Redeeming Zorus (Cyborg Seduction, Book Six)

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An Excerpt From: REDEEMING ZORUS

Copyright © LAURANN DOHNER, 2011

All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.

“You’re nearly naked, as big as a tree, and distinctive. Cover up or we’re never going to make it. Are you deaf? Dress now. It’s not going to fit properly and you’re far taller than I guessed you’d be so you’re going to have to hunch down a bit. Move, damn it. Don’t just stand there.”

Anger was an easy emotion to read on his strangely handsome features while he glared down at her but then he bent to grab the suit with one hand. She didn’t care if she made him angry as long as he covered his body. She zipped the front of her suit closed and reached for the helmet. The lift stopped but the doors didn’t open.

“Hurry up!”

“I don’t take orders. I give them.”

“Bitch about it later. Let’s get out of here first.”

He had dressed but the suit stretched taut over his freakishly large body. The pants didn’t reach his ankles and they gave him a wedgie. She smirked when she glanced at him and saw the material bunched tightly up his ass. Charlie really hoped it felt as uncomfortable as it looked. She didn’t like him one bit after he’d squeezed her throat. As soon as he put the helmet on, which effectively covered him from the neck up, she pushed the button to open the doors.

“The camera won’t see your feet. Chin up and walk slowly.” An alarm sounded throughout the building the second the doors completely opened. She raised her voice. “Just follow my lead.”

Charlie strolled down the hallway to the back door and shoved it open. She’d implemented the fire alarms to go off when the elevator doors parted. Every exterior door automatically unlocked to allow them access to the area behind the building. She moved toward the alley next door to put them out of camera range, glanced back at the cyborg, and prayed he didn’t weigh as much as she now estimated. She gritted her teeth and had to rethink her plan. The alarm grew silent inside the building.

“Are you as strong as you look? I didn’t think you’d be so big when I planned this.”

“I’m very strong,” he confirmed, his dark-brown gaze narrowing with suspicion.

“Good. Move over here and put this harness on.”

He hesitated. She grabbed the leather straps and snapped them around his waist. He tried to take a step back but Charlie gripped the front of his suit with a fist.

“Hold still. I planned to have you wrap around me but no way can I do that. You weigh at least a hundred pounds more than I thought you would. The cable will hold the extra weight but it’s a long way up. I’d never be able to hold on to you for that long.”

He tilted his head up to stare toward the roof of the building. “Why there?”

“We don’t have time to discuss this. The security guards have realized by now that you’re gone and patrols will hit the streets. The last place they will look is way up there. Now, do you want to argue over this until we’re arrested or do you want to get to safety first?”

He growled a word she didn’t catch but he finished harnessing the straps. She bent, removed the small control from her shoe, and then straightened. “Grab me and hold on tight. If you drop me, you won’t get outside the city. You need me.”

He stared down at her, his eyes still narrowed with suspicion, while his mind obviously worked to ponder his options. Charlie’s opinion of him lowered even more. She clenched her teeth and then opened her mouth.

“Look, asshole. I don’t like you, you obviously don’t like me, but we’re in this mess together. If you leave me here to be arrested, you will never make it outside the city or off the planet. I know the escape route and I’m the only chance you’ve got to reach the council. Stop stalling, quit being a moron, grab me, and let’s get the hell out of here before they show up.”

He actually growled and Charlie gasped when the cyborg lunged at her. Two massive arms wrapped around her middle, yanked her against his rock-hard body, and mashed her against his suit. She nearly dropped the remote but even if she couldn’t see with her face smashed against him, she could hit the button by feel.

Pain crushed around her waist from his strong hold when their feet left the ground and the pulley picked up momentum. The rapid ride made her feel sick and not being able to see only made it worse. Fear gripped her when she slipped an inch down his body. Panicked, she clutched the remote and wrapped her arm around the back of his neck as her leg entwined around the back of his thigh. If he dropped her, she’d plummet to her death on the alley floor. Her brother would have gotten her killed and she didn’t want that to happen, out of spite alone.

It seemed like forever, but in reality, Charlie knew it only took about fifteen seconds to reach the roof of the building. She said a silent prayer of thanks when the winch slowed as it had been programmed to do and then they hovered for a second before being swung to the left a few feet. The cyborg’s hold on her tightened painfully when he cursed under his breath after his body bumped into something hard enough that she felt it too. He struggled to stand upright when the motion stopped.

Charlie would have landed on her ass on the rooftop if it weren’t for her hold on him when he released her as quickly as he’d grabbed her. She jerked her head up now that she wasn’t crushed against his chest, shot him a silent promising look of retribution, and unwound her limbs to stand.

“Asshole.”

He glowered at her in the dim light. She backed up to give him a once-over. Because she’d thought he’d be shorter, his feet had dragged along the roof floor when they’d been pulled away from the edge of the building. She could see where it happened since there were two faint wet lines from the side of the roof to where he stood. She bent to get a closer look and realized he’d gotten hurt.

“Blood?” She straightened, shocked by the fact that he had organic tissue at all. “How bad is it?”

“My heels dragged and it abraded the skin.” He started to tear at the harness to free his big body. “I’ll survive and I can walk.”

Charlie should have felt terrible for the miscalculation, but then again, he wasn’t exactly nice to her. She’d never imagined a cyborg to be so tall. Android work units stood less than six feet high and she’d just assumed he would be about the same height since both had been created by the government. She shrugged it off and turned to head toward the center of the building and hoped he’d follow. For a cyborg, he seemed pretty dense to her. She’d assumed he’d be as smart as a computer.

She halted by the elevator shaft to tear her helmet off and tossed it into the open air vent. She’d previously removed the cover in preparation for their escape. She turned, nearly bumped into the annoying male, and peered up at him. She had to give him points for following but she didn’t enjoy how he hovered so close to her body.

“Strip and toss it all inside this vent. We need to change into street clothes.”

She gave him her back and half expected him to delay them more with questions but instead an arm extended next to her to drop his discarded helmet down the shaft. She blew out a relieved breath, bent to tear her suit down her legs, and had to struggle to get the pants over her boots.

One glance at her watch assured her they were making good time. If she could keep the tight schedule, they just might make it. She heard sirens blare far below them from the street and her heart accelerated with fear. She knew an army of security guards and civilian police would be closing in around the area to search the grounds. They were safe where they were unless someone had spotted them as they lifted to the roof. If someone had called in a report of that, they would have company in mere minutes.

Charlie dropped her suit down the shaft and turned to point out the bag of clothes. She’d gotten stretch materials and hoped some of it would fit. She faced him and her mouth dropped open as she gawked at the cyborg who straightened to his full height just feet from her.

His chest and muscular arms had impressed her but the sight of the fully naked, gray-skinned male left her speechless. He’d not only removed the suit but those loose shorts the lab had put him in as well. Her gaze lowered and she swallowed hard.

“What? Haven’t you ever seen a male without clothing before? You said to remove it all.” His deep voice nearly pulled her from her shock.

She blinked and knew she’d been caught gaping at the area just below his trim waist. Words still didn’t form inside her head. He was aroused, large all over, and the skin of his cock appeared darker than the rest of his body. He didn’t have any body hair except for his shoulder-length, wavy, dark-brown hair.

“Female?” He snarled the word.

Her head jerked up and she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat as she met his gaze. “Why are you hard?”