I tried to shake my head, but Chaos still held my head between his warm hands. “We don’t know what removing those chunks of debris will do to the stability of the structure itself. Move one wrong piece and the rest could come crashing down. On us. And on them.”
The three nodded unhappily, matching the unhappy expressions on their faces.
“Without a medical scanner, I cannot check you for internal injuries, Miss Nara, or know how severe the injury is to your head. Your brain could be swelling, or something inside of you may have ruptured. If we stay here…” He blinked rapidly, his mouth twisting into a frown.
Chaos didn’t need to finish his sentence. I could die.
I had gotten my cyborgs home. I could now go in peace. Brone’s face flashed inside my head. I had hoped to let him down gently. Maybe we could have even been friends.
I reached up with my good arm as Caliber kneeled to wrap his hand over mine. His silver eyes flashed and his brow furrowed.
“It will be okay. The three of you have each other. Even if I…” I hesitated, swallowing past the lump in my throat. “If I have to leave you, I will always be right here.” I slid my hand free and tapped his chest, right over his heart. “The three of you are my greatest joy. I couldn’t have asked for better sons.”
All three sucked in their breath. Core shook his head. “You built us. We weren’t born. We cannot be your sons.”
“You are if I say you are.” My voice was sure and firm. “That’s how I see the three of you. You were never just my creations. You are my boys. I don’t care where you came from or that you aren’t like me. The three of you are meant to be so much more.” I coughed and something wet and warm slid down my chin as a familiar metallic taste hit my tongue.
Pure fear filled their eyes. “We aren’t ready for you to go yet. We need you!” Chaos cried. I opened my mouth, desperate to reassure them that they would be okay even if I couldn’t stay with them, but a crash cut off my reply.
“Nara!” A voice boomed, vibrating the floor underneath me as a massive gray face filled my vision from above. Brone had arrived, guns blazing, looking like he had fought a building and the building had won.
I let out another cough and more blood spilled from my dry lips.Building two, cyborg rebellion zero,I thought darkly.
His blue eyes zeroed in on the red staining my mouth and a mask of terror slid over his face. “Nara?” I heard the thud as he dropped down next to me, a set of mangled fingers lifting and moving towards my cheek, but he dropped his hand before it made contact. Chaos still had hold of my face. Brone would have had to brush Chaos’s hand aside to cup my cheek. A part of me wished he had done it. That his hand, crushed fingers and all, would have touched my skin. Then I would know what it would have felt like. I know I said I wasn’t going to encourage him, but I was dying. It might be nice to be touched by a male who wanted me.
Core, Caliber, and Chaos were my children. That is how I saw them. How I would always see them. But just once, it may have been nice to gaze at a male and see something else etched into the lines of his face. A partner. A lover. Someone I could belong to.
Silly and stupid I know, but in this moment, I couldn’t bring myself to care.
“You’re hurt.” Sadness echoed in my voice. Besides some of his fingers being mangled, there was a huge dent on the right side of his head.
“So are you.” He swallowed hard, his eyes roaming over my face before moving down to my broken arm and back over the top of my head. I couldn’t see it, but I felt the sticky mess of blood that had soaked into my hair.
I wondered if the two shades of red clashed horribly. My red hair had always been more a brassy red than a beautiful dark shade of crimson. I had green eyes with the freckles dotted all over my cheeks to match.
I had never been the seductive redhead that slayed men with their looks. I was more the ginger nerd next door. The boys wanted to cheat off my tests, not take me to prom. Even my name was boring-Nara Jones.
After growing up, I realized my intelligence had intimidated them. That was their problem not mine. As I gazed up at the distressed face of Brone, I knew that his size would be the thing that would scare females off. Tank Classes were massive.
And I had to admit to myself that I was a bit leery of his size, too, even though I was considered tall for a woman. I stood close to six foot one and Brone still towered over me by a foot and half. My three cyborgs were closer to six foot six and while taller than me, it wasn’t by much.
Standing near Brone, I would have to tilt my head back to look up at him. Which was new and made my palms clammy. I hadn’t been able to decide if it was because he kind of scared me or if I was excited by the idea of a larger male.
Sensing my trepidation, my guys had never left the two of us alone.
As I lay here, I knew we would never get the chance.
Core grabbed Brone by the shoulder and I gasped. He had never touched any cyborg other than his brothers up until now. “Help her!” His eyes blazed. “Please!”
Brone’s mouth dropped open but nothing came out.
“There is no helping her,” a hard voice declared. “Not unless we can get her to Dax. And judging by that mound of rubble up ahead that is separating us from the others, I would say the odds are close to zero.”
Brone growled low. “Fuse.”
“What? It’s the logical conclusion. Without Dax, this female is as good as dead.”
Four distinct growls echoed in the hall. Seemed like Core, Caliber, and Chaos had picked up something from Brone.