RedeemingZorus (11 page)

She shook her head and her hand trembled harder. She
realized with him standing where he’d moved that the only clear shot she had
would kill him because her weapon pointed directly at the middle of his chest.
She moved it to target his shoulder instead. She just couldn’t kill him,
regardless of how badly he’d hurt her with his lies. Winging him though, to get
out of this mess, wouldn’t cause her any sleepless nights.
At least not too
many
.

Zorus took a slow step closer, his hands opening at his
side. “I’d never harm you. You know that.”

“I don’t know what to think,” she admitted, her voice
shaking worse. “Please don’t come any closer. I don’t want to have to hurt
you.”

“Move out of the way,” one of the cyborgs ordered Zorus. “We
don’t have a clear shot.”

“Let her shoot him,” Sky urged. “Just don’t kill her. Aim
for her shoulder so she’ll survive. She’s just terrified.”

Zorus didn’t budge, his intense brown eyes still locked on
her. “Charlie, listen to me. Those humans I killed were bounty hunters sent
after cyborgs. I had to befriend them to learn truthful information from them.
They wanted to locate the planet we settled on to get a fix on it to give Earth
Government the ability to send war ships to take us out. I needed them to trust
me to discover what information they’d learned so far to sell to Earth. They
would have turned us in for the bounty on our heads without a second thought.
Releasing them or allowing them to live wouldn’t have been feasible. They would
have escaped the first chance they were given and I had to protect my people.”

Her hand wavered. She really wanted to believe him but she
knew he could be a real asshole. “I trusted my brother and look where that got
me. I just can’t trust you. There’s too much at stake if I’m wrong.”

“She’s smart,” Sky muttered loud enough for her to hear.

Zorus turned his head to glare at the other cyborg. “Shut
up. That’s an order. I’m still a councilman and your superior.”

Charlie glanced toward Sky and spotted him about ten feet
away, to the left of Zorus. He looked pissed off but his lips pressed tightly
together. From the corner of her eye, she saw movement and focused back on
Zorus but he lunged at her. She didn’t have time to react.

His body slammed into her shoulder when he tackled her,
throwing her arm back to avoid the weapon, and she hit the floor hard. Pain
exploded inside her head when it hit the unforgiving metal surface. Weight
crushed her as she fought to stay conscious. The heavy body on top of hers
shifted off her chest until she could breathe again. Zorus yanked the gun from
her numb fingers and then peered down at her. He looked furious.

“Get a medic,” he snarled. “Her head is bleeding.”

Charlie passed out.

* * * * *

Zorus paced the room, boiling with rage, and then paused. He
glared at the android. “Well?”

The disfigured, hulking thing spoke. “She will be fine. I’ve
scanned her entire body the way you requested. The trauma to her head is the
worst of it and there is no internal cranial bleeding or swelling. She will
have a lump and I estimate the probability of a headache when she wakes. With
your permission, I’ll give her an injection for the pain she should experience
upon waking and a few hours beyond.”

“Do it.” Zorus then turned to glower at Sky who stood at
attention just inside the door. “You can live.”

Sky frowned but then his body relaxed. “I’m sorry. How the
hell could I have known you had grown soft over a woman?”

“Don’t make me regret not killing you.”

The cyborg grinned. “I can’t believe you’re fond of a human.
I take it Earth turned into an ice ball?”

“What does that mean?” He longed to punch Sky again.

“Hell froze over.”

“Get out.”

Zorus watched Sky leave and turned back in time to witness
the android give Charlie an injection to her hip. The thing moved forward and
then paused.

“Is that all?”

“Leave,” Zorus ordered, detesting the android that had come
with the ship but grateful it had medical training. “Thank you.”

It rambled out of the room to leave him alone with Charlie.
She could have been killed when she’d grabbed hold of a weapon. She didn’t
trust him and that made his level of fury notch higher. She’d been hurt,
something he hadn’t meant to do, when he’d disarmed her but he’d taken
advantage of her distraction. It could have ended far worse. No one had died
and her head injury wasn’t life threatening. He moved to stand at the side of
the bed.

