Breathing Vapor (15 page)

That wasn’t necessary. Vapor was fully healed and could protect Mira himself. But he didn’t argue, recognizing the cyborg’s wish to make amends, to do something to show his loyalty to Vapor and to Mira.

Stick to the shadows.
This advice wasn’t required. Strive might be operating suboptimally for a cyborg but he could avoid the clumsy humans.

Vapor exited the structure with Mira, running through the darkness. Strive followed him.

Some of the guards were gathered near the illuminated entrance to the compound, consuming a foul-smelling fermented beverage, talking about the purifying, mocking the locals’ pleas.

If his female were awake, she’d whip the males with her tongue, make them scatter. Then when they were in private, she’d cry, inflicting damage with her tears. This time, the wounds would be to Vapor’s heart.

He tightened his grip on her sleeping form. Once they escaped, she wouldn’t have to conceal her tender side. She could embrace the soft heart hidden behind her strong exterior.

They reached the domicile without incident. Mira continued to sleep.

“Wake up, female,” he murmured, lowering her to her feet.

“Mmm…” She swayed against him, her eyes closed.

His little human wasn’t the most cognizant at sunrise. “You have to enter your domicile, Mira.” Vapor tried to smooth her mussed hair. It was a telltale sign that she hadn’t slept on her own sleeping support. “You must cleanse yourself and change your garment.”

“Don’t wanna.” She clutched his body armor with her hands.

She looked so adorable. Vapor couldn’t resist kissing her. He covered her lips with his. She sighed, opening to him. Their tongues slid together, a tender embrace he never wanted to end.

Vapor cradled her face between his hands, rousing her with patient passion, building her desire one skim of his lips at a time. Her fingers crept upward, curled over his nape. Her nipples tightened. The scent of her musk intensified.

“Want you.” She opened her eyes. The lust he saw in them weakened his knees. “Take me, Vapor. I’m so empty, so hollow. Fill me.”

Fraggin’ hole. He wanted to. “I’ll fill you later. This isn’t the time or the place.”

She blinked once, twice. “You don’t want to breed with me?”

“I want to breed with you.” Vapor wanted nothing more than to plunge his hard cock into her warm, wet pussy. “But I won’t risk your safety for a moment of bliss. You’re my universe, female.”

“But—”

A guard is approaching
, Strive warned.

Vapor sensed the humanoid. “Go.” He turned Mira and pushed her toward the domicile’s entrance. “Hurry.”

She looked over her shoulder at him. He gestured toward the door. Mira sniffed, lifted her chin and swept through the entrance.

She was angry with him. Vapor waited for a moment, ensuring she didn’t need him. That ice-cold rage would give her strength, help her maintain her façade. That image would protect her when he couldn’t.

Strive hissed at him through the private transmission lines.

I’m leaving.
Vapor gazed at the door one more time and then stalked back to the final staging holding structure.

Chapter Fourteen

Obeying her cyborg’s orders, Mira followed her usual beginning of the planet rotation routine, tidying herself, optimistically changing into a long white garment with a full skirt, in case they had an opportunity for a quickie.

That must be his plan. She wandered down a random pathway, hiding her sexual frustration under an impervious expression. He hadn’t awakened her in time for them to have one last fuck and he’d want one.

Wouldn’t he?

Mira strode faster, turning left, right, right, left, not heeding where she was going, trusting Vapor to eventually find and follow her. She couldn’t think of possibly never touching him again. That would cause her tears to fall and Mira the Merciless didn’t cry. Ever. She had to maintain her act, had to protect Vapor and his friends.

She walked and walked and walked. Her rebellious warrior didn’t join her. She passed the final stage fighting ring. It was empty.

Mira’s stomach fluttered with the beginnings of panic. Where was he?

A boom rocked the open space and the pathway shook under her feet. She clasped the side of a structure, struggling to stay upright.

Oh, fuck. Not again. She couldn’t deal with more explosions, more death, not alone. Vapor wasn’t here to help her manage her emotions.

The noise faded and the ground settled. There were no bodies lying lifeless, no blank eyes staring up at her. She wasn’t in danger.

Not that Vapor knew that.

She sniffed and continued moving. Hun leaned by the door to the holding structure, drinking from a beverage container, his face red.

“I need K000156.” Mira needed him in more ways than one. “I have to leave the compound.”

“All that’s left are the two cyborgs you rented to that council member’s wife.” Hun’s words slurred. He was drunk out of his mind and the sun wasn’t even midway in the sky. “K000156 got deployed with the rest of its batch.”

“What?” She must have heard him incorrectly. “No, you’re mistaken. Deployment isn’t until later this planet rotation.”

“Listen.” Booms echoed in the distance. Tremors ran through the ground. “Hear that?” Hun shuddered. “Fuckin’ explosions. I hate them. One moment, you’re fighting. The next moment, you’re splattered to pieces. And you can’t do shit to avoid them.”

