Breathing Vapor (14 page)

“You’re my female.” Vapor met her gaze.

What did that mean? Would he choose her over his friends, put her first? No being ever had. She studied him. But none of those beings had been cyborgs.

“You’re being deployed,” she reminded herself. He would spend a lifespan with his friends. He’d never see her again. Vapor was intelligent. He wouldn’t choose her.

“Cyborgs often go missing while on deployment,” he quoted her.

“They should stay missing. Anything else is too risky.” Mira looked at her reflection in the control panel. She was a mess, the immaculate image others expected from her nowhere to be seen. “Promise me you won’t return to Tau Ceti once you leave.” She straightened her hair, removed a smudge of dirt on her nose. “There’s no need to return. I’ll be fine.”

He bent over and adjusted her footwear. They were filthy but would be partially hidden by her garment. “You’re lying to me, female.”

He was right. She
was
lying. She wouldn’t be fine. The primping and preening hadn’t banished the emotion from her eyes. Her disguise was unraveling. She couldn’t dredge up the needed disdain, the coldness. “Promise me, Vapor.”

He sighed. “I won’t return to this planet once I leave it.”

“Good.” Mira relaxed. She would be in danger but he’d be safe.

He’d live, might find love, happiness with another female.

Her heart ached.

The ship slowed as it entered the compound.

“You’re strong, female.” Vapor cupped her chin with one of his palms, his touch firm and reassuring. “You can do this.”

She’d do this for him, for his fellow cyborgs. Mira froze over her feelings, sealing them behind a wall of ice. The ship stopped.

She exited and gazed around her, seeing no one in the darkness. Beings might be hiding, watching. She sniffed haughtily and walked toward Vapor’s quarters. He followed her, moving soundlessly.

They passed a group of three guards, the males hunched over, chatting, laughing. Beings had died, an entire race might have been extinguished, and they found humor in the situation.

“My father didn’t hire you to chatter like socialites.” She whipped them with her words, venting some of her turbulent emotions.

The males scattered, muttering about nasty females and privileged daughters. Good. She nodded. Her reputation might survive for another planet rotation, helping her protect the cyborg she cared for.

She reached the final stage holding structure, Vapor walking close behind her. Mira placed her palm on the access panel and the doors slid open.

The cyborgs stood naked in their docking stations, hooked up to nutrition and energy tubes. Their eyes were closed. Their bodies were still. They appeared dormant.

Mira knew otherwise. Cyborgs were always aware of everything around them.

The doors closed behind them.

“You die.” A huge form flew at Mira, moving too quickly for her to identify. Vapor stepped in front of her, blocking the attack with his arms. The male was flung backward. His body smashed against a wall.

“She’s mine,” Vapor declared. “No one touches her.”

“Strive, we agreed to wait to take action.” Ace, Vapor’s friend, stepped forward. “There are doubts.”

“Doubts?” Strive, one of the about-to-be-decommissioned cyborgs, stood, shaking his arms and legs. “We all read the messages she sent. She’s assigning us as playthings for her friends. How can there be any doubt?”

The cyborgs looked at Vapor.

Mira held her breath. Vapor knew the truth. He’d tell his friends everything, betray her trust as she knew he eventually would.

He said nothing.

“She’s here, alone and unprotected.” Strive pressed. “I say we kill her now.”

“We have to kill her,” Raw, another cyborg, agreed. “Strive tried to attack her. That’s enough to get us all decommissioned.”

“And whose fault was that?” Thrasher mumbled.

“She dies. Now.” Strive glared at Mira and she trembled, seeing the hatred in his eyes. “Before she can hurt or humiliate us further.”

“Try to touch her and you will die.” Vapor widened his stance. “She is under my protection.”

Strive raised his eyebrows. “You’d choose her, a human, over us, your cyborg brothers?”

The other cyborgs rumbled, gathering around them. Thrasher and Ace motioned to some of the males. They gave no indication that they would support their friend.

Vapor was good, the best warrior her father had ever manufactured, but he couldn’t defeat hundreds of cyborgs. If they attacked as one group, they’d kill him.

