HauntingBlackie (10 page)

“My job is to follow orders from the council and
higher-ranking officials. I am offended by what we’ve learned though. There was
no honor in leaving allies to die, especially women. I won’t allow anything to
happen to Danica. I’m as conflicted as it gets but not on that subject. I’ll
safeguard her.”

Blackie trusted him. “Are you prepared to face off against
other cyborgs if they are ordered to remove her from the
Bridden
before
it reaches Garden?”

The male flexed his fingers. “You think Fleet will attempt
to transfer them to another ship?”

“Or worse. The council members involved won’t want the proof
of their deception testifying against them to our population.”

Gene paled. “Agreed. I’m running possible scenarios now.”

“As am I. Fleet wants them secured inside cargo hold two. It
will be difficult to defend without modifications.”

“I’ll take care of it now. One of us should be with them at
all times.”

“I’ve had the medic guarding them since we went into that
meeting.”

“You trust Varion?”

“He hates me but he’s protective of women to what I once
considered a flawed extent. It wouldn’t be the first time he refuses to take
orders from the council when the safety of one is in peril.”

“I’ll perform every security measure to secure the cargo
hold and protect the women.”

“I know you will. Be careful.”

“You too.”

They parted. Blackie increased his pace. He didn’t like Eve
being anywhere without him. He didn’t want to alarm her so he masked his
features and tried to suppress his anger. He turned a corner and confronted
Varion at the end of the corridor.

The male pointed to the door. “They are inside. No one
attempted to enter.”

“Thank you.”

“I didn’t guard them for you.”

“I still appreciate it.”

“I’ll still kill you if hurt one of those women.”

“I would allow you to.”

The medic frowned.

“I’m going inside. Could you make sure Danica returns to the
cargo hold without interference from anyone?”

“Of course,” the male agreed. “Contact me if you need more
assistance. I can’t tolerate the harming of women.”

The door opened and Blackie stepped inside. The sight of him
wearing the tight black uniform took Eve’s breath away. He looked so good that
she wanted to strip him out of it and make love. His gaze sought hers.

“The meeting ended.”

“How did it go? Do they want to toss us out an airlock?”

“Danica!” Eve shot her a warning glare. “My mate isn’t our
enemy. Cyborgs aren’t either.”

“You even made the distinction.” Danica pushed away from the
table as her attention centered on Blackie. “I guess you want to take her back
to your quarters while I return to the cargo hold. I’ll trust you because you’re
her mate but I’ll keep my guard up around the others. Should I sleep with a
weapon? Am I in danger?”

“No.” Blackie’s voice deepened. “You’re safe with us.”

Danica didn’t look convinced. “Just protect her if shit hits
the fan, cyborg. I don’t really expect you to watch out for my ass but she’s
your mate. I just hope that means you’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe.”

“You aren’t in any danger on the
Bridden
.” He paused.
“Gene is trustworthy and won’t allow anything to happen to you.”

“What about this planet of cyborgs? We were left behind to
die once. Is Freedom still alive?”

Eve stood too, watching her mate. She wanted to know the
answer as well.

“Yes. He’s one of the council members.”

“Council members,” Danica repeated. “What kind of governing
system do cyborgs have?”

“A dozen of them run our society.”

“And Freedom is one of them?” Danica snorted, shooting a
meaningful look at Eve. “We’re screwed. I say we go with my plan.” She fled the
room before Eve could recover, stepping out to meet Varion in the corridor.

Blackie approached. “I won’t allow any harm to come to you
or your sister.” His hands gently clasped her hips. “Do you trust me?”

“I do.” He was her mate and having ultimate faith in him was
part of the package. It was how she was created to be. At that moment it was a
frightening concept since they were very different. He might not understand how
deeply ingrained that mate bond was. “What will happen when we reach your home
world if Freedom did purposely lie and betray the canine units? If that
knowledge comes out, will it pose a threat to him, and in turn, will he want us
dead?”

