She rolled back her shoulders. Her joints cracked.
“You’re damaging yourself, female.” Malice frowned at her. He released his hold on their patient. It was no longer needed. The sealant was done, and the human female wasn’t moving anywhere. “Come here.”
“Can you tidy the female?” She relayed that task to Patch. “That will decrease the risk of infection.”
The J Model nodded. “What are her odds of survival?”
She’d spent enough time with her cyborg to know the male expected a number calculated to four decimal places, but she hadn’t their preciseness and she was too exhausted to attempt to match it. “The odds are good.” All the major arteries and some of the minor ones had been reconnected. “But nothing is ever 100.0000 percent certain.” She blew out her breath. “We help who we can.”
Fuck. She sounded like Medic Anahit, her mentor.
Her eyes widened. That was because she was a mentor, Patch’s mentor.
“When she has been tended to, we’ll examine the other females.” Their wounds didn’t appear to be life-threatening, but they should be looked at. “And—”
“Female.” Malice’s rumbles grew louder. “Come here.” He held out his hands. “Now.”
She was tempted to argue with him. Her patients came first. But she was so very weary and that could lead to mistakes and—
“Now.” Her obstinate C Model bellowed that word. His voice bounced off the walls.
The females behind her whimpered.
“You’re scaring beings.” Illona shuffled on her knees toward him. She was too tired, too stiff to stand.
“They should be scared.” Malice grabbed her wrists and hauled her onto his lap. “You should be scared.”
He wrapped one of his arms around her, securing her to him, and retrieved a cleaning cloth.
“You were skilled at repairing the female. You saved her life.” His pride in that accomplishment warmed her all over. “But you pushed your fragile human form too far, damaging it.”
He ran the cleaning cloth over her hands, swirling the fabric into her knuckles, tidying her with a cyborg thoroughness. And she didn’t fight that care. She melted into his form, savoring the touching, his heat, his presence.
“In the future, you will replenish your energy sources when I deem that to be necessary.” Her grumbling cyborg snapped the cleaning cloth to refresh it. “As you have demonstrated, you don’t have the fraggin’ logic to determine that on your own.”
“I’m your captive.” She tilted her head back, leaning against him, partially closed her eyes.
“You need a captor.” He turned her hands over, cleaned her palms. “You’re determined to end your lifespan and I won’t tolerate that. You belong to me.”
She leaned against him, enjoying the rare experience of being the recipient, not the giver, of care. “You have to release me eventually, Malice.” That prospect tortured her. “Many of your brethren, like Strain, will never accept me. Too many humans have hurt them.”
“If Strain touches you, I will pummel him into the ground.” Her C Model tidied her jacket also.
“You can’t fight everyone.” She sighed. He deserved to be accepted, to be embraced, to find his place with his brethren. He couldn’t do that with her by his side.
“Is your auditory system malfunctioning?” Malice huffed. “Cadet said her mom was human. If that female is tolerated, you’ll be tolerated.”
“We don’t know that she is tolerated.” The female’s mother could be a captive also.
“The J Model tolerates you…too well.” Her C Model’s movements grew jerky.
Patch lifted his head, frowned at them.
“What are you looking at, cyborg?” Malice growled at the male.
The J Model hastily lowered his gaze.
Illona smothered a smile. Her cyborg was so damn dominant. “Patch is a fellow medic, a colleague. He knows I’m yours.” Her male wouldn’t allow anyone to forget that.
“You smell of me.” Some of the tension in Malice’s big form eased. “I should increase your nanocybotics.” He cupped her cloth-covered breasts.
Her nipples grew taut. Her pussy became wet.
Her face heated. “We’re not fucking here.” She whispered that truth. “Delete that from your processors.”
“There’s sufficient space for breeding.” He mouthed along her neck and she trembled. “I could take you against the wall or here on the floor.”
Stars. She wanted that.
Her desire would have to be denied. It wasn’t the time or the place for a quick encounter.
“There are too many witnesses.” She preferred no witnesses, but Valor had, unfortunately, already seen them fuck. That unplanned act of exhibitionism had occurred in the E Model’s chamber, after she’d almost been killed.
“Your energy levels are low.” Malice chose a different reason for delaying their fucking. “Sleep.” He swept his hands over her eyes, encouraging her to close them. “I’ll watch over you.”
She liked that he’d be with her while she rested. “I should tend to the other females.”
“The J model can tend to them.” Malice pulled her closer to his large form, tucked her head under his chin. “You should obey your captor and sleep.”
She could rest for a moment or two.
Her cyborg rubbed her arms, hips, legs. The bulge in his body armor pressed against her lower back, a reassuring affirmation of his need for her. He radiated heat. His muscles surrounded her.
They were safe and free and together…for now.
She doubted she’d ever fit into his world. And she had no world of her own, no home to offer him.
Malice nibbled on her neck. His warm breath wafted against her skin, and her toes curled in her boots. They had this moment, and it contained more joy, passion, caring than she’d ever expected to experience. She wouldn’t look further than that, wouldn’t—
“No.” A female screamed and Illona’s serenity evaporated. “Don’t touch me.” The female’s voice was edged with hysteria, with fear. “Not again. Please. No.”
“I’m a medic, humanoid, not one of the other males.” Patch’s tone held a tinge of bewilderment. “I seek to repair you.”
Illona sighed, opened her eyes.
“Female.” Malice rumbled at her. Her cyborg was angry…again.
“They need a female medic, warrior.” She wiggled out of his grip. The females must have been tortured and traumatized by males. “I’ll rest after I tend to them.”
She was his female. There was no doubt about that.
But she was also a medic.
Illona released a heavy breath and pushed herself to her booted feet.
Her cyborg helped her stand, steadying her. Although his dark expression expressed his unhappiness with her decision, he didn’t fight it, his acceptance telling her more than his words could ever relay.
He cared for her.
She clasped his hand and moved toward the humanoid females.
Chapter Sixteen
It wouldn’t be easy to protect his female.