It was three days before I was well enough to move on my own again.

Nanites are so good they’re practically magic, able to rebuild the body from so little it’s insane, and, provided the brain was kept alive and functional, they could literally rebuild the body from scratch to the peak of fitness.

The only issue? For each nanite, they needed a building block.

They could convert themselves to that block, and they usually did, with others nearby using that block as building materials, then converting themselves. The only issue with that, though?

Cost.

To create a single human cell, you needed a single nanite. If they didn’t have building blocks to use? They converted their own kind. That meant to rebuild a human body, you needed a comparable mass of nanites. And to rebuild my shattered chest?

At least ten times the number of nanites I had to hand.

That wasn’t to say that they were useless, though. They kept me alive as the girls took me to Lion, and—joy—they worked to purge my body of any toxins and poisons as he worked.

Unfortunately, due to the level of damage?

He couldn’t use the normal neural blockers. Instead, he was forced to rely on chemical suppressors. Chemical suppressors, it turned out, were remarkably like poisons.

That meant that the nanites worked to make sure I felt everything, as he cut and sawed at me, as he rooted around in my chest, dragging masses of shattered bone free, cartilage, and general crap.

It took him hours, and my own systems constantly bullied me into screaming sentience as he worked. In the end, when it was finally over, and I was able to sleep? I was a shadow of who I’d been, and my friends were broken as well, mainly by the things they’d seen and done.

The carver had forced them to help, to work with him in dragging sections of pulverized…well, me…free. Now, I was laid on my back, staring out the one window in the small apartment we had between us all.

Luna and Gessh had taken us in. I was in no fit state to be alone, and my apartment was even smaller than theirs. Reign didn’t have an apartment, so…

Well.

I stared out the window, my mind slowly seeming to cycle up from the depths, unsure how long I’d been laid there like this, as I thought.

It’d been the major all along. Or, at least, that’s what I believed now. Sure, the damn asshole Tyrannus had taken advantage as well, but as near as I could figure out, what had happened, was this.

The major was involved with the black ops APS team. Him and some corpo scumbags who I didn’t know about yet. He’d arranged for a team to be sent to the mech assembly site, expecting that with the jammer and so on, we’d be easy meat. Our suits would be captured, we’d be reduced to jam, and the corpos could strip and reuse our suits.

The suits were insanely controlled, because the only counter to them, realistically, beyond an assault mech, was a lunatic with a plasma sword up close and personal.

So, the suits were strictly regulated, and to make sure that the corps didn’t grow too powerful, only a limited number could be owned by any corp at any one time.

They could hire contractors, who had their own suits, but they had bombs installed by the government, and if they stepped out of line and tried to carry out a coup?

Kaboom.

No more suits.

Those suits were coded to their wearers as well, so the army wasn’t that concerned about the suits once they got them back for destruction, as long as they were recovered, because the suits would be insanely expensive to recode.

However, for a corporation? That was only nanites. To spend a fuckload of nanites to get a functional APS that wasn’t on the government’s register? Hell yes.

So.

He’d arranged for us, or Blue Team, to go to the site, and then Tyrannus had taken a bribe from some other corpo fuckhead to send the other of us.

We’d gotten there ahead of his people being ready, and the whole thing had gone to shit.

Then, presumably when I’d been a dumb fuck and come to him, he couldn’t believe his luck. I’d given him an opportunity to hide almost everything and to launch a counter investigation where he would be in full control of the only evidence.

By me gathering up all the files, the visuals and shit like that? Taking them with me after sending a copy direct to him? I’d basically set my fucking team up.

I wasn’t sure how he’d done it, but clearly he set up the hit on us. I was guessing that Tyrannus was blackmailing him, and then he sent me to wipe the fucker out and to get my suit back. No doubt once I told him where my suit was, his hit squad would have come for me and would have taken it.

Finding out that the asshole corpos had their own black ops team directly under me? It must have seemed like all his wishes had come true.

Wipe me and Tyrannus out, remove the evidence against him, then wipe the corpo team out, and suddenly he’s got no competition.

I didn’t know what his next step was going to be, but I fucking well knew mine.