Mira hated explosives also. “Do you have a point to this story?”

“The locals are fighting in the tunnels below us. Bet you didn’t know that, huh?” Fear edged the trainer’s voice. “The sneaky bastards dug tunnels underneath the districts. Nowhere is safe.”

She did know about the tunnels. “Do I care about the locals? No. What happened to my cyborgs?”

“That captain transporting your cyborgs arrived early.” Hun took another long drink of his beverage. “He was in a hurry, wanted to get off the planet before it explodes.” He held up his hands. They shook. “His words, not mine.”

Vapor had left. Without a good-bye, without a kiss, without a touch.

Hold it together, female,
her cyborg’s voice echoed in her mind. Mira pushed her emotions back down, sealed them with a layer of ice.

“This is very inconvenient.” She gazed at the holding structure one more time. Her warrior was gone. Mira turned and walked away.

“What about the other two cyborgs?” Hun called after her.

“I’ll deliver them later. I’m too angry to speak right now.”

That was the truth. She
was
angry and sad and hurt and completely devastated. Vapor had been deployed. Meeting him at the docking bay wasn’t feasible. It was a highly secured area and her visit would be noted.

Mira had to let him go, had to accept that she would never again see his rugged face, never kiss his lips, never feel safe, protected, loved.

She stomped into her domicile, thumped along the hallway, entered her chambers, locked the door and flung herself on the sleeping support.

She loved her cyborg. Mira realized that now. She loved him and he was gone.

Gone. Fuck. She wished she could tell him how she felt, how important he was to her, how he was her universe also, her only reason to smile. He was her lover, her friend, her confidant.

Mira hugged her knees to her chest, recalling the scent of Vapor’s skin, the solidness of his male form, the gruffness of his voice. The rest of her lifespan would be spent alone. Untouched. Hated. No other being would know the true her.

Tears ran down her cheeks.

In the past, before she met her cyborg, she would have sucked the sadness back into her soul. She would have funneled her sorrow into anger.

But Vapor had shown her that there was nothing wrong with grief. If he were here, he would spank her until she cried, until she vented all of her dark emotions.

Until she thought clearly once more.

She had to continue the Mira the Merciless act, had to pretend not to care, be cruel to others, lie. Vapor and his brethren remained on the planet and she wouldn’t put them at risk by changing her persona.

Mira chewed on a nutrition bar. She would deceive the worlds long enough to ensure he was safe, far away, hopefully happy, and then she’d bring down the Humanoid Alliance. She didn’t know how, only that she’d achieve that goal or she’d die trying.

Vapor would approve of that also. He had been shocked that she hadn’t sought vengeance for her mom’s death. A being with honor would have taken that action.

She wanted to be a female he would respect.

Mira dried her cheeks, straightened her shoulders, grabbed her pack, and left her chambers, determined to make him proud.

The sun was high in the sky. The ground continued to rumble under her feet. The compound was devoid of life.

That was normal after a deployment. Her father celebrated by spending time in his laboratory. Workers not on guard duty snuck away to the nearby entertainment quarter. Hun would be passed out somewhere.

She placed her palm on the final stage holding structure’s access panel and slipped inside. It was achingly empty except for two naked cyborgs.

One male, Strive, faced her. The other. Her breath hitched. The other had hair, shoulder, ass, legs like Vapor.

But it couldn’t be him. He was gone.

She dropped her pack on the floor. “Vapor?”

He turned. “Female.” His dark eyes glimmered with want and need.

He was here. She splayed her fingers over her bodice, her chest tightening. He hadn’t left.

Her cyborg, her warrior male stood before her, his body hard, his cock unabashedly erect.

“I thought. I thought.” Mira couldn’t form a coherent sentence.

“What is it, Mira?” He strode toward her, his long legs eating up the distance between them, his bare feet smacking on the tiled floor. “You’re pale.” He cupped her face.

He was real, touching her. She stared at him, unable to say a word. She had thought she’d lost him forever.

“And you’re shaking.” Vapor drew her into his fit physique, his chest flattening her breasts, his cock pressing against her stomach. “Are you damaged?”

“Yes. No.” She was damaged, but not in a life-threatening way. “You’re here.” She splayed her fingers over his chest, feeling the triple beat of his cyborg heart under her right palm. “You weren’t deployed.”

“I swapped places with Grin.” Vapor skimmed his cheek along hers, his touch sinfully light, his breath wafting over her hair. “Your father was distracted. Hun was inebriated. No one noticed the change.”

“You didn’t trust me with your plan?” She’d trusted him with everything.

“I didn’t have a plan.” He traced the vein on her neck with his tongue and she trembled, her concerns washed away by his caresses. “The ship’s captain, the male in charge of the deployment, arrived, battles raged all around us, and I knew I couldn’t leave you unprotected, not for one moment.”