He was intelligent. He’d know that. There was no choice. He had to relay her words, breaking her confidence to calm his brethren.

“Tell them,” she whispered, accepting her warrior’s imminent betrayal. His life was more important than the trust between them, than their relationship.

“I will tell them.” Vapor folded his fingers into tight fists. “Mira isn’t merely a human. She’s my female. And yes, I choose her over you.”

He put her first. She gaped at him.

The cyborgs were as speechless as she was, the chambers growing quiet.

“You chose her?” Strive was the first to recover. “You’re a traitor to your own kind, have no honor, no right to wear your model number.”

He sprang toward Vapor. One group of cyborgs, led by Ace and Thrasher, turned, creating a ring around the three of them, blocking anyone else from attacking them. Another group of cyborgs pushed against this circle, trying to join the fight.

Vapor flipped Strive over his shoulder, tossing him to the floor. “You know nothing about honor or about fighting.” Rage darkened her cyborg’s face. “Prepare to die.”

Shit. He’d kill his friend to protect her.

Mira couldn’t allow that to happen.

Chapter Thirteen

Vapor wasn’t mentally deficient. He knew he couldn’t fight all of his cyborg brethren and win. But he also knew he didn’t want to live in a universe that didn’t have Mira in it.

She was part of him, the best part. If she died, he died.

Strive, that fool, struggled to his feet and launched himself forward once more. Vapor punched the cyborg in the throat, using all of his superior strength. The blow stopped his friend in his tracks. Strive sucked air and dropped to his knees.

“Vapor,” Mira cried a warning.

Grin and Raw had broken through the cyborg barricade, were running toward him, death written on their faces. Strive and Grin were suboptimal fighters. That was the reason they were slated for decommissioning. Raw was…adequate.

Vapor cracked his knuckles. Defeating all three of them at the same time would be a challenge, one he’d gladly accept.

“Tell them,” Mira yelled. “Tell them everything.”

It wasn’t his everything to tell and even if it was, Grin and Raw weren’t in a listening mode. Vapor’s body collided with theirs. Grin’s fist connected with his jaw, pain shooting up his face.

Vapor took the blow and pushed them away from him. His movements were restricted. Mira stood behind him and he wouldn’t allow them to hurt her. She was delicate, human, his. He’d protect her.

Strive got to his feet, wheezing. Grin and Raw bumped shoulders with him. They must be communicating through a restricted transmission line.

“Vapor, tell them. Please.” His female sounded frantic.

The three cyborgs attacked, their efforts coordinated. Vapor struck Raw with his skull, Grin and Strive with his fists. Agony rippled from all points of contact. Vapor staggered, some of his weapons clattering to the floor. He didn’t fall.

Strive and Raw landed on their asses. Grin slugged Vapor. There was a crack. Pain exploded in his brain. Vapor slugged him back, nailing him with both hands. This time, the cyborg went down.

He’d never been this strong, this fast. That triple attack should have flattened him yet he remained standing.

“You’re bleeding.” Mira tugged on his arm.

“It’s my nose, nothing serious.” The cartilage was already straightening, healing, his nanocybotics working quickly. “Get back.”

“No.” She picked up one of his guns. “If they want me to die, I’ll die. I’ll kill myself so you don’t blame your friends for my death.” His reckless female pointed the weapon at her own chest. “I don’t want you to be hurt.” She looked up at him. “In any way.”

She couldn’t bear to see any being hurt. His female was too blasted soft-hearted. “This isn’t worth dying for, Mira.”

“You’re worth dying for.” The emotion in her eyes almost brought Vapor to his knees. She cared for him, a cyborg.

The fighting stopped around them, every cyborg watching them.

Have you recalibrated your guns so she can use them?
Ace asked through the cyborgs’ open transmission lines. All of the other warriors listened to their conversation.

No, but she doesn’t know that.
Vapor gazed at his weapon-inept human.
She really would die for me.
“Mira—”

“I’m doing this.” She was delightfully stubborn.

“Then you’re dooming us all to death.” He appealed to her emotions. “When your body is found in our holding structure, we’ll be blamed for either killing you or not protecting you. We’ll be decommissioned.”

