Haunting Blackie Read online

  Blackie felt his chest constrict upon hearing that last part as a memory of Hellfire promising to be his bunkmate flashed through his mind. It hadn’t been a lie. She had planned to escape with him. The strong emotion wasn’t pleasant as he identified grief and regret. He couldn’t form words but Gene didn’t have the same affliction.

  “Why were you and Eve spared?”

  She glanced at her sister on the floor. “Cameron Henderson was our creator and Eve belonged to him, at least he wanted to believe that. She was an obsession of his. I think he fell in love with her but the bond was his alone. She did not love him. It also could have been because he was a conceited asshole and he refused to destroy what he believed was his biggest accomplishment in life.”

  Danica stared at Blackie. “She said she’d die if she was left alone without at least one of her littermates. He spared me to make sure she didn’t die of a broken heart. Canines are known to completely lose the will to live when they lose someone they love if their sense of loss is too great. He wasn’t willing to risk that happening to her. We escaped about eight years after cyborgs fled Earth. It was a harsh existence but she got us out of there. Cameron made her suffer greatly for refusing his advances during those years.”

  Another unfamiliar emotion caused Blackie’s heart rate to accelerate and he became aware of feeling overheated. He suffered an urge to get his hands on the Cameron she spoke of just to commit a violent act upon the human. Rage. He identified it quickly. It was of little satisfaction to logically assess that the human was already dead of old age.

  “You’ve survived in deep space ever since?” Gene scoffed. “That’s highly unlikely.”

  Danica shook her head. “No, it isn’t. We appear completely human and we’re good at adapting. We moved around our home solar system for a few decades but it was getting harder to stay concealed as technology evolved. We took jobs at mining operations on our moon and some of the moons of Saturn. Security measures requiring identification are more lax off Earth and we watched each other’s backs. About eleven years ago there was an explosion at one of the jobsites with mass casualties. We made it to this transport freighter and took it. The crew had died and no one tried to reclaim it. We’ve been doing what we do best since then.”

  “What is that?” Blackie bent down, making sure Eve still breathed. It worried him that she hadn’t come around. Her chest steadily rose and fell.

  “Chasing down criminals and helping save innocent lives. Law enforcement is kind of what we were created to do. We became bounty hunters. It kept us far enough away from Earth to avoid detection but earned us enough credits to resupply our home.” She glanced around. “This was all we had besides each other.”

  “We need to return to the Bridden.” Blackie glanced up at Gene. Rage still burned inside him at the deception of the council. They had left a race of women behind to die on Earth for some reason. There had never been any mention of anyone going with them so logic supported the obvious. The council had used the women, lied to them and made false promises. Worse, they’d done it to Hellfire. Canine women had given their lives so the cyborg race could survive. “I want words with the council.”

  “I’m as angry as you are,” Gene whispered. The cold, infuriated glint in his eyes indicated they had come to the same conclusion. “How could they do that?”

  “The council is going to pay for what they did and for keeping it classified. We should have been told and given a vote.”

  “What vote? What are you talking about?”

  Blackie held Danica’s curious gaze. “We were never told about canine units. No one asked us if we were willing to sacrifice your lives. We all should have fled Earth together.”

  “All of them women.” Gene’s voice reflected his outrage. “While so few of ours were created and survived. Do you know how that could have changed our evolution?”

  “I can think of nothing else.” Blackie studied the beautiful face of the woman on the floor. She had promised to be his bunkmate. He might not have always been alone if she’d been allowed to leave Earth with him. Flashes of his life since leaving Earth streamed through his thoughts and it only enraged him more. His hands clenched and he wanted to hurt someone, preferably every member of the Cyborg Council and all high-ranking cyborgs who had been privy to the secret.

  “I want to spend five minutes with the members who are responsible,” Gene admitted. “I’d do some serious damage.”

  “Agreed. We need to go,” Blackie ground out. “Before they send another team or one of the seals we created fractures. They don’t have suits and mine has been compromised.”

  “I’ll carry her,” Danica offered, tentatively approaching. “I’m stronger than I look. She’s my littermate, a sister.”

  Blackie’s head snapped up. “Back off. I will do it.”

  Danica stepped back, startled.

  “I knew her,” he admitted. “She rescued me.” He carefully gathered Hellfire into his arms and cradled her against his chest. He hated that his bloody shoulder cushioned her cheek but it couldn’t be helped. “No harm will come to her.” Not without someone dying if they attempt it, he silently added.

  “He won’t hurt her,” Gene whispered as he used his elbow to open the bulkhead doors they’d stabilized after reaching the command center. “I’d be more worried about our commander on the Bridden. Do you need assistance walking, Danica? I could carry you.”

  “I can make it unaided,” she responded. “But Eve doesn’t leave my sight.”

  Blackie kept his objections silent. He’d deal with that once they returned to the shuttle and a medic checked Hellfire. Her name is Eve. It was going to take time to adjust to that.

  Chapter Three

  Nightmares tortured Eve as images of mutant humans rushed at her, their eyes sunken and their skin blistered with open sores. One of them touched her cheek and she attempted to punch him. Strong fingers clamped around her wrists, pinning them next to her head.

