Chapter 2

Cowards.

Kaden grunted. The Zyphorrans fled rather than face him in person. Of course, few beings were quicker, stronger, or smarter than a cyborg, so their retreat spared their lives... for now .

He eliminated one of the three missiles then tore after the second. Unfortunately, according to his calculations, by the time he disposed of the third and final explosive, its proximity to the station would still cause critical damage. He would need to retrieve the female quickly.

Without hesitation, he ripped down the AI’s last firewall.

“Full systems breach,” the AI called Athena announced to the pretty woman she referred to as Calie.

“Leave her alone, you bully!” Calie yelled.

At the same time, Athena transmitted, Get out, cyborg. Otherwise, I’ll invade you, delete all your programming, then turn you into a humanoid-shaped space rock .

Kaden cracked a grin.

Between the fight with the Zyphorrans and the unexpected discovery of a human female and her AI, it was the most entertaining mission he’d been sent out on in quite some time. Certainly, more excitement than he expected while running a simple recon of an unclaimed planet in this sparsely populated quadrant of the Aurora Cluster.

He looked forward to meeting the delectable Calie in person.

The glimpses he caught of her mid-battle sent shocks of awareness through his systems. A foreign fascination took hold as he observed the slender female perched in a command chair, glaring out at his ship. Each angry toss of her head jiggled a myriad of long brown braids. Luminous blue eyes the color of the lake by his home on Elysium Prime blazed with intelligence and emotion. Pale golden skin, so unlike his light blue flesh, called to him, as did her pretty, oval face and lush lips.

Then she struck his ship not once but twice.

As he watched, she now aimed a cannon his way, clearly unafraid of one of the deadliest soldiers in the galaxy...

He blew up the second missile. I want her.

The thought caught him off guard, but the truth of it resonated within him. He wanted to taste her dusky pink lips, to trail his mouth over her skin, to feast on her between her slender thighs until she twitched with climax again and again—

He locked onto the third projectile. If he angled his strike, he could mitigate the damage to Calie’s location.

The cannon tracking him swung toward the missile.

“Wait!” he barked.

“Calie, don’t—” Athena warned.

The explosion blinded Kaden for a millisecond before he hightailed it to the station, dodging remnants while he ran diagnostics and helped Athena erect a force field around what was left of the command deck, trying to maintain life support for the foolish female.

Mere minutes remained to retrieve her before the entire station fell apart.

Athena, he transmitted. Access granted. Upload yourself ASAP. To a holding pen, but she didn’t need to know where he would keep her.

He switched to audio. “Prepare to be boarded, you foolhardy female.”

“Stay off my station, you jerk!”

“It is four minutes and twenty-two seconds from complete destruction.”

Silence.

Not good.

He positioned his ship next to a gaping hole at command level then ran for her, all too aware of time fleeing almost as quickly as he moved.

He smelled blood the second before his feet landed on the deck. The captain’s seat stood empty. Debris littered the floor. Wires crackled and snapped from the remains of a console, more dangling from the ruined ceiling. His boots crunched over shiny shards of metal as he scanned for her.

A cough and a rustle drew his attention to the base of the helm. “Calie.”

Another cough. “Here.”

He didn’t need her verification because he was already there, scooping her into his arms then speeding for his ship. She was losing blood from multiple locations, and a small cylindrical alloy protruded from the side of her torso. Her breathing seemed shallow—too slow for a humanoid.

Three minutes, thirty seconds.

“Backpack,” she murmured, her bleeding head slumped against his chest.

He ignored her nonsensical comment as he settled and secured her in the copilot seat. Made for a much larger cyborg, it practically swallowed the slight female, but the belt auto-adjusted for her smaller size.

She moaned, eyes closed. The urge to protect her ran riot through both his emotional grid and the protection programming in his mechanics.

Before your ship flies away, cyborg, Athena grumbled at him from the cage he’d built for her, deactivate the tracker at the base of her spine or it will detonate. Your prison prevents me from doing it. Afterward, take her to your medbay. I can fly your puny ship. Give me control.

The female had been trapped on the station? Why didn’t you kill the device before now?

Less talking, more action, the AI huffed.

You aren’t flying my ship, and later on the medbay.

Kaden shoved a cord into his nape port for an energy top-up while he slid a hand behind Calie to palm her lower back. It took five precious seconds to cripple the deadly tracer.

Task complete, he connected with nav and set a course.

Humans are ridiculously fragile, you ignorant pile of bolts. Take her to your sickbay now! The AI started assaulting her cell.

“Backpack. Need it,” Calie croaked, making a weak attempt at tugging off the restraint. Blood flowed from the cut at her hairline, trailing down her cheek. She swiped at the wetness, then gawked at her reddened fingers. “I’m...hurt?”

If she dies, cyborg, you and your ship are next. Athena’s attack increased.

Calie’s gaze cut from her hand to his face, her blue eyes unfocused. His concern escalated, his emotional grid flaring hot.

Defying his logic circuitry, he ceded control to the AI then unbuckled and gathered Calie in his arms. In the medbay, he eased her onto the center exam table. The metal object piercing through her at the curve of her waist made him want to hunt down and crush the Zyphorrans. Instead, he watched the medical system spring to action, the floating orb above the bed scanning her vitals.

Kaden accessed the data. Despite blood loss, her stats were strong and steady. “Calie, do you consent to medical treatment?”

Her eyelids flickered open. “Yes.” Her gaze roamed his face, locked on his eyes. “Pretty.”

He grunted. No one had ever called him pretty in his entire lengthy existence.

Her eyes slid shut. “Thanks for asking for permission.”

