Containing Malice, page 15
“That’s not a Humanoid Alliance ship.” Valor frowned up at it. “But that isn’t the type of ship a cyborg would fly either.”
Malice agreed with his friend. Cyborgs preferred their weapons, ships, other tools, to be fully functional. The panels on the modified freighter were dull and dented.
“If they were cyborgs, they’d send you a transmission.” His female glanced at his hands, readjusted her hold on her gun. Her grip on it remained too loose, but she was less likely to stun herself. “Have they done that?”
“No.” Both Malice and Valor answered at the same time.
“We assume they’re hostiles.” Malice positioned himself in front of his fragile human. “Stay where you are, female.”
She was wedged between his big form and the boulder, should be protected from any projectiles.
“Move out of the way.” His female pushed on his back. “There could be numerous beings on the ship. If there’s a battle, you’ll need my help.”
Who is she helping—the other beings? Valor laughed through the transmission line.
Malice grunted and stayed where he was.
The pebbles around his booted feet gyrated as the ship landed. The doors opened.
He ran a lifeform scan and relaxed. “They’re cyborgs.”
He didn’t lower his guns, wouldn’t completely let down his guard until he confirmed they weren’t a threat. The Humanoid Alliance had used him and his brethren to kill in the past.
A D Model rushed down the ramp. He shot the guns out of Malice’s hands while moving at cyborg speed toward them.
A C Model with one organic and one purely mechanical arm followed the male. He shot the guns out of Valor’s hands.
A B Model, a model type Malice believed was extinct, exited the ship at a slower pace. His mechanics creaked.
Fraggin’ hole. Malice’s lips flattened. The three cyborgs sped toward him, toward Valor, toward his delicate female, and they all held weapons.
But they had disarmed him, not killed him. And they had stopped shooting.
He reached for two more guns.
“Don’t draw them.” The C Model aimed at his hands. “Step to the right and we won’t damage you.”
They wanted his female.
“No.” Malice widened his stance. “She’s mine.” He would die before giving her up.
“What’s happening?” Illona whispered that question. “I can’t see anything.” The blasted female ducked under his arm. “I—”
“Human.” The D Model leaped at her.
“Mine.” Malice grabbed him by the neck, snatching the big male out of the air.
The D Model punched and kicked. Malice absorbed that pain and, with a roar, threw the male. His muscles strained with the effort.
His opponent went flying, bellowing with outrage and surprise. He slammed against the side of the freighter, leaving a large dent in the panel, and slid to the ground.
“Fraggin’ hole, he’s strong.” The C Model lowered his body and jumped.
Malice widened his stance, bracing for impact. Their big forms collided, the force of it shaking both of them. Malice ignored the hurt, clasped the male’s shoulders and threw him also.
The C Model was heavier than his brethren. He landed a stride short of the ship, smacking hard against the rock.
“It’s my turn, little C Model.” The B Model cracked his oversized knuckles.
“Stop.” A female voice rang out.
The enemy cyborgs froze in place.
“We prefer not to fight our own kind.” A female C Model with no model number inked on her cheek exited the ship. She was trailed by another D Model male.
Malice had never seen a female cyborg, but he would fight her too…if he had to do that.
“Step aside.” She repeated that ridiculous order. “And allow us to liberate you from the human’s control.”
“You won’t touch her.” Malice had folded his fingers into tight fists. “She’s mine.”
The female tilted her head upward and sniffed the air. “Ours.” She nodded, acting as though that one word was relevant to their confrontation.
Her reply didn’t relay any usable insights to Malice. It was nonsensical.
“She is yours.” The cyborg female acknowledged his claim on Illona. “We’ll merely subdue her, won’t damage her…much.”
“Human.” The D Model growled.
“Strain.” The female’s voice snapped over them. “Enter the ship. That’s an order.”
The D Model bared his teeth at Malice and then obeyed, stomping up the ramp.
“B, accompany him.” The female shook her head. “Ensure he doesn’t leave the ship.”
The B Model snapped to attention and complied with her command.
The female was their leader, had earned their loyalty. Malice narrowed his eyes at her. That wouldn’t stop him from killing her if that was necessary.
“You won’t damage the human.” He wouldn’t allow that. “She’s my captive.”
The female cyborg lifted her eyebrows. “Your captive has a gun pointed at your back.”
Fraggin’ hole. “Illona.” Malice rumbled at his female.
“I was trying to point it at them.” His little medic sounded as exasperated as he felt. “But you insisted on standing in the way.”
She must have lowered the weapon. The cyborgs around them visibly relaxed.
“You must be Malice.” The female cyborg studied him. “I’m Cadet.” She verified her identity. “This is Rancor.” She indicated the remaining D Model. “And Grudge.”
The C Model with the mismatched arms nodded at him.
“My human is Medic Illona.” Malice continued the introductions. “The E Model is Valor, my friend.”
“You mentioned the E Model.” The female cyborg wrinkled her nose at Valor. “And yourself.” Her gaze returned to him. “But you didn’t request a transport for a human.”
Many of their kind didn’t like humans. He had been in that group mere planet rotations ago.
