Contents
Title Page
Copyrights
Book description
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Thank you
About the Author
Other books by the Author
TEMPTED CYBORG
NELLIE C. LIND
BOUND BY HER SERIES - NOVELLA
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Tempted Cyborg
Bound by Her - Novella
Copyright © Nellie C. Lind 2016
Cover and layout: Nellie C. Lind
Editor: Raven. PA
Publisher: Sense of Romance
First edition
This is a free copy from the author for her mailing list subscribers.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This book may not be reproduced or shared in any way without the author's written permission. The book is a work of fiction. Characters, names, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination.
Book Description
WHEN THE PAST COMES HIS WAY, HE CAN'T HELP BUT FACE IT.
Can't find Mr. Right? Why not create him? MedAct is the company that can make all your dreams come true! Just give them a call and let them create the perfect man for you. But remember, you can never give him up. It will kill him, literally.
Avril Davis remembers Hunter. He used to live with his bound one in her neighborhood when she was a child. He used to babysit her, but that was twenty years ago. Things are different today. Hunter's bound one is dead and he is one of the Fighters. He is nothing like the Hunter she once knew.
Being caught by MedAct is a fate Hunter never saw coming, but he sees what is in store for him now. Doctor Jade Silva and the other doctors want him to bind himself again. They even have a woman in mind for him. He promises himself to do everything he can to make the woman change her mind about him. He will make sure that she will never want anything to do with him. That is at least until Avril Davis walks back into his life ...
CHAPTER 1
Avril looked through the one-way window into the interrogation room where two doctors stood next to a table. One of the doctors was Jade Silva, a woman Avril had talked a lot to over the past two weeks. The other doctor was a middle-aged man with a bright beard and kind eyes. The walls in the room were white, and by the small table, sat a Fighter. He was cuffed to the table, but the cuffs weren't regular ones. These were a lot thicker, specially designed for cyborgs. He also seemed drugged judging by his slack sitting position.
Avril watched the Fighter as she licked her lips. His intimidating persona made her heart pound. His dark glare said not to mess with him. He had to be at least seven feet tall, and his muscular frame didn't ease the impression of him. She was nervous, because soon, her entire life might change.
“Good evening, Hunter,” Jade said. “How are you feeling?”
Jade was dressed in a doctor's coat and she held a block of papers in her hands. Her dark hair was put up into a ponytail.
“Piss off,” Hunter growled.
“As positive as always, I see.”
Hunter.
Memories from the past flashed through Avril's mind. It had been twenty years, but she still remembered him. He had been so different back then. He had been happy, always smiling. She had never had a reason to be afraid of him, but now, he scared her. He wasn't the same anymore. He was now marked by a tough life.
She remembered the day it had happened. She had only been twelve. She had been out playing with her friends in their neighborhood in the southern part of Glaswell. Hunter and his bound one Sarah had lived on the other side of the street. Sarah had been outside packing things into their car when Avril had heard the sounds of squeaking wheels from an approaching vehicle. She had barely managed to turn around as she had spotted a black, huge truck driving way too fast toward Sarah. Seconds later, it had hit her straight on and pinned her against her car. The sound from the impact had been deafening and it had sent chills through Avril. Sarah hadn't had a chance. She had died immediately.
Sarah's death had devastated Hunter. Avril and the other children had watched him go crazy once he had realized what had happened. He had completely lost it, roaring out his pain and desperation as he had ripped out the driver from the truck. The driver had been a middle-aged man with glazed eyes. Avril had assumed that he had been drunk. Hunter had snapped the man's neck before falling to the ground in spasms. A few minutes later, cyborgs, police, ambulance, and other people had turned up. They had taken Hunter away and that had been the last time she had seen him.
Until now.
Avril felt her heart clench as she watched him. There was so much hate in his beautiful and shining eyes. He was still as handsome as she remembered, but now, he looked worn out. He needed to shave and get a change of clothing. Jade had informed her that Hunter had been given food, a place to stay, and clothing, but he just paced inside his room, looking for a way out, ignoring the clothing and the food. He was starving himself and that broke Avril's heart.
Today, she was here because she hoped that she would be able to help him. There were no guarantees, but she would do everything in her power to help him. MedAct had a special program for the Fighters that they were able to bring in. The program intended to give the Fighters a good life again together with a new bound one. Women who wanted to help were able to sign up for the program. After that, the women were put in school. They also went through tons of medical, mental, and physical tests before they were either approved or denied to become the new bound one of a Fighter.
Fighters weren't like newborn cyborgs. They wore deep scars and dark histories in their hearts. They needed a firm, but at the same time, a gentle hand. They needed women strong enough to handle them. Most women who signed up for the program also couldn't afford a cyborg of their own, and Avril was one of them. Working as a waitress would never give her enough money to apply for a cyborg.
She had waited for this day ever since she had been approved. It had been two years since that day. She had signed up when she had learned that Hunter had survived and had become one of the Fighters. She didn't know how he had joined them, but it didn't matter right now. She had signed up in hopes that he would one day be found. The chance had been slim, but here he was. Miracles did happen and Avril promised herself that she would not screw this up.
She hugged herself and tried to calm her rushing heart as she listened to the conversation in the interrogation room.
“You haven't eaten for almost two days, Hunter,” Jade said.
He flashed his teeth and growled. “Let me go and you won't have to watch me starve to death.”
“I wish you would see reason. We are not going to hurt you, and you know that. There is no need to torment yourself. Starvation only puts more pressure on your already stressed body.”
He snorted. “I am not stressed.”
Jade gave him a look that said that she didn't believe him. “Your heart rate is up. You barely sleep, and now, you refuse to eat. Your body is growing weaker by the minute so don't lie to me.”
He glared at her but didn't say anything.
