Defying Death (13 page)

The databases also described the planet as lacking
sanitation and liquid purification systems. That intrigued
Tifara.

“The locals could have viruses humanoids haven’t
seen in solar cycles.” A thrill zinged through her. “Like Silean
5692.”

Death grunted. He didn’t sound as enthused as she
was about that prospect.

“That virus has a cure but the local population
might not have it.” They were isolated. “We could share it with
them and save millions, thousands.” She thought about the number
more. “High hundreds.” The planet wasn’t very populated. “Of
beings.”

She would fulfill her destiny. Tifara gazed at
Death. She wouldn’t feel as guilty about her split focus, the time
she spent with him.

“We have to communicate. We’ll be exposed to the
viruses also and I don’t have a handheld to scan beings.”

He opened his mouth.

“I know you’re a handheld but I’d feel happier if I
had that ability.” She also didn’t want him sticking his tongue in
any other female’s mouth. “If you feel at all ill, you should tell
me and I will tell you.”

“We won’t feel ill.” Death pressed his lips against
her forehead. “I’m a cyborg, immune to disease and you won’t be
exiting the ship.”

Tifara frowned. “You agreed that I wouldn’t leave
your side.” They were a team.

“I agreed that I’d always protect you. The ship will
be surrounded by sensors. No being will get close to you.”

“Hmmm…” She had to convince him to change the plan.
Admittedly, she wasn’t experienced with foraging for nutrition on a
primitive planet. But if her cyborg left the ship solo, her
knowledge of him told her some being would die.

And she also didn’t want to be alone. That scared
her.

“Sleep.” He rubbed sensuous circles over her
back.

“I’m not tired.” That was a lie. Tifara yawned. She
was very tired. The excitement around the Retriever ship had worn
off, leaving her exhausted. “We should talk about this.”

“You should rest.”

“You won’t kill any beings.”

“I’ll wake you if I do.” His voice was low and
deep.

“I’ll heal those beings,” Tifara warned, her eyelids
lowering.

“You can try.”

Was that amusement she heard in his voice? “I’ll
succeed.” She snuggled against him. He’d smiled earlier and now he
was on the verge of laughing. “I’m a great medic.”

“You’re much more than that.” Death’s words were
barely audible. “You’re everything to me, my Tifara, my entire
universe. You scramble my logic, craze me with desire, make me ache
with wanting.”

“Sounds…painful.” She forced herself to concentrate.
“I can…cure…you.”

His chest shook. “I don’t want you to cure me, my
little medic. You bring me a happiness I’ve searched my entire
lifespan for, a peace I never processed was possible.”

Death could talk when he thought no one was
listening. “I…”

“Sleep.”

She didn’t want to sleep. She wanted to hear more of
what her normally silent cyborg thought and felt. But the blackness
was closing in on her and they had a lifespan for that discussion.
“Hmmm…okay, sleep.”

Death bred
with his female twice more, openly displaying his lust, his caring,
his happiness. He’d shown his emotions previously and they’d
survived, as she’d sarcastically pointed out, and the incident with
the Retriever had shown him how fleeting a lifespan could be. He
didn’t want to leave her with any doubt about how important she was
to him.

While she slept, he inserted input tubes in his
wrists, restoring his energy and nutrition levels, ensuring he was
in optimal shape to protect her, if that was necessary. He also
kissed, cuddled and caressed her, savoring her softness, reveling
in her beauty, trying to find logic in the disjointed words
spilling from her lips.

He never stopped monitoring the space around their
ship. The Retriever could have been a viable threat. The enemy
could attack at any time.

He wasn’t surrounded by his cyborg brethren, didn’t
have the security their extra surveillance would give him. Death
was solely responsible for his female’s safety. He had to remain
vigilant.

Before the rest cycle ended, he removed the input
tubes, cleaned her, and dressed her as he usually did and set her
on her own chair.

Both of their bodies protested the distance between
them. He ached, the body armor he’d donned irritating him. She
stirred, her mumbling gaining fervor.

The separation was necessary. Showing emotion during
breeding might be acceptable. Showing his caring at other times
might get his female killed.

