Page 19

K-LX

Fuck! Now you did it—you really fucked up royally, K -lx!

He wanted to groan in frustration as he watched Corinne leave.

He’d offended her, he was sure of that—how could he not, talking about breeding her like he had?

But even worse, he had frightened her. He’d felt the surge of fear mixed with desire rushing though their Link when he talked about planting his baby inside her.

She was scared of him now—scared that she’d lost control of him and of the whole situation.

Now that his lust was spent, K -lx wanted to talk to her more calmly. He wanted to explain that despite his anger and frustration, he wasn’t about to break the programming that mattered. He wasn’t about to go Rogue .

But how could she believe him after the way he’d acted the night before? Hell , he’d killed two humans! Of course, he’d been out of his mind with Overload at the time, but still—he was a killer in her mind and there was no way to change that.

Sighing, he toweled himself off and slipped back on the long sleep trousers she’d made for him. There was nothing to do but try to apologize, he supposed. He doubted she would listen to him after what he’d said, but he had to at least try.

But when he walked back into the bedroom, she was already curled up in the middle of the bed with her back to him. She wasn’t asleep though—he could feel her apprehension mixed with fear and anger through their Link .

“Mistress,” he began. “ Corinne …”

“You can sleep on the floor tonight,” she said. Her voice came out somewhat muffled by the blanket she had wrapped around her and she didn’t turn to look at him as she spoke. “ There’s a blanket and a pillow there for you already.”

K-lx looked and saw that—sure enough—there was a blanket and pillow on the floor at the foot of her bed. So she wasn’t even going to let him sleep beside her. Fuck .

He felt a surge of anger but also of remorse. He had fucked this up himself—had gotten himself into this situation. And he couldn’t blame her for not wanting to let him into her bed—not even to sleep—after the things he’d said.

“Can I at least move the blanket along side the bed instead of at the end of it?” he asked.

“No.” Her answer was clipped. “ I’d put you out in the hall if I didn’t worry about the safety of the rest of the station. But like it or not, you’re my responsibility so you’re staying here in my room tonight. At least until I can find someplace else safe to put you.”

“Fuck,” he groaned in a low voice. “ I know what I said, Mistress , but I’m not going to hurt you! I’d rather fucking die than hurt you!”

“No, you just want to breed me.” She turned her head briefly to look at him and he could see how upset she was. “ I’ve never had a Cybernetic Unit threaten me like that before!”

“I didn’t mean to threaten you. My programming would never allow me to breed you unless you wanted me to!” he protested. “ You have to believe me.”

“I don’t have to do anything but try and get some sleep,” she snapped. “ You need rest too. Put yourself into sleep mode and don’t let me hear anything else out of you until morning.”

She was phrasing it as a direct order and while he knew he could fight against it, he doubted he would win. Going into sleep mode wasn’t going to hurt him or make him hate himself. Not anymore than he already hated himself for threatening her, that was.

With a sigh, K -lx lay down on the floor—which was fucking hard and cold.

He might have metal overlays on his arms and legs, but they had just as many nerve receptors as the flesh underneath them—more in some cases.

So lying on the floor wasn’t comfortable—especially when he compared it with the comfort of having his Mistress cuddle with him in bed the night before.

But there was nothing he could do about it.

He lay on his back on half the blanket and draped the other half over himself.

Predictably , it was too short and his feet and legs stuck out.

There was no way this was going to be comfortable in any way so K -lx did the only thing he could do—he activated his sleep mode, which he normally only used when he couldn’t get to sleep naturally—and allowed blackness to swallow the world.