Claiming Cure (Dauntless Cyborgs #3)

Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

That’s why I came to Cancri B—to stop the Humanoid Alliance. That’s my mission.

Cyra’s first reaction when Cure said that was…disappointment. He hadn’t come to Cancri B to meet with her. Their meeting was secondary. Or further down on his list of priorities.

Part of her had known that. He was a little too insistent. And she had been unable to dissuade him.

Hearing it still stung.

Her second reaction was relief. If he was here to stop the Humanoid Alliance, she wouldn’t have to take on that dangerous and difficult task.

She could focus on finding a cure for the tumors.

Her male’s plan had to work, however.

Cyra needed more details.

That shouldn’t be shared in the hallways of the medic bay. She glanced around them. The space appeared empty, but anyone could be hiding in an alcove.

“Come.” She grasped one of his big hands and pulled him along the hallway. “Let’s talk about this.” She led him into her laboratory.

The doors closed behind them.

She turned to him. “How many cyborgs do you have on your team? According to Cancri chatter, the doors to the manufacturing site are guarded, not heavily, but they do have males stationed there.”

“The team consists of Drift, a G model skilled at flying, and myself.” Cure braced his booted feet apart. “We don’t yet have the specs for the manufacturing site.”

“The Humanoid Alliance fabricated a mountain.” She knew that much. “The Cancris work immediately inside the structure. The leaders are situated deeper, behind walls.”

The Cancris believed those walls shielded the human Invaders from the impacts of the Belel 6 Uraninite, or monster-maker ore as the locals called it. The enemy wasn’t as afflicted with the tumors.

“How do you plan to get to the leaders without harming the Cancris?” She didn’t know how the Rebel Female would give her access to those high-ranking males either.

Fates. She didn’t know how the Rebel Female would get her close enough to the weapon for her to destroy it.

There were a lot of unknowns.

That made Cyra nervous.

“We haven’t yet determined how we’ll reach the leaders.” Cure didn’t have an answer to that question either.

She studied him.

He gazed blankly back at her.

The male trusted her with his mission’s objective. There was no reason for him to be secretive about the details.

Unless…

“You don’t have a plan.” Disappointment filled her. If he didn’t have a plan, saving the planet and every Cancri being on it would be her mission.

She would have to follow the Rebel Female’s plan. Destroying the weapon and killing the Humanoid Alliance leaders would be her extremely daunting tasks to complete.

“We’ll accomplish our mission.” Cure’s jaw jutted.

“ I have a plan. Part of a plan.” The Rebel Female hadn’t shared the entire plan with her.

Cyra opened five compartments in the wall panels.

“I’ve gathered the materials to create explosives.” She waved at her supplies.

There were huge containers of sterilizing compound and body-preservation liquid. When combined, that would be dangerously volatile. And there were wiring and timing devices and everything else she thought she might need.

“I plan to carry them into the enemy facility in this medic pack.” She patted the side of it. “Along with enough poison to take out the leadership team. When I’m ordered to tend to them, I’ll kill them.”

It shocked her to say those words out loud.

Cure didn’t even blink. “You tend to the Humanoid Alliance leaders now?”

“No.” Cyra shook her head. “They have their own medics.” Those medics were male. The Humanoid Alliance didn’t value females. “But those medics will be…incapacitated.” Somehow.

That got a reaction from her cyborg medic. “You plan to kill them also?” He lifted his eyebrows.

“I won’t be killing them.” And she was grateful for that. Killing the leaders would be emotionally difficult enough. Ending the lifespans of fellow medics would be torture. “I don’t know how they will be incapacitated. That’s not my part of the plan.”

“You’re working with another being.” He nodded as though that had explained something to him. “How many beings are on your team?”

“It’s not my team.” She suspected she was only a tiny part of a greater plan. “I was contacted by a being. That being told me I’d be asked to tend to the Humanoid Alliance leaders. My task is to ensure the weapon is destroyed. And that there’s no way for it to ever be manufactured again.” She paused. “I’m assuming that means everyone high up on the hierarchy has to be dead.”

