died today. She sacrificed herself to help you. Not that you give a shit. She was the only being still alive in this fuckin’ horrible universe who cared about me, and now she’s dead, and I’m alone, and I am fuckin’ done with everything.”
Once she gave Malice the injection and she relayed the remote access chip to him, she was walking out the exterior door and she wouldn’t hesitate, wouldn’t give Picton an opportunity to watch her die. She—
Malice lifted his huge fists off the sleeping support. The restraints bent, the metal stretching around his wrists.
Fuck. She looked down at him. That took tremendous strength.
The injection had worked. Professional pride meshed with her other emotions.
He rotated his wrists, opened his hands.
It took her two heartbeats to realize what she was looking at. A strip of light-blue fabric had been hidden in his tight grip.
That was a remnant of the flight suit she’d worn during the rest cycle, the one he’d shredded. Why had he kept it? She reached out to touch it, to assure herself it was real.
He closed his fingers over it. His chest rumbled. That ominous sound conveyed a clear message. The strip was his. He was keeping it.
Her pussy dripped. Her grieving heart lightened.
Retrieving the fabric wasn’t the act of a male who hated her. It was an act of possession, of desire, of need.
Illona blinked once, twice. Perhaps Medic Febris hadn’t been the only being in the lab who cared if she existed.
Perhaps she had someone else to live for.
She could delay her death for a few moments. Waiting until after their private rest cycle rendezvous to face her fate, to walk through the door, wouldn’t make much of a difference.
“I’m so fuckin’ tired.” She gazed down at her cyborg’s right fist, at the hand concealing the fabric. “But I imagine you are tired also.”
They both wore masks. She had her serene medic act and he had that blank machine-like expression he sported for the monitoring equipment. And their facades hid anger, sorrow, pain, loneliness, despair.
“Were you able to contact your brethren on the outside?” Had they accomplished something this planet rotation, not merely endured the cruelty of the universe? “Lift your hand for yes.”
She stared at that part of him, willing it to move, to give her some snippet of hope that someone would escape the horror around them, find peace, happiness.
Nothing happened for a heart-twisting moment. Her optimism faded. She—
Malice lifted his hand.
Illona released the breath she’d been holding. He had contacted his brethren. “My friend didn’t die for nothing.”
They had fulfilled their mission, given him and Valor, his friend, an opportunity to free themselves. The cyborgs could track his transmission, determine their location.
She had to prepare him for their arrival, for what was sure to be a bloody, violent liberation.
“I have to inflict more pain on you, unfortunately.” She removed the injection gun from her jacket. “The nanocybotics boosters appear to be working, and you might need that extra strength and speed when you escape.”
She should be interspersing her private comments with louder more mundane statements. The Humanoid Alliance would expect her to chatter as she always did. But she didn’t have the energy for that performance this planet rotation.
“You can add this to your lengthy list of reasons to hate me.” She pressed the nuzzle of the injector gun against Malice’s right shoulder.
That reminded her of another injection, another shoulder, frailer, as beloved. Her breath hitched. The grief was so fuckin’ acute, cutting through her.
She pushed her emotions away and tapped the trigger.
Her cyborg convulsed. His big body shook. His jaw clenched. His eyes blazed. His skin pulled tight over his flesh and frame.
His fists didn’t open. He held onto the strip of her flight suit he’d claimed, not allowing it to flutter to the floor. That touched her heart more than it should.
She was tempted to scan his form, to confirm that his nanocybotics count had increased. But, if she did that, the reading would be on the handheld. If the Humanoid Alliance got hold of the device, they would realize she’d succeeded. She had devised the formula they so badly wanted. They would investigate her activities more thoroughly, might uncover something that would help them.
Their evil would spread. More innocents would die.
“Your first priority should be escaping from here. With Valor. Safely.” She didn’t know if Malice could hear her. He must be in excruciating pain. “But if you can do it, quickly and without harm to yourselves, destroy the