Vapor sucked on her skin where her neck met her shoulder, the tug of his lips felt down to her pussy. She moaned, tilted her head, offering more of herself to him.

They had an audience but she didn’t care. Her cyborg hadn’t left. She had more time with him.

“You’ll have to leave me.” Mira threaded her fingers through his hair, curving her palms over his scalp. “You’re guarding Lydna, not me.”

He lifted his head and met her gaze. “I’ll always protect you.”

Vapor didn’t lie. If he said he’d protect her, he would. But she didn’t know how he’d accomplish that feat. They’d be apart. He’d soon escape, leave the planet, never to return. “How could you—”

“Are you questioning me?” Vapor pressed his right index finger against her lips, stopping her words. “Again? I heard the hurt in your voice when you spoke to Hun and he told you that the other cyborgs had deployed. If he hadn’t been inebriated, he would have noticed it also. You would have put yourself in danger.”

She would have put them all in danger. “I thought—”

“I know what you thought. You thought I lied to you when I said I’d fill you. You believed I promised things I couldn’t deliver.” His eyes flashed with anger. “Unlike you and your fellow humans, I tell the truth and I
always
deliver.”

“I know that. At least, part of me does.” She trembled. “But—”

“No buts.” He spun her around. “Bend over and place your hands on the wall.”

She glanced at Strive. He gazed at them, a grin on his face.

“Don’t make me repeat my command, female,” Vapor barked.

Mira complied, her legs shaking with trepidation and anticipation. “Your friend is watching us,” she whispered.

“Strive will continue to watch us. He’ll learn this planet rotation how a cyborg must handle his bad human female if he wishes to keep her safe.” He pulled her skirt upward. “You doubted me, Mira, and that compromised my ability to protect you.”

Cool air hit the back of her calves, legs. Oh fuck. Her ass was exposed. Mira’s face heated as Vapor draped the fabric over her back. His friend would view her nakedness. “Vapor, he’ll see--”

“Silence.” His heavy hand landed on her ass and she jerked, the contact more shocking than painful. “This is part of your punishment. Whenever you meet Strive in the future, you’ll remember that he saw you like this, your ass in the air, red from my hands, your pussy dripping with wanting, and you won’t misbehave again.”

She wiggled, embarrassed, excited, needing this, needing him.

“Be still.” Vapor spanked her again, the crack of his palm against her skin ringing out. “Behave and I’ll fill that pussy as.” Smack. “I.” Smack. “Vowed to do.” Smack.

Mira cried out, arching her back, the burn on her ass warming her entire body. She had misbehaved, questioning him, his integrity, their relationship, thinking she’d never see him again. She deserved this punishment.

“I won’t doubt you again,” she pleaded, wishing for him to believe that, yet not wishing for him to stop.

“Liar.” Vapor cuffed her between her legs, striking her pussy with his fingertips and she called his name, each reprimand pushing her toward release. “You’ll doubt me again and I’ll punish you again.” He blasted her ass with rapid-fire smacks. “You’ve doubted beings during your entire lifespan. It will take solar cycles to cure you of your bad habits.”

Would they have solar cycles together? His hand connected with her ass and she swallowed a sob, wanting that, wanting a future with her cyborg.

Vapor dealt out chastisement until her body hummed, her pussy throbbed and tears dripped down her cheeks, off her chin, splattering on the tiled floor.

“Look at how red her skin is.” He rubbed her well-used curves.

Her legs were spread. Moisture streamed down her inner thighs. When his friend looked, he’d see what a bad female she truly was, how she desired this spanking.

“That’s a pretty ass.” Vapor drifted his fingers over her feminine folds, spread her wetness over the burn, and her embarrassment ratcheted higher, perversely turning her on. “She’ll feel it when I breed with her.”

She tilted her hips upward, silently asking for the fucking he’d promised.

“You will follow my orders without any hesitation this planet rotation, female.” He stroked her with his hands, building her desire. “Lives depend on this. Understand?”

“I-I understand.” Her voice was wobbly.

“Good human.” Vapor leaned over her, the solid weight and strength in his physique reassuring Mira, and he kissed her under her jaw. “You’ve earned a reward.” He straightened. “What would you like?”

He’d make her ask? In front of Strive? “To be fucked,” she whispered.

“What did you say?”

She scowled. He was a cyborg and had advanced senses. He heard her. “To be fucked,” she yelled.

His body shook against hers. The damn male found this amusing. “Human females are demanding.”

“I’m not all human females,” she grumbled.

“Quiet.” He swatted her ass.

She pressed her lips together.

“I should spank the sass out of you again.” His cock head bumped against her pussy lips as he aligned himself, positioning himself at her entrance. “But that delay would punish both of us.” He pushed inside her.