Bin-One stopped relaying and focused on him.Am I actually being spied on? Did someone tap into my bots?It was his first thought.
“Master, Katalina Jones is in a restricted area and refuses to move.”
Dommik stood up. “How the Hell did she get past one of the doors?” He focused his attention on his ship and connected to its systems, scanning the interior for her heat signature.
“She said she wasn’t feeling well and Bin-Three took her stats. They were headed to the medbay when she stopped at the view lounge down the hallway.” Dommik found her just as the robot said it. “Katalina Jones won’t leave the area. We cannot touch her without your permission, Master.” He started out of the bridge and through the door. Bin-One followed closely behind. “Do we have your permission?”
Dommik stopped and grabbed the bot by its head, lifting all 250 pounds of it off the ground. The android's head got tangled into the ropes crisscrossing and hanging from the ceiling. “You do not have permission. You should have told me the instant she was led outside her zone.”
“It wasn’t coded as a red, orange, or yellow alert, Master,” It said easily, unhindered by its mistreatment. Dommik set the bot on the floor and took a breath.
“Tell Bin-Three to go back to work. I’ll take care of it from here, and make anything to do with Kat, a red-alert.” He wiped his hand over his chest in disgust. “Leave. And never take her out of the zone again without my knowledge.”
“Yes, Master. Registered.” It moved away and out of his sight.
Dommik palmed his face, willing the headache coming on to go away. It took a lot for a Cyborg to get a headache and the events of this day were not likely to help. He didn’t envy Stryker and if he had to weigh who was having a worse day, he had to put them side-by-side. Women could do that.
Kat did that to him unknowingly on a daily basis. He looked up. The ropes were everywhere above him, leading all the way back to his cockpit and they only stopped at the end of the passageway. They hung from the grates and the metal tubes that lined the walls; some in an intricate pattern and other parts in disarray. It was thick with forced webbing, all of it to fill his strange impulses. And hisneedto be surrounded in a weave of his own design.
If she sees this…
Anyone who saw this either had one of two reactions: fear or confusion. A gut wrench that shivered through them. The only other person who saw this side of him and understood it was Stryker and it was only because he had his own eccentricities.
Dommik reached up and grabbed a tangle of cord. It soothed him. He ripped it from its support and let it fall at his feet. It was quickly forgotten as he made his way down the dark hallway in search of Kat.
He heard her well before he saw her.
The sound of sniffling reached his ears just as the scent of tears assailed him. Dommik quieted his steps and crept up on her, his frame invisible within the shadows.
Did she see the ropes? Is she crying because of fear?
He couldn’t tell so instead he watched her. Her copper curls were bent out of shape and fell in pressed waves along her head. The bumps of slender knees could just be seen over the chairs, bent up and hugged to her chest, her face just above them, her mouth kissing one of them in comfort.
Her cries breezed away while her hands came up to wipe off whatever dew that still lingered on her face. Eventually, her head tilted to the side and her hair fell to her shoulder, her breaths hushed and her heart fell into a slow rhythm.
He didn’t know how long he watched her, having forgotten everything but her tears, but he knew when she fell asleep.
Dommik shrugged off his uniform jacket and stepped from the shadows, draping it across her shoulders. Kat twitched under it before falling back to sleep. He rounded the couch and sat down next to her, soaking in her scent and sleeping pants. His eyes turned to the stars.
How could he trap a girl like her within his web? Someone who was wild to him, wild green eyes that pierced him every time she lifted her gaze, wild hair that shimmered under the dimmed lights, and a smell he still couldn’t place. His fingers drummed against the back of the couch, the other in his lap.
The sound of her sleeping soothed him. It was a break within the quiet hum of his ship. Dommik looked at her.
He could see her in his bed, lithe and molded into his side, he could feel her breaths breeze over his chest. He wanted to wrap her up, cage her away, make her into something he was only allowed to enjoy. His wingless fairy in his ropes.
Dommik tensed, disgusted with himself, and looked back at the view.
A moan pulled him back to her. Her hooded eyes brushed over with slender fingertips, only to massage the back of her neck. He sat silently, waiting for her to notice him; waiting for the inevitable.
“Oh.” Kat jerked. He watched her. “Shit.”
“Are you ill?”
She let her knees fall to the cushion, her bare feet slipped to the floor. “How long have you been there? No, why?”
“Awhile. One of my androids were taking you to the medical facility.”
The girl fidgeted, pulling down her night shift; but it barely touched her knees and even that was stretching it. Dommik had to fidget himself.