“The Humanoid Alliance made my mom’s death look like an accident.” She lifted her chin. “You could do the same with mine.”

That had been his original plan, a plan that was blown to bits the first time he touched her.

“This is for the best, Vapor.” Her words were weighted with sadness. “The Mira the Merciless act is growing harder and harder to maintain. The Humanoid Alliance will discover my lies, execute me, perhaps torturing me first. This way, it’ll be quick.”

What is she talking about?
Raw asked.

The others were as confused, pelting him with questions.

Vapor ignored them, concentrating on his female. “And the cyborgs you’re trying to save? What will happen to them?”

Trying to save?
Strive growled.

“Add them to the list of beings I’ve failed.” Mira’s eyes shone with unshed tears.

“Hold it together, female.” His voice was gruff. “And put the gun down.”

“That’s one command I can’t heed.” Her smile was wobbly. She was so blasted obstinate and brave, reckless and his. “Thank you for putting me first, for not betraying me. You’re the most honorable being I’ve ever known.”

“Mira—”

“Goodbye, Vapor.” She pressed the trigger.

Nothing happened. He exhaled, the weight on his shoulders lifting. His processors had known she was in no danger. His heart had worried.

She tapped the trigger again and again. “What the fuck?” Mira gazed at the barrel, tried once more, slapped the gun against her thigh, made another attempt to end her life.

She was determined to carve his heart from his chest and that enraged Vapor. “You will
not
kill yourself.” He scooped her into his arms and hurled the gun at the wall. It shattered into several pieces. “You’re mine to kill.” He brought his face close to hers. “How many times have I told you that?”

“I don’t recall you ever saying that,” she looked him in the eyes and lied.

Fraggin’ hole.

“The truth.” Vapor draped her over his right shoulder and whacked her ass hard. “That’s what I want from you.” He cuffed her again and she shrieked.

They needed privacy, a safe place to talk and to touch. He turned toward the exit.

“Vapor, you can’t leave with her.” Ace dared to step between him and the door. “We have to discuss this. Strive is right. She knows too much, could talk to her father, get us all decommissioned.”

She would never intentionally cause another being’s death. But they didn’t know that. “Talk to Ace, female.” Chattering wasn’t Vapor’s strength.

“No.”

His palm connected with her ass. “Tell them why you’re assigning Strive and Grin to a socialite, why they’re to be her playthings.”

“They won’t be her playthings.” She glared at him. “They’ll be her guards. Lydna, the socialite I’ve chosen, believes they’re machines, unable to think for themselves. I plan to remove their tracking devices before their assignment. It should be easy for them to escape during the ten planet rotations. Lydna will be so ashamed that she misplaced them, she won’t draw their missing status to any being’s attention. They’ll have time to completely disappear.”

Vapor gazed at her, openly displaying his admiration. His female was cunning and beautiful, her eyes glowing with a cock-hardening ferocity.

“She sought to save you from decommissioning.” Thrasher looked at Strive. “And you wanted to kill her.” His lips curled.

“I didn’t know that,” Strive mumbled, bowing his head.

“I didn’t know that either, but I believed Thrasher when he said he had doubts.” Ace nodded at the cyborg. “And I trusted Vapor’s judgment when he declared her worthy of protection. Humans lie. We’re all aware of that. We didn’t realize that sometimes they lie to help cyborgs.”

“I lie to help others,” Mira had the courage to correct her defender. “I don’t care that you’re cyborgs.”

“Because you see us as beings.” Ace understood.

“Mira won’t betray us.” Vapor rubbed his human’s lush ass. “She hates the Humanoid Alliance as much as we do.”

“They killed my mom,” she whispered. “And Pepe and Aumakua and Aumakua’s male and Carr and…”

Mira continued to list names, emotion wrapped around each death. Vapor held her, stroking her body, seeking to ease her sorrow, only now fully understanding the depth of her caring.

He’d killed countless beings but thought about very few of them. She kept each face in her heart, revisiting the pain, the loss.

He’d protect her tender heart, her loving soul, her lush form.

