Authors: Laurann Dohner
“If you’d killed him, they would demand your death on Garden. Don’t ever take a risk like that again. You belong to me.” He straightened, his fists balled at his sides. “Do you understand me? You are mine and you will obey me.”
She stared at him in shock. “What?”
“You heard me.”
A sob broke the silence as Dawn stared at the enraged male glaring at her. Dawn turned her head to stare at Cathy. The woman was huddled in the corner, staring back at her, making her want to flinch at Cathy’s terrified and horrified expression, both emotions directed at Dawn.
“Why?” Cathy’s voice broke. “Why did you try to kill us?”
Regret twisted Dawn’s gut as she studied the naïve girl. “They aren’t pirates, Cathy. They are
cyborgs
. I didn’t want you to suffer. Please don’t look at me like I’m a monster. I was only trying to do the humane thing for us both.”
“I don’t understand. You said they were going to ransom us. You’re insane.” Cathy’s tear-filled gaze flew to the
cyborg
. “Please put me in the other cage away from her. She’s lost her mind.”
The downed
cyborg
groaned and lifted his chin, reaching for the side of his skull while rubbing the back of it. He shook his head and then tensed. For a big man he could move fast. He was on his feet in a heartbeat. He glared at Dawn and then his gaze took in the scene in the cargo area. He turned toward the redheaded
cyborg
.
“Iron, she attacked me. What happened after I was out?”
“She opened the blasting doors, used the crowbar to jam them and then used the cutting torch to breach the outer hull in the docking port.” The redhead glared at the other man. “She damn near killed us all. How the hell did she get the drop on you? She’s tiny.”
“She can fight.” The man glared at Dawn. “Attack me now, human. I am prepared so you won’t fool me twice with your small body and weak appearance.”
“Shut up,
Vollus
,” Iron snapped. “She got the drop on you and we all damn near died. The hull is compromised so the docking doors are useless until we repair them.” His focus landed on Dawn. “What I want to know is how you got those doors open in the first place. You aren’t big enough to drag his body to the scanner and you don’t have access to open the doors.”
Dawn crossed her arms over her chest and pressed her lips tightly together. She wasn’t going to tell him a damn thing. He could just—
Cathy sniffed. “She repairs everything on
Vonder
Station and fixes the planting equipment that is sent down to the planet. She’s the mechanic. She is also good with electronics. She can get any door open.”
“Be quiet, Cathy.” Dawn got to her feet, shrugging off her
injures,
sure they were just a few bruises. “They don’t care about that. They just care about how healthy we are. They are
cyborgs
.”
“I don’t understand,” Cathy whispered.
Dawn turned to glare at the redheaded
cyborg
named Iron. “How about we make a deal? You make deals, don’t you?”
The man cocked his head as his eyes narrowed. “You want to make a deal?”
She nodded. “If you let her go safely and alive, untouched and totally as is, I’ll repair anything wrong on the
Rally
. I’ll work for you if you swear you won’t harm her. I’m really skilled.” She paused. “I can patch the hole I just created.”
He frowned. “We do our own repairs. We don’t need a mechanic.”
Dawn wanted to curse.
“All right.
How about this? You and I will fight. If I win, you let her go.”
The big redheaded
cyborg
blinked. His mouth opened and a deep chuckle escaped his lips. “Is this a human joke?”
Dawn shook her head. “No joke. If I win the fight, you let her go unharmed.”
“We have no intention of—”
Iron cut the other
cyborg
off. “Shut up,
Vollus
.” He grinned, shaking his head. “I have no interest in beating up a fragile human in an unfair fight. One hit and you’d be in a med bed.”
Frustration welled in Dawn. “Name what you want for her life.”
“They are going to ransom us,” Cathy said. “You told me that.”
Dawn turned her head to eye Cathy. “I lied. I didn’t want you to know what they were really going to do to you. They are
cyborgs
. They…” She sighed. “It won’t be good, okay? I tried to prevent it but that plan didn’t work out.” She turned her head to glare at Iron. “Name what you want for her life. Is there any humanity left in you? Look at her, she’s only a child really and she’s a good kid. She doesn’t deserve to die out here like this.”
