Page 5 of Ruled By Their Desires

“You’re not staying?”

“No. The KCs might have more like me. Besides Cyborg remember, Free Human Alliance don’t like us. I’m hardly their poster boy, and they’d have seen what I did to her.” He wiped his hand down his face. He could feel the strain starting to take its toll. “Don’t think I enjoyed doing that, I didn’t. I’ll put my phone on at midnight every night for 5 seconds. You need me, you text it in.” He gave her the number. “You good?”

“Yeah. Why do I think I know you?” It was the strangest thing, but she did think she knew him. He looked so familiar, Marcus crossed her mind again and she wondered if he was one of his SC’s.

“You don’t, not really.” He told her honestly.

Okay, she guessed she didn’t and nodded, but that didn’t answer her question. She had a lot of SCs back home. They were her friends and her family. It fleetingly crossed her mind who he looked like again, and she pushed it away. He wouldn’t come after her.

Why did she want to keep him with her?...

“Does that make you a good guy?”

“No. Just different.”

“I can’t thank you for what you did to her,” she nodded to her charge. “But I can for what you’re doing now.”

He shook his head. “Don’t thank me for this. I still hurt her, still fucked her when she told me repeatedly no. I tried not to harm her and hope I succeeded. The best outcome would be if she remembered it as a bad experience and not let it ruin her life. Your colleague on the other hand, might die if she doesn’t get immediate attention, she’s badly injuried, I dare not give her anything and that leg is bad, she might lose it. She’s out cold with several broken bones, probably internal injuries. She took a kicking when down. Her trauma is going to be far far worse.”

The gun fire came nearer. He looked at her. She was always so hard to read and although he’d only seen her from a distance for the past 15 years, she’d always had a good poker face and had fought like a Cyborg today. Adaptable and used the weapons she had. He was so damn proud, it was hard not to grab her, kiss her hard, hold her and tell her just that.

But he knew he couldn’t, but felt the need to praise her anyway. “You were good back there. They had me in chains, but I saw it on the vid screen. They didn’t see you coming, you made them curious and you used every advantage but that will change now. The hive mind will make sure they all know how good you are, and they’ll just shoot you to disable you next time, then go to work. I don’t have to tell you what that means. Stay out of the field agent.”

“It’s my job.”

“It’s a death sentence.”

She shrugged. “It is what it is.”

She killed him. She always did. He gave a nod he couldn’t waste any more time and needed to be gone. She was safe now and he had people to find and the others would be waiting for him to report in. He’d done his job. It was time to go.

Standing guard over her charges, she waited for the Free Human Alliance to show. They were both out, but Kate looked real bad. She checked her pulse more than once while she guarded them anxiously waiting for the FHA to arrive. It didn’t take long. As soon as they were spotted, they had them helo’d out to a FHA hospital. Kate’s injuries were severe. He’d been right about that. She was lucky to be alive.

She’d sat through Kate being operated on, then plastered for her external injuries and finally putting her in a healing coma to give her the best chance. Only once she was stable, did she leave her. Sarah had the drugs purged from her system but other than that, her only injuries were the restraints. An internal exam showed no tearing, and she wasn’t pregnant, not that they expected that, Cyborgs were sterile.

Sarah remembered most of it and what he’d told her while raping her. She’d confirmed he’d been brought in in chains and told to fuck her or the KCs with him would do it and they’d make sure it hurt while they violated her. Sarah spoke of being cuffed to the bed and they’d tasered him several times stripping her of her clothes before he’d agreed. He’d told her to fight the drugs, fight him, to stay awake and endure it. That if she did, she’d never doubt her own mind, she’d know exactly what happened. All of it. Sarah said it helped her and she remembered he’d tried not to hurt her.

She thought Sarah was likely to need therapy to get over it, but it wasn’t worse than that. She’d been lucky too. They all had. Because of him.

She’d had to go through a medical but no internal. Cuts and bruises only and she’d given her report on what she knew. She’d told them that she’d been able to fight off her attackers in round one knowing that when Kate surfaced, she’d confirm she’d done the same and their attack on the compound had come at the right time. She’d been lucky she told them and meant it. The debrief had been intense but she didn’t tell them about the weapons on her body. No one knew about that but her tailor, and she’d learnt at an early age, always have a weapon and her training with those weapons, had kept her alive more than once. Case in point.

Her father’s men had trained her well, so had her uncles.

She’d been brought up to expect the unexpected, to survive. Her skill had brought her to the attention of others, but she’d never stopped training. Never stopped carrying. Never stopped learning. She knew what happened when you did.

They’d eventually let her go home and given her a week off duties to recover. A phone call from the Director thanking her personally had been nice to hear. Although she wasn’t the one he should be thanking. And she’d told him so. She blamed herself for what happened to both of them. Kate and Sarah. She should have left the intel and got them out sooner. The minute she came around from the knockout gas. But she didn’t know what they were facing and the set up was seriously good. It was for a reason and she wanted to know why. But waiting to see what KC would do, was never a good thing and she’d needed to know why they hadn’t just tried to kill them. And in the end, the result was her fault they’d both been attacked.

She’d kept her mind off her failure and stuck to her routine, getting up early, running, breakfast, training, weapons, lunch, hand to hand, gun work, knife work, dinner, did some chores and tried to chill after checking in with Kate’s situation at the hospital. She held off for five nights before she sent the text from a burner at midnight.

The Sentient Cyborg had been a stunning man. And she couldn’t get that familiarity out of her mind. He was a puzzle she needed to solve before it drove her crazy.

She didn’t know why she sent it at all.

Not really. But in all honestly, she accepted it was because he reminded her of Marcus. But that person wasn’t this man. This one was different. Harder if that was possible. And older although SC’s didn’t age like humans. He acted older, spoke older, like life had worn him down and her teenage fantasies of Marcus had been a long time ago, and buried so very deep. Cut out lethally. It was the only way she could live with it.

This male however was raw, a sexual animal and very very dangerous.

In case you need saving next time.

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