Mated with the Cyborg (7 page)

She looked up to find Kai’s gaze upon her. “Dale isn’t the only one. I like you, too,” he said.

Pleasure and discomfort dueled. “Why?” she whispered. “I am my father’s daughter. The fruit of his seed. I am the same as he.”
Only ugly.

He shook his head. “You
are
different,” Kai said. “In my world, we judge people on the merits of their character.”

A tingling like none she’d ever experienced sizzled through her body, leaving her light-headed and dry-mouthed.
I like you, too
.
The words wouldn’t come to her lips. She’d never had an occasion to share her innermost thoughts, had concentrated her efforts on concealing them.

“Serving as your android servant, I observed your kindness in how you treated others.” He stepped toward her. “You don’t have a mean or malicious bone in your body.”

“I wish it were so, but it’s not true. I often get angry and resentful.” She turned to stare out the Panthera’s window. She had a hunch she would never return to Lamis-Odg, either the planet or the space station. But homesickness wasn’t the emotion churning inside. She took a breath. “I hate my father,” she whispered.

“For good reason. He tried to murder you.”

She exhaled, and her veil poufed. “The Great One commands us to revere our fathers.” To disrespect one’s sire compared to dishonoring Him.

In the window, she saw Kai move closer. “I would counter that attempted filicide invalidates obligation.” He settled his hands on her shoulders. “We’re alone now. Why are you still wearing the veil?”

She dropped her gaze to her folded hands. “You know why.”

“I have already seen you.”

“I’m not…beautiful.” But oh, how she wished she was. Or at least
normal
. Females were taught the pursuit of beauty resulted in vanity and shallowness. If that was so, why had her homeliness been reviled? Why had her father chosen the comeliest women as his mates?

“Because you don’t have the Odgidian ridge?” He lifted his hands, and she missed the warmth of his touch. With a finger, he traced his hairline. “I don’t have one. You told Dale I was handsome. Did you mean it?”

“Of course I did!” It felt like she was admitting much more than noting a fact. She rather favored Kai’s striking blue eyes, strong chiseled cheekbones, masculine shadowed jaw, thick hair, and smooth forehead and temples. Even his hulking broad and tall form had become attractive to her.

“Then why judge yourself differently?”

“I don’t know.” She would have sidestepped the probing questions by leaving the bridge, but he blocked the exit. “Perhaps...because you’re a man. And, an…alien. There’s a different standard for you.”

“You saw other women—workers—at Dale’s factory. They had no ridges either. Were they unattractive?”

“Of course not.” There’d been quite a few women of many species at the Moonbeam Chop Shop. Like Kai said, none of them had rippled foreheads, yet she’d considered them attractive.

“So it is only yourself you criticize?”

“Are you always so logical?”

“Usually,” he replied. “Not always.” He tugged at the corner of her veil.

“Don’t!” She grabbed his wrist, remnants of old shame flashing through her. But on its heels came other memories—Kai’s lack of disgust, his respectful treatment. He’d never acted like he considered her an abomination.

His eyes were gentle and his smile reassuring. He almost made her believe in miracles. She still could not accept her beauty for herself but believed him when he said he found her attractive. She released her grip on his forearm and allowed him to loosen the scarf to fall around her shoulders. She had severed ties to her people. There was no retreat from this course, and the veil belonged to her former life.

He skimmed a knuckle across her cheek, catching a wayward tear. With a light touch, he trailed his finger along her jawline then up again to her smooth temple then back down to cup her chin. He brushed a thumb over her lower lip.

She caught her breath when he lowered his head and kissed her. With his mouth, he coaxed in a slow exploration. She leaned into him.

A brief grin of masculine triumph twitched on his lips before he pulled her tight against him, and kissed her in earnest, slipping his tongue into her mouth and pressing harder.

Satisfaction. She moaned, responding to every thrust and tango. He tasted male, heady and dark. Like something forbidden and decadent. Something to be coveted and not shared.

She hardly noticed when he tugged her veil completely off and let it flutter to the floor. More rich kisses followed. Under his caress, the vestiges of bad memories melted away. He eased the neckline of her tunic from her shoulder, and then his mouth was there, licking and nipping.