“That’s a logical assumption.” Cure inclined his head.

Curse it. She had been hoping he’d tell her killing everyone wasn’t necessary.

“Do you trust this being?” Her cyborg medic met her gaze.

“I trust this being.” Cyra nodded. The Rebel Female had already produced results. The testing of the weapon had halted. Beings were alive because of that intervention. “And we need to do this. The tumors, the illnesses, the dying won’t stop until the Humanoid Alliance ends their weapon program. And they’ll only end the weapon program if they’re dead.”

“I agree they have to die.” Cure reconfirmed that dreadful fact. “I don’t agree with you having to be the one to kill them and destroy the weapon.”

“I’m a medic.” That was why the Rebel Female had reached out to her. “If the leaders are hurt and no other medic is available, they’ll allow me to get close to them.”

That was the most likely reason she’d be granted access the site.

“I’m a medic also.” Cure folded his big arms in front of his chest.

“I’m a medic known to them.” Cyra pursed her lips. “When the Humanoid Alliance arrived, they sent their beings to all the medic bays. The medics that were allowed to continue tending patients were placed on a list.” The medics they didn’t allow to continue tending patients were killed. She pushed away that sorrow. “We had to agree to follow their orders and be…available if they required our skills.”

Cure’s eyes hardened. “Did they damage you in any way?”

They horrified her and scared the bovine shit out of her. And some of their inspectors had groped her under the guise of a weapons check. But they didn’t go further than that. “They show me more respect than they show the others because I’m human.”

The other medics were often tortured. She suppressed a shudder.

She must not have hidden her horror very well because Cure’s fingers curled into giant fists.

“I’m fine.” She held out her hands. “Look at me. I’m alive and well.” For now. “And soon, the Humanoid Alliance will be gone.”

“How do you plan to kill them?” Cure looked at the medic pack.

“The killing compound has to be hidden in something they would expect me to use.” She opened the pack. That challenge had energized her. “It would likely be an emergency situation, an event, or an attack. The leaders are all human and male and…pampered.”

“You’re modifying the pain suppressors,” he guessed correctly. The respect reflecting in his eyes warmed her soul. “They wouldn’t allow pain suppressors to be used on me or my brethren, but they expect them to be used on themselves. For the slightest tinge of hurt.”

“Exactly.” She beamed at him. “I also wanted the death to be…gentle.”

“That would decrease suspicion.” Cure agreed with her again, much to her happiness. “They would appear to fall asleep. You could leave without setting off alarms.”

She doubted she would be leaving the site. Because killing the leaders was only part of her assignment. She glanced at the raw materials for the explosives.

Cure followed her gaze. “What’s your design for the explosives?”

“I don’t have a final design,” she admitted. “I know I want them to look like items any medic would have in their pack. And I know they’ll use the substances I’ve stocked. But that’s it.”

“There are cyborgs skilled at designing explosives.” Her male, thankfully, had a solution to her problem. “I could chatter with them. And then I could fabricate the explosives for you.”

“I’d appreciate that.” Relief whooshed through Cyra. “I don’t have any experience with bomb making.” She smiled at him. His help would make what she’d have to do much easier.

“Medics rarely require that skill.” Cure’s lips twitched. “Can I share the intel about the Humanoid Alliance facility resembling a mountain with Drift, my mission partner?”

“Yes, yes, share anything we talked about with your mission partner.” Any being her cyborg trusted, she trusted.

And they were all on the same side. They all wanted to rid Cancri B of the Humanoid Alliance.

“I’ve shared it.” The speed Cure was able to do that astounded her. “What killing compound are you using?”

As did how quickly he changed focus.

They chattered about different killing compounds, their pros and cons.

Cyra relaxed. She hadn’t been able to discuss her part of the plan with anyone. If there was an investigation by the Humanoid Alliance after the incident, everyone she knew would be questioned. She didn’t want them to have to lie to save themselves.

But they wouldn’t question Cure. He would likely be long gone.

