Peyton 313 (30 page)

King snorted. “Lucky for you I’m feeling mellow today.”

Kyra sighed and bit her lip as they left the cage room and walked down the hall. She wanted to laugh hysterically when her mind finally registered just how badly she needed to pee.

***

Several hours after the Brad crisis had passed, Kyra stood weeping in the industrial shower attached to the room she had been sharing with Peyton. The day’s events were mostly behind them. Whatever drugs Brad had given him, Nero was fine now, but truly hadn’t remembered anything. He had watched Peyton’s recording of Brad’s attack on her with a coldness she’d never seen him exhibit. Afterward he had kissed her cheek and hugged her tightly before heading off to talk with the newly freed cyborgs.

But Nero’s disillusionment with a man he’d thought was his best friend was only part of the reason she was weeping. Who knew how many other Brads were out there, building on her original technology to make custom cyber slaves? Stopping that sort of greed for power was going to be a never-ending battle. Her head hurt just thinking about it.

Her body hurt too, but for a thousand other reasons.

And she wondered how many more hits her heart could take before it just exploded inside her chest. She was so caught up in her misery she didn’t hear Peyton slip into the shower with her.

“You’ve got to find a better reaction to catching the bad guys than crying. I mean I know you’re a girl and all, but hell Doc. . .this weeping shit has to stop. If anyone should be upset, I should be. You would have been killed if Brad had turned that weapon I built on you, and I would never have known it even happened. We need to develop some kind of pulse-cannon-proof vest for you to wear.”

Peyton turned Kyra around and pulled her flush against his body. Her wet, soapy arms slipping around his middle were sexily erotic and just about the most sensual experience they had shared to date. He backed her up a step, until the water sluiced between them and washed the soap off her. He ran his hands over her short spiked hair and got instantly hard. . .well, in six point five seconds anyway. But measuring the time it took said nothing about the mystery of how the intelligent cyber scientist’s every touch and word made it happen. There was just something fundamentally sexy about the woman in his arms.

He shifted when one of Kyra’s talented hands left his back and slid between them with no hesitation at all. Peyton gave himself a minute to enjoy what she was doing before breaking the intimacy with words that badly needed to be said.

“Is that the same hand you used to punch Brad?”

He was disappointed when her hand dropped away from what she had been doing, but he understood.

“I know you told me not to, but the guys couldn’t stop talking about it, so I replayed the whole recording. What Jackson did to you—his deception as a lover and his complicity in hurting you—it was all wrong, Kyra. That night wasn’t about your ex-husband’s changing sexual preferences—that was just about greed and control. You know that, right? All those men conspired against you when you were vulnerable.”

“Yes. Intellectually, I know that’s exactly what happened,” Kyra agreed.

Peyton reached down and lifted her chin with one hand until she was looking at him. He used his other hand to guide one of hers back to his erection. “Your past makes no difference to me. Your hand is wrapped around the best proof. But mostly I’m glad you didn’t let what happened break you. If you had, we wouldn’t be here naked together and about to have shower sex for the first time.”

Kyra laughed even as she sobbed. “You sound awfully sure about our sexual future in the next ten minutes or so, Captain Elliott. I don’t like men very much right now.”

“Good thing I’m still a cyborg then.” Peyton smiled as he lifted her by the backs of her legs which he wrapped around him. “But I think from now on, we’re going to call what we do
lovemaking
instead of
sex
. I’m ready to try making a more human type of connection. How about you?”

Kyra sniffled a little harder as Peyton backed her up against the shower wall, but she still helped him navigate his way into her. Instead of moving though, he held her completely still on him. She lifted her questioning gaze to his. “What are you waiting for? I feel you throbbing inside me.”

Peyton put his forehead against Kyra’s. “Well, that’s the most amazing thing about doing this with you, Doc. I’m not waiting for anything anymore. I don’t how it happened, but I found everything in you I’m ever going to need. Do you think what I’m feeling about you could be love? I’d like to say that to you, but I was waiting until I was sure. This feeling isn’t rational enough to be defined and measured. It hurts my brain—but in a good way.”

