Viper
Rising from the bed, I moved slowly towards Oz, giving her plenty of time to move away. This beautiful female had been hurt, but here she stood.
She could have kept her secrets. She could have run from the cyborg rebellion like it had caught fire. I was sure a part of her still wanted to.
But she had stayed. Even after what I had done. I had said I was sorry, but the only way she’d truly know I meant it was to share my truth as well.
Oz will be the first to learn what truly happened to me. I had alluded to it. Skirted around the truth, revealing that I had worried what a female might think if I could not be intimate with her.
But I had yet to reveal why.
Cupping her cheek, I saw her eyes were glossy, the unshed tears glistening on her lashes. Using my thumb, I brushed them away, the feel of them on my fingertips like a punch to my gut. A physical sign of all the hurt she carried. And that she tried so hard to hide.
Cyborgs don’t cry. Not really. Dark fluid could leak from our eyes. The fluid was cycled through our systems, but was able to be produced in larger quantities if we felt overwhelmed with emotions.
“From the moment we are created, cyborgs are considered nothing.” An advanced piece of tech designed to be used by humanity. To fight their wars. To service their bodies. To cure their sick. And model types like me? To advance their tech and infiltrate all the lines of code and programming they couldn’t.
“I was never supposed to question what my target was or ask what they intended to use the information I gathered for.” The hand that cupped her cheek shook against her skin. She placed her hand over mine, helping to calm the tremors.
“And when I did? When I learned what they were going to do, and I refused to carry it out? I was punished.” Dragging my demons from the dark, I thrust them into the light. Bringing them to the forefront of my processors, I relived it all as I forced the secrets from my lips.
“I hung in chains for weeks. A chip was fused to the back of my neck so I couldn’t refuse their commands. Touched without permission. My body was used in every way. They hurt me over and over. Leaving me alone in my own filth after they were done. Cyborgs can’t cry,” I rasped, my voice breaking. “Not tears, anyway. But the dark fluid we produce? My eyes overflowed with it until it spilled down my cheeks. Day after day until my sockets ran dry, my visual systems fixed, unable to look away because my own systems had started failing me.”
Oz’s tears broke free. Not for the horror of her own past but for mine. This strong, incredible female was cryingfor me.
“Once they determined I had been restored to being their puppet, they finally freed me from my chains. I never questioned another order after that. Not even when they tried a new formula Dax had created on me that ended up frying my processors. Marley saved me. She refused to give up. And I think that is why her touch was the only one I could tolerate after that. Her touch was one of pure care and concern. I never forgot it.” Word by word, my soul was being laid bare. I should be shutting down in terror, but the way Oz looked at me sent my processors spinning instead.
It was too soon to say it was love, but I believed one day it could be. She had been correct. Our damaged parts had found one another. Who else would understand but her?
Thudding sounded from beneath my metal rib cage, my mechanical heart beating frantically to an unsynchronized rhythm. Normally I would be heading to the lab to get myself checked for a malfunction, but I knew everything was working properly.
Her thumbs brushed over my cheeks. The tips of her fingers darkened. The fluid I hadn’t known I had been leaking stained her skin. “If I could go back and murder them all, Viper, I would do it. Rip their hearts from their chests, and bathe in their blood.” She grimaced. “Okay, maybe not that far since that would be gross, but you get the idea.”
My mouth tipped up, her words making me smile. There was no doubt my fierce pixie would do it, too. Inside that compact frame beat the heart of a survivor.
And when I had fought my way out of the Global Allegiance headquarters, I had killed all those that had tormented me. That day I had become a survivor, too.
I had grown tired of my ghosts taking up space in my head. Of them making me afraid to ever receive or give a hug to my friends…my family. Dax had probably wanted to throw his arms around me a time or two by now. That cyborg was a hugger.
How many chances had I missed to connect with my fellow cyborgs and their mates? I had a good reason not to, but I wanted my future to be different. Filled with hugs, high fives, playful smacks to the back of my fellow cyborg’s heads…and most importantly, to love Oz the way she was meant to be loved.
“I want more, Oz. Those monsters had my past. I do not want to give them my future. Our damage doesn’t define us.Wedefine us.” I took her mouth in a fierce kiss, a promise of more, a vow to banish the demons from the dark.
Her lips molded to mine, her hands wrapping around my frame to tug me closer. Pressed up against her body, I came alive. Dormant feelings I had repressed ignited in my veins like wildfire. I wanted it all. I longed to savor my female, map her body beneath my fingertips until I knew it better than my own.
But not tonight. We had dragged up our ghosts, leaving us exposed. We needed time to recover. Besides, Oz was still healing. Dax had said she needed rest, not to be ravished.
“Snuggle with me?”
“I would love to.” Grabbing my hand, she pulled me towards the empty bed. Crawling into it, she patted the space behind her, her eyes roaming over my frame. “You are definitely the big spoon in this equation.”
Following her lead, I hopped up onto the bed, laying down on my side so that she could fit herself against me.
“Arm,” she declared, and I wrapped it over her, holding her close. My much larger frame dwarfed hers and the delectable scent of her teased my nose.
“You good, handsome?”
I nodded, then realized she wouldn’t be able to see it. “Yes. I…” I hesitated, not quite sure how to describe how I felt in this moment. Her body was warm and snug, and my chest drew tight. “I never want to let you go.”