Being Green (Cyborg Sizzle Book 5) (2 page)

His Shelby frowned, appearing adorably fierce. “That’s not right. No being should be forced to kill.”

“Many humans don’t consider cyborgs to be beings.”

She nibbled on her bottom lip, her thoughts and emotions easy to read. His little female felt outrage on his behalf, then intrigue, then understanding of his predicament. “Some humans don’t value plants either.”

“I value my plant.” Windy meant the worlds to him. “I’m risking my existence to speak with you. If the Humanoid Alliance realizes a cyborg is free--”

“How would they realize that? I won’t tell them.” His Shelby stared at him.

Green held her gaze. What was she saying? Would she help him, help Windy?

“Did you finally determine what your plant’s species was?” She
would
help them. “My expertise is ancient Earth botany. If it doesn’t fall into that area, I can’t help you.”

Green grinned, his female’s prissiness amusing him. “This is Windy.” He set his plant on his lap. “Her previous models came from Earth.” That was Zip’s hypothesis.

“Hmmm…” Shelby leaned forward, her beautiful face filling the screen. “Can you turn the container for me?”

He complied.

The thought lines between her eyebrows captivated him. Cyborgs were taught to hide their feelings. His little human didn’t have that training, all of her emotions written on her countenance.

“It appears to be a species of poppy.”

“She,” he corrected.

“She.” Her gaze flicked to him, then back down at his plant. “Some beings consider poppies to be weeds. They spread with the early explorers to other planets, have completely taken over at least two that I know of, strangling the native vegetation.”

Green’s amusement faded. He loved Windy and wanted his Shelby to love her also. “Do you consider poppies to be weeds?”

“Of course not,” she replied indignantly. “Poppies are an important part of an ecosystem, and are beautiful,
when healthy
.” Her disapproving tone straightened his spine. “They are historically important. Poppies were once the symbol of war, of loss on the battlefield.” Her lips twisted. “It’s appropriate that you, as a warrior, would be drawn to it…to her.”

Green exchanged glances with Barrel and Zip. They didn’t have to transmit their insights. He knew what they were processing—Windy was destined to be his.

As Shelby was.

“But poppies
are
common.” She stacked three similarly shaped empty plant containers, one on top of the other, saving much needed space. “It kills me as a plant lover to say this, but it might be more efficient for you to discard your plant, to replace it, her, with a healthy version.”

She advised that he discard Windy, simply because she was damaged? “There’s no replacing Windy. She’s unique.”

“Physically, she’s not unique.”

“That might be true.” Although Zip had never seen another plant exactly like her, not in all of the databases he’d searched. And, during their escape from the Humanoid Alliance, Windy had survived a short venture into open space, a feat he understood was near impossible. “But emotionally, she’s irreplaceable to me,” Green shared. “She saved me.”

“She’s a
poppy
. She has very few natural defenses. How could she save you, a big strong warrior?” His Shelby narrowed her eyes, her disbelief tangible.

Green hesitated. If he shared the truth, revealing his weakness and his shame, he could lose his female, lose her respect, her love and any opportunity to breed with her.

But if he didn’t risk this, she’d never appreciate Windy’s importance to him or understand what he’d been through. His female wouldn’t truly know him.

He had to tell her all of it, the good and the bad.

“She saved me by existing, by surviving. I had reached the point many cyborgs do—when the fighting and the pain becomes too much and we consider ending our long lifespans. I saw no end to the torture and to the death, harbored no hope in my soul.” He touched his chest. He had been a hollow shell of a warrior, devoid of anything other than agony and grief. “We cannot kill ourselves. That’s written in our programming. But there are other ways to accomplish this feat. The planet rotation I met Windy, I had decided to rebel, to force my human tormenters to kill me.”

He had been weak, prepared to give up, to be defeated by his circumstances. Could a female love a male like that? Green dropped his gaze, shame clouding his eyes.

“I trudged through a field of ash, intent on rebelling,” he continued, his voice gruff. “Everywhere was gray and dead and desolate.” Like he had felt inside. “Then I saw Windy, bright and defiant on the battlefield, bending with the breeze, not allowing it to break her. She was the sole splash of color, of hope, on that cursed planet, and I knew she was there for me, to encourage me to go on.”

He paused, waiting for her reaction to his story. Some of the younger cyborgs had laughed when they had heard it, mocking him for his weakness, ridiculing his affection for Windy, his belief that she saved him. They didn’t understand.

Would his Shelby?

Silence stretched.

“Windy gave you a reason to live, to continue,” his Shelby murmured, her voice barely audible. “I know what it’s like to lose all hope and then be given a sliver of it back.”

Green’s shoulders lowered. She understood. “Do you?”

“Yes, for me, it was my mother’s ancient Earth rosebushes.” She stared to the right, her gaze unfocused. “They’d been in my family for generations and, when my parents accepted the Humanoid Alliance’s relocation offer, my mother brought them with her to the new planet, planted them outside our domicile.” Shelby breathed deeply. “They smelled so good.”

He wished he could have smelled those roses.

“The nearest agri lot was owned by friends of ours.” She twirled one of her long curls around her finger, twisting it around and around, the action making her appear endearingly young. “The two families had big plans for the future. My parents had one daughter—me. Their friends had one son--Court. He was handsome, intelligent, nice. Every being liked him and I was no exception. I considered Court to be my best friend.”

Green couldn’t suppress his growl. She was his. No other male would have her.

Shelby didn’t notice his reaction, appearing lost in her memories. “We were to marry, merge the two agri lots and create the next generation. My mother convinced me to attend the Academy for agri lot science before taking this step, telling me my knowledge would increase our crops.”

