“You can add this to your lengthy list of reasons to hate me.” She pressed the nuzzle of the injector gun against Malice’s right shoulder.
That reminded her of another injection, another shoulder, frailer, as beloved. Her breath hitched. The grief was so fuckin’ acute, cutting through her.
She pushed her emotions away and tapped the trigger.
Her cyborg convulsed. His big body shook. His jaw clenched. His eyes blazed. His skin pulled tight over his flesh and frame.
His fists didn’t open. He held onto the strip of her flight suit he’d claimed, not allowing it to flutter to the floor. That touched her heart more than it should.
She was tempted to scan his form, to confirm that his nanocybotics count had increased. But, if she did that, the reading would be on the handheld. If the Humanoid Alliance got hold of the device, they would realize she’d succeeded. She had devised the formula they so badly wanted. They would investigate her activities more thoroughly, might uncover something that would help them.
Their evil would spread. More innocents would die.
“Your first priority should be escaping from here. With Valor. Safely.” She didn’t know if Malice could hear her. He must be in excruciating pain. “But if you can do it, quickly and without harm to yourselves, destroy the lab and everything in it. Leave nothing for the Humanoid Alliance to retrieve, to use. That would repay Medic Febris for her sacrifice, would honor her bravery, her—”
Her voice broke. She looked away.
Malice’s arm pressed against her side. That could have been an involuntary movement due to his reaction to the injection. Her gut said it was something else.
Her cyborg was seeking to comfort her.
The sleeping support beeped, warning her he would soon be shocked.
Fuck. The universe wouldn’t give her a moment of solace.
She swallowed a profanity and edged away from him.
His form gyrated once more. Another round of pain hit her warrior.
Because that was his life…and hers – continuous agony.
The hurt passed. He became still.
She covered Malice’s clenched right fist with both of her hands, curling her fingers around his, wishing she could heal him, could ease the burdens he bore. “This will soon be over.”
The torture would cease for both of them. That was a certainty, was one vow she could make to him and know it would be kept.
How it would end remained unknown.
Chapter Eight
This will soon be over.
A shift later, Malice paced in front of the entrance to his chamber. He strode back and forth, back and forth. His bare feet were soundless against the tiled floor. His little medic’s statement looped in his processors.
She must have been referring to her experiments. They had been successful.
His circuits surged with energy. He was stronger, faster, than he’d been a planet rotation ago. His systems were operating at a level he’d never experienced. His scanning range had expanded.
The injections had been painful yet effective. His now-refined abilities would be invaluable during their escape.
But it was rivaled by his female’s other contribution to their liberation.
The remote access chip Illona had inserted in the slot in the back of his neck connected him and Valor to the Humanoid Alliance’s systems. It hadn’t been functional when she first gave it to him, but it contained all the data, all the parts they needed and, with Valor’s assistance, he’d repaired her atrociously bad programming.
The information in the Humanoid Alliance databases, along with the instructions on the other chip she’d given him, was illuminating…and infuriating. Malice moved faster, his aggravation and concern escalating with each step.
The blasted female risked too much. She was too reckless with her lifespan.
That angered him.
We could escape now, free ourselves now. Wanting lilted Valor’s transmission. We have access to everything. You have a weapon. We could kill them all and leave.
That was fraggin’ tempting but it wasn’t logical. We can leave the structure. We can’t leave the planet without a ship.
His clever human had processed that need, had understood the dangers of exiting the structure before transport arrived. The lab was situated on a rock formation in the middle of a frame-dissolvingly acidic sea. There were few places to hide, to shield themselves against attack. They would be at a severe strategic disadvantage if they left the structure too early, could die before meeting with their brethren.
Cadet said he and his crew were arriving in two planet rotations. That could be five shifts from now. Malice preferred to have a more exact rendezvous time. That wasn’t possible. Communicating with their brethren required downing the transmissions blocker, and that could set off their enemy’s alarms. The Humanoid Alliance could reach us before they do. According to the databases, they have World-enders.
They could destroy the entire planet with us on it. Valor sighed. Then our plan is to stay where we are.
We stay where we are…for now. Malice didn’t worry for himself or his friend. They were cyborgs, could survive five more shifts of torment.
He was concerned for Illona.
His normally serene female had been heart-wrenchingly sad and then gloriously angry when he’d last seen her. Her cheeks had been wet with shed tears. Her brown eyes had glittered with a rage rivaling his own. She had cursed the Humanoid Alliance, him, the universe.
He was 88.2536 percent certain she had planned, within those few first moments, to walk out of the chamber and trade her lifespan for a brief taste of vengeance. It was an act he might have taken, would have applauded—if he hadn’t spoken with her, bred with her, considered her to be his.
Fraggin’ hole. She had changed his processing completely.
When she had entered his chamber and dissolved into chest-heaving sobs, his strong small human coming apart against that blasted door, he almost broke free of his restraints and went to her.
Only his awareness of the monitoring equipment, of the Humanoid Alliance watching them, had stopped him. And he projected only his presence had stopped her from taking permanent and bloody action.
He wasn’t by her side at the moment. And he couldn’t process where she was.
His female was surprisingly skilled at deactivating monitoring equipment. He couldn’t follow her every move, had lost her in one of the main hallways, hadn’t detected her since then.
She could be avenging her fallen friend, the medic she claimed gave her lifespan for his and Valor’s freedom.
The prospect of a universe without Illona in it was…unsettling.
Malice lifted his right hand, opened his fingers slightly, breathed in her scent. It clung to the strip of fabric. He hadn’t released that piece of her flight suit all planet rotation.
His need for her drummed at him. His balls ached. His cock was hard.
But his concern for her overrode his wanting.
She had vowed she’d return to his chamber during the rest cycle, allow him to end her lifespan…if she was alive. That if disturbed him.
Malice paced faster. She—
He detected her on the Humanoid Alliance monitoring equipment. She was walking along a hallway, moving in his direction.
His little medic remained alive.
Some of the tension within him dissipated.
Picton and Bonin stood outside his door. The human males weren’t visible. They must have deactivated the monitoring equipment in that section of the hallway.