In the past several weeks, she had come to know the fucker who abducted her—she’d come to know the devil. And devils had no patience.
Who cared if he was some Cyborg hero who’d fought and commanded in the Galactic War; that he protected her and saved her life on numerous occasions; that he’d helped her family? Janet glowered then frowned, regret sneaking in as she surveyed the destruction she’d caused.I’m better than this.
Her family’s agri-lot on Kepler had dealt with mysterious disappearances, the gradual loss of all their crops, and paranoid spies from their peers and competition. Zeph and his partner, Netto, had come to help the Montihans—her family—figure out what was happening. In return, the Earthian Planetary Exploration Division, the Cyborg’s employer, would receive rights to a majority of their crops that season… regardless of prior contracts.
She and her sister, Rylie, had spent days, nearly weeks in the company of the two men while the investigation occurred, and in that time, her older sis had fallen for Netto, the big blue shark, jagged teeth and all. Quiet, brooding, and blue. That was Netto. Janet had worried about the attention he’d given her sister. In fact, she’d hated it knowing how vulnerable and precious Rylie really was.
She sighed. Netto was a good man despite being one of the most dangerous men alive. He’d passed all of Janet’s tests and come out the other side completely devoted to her older sister.
Netto was a good man, a great man, she reassured herself again, but if he so much as hurt her sister in the slightest, Janet would make him pay. She woulddestroyhim. Her nostrils flared.
There was nothing she wouldn’t do for her family and no Cyborg savior would ever get in the way of that.
Even as she thought of Netto as her future brother-in-law, she also knew he was now part of her family.
If anyone fucking hurt the Cyborg her sister loved, she’d make them pay too.
But Zeph isn’t Netto.The two men couldn’t be more different.
Janet humphed and made her way to the large bed on the other side of the cabin, dragging the blanket behind her. She plopped down on the partially ripped mattress and stared at the door, wondering what kind of mess she’d gotten herself into this time.
Her eyes blurred over with white as she continued to wait for his entrance. She tapped her foot anxiously against the cold floor. He was too cool for school, too debonair and charismatic. Zeph had all the charm of a puppy. A self-confident shepherd that drew people to him, playing everyone with his façade. But underneath, when you got closer—breathed in his intoxicating scent and were mesmerized by his apple-green eyes—you saw the reptile underneath.
He’d played her like she played him. How could she be mad that this had happened? She pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders.
Where the hell was he?
Minutes turned into hours. She’d given up waiting meekly on the bed at one point, having resolved to forgive Zeph and charm her way out of this situation. She’d tidied up as best she could, making a pile of glass and fabric, only to return to the cracked control panel to find she couldn’t summon the cleaning bots. Every now and then, a wave of panic rushed through her, and she found herself pausing, terrified that something was horribly wrong.
An otherworldly feeling invaded her space. It stabbed her gut at random intervals, but the sensation left her as fast as it had started. Somethingwaswrong. Very wrong. And the longer she waited, the longer she was trapped inside this confined space, those sudden, panicked moments increased.
She backed herself into the corner of the room once more, opposite of the cabin door, hiding within the cave of her blanket, when the door finally opened.
2
Zeph steepled his fingers and leaned forward in his seat at the helm of theOppression. The spaceship hummed with power. For the past two decades, since he signed on with the Earthian Planetary Exploration Division, this had been his home.
“She’s mine,” he whispered to the clear glass screen and controls in front of him. The vibrant LEDs were the only light beside the stars outside.
He stared at the surveillance feed from his cabin. He had camera feeds to every room on his ship, bathrooms included, but he rarely had a reason to check them. Now, he couldn’t tear his eyes away.
Janet slept in his bed.
Zeph palmed his mouth. It’d been hours now since he’d stolen her way, and he knew she would be awake soon. Janet always woke at sunrise. Kepler’s sunrise would occur shortly, not that she’d ever see Kepler’s again.
Janet’s blond hair was spread out across his pillow, silken and knotted with sleep, alluring in an innocent way. He remembered the feel of it sliding through his fingers. The glossy strands dried with ocean water and sea salt held more power over him then he would’ve liked.
Janet’s face had banished the demon for a beautiful, blissful moment. She may think herself a stone-cold, well-learned human woman, but he’d seen his share of the universe and all the lessons it had to offer. Janet was an uneducated girl playing at being a woman, with naught but a substandard non-Earthian education, who’d never been beyond the glow of her barely inhabited planet.
He could show her so much.
Zeph sat back and ran his hand over the entirety of his face, feeling the pressure build.
She’s mine.
He’d never wanted a woman so much and had gone a little crazy about it. Any minute now, Janet would wake and the communications would be coming in, flooding his feeds. By the hundreds before the standard Earth day space cycle was out.
Any minute now…