Green searched his processors for her credentials. No, he hadn’t been mistaken. She’d studied botany, not agri lot science.

“While I was off planet, at the Academy, the Mantidae attacked.” Her beautiful face hardened. “Do you know of them?”

“We fought the Mantidae, losing many skilled warriors and good friends in those battles.” The large insect-like beings were the final opponents Green faced before escaping the Humanoid Alliance. “They’re very difficult to kill.”

“My parents, Court, Court’s family, weren’t warriors. By the time I was told of the attack and arranged transport to the planet, my family, my family was…” The pain in her eyes stripped him to his frame.

“You don’t have to tell me.” He wanted to know about her past but he didn’t want to hurt her.

“I have to tell you. You were brave, sharing your story with me. I should do the same.” Shelby sucked in her breath, held it for a couple of heartbeats and released it. “By the time I returned, my family, Court, my friends, every being I knew on the planet, were dead. Our domiciles had been flattened. Our crops were destroyed, our livestock eaten. I went from having a bright future to having no future at all. My parents’ grand plans for me were wiped out in one attack, one planet rotation.”

She’d had nothing as he’d once had nothing. “My Shelby.”

“I thought the Mantidae had obliterated everything, everything I loved, everything I lived for. What was the point of continuing? If I had stayed on the planet, where I belonged, I would have perished with my loved ones. Why should I be spared?”

She’d been spared because she was meant for him. He was her destiny.

“That was when I saw it—a white rose blooming between the debris. I don’t know why my mother’s rosebushes survived. They might have been too alien for the Mantidae to eat. For whatever reason, they remained, their scent perfuming the air.”

“They were your poppy in a field of ash, your reason for living.” Green gazed at her, awed. His female was the only being he’d ever met who truly comprehended his despair and his subsequent hope.

“I had to save the roses. They were all that was left of my mother, of my parents. I placed them in containers, brought them back with me to the Academy, changed my course study to ancient Earth botany.”

She cared for them as he cared for his Windy, his plant. “Where are the roses now?”

Shelby smiled and he blinked, her beauty stunning him. “I planted them in front of my domicile here on this planet.”

“Reminding you of your parents.”

“Yes.”

A comforting silence fell between them. Words weren’t necessary. He understood her. She understood him.

His Shelby stroked the broad shiny leaf of the plant positioned to her right, her fingers brushing back and forth, back and forth.

Green imagined that gentle touch on his cock and he shifted in his seat, hard as a dagger. Would she caress him until he found release or would she take him into her mouth, fasten those pink lips around his shaft, and suck?

He’d shoot his nanocybotic-infused cum down her throat. When his essence hit her stomach, she’d come, screaming around him, filling the air with her musk. Her fingers would roll his balls, coaxing every last drop from him.

And he’d give it to her, binding his female to him, solidifying the connection he felt even now. She’d heal the hurting part of him, repair his plant’s mysterious malfunction, and he’d protect her, love her, give her the sense of family she missed.

She’s your female, Green,
Barrel conceded softly through their private lines.
After hearing about her past, I’m as certain as you are that you were meant to be together.

Green glanced at his friends. He’d forgotten he had company in the bridge. The two cyborgs gazed at his female with fascination but not lust. They didn’t want her as he did.

“Green, about your plant.” His Shelby returned his attention to their problem.

“You saved your mother’s roses and you’ll cure my Windy.” He tapped his plant’s container. “I have no doubt about your abilities.”

“I’ll do my best.” Her voice held concern. “It’ll be trial and error. I’ll send you a list of treatments to attempt. Try one at a time. Doing them all at once will cause your plant too much stress.”

The treatments could possibly damage Windy, especially if he administered them alone. “We’ll try your list together.” Her expertise would reduce the risk. “Give me your coordinates and I’ll travel to your planet.”

Shelby’s eyes widened. “No,” she squeaked. “No traveling to my planet. I don’t see any beings,
ever
.”

“You’ll see me.” He was her destined male.

“No, I won’t.” She shook her head, her brown curls bouncing against her cheeks. “I’ll transmit the list. That’s it. That’s all I’m doing.”

“My Shelby—”

“It’s Doctor Shelby Cooper, and be thankful I’m doing this much.” She ended the transmission.

The main viewscreen returned to depicting the surrounding stars. That image wasn’t as captivating as his female’s beautiful face.

He didn’t know why she refused to meet with him, but he wasn’t dissuaded. Green turned to Zip. “What were the transmission’s coordinates?”

“It originated two sectors away, on a small planet named, appropriately for our little scientist, Earth Minor.”

“
My
little scientist,” he corrected. “I’ll borrow a transport ship from Vector and travel to Earth Minor immediately.”

Barrel frowned. “She said she didn’t want to see you.”

“I’ll change her mind during the voyage.” Green was confident that she’d eventually want to meet with him face-to-face. She was his. She must have felt their connection. “Rage hesitated to claim his female and he regretted it.” Rage’s female had barely survived the delay. “I won’t make that same mistake.”

“None of us will.” Zip nodded. “I agree that you should go to her but not alone.” He glanced at Barrel and back at Green. “I’ll join you on your transport ship.”

“We’ll both join you.” Barrel rolled his eyes. “And we’ll use our ship, not one of Vector’s. Windy isn’t allowed on any of his vessels.”

The cyborg wouldn’t allow Windy on board his ships due to possible contagion. Vector’s fear might not be as irrational as they had first thought. Based upon the conversation with Shelby, his poppy was an aggressive breeder.

Green hoped to also be an aggressive breeder…with his little human. “The two of you will wait on board the ship while I venture to the planet’s surface and meet with my female.”

“Agreed.” His friends dipped their heads.