Tifara woke, chattering about cures and viruses,
topics he suspected she processed while she slept. She nibbled on
the nutrition bar he’d cut up for her and lightened his soul with
her smiles and laughter.

Death no longer noticed the silence on his
transmission lines. He worked on the private viewscreen he was
modifying for her, listening, learning about the female who held
his heart.

It bothered him that she continued to search for a
way to sever their connection. But he wasn’t overly concerned. He
doubted that was possible.

She was created for him and he was created for
her.

It was their destiny. He’d grown to understand and
appreciate that human concept.

“Carinae E is extremely hot,” Tifara shared
information he already knew. “We have to keep hydrated.”

“No,
we
don’t. Cyborgs adapt to different
conditions.” He’d fought in hotter temperatures, battling enemies
native to that climate. The Humanoid Alliance saw cyborgs as
weapons of war, not hesitating to send them where humans feared to
go. “And you’re remaining on the ship.”

“We’re a team.” Her jaw jutted. “I’m coming with
you.”

Fraggin’ hole. She was stubborn. His female might be
soft in form but she had a determination that would daunt a weaker
male.

It didn’t deter Death. “Carinae E, as you’ve
mentioned three times this planet rotation, is a primitive planet.
The humanoids occupying it are known for being violent and hostile
toward visitors.” He reached over, lifted Tifara and set her on his
lap. “You’re a fragile human, easily damaged.” He circled her tiny
wrists, remembering how the Palavian warrior had grabbed her, the
fear for her that he’d felt. “And you’re slow. When we take the
nutrition bars, the humanoids will detect you.”

He planned to rush to the storage facilities, grab
what he needed, and return to the ship, everything done at cyborg
speed. They wouldn’t realize he’d been there.

“We are
not
stealing their nutrition bars.”
She shook her head, her brown curls bouncing against her cheeks.
“We’ll negotiate for them like civilized beings, giving them
something of value in exchange.”

“I’m giving them their lives.” His plan had been
crafted with his kind-hearted medic in mind. Death brushed an
errant curl away from her eyes. If he were alone, he’d kill them
all. But if he were alone, he also wouldn’t require the nutrition
bars in the first place. “And you’re
not
leaving the
ship.”

Her lips parted.

“I won’t relent on that.” He couldn’t. Her lifespan
was too precious to risk.

Silence stretched.

Her bottom lip curled more and more.

Death wanted to suck the lip into his mouth.
Instead, he waited. His female had something more to say. She
always did.

“I don’t want to be alone.” She whispered those
heart-wrenching words.

Death hadn’t expected
that
. He curled his
fingers, digging his fingernails into his palms, resisting his
yearning to comfort her, to tell her he wouldn’t leave her
alone.

He had to briefly abandon her. For her safety.

“I haven’t been alone since…”

She hadn’t been alone since the outbreak on her home
planet. She didn’t have to complete her sentence. He knew that was
what she had planned to say, as he knew what it had cost his proud
medic to make that confession.

While under the control of the Humanoid Alliance,
Death had marched, with his cyborg brethren, through an urban
center devastated by battle. The stench had been almost unbearable.
The silence had been eerie. The pathways had been littered with
rotting humanoid corpses, offspring, females, the elderly, the
innocent.

It had sickened his soul and he’d merely been
traveling through the center. Tifara had lived in a place like
that, solitary, for planet rotations, the experience forever
changing her.

If he left her in their ship, she’d worry he
wouldn’t return, that she’d once again be the sole survivor, alone,
without hope. She’d revisit the horrors she’d experienced as an
offspring, over and over, chewing on her lips, every moment he was
away stretching like an eternity. That would damage her
emotionally.

Death couldn’t allow that.

“You’ll follow my instructions,” he relented, his
voice gruff. “And while we’re outside the ship, you won’t
speak.”

“I won’t.” She wrapped her arms around his neck,
hugging him enthusiastically, all of her curves jiggling. “I won’t
say a word.”

Death turned his head and gazed at her, not hiding
his disbelief. It was impossible for Tifara to be silent. She’d
break her vow before she left the ramp.

