Touching Ice (15 page)

to dress and get your food.”

“Good.” She dried off quickly and accepted a shirt that Ice lent her.

He dressed and left her alone in his quarters. Megan walked to the bed, sat down

hard on it, and stared around the confining space. This was going to be her home for a

while.

What if the Cyborg Council wouldn’t change its mind? She bit her lip, thinking

hard. How long would Ice allow her to share his room? If the cyborg council did ever

decide she could live, that she could return to Earth, that would mean she’d be leaving

the
Rally
and Ice behind.

“Well shit.” She sighed, shaking her head at the mere thought of losing him. She

had no desire to be set free. She had grown really attached to tall, gray, and sexy. He’d

be damn displeased if he knew it. No matter what, she needed to hide it.

* * * * *

“Ice?”

Ice turned to face Blackie in the hallway. The other cyborg looked grim. “Is it done?

I need to see her body to verify it for the council.”

Ice’s fists clenched at his sides, pain throbbing in his injured hand. He shut down

his pain sensors to that arm and glared at Blackie. “I want you off my ship.”

“It is not yours.”

“Megan is no longer a threat. That’s all you need to know.”

Dark eyes narrowed. “She’s dead?”

“Get off my ship. That’s an order. We’re undocking with the
Bridden
in minutes. Be

on it or you’ll be a part of my crew.” He spun away and walked toward the mess hall.

69

Laurann Dohner

“You don’t want to be under my command.” The threat was clear and he knew Blackie

would understand that.

“What are you doing?” Confusion clouded the cyborg’s voice.

Ice stopped walking and turned to stare at the man in the hallway. “I’m not blindly

following bad orders from the council.”

Blackie shook his head. “I hope you know what you are doing. I’m leaving but

Zorus will not back off.”

“I don’t expect him to.” Ice looked away and continued to walk down the corridor.

When he entered the mess hall, he wasn’t alone. The medic happened to be seated

at a table eating a meal. He put down his fork, staring with sympathy at Ice, and slowly

stood. Ice glanced away from him and moved to the food unit.

“Ice?”

Ice tensed, turning to face Varion. The medic’s expression hardened as he inched

closer, moving purposely toward him.

“What?”

“I’ve prepared the cargo bay to store the human female’s body. Is it done?”

Ice’s hands gripped the tray he prepared with food hard enough that he could feel

the metal bending. He gently set it down on the counter and faced the medic full on.

“No.”

“The council contacted me and wants me to verify her death as soon as her life is

extinguished. I am to write them a report.” The man grimaced. “I can’t imagine how

difficult this must be for you. If you are unable I will prepare an injection that will be

painless for the human female. There’s no need for her to suffer.”

The door opened and Onyx walked inside the galley. He paused, frowning, and

then sighed loudly. “I am sorry. I know you liked the female.”

Varion glanced at Onyx. “He hasn’t taken her life as yet.”

A frown curved Onyx’s lips as he stared at his best friend. “Do you need me to do

it? I won’t hurt her, Ice. You know this.”

Ice blew out his breath. “She isn’t going to die. She’s going to remain on the
Rally
in

my room. She’s no threat if she’s a prisoner inside my quarters.”

“Have you lost your damn mind?” Onyx inched closer, his gaze fixed on Ice. “The

council will not be pleased. They gave us direct orders. Blackie is still aboard, waiting

for verification of her death.”

“The council deemed her a threat to us if she was able to report us. She is not to be

freed. She will remain in my quarters with no access to communications. Her threat

status is zero under those conditions. I just ordered Blackie to return to the
Bridden
and

he is leaving. I want you to undock with them as soon as he’s gone.”

“Councilman Zorus will not be pleased,” Onyx warned. “You know he has no

tolerance for humans. He hates them all and believes they are a risk to Garden.”

70

Touching Ice

“He’s an ass,” Varion muttered softly. “But Onyx is correct, Ice. The council ordered

her death and we must do their bidding.”

“We’re not on Garden.” Ice turned away, gripping the tray, and continued to fill it

with food for Megan. “Her threat status is zero locked in my room and I won’t kill a

female.”

“One of us will do it then,” Onyx grimly offered again.

Ice spun and glared at his longtime friend. “Attempt it and you will regret it. She’s

under my protection inside my quarters.”

Their gazes locked for long moments and Onyx clenched his teeth. “Damn. You

have it bad for her, don’t you? Just how good in bed is she? Was Blackie right about

that?”

“I find myself oddly fascinated with her and yes, the sex is exceptional,” Ice

admitted. “If she were in your room you would find yourself feeling protective as well

and not willing to kill her or allow her to be killed. I would support your decision not to

let your woman die if our roles were reversed.”

Broad shoulders sagged. “I know that. Fine. You know that ass Zorus is going to

have a fit but I’ll stand by you.” Onyx glanced at Varion. “Are you in on this madness

as well?”

“I’m not for killing females. With our history, we should have learned the value of

them by now since we suffered a great loss with our own when we fled Earth.” He

nodded at Ice. “I’m in but I refuse to accept command until this is resolved somehow.

They could order me to kill her and then it would be my future at stake with them. You

get all my command shifts, Ice.”

Onyx nodded. “Mine as well. I’m commander next shift so now it is yours. It is the

least you can do since you’re putting us all in danger of repercussions when the council

realizes you have circumvented their direct orders.”

Ice nodded and sighed as he heated the tray. “Tell the men what my stand and

decision is about Megan. If anyone has a problem, alert me. I want to know if I need to

watch my back.”

“They will probably agree since we all respect you greatly,” Onyx acknowledged

softly. “But I doubt any will be willing to take command of the
Rally
until this situation

is over. You know what that means.”

