her fall as she collapsed to the floor. Pain shot up both knees as they slammed into the unforgiving metal. She stared up at Flint in horror.

“No. Don’t say that.”

Flint’s expression softened as he crouched na**d in front of her to stare into her eyes. “I told you to obey me. You humiliated me in front of my crew when you ran away. You cost a lot of money to chase down. What was I supposed to do? Keep you when you didn’t want to be kept? I had no idea you’d still want to be mine when you were returned. I sold you to Iron before I knew you were ill. It’s done and nothing can change that.”

She reached for him, grabbing his hands. “Please, Flint. Use my money to buy me back. Don’t let him take me. I want to stay with you. Do you want me to crawl? I’m already begging.”

Flint jerked his hands from hers as he straightened to his full height. He moved away from her to another part of the room. He kept his back to her.

“He is set on the sale. He wants you and now he’ll have you in a few hours. Even if I offer him money for you so he’d make a profit he will not sell you back.”

Her mind was in a daze. “But I carry your mark. Doc said no cyborg would want me with another cyborg’s branding mark on me.”

Flint turned to frown at her. “He won’t keep you for long. He’ll sell you to another when he gets bored.

I could buy you back when he’s done with you but…” He sighed. “I don’t think you will be the same.”

“You mean you don’t think I’ll be sane.”

Dark blue eyes looked away from her. “That and Iron made it clear after he purchased you that he’d be willing to rent you out to the men on the ship for a few hours at a time. I didn’t know until after we’d agreed to the sale.” His eyes turned back to Mira. “Plenty of them were interested. I had plans for you, Mira. Those plans are broken now.”

“What plans?” If she wasn’t cried out already she probably would have started again.

“I wanted to breed. I wanted to have children with you. I was going to take you to Garden and make a family unit with you.”

Pain and shock tore through her. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“I had no reason to share my plans for our future with you. I owned you so I didn’t feel the need to discuss it with you because I thought you might argue with me about it. I didn’t want to make you emotional again. I didn’t know how you would react to my plans. By the time Iron is done with you, having a family unit with you would be impossible. He’ll have to make you sterile when he rents you out so you won’t breed.”

“You said I couldn’t get pregnant by you.”

“You can’t get pregnant by me now. I haven’t taken shots to activate my sperm to make them viable.

Then I will be able to impregnate you. Not all cyborgs need them. Most cyborgs have viable sperm.” He sighed. “Iron told me after I sold you that he was having your uterus removed. Most pleasure workers have that done to prevent pregnancies and if males get rough it reduces the risk of internal bleeding.

There is less to damage.” He shook his head. “He never mentioned any of this before the sale. I wouldn’t have sold you to him if I had known all of his plans.”

Mira got to her shaky legs and walked to the bed. She sat down hard and curled her arms around her legs, hugging them. She started to rock back and forth. Her future was going to be hell. Iron was going to turn her into a ship whore. She’d rather die than suffer what Iron had planned for her.

“I have to return you to Med, Mira,” Flint said softly. “I was angry when I sold you. If I had known you would want to be returned to me, I wouldn’t have made the deal with him. It is done. I can’t make him sell you back to me.”

Mira lifted her head to stare into his Flint’s eyes. She didn’t miss the regret there and she could swear she saw sadness reflected in the cyborg’s gaze. It wasn’t going to save her though from what Iron would