most of it isn’t my blood. It’s Vison’s.” And some of his brain matter. “I used his palm to open the AI lab. Come on, we’re almost out of time.” He hustled her down the metal walkway.

She glanced back. “You deactivated the droids.”

“They were going to call for help. I had to search for you. You weren’t in the storage room.” He’d panicked when he’d found it empty. He’d about run out of places to look when he’d yanked off the utility duct access panel.

“That wasn’t the storage room?”

“No, you were in a maintenance duct.” Aware of her claustrophobia, he would never have had her hide there. He grabbed her arm. “We need to run. The entire damn station has mobilized. We have to get to the shuttle bay. Hurry!” He urged her into a jog.

The situation required more than optimism for escape. They needed a miracle. Kai prayed Mariska’s Great One was on their side. The main bay wasn’t far from Waste Recycling but, in his microprocessor, a timer counted down. They had two minutes before Carter’s ship left.
If
it had arrived at all.

Their feet thundered on the metal floor, but there was no time for a quiet getaway. Mariska slipped and nearly fell, but they continued to run.

“Halt!” shouted a voice from behind them.

Kai whipped around to stare down the wrong end of a photon blaster set to kill.

“Throw down your weapons,” the guard ordered.

Oh fuck. What choice did he have? Cooperate, and maybe he’d have an opening to jump the guard. “Do it,” he murmured, and let his blaster slip from his hand to the floor. She did the same.

“Take me. Let her go.” He shifted, shielding her with his body.

“Orders are orders.” The soldier leveled his weapon.

“Nobody needs to know you found us. Please.
Please
,” Mariska begged.

Self-loathing rose in his throat. He hadn’t been able to save her, and now she was reduced to pleading for her life. If he charged the soldier, held him off, perhaps she would have enough time to get to the main bay. Perhaps…

His cyberbrain calculated the probability at zero percent.

It also notified him they’d missed the rendezvous.

Emotion overwhelmed control, and a hailing frequency opened.
Mariska,
I love you. I’m sorry.

She wasn’t a cyborg and wouldn’t receive the message, but he hoped she knew how much he loved her. If they hadn’t been stopped…if he’d found her ten seconds sooner…if…if…if…

The soldier’s eyes were cold. He might well have been an android for the emotion he displayed.

Mariska whimpered, and the small sound of terror ignited a surge of anger and hatred toward the soldier, Obido, Lamis-Odg, Lamani, whoever and wherever he was. Kai accepted death as part of the job. But not for her. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

The soldier aimed for the kill shot. A hot bead drilled into Kai’s forehead.

The soldier dropped dead to the floor.

Blaster in hand, Janai stood there. “Take me with you,” she said, and lowered her weapon.

“But, my fath— General Obido…” Mariska said.

“He’s still alive, if that’s what you’re asking. I can’t continue like this.” She pressed a hand to her abdomen and stared down at it, before lifting her gaze. “Please?” she asked again.

Unlikely any of them were going anywhere. They’d missed the extraction, but Kai scooped up the discarded weapons and grabbed the guard’s as well, never taking his eyes off Janai. Just because she’d shot the soldier didn’t mean she could be trusted.

Scrutinizing her scarred face, he could understand why she would
want
to leave. Mariska’s ostracism had left her untouched. Janai, as the favored wife, had borne the brunt of Obido’s affection. No Terran woman would choose to live that way.

Except she wasn’t Terran, but Lamis-Odg. She could be a terrorist rigged with an MED. His cyberbrain ran a quick scan. No bomb, but Janai could still be a spy. If she accompanied them, she might report everything she saw and heard to Obido.

Or she might tell
Cy-Ops
everything she knew about the general and his operations. The intel could be invaluable, what Cy-Ops and the Association of Planets needed to reverse the tide and destroy Lamis-Odg.

He might be able to steal a shuttle, hack into the flight controls, and convince traffic control to open the launch door—all the while evading a full-on manhunt. Calculated odds put his chance of success at 1.89 percent.