“I’m in official command at all times.” Ice removed the tray from the auto warmer

and faced his crewmates. “Contact me if anything arises. I didn’t rest much on my sleep

cycle so I’m going down for a few hours.”

Onyx suddenly grinned. “I bet you are going down. Tell me, do humans taste

anything close to what our women do?”

Ice paused next to his friend and grinned. “Find a human and discover the answer

to that question yourself.” He moved toward the door, which automatically slid open,

and walked out into the hallway.

71

Laurann Dohner

His smile died as soon as he moved out of sight of Onyx and Varion. The council

could be vicious and Zorus would be the harshest set against anything human. The

cyborg had a bitter history of his time on Earth, had no forgiveness, and he would be

very angry when he realized Ice had refused to kill Megan.

What if they sent the
Bridden
back so others not under Ice’s influence came to kill

Megan? His hands tightened on the tray. He clenched his teeth. No one would touch

her. He’d kill before he allowed anyone to harm a hair on her head.

He stopped dead in his tracks, feeling the blood drain from his face. What the hell

was happening to him? He thought about killing other cyborgs to protect a human? He

debated if he had lost his reasoning or if perhaps he had gone insane. He uttered a foul

curse. Megan had changed something inside him, influenced him somehow, and he

needed to analyze how deeply she’d affected him.

* * * * *

Megan sensed something was wrong as she finished her meal. Ice was too quiet as

he watched her with a curious expression on his handsome features. He’d also kept his

distance from her by taking a seat near the door at the only small table in the room.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m unsure.” He sighed softly.

“Are you sick?”

“No. That isn’t my problem.”

“Then what is?”

He shifted in the seat and then stood to his full height. “I’m not myself. Since I came

into contact with you I have been changing and didn’t realize how drastically until I

retrieved your meal.”

“Okay. I’m not really sure what you mean but I’m trying to understand you.”

He bent and removed his boots, then his socks, before straightening up. “You have

influenced me in ways I am still trying to figure out. I disobeyed a direct order, nearly

came to blows with another cyborg who struck you, and now I’m risking my entire

future and that of my crew to possible punishment from the Cyborg Council. I never

considered I would do any of these things.”

Guilt ate at her just a little. “I never meant to do this to your life.”

“I believe that.” He paused next to the bed within arm’s reach of her. “There was no

logical expectation from you to foresee my reaction to you.” He sat down gently. “What

was your real plan, Megan? What do you hope to gain from me? Is it information you

need? I have been completely honest with you and I give you my word that I am unable

to harm you regardless of your answers.”

It hurt a little that he was still suspicious of her but she understood. She had lied to

him right from the beginning. “I’m not a bounty hunter and I don’t work for Earth

72

Touching Ice

Government. I’m just a programmer who needed a ride when that freighter slammed

into
Folion
. That’s why I ran onto your shuttle and no other reason.”

“You could have chosen any of the cyborg males but you ordered the bots to not

service me alone. Why?”

Shit
. She bit her lip and then set the empty tray aside. “The truth?”

“I would appreciate that.” He lifted his arm and gripped her gently around her

neck.

“Are you going to strangle me if you don’t like what I have to say?

He chuckled. “No. I’m reading your pulse. I’m good at detecting lies. Think of me

as a breathing lie detector. Do not attempt to test me. That will irritate me.” He paused.

“I won’t choke you but you don’t want me angry either.”

She swallowed. “When I saw you that first time when you forgot to leave your

weapon on your shuttle and came aboard
Folion,
I was instantly drawn to you.”

“The first time?”

She knew her heart raced. Ice’s eyes narrowed and he inched closer, looking into

her eyes, carefully studying her. She bit her lip and then sighed, releasing it with her

teeth.

“I spied on you,” she admitted. “I told Clara you were a threat to the station. Every

time you docked with us she made me aware. I monitored you when you came aboard

just so I could see you on the cameras.”

His hand tightened and his features hardened. “So you reported us after all?”

“No!” Megan reached up and held onto his arm attached to the hand around her

throat. He didn’t hurt her but he had a good grip. “She doesn’t report to anyone but the

company and she wouldn’t report that unless she had to file a damage incident report.

It just alerted me and no one else when you came aboard
Folion
. I got to visually track

you while you were aboard so I could see you. That’s how I knew how many times you

visited. I’ve been seriously attracted to you from the first time I laid eyes on you and

you kind of dominated my thoughts sometimes.”

The hold on her eased. “Earth wasn’t in any way alerted?”

“I wouldn’t have done it if that were the case. I knew what you were the second I

saw you. While I might not be a history buff, everyone knows certain things about

cyborgs. Your skin color was a dead giveaway. It stunned me that any of you still

existed because according to what I’d heard growing up, all cyborgs were destroyed.

You fascinated me but I sure as hell didn’t want to get you caught.”

His hold eased more. “So why did you program the bots to ignore me? You did

that, didn’t you?”

“Yes. I had a lot of fantasies about you and hell, I saw my chance to finally get to

touch you in the flesh.”

He took a deep breath. “You’re very brave.”

73

Laurann Dohner

“Stupid is the word I’d have used and maybe even pathetic but damn, Ice. I really

wanted to know how it would feel to touch you and have you touch me back. I’d even

go so far as to say it had become an obsession of mine to know. When I signed up for

my job on
Folion
nobody ever mentioned that I’d be locked behind a bulkhead with only

Clara to talk to. The last programmer happened to be a complete jackass and you can’t

imagine what he did to her programming. I tried to change some of it but he was damn

good at what he did and I couldn’t override some of his commands without pulling her

physical motherboards and wiping them, which I couldn’t do because I wasn’t allowed

to leave that one area of the ship unless something really went wrong. Nothing ever did