CHAPTER 22
Jade didn’t speak, as he dragged her out of the gathering room. Instead, she watched his stern face from the side, waiting for him to calm down.
Nightmare didn’t say anything either. They continued down the hallway without an obvious goal, but eventually, his steps slowed, and he stopped.
“Nightmare?” she asked quietly.
He sighed and pulled a hand through his hair. “You don’t save any time, do you?” He didn’t look at her.
“Because we barely have any.” Making him see that he had to let her go would be a challenge. He wanted the information MedAct was hiding badly, and she could give it to him, but only she.
No one else.
His hand trembled in hers.
She placed her other hand on his arm for comfort. “Let me show you, you all can trust me.”
Her cyborg sighed again, this time with frustration. “It’s not that.”
“Then what is it?”
Nightmare remained silent for a long moment, staring ahead. His grip on her hand tightened. “Celise will go.”
Jade blinked. “She doesn’t have access to the private server. She’ll never be able to get her hands on the information, and she won’t know what to do.”
Funny how things could change in a matter of a few days.
A week ago, she’d been MedAct’s CEO. She still was, on paper, but she hadn’t felt like it for days. Not since reality slapped had her in the face. Now, she was here, plotting about how to ruin MedAct, and not the slightest part of her hesitated.
However, deep down, sadness lingered. The company had been her life for fifteen years.
Did it really need to end like this?
Nightmare leaned toward her. He seemed calmer, but the pinch of frustration in his expression didn’t escape her notice. “I don’t want our relationship to start like this,” he said, looking her deep in the eyes.
Jade swallowed hard. “What do you mean?”
“It’s our first day, and you already want to leave me.” Sadness traversed his shining eyes.
She flinched and held her breath. Of course. She should’ve known better. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think it through.”
“No, you didn’t. You know very well what I’m experiencing right now. Yes, the bond is sealed, it doesn’t control me, but I still feel everything it wants me to feel, and since the bond is fresh, those feelings are intense. All I want is to stay in bed with you for days.”
Heat kissed her cheeks. “I don’t mind that.”
“Good, because that’s where I’ll keep you the nearest future.” Her cyborg wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his warm body. “I don’t want to talk about MedAct, the bond, or the Fighters. I just want us, nothing else.”
Her cheeks heated even more. The thought of just them and nothing else for a few days sounded tempting.
She’d been tense for so many years. She’d been working from the morning until late night almost every day, and the thought of letting everything go, just for a little while, was … thrilling. And yet, a question nagged from the back of her mind. “Why don’t you hate me?”
She’d expected his grin to fade, but it didn’t.
“Because I’ve had a revelation.”
Jade frowned. “About what?”
Nightmare kissed her on the cheek, chuckling. “I’ll tell you later.” He grabbed her hand again, and they kept walking.
“You told me that last night, and you’re making me just more curious. I thought you’d despise me forever when the bond initiated.”
“I thought so, too, but as I was running away, I realized why it initiated, and everything turned around. I actually couldn’t be happier.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
“I know, but trust me on this. I’m not lying, and when I’m ready to share, I’ll let you know.”
She held back a frustrated breath, but convincing him to tell her would lead nowhere. After all, he was just as stubborn as she was. “Where’re we going?”
“Everywhere.”
Jade frowned. “What?”
“I’m going to show you around so you get to know this place. I’m not going to show you the exit though, not until I’m sure you won’t try to leave.” Nightmare flashed a fast look, and all she could do was roll her eyes. “But, let’s start with our spa.”
She winced. “You have a spa?”
He chuckled. “When you have nothing else to do, you spend your time building this place. Over time, one cyborg after another joined me and helped. This used to be an underground bunker from a long-forgotten war. It was a wreck when I found it, but thankfully, many things were already in place, like electricity, water, and heat. All we had to do was freshen things up.”
She squeezed his hand harder and looked forward to the tour, but then, she gazed at the scar on his throat. It was bulging and slightly pink in color. The skin around it seemed tight, but he didn’t seem troubled by it. “Will you tell me about your scar?” Jade held her voice low, asking kindly.
Nightmare studied her. “Why do you want to know?”
“I know what MedAct thinks your story is. Now, I want to hear your story from you. After everything that’s happened, I can’t help but wonder how much of all the things I learned from MedAct was true.”
Her cyborg remained silent for a while, as they walked down the hallway. The only sounds were their steps echoing against the white walls.
“It happened about forty years ago, when I escaped from MedAct. It was the best and worst night of my life, but I had to get away so that my brothers’ deaths wouldn’t be in vain.”
“Your brothers?”
He nodded. “I was the first, but there were three more after me. Carolyn thought of them as failures, and when we rebelled, she killed them, but kept me and implanted the bond within me as punishment. I was her … ‘masterpiece’.” The words came out as a harsh bark. A pinch of anger boiled up in his eyes but faded fast. “She named me Zero. The others were One, Two, and Three.”
