Kissing Steel (22 page)

wiggling her toes against the smooth, cool metal surface of the floor. Swallowing hard,

she straightened.

“Pod 3, respond. Are we near a moon we could hide on?”

“Negative.”

Damn. There went that plan.

“Orders?”

“How much time in minutes is left before the
Gordon Lee
reaches us?”

“Fourteen minutes, fifty-one seconds.”

She was stunned that she’d stared out the window that long. Time was running out.

“Fuck, this sucks.”

“Order not understood.”

“I know, you clueless computer. Be silent, Pod 3. I’m talking to myself.”

“Pod 3 going silent.”

“You’re a shitty conversationalist.”

Rena realized what she faced. They were going to capture her. She’d fight to the end,

refuse to break, and maybe they wouldn’t be able to torture the information out of her.

She was tough, damn it, she reminded herself. She let the image of Steel fill her thoughts.

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

He was smiling at her, his eyes alight with amusement. That’s the way she wanted to

remember him and that would be her motivation.

She’d die before she gave Earth Government enough information to hunt the

cyborgs. She knew about Garden and which ships they had stolen. It was too damn much,

Earth would put bounties on every one of those ships and if they so much as went near

anything civilized they’d be captured. It would be all her fault. She had to do something,

damn it, rather than just sit waiting for those bastards.

“Pod 3, get ready to fire up your thrusters. We’re going to run, damn it. I want you to

scan for a livable planet. I’ll even take a moon with craters. We’re looking for anything

that will hide us or something that would be difficult for a class B to follow us through.

Do you understand?”

“Scanning.”

“Awesome. Also check for other ships too, preferably pirates. Maybe if we run into a

group of them it will distract the
Gordon Lee
enough to buy us some more time.”

She reached up and grabbed for the seatbelt. “Pod 3, respond. Give me the arrival

time in minutes of the
Gordon Lee
.”

“Nine minutes, twelve seconds. Pod 3 has scanned and found nothing you requested

in immediate range.”

“Thank you. Now you can be silent.”

“Pod 3 going silent.”

“This sucks monkey butt,” she sighed, trying to remain calm and think clearly. She’d

just have to run and hope the scanners picked up something soon. “I can do this. I can

totally do this,” she coached softly. “For Steel.”

”Pod 3? On my mark I want you to full burn us away from that ship. Do not let up

even if we use enough fuel for it to become dangerous. Stay ahead of them. Do you

understand my orders?”

“Affirmative.”

Closing her eyes, she fixed on the memory of Steel, naked and sexy, walking toward

her while she waited for him on his bed. She’d keep running until she was caught or the

damn pod blew up from full burning on empty tanks before she’d put his life in danger.

She twisted a little in her seat to hook her seatbelt.

“I fell in love with you,” she whispered. “Bye, babe. Have a good li—”

Something hit the pod hard, tearing her hand from the belt and sending Rena flying

away from the seat to sprawl on the floor.

“Collision,” the pod computer announced as an alarm started beeping.

She lay there. “With what? An asteroid? If there’s a field close, I’m ordering you to

steer us into the path of it.” She pushed up with her hands. “The
Gordon Lee
can’t follow

us through one of those without getting serious damage but we’re small enough to avoid

getting creamed with our autopilot skills.”

“Negative. Source unknown.” It paused. “Docking clamps have been activated.”

“Is it the
Gordon Lee
?” she asked, alarmed.

“Negative. Source unknown. My sensors detect nothing.”

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

She turned her head, staring at the hatch, her mouth opening as her mind spun. The

pod couldn’t see cyborg ships and something had just bumped into them, docked to them,

that the pod couldn’t identify. Hope soared so hard inside her that it caused actual pain in

her chest.

The hatch was yanked open and a large silver-haired cyborg ducked and stormed

inside the pod. A grin spread on Rena’s face as she stared up at the best damn sight she’d

ever seen in her life—wearing a black, kick-ass uniform.

“Steel.”

He moved toward her fast, just bending and grabbing her. He swung her up in his

arms and spun on his heel, almost running for the hatch, ducking down and then they

were in a short sleeve docking them to another shuttle.

She stared up at him as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “You came for me.”

He didn’t look at her, instead giving his attention to a cyborg man she’d never seen

before who waited in the cargo area. “Seal the door and blow the pod so they don’t know

what happened to her. Make it look as though it was an accidental explosion. Let’s get

the hell out of here.” He leaned against a wall, releasing her legs so they slid down his

length but he kept one arm firmly around her waist to keep her tight against his body. He

grabbed hold of one of the beams.

Steel finally looked at her. He slowly smiled. “Hi, siren. Did you miss me?”

“You have no damn idea how much.”

He chuckled. “Hold on. We’re going to have to blast the hell out of here. The

Gordon Lee
is almost on top of us.”

She locked her arms tighter around his neck seconds before the engines roared loudly

and then she was almost torn from Steel’s arms as the shuttle executed a full burn,

launching them rapidly away from the pod.

Rena buried her face in the leather of Steel’s shirt. He’d come for her.

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

Rena snuggled on Steel’s lap in the same seat she’d used for weeks when she’d been

aboard the
Bridden
. Four other cyborgs were in the piloting area with them. The one in

the copilot seat expelled air loudly.

“They aren’t following us and they haven’t tried to raise us. I don’t think they can

see us on their sensors.”

The cyborg sitting at one of the side stations chuckled. “Three, two, one…firing.” He

paused for seconds, watching a screen in front of him. “The pod is destroyed.”

