Zorus watched him silently. “Perhaps. She’s been deemed healthy for reproduction. While she’s smaller than our female cyborgs, it won’t harm her. She has threatened to castrate any male who attempts it.”

“What do you want?” Krell released the doorjamb and crossed his arms over his chest.

“I want to send her here. I will tell the council you’ll be perfect for her. I’m certain you will learn how to read her enough to discover if she’s telling the truth or if she’s lying. It’s what you do best. You will get to the bottom of this mystery.”

“No.”

“What if she is Emily Pleva? Do you want to tell Mavo you could have protected her from another male who may agree with the majority of the council that assigning her into a family unit is the only option? Do you think he’ll be thrilled if that male decides to force the issue? She’s attractive, on Garden with strangers, and vulnerable.”

Krell clenched his teeth. “That’s low. No male would harm her.”

“Are you certain? Some of us hold grudges against humans and she appears to be a human. They may not give her the respect due a cyborg female. Some may even logically assume she isn’t to be given the option of saying no to physical contact. What are the odds of a male not touching her when she’s been given to him? If he has a good friend or has friends who have been waiting for a female to join with them, who is to say he won’t accept them into the family unit? It will be up to the primary male to make those decisions in her case. He’ll have total control of what happens to her since she won’t be given rights to make her own choices.”

“You’re talking about a male inside a family unit. You said you wanted me to guard her.” Alarms were triggered inside Krell’s brain.

“The council was waiting to speak to me after I left her room. They want her joined into a family unit immediately. I couldn’t talk them out of it and the majority overruled my objections. They refuse to send her to detention but she can’t be trusted either. The logical choice was assigning her to a family unit with at least one male to care for her and to help her adjust to life on Garden. They are planning on convening in the morning to go over candidates to find the appropriate male to give her to.”

He shook his head. “No.” He backed up, his hands lowered to his sides, and he glared at Councilman Zorus. “I am not a male to ever join into a family unit. I am not obligated to do so.”

“You’re scarred and damaged but still eligible if you wish to join one. That was your choice to option out and the council agreed, considering your odds of finding a female willing to take you on were very low.”

“I’m undesirable. Our women don’t want me because of my damaged appearance.”

“You won’t force her into a physical relationship and you are antisocial.” Zorus stepped inside his home, closed the door and lowered his voice. “You intimidate and frighten other cyborg males. None will be eager to try to persuade you into sharing her inside a family unit. I know you won’t hurt her.”

“No.” There was no way he wanted a female, especially that one, and Zorus couldn’t make him agree.

“What if she really is Emily Pleva? She saved all of our lives and Mavo will eventually hear about her. I’ll have to tell him that I came to you, explained the situation, and you didn’t even try to protect her. He’s still your friend, isn’t he? I heard he named one of his sons after you and listed that child as your required replacement. He had a child and registered it as yours, just to alleviate your duty to produce one. I can use public opinion to give her an exemption from our laws if you’re able to determine she really is the human who helped us rebel. Every cyborg knows Emily Pleva the one human who has always been our friend. They’ll see her as such and not as a cyborg. Our laws won’t apply to her. She won’t be forced to live with males she doesn’t wish to. She’s very set against it. Think of how much that would mean to Mavo if you protected her. He’s done a lot for you.”

“We should contact Mavo, have him return to Garden and speak with the prisoner. He could determine if she’s telling the truth. He knew her well.”

“But what if she is a spy and not his precious human? Do you remember how torn he was? The agony and guilt he suffered leaving her behind after all she’d done for us? He felt certain she suffered punishment for her actions. It would rip open those old wounds that have healed if he’s given hope she is who she claims to be but tear him apart if she’s not. I would really prefer he not find out about this until we’re certain of who we are truly dealing with. I can prevent him from learning about this while he’s assigned on the Vontage with Steel. I can even extend their mission to give you a few weeks to discover the truth. That way when the ship returns home we’ll be able to tell him the truth.”

“You’re an ass**le.”

A grin suddenly curved the other cyborg’s mouth. “So are you. We both care about Mavo and he cares about that human. We don’t want him to be hurt.”

Krell knew when he’d been outmaneuvered. That would be the sinking feeling inside his gut and the anger that heated his blood. “There will be no joining ceremony. This isn’t real. It’s temporary. I’ll prove she’s a spy, unworthy to live, or that she is Emily Pleva. This nonsense ends as soon as I am certain either way.”

“Agreed.” Zorus had the nerve to chuckle. “I’ll inform the council that you wish to join with her. They’ll easily agree since she acknowledged she knew you from before or at least claimed to. It will be a relief to them to avoid making that decision.”

“I never met her while on Earth.”

“They’ll be happy to have a resolution. You’re a good candidate.” Zorus paused. “Is your sperm viable? That may be considered by them as a negative if it isn’t.”

“I’m not touching her.”