Iron wasn’t amused anymore. He arched a brow. “And you do deserve to die out in space?”
Dawn hesitated. “I’ve learned all the risks out here and I stayed knowing what I was facing. She’s clueless and innocent. Name what you want if you don’t want me to do repairs.”
Iron tilted his head, watching her closely. “I swear she won’t be killed or harmed if you become my personal slave.”
Surprise tore through Dawn. She hadn’t expected that.
“Your slave?”
The big man nodded.
“My slave.
You follow my orders and do everything I tell you to do.” He moved closer, looking down at her. “Everything I want.”
“You’ll let her go free the first chance you come across another ship heading to a safe port, or Earth, if I agree?”
“No.” He shook his head. “But she won’t be harmed and she’ll live.”
Dawn shook her head. “No. That’s not good enough.”
Iron frowned at her. “That’s the deal. She’ll be alive and…” His blue eyes glittered with amusement. “She’ll stay whole. That’s what you’re afraid of, correct? That we are going to use your bodies for spare parts? Gut you while you’re alive and screaming, to take what we want?”
Cathy gasped. Dawn flinched, swallowing hard. She glared at the
cyborg
, knowing her bargaining power was almost zilch.
“What will happen to her exactly if I agree to this? I want to know what she’ll be in for.”
Iron turned his head toward the other
cyborg
. “You’re sexually attracted to the other one, correct?”
Vollus
glanced at Cathy. He nodded and looked back at Iron. “Yes.”
Iron looked at Dawn. “I’ll give her to him. She’ll live with him and provide sex but he won’t harm her.”
Shock tore through Dawn. She stared at the large, alien-looking men. They were big, thickly muscled, and from what she understood,
cyborgs
were mechanically enhanced. They were basically super humans. They had sex? That was a frightening thought. It put a whole new spin on why Iron wanted her as a slave. She shivered. Did that mean he’d want to have sex with her?
The other
cyborg
nodded. “I won’t harm her.”
Dawn looked over the man she’d attacked. He was big, but not as big as the redhead.
“Just you?
You won’t let the other
cyborgs
at her?”
He shook his head.
“Just myself.
I will treat her well and I will not injure her in any way.”
Cathy sobbed, the sound making Dawn inwardly cringe. It was a better fate than death. The man wasn’t going to whore Cathy out, if he could be believed, and he was saying he wouldn’t abuse her. Her attention went back to Iron. She found herself nodding. She’d do whatever it took to save Cathy from being cut up.
“Deal.”
Chapter Two
Iron had brought her to a small room in the crew quarters. He’d let her use the toilet and then he’d tied her down on the bed, leaving her alone for hours to worry about her fate. When the doors opened, filled with dread, she watched the big
cyborg
walk in.
“We are moving to my quarters on the
Star
.” He had a really deep voice.
“What’s that?”
“A class-A cruiser.”
Shock rolled through her. “Earth designed?”
He untied her and gripped her arm so she couldn’t get away. “Yes. They were able to dock with us and repair the damage you did.” He sounded pissed off. “You won’t be given another opportunity to cause trouble. I will punish you if you pull another stunt. You are my slave. I still control the other human so she will pay as well if you misbehave or embarrass me in any way.”
Anger surged as she glared up at him. “You’re an asshole.”
His eyes narrowed. He gripped her arm and pulled her along to the cargo area. The docking door had been welded to seal the damage she’d done. The docking sleeve was extended, allowing them to walk onto the other ship. She was led through a huge cargo hold. From the size of it, she knew the
cyborg
hadn’t lied about the classification of the
Star
. He took her to a lift and they shot up nine floors, letting her know for sure it a damn big ship. He then led her down a corridor. She saw that all the doors were spaced close together, indicating that they were on a deck of crew quarters.
