Emma: Part Two (Outpost Nine Book 2) Read online

  And the two men who had promised to protect her? They were nowhere to be found. Betrayal didn’t even come close to touching what Emma felt.

  Pulling the covers up over her face, she closed her eyes and prayed for sleep to come. At least in her dreams, she was still free.

  *

  Max loitered outside the hospital until the second shift-change in the middle of the night. He was risking a court martial by trying to get into Emma’s room but he couldn’t stand being away from her. His gut soured at the thought of what she’d suffered through without them by her side to help. He needed to make sure she was all right.

  As he slipped into the hospital through the loading docks, Max made sure to keep a low profile. While waiting, he had stolen a pair of clean scrubs from one of the laundry trucks idling in the loading bay and slipped into them. He used the back corridors of the hospital, carefully navigating the mental map he had created by studying the hospital’s emergency evacuation plans stored on the Outpost’s network. Being a major had its advantages, after all.

  He snatched a paper mask from one of the supply trolleys parked in the hallway of the quarantine unit so he could pass by the medic’s station without garnering too much attention. He breathed a sigh of relief when he passed the desk and turned down an empty hall.

  “And just where do you think you’re going?” Julie Freedmore’s familiar voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

  “Just going to check on a patient in room six,” he said, deliberately altering and lowering his tone. “I have orders for vital signs every hour, ma’am.”

  “Oh, please,” Julie replied with a lot of attitude. “I’ve known you since we were created at Gulfpoint Labs. Knock it off and lose the mask, Max.”

  Caught red-handed, he sighed loudly and removed the paper barrier covering the lower half of his face. He slowly spun to face Julie. Her pissed-off expression took him by surprise. “What? Like I’m the first cyborg to try to sneak in and see his girl during quarantine.”

  “I’m not so sure you want to see your girl right now, Max. In fact,” Julie said as she moved closer, “I’d seriously suggest you leave her alone for a few days. She needs to recover.”

  Fury burned through him. “What did you do to her?”

  Julie glared back at him. “What did I do to her? How about what you did to her, Max? You know my job is hard enough. I’m the one who has to perform painful medical testing on the human females, and I’m the one who subjects them to a series of painful vaccinations they’ve been taught to fear and mistrust. My life would be a hell of a lot easier if I didn’t have to break the news of their civil unions too.”

  Panic knotted in the pit of his stomach. “Shit,” he swore. “We forgot, Julie. It wasn’t done maliciously. It just skipped our minds.”

  “That is the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard, Max.”

  “It’s the truth, Julie. We had to fight off hundreds of zombies and barely survived to reach the exfil point. There was mop up after and an explosion that leveled her home. Telling her all the rules took a lower priority than keeping her alive.”

  “I’m not the one who needs to be hearing this explanation, Max. I think the person you owe this apology and explanation to cried herself to sleep in that room.”

  Guilt punched him in the gut. The thought of his sweet Emma crying alone in a quarantine room made him hurt. “I have to see her, Julie.”

  If it was anyone else, he would pull rank, but he and Julie had been commissioned on exactly the same day at exactly the same rank. The hospital was her domain and he had to respect that.

  “Please, Julie.” He wasn’t above begging for a chance to see Emma.

  Her expression changed. “All right, Max. I’ll give you an hour, but no longer.” She eyed him disdainfully. “And keep your dick in your pants. That girl has been through enough today. She doesn’t need you bothering her.”

  “Shit, Julie,” Max said, taken aback by her warning. “What do you think I am? A Neanderthal?”

  “Do you really want to know the answer to that question?”

  He really didn’t. Max sensed every female cyborg on the Outpost would be up his ass for the next week about the way he had done Emma wrong. Fair enough, he reasoned. However much he had wanted to protect her and keep her safe, he had failed.

  Max pivoted on his heel and headed for her room.

  Julie followed him and punched the code to unlock the door. “Good luck. You’re going to need it.”

  Max didn’t reply as he slipped inside the room. The door clicked as it closed behind him. He tried to adjust to the darkness but the bedside lamp suddenly turned on. He blinked as Emma shot up in bed and scowled at him. “You!”