“I won’t.” Her face beamed with sincerity. His
delusional female genuinely believed she could go moments without
chattering. “I’ll be so quiet; you won’t even know I’m there.”

He always knew where she was. He would locate her in
a crowded chamber by her scent alone. “You’ll obey me.”

“Yes, sir.” She tapped her fingers to her forehead,
her salute more endearing than deferential. “Anything you say, I’ll
do.”

Death didn’t trust in that promise either. His
female had her own processors. She wouldn’t blindly follow his
commands.

Had he made another mistake, agreeing to this? Was
he putting her in danger? He wouldn’t survive losing her. She was
his joy, his warmth.

“I’ll do as you say.” She nodded. “And you won’t
kill anyone.”

He said nothing, unable to give his female that
promise.

“There’s no need to. I’m a medic.” She preened a
little at that pronouncement, his female’s pride in her abilities
adorable. “Medics are always in demand. I’ll heal their wounded and
they’ll pay us in nutrition bars.”

“You aren’t touching any of them.” Death told her.
She had barely survived the incident with the Palavian. The Carinae
were reportedly fiercer and there were rumors of cloning and
genetic manipulation. Both made an enemy more dangerous.

“You don’t want me touching another male.” Her eyes
narrowed.

That was true also.

“I’m a medic. It isn’t sexual.”

“If you touch another male or another male touches
you, I’ll rip his arms off,
all
of his arms.” Death held her
gaze. Merely the thought of another male touching her enraged him.
“That’s a vow, my female.”

“You’re a savage being.”

“You like that I’m a savage being.” He slid one of
his hands between her thighs. The fabric covering her pussy was
damp.

“Stop groping me.” She batted his arm. “We’re having
a conversation.”

And she couldn’t have a conversation while he was
groping her. Death knew that about his small human. With one stroke
of his fingers, her big brain shut down. “Tell me you won’t touch
another male and I’ll remove my hand.”

She gazed at him, her eyes sparking with
rebellion.

He pressed his palm against her.

Her musk intensified, hanging heavily in the air.
She squirmed yet didn’t relent. His female could be as obstinate as
he was. He admired that about her.

“Give me your vow, female.” Death placed his thumb
on her cloth-covered clit.

She sucked in her breath. “I vow.” She broke, much
to his disappointment. “I won’t touch another male. I’ll only tend
to the females.”

He removed his hand, raised his fingers to his nose
and inhaled, savoring her aroma. “You won’t tend any beings.”
Females, he knew from past battles, could be even more violent than
males. “I’ll give them my services in exchange for the nutrition
bars.”

And then he would kill them. He’d have to. They
would have seen his face, realized he was a cyborg. To not kill
them would put his brethren in danger.

He might be in exile but he’d never betray his
fellow warriors.

“You won’t give the Carinae your sexual services.”
His female’s face darkened. “You’ve already infected me. I won’t
allow you to infect another being.”

“I didn’t infect you.” He strapped his arms around
her. “I bred with you.”

“I don’t care what you call it.” She pushed on his
shoulders, trying to free herself. “We’ve narrowed the transfer of
the virus down to physical contact. Until I determine its side
effects, you’re not touching any other being.”

Death suspected she’d never make that determination.
His female was as possessive of him as he was of her. “I’m not
interested in breeding with another being,” he reassured her. “If I
touch someone, it will be to kill him or her. You’re the only
female I want sucking my cock.”

“I’m not sucking your cock.” Tifara slapped his
chest.

“Hmmm…” He slid his hand between her thighs. The
fabric was even more soaked than it had been a moment ago. “If you
don’t suck my cock, how will you detect whether or not my flavor is
changing?”

Her struggles eased. “It
is
changing. I
noticed—” She frowned at him. “Don’t distract me. We’re having a
conversation.”

“Our conversation is over.” He nudged her white coat
off her shoulders. “You’ll accompany me when I leave the ship,
staying close by my side. I’ll kill any beings the Carinae wish
disposed of. They’ll give us nutrition bars.” He’d kill all of the
Carinae. “And we’ll leave the planet before their sun sets.”