His room was decent sized, beating the closet she had on the
Vonder
. This one had a bed, a cleansing room with a top-of-the-line foam cleansing unit and there was even some spare floor space to walk around the room. Not a lot, but enough. On the
Vonder
, she had a shelf in the wall that had a slide-down door for privacy. The cleansing room was shared by thirty other sleeping compartments and they used rubbing gel to get clean. When the door closed behind them, the large
cyborg
glared down at her.
“Remove your clothing.”
She took a deep breath. “Just like that, huh? No getting to know each other first? No dinner and a
vid
?” She paused, knowing she was totally being a smartass. “Don’t I at least get replicated flowers?”
He blinked at her, a frown curving his lips downward. “I want you naked on my bed.”
Her gaze went to his bed as she swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. Her heart pounded almost painfully. She’d made a deal with the big bastard to be his slave. He obviously wanted to fuck her. Her attention shifted back to him, taking him in from head to foot. He had to weigh at least two fifty, maybe more, with that massive frame. His arms were solid muscle. She nodded while inching away from him to put a little more space between them.
Her hands shook as she removed her jumpsuit. As much as she hated the brightly colored one-piece outfit, this was the first time she dreaded taking it off. She unzipped it slowly while her gaze roamed the room, looking for a weapon. She might not have dated
or
had sex with a man in a few years but this wasn’t her idea of a way to finally break her dry spell.
Cyborgs
had never factored into her sexual fantasies.
She stripped down to her undergarments and then turned fully to face the large man. He was standing in the exact position, hadn’t moved an inch from when she’d turned away from him. Their gazes locked.
“I said remove all of your clothing. I want you naked and stretched out on my bed on your back for me.”
Frowning, she glared at him as she jerkily removed her undergarments, shivering from the chilly ship air that the
cyborg
didn’t seem to notice. Maybe the chill didn’t bother him since he hadn’t adjusted his living quarter’s controls. The room had to be in the high sixties, not really cold but definitely chillier than Dawn liked. Her nipples tightened as goose bumps rose on her skin. She glared at the
cyborg
as her chin lifted while she kept her fists to her sides. She fought the urge to cover her bared breasts even as a pair of dark blue eyes lowered from her face to her chest.
His mouth tensed and she saw his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed hard. She took a shaky breath and she wondered if he was going to hurt her. Possible ways this could go down were running through her head. He didn’t look to be the type of guy who was gentle or even sensitive. She just hoped he didn’t come at her like a charging animal. She wasn’t really sure what to make of a
cyborg
who wanted to have sex.
Her heart skipped a beat as the man bent over to tear at his black boots. He was going to strip down and that only meant one thing. He was really going to have sex with her. She took a step back from him and bumped into the bed with the back of her thighs, leaving her nowhere to go.
His chest was amazing, muscled and well defined. Her gaze flickered over him—a perfect male specimen.
Super buff.
His skin was beautiful. Not shiny, like some metal, but a dull, lustrous, light silver-gray color. It looked warm and supple. A nice shade that reminded her of some of the new metal engine parts she loved working with, but she was silently freaking out about the whole
cyborg
thing. Her mind tried frantically to remember any history she knew about
cyborgs
. She wasn’t coming up with much.
Dawn remembered they been designed to for medical purposes, had been grown in labs, similar to the way clones were grown, and then enhanced
. Scientists and doctors had used cybernetics to replace missing limbs, failed organs, and they’d managed to map the human brain to help the mentally ill.
Eventually scientists had mated humans with technology enough to produce super-strong men with a projected lifespan of two hundred years.
She’d been told that Earth Government had wanted pilots for deep-space-exploration flights to seek out other life and life-sustaining planets, to find new resources. With their new technology and implants,
cyborgs
were stronger, faster, and supposedly possessed
computerlike
brains, giving them super intelligence as well. Her father had told her they lacked emotions and were robotic, so space madness, which afflicted some human travelers on long space journeys, didn’t happen to
cyborgs
.
They had been flawed though. She had learned that they refused to take orders and had turned on humans. Earth Government had deemed the project a failure and ordered all
cyborgs
destroyed. There had been rumors that some had escaped before the military could put them to death. Obviously that rumor had been true since one was stripping naked just feet from her.