“I won’t deceive you. Cyborgs highly regard honor. There was
none if he left your littermates to die after securing a pact in exchange for
your help. It will cause conflict amongst our population. He will make a lot of
enemies and it’s probable he’ll be removed from his position.”

“Why would anyone even care about what happened to us?”

“You saved a lot of lives, mine included. You helped us
escape Earth. It will matter. You will be considered kindred to cyborgs and
sympathy for your plight will be felt. There is also the matter of your entire
line being female. The men will come to the same conclusion I have when I
learned of your existence.”

“What was that?”

“Men vastly outnumber our women.” His fingers stroked her
pants. “It would have changed the development of our society if we’d integrated
your line with ours.”

“Want to drop the cyborg speak and just tell it to me
straight?”

“Problems arose after humans tried to sexually assault our
women when cyborgs were first introduced. They fought back, resulting in high
casualty rates amongst those humans. The women were destroyed when altercations
occurred.” He paused, anger deepening his voice. “The humans murdered them for
defending themselves against sexual abuse. Earth Government stopped the
production of females and only produced males thereafter. That’s why there were
so few of them left alive. We made it a priority to protect them and make
certain they escaped with us.” He paused. “That’s how it became law that female
cyborgs enter into a contract with multiple males to form a family unit.”

Eve was horrified, despite having been told that fact
before. She hadn’t been able to stand men touching her, knowing she longed to
be with Blackie, despite his absence in her life. To be ordered to marry more
than one man would not only damage her heart but tear her soul apart now that
they were bonded.

“Integrating your women with our men would have changed the
way things are now.”

“Would they have made it law that canine units had to be
with more than one cyborg? It wouldn’t work. Canine units are loyal to the
extreme.”

“They would have taken your needs into account. It also
would have put more females into our society and lessened the need to pair
cyborg women with multiple males.”

“You think cyborgs would have accepted us the way we are?”

He tugged her closer until her body pressed against his. “Yes.
You have no idea how difficult it has been for our unbalanced society.”

“Tell me.”

It was hard to think when warmth seeped through his uniform
into her clothes. She wished they were naked and back inside their quarters.
She might have avoided sex all her life but now she knew what she’d been
missing with Blackie. It would be nice to make up for lost time.

“We turned off our implants. It allowed emotions to rise
inside us, allowed us to experience them, good and bad.” His hands slid higher,
to her waist. “Jealousy and possessiveness were present but we had to conceal
them for the harmony of all. It wasn’t fair to expect such a high percentage of
our male population not to have the ability to join family units. They would
have resented the ones who did.”

“Do you feel possessive of me?”

“Yes.” He didn’t hesitate to answer. “You belong to me.”

She liked that. “So you’re saying they feared a lot of men
would kill the married ones just to put some widows back on the market?”

His lips twitched at the corners but he resisted the smile. “That
is a very Earth way to put it but it’s accurate. The council feared the men
would fight over women. It is also a requirement that we produce children.
Pairing only a single male with a woman would have restricted our genetic pools
and caused health issues in the future generations.”

“They want women to hook up and have babies with multiple
partners so the DNA is more diversified when those kids grow up and have some
babies of their own?”

“Correct.”

“There would have been a lot more women available if we hadn’t
been left behind. You really needed us, because even with multiple male
partners, many children still have the same genes—the mother’s.”

“Yes.”

“Do you think it’s going to piss some of your guys off that
we were left behind?”

“I’m certain they will be angry.” He paused. “The family
unit structures would have had a more satisfying outcome.”

“What does that mean?”

“Our women were given an unfair advantage over the men.”

“They got to pick and choose who they married instead of men
having much of a choice?”

He stepped back, releasing her. “Yes. The women were
empowered by their situation.”

“They rub it in?”

Anger flared in his gaze. “They lost their compassion.”

That surprised her. “They are mean to their husbands?”

“I have avoided joining a family unit for many reasons.” He
paused. “Let’s go to our quarters. Did you eat enough?”

