* * * * *

It was dark in the room. The lights had just gone out and it had scared the shit out of her when blackness surrounded her. The cyborg’s room was too damn quiet. The reinforced walls kept out all sound. On Vonder Station, the sound of the engines running was always a constant, soothing hum. On the Star it was similar to being sealed in a tomb.

She was curled in a ball on her side, cold, miserable, and scared. Had Iron gone to hurt Cathy? Would the girl pay because Dawn had fought off the man, prevented him from taking her by force? He scared her and she admitted that freely. He was big, alien-looking, and not all the way human. She knew cyborgs were mostly human because they got their DNA from human donors but that’s where the similarities ended. They were machines under their skin, even if they were flesh and blood ones.

The door opened suddenly, light blinding her as the room flooded with it automatically, telling her that she wasn’t alone anymore. She blinked to adjust to the light and turned her head to stare over her shoulder to see what would happen in her living nightmare now. Iron stepped inside the door as it slid closed behind him. His blue gaze locked with hers.

“I’m back.”

“I see.” She didn’t move and kept rolled in a tight ball on his bed with her back to him. He could see her ass but she couldn’t help that since she was naked. “Did you hurt Cathy?”

“No. I was doing research.”

Why did that scare her? Dawn chewed on her lip, afraid to ask what the hell that meant. She rolled over, facing him, though still tightly balled, hiding her body from his gaze.

He reached for his shirt, slowly removing it to show off his chest again. He stripped out of his pants. He had not put on his boots, had left the room barefoot, so it didn’t take him long to undress. Dawn refused to glance down his big body to see if he was turned-on again. She had a sinking feeling that the cyborg was going to take another run at her for sex.

“I just watched a male stimulate his human female’s sexual responses.” He tilted his head, staring at her. “I learn quickly.”

That totally didn’t bode well for her and she knew it as she stared at him. “Good for you.”

“Good for us.” He turned away to walk toward a storage wall. “I know how to prepare you for my c**k now.” He opened up part of the wall.

“Son of a bitch,” she whispered, struggling to sit up. He was aroused, his c**k thick, stiff, and protruding straight from his large frame as he turned to face her again. She glanced at that generous endowment and locked her thighs tightly together, feeling her heart rate climb to an accelerated pace.

“Don’t do this. You’re a cyborg and obviously you have the ability to turn your needs on or off at a thought. Shut it down.”

He walked over and dropped a few shirts on the end of the bed. “I can control my body but I have often suffered sexual urges. I own you now so I no longer have to deny myself a basic need.”

A chime sounded. It made Dawn jump, not expecting it. The cyborg turned away from her, walking calmly and totally na**d to his door. It opened up as he approached, the automatic sensors doing their job. Dawn gasped when she saw two more cyborgs standing there. Their gazes went directly to her and her na**d body.

“Fuck,” she cursed, jerking her knees up, trying to hide her exposed body to their view. Terror hit her as the two men stepped into the room. That son of a bitch was going to turn her into a ship whore to share with his buddies. “No!”

Iron ignored her to step back. “Bring it in.”

A third cyborg suddenly came into view, although he was hard to see behind the cot he carried. It was an entire framed unit with mattress and rails. There wasn’t much room to spare as the men all worked together to put it down flat between the cleansing room area and the end of the bed. Dawn huddled tighter, terrified, watching the three strange cyborgs send looks her way that told her they were interested in her.

“Leave,” Iron ordered the men. “Thank you for your assistance.”

One of the men hesitated when the other two turned away to leave. The dark-skinned cyborg with black hair and dark eyes remained. “A word, Iron?”

Iron frowned but nodded. Iron crossed his arms over his chest, seemingly oblivious to his na**d body or aroused state. He could have been fully dressed by the way he behaved as he waited for the other cyborg to talk.

“I haven’t had a female in a very long time. Would you consider either selling her or renting her to me for use for a good price? If you sell her, I will give you use of her body for free for the first month as a bonus. I could make a good profit with her on the ship. Many males would pay a high price for her.”

“No!” Dawn shouted. Her terrified look centered on Iron, who met her eyes with a bored expression. “Please don’t do this to me. I’m not a sex worker, damn it. I haven’t had sex in two years. I’ll make a deal with you.”

Red eyebrows arched. “Aren’t you going to offer to fight me again to determine your fate?”

Chapter Three

Hatred for this jerk burned through her. He was being a sarcastic prick at the moment. He held her life in his hands now though. She bit back some choice names she wanted to toss at him. She had to take a deep breath to even speak around her anger and fear.

“I won’t fight you again if you make him leave. Please don’t sell me or rent me out to other cyborgs.”

He just stared at her, expressionless, as the seconds ticked away. She’d kicked him off the bed. Would this be the way he got back at her? She licked her lips, feeling really dry mouthed from her terror.

“Please don’t do this to me. You know I’m afraid of you. I’m sorry if I pissed you off but put yourself in my shoes.”

“I would never be as weak as you. I would have fought to the death before I allowed myself to be captured.”

She bit back the word “asshole”. “Please don’t do this to me.”

