RedeemingZorus (15 page)

Zorus found her exploring his kitchen pantry. He brushed a
kiss onto her upturned face. “I will not be gone long. They called this meeting
to find out what happened to me while I was detained on Earth. I also need to
be updated on what has happened while I’ve been away. I shouldn’t be gone
longer than an hour. The council building is very close.”

“I’ll be here.” She smiled.

“Do you promise not to leave?”

He looked so solemn that she had to bite back a laugh. “I
promise I won’t go anywhere. Hurry back. I’ll try to make us dinner with what
you have in your kitchen but I admit, I’m not sure what some of this stuff is.
I’m not a bad cook though and can probably whip up something good.”

Charlie watched him go, missing him already, but then turned
back to his food supplies. The guy had an abundance of everything. She’d gone
from living in a crappy apartment to having the best the cyborg world could
offer.

* * * * *

Zorus pushed his anger down. Two of the male council members
who shared a human female in their family unit had purposely angered him with
their petty smirks and comments over him bringing a human to Garden with him.
He just wanted to leave the council building but a female cyborg had demanded
to speak to him first. He sat behind his desk, his attention on the female who
sat in a seat opposite him with the desk between them. He’d led her into his
private office after the council meeting ended She had insisted on privacy.

“What is it, Alis?”

“I want access to Sky. I have been informed that you sent
him on a mission.”

The tall female appeared irritated. “For what purpose? He’s
my Earth expert.”

“I wish to have a child. I want access to Sky for his
sperm.”

Zorus frowned. “He isn’t part of a breeding pact any longer.
The council purposely excluded him from one in consideration of his importance
and the nature of his recent tasks he’s been assigned to. Find a male who is on
the list of males in your pact if you wish to have a child. That is what they
were formed for. If the males of your family unit aren’t able to conceive a
child there are males with the pact who have viable sperm. They can assist
you.”

“I want Sky.” Her voice lowered. “Before the council
assigned him to his current position he used to be a member of my breeding
pact. The first child I birthed is a result of his donation of sperm.”

Frustration had Zorus tapping his fingers on the desk. He
wanted to get home to Charlie. “What is your point?”

“I wish to have another who resembles my oldest son.”

“I’ve assigned him off Garden. He’s currently on his way to
his new listening station. He’s our Earth expert and therefore best to serve
that job.”

“I heard you were angry with him for some reason.” The
female stood and reached for her uniform. “I will bargain with you. You may
have use of my body for the availability of his sperm.”

When the female started to loosen her clothing, it brought
Zorus to his feet. “No.”

She paused, her uniform shirt open down the front. “It’s an
acceptable trade. You are a council member without a female and have basic
needs. You’ve always bargained your favors in the past with intercourse.”

“Not anymore.”

Surprise widened her green eyes. “I am a healthy, attractive
female. I cleared it with the males of my family unit before I came here. They
are aware that I am prepared make this exchange.”

“No,” Zorus repeated, an image of Charlie fixed inside his
mind. She wouldn’t approve if he touched another female. She’d refused to take
the human Gerald back after he left her for another female. “I no longer
exchange favors for intercourse. I have a female of my own now.”

“You are not joined in a family unit. I would have heard if
you had.” She frowned. “I really want access to Sky.”

He stormed to the door. “No. Find another male if you wish
to have a child. Sky will not be returning to Garden in the near future.” Anger
still burned inside him at Sky’s interference with Charlie by making her fear
he’d fooled her into a false sense of trust. “He is on an important mission.”
Far
from Garden and unable to cause more trouble with Charlie
, he added
silently. “I haven’t joined a family unit yet with my female but I plan to.” He
slammed out of his office.

He refused to do anything to risk Charlie’s total agreement
to remain with him. Not only that, he had to admit that the thought of touching
another female left him cold and uninterested. It seemed as if it would be a chore,
something unpleasant, if he had to have intercourse with anyone except Charlie.

He smiled faintly. Charlie was unique and wonderful. She
stirred him in all ways, the only female he longed touch, and he made a mental
note to circulate the fact that he no longer traded favors to females for
intercourse.

