Chapter 3

“Athena, lock him down, please.”

“On it.”

The door swished shut behind her but did nothing to slow her frantic heartbeat.

Keeping moving, keep moving. One foot in front of the other.

Calie hustled down the fighter ship’s hall, willing her nerves not to quake her leg muscles and spill her to her knees.

Never show weakness. Never surrender.

Since her abduction, the mantra became second nature, and yet the cyborg had thrown her for a huge loop, making it tough to maintain her flippant facade in front of him.

“Athena!” the cyborg roared, pounding on the door. Calie picked up speed, ignoring rooms to the right and left. Athena opened the entryway straight ahead, revealing a sizable flight deck fit for multiple personnel.

“Is he flying solo?”

“Yes, Calie.”

More banging. Athena probably couldn’t keep the cyborg contained forever.

Calie had heard about cyborgs from other slaves she’d met on the Q’Larev’s mining planet situated below her obliterated space station.

If you ever encounter one, run , some advised. Or beg for your life, others cautioned.

Ruthless. Indestructible. Cunning. Invincible.

Her cyborg fit the description. He oozed power, his body massive, all sculpted muscle and long limbs. His broad chest led to a taut, tapered waist. Black armor clung to him like a second skin, and wow-oh-wow, was the man hung where it counted. Drool-worthy, and her girl parts had twitched at the sight. He seemed to be half hard when she’d given that big hot bod a good look, and lusty thoughts flitted through her mind. It had been a loooooong time since she had a man, and the one who saved her was certainly a superior specimen.

Handsome too, with prominent cheek bones, kissable lips set above a strong chin, and glittering amber eyes like fine whiskey in sunshine. She liked his quirky dark hair, too, the short strands spiked as if he spent time putting his fingers in electrical sockets. Not that a spaceship had such mundane and old-fashioned Earth technology, but whatever. She couldn’t help but admire how his hair simply stayed upright as if defying gravity. And his skin...since her abduction from Earth, she’d seen flesh in a variety of colors, but she’d never yet met someone with pale, blue-gray skin, much like moonlight casting its glow over the bay she missed so much in San Francisco.

She would love to caress his face, neck, and those powerful hands, then divest him of his clothes and see if the rest of him was as smooth as the parts she could see. Maybe kiss a path over his pecs, down what had to be washboard abs toward his dick—

The silence behind her registered. She picked up her pace and jogged onto the deck, forcing her inconvenient randiness back into its cage.

“Athena, can this ship take me to Earth?”

“Not easily or quickly. We would need to refuel and resupply multiple times, and even then...”

She sank into the captain’s chair. “How long?”

Athena’s silence told Calie everything she didn’t want to know. “I’m really really far from home, aren’t I?”

“Yes.”

She’d never asked before, believing herself doomed to a brief and horrible life as an alien race’s slave. Having witnessed so many others perish, her fate seemed sealed, so she never bothered to worry about things she couldn’t ever have.

“Where are we headed right now?” Because clearly Athena was routing them somewhere.

“To your backpack. The shuttle you placed it in survived the station’s destruction. I’m tracking it now. It’s on Q’Larev Quarry-09.”

The damn mining planet. Still, good news. “Thank you.”

A weapon touched her temple.

“Calie look out!”

“Too late, AI,” Kaden growled, voice all grit.

Chills skittered down Calie’s spine.

“Out of my seat, woman. Now.”

“Okay, okay.” She raised her hands and eased to her feet. How had she not heard him coming? She needed to add superior stealth and inhuman speed to the list of cyborg traits she’d heard about.

“Sit.” He pointed the muzzle of his gun at another seat.

“I prefer to stand while you kill me.” She frowned at him. “Or just dump me out the airlock, why don’t you? Less messy.”

He stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. Perhaps she had, but she was so freakin’ tired of bullies. Abusers. Kidnappers. The only way she’d been able to fight back was with words. They’d cost her a lot in the past, and she had the scars and slave tag to prove it.

Scratch that. She used to have, but the cyborg’s medical tech had wiped away the evidence. Physically she felt fantastic. Emotionally? She was all over the place, but primarily irritated. Aaaaand inconveniently attracted to her would-be savior or soon-to-be murderer.

“Don’t know why you bothered to rescue me if you only planned to kill me later.”

He exhaled a heavy breath and holstered his weapon at his hip. “I’m not going to kill you.”

“You have a gun. You pointed it at my head.”

“Set to stun.” He indicated the co-pilot seat, but she ignored him, crossing her arms over her—

Oh, damn. Heat bloomed in her cheeks. She was naked from the waist up, other than the flexible fabric banded over her boobs like a micro tube top. To her surprise, the cyborg kept his stare straight on her face.

“I wouldn’t have stunned you.”

An empty threat, then. She’d angered him, and he responded. Couldn’t really fault him for it, not after locking him in his own medical room, on his own ship. Then attempting to hijack said ship.

He gripped the back of the pilot’s chair. “You and Athena are my guests.” When neither she nor Athena replied, he murmured, “You’re free, little human.”

Tension eased from her shoulders, but she flicked her gaze away from the understanding and compassion she thought she caught in his expression. She didn’t want pity, and if she let herself feel too much, she might start bawling. But she’d banished crying jags soon after the whole outer-space ordeal had begun. Shedding tears led to dehydration, and she never knew when she’d get a chance to drink or eat. Conservation kept her alive.

Her stomach let out a soft gurgle, as if the mere thought of nutrients had awakened it. She was in fact, thirsty and starving. Difference was, she could do something about it. No more suffering. I’m in control.

“You hunger. Come.”