“Please.” She peered up at him. In the pools of her eyes, he saw fear and desperation. Real? Faked?

“We can’t leave her here,” Mariska said.

“Come on, then. Let’s blow this joint.” He gestured to Janai and nudged Mariska’s arm. They raced to the shuttle bay.

The wall scanner blocked their passage. Remembering how he’d escaped the AI unit, he swiped his sleeve stained with Vison’s DNA and punched in the old code.

The screen went red, and ACCESS DENIED flashed. A deafening siren shrieked.

Fuck. Vison’s death had been discovered. Obido and his troops now knew where they were. “We have to leave. Run,” Kai shouted.

“No!” Janai yelled. “Let me.” She pushed in front of him and swiped a rag across the scanner.

The siren shut off. The doors slid open.

“What’s on the rag?” he asked.

“Obido’s…DNA,” she answered.

They darted into the bay. The doors hadn’t fully opened before Janai swiped the screen on the inside and keyed in a code. The doors reversed and closed. “That ought to keep them out for a little while.”

“Will the rag work on a ship?” he asked.

“It might,” she answered.

Maybe he wouldn’t need to make voice contact with the controller. Maybe he could hack into the computer, and, with Janai’s codes...hell, they might have a chance after all. “Let’s grab a ride!”

“How about that one?” Mariska pointed.

At the far end of the bay was Obido’s shuttle, the one they’d left on Deceptio.

Waving impatiently from the top of the lowered gangway was the devil himself—Dale.

They raced across the catwalk and boarded the vessel.

The door hissed shut.

Dale winked at Mariska. “I told you I’d come.”

“Thank you! We owe you so much.”

“I’ll put it on his tab.” Dale jerked his head at Kai.
You took your sweet time getting here.

Came as fast as we could,
Kai replied.
Wasn’t sure you’d be here.
Carter said you’d leave
.

Those were my orders
, Dale agreed.
Carter enlisted my assistance then went all commando and read me the where-tos and the why-fors, but he forgets I don’t work for Cy-Ops anymore. No man left behind.

Thanks, buddy.

You can pay me later. Who’s the woman?

Obido’s newest mate. She helped us, but she might be a spy.

Carter can sort it out. It will give him something useful to do.

Dale flung himself into the pilot’s seat and Kai assumed the co-pilot’s. “Buckle up, ladies. We got a limited window of opportunity,” Dale said.

“Here, you might need this.” Janai shoved the rag into Dale’s hand and took a seat at the rear of the cockpit with Mariska.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“Obido’s DNA,” Kai replied.

“His essence,” Janai said.

Dale’s face screwed up. Kai laughed. “Glad you’re holding it and not me.”

“Let’s get this baby out of here so I can wash my hands,” Dale said. “Computer, open a channel to the control center.”

“This is the control center,” responded a digital voice.

“Open launch bay doors.”

“Authorization?”

Fuck. I knew it couldn’t be that easy,
Dale groused
.

How did you get in?

Activated the cloaking device I had installed and snuck in behind a returning cruiser.

“Control center!” Janai said in a strong voice. “Authorization four seven six, one four zero.”

“General Obido acknowledged. Confirm identity with DNA scan.”

“Swipe the screen with the rag,” she instructed.

Dale made a face but did as she said. Kai held his breath.

“Identity confirmed,” came the response. “Doors to open. All personnel, clear the bay.”

“Computer, prepare to launch,” Dale said when the star-filled expanse appeared.

Engines roared. Were they sitting on a rocket? The vibrating floor sent jolts up Kai’s body.
What the hell did you do to this thing?
he demanded.

Just a little tune-up.

Kai twisted in his seat to peer at Mariska. “Are you all right?” he mouthed. His microprocessor calculated their chance of success at 99.99 percent, but after everything they’d been through, it didn’t hurt to check.

She nodded, and shouted to be heard over the jet noise, “I love you!”

“I love you, too! We’re going home!”

Dale smirked.

