Kissing Steel (8 page)

don’t have the stomach to incapacitate her then move aside. I don’t want her opening her

mouth and knocking me out.”

Steel released Rena and was on his feet, spinning around in the blink of an eye to

grab the advancing cyborg. He grabbed him by his throat. “Touch her and you will

suffer.”

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

The blond took a step closer, looking uncomfortable. “You just said she is able to

incapacitate by words. If she’s an Earth operative, she could kill a hell a lot of us, Steel. I

know why you don’t want her killed. She needs to tell us more about the chips but I’m

with Burn on this. Disable her ability to speak.” He reached behind him and withdrew a

knife. “If you don’t want her to suffer then I could permanently disable her voice box

with one jab.”

Horror engulfed Rena. She could feel her fingertips, a burning pain shooting down

her arms, and realized the nerves must be working again. She tried to move her arm and

got her wrist to move. She backed up until she hit the wall. She looked up at Steel’s

naked backside. He was silently standing there, staring at the other two cyborgs. Would

he let them do that to her?

Steel slowly turned his head, their gazes meeting. Rena was afraid to talk now, afraid

to utter a word in case they thought she was attempting to shut them down. She silently

pleaded with. He took a deep breath.

“You don’t say a word, all right?”

She nodded.

“I don’t trust humans.” Burn looked pissed. “You need to let one of us disable the

threat, Steel.”

The blond ran his eyes over Steel. “They had sex. Maybe he’s not rational.” His

attention turned to Rena. “If I was nailing her and she was any good, I’d be a bit

protective of her myself. She’s cute and little, not like our women, and it’s probably

brought out every protective instinct in him. They would be active in me if she were

mine.”

“She’s the perfect operative then,” Burn grunted. “They programmed us to defend

the weak. She definitely looks the role. I bet she’s an assassin.”

The door to the room opened, causing Rena to feel dread as another cyborg in black

leather uniform walked in. She was astonishment when she saw it was a female cyborg.

She had her hair chopped short to her head but there was no mistaking her feminine

features, even if she was six feet tall and muscular. She carried a bag with her. The

female stopped, her gaze roaming over Steel’s body, a grin curving her lips.

“If you need help, then clear the damn room, Steel. I’ll definitely tend to any damn

thing that hurts on you. I heard you were single again.”

“It’s not me, Wire. Tend to the human. Burn thought she was attacking me and

harmed her. He pinched her nerves in her arms so give her something for pain.”

Burn took a step forward. “Disable her, Steel.”

Steel glared at Burn. “Wire was never in detention so you’re safe while she’s here. If

Rena wanted to disable us she wouldn’t be able to do that to Wire. If you think Wire

couldn’t defend you against a human, you tell her she can’t watch your back. Wire would

kick your ass if you do. The human is no danger so stay the hell away from her.”

Rena saw Burn glare at her but he didn’t move forward. The female cyborg stared at

Steel as he bent over, picked up his pants and then straightened. The woman grinned and

turned her head, a pair of bright green eyes flashing amusement until her focus landed on

Rena. Her look hardened as she moved forward.

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

“I heard we had a human onboard. What I want to know is why.” The woman turned

her head and glanced at Steel as he pulled up his pants. She snorted. “Never mind. That

question is answered. The commander is single again and he decided to celebrate with a

little…” Wire’s gaze flashed over Rena. “Oh hell.” She turned her head to Steel,

frowning at him. “You’ve got half a dozen women on this ship, me at the top of the list,

who would jump on you in a heartbeat and you pick up this little thing? Why? She’s like

a snack instead of a meal.”

Steel studied Wire then yanked a shirt over his head to cover up his muscular chest

and abs. “She was a gift from Flint. You know how he is. He wouldn’t take no for an

answer.”

Wire opened her bag, yanked out a scanner and ran it over Rena’s arms, where red

marks showed. Wire watched the screen where the x-rays were displayed. The woman

hesitated and then ran it slowly over Rena’s body, studying the screen. She paused at

Rena’s hip for long seconds, then moved down her body and then up her back to her

neck, pausing again.

She sighed. “Nothing broken but there’s going to be some bad bruising on both arms

and on her hip. I’ll dose her with a two-day time capsule of pain meds. That should get

her through the worst of it.” She dumped the scanner in the bag, grabbed an injector

programming box, and punched in the dosage. In seconds she gave Rena a shot. The

woman stood, taking her bag with her.

“Who wants to explain to me what the hell is going on here and why do I need to

kick Burn’s ass for thinking I can’t cover his ass?”

“The human has verbal code words that can shut down any cyborg who survived

human detention centers. It seems they put bombs in our heads that she can activate.”

Rena gasped as the huge cyborg woman suddenly turned on her, a growl coming

from her throat, and took a defensive posture. In the blink of an eye the woman’s foot

flew at Rena’s face. She jerked back but Steel intervened first, grabbing hold of the boot

and yanking upward, knocking Wire on her ass. Steel stood between Rena and the

downed cyborg woman.

“What the hell is she doing breathing?” Wire got up, cursing as she glared at Steel.

“She’s a danger to most of the men on this ship. If she can kill with a few words, take her

out, damn it.”

“It’s not a literal bomb,” Steel shot a glare at Burn. “According to Rena it’s a shut-

down chip that works for about ten minutes, knocking us out cold, making our systems

reboot. She can’t kill us with a few words but she can temporarily disable us. Burn is

afraid she’ll talk and knock us out. I was reminding him that you’re here and you weren’t

in detention. If she were to attempt the vocal commands you’re here to cover our asses.”