He hesitated and then sat on the side of the mattress to
hold her limp hand. He closed his eyes and allowed his feelings to surface. He
could have lost her. It really made him angry and he didn’t want to part with
her. She had heard Sky, obviously believed he’d tricked her with deceit and he
guessed she wouldn’t trust him easily again.

She’ll try to escape
.
That’s what I would do but I
won’t allow it
.

He carefully placed her hand over her stomach before he
stood. His gaze drifted around the captain’s quarters. The room belonged to the
human woman whom Coal had claimed. He searched it quickly and found some
stretchy material. To keep Charlie unconscious with drugs wasn’t a possibility
he wanted to consider with her head injury. He approached the bed.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “You’re going to have to learn to
trust me again.”

Regret wasn’t something he experienced often but he did when
he gently undressed her. Charlie never stirred, which worried him, but he
didn’t hesitate to finish what he’d started. He secured her to the bed, covered
her with a blanket to keep her warm, and then connected with the ship’s
computer. He sent a message to one of the three androids that cared for the
shuttle.

Minutes later food arrived. Zorus studied the android that
brought it. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” it stated. “Is there anything else you need?”

“No. I’ll let you know if there is. Tell my comrades I don’t
want to be disturbed.”

“I will relay the message.”

Zorus stepped back with the tray in hand and then sealed the
doors to lock them from the inside. He disconnected his link to the onboard
computer after making sure they were on their way to the
Star
. He wanted
to return to Garden as quickly as possible.

His gaze drifted to the sleeping woman on the bed. She
wouldn’t be happy with his plans for her but she’d have to adjust. Humans were
capable of adapting. He placed the tray on the floor since the room didn’t
contain a table. He returned to the bed to ease his weight down. His mind ran
the variables of how she’d react when she woke while he watched her sleep.

* * * * *

When Charlie regained consciousness, she felt a bit
lightheaded and confused. She opened her eyes and stared up at an unfamiliar
ceiling but the metal beams told her she had to be on a ship. Memory slowly
surfaced and she tried to sit but her arms and legs were held immobile. She
wondered if she’d been drugged again but then lifted her head. The room wasn’t
a large one, feminine things adorned shelves, and then it all came back. They’d
boarded a shuttle with cyborgs and a human woman. Zorus had fought with his own
men and he’d fooled her into believing he had a decent side.

The door located in the corner opened and she stared with
trepidation at the cyborg who stepped into the room wearing nothing but a small
towel around his waist. His hair dripped from the cleansing unit and water
drops slid down his impressive chest. His dark gaze immediately locked on her.

“I hurried in hopes I’d be out before you woke.”

She attempted to move again but something kept her
restrained. She had to twist her head to see material wrapped tightly around
both wrists, secured to the top of the bed frame, her arms above her head.
Zorus moved closer.

“I apologize for tying you but I feared you’d attack again.
I didn’t want to risk you being injured twice. You will be fine.”

The glare she shot him made him take a step back. “Let me
go.”

“I’m not going to do that.” Zorus took a deep breath.
“You’re safe with me, Charlie. What you heard about me isn’t completely true. Do
you remember my explanation about the humans I befriended and then had to
kill?”

“You said they were bounty hunters.”

“They were. Rumors of cyborgs in space have circulated for
years and occasionally they travel too close to the planet we settled on, looking
for signs of us. We have sent ships out to capture them, taken them to
Garden—that’s our planet—and then had to learn what they knew. We left Earth to
avoid a war with Earth Government. We just want to live in peace.”

“I heard something about cyborgs owning humans too and
you’re responsible for that.”

His mouth tensed into a tight line before he spoke. “That is
true. Cyborgs were considered property by Earth Government on your planet. I
believed it would be fitting to turn the tables on your kind. Cyborgs own
humans where I live.”

“You bought me from that captain and now you think you own
me.”

It hurt her to even say it, the betrayal a wound inside her
heart put there by the man she’d allowed to make love to her. She’d even gone
down on him because she’d wanted to make him happy when he’d been grumpy. It
had all been a lie on his behalf. He’d used her just to distract her from
escaping the shuttle so he could keep her long enough to do this to her.