Before she could warn him, he’d pressed his lips to the
sacred
spiral
. Her stomach plummeted, and with a cry wrenching up from her soul, she jerked away.

“What’s wrong? What did I do?”

She stared at him, standing so strong and tall, so
alive
. She rubbed her shoulder where his lips had been.

“Did I hurt you? I didn’t think I nipped that hard.”

“Y-you’re not supposed to…to…touch the mark.”

“Did I violate some custom?”

“‘He who touches the sacred spiral shall die.’” She quoted what she’d been told.

His cough could not mask his snort of laughter.

Fear vanished. Rage filled the void. She balled her fists and rounded on him. “I was concerned for
your safety
, and you mock me? How dare you! All my life, if I wasn’t ignored, I was ridiculed. Your customs and concepts are foreign and strange to me! I don’t make fun of you! Don’t try to reshape me into a…a…
Terran
. My beliefs are the only possessions I own. Do not take them from me!”

She snatched up her veil and rushed for the door.

“Mariska, wait!”

She ignored him and fled for the sanctuary of her cabin. Inside, she flung herself on the comfortable berth and let hot tears of confusion fall. Kai had been so kind but then had laughed at her, transporting her back to her childhood when she’d been taunted by the other children.
Korvi! Korvi!
Ugly, ugly, they had shrieked, shoving each other.

She slipped her hand under the neckline of her gown and fingered the slightly rough birthmark. The spiral also set her apart from her people, but it had saved her life, too. No one dared touch her or the mark lest the Great One smite him. But she’d always been able to touch it.

Kai had, also—and still lived. Maybe the prohibition didn’t apply to alien nonbelievers?

That had to be it—because the other possibility was that the spiral was nothing more than a discoloration in skin pigment, and her people’s certainties were myths. And if that was the case, how would she know what to believe?

Way to go, asshole.

Kai kicked himself. His defenses had been down, his emotions wide open, and he’d simply reacted. He hadn’t meant to laugh, had tried to cover it, but she hadn’t been fooled. She could be so perceptive about some things, but others she never questioned. He’d touched the birthmark, and she’d freaked, believing he could be killed. It
had
saved
her
life because Obido believed it was significant, but the spiral was just a discoloration in pigment. He’d touched it, and nothing happened! No lightning bolt had zigzagged from the heavens to strike him dead. It didn’t even really
look
like a spiral, just a roundish splotch. They could have called it the holy moon or the blessed baseball and been just as accurate.

As soon as you ventured off your home planet and entered the galaxy at large, you realized no consensus of truth existed. Beliefs were as different as the people who held them. One person’s joke formed another’s sacred dogma.

Planetary leaders and diplomats managed to find common ground among diversity. Cyberoperatives? Not so much. His job of infiltration, intelligence gathering, and the occasional assassination didn’t require open-mindedness. He was too used to being around other cyborgs whose feelings weren’t easily hurt.

He’d blown it. Just as she’d been coming out of her shell, he’d laughed. He didn’t believe in the tenets and customs she held sacred, but she’d been reviled too much already. Adding to the hurt she’d experienced was the last thing he wanted to do.

An apology was most definitely in order, but if he approached her now, she’d throw it back in his face. Better to let her cool off a bit while he figured out why he was such an asshole. Kai flopped into the pilot’s chair.

A long strand of Mariska’s hair had caught on his sleeve. He plucked it off and examined it. Why
did
she look so different from the members of her race? Was it a recessive gene? Was there some Terran blood in her family? Or in Lamis-Odg as a whole? Were others born without the ridge? The answers were out there; he just didn’t have access to them.

Kai let the strand fall and sighed. He wasn’t only in deep water with Mariska. Carter would be pissed at him, too. He didn’t want to talk to the director yet, but he should let him know he was all right.

Since the Panthera flew itself, he didn’t need to do anything. He opened an encrypted communication channel.

What the fuck are you doing?
Fellow cyborg Brock Mann didn’t waste words on pleasantries.

That was the question of the day.
Nice to talk to you, too
.

You should have talked to Carter. He’s going ape shit.

