cyborg.” Illona murmured that reply under her breath.
He was her cyborg, as she had designated him, and he had heard her. His little medic approved of his plans. Malice’s head raised. Determination fused with his anger.
He jumped to his feet, stepped forward.
Alarms wailed. Red lights flashed.
The explosive set near the door detonated, blowing a hole in the wall. That device had belonged to Valor. The Humanoid Alliance was targeting his friend as well as his female.
“They’re coming for us.” Illona’s clipped tones didn’t completely hide her concern. He heard the fear under her medic bravado.
“They won’t get you. Ever.” He looked at Valor.
The E Model was standing also. That was a notable feat after solar cycles of the warrior being confined to a sleeping support. A smile stretched across his face. “Do I kill them all?” His arms and legs were purely mechanical, but they appeared to be fully functional. “Or do I save some for you, C Model?”
“Can you kill them all?” Malice intentionally provoked his friend. “You’ve been inactive for—”
“Frag you.” Valor curled his fingers into fists. “I’m killing them all.”
He rushed through the hole in the wall, raced along the hallway, heading toward the approaching humans. Every step was transmitted and verbally documented. The glee in the E Model’s communications over being able to run, to use his arms, to see views outside his chamber, fueled Malice’s fury toward their enemy.
“Valor left his gun on the sleeping support.” His female, another target of those foes, waved at the weapon.
“He doesn’t need it.” As Malice didn’t need a gun to end Picton’s lifespan.
He relieved the guard of his weapons, keeping the reprimand stick, flinging the rest across the chamber. The male would never use them on his female again.
And he would never touch her again. Malice kept his form between his female and the guard, ensuring both of them were in his view at all times.
His little medic pushed herself onto her knees. “If he doesn’t need the gun, I—”
“Stay where you are.” He glared at her.
Her eyes widened. She stopped moving.
His fraggin’ female had recently been damaged. The image of her crumpled, bloody form flashed across Malice’s processors. His anger escalated. “You’re my captive now. That means you need my permission to go anywhere.”
She blinked once, twice, then smiled sweetly at him. “Do I have your permission to—”
“No.” He didn’t need to hear her request before denying it. She was impossible, and there was an 84.1287 percent probability it would result in additional damage to herself.
“Oh.” The delectable scent of her arousal grew stronger, the musk taunting him.
The blasted female was frying his circuits. “I should strap you to the sleeping support.”
“Cunt.” Picton dared to curse at Illona.
“What did you say?” Malice turned his head and glowered at the guard.
No one spoke unkindly about his female…except for him.
“Hurt. Her.” The male’s eyes gleamed.
“I’ll hurt you. Badly.” Malice smacked the reprimand stick against his left palm and studied his enemy. Crimson coated the flight suit over the male’s stomach. That was his strong female’s handiwork. Pride filled him. She was a fighter…as he was. “Where should I start?”
His female touched her arm.
“That’s right.” He nodded. “You started with my female’s arm.”
He put all his rage into the swing. Metal connected with cloth-covered skin. Bones crunched.
Picton screeched, clutching his arm. “You’ll soon be parts, machine.” His words slurred together. His lips weren’t yet fully functional. “The Humanoid Alliance—”
“Listen to the screams, human.” Malice flicked his ear. Valor was impressively increasing his kill rate, was happily relaying the footage of all those kills to him. “The Humanoid Alliance won’t be rescuing you. Not this time.” He slammed the reprimand stick against the male’s other arm, breaking it as thoroughly.
The guard shrieked. “She experimented on you.” The male changed tactics, trying to frame Illona as the enemy.
And thirty planet rotations ago, Malice might have viewed his female that way. But he now had additional inputs. She had experimented on him because she had to do that, because the Humanoid Alliance was watching her, because his clever, brave medic hadn’t yet uncovered a way to free him.
“That was part of my female’s role.” He processed that now. She was as much of a captive as he had been. “Damaging me wasn’t part of your role.”
The guard attempted to shuffle away from him.
“You damaged me for fun.” Malice slammed the reprimand stick against the male’s right knee.
Bones cracked. Picton cried out and fell to the floor.
“I’m now damaging you for fun.” He kicked