Steel nodded. “That should confuse them and the debris field should keep them back

until they can slow enough to edge closer without fear of puncturing their hull.”

“You came for me,” Rena said softly.

Steel turned his head and looked into her eyes. “We heard when the
Gordon Lee

opened transmissions with you.”

Some of her joy faded. “Oh.” No one could ever accuse Rena of being slow witted.

“So you came for me just because I needed to be saved?”

“You know too much,” one of the cyborgs offered. “If you were captured by our

enemy you could have given them vital information.”

Pain lanced through her as she looked away from Steel, suddenly moving to get off

his lap.
So much for coming after me because he changed his damn mind and figured out

he didn’t want to be without me.

The strong arm around her waist tightened, jerking her ass back down on his lap,

surprising. A frown marred his handsome features.

“I wanted to come after you and it was a damn good excuse.”

Some of her hurt eased at his words. “You don’t lie.”

“I don’t lie.”

“What are you going to do with her? Keep her?” The cyborg who had blown up the

pod spoke.

Rena wondered about that too. And would he keep her? That thought of staying with

him didn’t upset her or make her want to wiggle off his lap to put distance between them.

She’d wanted to leave Earth to start a new life when she earned her big bonus but she’d

always thought she’d end up living on Moon City, far from Chuck and out of his reach.

So many questions filled her head.

“What happens next?”

“I don’t know.” Steel showed his emotions to her, not masking his uncertain

expression. “If you return to Earth, they will arrest you and interrogate you to discover

what really happened on the
Star
and to the crew of the
Bridden
. You going back there

would be suicide.”

“I’ll buy your human from you,” the pilot said suddenly. “I’d enjoy owning her.”

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

Steel shot him a cold glare. “No. Return us to the
Vontage
. I take it we are not being

pursued?”

“No,” the man turned in his seat to stare at his controls. “We are clear and they

weren’t alerted to our presence. They stopped near the wreckage, probably scratching

their human heads over how it malfunctioned and exploded.”

“Steel?”

He met her questioning look. “I don’t have answers, Rena. Somehow we’ll have to

work the issues out later when we are alone.”

Issues?
She wanted to groan. That was such an understatement. He wanted to marry

someone else, a cyborg, but he’d said a cyborg woman wouldn’t let him keep her. Not to

mention there was that whole monogamy issue that was going to be a big damn problem

between them. She wouldn’t agree to be his mistress, refused to be with a man who slept

with her and with other women, even if it was because of his cyborg patriotism. If she

was with another man it wouldn’t be anything like her marriage to Chuck had been.

“We’ll work it out somehow,” he said softly, holding her tighter. “I haven’t run the

scenarios for this situation yet but I’m working on a solution.” He paused. “I won’t give

you up again.”

She pressed tighter into him, curling into his chest. She had to fight a smile at the

way his mind worked. Maybe he could find some loophole in his laws and contracts. He

was the smartest man she’d ever met. Plus, he had all those enhancements so if there was

a way, he’d figure it out.

“Are you all right, Rena? You are very quiet and your heart rate is normal which I

find disconcerting since you should be stressed. Are you depressed?”

“No.” She shook her head against his shoulder. “I’m relaxed actually, relieved that

I’m with you, and I am refusing to stress, as you put it. I’m just damn happy to be alive

and in your arms.”

His arms tightened around her. “Good.”

She dozed a few times, jerking awake to find Steel still holding her. The cyborgs

didn’t talk at all, silently sharing the room but obviously not feeling the need to carry on a

conversation. The sound of the engines lulled her back to sleep.

“We are docking with the
Vontage
,” Steel informed her softly, helping her stand.

“I didn’t sleep last night.” She grinned up at him. “Someone kept me awake. Sorry I

fell asleep on you.”

“I’ll take you to bed and turn my work shift over to another so I may sleep with you.

I want to hold you and appreciate that you are back.”

There was a soft bump as the
Bridden
docked to the
Vontage
, nothing more than a

tiny sway of her body but Steel gripped her instantly to steady her just in case. Rena

grinned up at him, appreciating how quick his reflexes were. He released her to hold out

his hand, offering it to her.

She was gripping Steel’s hand as they exited the shuttle but what awaited them

shocked her. Judging by the way Steel came to an abrupt halt, a frown on his face, she

wasn’t alone. He tightened his hold on her.

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

Wire, Fusion, Blackie, Gene, and a half dozen other cyborgs waited in the cargo

area. That didn’t alarm Rena but the weapons pointed at Steel sure did as she stared at the

unfamiliar black weapons the cyborgs held.

“You’re arresting me?” Steel’s tone was calm, almost curious.

“This wasn’t my order,” Blackie replied, jerking his head toward Fusion. “She

contacted her biological donor to report that you’d taken the newly acquired shuttle.”

Steel’s attention turned to Fusion. She glowered at him, crossing her arms over her

chest. “He’s council member Zorus. He was quite interested in hearing that you risked

such an important asset when it was not for the gain of Garden or our people but instead

to save a human.”

A muscle in his jaw jumped but his face remained emotionless as he continued to

regard her. “I see.”

“I don’t,” Rena said softly. “What is going on, Steel?”

”I went after you and obviously the council didn’t agree with my decision. I’m being

arrested and will be taken before them to defend my actions.”

“But Earth Government would have tortured information out of me about your

people. Don’t they know that?”

“They will.” Steel tore his focus away from her to scowl at Fusion. “Is this because I

refused your offer to join your family unit?”

Fury darkened Fusion’s skin, her hands fisting at her sides as she dropped her arms.