Jade hugged his hand. “There’re barely any files of your brothers. From what I learned, she was unable to wake them up because the bond didn’t work on them. For some reason, it only worked on you.”
Nightmare sighed. “That’s not true.”
“I understand that now.”
“Forget everything MedAct taught you. Believe me, you’ll do yourself a favor.”
She nodded. “I’ll find you the proof you need to expose all of this. I don’t know how, or when, but I’ll do it.”
Nightmare’s lips twitched. “I believe you.” He kissed the back of her hand. “For so many years, I wanted you to see, to understand, but you stuck by the knowledge MedAct gave you, the knowledge that brainwashed you. I didn’t know how to break through that, but I guess getting shot solved it for me. Celise and Blaze succeeded where I failed.”
She snorted. “I trusted Celise. I suspected something was off, but I never in my wildest dreams thought she’d sided with the Fighters. I never took any precautions when I went to meet with her and Wind at their home, and that became my doom. Silver and Faye were also there, along with Soul, one of the cyborg soldiers. He shot me with something, and next thing I knew, I woke up here.”
He chuckled. “So that was how it happened.”
Jade shrugged. “I guess things turned out well in the end … even if you tried to break me a few times.”
Nightmare cleared his throat. “I’m sorry about that. I was angry and unaware of my f—” He cleared his throat again. “I know better now, and I’ll never hurt you again. You can trust that.”
She studied him.
Their relationship had been long and complicated, but when Jade looked into his shining eyes, she knew he spoke the truth.
“I trust you.”
He blinked. “You do? Despite all the things I put you through?”
“Yes. I put you through a lot, too. I wanted you to trust me, but I never listened to you. I nev
er heard what you were trying to tell me, and that caused a lot of issues between us.”
Her cyborg kissed the back of her hand again and gave her a meaningful look. “Thank you. Your trust means the world to me.”
The touch of his lips on her skin shot a longing within her she didn’t need right now. Jade looked away and inhaled deeply to cool down. “Tell me more of your story.”
Nightmare chuckled, obviously noticing her dilemma. “I’ll take care of your need soon, I promise.”
The heat in her cheeks intensified when he gave her a quick kiss, but she couldn’t hold back a smile.
“On the night I escaped, I ran for hours. It rained, and it was cold, not one of the best nights to escape. I had no shoes and my feet turned into a bloody mess. I’d never been outside until that night. I barely knew anything about the world, but somehow, I managed to avoid Carolyn and her band of trained idiots for a long time, until they caught me on a bridge.”
Jade couldn’t help but clench her fists together as pressure filled her. She could almost see his memories in front of her.
“I managed to overpower Carolyn when she got too close, but I was just as good as dead.” Nightmare went silent for a while. “My only way out was jumping from the bridge, but as I did, they started shooting. A bullet hit me in the throat. It went right through, but—”
She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight.
He winced. “What’re you doing?”
“I’m holding you,” she said against his chest.
“I don’t mind, but why now, all of a sudden?”
She gently caressed his back and felt the shiver that went through him. “Because you need it.”
For a long moment, silence lingered between them. If she looked up, she would no doubt see surprise in his shining eyes, but she didn’t move.
Being this close to him was like a drug she didn’t want to quit with.
“Yesterday, I was ready to do anything to make you talk,” he finally said in a low voice and wrapped his arms around her. “I promised Celise I wouldn’t hurt you, physically, because I didn’t want to jeopardize my relationship with her, but I didn’t promise her anything about hurting you mentally.” Nightmare took a deep breath. “But as I pushed the gun against your head, everything within me protested. There was a feeling deep down that …”
Jade looked up, her arms still wrapped around him. “That what?”
Hesitation lingered in his eyes. “That … told me it was wrong.”
“Why?”
“Because it changed everything.”
“What does that mean?”
Was he talking about whatever he still refused to share with her?
He pulled away from her. “Let me show you where our spa is.” He grabbed her hand and they kept walking.
Disappointment filled Jade. Was he ever going to tell her?
It was obvious he wasn’t going to tell her now. She had to be patient for a bit longer. “How long did it take to build the spa?”
“Two years. Thankfully, all the plumbing was already in place, but finding everything we needed took time. I couldn’t just walk into a store and buy it.”
Jade chuckled. “I guess robbing places is the Fighters’ specialty.”
He laughed. “We sure have become good at it over the years.”
Her cyborg led her through the hallways, and it was almost impossible to keep up with all the turns. There were so many closed doors on both sides, most of them probably led to empty rooms, and there were no signs on the walls that told her where she was.
She’d be lost without him.
Soon, they stood at the end of a long hallway and in front of a metal door.
Nightmare placed his palm against the plate next to it.
There was a click, and she followed him in, her body tight, when the door opened. Jade looked around and gasped.
The room was bigger than she’d expected, and completely different from the rest of the place. There were no white walls or bright ceiling lights.
Instead, she stared at a room carved from stone, with an underground pool and gentle blue light from the water, reflecting on the ceiling. The floor leading up to the pool was decorated with beautiful mosaic patterns.