I figured he would be. That’s why I called you.
The decision to rescue Mariska had been made at the last second with no opportunity to notify Carter. Plus, he disliked lying to the Cy-Ops director any more than he had to.

He was about to send in the cavalry. You almost ignited a war.

Kai grimaced. He’d be assigned to the least desirable missions for years to come.
Tell Carter I’ll be in touch when I can.

How sure are you about this woman?

He knew about Mariska? Fuck! That meant Carter had shared the details of the mission. Brock could have been assigned to hunt him down.

He was about to snap the channel closed when Brock’s message came through.
I’m not Carter’s trained monkey.

Of course, that’s exactly what Brock would say if Carter had dispatched him to bring Kai in.
Yeah, right
.

Fuck you. I’m not saying he didn’t try to use me, but I’d never betray a brother.

Sorry.

Be sure you know what you’re doing.

Mariska has been marginalized her entire life. But Obido’s mate, Janai, is almost always at his side. She’s heard a lot. She’s the one Cy-Ops should focus on.

I’ll pass it on. Where are you headed now?

I wish I knew.

You might mull it over while relaxing on Darius 4.

The sex resort?

Just a suggestion.

Who the hell would go to a pleasure resort while on the lam? Hmm…
Thanks for the tip.

No problem. Let me know if I can do anything else to help.

Will do
. Kai closed the channel. Logic, his mission, and cold, hard facts said to benefit the greater good, he should have allowed Mariska to be sent to Katnia. He might have been able to inveigle himself with Janai. But he couldn’t allow an innocent woman to be murdered. Sitting behind a desk, Carter liked to play the tough guy, but Kai had a hunch that if the director had been in the field, if he’d met Mariska, he would have intervened to save her, too.

* * * *

She had fallen asleep, one hand curled under her head, her cheeks stained with tears. Her veil, puddled on the floor, gave him hope he could fix the mess he’d created. Before leaving the space station, he’d only seen her face the one time her father had ordered her to remove the veil. So this was progress.

She would be safe temporarily on Darius 4—no one would likely search there, but the planet was a popular resort. They couldn’t stay forever. Eventually, he would have to face the Cy-Ops director, and then what would become of her? How would she survive in a galaxy so foreign to her? Did she have any marketable skills to parlay into a livelihood? She couldn’t read!

He sighed and sat on the edge of the berth. He touched her shoulder. “Mariska.”

Her eyelids fluttered open. A smile spread across her face, before remembrance struck, and she scowled. “What do you want?”

“I came to apologize.” Kai lifted his hand from her shoulder and raked it through his hair. “I’m sorry for laughing. It was rude.”

She sat up, swung her legs off the bed, and moved to the window offering an expansive view of the stars. “But you don’t believe me.”

“You believe it, and I should accept that. There’s no excuse for what I did, other than the fact that I’m an asshole.”

“What’s an asshole?”

“A jerk. A guy who’s not very nice. Who’s selfish and only thinks of himself.”

“You saved my life. I don’t think an asshole would do that.”

She was more generous than he deserved. “Well, I’m sorry for what I said and did.”

“Apology accepted.” She rubbed her hands down her thighs. “The Panthera is very comfortable. I like the spaciousness of the cabins and that I can see out.”

“I’m glad.” Guessing she was claustrophobic, he’d assigned her the triple-sized captain’s cabin with the large viewing windows.

Between her profile and her reflection on the glass, Kai got a 3-D view of her striking face. In another era and place, she might have been revered for her beauty. She didn’t resemble her father at all. “What do you know about your mother?”

“She was put to death after giving birth to me.”

He winced. “I mean before your father took her as his mate. What was her name?”

“She was called Alondralin.”

“Did your father and mother meet on Lamis-Odg?”

She nodded. “Oh yes. I was told her father offered a high dowry for her.”

“What about your mother’s mother? Was she born on Lamis-Odg?”

“I assume so. Why?”

“I’d like to learn a little more about you,” he prevaricated.

“I’m not interesting.”

A beautiful woman who didn’t know it, who’d been oppressed by a terrorist regime, yet who found the guts to sever ties, the graciousness to forgive his boorish behavior? “I think you’re very interesting.”