UNIT 78: RESCUED (CyBRG Files Book 2) Read online

Then, to her horror, she burst into tears.

  Her sister flew to her and wrapped her arms around Kyrin’s neck, but Rich answered her.

  “Like hell they are.” His deep voice was hard now, none of the teasing banter left. “I’ll kill anyone who tries it.” He glared menacingly at the nurse and orderly who were backing slowly away.

  “Hey, man—I just w-work here,” the orderly stammered. “She’s yours. You can have her.”

  “I thought she was crazy,” the nurse whispered. “Always going on about cyborgs…”

  “Yeah, we’re rare as unicorns—prettier though.” Wilkins flashed a grin at her. “Not as magical though unless you think a man with the firepower of a blaster cannon and mega-fast processing speed is magic.”

  “Just…stay away from me.” The nurse’s nerve broke and she turned to run, her rubber-soled shoes squeaking on the tile floor like frightened mice.

  “Pity,” Jake remarked. “I was gonna let her stroke my horn if she fed me an apple.”

  “80, you idiot,” Harper growled and then Abby was unfastening the straps that held Kyrin’s arms in place and helping her sit up so they could hug properly.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, but she met Rich’s eyes over her sister’s shoulder. “Thank you all so much for coming for me.”

  “I’ll always come for you, sweetheart.” Rich’s voice was low and hoarse, and his pale blue eyes were filled to overflowing with emotion. Kyrin thought that despite his metal battle armor and his cybernetic accoutrement, he had never looked more human.

  “Come on,” Drew growled before she could answer. “Hate to break up the reunion but Doc can only hold them so long at the front desk before they start calling in the big guns. We need to get Kyrin out of here!”

  “I’m coming!” Kyrin struggled to get off the stretcher. Abby helped her but then Kyrin’s legs gave way like wet noodles and she almost fell.

  Suddenly strong arms were scooping her up.

  “I’ve got you,” Rich murmured in her ear. “Just relax, sweetheart. We’re gonna get you out of here.”

  “Thank you,” Kyrin whispered and then the drug, which she’d been fighting with all her might, suddenly swallowed her whole. Her head sank against the big cyborg’s chest and everything went black.

  Chapter Fifteen

  She woke up in a white room with a distinct medicinal odor wafting through the air. For a moment she panicked, thinking the rescue had been a dream. Thinking she was still back in the hospital, just coming out of the anesthesia after the termination.

  “No…no!” she cried, scrabbling madly to get her hands under the white sheet that covered her, wanting to touch her belly, needing to see what had been done to her. “No, my baby!”

  “The baby is fine, Kyrin.” Suddenly Doctor Chambers’ face was hovering over her. “I ran some tests to be certain while you were out. She’s healthy and normal with absolutely no complications that I can see.”

  Kyrin stared at her, uncomprehending for a moment.

  “She? She?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” The doctor looked concerned. “Should I not have told you? Did you want it to be a surprise?”

  “A surprise?”

  Kyrin was aware that she was repeating everything the other woman said, but she couldn’t seem to help it. Her mouth hadn’t yet caught up with her racing brain. At last she managed to get some words of her own out.

  “I’m going to have a daughter?”

  “You and Rich are going to have a daughter,” Dr. Chambers emphasized gently. “If you want him to be involved, that is.”

  “If…” Kyrin shook her head, still trying to make sense of things. “I mean, do you think he’ll want to be involved?” She well remembered the protective rage in the big cyborg’s eyes when he’d come to rescue her from the awful hospital, but she wasn’t certain that protective possessiveness extended to the new life growing inside her.

  “Hell yes, I’d like to be involved. If you’ll let me.”

  Rich came striding around the corner of the med bay, his pale blue eyes flashing.

  “Sorry, Doc, I know you said to wait,” he said to Dr. Chambers, who was giving him a reproving look. “But I heard her voice and I just couldn’t help myself.”

  He dropped to his metal knees beside Kyrin’s cot and took her hands in his.

  “You all right, sweetheart?” he asked, his voice still gruff with emotion. “Do you want me to give you a little more time?”

  That was the last thing Kyrin wanted.

  “Rich…” She squeezed his big hands—one metal and one human—tightly with her own. “Did…did you really mean what you said? Do you really want to be involved—to be the baby’s father?”

  “I am the baby’s father,” he growled fiercely. “I want to be with you every step of the way, Kyrin.” He looked at her earnestly. “Now, I know…I know you have your career at IPKA—”

  “Not anymore.” Kyrin couldn’t quite keep the bitterness out of her voice. “My father ended that for me. I doubt they’d take me back anyway after what I went through, even if he hadn’t. I’d be considered too traumatized to ever act as a negotiating Peace Officer again.”

  “I know a place where they could use a peace negotiator,” Doctor Chambers, who had been watching quietly, remarked. “It’s this big ship filled with men who are half metal. They scare regular people to death. I think having a negotiator with past IPKA experience under her belt would go a looong way toward smoothing their way in the galaxy.”

  Rich looked up at the doctor and then back to Kyrin, grinning.

  “That’s a damn good idea, Doc!”

  “I’ve been known to have a few of those.” Dr. Chambers smiled modestly. “Listen, you two, I have some things I need to see to outside the med bay. Kyrin, you’re healthy and free to go when you want,” she added. “I’m sure you and Rich would like to talk about everything that has happened.”

  “Yes…” Kyrin still felt dazed at the way her life was changing so rapidly. “Yes, I think we’d better. But first…” She looked at the big cyborg pleadingly. “Can I have a shower? They watched me day and night at that damn hospital and almost never let me be alone to bathe.”

  “Of course, sweetheart.” He rose smoothly and offered her a hand. “You can use the shower in my quarters. If…” He cleared his throat. “If you want to.”

  “Thank you. That sounds perfect.” Kyrin nodded gratefully. She took the big cyborg’s hand and was relieved to see that she was much more steady on her feet than she had been the last time she’d tried to stand up. But she liked being near him—feeling the warmth of his big body. So she let herself lean against him anyway.

  Rich took the hint immediately and swept her into his arms.

  “Come on, sweetheart,” he rumbled. “My place is this way.”

  And he carried her off, out of the med bay and down the long metal hall.

  The way she nestled against his broad chest, curled up trustingly against him, was a salve to Rich’s soul. He couldn’t help brushing his lips against her temple as he walked, nodding to the few units they passed in the hallways.

  No one stopped them to chat, simply nodding their heads and adding a small smile as the big cyborg carried his tiny little woman carefully. Which was good. There was no way he’d have been polite to any of them, not even Drew, at the moment. His only focus was looking after her.

  He hadn’t missed the things she’d been screaming when they’d found her yesterday. That the father of her baby was a cyborg and she loved him. Did she mean the baby or him? No, it couldn’t be the baby… he’d heard the doc tell her the baby was a little girl.

  Ahh, but she didn’t know that then, did she? the little voice sneered. And even if she didn’t mean the baby, they had her strung out on drugs again. She had no clue WHAT she was saying.

  He hated that voice. Seriously fucking hated it. But it had a point, even if he didn’t want to admit it. He might not be able to count on anything she was screaming to g