“You’re changing the subject.”

“It’s not a good one.”

“I want to know.”

He lifted a hand and brushed a tendril of her hair back. “Our
women are cold, controlling, and any male who doesn’t comply with their demands
is considered unworthy of joining a family unit—by all women.”

“You piss off one, they all hold it against you?”

“The male is deemed undesirable by all and has no chance of
entering into a contract with another woman. They can be merciless with their
demands.”

She studied her mate’s dour expression. “You avoided getting
married because you’re an alpha but you would have been forced to be a beta.
That sucks. Do they make you clean house and treat their husbands like slaves
or something?”

“There’s much more to it than that, Eve.”

“So fill me in.”

“Why are you so curious?”

“I’m going to live with these people on your world. I want
to know the score.” She grinned, deciding to lighten his grim mood with
teasing. “Are you afraid to tell me in case I become really demanding and high
maintenance? I won’t.”

“That’s not it.” He blew out a breath. “They are ice cold
and rarely show emotions unless it is contempt, anger or disapproval. They
choose their males according to their rank in our society or for physical
traits they wish to pass on to the next generation. Personality traits are
ignored. We’re expected to conceal those while with them. It irritates them
otherwise.”

Eve was stunned.

“Sex is initiated by women only when they decide to conceive
a child or if they deem that our physical needs have been ignored long enough.
They activate their sex drives, order us to and it’s usually timed down to the
second. Occasionally they allow us to touch them if we’ve done something to
earn their respect. It is nothing like what you and I have.” He sighed. “I’ve
witnessed men who joined family units turn bitter but they are locked into the
contract without any recourse to negotiate for more satisfying terms.”

“Wow.” She didn’t even know what to say. It sounded horrible
to her.

“I wish to end our discussion of this subject.”

It was kind of depressing so she agreed. “Okay.”

He held out his hand. “Let’s return to our room.”

“How did your meeting go?”

Blackie led her out of the cafeteria and down the hallway. “Fleet
contacted the council again. They demanded we return to Garden immediately.”

“Because of Danica and me? Did they know about us?”

His tone became chilly. “I’m not certain what they were
told. Fleet didn’t share that information. I know one member who does. Parlis.”

“How would he know if you didn’t?”

The door to their quarters opened and Blackie ushered her
inside. The moment it sealed, he gripped her hips once more. “He was the one
you knew as Freedom.”

Her stomach felt as if it dropped to her feet. “Parlis?”

“That is his name. Freedom was his code name for the
mission, as yours was Hellfire. It was to protect his true identity. All
cyborgs who had any association with him before he escaped would have
immediately been killed if Earth Government discovered he was behind our rebellion.
They wouldn’t have taken a chance that he hadn’t infected other cyborgs.”

“Infected?”

“That’s what Earth Government considered any dissident in
our ranks. As if being aware of our situation and demanding it change was a
virus instead of a sign of intelligence.”

“They were dicks.”

He smiled. “Your Earth speech is entertaining. I’d forgotten
that over time.”

“Well, you will have plenty of reminders as my mate. I have
atrocious English. Living all those years with Danica on the freighter only
made it worse. Then there were the people we dealt with on the stations we
occasionally came into contact with. Criminals and losers in general who couldn’t
integrate with any semblance of society.”

“No more.”

“Right. Will you correct the way I speak?”

“No. I wouldn’t want you to change.”

Her mate knew the right things to say to make her love him
more. “I’m glad.”

“You are perfect.”

“You so want to get me naked, don’t you?” She grinned,
reaching up and sliding her fingers under the bottom of his shirt to feel his
skin. He was so warm and so hers. “You don’t need pretty words.”

“I mean it.”

Yeah, he’s been worth waiting so long for.
She had no
doubt about that as he helped her strip off his shirt. He removed his boots
while she yanked off her shoes. Danica might be worried about being locked into
a mate bond but her littermate had no clue how wonderful it could be.