“I feel so stupid. I assumed you’d done it out of the goodness
of your heart when I heard you’d paid that captain to save me from Gerald
getting his hands on me.” She looked at the chest she’d used for a pillow the
night before and then looked back up into his eyes. “I guess you don’t have one
of those, do you?”

“Charlie…” He moved closer.

“Don’t you dare,” she yelled. “I won’t be a whore to any
man. Do you hear me? I won’t be forced to have sex with some asshole who thinks
he’s got a right to hurt me because money exchanged hands.”

Anger darkened his features when he sat on the edge of the
bed near her hip. “I’m not asking you to be a whore, nor would I force you to
have intercourse with me.” He paused. “I wouldn’t make you fuck me. I paid for
your release to keep you out of the hands of the human but I had none of the
motives at the time that you believe me guilty of. You are unique and I wanted
to pay you back for being concerned for my welfare.”

She wanted to believe him badly. “Then why am I tied to a
bed?” She shifted her hips and her bare skin touched the sheet. “Naked.”

“You believe I kill humans for fun and that I lured you onto
this ship to kill you as well.”

She couldn’t deny that. “Your own cyborgs don’t like you, do
they?”

“No.” He looked miserable as he spoke. “The ones on this
shuttle do not. The only one who doesn’t hold a grudge against me would be
Coal, the bald one. I haven’t done anything to anger him yet.”

She noticed the “yet”. “Why do they hate you?”

He paused before he drew in a deep breath. “I believed
humans who entered into family units with cyborgs were detrimental to my
species. I didn’t understand why any of our males would choose one of you over
one of our own females. I attempted to block them from cementing their unions.”

“You wanted those women killed.” It wasn’t a question, more
of a statement since she knew deep down that he had. She’d heard as much.

“Yes.”

It still horrified her to hear him admit it. She had to look
away from his face and focus on the drops of water near his nipple. “What are
you going to do with me?”

“I shielded you with my body and ordered my men to stand
down when you held a weapon. Think logically. If I wished your death I wouldn’t
have done that.”

She met his calm stare. “You want to kill me yourself?”

Anger tightened his handsome face. “No. I won’t allow any harm
to come to you.”

He looked sincere and she felt confused. “Then what do you
want?”

He leaned closer, put his hand on the other side of the bed
by her hip, and the look on his face softened. “I wish you would trust that I
don’t hate you, nor do I want anything to happen to you.”

“Why?”

“You make me feel, Charlie. For the first time in my life,
logic doesn’t apply foremost. I don’t know why I’m so attracted to you or what
causes the emotions that arise inside me but I want to continue our
relationship to figure it out. I have chosen not to fight it.” He paused. “What
about you? Are you willing to see how this is going to play out between us?”

Sincerity sounded in his voice. He either could really act
or he told her the truth. The confused look on his features tended to make her
believe him. He wasn’t masking his emotions now, rather allowing her to see
them.

“What if we do this and you decide humans really are
detrimental to cyborgs? I’m not really sure what your version of that is but
what does my future hold if you get sick of me in a week or two? What happens
when we argue? I’m not always exactly easy to get along with. If you think I’m
going to bow to your will, rethink it.”

A small smile flashed. “I actually enjoy it when you are
irritating me, for the most part.” Serious again, he leaned forward until only
inches separated their faces. “We’ll make a pact. I swear to protect you from
all harm, even from my own hand, if you swear not to attempt to escape my
care.”

“And if I want to leave later?”

He hesitated. “I want to be completely honest with you.”

A sense of dread gripped her. “I wish you would be.”

“It would be too risky to allow you to visit Garden, my
planet, and then release you. You would have knowledge that could harm my
people.”

“You’re saying you won’t let me go, aren’t you?”

His hand rose and he brushed back hair from her cheek, his
fingertips a soft caress on her skin. “I won’t force sex on you or make you
live inside my home but you won’t be allowed to leave Garden.”