You wait. Your time will come.

They blasted into space.

Booya! Piece of cake.

Mariska curled her toes into the Terran sand as foaming white surf lapped over her feet. The sun beat down on her head, but it wasn’t as warm as the strong arms encircling her waist from behind. Her heart filled with contentment she couldn’t have imagined.

“Why do you persist in wearing a swimsuit?” Kai nuzzled her neck. “There’s nobody around for miles and miles.”

“Maybe I do it to tease you.”

“Now that I believe,” he said.

“Besides, you’re wearing swimming limbs.”

“Swimming trunks,” he said on a cough that didn’t cover his chuckle.

“It should be called swimming limbs,” she argued. Since arriving on Terra a month ago, she’d immersed herself in the culture, getting an implant to facilitate learning the language, but the idioms mystified her. “It doesn’t cover your trunk, it covers your legs,” she reasoned. His thighs, anyway. Such fine ones, they were, too. Strong. Muscled. Dusted with hair. And pressed so close against her, she could feel the hardness between them. She wiggled. He growled.

Maybe she
had
worn the suit to tease him. They were on a small private island in the middle of the ocean. The only other inhabitants were the caretakers—who lived on the other side.

“We can call them swimming limbs if you like.” He slipped the straps of the top half of her suit off her shoulders and kissed the bared skin. Unhooked it, and let it drop. The tide picked it up and carried it away.

“Kai!” she chided.

“It might come back. I give it a 65 percent chance.” He tugged at her bottoms. With a sigh, she stepped out of them. Like a slingshot, he flung them into the surf.

Of five suits swept away this week, three bottoms and four tops had washed back up onto the beach.

His swimming
trunks
sailed over her shoulder into the ocean, and then he embraced her again. She hugged his arms. The gold band with its brilliant stone sparkled on her third finger. Traditional, he’d said. A
wedding
ring. He wore one, too, but his didn’t have a stone.
My mate.
She was Terran, and proud of it, but, in her heart, Kai would always be her mate, even if the proper term was husband.

It was incredible she was on
Terra
. Life on the station seemed so long ago—except when the night haunts came and she awoke in terror, imagining herself there or being sent to Katnia. But, always, Kai was there to soothe her, comfort her, make love to her.

She squeezed his arms then twisted so she could peer into his eyes. She palmed his hair-roughened cheeks. “Thank you for keeping me safe, for loving me.” He’d waited anxiously during the debriefing that dragged on for days. A man named Carter had asked her question after question about Obido and Lamis-Odg—often the same one phrased multiple ways as if he’d been trying to trip her up. She’d answered honestly, providing as much information as she could. Her patience had held, but Kai’s hadn’t. He’d stormed in one day, told Carter to “fuck off,” pulled her out of the debriefing room, and whisked her away.

He’d surprised her with a trip to meet her Terran father. She’d have recognized him anywhere because his face was a masculine version of her own. How nervous he’d been, but warm and welcoming. His smile had been gentle, his eyes misty. Years and distance had melted away. He showed her images of her mother. She resembled her, too.

Her father, his second wife, and their son, Mariska’s teenage half-brother, had attended the small ceremony in which she and Kai had
married.
Soon after, they’d arrived at the island
.
A
real one with unlimited blue sky and turquoise water stretching beyond what the eye could see. No dome. No thatched huts, quaint as they were. Just a sprawling, palatial house cooled by lazy fans and open verandas. Kai had used his “connections” to secure use of the entire island.

His eyes darkened. “I should have done a better job keeping you safe.”

“You did everything you could. If not for you, I wouldn’t be here.” She stood on tiptoe to kiss him, and he met her halfway, slanting his mouth over hers. He licked at her lips, his tongue mating with hers, causing heat to pool in her core.

Kai cupped and squeezed her breasts, drawing a moan from her throat. She melted against him, her legs shaking. With his touch, came remembrance of all she had to be grateful for. He was her life now. Her man. Her mate. Her
cyborg
.