Kyra sighed and leaned forward for a kiss. “Maybe this is love. We’re going to have to do a lot of research before I can be sure myself. Fortunately, I have some experiments in mind that can test your theory. Want to volunteer your services in my science lab?” She squeezed around him as tightly as she could.

Laughing at her metaphor, Peyton withdrew a little and slid home again. Every stroke was more thrilling than the last. It was complete acceptance. . .and yet also choice.

“How about I volunteer for the rest of our lives together—however long that ends up being?”

“Is that some sort of cyborg inspired marriage proposal, Captain Elliott?” Kyra heard herself panting heavily as she asked the question.

Peyton shook his head, slinging water off them both as he picked up speed. “No. We’re already married. I just want us to stay that way no matter what kind of status change you manage to wrangle for Cyber Husbands who want out of their deals.”

“Umm. . .if you’re sure staying is what you want. . .”

“Doc—you’re what I’ve wanted since I laid my cybernetic eyes on you.”

Kyra nodded at her good fortune, closed her very human eyes, and gave her worried mind over to how amazing Peyton was making her feel.

Chapter 20

“Why can’t I just wear my lab coat over regular clothes?” Kyra protested.

Peyton looked away to hide his grin. “Because you look badass in your apprehension gear. Wear the speak-through too. They’ll think you’re talking to someone about them.”

“Why is black the color of our gear? Why not brown or gray? Those are the colors of most landscapes. You don’t see black on anything except old pavement and there’s not much of that left. Land vehicles are used only in third world countries now. Peyton? Are you still listening to me?”

Peyton laughed at her chastising tone. “Yes, Doc. You know damn well the Cyber Husband chip won’t let me tune you out completely. Even without pain, it flashes lights through my brain every time you fuss at me. Now to answer your question—black clothing never gets noticed unless it’s a short dress on a tall woman wearing four-inch heels.”

Kyra sighed. He always answered her, but sometimes she still didn’t understand what he was saying. But this wasn’t one of those times. Sighing, she made a mental note to look for a short black dress and four-inch torture devices to match. Maybe she had some in her old closet. She didn’t remember. At least she wouldn’t have to dumb down her conversation for him.

“Okay, Captain Elliott. I get your point. I’ll wear the black clothes.”

She watched as Peyton stopped what he was doing and froze. Since the other five cyborgs had become a part of their daily lives, his freeze-ups happened often. But she’d learned it was just him centering his attention on their wireless communication.

“The guys are back with our hostages. Hustle it up, Doc. It’s horror movie time.”

Kyra rolled her eyes at the order, but pulled on the black boots that matched her pants with the twenty plus pockets.

She rolled her eyes again when Peyton insisted she wear her lab coat over the black t-shirt that showed way too much of her breasts. “Is showing cleavage really necessary?”

“Depends. Are you worried about dealing with these men?” he asked.

Kyra shook her head. “No. I’m looking forward to it. I even know exactly what I want to say.”

“Then yes—showing cleavage is necessary. You don’t want them to think they make you uncomfortable. This is the perfect time to use your femininity in your favor, Doc. Men are typically afraid of women as confident as you are—well most men. I’m not afraid, but I’m also not typical.” He leaned down a little to kiss her lips when she stood. “But if reasoning doesn’t work, I can always remove them permanently from the picture. We’ll figure out another way to get the UCN to go along.”

Kyra fisted a hand on her hip. “Way too dramatic, Captain Elliott. Did you ever consider that the use of force is ineffective at times? Two dead world leaders wouldn’t be helpful. I want to use them and their power the way they used me. I know that sounds bad, but as you keep reminding me, I’m one of the good guys now. The end result will justify what I have to do.”

“Damn straight it will, Doc. Now let’s rock and roll.”

“Do you have any idea what that slang phrase actually means, Peyton?”

“Not a clue. I’ll have to look it up later. There—I just made a note. Now seriously, let’s go.”

Rolling her eyes for the hundredth time that day, Kyra walked reluctantly out the door. “I don’t know why I bother trying to respond to you.”

“I do. I’ll show you later,” Peyton promised.

Following the nicest ass he’d ever come across on a woman, he shouldered his pulse cannon and grinned as they headed to the cage room.