Chapter Nine

Charlie walked out of the bedroom feeling refreshed. The
water on Garden was a lot cleaner, in her opinion, than what she bathed in on
Earth. She’d brushed out her damp hair until all the tangles were gone. She’d
have to ask Zorus where he hid his hair dryer. She hoped he’d return soon.
Dinner would be ready to pull out of the oven in twenty minutes.

The sound of the elevator opening made her grin. She nearly
ran down the hallway into the large living space. She came to an abrupt halt
when a tall cyborg stalked into the center of the room. He froze when his dark
gaze met hers.

He wasn’t as tall as his father, but the strong resemblance
left no doubt who she stared at. A frown creased his features, making him
appear even more similar to Zorus.

“Hello.” She shifted her stance, reached for the hem of the
borrowed shirt to tug it down her thighs as much as she could, more than a
little aware how much of her legs were exposed. “Your father isn’t here. He had
a council meeting to attend.” Her mind drew a blank on the guy’s name. She
couldn’t remember Zorus ever telling her that information. “I’m sure he’ll be
here soon.”

“Human.” He snarled the word.

Charlie took a step back. “I’m Charlie.”

“What are you doing here?” His hands fisted at his sides.

“I live with your father.”
Talk about uncomfortable
.
“I’m sure he would have told you but we just arrived about two hours ago.”

Dark eyes exactly like Zorus’ narrowed dangerously. “He
brought you with him from Earth?”

“Yes.” She swallowed. “Please take a seat while I go put on
some pants. I apologize. I didn’t know you were coming to visit.”

He stood there, silent, and continued to glare at her. She
spun on her heel, embarrassed at her half-undressed state, and silently
promised to have a little talk with Zorus when he returned. He should have
warned her that his son had a tendency to drop by unannounced and had access to
the apartment. If she’d known, she wouldn’t have walked around in just a shirt
and a pair of boxers.

Charlie entered the bedroom quickly and closed the door. She
softly cursed before heading for the dresser. She’d seen some soft cotton-like
breeches in a lower drawer when she’d explored earlier. She doubted they’d fit
well but she’d rather wear loose pants than none at all around a stranger. She
had reached the dresser when the door opened behind her. It hit the wall hard.
The loud sound made her spin in surprise.

The cyborg glared at her, his gaze fixed on her, and rage
his features. “What did you do to my father on Earth?”

Charlie backed up until she bumped the dresser. “Nothing. I
helped him escape.”

The big cyborg stalked into the room, eating up the distance
between them with his long legs, and grabbed her before she could recover from
the shock of his rage, directed at her. Two big hands gripped her upper arms.
She gasped painfully when he threw her. She cried out as her body flew through
the air and then landed with a bounce on the massive bed.

“My father hates humans.” He yelled the words.

Charlie pushed up from where she lay sprawled on her side
where she’d landed, her terrified gaze locked with his. “He doesn’t hate me,”
she got out before he grabbed her ankle.

“What did you do to my father?” He bent over her, dragged
her to the side of the bed by her leg, and clamped one hand around her throat.
He leaned over her body, snarled, and his hand tightened enough to cut off her
air. “Did you abuse him? That’s what you animals do.”

Shock and terror held her immobile for seconds until she
realized she couldn’t breathe. Her hands clawed at his on her throat while she
shook her head at him. He had it all wrong and he wouldn’t even allow her to
talk.

“My father told me what you humans did to him in the past.
If he brought you here it would only be to implement his revenge on you.”

Charlie managed to get her foot against the cyborg’s chest,
kicked out hard, and broke his hold on her throat. She rolled away on the bed,
gasping in air.

“That’s not how it is,” she choked out before he grabbed her
again.

He roared in rage, his hand closing over the back of her
calf. Pain caused Charlie to scream when his fingers dug into the muscle on the
back of her leg. She flipped over to kick out at him with her free leg. She
slammed her foot into his face.

