“Have you lost your damn mind?” Onyx inched closer, his gaze fixed on Ice. “The council will not be pleased. They gave us direct orders. Blackie is still aboard, waiting for verification of her death.”

“The council deemed her a threat to us if she was able to report us. She is not to be freed. She will remain in my quarters with no access to communications. Her threat status is zero under those conditions. I just ordered Blackie to return to the Bridden and he is leaving. I want you to undock with them as soon as he’s gone.”

“Councilman Zorus will not be pleased,” Onyx warned. “You know he has no tolerance for humans. He hates them all and believes they are a risk to Garden.”

“He’s an ass,” Varion muttered softly. “But Onyx is correct, Ice. The council ordered her death and we must do their bidding.”

“We’re not on Garden.” Ice turned away, gripping the tray, and continued to fill it with food for Megan. “Her threat status is zero locked in my room and I won’t kill a female.”

“One of us will do it then,” Onyx grimly offered again.

Ice spun and glared at his longtime friend. “Attempt it and you will regret it. She’s under my protection inside my quarters.”

Their gazes locked for long moments and Onyx clenched his teeth. “Damn. You have it bad for her, don’t you? Just how good in bed is she? Was Blackie right about that?”

“I find myself oddly fascinated with her and yes, the sex is exceptional,” Ice admitted. “If she were in your room you would find yourself feeling protective as well and not willing to kill her or allow her to be killed. I would support your decision not to let your woman die if our roles were reversed.”

Broad shoulders sagged. “I know that. Fine. You know that ass Zorus is going to have a fit but I’ll stand by you.” Onyx glanced at Varion. “Are you in on this madness as well?”

“I’m not for killing females. With our history, we should have learned the value of them by now since we suffered a great loss with our own when we fled Earth.” He nodded at Ice. “I’m in but I refuse to accept command until this is resolved somehow.

They could order me to kill her and then it would be my future at stake with them. You get all my command shifts, Ice.”

Onyx nodded. “Mine as well. I’m commander next shift so now it is yours. It is the least you can do since you’re putting us all in danger of repercussions when the council realizes you have circumvented their direct orders.”

Ice nodded and sighed as he heated the tray. “Tell the men what my stand and decision is about Megan. If anyone has a problem, alert me. I want to know if I need to watch my back.”

“They will probably agree since we all respect you greatly,” Onyx acknowledged softly. “But I doubt any will be willing to take command of the Rally until this situation is over. You know what that means.”

“I’m in official command at all times.” Ice removed the tray from the auto warmer and faced his crewmates. “Contact me if anything arises. I didn’t rest much on my sleep cycle so I’m going down for a few hours.”

Onyx suddenly grinned. “I bet you are going down. Tell me, do humans taste anything close to what our women do?”

Ice paused next to his friend and grinned. “Find a human and discover the answer to that question yourself.” He moved toward the door, which automatically slid open, and walked out into the hallway.

His smile died as soon as he moved out of sight of Onyx and Varion. The council could be vicious and Zorus would be the harshest set against anything human. The cyborg had a bitter history of his time on Earth, had no forgiveness, and he would be very angry when he realized Ice had refused to kill Megan.

What if they sent the Bridden back so others not under Ice’s influence came to kill Megan? His hands tightened on the tray. He clenched his teeth. No one would touch her. He’d kill before he allowed anyone to harm a hair on her head.

He stopped dead in his tracks, feeling the blood drain from his face. What the hell was happening to him? He thought about killing other cyborgs to protect a human? He debated if he had lost his reasoning or if perhaps he had gone insane. He uttered a foul curse. Megan had changed something inside him, influenced him somehow, and he needed to analyze how deeply she’d affected him.

* * * * * Megan sensed something was wrong as she finished her meal. Ice was too quiet as he watched her with a curious expression on his handsome features. He’d also kept his distance from her by taking a seat near the door at the only small table in the room.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m unsure.” He sighed softly.

“Are you sick?”

“No. That isn’t my problem.”

“Then what is?”

He shifted in the seat and then stood to his full height. “I’m not myself. Since I came into contact with you I have been changing and didn’t realize how drastically until I retrieved your meal.”

“Okay. I’m not really sure what you mean but I’m trying to understand you.”

He bent and removed his boots, then his socks, before straightening up. “You have influenced me in ways I am still trying to figure out. I disobeyed a direct order, nearly came to blows with another cyborg who struck you, and now I’m risking my entire future and that of my crew to possible punishment from the Cyborg Council. I never considered I would do any of these things.”

Guilt ate at her just a little. “I never meant to do this to your life.”

“I believe that.” He paused next to the bed within arm’s reach of her. “There was no logical expectation from you to foresee my reaction to you.” He sat down gently. “What was your real plan, Megan? What do you hope to gain from me? Is it information you need? I have been completely honest with you and I give you my word that I am unable to harm you regardless of your answers.”