Is my female safe here?
She’d be safe from the humans. Guards seldom entered the final stage holding structure. But his cyborg brethren could still be a threat. He wouldn’t surround her with enemies.

“I’d protect your female with my life.” Strive stood, voicing his allegiance both to Vapor and to Mira.

“That’s apt since she seeks to save that life.” Thrasher shook his head. “I’ll protect her also.”

“As will I,” Ace added.

One by one, the cyborgs stepped forward, swearing to safeguard her. Mira, a human, had earned the loyalty of his brethren.

Before this planet rotation, Vapor hadn’t thought that was possible. The hatred for their masters ran deep within each of them.

Yet she’d won them over, his female.

“Then we stay.” Vapor carried her to his docking station.

“You took out three cyborgs in that battle.” Thrasher fastened his tubes, giving Vapor a much needed boost of inputs. “I’ve never seen you fight like that.”

“He’s the best,” Mira murmured.

“You’ve given your female your nanocybotics.” Ace breathed in. “I smell them on her. Could that have created more?”

Vapor shrugged. “That sounds like a logical explanation.” He lowered his armor-covered ass to the floor, setting Mira on his lap.

“We could test that theory.” He didn’t like the way Thrasher was eying his human.

“No, we couldn’t.” Vapor folded his body over hers. “No one touches her.”

Thrasher chuckled. “We don’t want to touch her. As Ass says, she smells like you.”

Ace shoved Thrasher. The two argued and wrestled, punching arms and slapping asses. Their conversation turned private, as it often did.

Vapor was, once again, an outsider, though he was no longer alone. He gazed down at his female. Her eyelids were lowering, her face soft. She’d had an event-filled planet rotation.

“You can rest, Mira.” He pressed his lips to her forehead. “I have you.”

And she had him.

* * *

Moments passed. Vapor held Mira as she slept. He was content to be with her, to have the quiet moments of togetherness.

Cyborgs cast envious glances in his direction. They coveted what he had—a female, companionship, a caring stronger than any he’d experienced.

His brethren discussed the plans for their escape. They would be treated like the rest of the supplies—loaded onto the ship at the end of the planet rotation, stored there over the human’s rest cycle, transported off Tau Ceti at sunrise.

That would give Vapor plenty of time to slip out of the ship, complete his mission, and then return. All he had to do was figure out his mission.

He caught his friends’ gazes.
She’s not our target.

We realize that.
Thrasher sat beside him.
What do you plan to do with her?

I don’t know.
He brushed back her curls.

Ace claimed a spot of floor close to Thrasher.
You can’t stay on Tau Ceti. Her people will kill you. You can’t take her to the cyborg Homeland. Humans aren’t allowed to live there.

You could live on another planet with her, outside of Humanoid Alliance control,
Thrasher suggested.

Mira would know where those planets were. Vapor gazed at her beautiful face. She’d helped beings escape the Humanoid Alliance.

Those beings left their home planets with very few material possessions. They didn’t have custom-crafted garments, sun stones sparkling in their hair, domiciles located in highly secured compounds.

If she escaped with him, he’d keep her safe. He would die for her if that were required. But she’d be an outcast, not a member of high society, and she wouldn’t ever have the offspring he knew she wanted. He couldn’t give those to her.

An honorable male would step aside, allow her to find a more worthy mate.

He suspected Mira would make that sacrifice without hesitation for him. Vapor had thought her lies indicated a lack of integrity. It indicated the opposite. She’d do anything to protect the beings she cared for, to make them happy.

Vapor didn’t know if he was that strong, if he could let his female go. He wanted her, needed her, couldn’t imagine his life without her.

He played with her hair. His friends sat with him, chattering about planets and females and possible alternate targets.

The sun will rise soon
, Ace advised.
If your female is discovered here, questions will be asked.

We’re leaving.
Vapor draped Mira over one of his shoulders and stood.

She stirred, mumbled about being sleepy and it being too early, snuggled deeper into his body.

He was hard, desiring her with a circuit-burning intensity, but his female needed her rest. This planet rotation would be as trying for her as the previous one had been. Breeding would have to wait.

Strive accessed the control panel at the exit.
I’ll go with you, help you guard her.