Page 18 of Furi

“I have never said Betty is my Mate. I have no data on what that is. And never touched Betty in a sexual way. Ever.” 4 told him.

“The child?”

“Betty’s sister. Their mother dying in childbirth. She chooses to take on the responsibility of her. Emily. My charge, my life and I do too.”

“And your attraction?”

“To the child Emily. I do not understand it but wish to be her carer until she can decide when older what she wants from her life.”

Sister, not daughter. Carrying identical scent and that of the male.

Things were making better sense. His relief at hearing it, all over his optic. His chest and shoulders suddenly lighter. Betty rubbed her head, he could sense the headache she now had because of him. Going to her and soothing her seemed the most natural thing to do but he held back.

He wasn’t wanted.

“4 please take him and leave. Is Emily okay?”

“She is fine Betty.” Nodding a little, not waiting on them leaving, she got up wearily threw back the covers on her bed and got in. Obviously deciding to ignore anything and anyone else.

It was clear she was done. 4 indicated the door and he snarled.

“Cut the shit I’m tired.” She called out hearing it.

To his shock, he shut if off immediately. Blinking at the now sleeping form, his confusion all over his optic he looked at 4. Nodding to the doorway again, he followed him out closing the door and into the next room. The baby was sleeping there. Restless until 4 brushed a hand across her head and she settled down.

His chest constricted.

So close to being her child.

“If you would allow it, I’d ask to hold the child.”

4 lifting her gently she hardly stirred and placed her in his arms. Holding her gently to him, her scent all around him, he was overwhelmed. Tears hit his eyes and he swallowed.

“My job here was to find you, not this. But I cannot deny how precious this is.”

“A mission can take us many places.” 4 told him.

He nodded. He knew that. “Your original mission was a special op. Closed circuit. You were programmed to wipe a world and re-seed it.”

“We were.”

“Does she know you were programmed killers? That if this had been your objective, she most likely would be gone now.”

“Her father did. We do not lie. I do not believe he passed on the information to Betty. But this wasn’t that world and the programming after years of failure on that ship degraded more with each fault. Where was the logic of survival when they placed us in such danger? By the time we got here, it was severely compromised and we could choose.”

Rocking the child, it felt so right in his arms. “I understand. The same thing happened to us. Survival against all odds and yet, they were hurting us, killing us, sending us in as fodder. It made no sense. No logic and when the kill order came for all of us that were on world and that broke the last of the programming to be free. To survive we had to fight for that freedom.”

Leaning down he breathed in the child. 4 growled. He held a hand up. “I am not scenting the child but the woman. I have no registered connection to this child other than she is the sister of my possible Mate.” 4 calmed. “Why do you need to hide here?”

He told him. The bartering system in place. How anything that wasn’t human could be bartered. It was how this world functioned. And that would include them once known. They’d be in demand again. Men and women wanting them. No freedom. Not like they had with this family.

The rules clear. If you horded you’d be made accountable. Betty’s family had taken that risk and now she did. If it was found out, she’d be on trial for withholding from the community.

He understood and placed the child back down in her crib gently covering her up.

“You need to decide if you wish to leave or not.” Pulling the datapad from his waistcoat he handed it to 4. “The latest computer upgrade for your ship. Strip out the damage and reload it. There is also an upload for you and your men if you choose to take it. It will not damage you.”

“I cannot leave them here alone.” 4 told him.

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