It hurt a little that he was still suspicious of her but she understood. She had lied to him right from the beginning. “I’m not a bounty hunter and I don’t work for Earth Government. I’m just a programmer who needed a ride when that freighter slammed into Folion. That’s why I ran onto your shuttle and no other reason.”

“You could have chosen any of the cyborg males but you ordered the bots to not service me alone. Why?”

Shit. She bit her lip and then set the empty tray aside. “The truth?”

“I would appreciate that.” He lifted his arm and gripped her gently around her neck.

“Are you going to strangle me if you don’t like what I have to say?

He chuckled. “No. I’m reading your pulse. I’m good at detecting lies. Think of me as a breathing lie detector. Do not attempt to test me. That will irritate me.” He paused.

“I won’t choke you but you don’t want me angry either.”

She swallowed. “When I saw you that first time when you forgot to leave your weapon on your shuttle and came aboard Folion, I was instantly drawn to you.”

“The first time?”

She knew her heart raced. Ice’s eyes narrowed and he inched closer, looking into her eyes, carefully studying her. She bit her lip and then sighed, releasing it with her teeth.

“I spied on you,” she admitted. “I told Clara you were a threat to the station. Every time you docked with us she made me aware. I monitored you when you came aboard just so I could see you on the cameras.”

His hand tightened and his features hardened. “So you reported us after all?”

“No!” Megan reached up and held onto his arm attached to the hand around her throat. He didn’t hurt her but he had a good grip. “She doesn’t report to anyone but the company and she wouldn’t report that unless she had to file a damage incident report.

It just alerted me and no one else when you came aboard Folion. I got to visually track you while you were aboard so I could see you. That’s how I knew how many times you visited. I’ve been seriously attracted to you from the first time I laid eyes on you and you kind of dominated my thoughts sometimes.”

The hold on her eased. “Earth wasn’t in any way alerted?”

“I wouldn’t have done it if that were the case. I knew what you were the second I saw you. While I might not be a history buff, everyone knows certain things about cyborgs. Your skin color was a dead giveaway. It stunned me that any of you still existed because according to what I’d heard growing up, all cyborgs were destroyed.

You fascinated me but I sure as hell didn’t want to get you caught.”

His hold eased more. “So why did you program the bots to ignore me? You did that, didn’t you?”

“Yes. I had a lot of fantasies about you and hell, I saw my chance to finally get to touch you in the flesh.”

He took a deep breath. “You’re very brave.”

“Stupid is the word I’d have used and maybe even pathetic but damn, Ice. I really wanted to know how it would feel to touch you and have you touch me back. I’d even go so far as to say it had become an obsession of mine to know. When I signed up for my job on Folion nobody ever mentioned that I’d be locked behind a bulkhead with only Clara to talk to. The last programmer happened to be a complete jackass and you can’t imagine what he did to her programming. I tried to change some of it but he was damn good at what he did and I couldn’t override some of his commands without pulling her physical motherboards and wiping them, which I couldn’t do because I wasn’t allowed to leave that one area of the ship unless something really went wrong. Nothing ever did until that freight carrier slammed into us.”

He released her and leaned back, staring into her eyes. “You could have chosen another male. There are plenty of us onboard.”

“I wanted you.” She hated to admit the truth to him but she did. She’d said she’d give him that and she was. “You’re the one I dreamed about sometimes in my bunk.”

Interest sparked in his eyes. “What kind of dreams?”

She hesitated. “Sexual fantasies.”

He reached for her, gripped her leg, and Megan gasped as he pulled her flat on her back on the bed and came down on top of her, pinning her under his body in a few heartbeats. She reached up and curved her fingers around his shoulders, staring up into his handsome face. She really enjoyed the feel of the muscular cyborg on top of her, trapping her under him. He was careful not to apply too much weight so she didn’t have difficulty breathing but she knew she couldn’t get out from under him either.

“What kind of sexual fantasies?”

She grinned. “You really want to know?”

“I asked.”

“I dreamed about you na**d and f**king me. My favorite dream has always been me straddling your lap and riding you.”

He turned them, rolling onto his back, putting her on top of him, and adjusted her on his lap. “Sit up.”

She did and stared down at his chest as he lifted up a little and reached for his shirt, which he opened to reveal that wonderful chest of his. Then his fingers worked on the front of his pants, getting them open, and she scooted back on his thighs as he pushed them down enough to free his hard cock. Her gaze lifted to his.

“Ride me then. I would hate for you to have an unfulfilled fantasy.”

“I love it when a man wants to make all my dreams come true.”

She tugged her shirt over her head and tossed it away to reveal her nakedness. She reached for his stiff cock, running her fingertips over the hot length, enjoying the feel of his hard arousal.

Ice closed his eyes, his chin lifting as he arched his h*ps into her exploring hands. “I enjoy your touch so much, Megan.”

She enjoyed the way his voice deepened and turned husky when she touched him.