“She’s coming with us.” That was non-negotiable for him.
“I make the decisions.” The female cyborg frowned at him. “Not you.”
“If she isn’t coming with us, I’m staying here.” He wasn’t leaving her. Ever.
“I’m staying also.” Valor wrongly projected Malice would allow that to happen.
He would toss the E Model into the ship himself if the male insisted on staying with them. One of them should be free, and his friend deserved some happiness.
“A Humanoid Alliance ship is en route to this planet.” The female cyborg ignored Valor. Her focus remained on Malice. “You’d allow yourself to be recaptured, give up your freedom for a human female?”
“I would give up my lifespan for my human female.” Malice scowled at Cadet. “She—”
“No.” His little medic pushed her fragile form forward yet again. “Go with them, Malice. Leave me here.”
“I am not leaving you.” He glared at her. “You’re mine.”
“That must be a C Model phrase.” The female cyborg muttered that bizarre comment, her tone bemused.
“Take him with you.” Illona shifted her attention to Cadet, appealing to her instead of to him. “Malice is too honorable to leave me here, but he has to do that. The Humanoid Alliance will decommission him if he’s recaptured.”
“Honor isn’t why I won’t leave you.” He yelled that truth at his infuriating human. “You’re mine.”
“I won’t ever use that phrase with a certain E Model.” Cadet continued her irrational side conversation with herself. “That tradition stops with me.”
“You will leave me.” Malice’s female raised her voice also. “Or-or-or…”
“Or what?” He stepped closer to her.
His little medic got that look in her eyes that she always did before she did something suicidal.
“No.” He bellowed at her.
“Yes.” She lifted her gun, pointed it under her chin. “If you don’t go with them, I’ll shoot myself. Then I’ll be dead, and you’ll have done the honorable thing for no reason.”
“I’m not doing the honorable thing.” His frustration meshed with his anger and his fear. She was intent on killing herself and that would kill him. “You’re mine. I don’t give a frag about honor.”
“But I do miss Dad.” The female cyborg sighed. “I look forward to returning home, seeing him and Mom.”
Should I tell the medic her gun’s setting is on stun? Valor’s transmission lilted with amusement.
If you tell her that, I’ll pound you into the ground. Malice watched his tiny human. Being stunned wouldn’t end her lifespan but it would hurt her.
“Give me the gun, female.” He raised his hands slowly, careful not to spook her, seeking to be within easy reach of her, of her blasted weapon. “You made a vow. The only being who will kill you is me.”
And he would never do that.
She belonged to him.
He would damage her. Temporarily. Their next breeding would be extremely rough. But he would die before he allowed anyone, including himself, to permanently damage one hair on her head.
She was his and he would safeguard her. Closely.
Chapter Fifteen
Illona pressed the muzzle of the gun against her skin. The metal was cool. Her resolve was firm.
This was the right action to take.
The cyborgs hated her. The D Model, Strain, had wanted to kill her. The leader, Cadet, had sent the warrior back to their ship, but the female cyborg likely hated her also.
That was understandable. Humans had caused them so much pain and torment.
The cyborgs wouldn’t allow her on their vessel, and they wouldn’t rescue Malice and Valor if her warrior insisted on taking her with him. He must have known that. That was why he hadn’t mentioned her existence to them before they arrived.
Malice couldn’t stay on the planet with her. If the Humanoid Alliance apprehended him, he would die. And then she would die due to the tremendous guilt that would cause her…and due to her broken heart. She loved the big male, likely had loved him since the first moment they met.
Illona would do anything to save him.
That included discarding her honor and abandoning the ethical guidelines that had guided her throughout her lifespan.
“I’ll break my vow to you and end my lifespan if you don’t leave me here.” One of her last acts would be to shred her integrity into tiny strips of nothing. That pained her. “Don’t make me do that, Malice.”
“I won’t allow you to do that.” He held out one of his huge hands. “Give me the gun, female.”
Stars. The dominance in his voice pushed her to obey him.
She couldn’t relent. Not now. Not ever.
“Mere planet rotations ago, you wanted to kill me.” She reminded him of that earlier stance. “Go. Save yourself.” She would die happier knowing he was somewhere in the universe, free and happy.
But watching him leave, knowing she’d never see his handsome face again, never touch him, taste him, talk with him, would be the most difficult thing she’d ever done. It would break her. She’d be a fractured shell of a being.
Yet she would do that.
For him.
“Mere planet rotations ago, I did want to kill you.” He verified that hurtful truth. “Now, I want breed with you. Hard. That might repair your purely organic brain, render it fully functional again, restore your intelligence.” His eyes blazed with desire and anger and frustration, the combination thrilling her. “Because you’re not behaving logically, Medic. You belong to me and I won’t part with you. Ever. Whether you’re alive or dead or in between those two states like those decaying beings we confronted in the lab, you will be with me. Always. Accept that and give me your fraggin’ gun.”
Fuck. He would remain by her side even if she was a corpse. She stared at her male. “You’re not behaving logically either.”
“And whose fault is that?” He stepped so close his body armor-clad chest flattened her jacket-and flight suit-covered chest. “You stress my blasted processors with your scent, your touch, your constant lack of concern for your lifespan.”