Wire rubbed her ass as she stood up. “What did you do to piss off Flint so damn fast,

Steel?” She shot Rena a glare. “She could be an Earth assassin. If I were in charge of

them I’d totally pick someone like her. She’s little and looks harmless.”

“That’s what I was saying.” Burn glared at Rena. “I say we kill her.”

“No one is going to kill her,” Steel backed up a little, keeping his body between

Rena and the other three cyborgs.

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

The door opened and another black-haired cyborg walked in. This one was in a gray

exercise outfit. He carefully observed the room. “What’s going on? I heard you needed a

medic.” The man’s blue gaze landed on Rena where she still sat. Black eyebrows rose. “I

heard there was a human. Damn, she’s small.” He turned his attention on Steel. “Did you

break her?”

Rena listened to Steel explain the situation to the newcomer. The pain was gone from

her body, telling her that the shot was working. She moved her arms, feeling her hip

where it had hurt but realized it was getting better. She slowly stood, keeping her back to

the wall and staying close to Steel, who addressed the new cyborg as Blackie.

Blackie appeared incensed, staring at Rena. “We need to lock her in isolation

because she’s a threat to most of our men. I’ll take her myself and interrogate her.” He

smiled at Rena coldly. “It will be a pleasure for me. Not so much for you, human.” He

turned his gaze on Steel. “I’ll find out everything about her, including if she’s an

operative.” He looked back at Rena. “I was never in detention. I escaped with the first

wave of cyborgs so you aren’t a danger to me.”

Pure terror gripped Rena and she automatically reached out to grip Steel’s shirt. He

turned his head, looked down at her. She opened her mouth to beg him to not let the other

cyborg take her but he spun, tearing out of her grasp, his hand covering her mouth gently.

“Don’t,” he said softly. “If you speak, they’ll take it as an attack.”

His hand eased away from her face as they stared at each other while she silently

pleaded with him. He hesitated.

“Everyone but Blackie leave the room now. I want to talk to her and that way I’m the

only one she poses a threat to.”

“She’s no threat to me,” Wire crossed her arms over her chest. “I want to stay.”

Burn and the blond cyborg left the room. Steel sighed. “What, Rena? You can talk.”

“I’m not a threat. You know damn well I wouldn’t hurt you or anyone else. I’m not a

killer.” She shot a frightened look at Wire. “I’m not an assassin either.” She looked at

Blackie. “Or an Earth operative. I know what one is. My parents were both military but

I’m not a spy.” She met Steel’s gaze. “The only damn reason I used the code on you in

the first place was…” She swallowed. “You know why.” She refused to tell the other

cyborgs why she’d knocked out Steel. “The second time you asked me to prove I could

do it. I just want to stay with you.”

“That isn’t an option until we know what exactly was done to Steel and the men you

can influence. For all we know you could kill them with your words.” Blackie sighed.

“She needs to be isolated, Steel. You know it as well as I do that she’s a danger to the

ship. I’ll get everything out of her, one way or another.”

“Please, Steel.” Rena stared up at him.

He frowned. “Take her, Blackie. Find out what she knows and then we’ll know what

was done to us so we can fix it. I don’t like the idea of any human being able to shut me

down and take me out while I’m defenseless.”

He may as well have slapped her. Pain flashed through her as he stepped away from

her. Blackie moved forward, reaching for her but Steel suddenly gripped the man’s wrist,

halting him. He turned his head to give a warning look to the other cyborg.

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

“Don’t hurt her. She’s mine. Do we understand each other?”

The cyborg’s features showed his disbelief and irritation. “How the hell am I

supposed to make her talk? Serve her cookies and milk?”

Steel released his wrist. “Get Gene. He can tell if she’s lying. No one harms her.”

“So no pain? Are those your exact orders, Commander? Anything else goes, right?

We just can’t damage her body or cause her pain?”

Steel nodded. “Exactly.”

Blackie grabbed Rena’s arm. “Let’s go.”

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

Rena was terrified as she stared into a pair of dark blue eyes, body to body with a big

silver-skinned cyborg who had his arms wrapped around her, her feet not touching the

floor. She could barely breathe with him holding her so tightly in a bear hug.

“Tell me what you do for a living.” Gene was one scary-buff cyborg. He was about

six -one with a bulky body.

“I’m an insurance investigator and recovery agent.”

He took a deep breath, making her aware that he was bare chested and she just wore

a bra-like shirt she was given and a pair of panties similar to shorts so they were skin to

skin, touching from the waist up. Gene’s dark eyes narrowed. “Explain what you recover

and investigate.”

She swallowed again. “When valuable property is stolen, I investigate the crime

scene and try to figure out who stole it. If we get a lead on where the property is it’s my

job to go out and try to get it back.”

“Why did you go after the
Star
?”

“My company owns it now. We paid the claim on it so it was my job to go get it

back.”

He frowned, his intense gaze narrowing. He turned his head to look at Blackie in the

small interrogation room. “She’s lying about that last part, about it being her job. Her

heart rate increased and her eyes told me she was lying. This one is pretty easy to read.”

He looked back at her. “Don’t look away from my eyes and tell me again, this time the

truth, why you went after the
Star
.”

She was surprised that he could tell when she was lying, but he could. “Okay, it’s not

my job to go into deep space to recover ships but I volunteered for this mission. The

bonus, if I recovered the
Star
as lead investigator and recovery agent, was going to be

huge.”

He nodded. “The truth. Did you know cyborgs had it?”

“No.”

He blinked. “Did you know that there was a chance you’d run into cyborgs out