as much right to be here as we do. Shut your eyes, bend over, and forget they are here. Obey me.”

She shut her eyes and bent over the table, her fingers digging hard into the med bed in anger. “If you weren’t such a strong, big son of a bitch I’d at least try to slap you for that ‘obey me’ crap you keep saying. I’m not a lap dog.”

She heard a male chuckle. It wasn’t Flint. She knew it came from Doc.

“You have to move out of the way for me to reach her, Flint. I have to hike up her shirt and touch her to remove it.”

“Watch where you touch,” Flint warned.

“I’m not going to molest her. Goddamn, Flint, I’m old enough to be her father. It might be a long damn time since I saw a na**d woman but it hasn’t been that long. Move farther back to give me room to work. I have to give her a shot and then remove that ID chip. I’ll scan the back of her legs while I’m here. Are you sure you want me to brand her?”

“You know it needs to be done to protect her.”

Doc sighed. “Right. I spend too much time on this ship.”

Chapter Five

Mira didn’t open her eyes but she jumped a little when her shirt lifted to expose her ass. She flushed. If she opened her eyes she knew she’d see twenty-four cyborgs watching her. Her only comfort was that she was facing them so her backside wasn’t exposed to their view. She kept her eyes closed and tried like hell to forget their existence but it was impossible to do.

“Are you branded, Doc?” She decided to sidetrack her thoughts.

“Nope.”Something cold was wiped against her skin numbing the area. “I live on the Star —the ship we are on now. I’m the full-time medic who takes care of the crew.”

“How did you end up on the ship?”

He chuckled. “She’s full of questions, Flint. Am I allowed to answer her?”

“That’s fine if you don’t mind her curiosity,” Flint said softly, standing very close to her elbow at the side of the table, watching Doc closely. “She seems to like asking questions.”

“I used to be the medic on this ship when humans still had her. The Star was a recon ship looking for other habitable planets until pirates hit us four years ago. I was one of the lucky ones to survive the takeover since they needed a breathing medic. I was stuck in that hellish situation for a year, little more than a prisoner forced to work for them, while they barely kept me alive. Then one day we got boarded by these fellows. They rid me of the pirates and offered to send me back to Earth on the next ship they stopped that was heading that way since they were keeping the Star . I decided to tag along instead since I don’t have anything on Earth to go back to and this is my home. I’m pretty happy here. They feed me well, keep me stocked in reading material, and the company is good. I even get a trip to the Borian every few months when we go there to trade.”

“What is the Borian ? I haven’t heard of that.”

The Doc hesitated. “Well, now, um…”

“It’s a floating pleasure ship,” Flint said softly. “We barter with them. Garden is a lush planet. We grow many crops and have plenty of water. We exchange with them for what we need.”

Mira’s eyes snapped open and she turned her head to stare up at Flint in shock. “You trade that for sex?” She didn’t like the idea of Flint sleeping with pleasure workers. She had heard about those ships, that they were floating gambling casinos for the most part with female sex workers where diseases ran rampant, even with current medical technology.

Flint frowned. “No. We trade for materials for our clothing, electronic equipment, and supplies we can’t obtain on Garden.”

Relief hit her. “Oh.”

“We pay money for that,” Doc chuckled. “They only deal in currency for sex.”

Flint looked away from her, turning his full attention on her backside. “He’s got the ID chip out.”

She was shocked it was over that quickly. She hadn’t experienced any pain. Doc had already given her a shot to fight infection before slicing out the tag. She grimaced at the thought of him cutting into her ass.

“Is the cut bad?”

Flint shook his head. “It is under an inch and it was shallowly put.