Adding keen hearing of bodily functions to the cyborg traits list.

He rose and stalked off the flight deck. She followed, admiring the way the muscles in his ass flexed and rolled. Dang, even walking, he exuded predatory power.

A door opened, and they entered a smallish galley. No table or chairs, just a smooth u-shaped counter atop some cabinets. Panels and screens above it did who knew what. He didn’t touch a thing or say a word, so he was obviously using some sort of magical cyborg mind tech to communicate with it.

A panel slid aside in front of him. He pulled out two tall, cylindrical containers about the size of the reusable water bottle she still had from Earth—in her missing backpack—along with a small plate containing two tubes.

He pushed all of it toward her, then swiveled the lid off one of the cans, revealing what looked like water.

“Thank you.” Dampness bathed her throat, and she chugged the whole flippin’ thing. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a drop.

When she set the empty on the counter, the cyborg nudged the other one closer to her.

She declined and pointed at the tubes . “What’s that?”

A completely inelegant belch escaped her, the water doing laps in her belly even as she enjoyed the sweet, sweet saturation in her system. “Oops. Excuse me.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. Did cyborgs grin? All she’d seen from this one was a whole lot of frowning, and when he wasn’t scowling at her, he had the best poker face she’d ever seen.

“What’s this?” She prodded one of the tubes which was about the size of her index finger. How on earth would that satisfy anyone?

“Nutrition. The entire item is edible. Never seen one before?”

She shook her head. “The Q’Larev gave us hockey pucks, when they fed us at all.”

His brow furrowed.

“Uh, sorry, that’s an Earth thing. I meant those round nutrition discs you’ve probably seen around on some planet or other.”

He inclined his head. “Bite off the tip, squeeze and suck out the contents, then consume the outer casing.”

Bite...squeeze...suck...

A frisson frolicked down her spine. She’d love to nibble on his pale silvery-blue skin, squeeze his glutes while she sucked on that big, big length outlined in his suit.

Gah! Bad brain. Focus.

She licked her lips and zeroed in on the food. That she needed to eat. For nutrition. “Are you eating the other one?”

“All for you.” He produced a small knife and in one fast swipe, sliced off the tip of one tube. Guess she’d waited too long to get cracking.

She picked up the open item. “Do you need to eat? And drink?”

“Yes, but not as much or as often as your kind.”

Her kind. Interesting word choice. His matter-of-fact tone didn’t contain even a smidgen of prejudice. She shrugged. “Okay, then.”

She did as instructed and sucked. The food.

Not nearly as tasteless as the pucks. In fact... “Kinda tastes like a sort of savory chocolate pudding with cinnamon,” she murmured, almost sad when the tube was empty.

“The outer casing is edible,” he reminded her.

She folded it up and popped it in her mouth and chewed.

What the—? Her eyes went wide.

Gooey, chewy, sticky and semi-sweet. She swallowed the last bit. “Mochi.”

He handed her the second tube. “Mochi?”

“One of my favorite treats back on Earth. I used to go to Japantown all the time. There’s this one shop with the best imported mochi.”

Sadness stabbed her chest. She would probably never go to that store again, nor ever set foot in San Francisco. Never eat sushi, never see the ocean. God, she even missed the fog. Tears welled as she stared down at the tube in her hand.

A fingertip touched the underside of her chin, tilting her face up.

“Where did you go?” His voice was soft. Soothing. His touch, gentle. So much deadly strength, and yet he showed her only kindness. Again.

“I like your food. I haven’t had anything with flavor in a while.”

“That’s not what bothered you.”

Astute man. “It reminded me of home. I miss...stuff. Japanese food like sushi and ramen and, oh-my-gawd , mochi donuts. And matcha boba tea, and I’d give my left arm for some sake. Yeah, a big-ass bottle of junmai ginjo— ”

She smacked her free hand over her mouth to halt her babble. “Sorry.”

“Is that an apology for attempting to commandeer my ship?”

Oh, that little thing? She bit the tip of her index finger. The flavor of the food’s shell lingered there, and she sucked then popped her finger free. He tracked her finger as she lowered it, gaze so intense goosebumps traipsed over her arms.

Good goosies. Lusty goosies.

“I, uh, yeah, I am sorry about that,” she managed to say.

“Apology accepted. Now eat.”

She complied without complaint, recognizing the request came from a place of concern, not from a desire to boss her around like a servant.

“Tell me about this pack.”

She swallowed a third of the pudding. “Pack?”

“Your friend is flying us back to the battle site. I’m allowing it.”

“You cannot stop me, reconnaissance scout, Gamma model cyborg Kaden,” Athena taunted, showing off her snooping skills by dropping info.

“On the contrary, Athena. I advise you not to test me.” The calm tone did nothing to veil his threat.

“Hey, you two, please play nice. Athena, we both appreciate Kaden’s help, right?”

Athena harrumphed, and Calie almost laughed at how human her pal sounded. She’d come a long way since they first met and interacted, evolving then bonding with Calie and easing her loneliness during her captivity.

“Athena?” Calie polished off the rest of the pudding then stuffed the wrapper into her mouth.

“We appreciate the cyborg’s aid.” Athena sounded utterly ungrateful, but Kaden nodded his head, accepting her pal’s words at face value.

Calie mm-hmmed her agreement as she finished the food, but Kaden didn’t seem to be paying attention. He stood so still, she would’ve thought he was asleep except for the fact his pretty eyes were open. Seemed to be staring over her head, lost in thought, or—

He lunged for her.

Calie yelped, Athena yelled, and a force struck the ship, sweeping it into a downward spiral.