I’d get my suit, I’d get my upgrades, and I’d train my team. We’d earn some cash and get the guild up to speed on fighting APS as well as the fucking specters. Then I’d be setting a trap for that rat bastard.

When he came for me? He’d find me ready, and Richie and Sync ready to fuck his team up as well as Reign, Luna, and Gessh.

Stolen novel; please report.

I blinked. The boiling core of fury that’d been growing in me for days seethed as I tamped it down, feeling almost drunk and unsteady, it was that all-consuming.

I forced my hands to stillness, as I looked around, seeing Reign, predictably, in the corner of the room, watching me.

“What’s up?” I asked her, and she smiled.

“I wasn’t sure if you were awake.”

“My eyes are open,” I said. “It’s generally a hint.”

“Not the last few days,” she disagreed. “Seriously, boss. You’ve been…I don’t know. Broken. I was wondering if you’d pull through or not.”

“I’m here.” I slowly forced my legs to work as I got to my feet.

A second later, she was there, catching me under one arm and helping me to stand. She shrugged under my arm, making me rest on her shoulder as she held me, making sure I was okay, and that I wasn’t about to collapse.

As she did, and as soon as I could make my legs stable enough, I wasn’t worried I’d fall.

It was a frozen moment, the pair of us almost nose to nose, as I stared in her eyes, remembering the last few days all over again. The way she’d cared for me.

She’d been there around the clock, literally. The others had taken shifts, but Reign? She’d refused to leave for more than the time it took to catch a little sleep, to eat, or take care of her own needs.

“I…” I whispered, breaking off as I swallowed, not sure where to go with the words that rose, not sure they’d be welcome. “Thank you…for looking after me.”

“You needed me,” she replied in an equally soft voice. “I, well, you know, you saved me, so it only seemed fair.”

“Did I?” I asked, unsure, gaze flicking from one deep pool to the other. Her eyes.

They were blue, green, and more; the innermost point, where the black took over, had a ring of green, and they faded to a vibrant blue at the outmost part. I couldn’t seem to stop staring into them.

“Careful,” she whispered, and I could taste cinnamon on her breath. “Keep looking at me like that…I’ll think you’re going to kiss me.”

I opened my mouth. I had no idea what I was going to say, or do. Hell, I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to kiss her insanely badly, and sure, I’d always thought she was pretty. But I’d never realized how deep this need was, until right now.

My right arm was around her shoulders; my left slid down to wrap around her waist, and she mirrored me, no longer supporting so much as just holding onto each other.

She pulled gently on me, and our bodies molded against each other. My need pressed against her, and by the quirked eyebrow, I knew she felt it.

Our heads angled slightly, sliding more and more as we moved in closer, and…

“Hey! You want breakfast?” Luna called, almost kicking the door off its hinges as she barged in, a tray in one hand, a pair of mugs held in the other. “I hope the boss’s awake, because…”

She broke off, eyes going wide, and a sudden grin split her face in two as she took the scene in.

We almost leapt apart, or we tried to. I staggered backward, the bed right behind me, and I collapsed with a surprised yell, even as Reign jumped back, then reached out, trying to catch me.

The result was me hitting the bed and sprawling, her reaching for me, overbalancing and landing atop me, the pair of us sprawled on the bed, and Luna bursting out laughing.

“Oh, Gessh is gonna go mad! I win the sweepstake!” she crowed, dumping the tray of food on the chair and the two mugs with it, as we tried to protest our innocence. “Oh, you can lie all you like to yourselves and each other! But I got it all!” She tapped the side of her head, and I blinked, seeing a new prosthetic eye gleaming at us.

“Now look…” Reign said quickly, still half atop me.

“Nope!” Luna chortled. “An hour, then we need to be gone. Gessh is getting our ride sorted out. Lo-jackers are off and the trackers burned. Then we’re off to meet with the Orc. You kids have till then, so have fun!”

With that, she was gone. The door banged shut, and the lock engaged with an audible clunk.

“I—” I started, only to be cut off as Reign shook her head.

“No, I’m sorry…” She apologized quickly. “I shouldn’t have…Ah, fuck.”