That made her sad. Though it shouldn’t.

She’d be long gone when the questioning happened also.

The chance she’d survive her mission was zero.

* * *

Two planet rotations later, the reality of her medic bay being on the Humanoid Alliance watch list was emphasized.

“Beings are exiting the medic bay. Quickly.” Cure pushed his white jacket back and placed his palms on the handles of his guns.

Bayil, their patient, hopped off the examination support, and hurried toward the door with his garment unfastened. “I need to go, Healer Cyra, Healer Cure.”

“Exit through the back doors.” Cyra grabbed her handheld and deactivated the alarms.

The Cancri male left the chamber.

“Stay behind me.” Cure drew his guns.

“No.” She placed her palms on the barrels and lowered his weapons. “It’s not an attack. We’re likely being visited.” Her lips twisted. “By the Humanoid Alliance. Or…they might merely be in the area.” It could merely be a patrol. “Remain here. I’ll go see what they want.”

“You’re not seeing them alone.” Cure followed her into the hallway.

She wished he could accompany her, but the Humanoid Alliance didn’t respond well to surprises. They hurt and they killed when they encountered the unexpected.

And a huge cyborg warrior medic was definitely the unexpected.

She waved one of her hands in the air. “If they see you?—”

“They won’t see me…unless they touch you.” Her cyborg medic’s expression turned grim. “If they touch you, they’ll die.”

Fates. That was sexy.

But it was also a bit worrisome. Because she’d been groped in the past. “I’ll ensure they don’t touch me.”

She would have to take that risk.

The Humanoid Alliance had to be greeted.

She squared her shoulders and marched with resignation toward the front doors.

Cure walked with her.

They were the only beings in the medic bay now. Zorelle and all the volunteers had left their posts as they always did during a Humanoid Alliance visit.

A blur of darkness streaked to the left of her and Cure vanished also.

He was close. She felt his presence, and that reassured her.

Because three human males in Humanoid Alliance uniforms stood outside the medic bay, and she didn’t like the looks of any of them.

Especially not the one in the front. His garment was a bit fancier which meant he was likely the other two’s superior. And he was gazing with disgust at an offering to the Fates a patient had left on the pathway.

“Primitive creatures.” The male curled his top lip. “There’s speculation as to why a human female such as yourself—” His eyes were cold and flat. “—would deem to treat the beasts. Much of that speculation is unkind.”

The male to his right smirked.

Cyra struggled to maintain a pleasant expression.

“But I believe I understand.” The high-ranking male’s voice dripped with condescension. “My sister was inflicted with a similar softness. She would tend to the hurt bovines on the agri-lot.”

The fiend was comparing the Cancris to bovines.

Cyra gritted her teeth.

“I had a different approach.” The male met her gaze. “I put them out of their misery.” He formed a gun with his fingers and tapped his temple. “Permanently.”

A chill fell over Cyra. The male would do the same to the Cancris, if he had the opportunity.

“How can I help you, officer?” She forced a welcoming tone.

The Humanoid Alliance fed on fear, she found. She wouldn’t give them any hint they frightened her.

“Two of our males have gone missing.” The high-ranking male glanced around.

Cyra hoped her cyborg was out of his sight.

“They were assigned to this settlement.” The Humanoid Alliance male’s gaze returned to her. “The beasts talk with you. Have you heard anything about this?”

“My patients talk with me about their ailments.” That the Humanoid Alliance had caused. “I haven’t heard anything about missing Humanoid Alliance males.”

But she wasn’t unhappy they were missing.

She wished they would all disappear and never return.

“Are you certain about that, female?” The investigating male didn’t view her as a medic, solely as a female. “I would remind you that you’re required to assist us. That was your agreement with the Humanoid Alliance. You help us. We allow you to…”

They allowed her to live. That didn’t need to be said.

“I’m aware of our agreement.” She hated it. “I haven’t heard any related chatter, but I will ask around…discreetly.”

She would tell every Cancri she encountered that the Invaders were searching for beings to punish. That might save some lives.