The guy reeled back, released her, but he staggered back.
Red blood dripped from his nose where she’d nailed him but the enraged look in
his eyes assured her that she may have just signed her own death warrant.

She rolled again to put more distance between them until the
headboard halted her. “Zorus doesn’t want me hurt. I swear I’m not the enemy.
I’m his girlfriend. He―”

“Has fooled you,” the man roared. He lifted a leg, one large
boot stepped onto the end of the bed, and then he stood on it. “I won’t kill
you but I’ll start teaching you the price of being human before he returns. I
don’t want to disappoint him from getting his personal revenge by killing you
himself.”

“He doesn’t want me hurt!” Pure terror jolted through her.

She tried to avoid his hands when he bent and lunged at her
but he grabbed her hair. Another scream tore from her throat. He jerked her
hard, yanked her up with the handful of hair he gripped, and then stepped off
the bed. He dragged her to the edge and she fell off. Agony shot throughout her
body when she slammed hard into the floor and tears blinded her from the pain.
She couldn’t even breathe through the intense hurt, to scream again.

A hand grabbed the back of her shirt, jerked hard enough to
lift her from the floor, and he just ripped it from her body. He shoved hard,
slamming her face into the soft mattress, and her knees collapsed against the
carpet. She took ragged breaths but was still in too much pain to even whimper.
The sound of ripping material barely registered in her mind. She was too filled
with shock and pain to understand what she heard. He’d already taken her shirt
but she didn’t register what else he’d torn off her.

Something brushed her face as he yanked her head back and a
thick wad of material pushed against her mouth. He pulled her hair, causing
more pain, and then she realized what he’d done. He’d stuffed a gag in her
mouth and tied a thick strip of fabric around her head to keep it there, just
under her nose. She screamed against the gag he’d made with part of the shirt but
the sound came out muffled. Bruising hands gripped her arms to lift her limp
body. He dumped her onto the bed facedown.

Stunned, reeling from pain, Charlie couldn’t pull it
together enough to fight when his hands slid down her arms to her wrists, which
he wrenched behind her back. He used another torn strip to bind her hands
together, tight enough to hurt. He gripped her shoulders, forced her to stand
on trembling legs, and shoved her forward. She blinked back fresh tears that
blinded her, just in time to see the dresser loom in front of her. Her hip hit
the edge of it hard. She cried out against the gag.

Zorus!
She screamed his name inside her mind but knew
he couldn’t hear her. His son pinned her on her feet against the dresser. His
big body kept her hips shoved against the edge of the unforgiving wood
furniture, and he released her shoulders. One hand grabbed the back of her neck
and pushed her forward until her face touched the wall.

“My father told me what you animals did to him while he
remained a prisoner inside the labs on Earth.” His hips shifted to the side,
still pinning her painfully, and the cyborg leaned over to snarl in her ear as
he tore the boxers from her body. “Is that what you did to him when you had him
this time? Did you chain him up, drug him, and abuse his body?”

She frantically shook her head, tried to deny it around the
gag, but the sobbed words weren’t even something she could understand. He
couldn’t possibly understand her protests.

“How does it feel to be naked and helpless?” Rage laced his
voice.

Charlie sobbed. Her head hurt where he’d pulled her hair.
She was sure he’d torn out some. Her calf, where he’d grabbed it, throbbed,
bruised for sure, and his hip dug into her where he had her painfully pinned.
She wanted to scream from the agony coursing throughout her body.

“The women were bad enough, strapping him down to use for
their pleasure. They forced drugs into his system and shut off his implants to
make him lose control of his own body, but the males were worse. Two of the
male guards raped him often as punishment when he wouldn’t comply.”

Charlie turned cold inside at hearing that news, horrified.
Zorus hadn’t told her that. She understood why he’d hate humans, after all he’d
endured, but that made it so much worse. He was a proud man. Being the victim
of sexual assault would have been horrible enough but by men too?

“He told me of the pain. They would strap him down and force
him to endure their animal lust. They taunted him, laughed when they made him
bleed, and shamed him by calling him nothing but a toy to play with.”