“No. It’s my fault. You didn’t—”

The pair of us broke off again as we spoke at once, then stopped, staring into each other’s eyes, Reign supporting herself over me on all fours, me in just my shorts, laid on my back on the bed.

There was another long break as we tried to figure out what the hell we wanted, never mind what we should, or could, say.

“Fuck it!” Reign snapped, before leaning in and kissing me on the lips, hard.

It was a surprise, and when I froze, she mis-read it, pulling back. Her eyes filled with embarrassment and dismay, if not outright hurt, and I grabbed her arm as she tried to pull back.

She pulled again, and I twisted, right foot flat against the shitty mattress, arm around her shoulders, and I rolled to my left. She half fell, half flipped around, suddenly on her back between me and the wall, and I leaned down, kissing her.

This time, Reign hesitated; then her arms were around my back and pulling me down atop her.

The world vanished for us as we kissed, arms holding each other. Then I was moving down, planting kisses down her neck and my hands pushing her top up.

She slid her fingers under the material and wriggled out of it, pulling it up and over her head, exposing her chest. I trailed kisses down from her neck, tasting the salt of her sweat as I slid down one small breast, flicking the hardening bud of her nipple with the tip of my tongue, before…

“Kabutt…” she groaned, her voice full of lust.

I looked up at her. My right hand slid down the firm muscle of her stomach, fingers curling into the band at the top of her pants, slowly tugging them down, as my left, cybernetic hand, caressed her right breast.

“We can’t…” she whispered, frustration rising in her voice, along with her need. “Ah, fuck!”

“We…oh.” I winced. The reality of our situation came back to me—her implant, the effect that the release of the dopamine and serotonins would have on her if I did “my job” right.

She’d be incapacitated for days. Well, weeks, actually.

I moved up her body, my raging need still filling me. The knowledge that we couldn’t, and why, really did not help.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, turning her face aside, and I reached up, laying a finger on her chin and turning her back.

“It’s okay,” I assured her.

“No.” She snorted. “No, it really fucking isn’t!”

“No,” I agreed, grinning and shaking my head ruefully. “It’s not…but it is. We can figure this out.”

“It’s pretty simple.” She sighed, turning to look at me fully. “Basically, I can’t, you know, fuck. Not properly anyway. And even now, as happy as I was? I feel sick.”

“Even though we didn’t…?” I frowned.

“Even though we didn’t, I was still happy, so yeah, I feel sick. Not as bad as I could if we’d been fucking. Believe me, nothing ruins the moment like having an orgasm and then puking on your partner.”

She sighed, shaking her head. “Basically, because we stopped and I didn’t get that much of a ‘high’? I’ll be feeling shitty for the next day or two, but I can still function.”

“Okay, well…” I broke off, then grinned. “All we have to do is pay off that debt, right? Or could another carver…?”

“Nobody else can remove them—complicated shit and booby-trapped to make sure of it,” she said. “And no offense, Kabutt, but I need to pay off that debt with them taking forty percent of anything in my account, so I’d need like half a million creds. If you’re willing to spend half a million creds just to get laid? Well…”

She tried to make it into a joke, but I saw the fear and the desperate hope in her eyes.

“We were going to pay it off anyway, remember? It’s not just because, yeah, all right, I do want to fuck you,” I admitted, before glancing down.

We both looked at the very obvious sign of my interest that was pressed against her stomach. After a second, she slid her hand down, running her fingers along me, before gripping it and pumping her hand down and up slowly.

“Well,” she said seriously, her voice dropping lower, and growing more husky. “I suppose it’s not your fault we can’t, so maybe I could be nice to you…” She licked her lips, pushing me backward, and shuffling down the bed as she uncovered me.

“Reign…” I gasped, feeling the slow, steady pumping of her hand wrapped around me. “You don’t have to…”

“I know,” she whispered, moving up and kissing me again, before slowly picking up speed. “But I want to.”

“But…”

“Kabutt?” she said, and I looked into her beautiful eyes.

“Yeah…?” I managed.

“Shut the fuck up.”

I lay back, pushed into place as I stared at her, not really wanting to tell her to stop under any circumstances, but feeling like I’d had to try.

I did learn one thing, though.

Whoever had told her she was shit at this? They’d been fucking lying.