  She snatched up the water pitcher next to her bed and flung it at his head. Max ducked, but the pitcher caught the side of his head and grazed his ear. “Shit! Emma, that hurt!”

  “You think that hurt?” She threw back the covers. “Come over here, and I’ll show you something that hurts even worse.”

  She jumped out of bed and started toward him but then her face slackened and she tumbled forward. Max’s cyborg speed and reflexes came in handy as he darted across the room to catch her before she hit the floor. “Emma! Baby? Are you okay?”

  She made a whimpering sound. Her blazing hot skin seared his as he lifted her in his arms and carried her back to the bed. “Honey, you’re burning up.”

  He started to place her on the mattress but stopped when he realized her sheets were soaked with sweat. “Here,” he said as he shifted her into the chair next to the bed. “Sit still while I change these.”

  Emma didn’t speak. She looked dreadful. Her face was blotchy and red. Her hair seemed dryer than usual and frizzy. The acrid smell of antiseptic clung to her. Max hurriedly poked through the cabinets in the room until he found one packed with clean sheets. With practiced efficiency, he stripped and remade the bed, even going so far as to tuck in the clean, sharp corners he had been taught as a child.

  He went in search of the water pitcher. He refilled it with cold water and poured some into the matching cup sitting on the bedside table. “Drink this, honey. You need to stay hydrated.”

  She didn’t fight him but didn’t meet his concerned gaze either. While she sipped the water, Max went back to the cabinet where he had seen extra scrubs and found the smallest size. As he shook them out, he knew they would be way too big but there wasn’t any other option. Emma allowed him to help her out of her damp scrubs and into clean ones.

  His gaze fell on the bruises on her upper arms and the purpling along the inside of her elbows. How much blood had they taken? And who had given her those vaccines? It looked as if the needles had been driven into her arms with a nail gun.

  Feeling guilty and responsible for her misery, Max cradled Emma to his chest and pressed a lingering kiss to her hot forehead before placing her on the fresh sheets. He fluffed the pillow behind her head and sat down on the edge of the bed. He picked up her hand and placed it on his palm. He stroked the top with his fingers. “How are you feeling?”

  She gaped at him. “How do you think I feel, Max?” Tears glistened in her eyes. “My head is pounding. My body is on fire. My skin is raw from that horrible, stinging cleaner and wiry brushes those two awful men used on me. I was humiliated over and over again. They made me strip naked. A doctor put her fingers inside me.” Emma choked back a sob. “I just want to go home.”

  Max’s heart broke as Emma shattered right in front of him. His beautiful, strong, wild Emma had been reduced to tears because of him. His throat tightened, and he swallowed the lump forming there. “I’m sorry, Emma. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen to you.”

  “You keep saying that but terrible shit keeps happening to me. Seriously, Max, I’d be crazy to want to stay here.”

  She was right—and it killed him. “I don’t know what to tell you, Emma. When you saved us, I wanted to repay you. I wanted to save you right back. And, yes, I wanted you. I want you. One look, a
nd I knew you were the only woman I wanted as my mate. And I’ll admit. I thought about just taking you from your home. It would have been so easy. I could have drugged you while Jack jimmied your radio. We could have had a helicopter at your place in less than an hour and been back here just as quickly.”

  He avoided the shocked look on her face as he confessed all those ugly thoughts. “But I couldn’t do it. Jack was right. You deserved better. You deserved to make your own decision. I wanted that for you. I wanted—we wanted—to show you how good it could be for you, Emma. We wanted you to want to come with us. Having your hand forced by the zombies and the fire was the last thing we wanted for you.”

  Emma silently considered his explanation. “I believe you,” she said finally. “Although,” she added, “it’s probably just the fever making me delirious and easily persuaded.”

  Max shot her a smile. “I’ll take it.”

  “You would,” she said with a tiny grin. The smile died slowly. “But you and Jack still lied to me. You never told me that I had to marry you.”