A sidearm medbot emerged from the table to administer a fast-acting pain med and sedative into Calie’s arm, along with a host of his nanobots to address her issues. Fast and efficient, cyborg nanos would heal her injuries, then eradicate any disease or anomaly they encountered before dissolving from her system. When she awakened, Calie would likely feel better than ever before.

Kaden slid a knife from the sheath strapped to his thigh and slit Calie’s shirt open, cutting it away from the rod while tableside medbots removed the tattered fabric remnants from her chest and arms. Grapplers snaked from the medical orb and removed the metal from her side and the tracer from her back. Lasers closed both wounds a second later.

Of no more use, Kaden crossed his arms and pondered the unusual woman who’d taken him completely by surprise.

Her hair gleamed under the lighting, threads of gold and red sparkling amidst her dark tresses. His fingertips tingled, and he fought the impulse to dance his fingers through the braids splayed about her head. Thin strips of pink fabric secured the end of each tail, the color matching her full lips.

He’d never seen such a whimsical hairstyle, and he liked it. It certainly seemed to match her unique and fiery personality. Her stubbornness. He admired how she hadn’t backed down from him or from an entire battalion of enemies. Such bravery, despite her small stature and apparent lack of military training.

Kaden scowled at the scars littering her slender torso and the brand on her inner left wrist, signs of her time spent in slavery to the Q’Larev. If the Zyphorrans hadn’t already defeated them, Kaden would’ve taken great pleasure in meting out justice for all their slaves, especially Calie.

The nanos eliminated every trace of her enslavement, restoring flawless flesh. Good.

Other indications of prisoner life included the drab uniform pants and black boots she still wore, as well as her lack of padding. Her arms were lean yet sculpted, hinting at daily manual labor. The curves of her rib cage protruded, too visible, and her concave belly made him want to care for her. If she stayed with him, he’d make sure she never lacked for sustenance again.

The concept of her companionship appealed to him, but he tried to temper hope with reality. She will likely prefer to go home to her people. The medical scan identified her as Terran, but not from Terra Suprema. No, the intriguing female hailed from Earth. Snatched from her home planet by Q’Larev slavers, she was physical proof they’d broken both Terran and IAC law by infiltrating the Milky Way Galaxy.

The Interstellar Aurorae Coalition would not take the transgression lightly. Nor would the cyborgs, the alliance’s military arm.

Hours passed while Calie slept and recovered, with Kaden keeping guard for no reason at all. No threats lurked aboard ship, yet a strange compulsion kept him by her bedside.

Finally, Calie let out a sigh. The rise and fall of her chest drew his attention to her breasts, the small globes covered by a stretchy band of tan fabric. He’d love to glimpse the peaks. Were they the color of her lips? Perhaps soft pink, like the petals of the flowering trees bordering his home on the cyborg home world.

Her eyelids flickered open. She stared up at the medical orb above her for one breath, two... “Where?”

“You’re safe, female,” Kaden was quick to supply.

“Safe,” she echoed, then frowned at him. “ You . You tried to blow up my station.”

“I did not.”

She propped herself up on her elbows. “Did too. I had everything under control, and then you—”

“Is she lucid?” he asked the medical system, receiving an affirmative response in his head.

Calie sat up and swung her legs over the side of the support. “Of course I’m sane,” she sputtered. “What’s wrong with you? ”

Her query seemed to remind her of her own damage, because she scanned her arms and patted her waist and stomach. “I’m healed. And wow, no scars.” She took in the room. “Where am I, exactly?”

“On my ship.”

She gave him a once-over. He had to resist the urge to tilt up his chin and stand taller under her attention.

“And my station?”

“Gone.”

Her eyes widened and panic flooded her expression. “Oh my god! No!” She hopped down from the table. “Athena!”

“I’m here, Calie,” the AI replied. “I have control of his ship.”

If an AI had a face and could smirk, he imagined Athena was doing that very thing. “For now, AI.” Don’t think I can’t boot you into oblivion.

Back at you, cyborg.

“Thank God. Thought I lost you, girl.” Clearly, she cared for the AI, and the AI for her. Perhaps, once she got to know Kaden, the little human would grow fond of him too.

She scowled at him.

Or not.

She rounded the support, putting it between them. “Let’s get one thing clear as crystal, dude. I’m no one’s property.”

“Of course not.” He squashed the urge to grin at her sass, but it proved difficult, especially with her pretty blue eyes flashing fire at him and her belligerent stance while merely half dressed. “Did you miss the part where I rescued you from both the Zyphorr Protectorate and your exploding space station?”

She blinked and crossed her arms, her gaze skittering to the side. “Doesn’t mean you’re a good guy.”

“True. But I am. One of these good guys you mention.”

When she simply scowled, he added, “I represent the Interstellar Aurorae Coalition. The IAC.”

She shrugged. “That means nothing to me. Athena, what’s your take on this guy?”

Dude. Guy. Did she not know he was a cyborg?

“The cyborg is an ally. For now.”

For now? He snapped at Athena. Are you trying to frighten her? “For always,” he insisted.

Most cowered in fear or fled at the mere mention of his people, yet the little human simply shrugged. “Pretty promises mean zilch. Actions, though...”

“Such as saving you from certain death?”

She drew herself up to her full height, which was, according to his calculations, five feet seven inches in her people’s measurement system. Small compared to a cyborg. His brethren ranged from six to seven feet, depending on the model. As a Gamma model and six feet eight, Kaden towered over her.

Or he would...if she weren’t backing away toward the exit.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Actions, cyborg.”

“The name is Kaden.”

“Well, Kaden, you said I’m not a prisoner or a slave...”

True, though he hadn’t said any such thing in those particular words.

She gave him her back, and the sway of her hips as she sauntered to the door momentarily short-circuited his brain. “I’m gonna have a look around,” she tossed over her shoulder as she stepped into the hall. “At my new ship.”