  “Wake!” It was a deep, masculine voice giving her a direct order.

  Her eyes opened to stare into a gaze that had haunted her forever. She’d gone from a nightmare into another dream. This one she welcomed as she stared into deep, dark-blue eyes. His dusky gray skin only emphasized their color. The jet-black eyelashes framing them were thick and long.

  She breathed him in and the masculine aroma made her want to curl into him. His blood had once stained her clothing, touched her skin. It was a scent she was strongly attracted to, one she’d never forget. He was hurt and every protective instinct inside her homed in on his needs.

  Shit. This is how it started and I know how it ends.

  Emotion choked her until she couldn’t speak while she stared deeply into his intense gaze. Once she had believed her thoughts were completely hers until she’d become aware of someone else. A presence lingered in the back of her mind, its identity a mystery. It had taken her days to figure out that sensation of being watched, of someone in the room when she was alone, came from one of the chips that had been implanted inside her head. She remembered everything about that day…

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  She was picking up faint signals from a cyborg. The more she focused, tried to search it out, the clearer it became. He was in pain and Eve became obsessed until she got a fix on his location. He was somewhere close, inside one of Cameron’s original genetic research rooms. The cyborg was near enough that their shared ability to remote-access computers had somehow crossed each other’s links.

  It was a huge risk going after him. It was easier to rescue the ones awaiting duty activation. Security was lax in the development labs where they manufactured cyborgs. Many of them had been created before it was decided the cyborg units were a failure. When she freed those cyborgs, she could easily program the computers to indicate that they had expired due to flaws. They went on record as having been automatically dumped into the incinerators but no bodies were ever actually burned. She woke them from the growth tanks, smuggled them out of t
he building and sent them to 895589 for safekeeping.

  He was an active unit and she had no way of concealing it if she took him. Through their link, she felt his pain increase. She would risk everything to set him free. Cameron Henderson would punish her but she doubted he’d terminate her life. She was Eve—the first prototype of the canine unit and he always stated that she was his favorite pet.

  Her first glimpse of the cyborg made her heart do funny things. It wasn’t just the fact that he was so badly abused. Someone had really damaged him. That pissed her off, was horrifying. Cuts, bruises and even some burn marks temporarily scarred his beautiful, gray-toned skin. He’d heal but that mattered little. She just wanted to touch him, couldn’t resist. Tears she rarely shed had come unbidden just from staring at his handsome face. He hurt and she suffered with him. The mental link became a physical one the second her fingertips touched his cheek.

  There was no time to waste though. She released his bonds and got him to the roof as quickly as possible. Though she realized that he had no reason to trust her, it wounded her feelings when he latched on to her throat as they waited for his rescue. For a few moments she feared he’d kill her. She had never considered he’d see her as an enemy.

  She straddled his lap and used her body to distract him, managed to soothe him and urged him to listen to his instincts. Doesn’t he feel our connection? Isn’t his heart racing as wildly as mine is just from looking at me? Doesn’t he long to pull me close and hold me the way I do him? All those questions flashed through her mind while she waited to see if he’d end her life.

  He was one of those sexed-up cyborg models. New thoughts filled her mind. Want. Take him. Mine! He’d be able to keep up with a canine’s sex drive and he had passion. Most cyborgs were reserved but he wouldn’t be with his enhanced libido. That knowledge heated her blood enough to make her break into a sweat. She’d never craved sex the way others in her line did. She avoided physical contact with men at all costs, considering Cameron kept trying to seduce her, but she wanted to climb on her cyborg’s lap and ride him until they both passed out.

  The smell of his blood only made her want him more. She longed to kiss each injury and tend to him in every possible way. She explained to him exactly the type of cyborg he was to help him remember his genetic design. The sexual interest he showed made her nearly lose her mind. Her body rubbed against his eagerly. She knew she’d be embarrassed later. She was practically humping his lap.

  All those instincts she kept at bay smashed through her carefully constructed barriers. It no longer mattered that she’d sworn to fight her genetic makeup by refusing to belong to anyone. He could totally attach a collar around her neck and she’d happily follow him anywhere he wanted to go. She was his. But now was not the time.

  It was really hard to resist his sex appeal and try to remember that her mission wasn’t over while they touched, staring at each other. Contradictory emotions of guilt and remorse flooded her. She had other cyborgs to rescue. That was the right thing to do.

  The alarm sounded. She had to move fast. Get him out.

  “No. I want you.” His words were a command as his hand firmly gripped her hip and she wanted to flee with him. He’d given her an order and she was ready to follow it. He didn’t want to let her go and she didn’t want him to. Only her handsome cyborg mattered at that moment.

  The screaming siren meant security had noticed his escape and the guards would use the computers to track all movements on doors and lifts, which would lead them directly to the roof. His survival became her prime objective but she made him promise to forsake others to wait for her. She was his and she’d kill any bitch who touched him.

  She had to lead security away from his hiding spot. She always kept a syringe of paralytics handy when she dealt with cyborgs. Some of them woke confused and could be dangerous. The drug worked fast but allowed her enough time to speak to them, to outline her mission and prevent them from attacking. Injecting her cyborg would save his life. As he sat there unable to move, she swore to make it up to him later.