Despite no natural sunlight, several sunbeds stood near the water, along with round tables big enough to fit a few drinks. A small wardrobe stood next to the wall that led out of the room. It was filled with towels and bathrobes. Next to it stood also a fridge and a small bar filled with glasses and non-alcoholic beverages.
In another corner were gurneys, and a shelf hung on the wall next to them, filled with skincare products and massage oils.
She could stare herself blind at the beauty. “Oh my.” Her voice echoed against the stone walls.
Nightmare chuckled and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “This is where I spent most of my time when I found this place, but it was nothing more but a cave back then. I had clean water, and it was warm and comfy compared to the rest of the place at that time. The headquarter was a huge mess back then.”
Jade nodded and placed her hands on his arms. His embrace was soothing for her stressed nerves. “Yes, it’s rather warm in here.”
“It comes from a hot water spring far below the ground. This is the perfect place to go to, to escape reality for a while. We’ll lock the door and spend a few hours here, just you and me.”
Heat sufficed her body. “I still can’t believe this is happening.”
He kissed her cheek. “Me neither, but here we are.”
She swallowed. “Here we are.” Her voice was low, but her heart pounded harder and harder. Almost hard enough for her to hear it. Jade licked her lips and took a deep breath. A pinch of tension filled her. It was difficult to get used to Nightmare’s new behavior.
A small part of her still waited for him to explode and start blaming her for binding him to her.
An even smaller part couldn’t help but think this was a plan to trick information out of her, but deep down, maybe she was just being paranoid.
He was bound to her now.
Bound!
That alone spoke plenty, even if the bond was locked away. Besides, a cyborg would never touch a woman he didn’t love.
“Shall we?” His voice was way too sweet.
His hands traveled down her arms.
Goosebumps awakened when his lips grazed the skin on her neck.
He let out a pleased sound, as if he was tasting the sweetest chocolate. “I could spend forever with you in here.”
Should she laugh or cry? All of this really was so surreal.
The way he acted was so different from what she knew, but she loved it. Jade loved every piece of it, and the selfish side of her wanted everything he could give.
Jade wanted to devour it like a sponge because she was starving.
Fifteen years of longing and desire was a long time. Fifteen years of denied emotions and ignored feelings felt even longer, but now, when he was here, when they were here, together, she wanted to take it all.
Nightmare made a movement behind her and Jade turned her head to the side. She gasped.
He was undressing!
A tremor went through her, her knees went weak. If she dared to move, they would definitely give in. Even if they’d been together already, it would take time to get used to his overpowering presence.
Especially his naked presence.
The sound of a zipper going down filled the room.
A cold wave, as if she’d been splashed by ice cold water, went through her. She didn’t need to turn around to know he was naked.
Nightmare wrapped his arms around her again and rested his head against her shoulder. “Don’t ever leave me,” he whispered, and with a feather-light touch, caressed her arm. “You’ve no idea how much I need you.”
His feelings didn’t make sense.
His bond had somehow been locked away.
He’d said it himself; he could ignore the feelings it t
hrew at him, that he wouldn’t die with her if something happened, so why did he need her?
Jade had so many questions, but his sweet caresses were a perfect distraction. She didn’t want to think about all the things around them. She wanted what he’d said earlier — to get away from everything for a while.
With him.
Jade turned around and looked him in the eyes. “I’ve no idea what’s going on, or why you need me, but I don’t care about the details right now. All I know is that I need you, too.” She threw off her shirt and bra, regretting it only for a split second. Getting used to this would take time.
His lips twitched and Nightmare knelt in front of her. “Let me help you with the rest.” His hands reached for her pants and he unbuttoned them with slow and gentle moves. As the pants slid down her legs, he started kissing the skin that got revealed to him.
Her panties went with the pants, and a hard tremble went through her when he moved closer to her sex.
His hot breath grazed her private area, and his tongue stuck out.
He wasn’t going to, was he?
Nightmare licked between her folds with a pleased groan, slowly, as if he was enjoying the best candy he’d ever tasted.
The sensation rushed through her body, and her knees gave in.
Her cyborg caught her just before her butt hit the ground, chuckling. “Are you that sensitive?”
Heat rushed her whole form. Her cheeks burned, and her sex ached for more. “I’m just not used to it.”
“I have a challenge in front of me then.” He grabbed a big towel from one of the chairs and placed it on the floor. “Lie down.”
Jade could do nothing but obey. The excitement was too great, the thought of him doing it to her too tempting.
She expected him to go slow, to lean over her, maybe kiss her first, before he’d trail down her body with kisses and caresses, but when he parted her legs and placed himself there comfortably, she almost forgot to breathe.
Jade opened her mouth to say something; what, she didn’t know, but she didn’t get the chance to even think before he was at her. Her loud gasp echoed against the walls when he went full in.
Nightmare didn’t give her time to adapt to the feeling of his tongue against her sensitive spot. He swirled it around her clit as her body shook beneath his rough touch.
Fierce Cyborg Page 14