“I know that but the council doesn’t.”

“Unbelievable,” Krell growled. “I have viable sperm if I take the injections to activate it. I am not completely sterile.”

“Perfect. I see nothing for the council to object to.”

“She won’t agree.” Hope soared inside Krell at that prospect. He’d thrown the female across a room and while she hadn’t been afraid of his appearance, she wouldn’t welcome it. “You said it yourself. She is very set against joining a family unit.”

Zorus smiled. “I’ll handle that. Make an appointment with Medical to get the shots. We want this to look good. I have a friend there who owes me a favor. I’ll contact him, make him agree to state that you took the shots, and after he agrees, I’ll tell you who to see.” Zorus hesitated. “You refused to put name markings on your body due to your abundance of scars. I’ll tell the council you still hold an aversion to putting more on your body to explain your lack of wishing a joining ceremony to be performed. They’ll accept that easily.”

“I’m not touching her.”

“You won’t have to and you don’t really have to take the shots to activate your sperm but we want all the paperwork to appear real. That’s why I’m calling in the favor.” Zorus spun, opened the door and sailed out.

Krell glared at the closed door and growled. “I hate that jerk.”

Chapter Four

Cyan watched the big cyborg cautiously as Krell’s cold blue eyes raked down her body. His scars were revealed clearly, his long black hair pulled back inside a leather thong behind his neck in a long braid that fell to his waist, and she was pretty certain he’d purposely done it to intimidate her. He wasn’t wearing a uniform now. Instead he wore a black tank top that showed off the scars on his throat and his arms. More scars were displayed on his chest where the material didn’t cover.

“I have a guestroom,” he grunted, his raspy voice harsh. “You are not permitted to leave my home. I’ve been warned of your hacking skills if you are the human you claim to be. I will refrain from saying that name due to being told it causes you pain. The systems have been taken offline and only work manually with my palm print.” He raised one hand, showed it to her, and his eyes narrowed. “You’d have to drag my unconscious body to the door lock to get it open. It would register if I didn’t have a pulse.” The hand tightened into a fist as it lowered to his side. “I wouldn’t recommend attacking me. You’d lose.”

“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “My, aren’t you friendly.”

“Is that a joke?” He didn’t appear amused.

“I guess not.”

He growled under his breath. “This was not my idea and I’m not pleased with having a houseguest. I don’t trust you. I believe you’re still working for Earth Government but the council refused to detain you. You need around-the-clock supervision.”

“And it was your lucky day?”

Blue eyes narrowed more.

“Keep doing that and you won’t be able to see me.” She mimicked him, hoping to draw a smile, and wondered how well he could see her. “You’re blurry.” She stopped squinting at him and smiled. “Who did you piss off to get this assignment?”

He frowned but his eyes opened fully. “It was determined by Councilman Zorus that you should stay here. He knows I won’t touch you while other males might be inclined to do so.”

“Touch me? As in ‘I look human and they wanted to mess with my face because I’m the enemy’ or in a way that would make me castrate them?”

“Either way. I don’t beat on females without cause and I’m not interested in you physically.”

“Good thing.” Her gaze raked up and down him with a quick sweep. “You’re huge. I can’t say her real name either without it causing pain, so I’ll call her Bee. She used to tell me that while she’d had a hand in creating males, she made everything size proportionate to their bodies. She had a twisted sense of humor and couldn’t resist arguing that point in the developmental stages. She won that fight.”

The cyborg frowned.

“Bee was your creator’s assistant from the beginning. She helped him with every step of the process in creating cyborgs. She also fought to give you the ability to grow hair quicker because she had a thing for long-haired men.” Cyan shrugged. “She also hated hairy men from the neck down.” She glanced at his black pants and her smile widened before she jerked it up to his face. “No manscaping needed.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you don’t have a lot of body hair and you don’t need to shave. You can thank a man on the team for having armpit hair. He said you’d look odd without it. Some Models were given a little chest hair because of him as well.” She glanced at the bare skin showing above the material of his shirt, no hair in sight, and met his gaze again. “You didn’t get any. You weren’t designed for a mining assignment. They worked with their shirts off because of the extreme heat. He wanted those Models to fit in with human workers.”

He stared at her for a long moment while Cyan shifted her stance. “Too personal? Sorry. I tend to babble when I’m nervous.”

“What else do you know about us?”

She hesitated. “You were designed to be a security model. Your height and tankish body give it away. They wanted you to tower above the average human and be built for intimidation. Mission accomplished. You sure do that. I bet it’s tough to find shirts big enough to fit you.”

He said nothing.

“Be happy you aren’t purple. That was Bee’s favorite color but the guys on the team refused. They chose gray tones instead since they were ordered to make it obvious you weren’t human. She wanted to go with a nice magenta, which is kind of bright and a little pink. It totally would have ruined the badass look you have going on.”