Authors: Cynthia Sax
Mayhem grasped her left wrist, pulled her back under him, then lowered his form, imprisoning her. “Did Kralj tell you that?”
“I figured that out on my own.” She rolled her eyes. “When the Humanoid Alliance used my love for my mom, my sister, my brother to control me, to convince me to do what they wanted me to do.” She’d spent her lifespan being manipulated by her affection for them. “I won’t give them another weakness to exploit.”
“I’m not a weakness and I won’t allow them to exploit you.” Mayhem rested his forehead against hers. “If your family is alive, we’ll rescue them. You will then be free, as I am.”
He
was
free. He had escaped from the Humanoid Alliance once. He could do it again if they got caught. “My family is alive.” She wasn’t as certain about that as she once was. The blasted male had put doubts in her mind.
“Then we’ll rescue them.” He gazed down at her. “But we’ll have to train first.” His eyes twinkled. “You’re noisy.”
“
What
?” She was the best Retriever in the Galaxy.
“And you’re slow.”
“I’ll show you slow.” She punched him in the gut, harnessing all of the power in her form.
Mayhem merely laughed.
* * *
They trained, mock fought, fucked, ate, fucked some more. Imee finally fell asleep, sexually sated and emotionally at peace, a rare combination in her lifespan.
She woke midway through the rest cycle. Her face was turned toward the wall. The chamber was brightly lit. That was normal. She never darkened it, never gave possible foes shadows to hide in.
Warmth streaked along her back. A hot breath wafted over her neck. A heavy weight strapped around her chest, pinning her arms to her sides.
That
wasn’t
normal.
Stranger! Threat! Kill!
She bucked backward, trying to free herself. The hold on her tightened.
“You’re safe, my female,” a deep voice rumbled in her ear. “It’s me.”
Those deep tones were familiar. Imee became still, recognizing them, him, her captor.
Mayhem. She was with Mayhem.
The tension in her body slowly eased. She softened against him. “I thought--”
“You thought I was an attacker. Good.” He nodded, his cheek brushing against her neck. “You should always assume that.”
“You won’t think that when I shoot your ass,” she grumbled, embarrassed by her error.
“If you’re able to do that, my ass deserves to be shot.” He chuckled, his chest vibrating against her spine. “You’ll ensure my skills remain honed, my female.”
“I will do that. I doubt I’ll ever become accustomed to this.” She wiggled against him. His cock was hard. “Before I met Kralj, I…”
“You were attacked.” He said the words she couldn’t.
“Yeah.” She’d been sleeping, woke to find a bearded male ripping at her garments, pawing at her naked skin, the humanoid’s cock hard against her spine, the putrid scent of him choking her, making her gag. “I got lucky.” Imee shuddered, thinking of what might have happened if she hadn’t freed herself. “There was a piece of broken container close to me. I cut myself.” She held up her right palm. “But I was able to stab him and get away.”
Mayhem grasped her wrist, brought her hand to his lips, traced the scar with his tongue. His touch was achingly gentle.
His nanocybotics bubbled over her. They couldn’t heal the ancient wound.
“The galaxy is a rough place for a young female.” She sighed.
Somewhere out there in space, there was a brand new Retriever experiencing what she had gone through. She’d been dumped afraid, alone, unskilled on a strange planet, the sole responsibility for saving her family resting on her slender shoulders.
“You’re no longer alone in that galaxy, my female.” Mayhem cuddled her closer to him. “I’m with you. I’ll always be with you.”
He stroked her arms, her sides, her hips, his hands moving up and down, up and down, the motion soothing.
She yawned, exhaustion sweeping over her. “I should--”
“You should sleep, restore your energy levels.” Mayhem’s voice lowered to a deep drone. “Close your eyes.”
She should fight that command as she always did but her eyelids were so heavy and he was so warm. Imee’s thoughts drifted into blackness.
Chapter Eleven
Twenty-two planet rotations later, Mayhem sat on the bridge, his back to the female tiptoeing toward him. Metal wisped against leather.
His Imee was attempting to stab him.
Fraggin’ hole. He was a fortunate warrior.
