A Deliciously Bothersome Cyborg (Terras Five 3)

A Deliciously Bothersome Cyborg (Terras Five 3)
Anne Kane
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Copyright ©2017 Anne Kane

It felt as if an army of nasty little hammer-wielding cyborgs had taken up residence inside her head, and they were an energetic bunch, the blows raining down hard and fast.

Emma opened her eyes a slit, desperately trying to remember where she was, and how she'd gotten there. One thing she was sure of -- this wasn't the bunk on her cute little interplanetary shuttle. It was way too uncomfortable for that.

Despite the fact that she'd just regained consciousness, it felt like she was vertical, in a standing position. She attempted to move, but found she couldn't. Strange. She really was vertical. Her hands were fastened to the wall above her head. She tugged experimentally, but they didn't budge.

Mag-lok cuffs? Hadn't they been outlawed in the last inter-species treaty?

She took a deep breath, willing the pounding in her head to settle down. She needed to be able to think. Maybe the hammer-wielding psychos were ready for a coffee break? Or maybe she could have them murdered by a rogue asteroid. It felt like one of those had slammed into her midsection.

What the hell happened to her?

The last thing she remembered, she'd been on a quick trip to one of the outer rim farming colonies to purchases some herbs for her store. Planet grown herbs were always preferable to the ones raised in the hydroponics labs on the orbital stations. She was pretty sure she hadn't made it to her destination.

She remembered spotting an anomaly on her star holo-grid, out toward the energy ring that the high council had put in place to deflect incoming space debris. Common sense told her that it was probably a computer glitch, and she'd ignored it in her hurry to get her hands on some of the fresh, planet-grown herbs. Try as she might, she couldn't remember anything else. Maybe she'd been rammed by a bit of rogue space junk?

But that didn't explain how she'd managed to end up attached to a wall.

A movement to her left caught her attention, and she tensed, turning her head to assess the new threat.

Bad move. Her stomach lurched, threatening to discharge her last meal. She took a deep breath and willed it under control.

"About time you came around. I was starting to think I'd mistakenly captured a pampered cyborg female. Can't imagine a human female fainting just because she ran low on oxygen. Especially not one as delectable as you."

A large male stalked into her line of vision. He turned to adjust something on the control panel in front of him and she realized it wasn't just any male. It was Liam, the most deliciously bothersome cyborg on all of Terras Five. Her traitorous body reacted eagerly to the sight of the one man she'd never been able to forget.

Given the way their last meeting had ended, she supposed she should feel scared, but all she could manage was pissed off. He'd disappeared without so much as a goodbye. She might have understood if he'd been called away on some kind of cyborg emergency, but he hadn't bothered to call and explain. He could have called. He should have called, damn it!

Hoping she looked at least half as angry as she felt, she glared at him. "You have one hell of a nerve! Now get me down from here."

He turned and regarded her with cool amusement. "And why would I do that?"

She lifted her brows, her voice dripping ice. Right now, he was much more bothersome than delicious. "Because I'm a citizen of the Alliance and if you don't I'm going to kick your ass ten ways to Venus when I manage to free myself."

"Well then of course I'll let you down." He turned back to his control panel. "Just as soon as I get myself out of the mess you've landed us in."

"Mess I landed us in? What the hell are you talking about? I was peacefully going about my business, last I recall. How I managed to land in your none-too-gentle care should be an interesting story. I'll be sure the interplanetary council hears all about it as soon as we're planet side."

She tried folding her hand as small as it went, but she still couldn't slide it out of the cuffs. She suspected Liam had managed to program them to sense movement and tighten accordingly. His cyborg implants made working with tech almost instinctive, something else she found annoying about him. Well that, and the way her body responded to the sight of his well-muscled torso...