Touching Ice (10 page)

even though she knew it wasn’t directed at her.

They knew she wasn’t an artificial woman and yet Ice protected her. That

knowledge astounded her. Had he known all along? She went over everything that had

happened between them and realized that he probably had. He’d even fed her so she

didn’t go hungry when he’d brought in that tray of cold food, pretending he couldn’t

eat it, even leaving her alone so she could gulp it down. She hesitated and then

wrapped her arms around his neck.

Ice’s beautiful blue gaze flickered to hers for a few heartbeats before he glared back

at the cyborg in his way. “I said move, Blackie.”

“You have no authority over me.” The man crossed his arms over his chest. “Put

her down and leave this room. You’re obviously too involved with the woman to be

rational. You need to go.”

“Onyx,” Ice’s voice lowered into an even deeper pitch. “Forward now.”

Onyx moved to stand next to Ice, who turned, shoving Megan into the other man’s

arms to both their surprise, leaving Megan being held by one unhappy cyborg. Ice

stepped away and closed the distance between him and Blackie. Ice grabbed the man

and threw him hard against the doors, gripping the front of his shirt with his fists, and

hauled the shocked cyborg a few inches off his feet.

“The
Rally
is under my command today, everyone on it follows my orders, and now

you’re on my ship.”

“Ice,” Onyx warned softly. “The council sent him. They are going to be alarmed by

your actions and take it as a direct violation of orders if you don’t stop now.”

“I don’t care.” Ice continued to glare at Blackie. “I won’t stand by and watch abuse

on a helpless female. If those are the orders from a council member, he’s wrong in

giving them. I’m taking her to medical and then I will get the answers they seek from

her my way.” He released the other cyborg, dropped him to the floor, and stepped

back. “That is how it will be.”

Ice took Megan from Onyx, cradled her in his arms once again, and stormed toward

the door. Onyx moved, slapping his hand to the panel to open it, and Ice left the cargo

hold with her. Megan hesitated and then wrapped her arms around his neck, staring at

his angry features. He refused to glance at her, keeping his attention on where he

walked.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Not now.” He sighed. “You’re trouble, Megan. Is that even your real name?”

“Yes.”

He grunted. “I’m not sure I believe anything you say.”

“It’s the truth.”

“We’ll talk later. For now, are you all right?” He finally glanced at her for a few

seconds before looking away again.

45

Laurann Dohner

“I’m a little dizzy and my ear hurts. He nailed me pretty hard.”

“You’re bleeding.” His tone turned gruff.

She licked her lips and tasted blood. She hadn’t noticed that at first, too taken aback

by the unprovoked attack. A cyborg waited in a hallway a few turns later and Ice

stopped.

“Onyx said you were coming with a human.” He waved his arm. “Bring her in.”

The room appeared to be the same size as Ice’s quarters, obviously not a medical

room but instead the cyborg’s private quarters. Ice gently placed her on the man’s bed.

The new cyborg brought over a bag, dropped it at the end of the mattress, and his dark-

brown gaze studied Megan for a few seconds before he focused on Ice.

“Onyx informed me she took a hit to the head and a tumble to the floor. What are

her complaints?”

“I don’t like being hit,” Megan said softly.

Ice’s lips twitched but he didn’t smile. “The side of her lip is bleeding, her ear on

that side hurts, and she’s dizzy, Varion.”

“She’s too damn small for one of our males to strike.” The medic frowned at Ice.

“I’m in agreement.”

“Then why did you do this to her?” Varion moved, pushed Ice out of his way, and

bent over Megan to stare at her mouth. “Open up wide and allow me to see the

damage.”

“I didn’t hit her.” Ice sounded insulted. “Blackie did.”

“He’s such an asshole,” the medic muttered, gently touching the side of her mouth

and it made her flinch. “The cut is small but facial cuts bleed a lot. I don’t see any inner

cheek damage.” His gaze locked with hers. “Open your eyes as wide as you can and do

not look away from me. I am checking the extent of your injuries.”

Megan did as he asked and then realized the guy had strange eyes. His pupils

weren’t rounded exactly but more squared. She frowned but didn’t mention it, not

wanting to be rude. She had to blink but he didn’t complain when she did since she

looked right at him again every time. A few minutes passed and then he straightened

and turned away to face Ice.

“I scanned her. She has no internal bleeding, no swelling, no cranial fractures, or

trauma to the brain. She has a slight concussion but she will be fine. It’s mostly shock

trauma from the blow. She may experience dizziness for a short period of time and

perhaps a headache. I’ll give her something for the pain.”

“You scanned my brain?”

The medic turned his head after he removed something from the bag at her feet,

meeting Megan’s curious gaze, and nodded as he gave an injection in her arm. “I’m a

medical model implanted with special features such as enhanced vision that can

perform medical scans. They created me to be a medic unit.” He faced Ice again. “I

heard―”

46

Touching Ice

The doors suddenly opened and Blackie stormed in, looking smug as he gave Ice a

cold smile. “I informed the council of your behavior and they have made a ruling. They

were not pleased with this turn of events. They are confident she’s working alone since

she’s not being tracked or attempted to send a distress signal to any co-conspirators

now that she’s aware her cover is blown. Councilman Zorus was very persuasive in his

argument due to the fact that we’re close to home on how threatening the female is.”

The man shifted his stance as he paused for long moments, seeming to silently

communicate something with a flash of his cold gaze to the other two cyborgs. “You

know how Zorus is. They voted in his favor. More of them agreed with him than not.”

“Son of a bitch,” the medic hissed.

Megan had a sinking feeling that, whoever this Zorus was, whatever vote he’d won,

it would be very bad news for her.