Mayhem raised his arm, catching the blade, stopping her attack. She growled, that erotic sound hardening his cock even more. He twisted his wrist, disarming her without turning around, deliberately taunting his little Retriever with his nonchalance.
“You’re quieter.” He placed the dagger on the console before him. “Not cyborg quiet but you’ve improved.”
“I’m quiet.” She flung herself into the chair beside his, casting him a dark look.
“For a human.” He reached out, scooped her out of her seat, and set her on his lap.
“For any being.” She squirmed, rubbing her leather-clad ass against his body armor-covered cock, offering her usual token protest. If she wanted to be free, she could easily escape him.
“How is your vision system?” He nodded toward the main viewscreen. A line of lights shone far away in the darkness of space.
Imee squinted, wrinkling her nose.
Mayhem doubted she could see them, although she’d never admit that. He expanded the image. Humanoid Alliance sensors were spaced to the left and right of a battle station. “We’ll soon enter enemy space.”
“They’ll know I’m not your friend Safyre.” She touched her right cheek.
“No, they won’t.” He dipped two of his fingers into the container of black pigment he’d concocted and swiped it over her skin, covering her identification number. “This worked for Menace and me. It’ll work for you.”
The pigment on his own face had been removed. He couldn’t reapply it, not yet. Their mission required him to play the machine, the emotionless cyborg.
He dreaded the role, dreaded the return to the rules, but it was necessary if he wanted to stay by his female’s side. “You’ll fool them.” Mayhem kissed the worry lines etched between her eyebrows. “You’re the best Retriever in the galaxy.”
“This isn’t a retrieval.” His female studied her reflection in the console’s metal surface. “Did you add the marks to the image?”
“Yes.” He’d accessed the Humanoid Alliance database and swapped Safyre’s image for hers, altering it to add the black stripes. “We’re prepared for this mission, my female.”
Her tracking device was on a capsule heading to the retrieval battle station. The security of their ship’s systems had been upgraded. No non-cyborg could hack into it. Every detail, including having the system address her as Safyre, had been examined.
She gazed at the sensors, the division between free space and enemy-controlled territory. “They’ll scan the ship--”
“And you’ll tell them I’ve been assigned to protect the contents of your holding chamber.” The lifeform scan would indicate that a cyborg was on board the ship. They couldn’t conceal that.
“I can’t access those contents,” she recited. They’d rehearsed every possibility. “The authorization code is here.” She tapped the control panel. “If it’s no longer valid, I’ll tell them I was delayed and that I’ll communicate with the administrative station, clear up the misunderstanding.”
Mayhem slowed the ship. His female was nervous, her body stiff, her usual bravado missing. “You can do this,” he assured her.
“I…can.” The pause between those two words revealed her trepidation.
“You’re strong.” He gripped her chin, using the slight pain to focus her. “The strongest female I know.” He grinned at her. “Noisy but strong.”
“Fuck you.” She scowled at him, her fight returning.
“You can do that later.” He returned her to her own seat and positioned himself by her side, standing with his arms clasped behind his back, his boots braced apart, his face an emotionless mask.
His female shivered. “Is that how you had to behave when you were under their control—cold, stiff, unfeeling?”
“Yes.” He stared straight ahead, acting as though he saw nothing, aware of everything around him.
She winced. “It must have been brutal.”
“It was torture.” Physical pain was preferable to the mental agony of constantly following the cyborg rules, of revealing nothing, saying nothing, acting only when ordered. “But I survived it.” He’d endured that restraint for many human lifespans. “And I will survive this.”
For her, he’d do anything, including suppress his natural inclination, his love for chaos. She was his future, his counterpart, the only being he’d been designed for.
Imee glanced at the main viewscreen and then jumped to her feet, strode to him, her hips swaying seductively. He continued to gaze over her head, acutely conscious of her proximity. If she was testing him, he was determined to pass, to prove himself to her.
“Bend over,” she ordered.
What type of unusual breeding games was she playing? It didn’t matter. Mayhem bent over. He’d participate.