“That would be…wise.” The threat in the Humanoid Alliance Investigator’s voice was palpable.

The male to the right of him glanced down at his handheld.

“Sir.” He leaned toward his leader.

There was a familiar blur behind him. Cyra struggled to quash her alarm. Cure was taking too many risks with both his life and hers.

The Humanoid Alliance underling murmured something she couldn’t hear into his leader’s ear.

“They’re a disgrace to the uniform,” the Investigator told his subordinate. “If I ever hear of you doing that, I’ll hunt you down and slit your throat myself.”

The male swallowed hard.

“There’s no need for you to ask the creatures about the two missing males.” The Humanoid Alliance Investigator returned his attention to Cyra. “They have been located. On a ship bound for another planet. They will be retrieved and dealt with accordingly.”

“Thank you for letting me know.” She would still warn the Cancris.

Because the Humanoid Alliance tended to punish them for their own errors.

“I’ll give you at a little piece of advice, female.” The Investigator assumed she cared for his opinion. “Start looking for a new role. The creatures won’t require tending for much longer.”

The smile he gave her held a cruelty that caught Cyra’s breath.

Having issued that ominous warning, the Humanoid Alliance Investigator turned and walked away. His two yes-males leered at her and then followed him.

Cyra counted to thirty, waiting, watching if they came back.

“They entered a land transport and have moved out of my monitoring range.” Cure appeared beside her.

“Thank the Fates.” She leaned against him, needing that physical connection to her medic cyborg.

He wrapped one of his arms around her.

Tension eased from her form. “Did you hear what he said? The creatures won’t require tending for much longer.” She imitated the Humanoid Alliance Investigator’s voice. “He doesn’t view the Cancris as beings.”

“That allows them to damage the Cancris.” Cure’s voice was edged with sadness. “Just as viewing me and my brethren as weapons, as killing machines, allowed them to damage and decommission us.”

Her cyborg’s history with the Humanoid Alliance was worse than hers.

“I worry they’re planning to kill the Cancris.” That was the only reason why her patients wouldn’t require the services of a medic for much longer.

Cure said nothing.

Which meant he agreed with her. He had told her numerous times cyborgs couldn’t lie.

Fates. Her heart hurt.

“I saw you move behind him.” She didn’t approve of him taking that risk.

The though of losing Cure made her a bit wild also. And that didn’t make sense. She would soon die on her cursed mission.

“I gave myself access to their communications.” Her cyborg medic pressed his lips against her forehead, leaving an imprint of effervescence on her skin. “They won’t surprise us again.”

Us. She glowed. The two of them were a team.

She had him and he had her.

Silence stretched.

The area around the medic bay remained eerily quiet. There were no signs of any other beings.

“Will our patients return?” Cure asked.

Her breath caught.

He’d called them our patients.

Her male had taken responsibility for the beings under her care.

It was a struggle not to cheer.

But she wrangled her joy under control because she knew her male would emotionally retreat if she showed it.

“The Cancris will avoid the medic bay for the rest of the planet rotation.” Every visit from the Humanoid Alliance harmed the beings she tended, whether those beings were targeted or not. Because it delayed their treatment. “They’ll be back at sunrise.”

She and Cure would care for their patients then

Together.

Cyra smiled.

In the vast coldness of the universe, they had somehow found each other. And they had just survived an encounter with their shared enemy.

Those were feats to be celebrated.

She knew exactly how she wanted to do that.

“Let’s return to the laboratory.” She gripped Cure’s right hand and pulled him toward the medic bay’s front doors. “I want you to fuck me against your Rayan Skin Restorer.”

“We’ll breed next to the Rayan Skin Restorer.” He scooped her into his arms.

Her male was adorably protective of that piece of medical equipment.

“We can do that too.” Cyra laughed and kicked her legs as her cyborg medic carried her.

He ran at dizzyingly fast speeds toward the laboratory.

And it still wasn’t quick enough for her.

She wanted him that badly.