She tilted her head back and gazed up, up, up at him. “Then leave me here. Go with your brethren. Find peace and happiness and—”
“I am not leaving you.” He roared at her, the ferocity of his response blowing hot over her. “You are mine.”
“We process that.” The female cyborg, Cadet, sounded as aggravated. “She’s yours. You love her. You’ve communicated that to us and to her multiple times.” She waved her hands in the air. “Can we please leave now before the Humanoid Alliance arrives and blows us all to pieces?”
“I’m not leaving without her.” Malice glared at the female.
He didn’t say he didn’t love her. Illona blinked. Did that mean he did care for her in that way?
“Your medic can come with us.” Cadet rolled her eyes. “But she stays away from the bridge. Strain is newly freed. He can’t yet tolerate the presence of humans.”
Illona shifted her gaze to the female, unable to trust her hearing. “I can come with you?”
Malice, her hardheaded cyborg, took advantage of her distraction and snatched the gun from her hands, stuffed the weapon into one of his empty holsters. “She gave her permission.” He grabbed Illona’s waist and hefted her like a container of refuse over his right shoulder. “We’re going with them.” He strapped one of his arms across her legs. “Valor?”
“I’ll cover your backs.” The E Model watched the others. His hands rested on the handles of two of his guns. “Go ahead.”
“There’s no need to cover anyone’s back.” Cadet glowered at him. “No one is in danger.”
Illona’s brain spun as Malice conveyed her toward the ship. No one was in danger. All three of them were leaving. She was going with them. “But-but I’m human.”
The cyborgs hated her kind. Didn’t they?
“My mom is human also.” Cadet fell into place behind them.
Valor followed her. He was barely visible behind the big C Model female.
“My issue wasn’t with you being human. It was because your warrior—” Cadet flung a dark look at Malice. “—didn’t inform me of your presence and he assumed I’d transport anyone he decided to bring with him. This is our second pickup. Newly freed cyborgs don’t like sharing chambers with humans. And the ship has limited space.”
Malice grunted at her.
It had all been a big misunderstanding on their part, and they should apologize. Her warrior, as Cadet referred to him, was unlikely to do that.
“Malice didn’t know he was taking me with him.” Illona offered an explanation for his high-handed actions. “He was planning to kill me.”
“Then he’s a fool.” Cadet shook her head.
Malice growled.
Illona patted his body armor-clad back, trying to calm him. “He’s not a fool.” She defended her male.
“He is a fool because, as he has been proclaiming over and over again, you’re his.” The female trailed them up the ramp. “A cyborg would rather rip out his or her own heart than kill the being genetically manufactured for him or her…even if that being is the most obstinate, arrogant male in the universe.”
Illona frowned. Malice was obstinate. And he could be arrogant at times. But she didn’t appreciate another being saying those things about him.
“Enter the last chamber, cyborg.” Cadet gestured along a hallway. “The first chamber contains newly freed cyborgs. They will tear your fragile human apart. The human and humanoids in the second chamber will be scared of you but they won’t try to kill you.”
Malice took two steps toward the chamber and stopped. “Valor?”
“Lead the way, C Model.” His friend’s voice originated from behind the cyborg female. “I’ll follow you into the last chamber.”
“Do whatever you want to do, E Model.” Cadet shrugged and moved in the other direction. “Your model usually adheres to that mandate.”
Valor gazed after her. “What do you have against E Models?”
“It’s best not to ask questions of Cadet.” Grudge, the C Model with one fully functional arm and one bared-to-the-mechanics arm, bumped the E Model forward. “She’ll relay information if she wants you to know it.”
“Ugh.” Valor’s lips twisted as he trailed them. “I’m free and my communications remain limited.”
“You can talk to me.” Illona smiled at the warrior. “It really touched my heart that you offered to stay on the planet with us.” She wouldn’t have allowed that, but she appreciated the sentiment. “You’re a good friend, Valor.”
Malice grunted his agreement.
“You would have stayed for me.” The E Model shrugged. “And my motive was partially selfish. I saw what your injections did for Malice. I would like that for myself.” He curled one of his purely mechanical arms. “I need something to compensate for this.” He smacked his metallic biceps. “My female, if I am fortunate to find her, deserves the best.”
“You are the best.” She sought to assure the warrior. He didn’t have to change to be loved. Any intelligent female would be proud to call him hers.
Malice’s rumble conveyed his unhappiness with her response.
“You’re the best for your female.” Illona hastily amended her statement. “As Malice is the best for me.”
That must have satisfied her possessive cyborg. He patted her ass and turned to the right. A door opened. They entered a small chamber.
Two females, both humanoids, huddled in a corner and sobbed. The space smelled of blood and fear. They had bruises and gashes on their arms, legs, faces. Some of the wounds were new. Some relayed a long duration of abuse.
“Fraggin’ hole.” A male voice redirected Illona’s attention. “Why isn’t she repairing?”
A human female writhed on the tiled floor. She moaned. The pain wrapped around that sound pulled at Illona’s soul. A huge medic pack had been set beside her.