  “We were going to, Emma. I swear,” he said forcefully. “We’d agreed that you needed to be told all the facts before you made your decision. We were going to tell you this morning after spending the night making love to you but then—”

  “Everything went to hell,” Emma finished for him.

  “Yeah.”

  “So we’re really married?” She fidgeted with the hem of her too long and too big shirt.

  “We will be once the paperwork is filed tomorrow.”

  “Like forever? I mean, is there divorce here?”

  Max wanted to lie and tell her no but he couldn’t do it. “Yes, you can apply for a divorce.” He swallowed hard before continuing. “Jack and I can get the papers to you in the morning, if that’s what you want. They’ll transfer you from quarantine to the women’s barracks on the other side of the Outpost while they process the papers.”

  Emma studied him carefully. “Would you be sad if I asked for a divorce?”

  Max blew out a loud breath. “Are you serious, Emma? I’ve only known you for a little more than a day, but it would break me if you left. I would spend the rest of my life worrying about you. I want you here with me and Jack. I want to protect you and love you and give you everything you’ve ever been denied.”

  Emma started to speak but he held up his hand, silently begging for more time. She closed her mouth and nodded, granting him a chance to continue pleading his case.

  “Look, Emma, I know I can be a rough old bastard. I’m not promising you sunshine and roses all the time, but I swear to you that Jack and I will do everything in our power to make you happy. You don’t know a lot about cyborgs, and what you’ve experienced so far has probably left a bad taste in your mouth, but let me tell you this. We don’t hit women or verbally abuse them. We don’t drink. We don’t cheat. We just want to love and be loved and have families. That’s it, Emma.”

  “That’s it?” She asked as she placed her other hand atop his. “I guess that doesn’t sound so bad.”

  The corners of Max’s mouth curved upward. “No, not too bad.” He cupped her chin and gazed into her pretty green eyes. “So what do you say, Emma? Will you give us a chance to make you happy?”

  “Well,” she said with an exaggerated sigh, “I suppose it can’t hurt to give you two a trial period.”

  “Thank you. That’s all we wanted. Just a chance, Emma.” He caressed her face. “I don’t have very long with you, sweetheart. I’m breaking a lot of rules right now. A friend is gave me a one-hour pass.”

  “Will you hold me until you have to go?” Emma looked so vulnerable as she made her request.

  “I was hoping you’d let me back in bed with you.” Max grinned as he slid into the small bed with her and spooned against her backside. He pulled her tight against his body and curled an arm over her waist. His lips danced across her neck and up her cheek. When her breathing slowed and her body started to relax, he felt like a hero. His touch and warmth had helped her fall asleep.

  Max had never been interested in cuddling, but he had to admit, it was rather nice to just hold Emma like this. His initial desire for Emma had been borne out of lust but this was so much more. It scared him a little and left him feeling unsettled. He liked to be in control at all times.

  As he snuggled closer and kissed her collarbone, Max entertained the sneaking suspicion that Emma was going to turn his world upside down. All he could do was hold tight and enjoy the ride.

  4 Chapter Four

  Jack cringed at the high-pitched whine of the cutting saw eating through a piece of metal. He stood just inside the wide open floor-to-ceiling doors of the converted hangar where all of the Outpost’s mechanical and engineering needs were handled. Gray, one of the best engineers and mechanics in the entire cyborg fleet, bent over a workbench and guided the saw through the metal fabric. Just the man Jack need to see…

  As if sensing his presence, Gray killed the saw and slowly turned. He flipped up the helmet shielding his face and set aside the saw. Jack’s gaze glanced over the mess of scars twisting up the right side of the man’s face. An improvised explosive device set by a rogue team of cyborgs during a period of insurgency within the ranks had nearly killed the brilliant engineer.

  Hovering in the open doorway, Jack waited for Gray’s invitation to come into the warehouse any further. The man could be a bit cagey about his personal space. Gray flicked his gloved fingers and removed his helmet. “Well, get on in here, Stillwater.”

  “How you doing, Gray?”

