Page 72 of A Cyborg for the Alien Mercenary

To face Jesh.

But rather than the condemnation he expected at his animal side, she smiled at him. “Saves me having to overload my power core to get rid of the asshole.”

He crossed the space between them in a heartbeat and scooped her up into his arms.

“What did I do to deserve you?” he murmured and claimed her lips again in a quick, hard kiss.

“Oh for heavens’ sake, can we leave the lovey-dovey shit until we’re back on the ship? In case you haven’t realized, we’re in the middle of enemy territory,” Ryke informed them, a frown between his brows as he looked around the lab. “Download everything you can find.”

“No,” Jesh broke in, her voice sharp. “We need to destroy it. All of it. No one should have access to this kind of technology.”

“Look around you, Jesh,” Ryke said, gesturing to the walls. Covak followed his gaze, noticing for the first time the case studies pinned up. Faces of women, human women, all bearing the marks of experimentation and suffering. “There are women out there who have suffered. We should take this to help them.”

Jesh blinked as she looked, and he saw realization wash over her features. It wasn’t just about her anymore. He placed a hand on her lower back, over the new metal encasing her skin, but he knew she could feel it.

She leaned into him, as if drawing strength from his presence, and nodded. “Alright. But we destroy anything that could be weaponized. Agreed?”

Ryke smiled. “Absolutely.”

As the others moved around the room, gathering what they could, Jesh squeezed his hand.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “For coming for me. For bringing them all.”

He brought her hand to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles. “Always, sweetheart. I will always come for you.”

Their moment was interrupted by Jex. “Hate to break up the reunion,” he said, his head swiveling toward the lab’s entrance, “but we’ve got company coming. A lot of company.”

The sound of boots on metal flooring echoed down the corridor, growing louder with each passing second.

“Time to go,” Ryke barked, his voice cutting through the tension. “Davis, Anson, you got everything?”

“Downloaded and purged,” Davis confirmed, unplugging a data crystal from the main terminal.

Covak turned to Jesh, his heart swelling with a mixture of love and fierce protectiveness. “Stay close to me,” he growled softly.

“Always.” Her lips quirked in a small smile.

“Now let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Back on the ship,two days had passed for Jesh in a blur of recovery and rehabilitation. So much so, she was completely and utterly sick of looking at the inside of the medbay. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Jex had deemed her systems recovered enough that the support exoskeleton could be removed, allowing her to move more freely for the first time since her ordeal.

“You might feel a bit weak at first,” Jex warned. “Take it slow and?—”

Before he could finish his advice, Covak scooped her up into his arms, cradling her against his broad chest. She couldn’t helpa sudden squeak of surprise at the moment, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

“That’s not a problem,” he rumbled, his deep voice vibrating through his chest and into her body. His eyes were a warm grey as he looked down at her. “My mate never needs to walk again if she doesn’t want to.”

The possessive note in his voice sent a shiver down her spine, and she nestled closer happily.

With a nod to the hulking cyborg-turned-Scorperio, Covak turned and carried her out of the medbay. The ship’s corridors seemed different from this new perspective, cradled in his arms, and not for the first time did she realize how much bigger than her he was.

“You’ll put your back out carrying me like this, you know?” she commented. She wasn’t like most girls. Literally. She was mostly made of metal.

“A little thing like you? Pffft.” He grinned down at her. “You’re as light as a feather.”

“Yeah right, you keep telling yourself that when Jex is rebuilding the vertebrae in your lower back after you popped them,” she snorted.

Covak paused by the door to their quarters, a glint in his eyes.