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

  “Well, I have a prescription for that,” Dr. Chambers said crisply. “How about a hot shower, a little clear broth, and a good night’s sleep?”

  Kyrin thought about that—thought about being able to sleep without being drugged and to wake without worrying that today would be the day her body and mind finally succumbed to the breeding chemicals. It sounded wonderful.

  Of course you already succumbed, whispered a nasty little voice in her brain. You went completely fuck-lust crazy and begged Rich to breed you when you hardly even know him. I wonder what he thinks of you now?

  The voice made her remember her own voice, hoarse with longing as she begged for his cock inside her. It made her remember the way she’d bucked her hips toward him, trying to get more of him inside her.

  No better than a bitch in heat, it whispered.

  Kyrin winced in shame. Goddess, if only she could forget what she’d done—what she’d become. If only she could have met the big cyborg when she was in her right mind instead of strung out on breeding drugs and high on lust.

  Of course, he’d done what he could for her, even though it couldn’t have been easy for him. He had been kind and patient and hadn’t showed any of the disgust he must have felt when he’d had to lick up the sticky secretions from her breasts or breed her when she was in heat, but how did he really feel? Was he inwardly revolted by her? Did he hate what he’d had to do in order to complete his mission and rescue her?

  Kyrin didn’t want to know. But she couldn’t help thinking wistfully of what she’d seen when Rich had first brought her into the medical cubical—the other big cyborg kissing Dr. Chambers like he couldn’t get enough of her. Would that have been her and Rich if she’d met him under other, less crazy and awful circumstances? Could they have come together on their own?

  “Hey, you’re awfully quiet there, Kyrin.” The doctor’s soft voice broke into her dizzy loop of self-recriminating thoughts. “What do you think of my prescription of shower, soup, and sleep?”

  “I think it sounds wonderful,” Kyrin said gratefully. “I want a hot shower right now more than I think I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.”

  Except to be bred. Don’t forget how badly you wanted that. You begged for it, whispered that nasty little inner voice. Kyrin winced, wishing she could be rid of it—wishing she could get away from the shame and pain of what she’d just been through.

  But as the doctor helped her off the table and led her to a shower unit, she had a bad feeling the nasty little voice was here to stay. Nothing could erase what had been done to her…or make her forget the way she’d acted. Even under the influence of the breeding drugs, she felt she had crossed a line she could never forgive herself for crossing. She had gone too far into darkness, and the darkness had made a place for itself inside her.

  Kyrin wondered if she would ever feel normal again.

  Chapter Ten

  Kyrin tossed restlessly on the small cot in the med cube where Dr. Chambers had left her. After the hot shower and the clear broth, which had helped to settle her stomach, she had drifted off into an exhausted sleep.

  But even in sleep, she couldn’t seem to escape her past.

  “Wake up, Novice! Today is the blessed day! The day you will be bred.”

  “What?” Kyrin opened her eyes and found she was back in the Breeding Compound with Sister Yancy standing over her, the light of fanaticism in her eyes.

  But hadn’t she escaped from here? Hadn’t Rich come to save her? Where was Rich?

  Kyrin looked around but the big cyborg was nowhere to be found. Instead there was only Sister Yancy. Then, suddenly, Father Tr’Ayer appeared beside her.

  “She’s mine—mine this time. Mine to breed!” His silver teeth got closer and closer as Kyrin shrank away from him, trying to cover herself and shivering because she was naked and alone, so alone…

  Then, all at once they were in the Breeding Chamber again and once more she was being strapped into the awful metal and leather harness. Everyone in the crowd was cheering for her to be bred. But when she looked at the person strapping her in, it wasn’t Rich—it was Father Tr’Ayer ogling her naked body, his eyes filled with an avid, greedy lust.

  “Breed her! Breed her!” the crowd chanted and every one of them had Sister Yancy’s face. “BREED HER! BREED HER!”

  “No!” Kyrin screamed, trying to twist away from the straps that held her in place. “No, I don’t want you! Where’s Rich? I need Rich!”

  “I’m here, sweetheart—right here.” A low, familiar voice broke through the dream, scattering it to shards, and then Kyrin felt strong arms around her, holding her close.

  “Rich?” His warm scent, spicy and masculine, reached her nose and convinced her this wasn’t a dream. “Oh, Rich…” She buried her face in his broad chest, trembling so hard she felt like she might shake herself apart.

  “Sweetheart…” There was a helpless tenderness in his deep voice, as though he didn’t know what to do for her.

  Just hold me, Kyrin wanted to tell him. Just hold me and don’t hate me for what you had to do to get me free of the Tr’Lows.

  But she couldn’t seem to get any words out. All she could do was press against him until, slowly, the shaking began to die down.

  “Are you okay?” he asked at last. “I heard you calling for me and I was right outside the med cube door, standing guard so…”

  “I…was having a dream.” Kyrin looked up at him. “A bad one. I…I was back at the compound.”

  His mouth turned down in an angry frown.

  “Those bastards! I wish I could kill every last one of them for what they did to you. I’m so sorry I didn’t get you out of there in time, sweetheart.”

  “What do you mean?” Kyrin looked at him in obvious confusion. “You did get to me in time. You saved me, Rich.”

  “Not from myself.” His frown turned into an expression of self-recrimination. “I’m so damn sorry for what I had to do to you in there, Kyrin. I hope…hope someday you’ll forgive me.”

  “What you had to do? Don’t you mean what I begged you to do?” She laughed bitterly. “Goddess, when I think of what you went through to get me out of there…it must make you sick when you think of it.”

  “What?” He shook his head. “What are you talking about? Why would touching you…making love to you, make me sick, sweetheart?”

  “Call it what it was—breeding,” Kyrin said bluntly. “And how could it not make you sick? When I think of the state I was in, leaking and needy and begging you to…” She shook her head and looked away, unable to go on.

  “Hey. Hey, look at me.” He hooked a finger under her chin and turned her gently so she had to look into those pale blue, strangely beautiful eyes. “Nothing about you could ever make me sick or disgusted, Kyrin,” he told her. “You’re beautiful. So fucking gorgeous it hurts me.” He put a fist over his chest as though to illustrate where the pain was. “I’m the one who’s a monster—half man, half metal, just like in that fucked-up prophecy of the Tr’Lows.”

  “I don’t mind your metal half,” Kyrin said shyly. “I mean, I’ve heard stories about rogue cyborgs and all the damage they can do but well…you’re not like that. You’re kind and patient and generous, and you came to save me when no one else would or could.” She put a hand on his arm—the metal one, not the human one. “Thank you, Rich. Without you I would have died.”

  “And…” He cleared his throat. “You don’t hate me for what I did in…in the, uh, Breeding Chamber?”

  “You did what you had to do to save me,” Kyrin assured him quietly. “I don’t see how you could have done anything else.”

  “It’s just…” He frowned and looked down at her hand still resting lightly on his metal arm. “Just that I swore to your father I wouldn’t touch you. Not that I care what he says. Our unit doesn’t recognize the Space Corps’ brass as our COs anymore.” There was a note of pride in his deep voice. “But I do try to keep my word when I can. I fucked up pretty badly this time