  “How the hell do you think I’m doing? I’ve got a backlog of maintenance orders a foot high on my desk, and there hasn’t been a new recruit smart enough to pass the engineering tests to apprentice with me in more than a year.” Gray yanked off his gloves. His scarred fingers, the skin burned and knotted in places, sent Jack back to a time of blood and death and the very worst of the war.

  “If you weren’t so damned mean, you would get more volunteers for this post.”

  Gray snorted. “Mean is how men survive out here. We aren’t doing any of them a favor by coddling them.” Wiping his face with a rag, he continued, “I hear you and Max grabbed a human woman from the Outlands. Never figured you two for the kidnapping types.”

  Jack fought the urge to roll his eyes. The wild stories circulating the base over the last three days were getting out of hand. “It wasn’t like that. She saved our lives. We saved hers. Her home was destroyed. She chose to come with us. End of story. Nothing salacious about it.”

  “Uh-huh,” Gray replied, unconvinced. “I hear she’s smart. Word is she scored off the charts on the math, mechanical, electrical and engineering portions of the aptitude tests.”

  Jack allowed a proud smile to curve his mouth. He didn’t mention that she had miserably failed the history portion. Apparently, the version of history she had been taught wasn’t the one the cyborgs had lived. “She’s amazing, Gray. That’s why I’m here.”

  Gray shot him an unhappy look. “I know what you’re going to ask, and the answer is no.”

  “Look, Gray, Emma is really nice. She’s easy to work with and I think she could be a lot of help to you.”

  “I don’t doubt that,” Gray admitted. “I took a look at her scores. I saw the notes she made on some of the problems. She’s got a gift for this kind of work.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  “Are you fucking joking?” He gestured to his scarred face. “That human girl hasn’t ever seen anything like this. I’m not going to have her screaming or staring at me all day like I’m some sort of monster.”

  “She wouldn’t do that, Gray. Emma isn’t like that. She’s survived a hell of a lot more than any other human female you’ve come in contact with in the past. But, if it makes you feel better, I’ll talk to her about your injuries so she knows what to expect.”

  Gray glanced away for a moment. Jack could practically see the engineer weighing his need for help with the p
ossibility of Emma freaking out about his scars. “I don’t know, Jack.”

  “Don’t make me beg, Gray. I need to do this for Emma. I royally fucked up the other day and left her feeling betrayed. I have to find a way to make it right and setting her up here with you is a good way to start making amends. She’s good with her hands, Gray. You’ll see. She can really excel here.”

  Gray exhaled loudly. “Fine.”

  Jack sagged with relief. “Thank you, Gray. Max and I owe you big time.”

  “Damn right you do!” He started to pull on his gloves again. “Bring her on Monday. Make sure she has proper clothing. No skirts or any of that nonsense.”

  Jack smiled. “I don’t think you need to worry. Emma knows her way around tools. She’ll be here bright and early on Monday and ready to work.”

  Gray just grunted and turned back to his saw, effectively dismissing Jack. Shaking his head at Gray’s gruffness, Jack left the warehouse and hopped into the Jeep idling outside. The private behind the wheel waited for his directions before easing on the accelerator.

  Jack surveyed the bustling Outpost as they navigated the roads crisscrossing the base. The place was growing at a surprising pace. In the next year or two, they would probably hit ten thousand inhabitants, cyborg and human, on the base. His kind outnumbered the humans greatly but the military program offering human males citizenship through service was starting to pick up steam. There were nearly five hundred human males enlisted and serving now.

  Human females, however, comprised a much lower number of the population. Jack had checked into the census records and had learned there were only fifty-seven Original women on base. Emma would make fifty-eight. He hoped she would find camaraderie among those human females. The last thing he wanted was for Emma to feel isolated.

  As they neared the hospital, his heart started to race. He and Max had been looking forward to picking up Emma all day. They had put their heads together and made plans for her first night in their home. They wanted to make it special for her.

  The vehicle slowed as they slid up against the curb and Jack hopped out. The private saluted him before pulling away from the hospital. Jack spotted Max hanging out next to the entrance of the quarantine unit. He noticed the box in Max’s arms as they headed toward one another.