Chapter 9

Hold on indeed. Chloe clamped her eyes tight as she and the cyborg went flying up through a ragged hole she knew hadn't existed that morning. It seemed the machines brought some heavy artillery to free their comrade. Even with her face buried against the machine's bare flesh, she could hear the rumble of gunfire, the strident alarms, the shrill screams of men dying, the rapid thump of the escaped prisoner's heart as it beat.

For the millionth time since he'd carted her caveman style from the restricted area, she wondered that she didn't fight his abduction of her. Didn't even want to. She wished she could blame it on the soldier who tried to rape her. Hoped to perhaps excuse it as shock, but the truth was, when Joe declared she was going with him, she'd never heard something that sounded so right. How it made any sense she didn't know.

How could being kidnapped by a cyborg, a known killer of humans, be the right thing to do? Where was her sense of outrage over her dilemma? Her panic and fear over what would happen to her?

Wrapped in his muscular arms, the steady thump of his heart the only sound she focused on, she decided it didn't matter. For the first time in a long time, she felt alive and, even stranger, safe. Oh and a tad bit excited, and not entirely from the adrenaline rush of the escape. Some of it, actually a lot of it, had to do with him. He made her tingle in a way she didn't recall experiencing before. With her cheek pressed to his skin, it would be so easy to press her lips against him and taste. Lick. Touch...

Okay, she'd completely lost her mind. Talk about the worst time and place to get horny. A jolt snapped her from her naughty meanderings, and she opened her eyes to see she stood in some sort of docking bay. Before she could take in any details, her cyborg was pulling her after him as he strode over the metal perforated flooring.

"Where are we going?" she asked, but he didn't reply. What she could glimpse of his face showed him alert, and yet distant, as if in deep thought.

Despite his lack of communication, he seemed to know where he wanted to go. He tugged her through several doors before halting in a large stateroom.

"Can your wound wait a little longer?" he asked suddenly, startling her from her contemplation of the overly large bed taking up most of the space.

She'd actually forgotten it. His reminder had her looking down to see her sleeve covered in blood, but while her arm felt a touch tender, she didn't seem to be in any great pain.

"I'm fine."

"I am needed on the bridge. You may want to strap in. We will be leaving the atmosphere in one minute, five seconds. Once we've cleared the moon and shaken our pursuers, we will adopt a more sedate pace, and you will be able to unbuckle. I will return shortly."

She nodded and headed for the jumpseat jutting from the wall, but before she'd gone two steps, she found herself spun and encased in a pair of familiar arms. Hard lips crushed hers in a kiss that was both hungry yet sensual. And totally unexpected.

Gasping in surprise, her open mouth allowed him to latch his lips around her lower one and tug it, an erotic pull that she felt right down to her pussy. A sensual heat crept through her limbs, and she opened wider, inviting him to deepen the kiss. Instead, he groaned as he pulled away.

"My brothers are calling me, little one. Later." Spinning on his heel, he strode away, still only clad in his loincloth, the back of him a mass of rippling muscles, just as enticing as his front. She sighed as the door slid shut behind him, her lips tingling from their short embrace.

I think I've just discovered why he brought me along. As absurd as it seemed, he'd kidnapped her for sex. And hopefully not parts. The womanly side of her couldn't help a warm pleasure that he found her appealing enough to bring along. While the rationale portion of her mind called herself all kinds of crazy.

The ship lurched, and she put aside her musings to scramble to the jumpseat and strap in. Too late now to wonder at her current situation. She obviously wasn't going home any time soon, and she doubted the military would exert itself rescuing her.

For some reason, the fact she was stuck on board with cyborgs, more specifically hers, made her smile even when her stomach lurched as they shot through the atmosphere.

*

"Status." He spoke aloud. Having reached the bridge and most of his brothers who'd volunteered to come on this mission, the need for wireless, BCI-to-BCI, communication disappeared.

"No signs of pursuit. The diversion we set in motion has kept their air troops occupied. And Krag has entertained himself picking off their ground artillery. Leaving the atmosphere in twenty-nine seconds." Solus relayed his report without looking up from his console.

Seth laughed. "We've got the humans chasing their own tails." His third-in-command yipped like a dog and chuckled some more, prompting Solus to throw him a dark look.

The situation appeared under control and moving forward as predicted, which made Joe leery. Where humans were concerned things never happened as expected. "Let's move up the time for departure. Change our trajectory three degrees and commence countdown."

He braced his legs, magnetizing his lower limbs so he wouldn't move as the ship lurched and gained speed as it prepared for its ascent through the earth's atmosphere. Joe allowed his neural net to link to the onboard cameras and quickly checked on Chloe. Seeing Chloe seated and strapped in, some of his tension left him.

"You changed the plan." Solus's remark emerged quietly. "You were supposed to go in for intel, not return with a female."

Joe glanced at his friend and found him actually looking up from his console. "I saw an opportunity and took it."

"More like saw a hot ass and wanted it," Seth laughed.

Without bothering to turn and look, Joe aimed his fist sideways and struck Seth in the jaw.

"Hey. What was that for?"

"Chloe is mine. Do not use disparaging words when speaking of her." The possessive claim pleased him, although not as much as the quick kiss he shared with his female. A kiss she enjoyed. It made him even more impatient for later. But duty came first.

As his BCI stayed linked with the shipboard computer watching for pursuit, he couldn't stop his thoughts from straying to the luscious woman in his cabin. Unlike some of his brethren's human captives, Chloe came along without a protest. It made him hopeful that acceptance of her change in circumstance and lifestyle would come easier. Not all abductees reacted well, despite the incredible sex their partners gave them. Some actually missed the cesspool known as earth and their hard lives as little more than underpaid slaves for the government. Never mind the cyborgs gave them spacious homes, belongings and freedom, a few of the women refused to adapt, claiming they could never love a machine, an illogical claim inherent to the human species. None of the cyborgs ever asked for love. They just needed an accommodating body. Yet another truth the women they captured took issue with.

Would Chloe, when she found out he had no intention of letting her go, feel the same way? Would she resent him? Try to kill him? He hoped he didn't have to reprogram her. He rather liked her spirit. However, the fact remained, once captured and privy to the cyborg secrets, humans couldn't be trusted to return to their home world no matter how miserable they ended up. It was either adapt or end up with their minds wiped and reprogrammed. They'd only had to resort to that extreme with two of the captured females to date, and Joe truly hoped he wouldn't have to do that to Chloe. Wiped females ended up no better than sexbots, capable of interacting and functioning on their own, but losing their unique individuality.

I won't let that happen to Chloe. She will accept her new life. She must. He'd make sure she did, even if he wasn't sure what to do beyond giving her orgasms and a home of her own. By all the circuits in his head, he'd even steal her a child, or a pet, whatever she wanted if it would make her happy. And then I'll shoot myself for being a defective unit. A cyborg did not beg and grovel or abase itself in any way for a human. Not even an attractive female one. She would obey because he said so. And that was that.