  She slipped away and confronted the guards alone. She would face whatever awaited her to insure his safety, his freedom.

  She was taken to Cameron. He screamed at her, slapped her. The punishment he dealt out was worth it since she knew her cyborg had made it to safety. The link with him had been slowly broken as he’d flown out of computer-transmission range, the fading signal testament to his success.

  Every day she daydreamed about being with him again. She saved a few more cyborgs while plotting her own escape. The day approached when they’d have all the time they wanted to bond. The fantasy of sleeping in his arms and learning every inch of his body kept her motivated. He’d get to know hers as well. It could be months or years while they traveled the galaxy, seeking a safe home on a distant planet. She’d show him they belonged together until he couldn’t deny they were meant to be a couple. Every fiber of her being screamed it.

  The plans changed just hours before she was to seek out her handsome cyborg. She received an emergency message from 895589 through the computer uplinks inside her head. Earth Government had become aware of the plot and their rebellion. The timetable for extraction from the detention camps changed. The mass extinction for the entire cyborg line had been moved up two days. It was now a race against time.

  Her orders were clear—create a diversion at the termination center. Draw a lot of guards away from the cyborgs to make their escape easier. It was gut-wrenching to think she might not have time to reach the departing shuttles leaving the surface but she was determined to do both—complete her mission and find Handsome.

  She did her job and still managed to arrive at the pick-up area with ten minutes to spare but the launch was already in progress. Shuttles flew high in the sky, just fleeting glimpses of metal before they broke orbit and disappeared. She collapsed to her knees in grief.

  Screams tore from her. She didn’t care that they brought her to the attention of the guards. They surrounded her by the dozens, guns pointed at her head. Part of her wished they’d open fire. Her life didn’t matter anymore. Handsome was gone, he’d left her behind, but at least he was safe. If only I’d left a day earlier. I wouldn’t have been there to get those orders. I would be with him…

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Strong fingers still gripped her wrists as she struggled to hold on to the image of his face.

  “Eve, don’t fight me.”

  She glanced at the bandage covering his shoulder. That was a new aspect of one of the many dreams she’d had about him. He leaned over to pin her tighter to the bed. The black lab shorts he always wore in her dreams, the ones he’d worn the day she’d rescued him, had been replaced by dark-blue loose pants that hung low on his lean hips. The outfit was nice in her updated fantasy. He’d also shaved his face clean. She missed the scruffy look he’d once sported when she’d freed him.

  “Do you remember me?” He had the sexiest, deepest voice.

  “Yes.”

  “My name is Blackie.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  Dark eyebrows arched. “That’s the one I was given.”

  “It’s Handsome. I named you.”

  His lips parted and she tried to reach them, attempted to sit up enough to kiss him. He jerked away to put more space between them. Anguish gripped her. He was still out of her reach.

  “Don’t bite me.” His features grew stern.

  “Come here,” she pleaded. “Closer.” She just wanted to kiss him the way she’d never been given a chance that evening on the roof.

  “Eve? Are you dizzy? Does your head hurt? You were unconscious. I had to hit you to prevent you from causing me more damage.”

  Mike, Cameron’s chief of security, had hit her, not Handsome. He had a hell of a right hook. She’d felt it often over the years she’d been under Cameron’s thumb. That was the bad thing about dreams. They could jump around and change on a whim. The last laugh had been on Mike though. She’d stolen his vehicl
e when she’d fled with Danica.

  They’d destroyed the thing once they’d left the city by sending it to the bottom of a ravine. He’d loved that restored hovercraft, endlessly bragging to the other guards about how he’d managed to find rare parts for it. It had felt good to watch the cherished possession of one of her abusers tumble and smash apart as it rolled downward.

  “Old Mike isn’t going to ever fix that!” She smiled at the memory of Danica raising her hand for a high five.

  She loved her littermate. They were destined to be hunted but had each other. The decades of memories played through her mind as she stared into dark, beautiful eyes. Handsome remained with her too, at least in her dreams. Nothing could ever take those away from her except death.

  “Eve?” Frown lines bracketed his mouth. “You are safe aboard a shuttle, the Bridden. We were tracking pirates and came upon the battle between you and them. Do you remember? You attacked me.”

  Foggy memories surfaced. They’d been hunting for space criminals and found themselves stuck in a trap. A couple dozen pirate ships had converged on their location to attack and they had been left with no choice but to fight. The outdated freighter was too slow to outrun so many, despite their similar older ships, but their freighter had been bigger. Pirates had boarded them after they’d been damaged. They’d been forced to fight hand-to-hand. Two pirates in space suits had come after her and Danica.

  “Shit. I’m hallucinating you because those bastards are so vile they’ve infected me with some space funk that my immune system can’t fight off. Like rabies on radiation. I bit into one.”

  “No. You sank your fangs into me.”

  “It’s okay. Whatever they are doing to me is irrelevant. I can’t feel any pain and I’m with you. This isn’t a bad way to go. I only hope Danica got away.” She knew better, though, deep down. Her littermate wouldn’t abandon her if she were alive.