“I will let you decide your own fate.” He let his arms drop and moved around the bed, having to brush against the other cyborg to reach her. He leaned down, releasing her wrists with just a few quick motions of his hands. “Do what I say and show me that keeping you with me for my private use is a good investment.”

Dawn lunged, grabbed the cover from his bed and jerked the material over her exposed body to hide it from both men’s view.

She rubbed her wrists as he backed away from her. She was free. Her gaze jerked to the other cyborg. He was watching her intently, his black gaze scaring her. Her attention went to Iron, hating him a bit more because she knew whatever he ordered her to do, she’d have to obey or face the consequences by possibly being given to the other male.

“Stand up and go lie flat on your back on the cot.”

Hot tears burned the back of her eyes as she got to her feet. Her hands fisted the cover, tearing if off the bed to clutch it to her chest, hiding as much of her bare body as possible. She put her chin up, trying to conceal how vulnerable and embarrassed she was at being so exposed. She moved to the cot, only hesitating for a second while she adjusted the cover before she lay down flat on her back. She held really still, waiting to see what he had in store for her.

“I want your hands above your head. Grip the bar of the frame with your palms up, fingers curled around the metal.”

It was hard to let go of the material, knowing he could just jerk it off to expose her to the other man, but she released the cover and reached up. One day, if she survived this, he’d let his guard down and she’d get even with him for all of this, she silently swore. The metal was cold as her fingers curled around it. Iron grabbed the shirts he had dumped on the bed and approached her. He didn’t look at her or meet her eyes as he bent. She heard material tear and didn’t jerk away from his touch as he used the arms of one of his shirts to bind her wrists to the bar above her head. The material wrapped over her fingers, securing them in place firmly. His gaze met hers and she saw amusement flicker in his eyes.

Oh yeah, she swore to herself silently, the first chance I get, I am going to kill you. She was humiliated, terrified, and he was enjoying it, not even bothering to hide it from her as he continued to stare at her. He finally lowered his gaze to her covered legs.

“Spread your legs open wide. I want your feet flat on the frame just under your ass and your knees over the edge of each side.”

She closed her eyes to hide the tears that surfaced. It was pure hell as she was forced to submit to his demands. She was terrified that he was lying to her as she spread her thighs, wiggling so that when her legs slid out from under the material it stayed bunched in the center. She put her feet on the cold metal sides of the cot, grateful the cover was hiding her pu**y, which would have been exposed to his view as her knees dropped all the way open. If he let that other cyborg rape her after she complied… She pushed that thought away, not even wanting to deal with that horror.

Material brushing against her knee made her jerk but she only tensed, not fighting him or trying to get away. Her eyes opened when the material tightened around her thigh. She looked down to see what he was doing to her. Shock tore through her as she realized he was binding her legs open by using a shirt to tie her in place. He was at least careful to keep her vital girl parts covered.

He straightened fully and then just stepped over her and the cot to reach the other side. He crouched there, another shirt in his hand as he set to work on her other leg, tying it to the frame. Movement in her peripheral vision made her attention jerk away from Iron and what he was doing. The other cyborg stepped closer, his gaze locked on her body.

“I want to see all of her. She’s small.”

“I know,” Iron tied off the shirt and stood. “It was expected that she be smaller framed than our women. They made us much larger than standard humans.”

“I’ve done human females. I meant she is too thin. In order for her to survive long she needs to gain mass.”

They thought she was too thin? Dawn gritted her teeth. She not only was terrified and humiliated by being totally vulnerable in the worst way a woman could be, her legs tied open while she was na**d under a thin cover that barely hid her nudity, but they were discussing her as if she were a piece of furniture not to their liking. She hoped they weren’t interested in her enough to want her though, on second thought.

“Leave,” Iron said softly.

The other cyborg frowned. “I’m willing to pay quite a bit for her.”

Iron’s head snapped up, his eyes narrowed and his expression turned ice cold. “I said leave now or I’ll remove you. The female and I agreed to the terms and she is following them by obeying my commands. I ordered you to leave. Consider the viewing of her body as a gift. That’s all you’re going to get.”

The other male’s features tightened but he spun away and left the room. Dawn’s body relaxed slightly now that the tense moment was over. For a second she thought they’d go to blows and she was on a cot between them. That wouldn’t have been good at all. Her gaze turned to Iron. He was already watching her.

“Try to remain relaxed.”

She opened her mouth, not sure how to respond to that but he moved then, straddling the cot below her. Her gaze followed him as he sat just a few feet from where her legs were tied open. Big hands gripped the cover, and with one jerk, he bared her entire body to his view. He dropped the cover onto the floor next to the cot. He lowered his gaze to stare with concentration at her pu**y.

“Please don’t—”

“Silence.” His intense look rose to meet hers. “I will activate your sex drive for you and then I will carefully posses your body. I don’t wish you harm.”

He is going to activate my sex drive? Who the hell talks like that? She frowned but then reminded herself he was a cyborg. Obviously they weren’t romantic in any way imaginable. She tried to wiggle away as his warm hand wrapped around her inner thigh and his fingers curled close to her sex but she was tied down too tightly to be able to move away.