***

Kyra walked in with a frown in place, but had to fight back a smile when King winked and Eric made smoochie lips at her. Turning away from them she saw Marcus sitting in the operating chair they had brought in for a prop. He was idly flipping a switchblade he’d gotten from a source Kyra promptly decided she didn’t need to know about. She was still worried about Marcus—more now since he’d discovered his wife had remarried. After getting the news, the man had just drawn a little bit more inside of himself. She nodded, relieved when Marcus nodded back to her.

“How’s Gloria doing today, Marcus?”

“Impatient, but not any more dysfunctional than usual,” he reported.

“Good. Thanks for keeping an eye on her. I think I’m getting closer to figuring out how to get her voice working again. I removed all the pain wiring I could find. The source of the pain she feels with each attempt is still a mystery, but I’ll solve it eventually.”

As she turned away from Marcus, one of their blindfolded hostages launched into a verbal attack.

“I recognize your voice, Dr. Winters. I don’t know why you’ve brought us here, but I can promise you this deplorable behavior will not go unpunished.”

Kyra felt no regret at all about having had Peyton’s fire team abduct the chancellors from their homes. Their wives were still soundly sleeping off a blast of knock-out gas, sparing them from seeing their husbands being abducted. Both men were still in their bedclothes, but she’d send them home dressed later. They currently had restraining devices on each wrist and were tied with ropes that would just get tighter with every move they made trying to escape.

Amazingly for once Kyra felt absolutely no compassion for the predicament of her captives. Instead she was savoring her temporary revenge.

Eric pointed to the cloth shielding their eyes and Kyra nodded. Eric shoved Chancellor Owens’s down and King shoved down Chancellor Li’s. She had a momentary flutter of alarm as she studied the professionally familiar faces she now had to consider in a new way. Jackson had let these men do some incredibly horrible things to her body. Fortunately, Peyton’s exceptional lovemaking dominated her thoughts these days. The memory of that awful night seemed surreal to her now.

Behind her, she heard Peyton clearing his throat—several times in fact—before speaking.

“What’s up, Doc? You sure are taking a long time to decide what to do with these fucking asswipes—I mean—
bad guys
.”

Kyra ignored his dramatic ruse and caught herself before she smiled. True. If the wicked chancellors had broken her legs, she’d be nothing but pissed at them. She wouldn’t let the horrible intimacy of what was done to her be a deterrent to her plans. Instead, she would use that knowledge to get what she wanted—or she would do to the chancellors what she had done to Brad. Maybe she should worry about why the power-hungry tech’s cybernetic conversion had not cost her one moment of sleep. Maybe her lack of conscience about it meant she wasn’t quite one of the good guys yet, regardless of what Peyton thought. She certainly had redefinition plans just as big and grand as anything Jackson or Brad had conceived in their sick minds. The only difference was her intensions. It was a fine line, but one she was no longer afraid to walk.

“This is no time for stupid rabbit jokes, Captain Elliot. We’re being rude to our reluctant guests.”

She didn’t turn to look at Peyton, but she knew what he was really asking. And it wasn’t about her cartoon deprivation. He wanted to know if she was going to have balls enough to dish out the retribution they’d discussed. Well, they were all about to find out.

“Hello, Chancellor Owens—and you too, Chancellor Li. Sorry for staring at you so intently. It’s just that I’m enjoying the sight of the two of you blindfolded and at my mercy instead of the other way around this time. Or are you going to pretend you don’t remember me being blindfolded while each of you took turns sexually assaulting me in some very degrading ways?”

Even after she saw the truth in their gazes, Kyra found it was much easier saying it aloud than she had imagined it would be. Maybe it was because she could see the bound Chancellors were spineless and fear-ridden men. They certainly were the kind of men who didn’t get their hands dirty doing their own evil. No, they were the kind that paid men like Jackson to do it. That was fine with her—she planned for them to keep right on paying.

“I’ll get right to the point. I intend to restore the rest of the Cyber Soldiers like I have Captain Elliott and his men, but I need you two to help me do it on a much grander scale. If you won’t do so as cooperative humans, I’m going to turn you both into compliant cyborgs who will never complain about doing anything I ask. But don’t worry, Chancellors. Only the first five hours of the conversion surgeries are actually painful, but I’m sure you’ve seen the demonstration films about the process.”