“If you’re going to act like a machine, you should look the part.” She licked her fingers and smoothed them over his hair, flattening the strands, that tender act firming his resolve, telling of a caring she hadn’t yet verbally communicated. “And you
will
survive this, Mayhem. There is no other being I’d trust with this mission.”
“Because I’m the best warrior.” His robotic voice added an arrogance to his teasing words.
“Because I don’t have any other being to trust with it. Clearly.” She rolled her eyes as she returned to her seat. “
I’m
the best warrior.”
His female was highly intelligent. Mayhem straightened, standing at his post. She couldn’t believe her abilities surpassed his.
They’d battled daily, honing their fighting skills. She grew faster, more powerful with each breeding, an activity they engaged in even more often than they fought, but she would never become a cyborg, would never equal him.
Physically.
She could lie, a tactic no cyborg could employ. She had honor, her dedication to her family unquestionable. And she had a spirit any warrior would admire.
His female challenged him, from the instant she opened her beautiful eyes to the moment she fell asleep, naked in his arms, his cock inside her. He guarded her during her rest cycle, humbled that she was his, that she allowed him that glimpse of her exposed self.
Even now, her body tilted slightly toward his, her belief in him unspoken.
“I love you, my female.” The words rushed out of his mouth, bypassing his processors.
“Wait. What? You chose
now
to tell me that?” She glared at him. “I vow, Mayhem, if this is another one of your games, I’ll--”
“The Humanoid Alliance Battle Station Lewis requests hailing frequencies be opened, Captain Safyre,” their ship’s system relayed.
Imee acted as though she hadn’t heard that request. Her attention remained on him.
Mayhem dipped his head toward the main viewscreen. The image of the battle station dominated their view.
That
should be her focus.
His female’s eyebrows lowered.
Answer the hail
, he mouthed to her.
Fuck you
, she mouthed back.
Frag. She was fierce.
She moved her gaze to the main viewscreen, inhaled, held her breath, exhaled, inhaled, held her breath, exhaled. “Open hailing frequencies.” Her voice was strong and steady
The image of a gray-haired soft-faced human male in an ill-fitting Humanoid Alliance uniform was projected on the main viewscreen. “This is Communications Officer Price,” he droned, his voice a monotone. “You are entering Humanoid Alliance controlled space. Identify yourself and state your purpose.”
“This is Captain Safyre with delivery L9Z3AA5 for Administrative Station Cube Three, authorization code 86753091.” His Imee read the information from the system.
“Authorization code verified, Captain Safyre.” The human male placed a hand over his mouth, stifling a yawn. “Mother. It has been a long planet rotation.”
Imee opened her mouth, then closed it again. She must have decided the less she said, the better, a strategy Mayhem approved of.
“A lifeform scan is being completed, Captain Safyre,” the system’s robotic voice communicated.
His female’s shoulders stiffened.
Mayhem had expected a lifeform scan. He was more concerned about the damage his feisty female would inflict after the communications ended. Telling her his feelings during a critical point of their mission wasn’t his most logical action.
Price peered closer at his viewscreen. “One human or humanoid and one…cyborg?” He lifted his eyebrows. “A cyborg in this sector. Right.” The Humanoid Alliance Communications Officer snorted. “What is he going to do—protect us from overadministration?”
A being accustomed to processing ships filled with captives wouldn’t be that flippant, that careless with lifeform scanning. He acted as though no one would ever want to access the sector he was guarding.
As though the administrative station holding Imee’s family was exactly that—an administrative station.
“It must be the scanner acting up again.” Price shook his head. “I’ll file a report…eventually.” He glanced back up at them. “You’re authorized, Captain Safyre. Welcome home.”
He ended their communications.
Imee glowered at Mayhem. He pressed a finger to his lips, signaling silence, stepped forward and guided the ship slowly between the sensors.
No alarms rang. No ships exited the battle station.
Once their ship had traveled a safe distance from the border, Mayhem lifted his female, claimed her chair for himself and placed her on his lap. “About what I said--”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” She tried to shut his explanation down.
“I’m not playing a game.” It hurt him that she’d think he’d use that expression carelessly. Mayhem knew what those three words meant to humans, what they meant to her. “I meant it. I love--”