Ice’s features hardened and he moved to the wall. He planted his hand on a panel

there and it came on. He stood there with his back to the room and his body tensed

noticeably. He jerked his hand off the panel and turned to glare at Blackie.

“I just read the order.”

“Did you think I would attempt to deceive you?” A black eyebrow arched.

“Get off my shuttle. I just sent a message to the
Bridden
that you are on your way

and they can undock with us in minutes. Go now and return to your original mission.”

“I’m not leaving yet. I am to verify the council orders are followed so I will do it

myself.” He took a step toward the bed.

Ice moved fast, shoved Blackie back hard until he slammed into the bulkhead wall

next to the door. “I understood the order and I will take responsibility for the female

since I am the one who chose to take us to
Folion
. I’ll take her to my quarters and make

her as comfortable as possible.”

That didn’t sound bad or terrifying. Megan relaxed. “What’s going on?”

No one answered until Blackie met her gaze. He sighed. “You are going to gain

your freedom from us. We’ve been ordered to drop you and the bots off at Hixton

Station as previously arranged.”

“Don’t,” Ice snarled.

Blackie frowned. “I have my grievances against humans but I’m not totally without

sympathy. I see that you care what happens to her and that you don’t want her last

moments with us to be frightening. I’m not leaving until the order is followed and she’s

no longer a threat but I will allow you to take her to your quarters to say goodbye.” He

paused. “I’ll have a special meal sent to your quarters so she has a good meal first.

That’s the most I can do for you both. It will make things easier to end this.”

The tension eased from Megan’s body. “Thank you. I swear I really won’t tell

anyone about the existence of cyborgs. I’ve known about your people for months and

never once reported you.”

Blackie ignored her as he stared at Ice until Ice broke eye contact and faced Megan.

47

Laurann Dohner

Ice studied her carefully and then nodded, taking his attention from her to glare at

Blackie again, who still stood by the door. “I understand.”

Blackie’s mouth tensed in a firm line as he nodded, spun around, and quickly left

the room. “Don’t take long.”

The medic had a grim expression on his pale-gray features. “You can leave and I’ll

take care of her until she departs.”

Ice shook his head. “I’m the commander today and my orders put us in this

situation. We’re going to my quarters now.”

“Of course.” The medic nodded.

Ice met her gaze. “Would you like me to carry you again? Are you feeling weak or

dizzy still? I apologize for Blackie striking you. It never should have happened and it

wouldn’t have if my council wasn’t afraid you were a threat to our future. You lied

about what you were, which makes them wary of you.”

Megan sat up slowly and realized the shot had made her a little lightheaded but she

moved fine. She didn’t suffer any dizzy spells or disorientation. She swung her legs off

the side of the bed and then got to her feet. The room didn’t spin and her knees held her

weight easily. She looked up, having to raise her chin a lot since he stood so tall, just to

meet Ice’s concerned gaze.

“I’m fine. I can walk.”

“Good. Follow me. It is just down the corridor.”

Megan started to follow behind him as he moved toward the door but then she

paused, giving the medic a small smile. “Thank you for being kind to me and treating

me.”

He froze, his dark gaze locking with hers. “You are welcome.”

“Come with me, Megan,” Ice urged softly.

Four doors down he paused, placed his hand the scanner, and they entered his

quarters. Megan was glad to be back in a familiar setting and moved to his bed. She sat

and faced him, only to realize he stayed far from her, just inside the door. The grim set

of his lips had her feeling ill at ease again.

He said nothing for long moments and then he took a deep breath. “You said you

knew of our existence for months?”

She nodded. “I’m not normally allowed to see the clients on
Folion
but you came

onboard with a weapon so it triggered the alarm. When that happens I have to monitor

the situation visually on the security cameras. That’s when I saw you.” She didn’t

mention that she’d ordered Clara to deem him a high-security risk so that every time he

returned to the station she’d be informed. She really didn’t think he’d meant to bring a

weapon onboard or that he was dangerous, it being just the only way she could see him

again. “I only got to monitor verbal interaction between the main computer and

incoming ships unless there was a problem that arose.”

“We were unaware that there were any live employees aboard.”

48

Touching Ice

“The company wants people to believe that. They had an incident where someone

tried to hijack
Folion
once. The hijackers who grabbed the programmer tried to use him

to steal the station. They murdered him when he refused to order Clara to move the

ship into deep space. It keeps me safe from the same fate if no one knows I’m there. I’m

a programmer and I’m permitted to override the main computer for emergency

situations, making it possible to move
Folion
in case something happens that it wasn’t

programmed to respond to. As an example, I ordered Clara to move when that freighter

didn’t slow as it came at us because she’s not programmed for that kind of situation but

it happened too fast for us to totally get out of the way. If it had been a meteor she

would have automatically moved to avoid the hit. No one foresaw a drunken captain

not reducing his speed, and since Clara had already given him clearance to dock, her

automated collision alarm wasn’t triggered as it approached. Normally when the alarm

is activated it would have her start the engines to avoid it.”

“Clara?”

“She is the main computer that runs and oversees the ship and the bots. She’s got

artificial intelligence and can learn from interaction with the clients just as the bots do

but after a few problems arose with the bots, they knew someone needed to monitor

what they were learning. Clara couldn’t do that.”

“What kind of problems?” He shifted his weight and his body seemed to relax.

A grin curved Megan’s lips. “Well, as an example, one of the clients happened to be

into a little rough sex.”

“And you find this amusing?” His eyebrow arched.

“He taught one of the bots to spank him and told her what a turn-on that was so

when the next client came, she grabbed him, bent him over the bed, and spanked his

ass. She thought that would arouse him.” A laugh escaped her. “He wasn’t amused. He

became really angry about the whole experience and wanted the company to pay for