Jade sighed. “I will make sure something is brought to you, and you won't leave this room until you have finished your plate.”
Avril didn't like the hate she saw in his eyes. Would he look at her the same way? Would he even recognize her? She had no idea, but she knew that this would not be easy. There was no guarantee that she would be able to make him look at her the way she wished that he would
look at her.
Hunter leaned forward in his chair. “Then we are going to be here for a long time.”
Jade snickered. “I doubt it. I will bring in everything I know you love to eat. You can then either torture yourself by staring at the food as it gets cold, or eat it and enjoy it before you are brought back to your room.”
The other doctor wrote down something in his papers before he turned to Jade. “I'll go and inform the kitchen.”
Jade nodded. “Check his files for what he likes to eat.”
The doctor left the room. Avril took a deep breath as she watched him go. It would soon be her turn. She was growing more and more nervous by the minute, but she had a plan.
She knew cyborgs had an amazing memory, but there was no guarantee that he would remember her. She had changed over the twenty years that had passed. She wasn't the child he used to babysit anymore. She was a grown woman now, and he had never left her mind. He had always been there with her, every day of her life. Taking part in everything that she did whether she wanted to or not. She had never been able to let him go, and now when she was here, it was the best day of her life. But at the same time, the most nervous one as well.
“Please,” she whispered to herself. “Don't let him hate me.”
She lowered her head and looked at the red rose she held in her hand. She hoped it would help him remember her. The day before Sarah had died, she had given him a red rose. She remembered how nervous she had been, but he had accepted the rose with a smile. It had been a silly, little way for her to show him that she liked him. In her twelve-year-old and naive mind, she had hoped that he would see her crush for him, but he never had. Today, she knew why. Today, she knew how the bond worked.
She raised her head again and kept watching Hunter.
“I will not touch your poisoned food,” he growled.
Jade raised an eyebrow. “Do you seriously believe we poison your food?”
His eyes darkened. “How else do you manage to keep me drugged? I can barely think straight.”
“You are drugged in your sleep. That way no harm comes to you or any of us.”
“So, you just enter my room when I sleep and drug me?”
“No, not me. Other cyborgs do it.”
He snorted. “Of course.”
“So please, eat the food.”
Yet again, he didn't say anything. Silence filled the interrogation room.
“Let's make a deal,” Jade said after a while. “I will stop drugging you if you start eating, but if you try to escape, or if you hurt anyone, the drugs will return within seconds. Am I making myself clear?”
He seemed to ponder her suggestion. It felt like minutes passed by before he finally nodded. “Fine.”
Jade smiled. “Good.” She wrote something in her papers. “Food will be brought here within half an hour. Eat it and you will wake up with a clear mind tomorrow.”
His gaze narrowed. “You are literally giving me the chance to escape, you know that, don't you?”
“Yes, but I'm also trying to show you that you can trust me. That no one here will hurt you. We only want what is best for you. Keeping you drugged is for your own safety, but also for ours.”
He snorted again. “Safety my ass. You only do it because it will give you fewer problems.”
“Think what you want.”
“I want to eat in my room,” he demanded. “I don't want to sit here and wait.”
“You won't have to.”
Suspicious filled his gaze. “What are you talking about?”
“You are going to meet someone.”
Jade grinned and left the room.
CHAPTER 2
Avril saw confusion in Hunter's beautiful eyes through the one-way window as Jade left the interrogation room. Seconds later, Jade entered the room she was in and Avril tensed. The time had come for her to finally come face to face with Hunter.
Jade smiled at her. “Are you ready?”
Avril clenched her fists. “No.”
“Everything will be all right, and if something goes wrong, the cyborgs will be by your side within seconds.” She nodded toward the two male cyborgs who stood inside the room.
They were both much taller than a human man could ever become. Their bodies were muscular and intimidating. Their gazes were serious and Avril couldn't help but wonder if they ever smiled. She knew they were cyborg soldiers, specially designed to protect the people who worked for MedAct. She had no idea how many they were, but she knew that each one of them was bound to a doctor or other personnel.
Avril looked through the one-way window again and studied Hunter. He looked tense with his gaze fixed on the door. She had no idea who he expected to walk through it, but his clenched expression told her that he probably expected his worst nightmare.
“I have faith in you, Avril,” Jade said. “If anyone can make Hunter bind himself again it's you. Besides, you two already know each other, and that will help a lot.”
Avril felt her hands tremble. “I hope so.” She had no idea if she trusted her own words or not, though. “I will not give up on him.”
“I know you won't.” Jade put her papers on the desk that stood inside the room. “But before you go in there, I need to tell you a few things.”
Surprise filled her. “Tell me what?”
Jade's gaze turned serious. Jade was small and attractive, but the strength she radiated said that she wasn't to be taken lightly. This woman knew what she wanted and how to get it.
“We managed to receive new information about the Fighters just a few days ago. We don't want to spread the information before we are sure that it's true. Therefore, I would appreciate if you could help us figure it out.”
Avril inhaled deeply. She hadn't expected that. “Figure out what?”
“The Fighters rarely allow us to investigate them, meaning we can't study them to learn what goes on on the inside. We drug them to keep them calm, but we never do more than that. We don't want them as enemies. We want them to understand that we mean no harm. Because of that, we don't know much about them. It's our loss, I know, but we prefer to have it that way. It's best for all of us.”
Avril nodded. She liked that approach. “So what do you want me to do?”
“Up until now, we have believed that the Fighters become unstable because they lose the bond, but now, it looks as if a small part of the bond survives when their bound ones die. We believe that is why they are still alive, but their programming doesn't interpret the remaining of the bond as a bond anymore. We believe their programming interprets it as a malfunction and wants to repair it. To do that, it needs to find a new bound one. The Fighters programming tells them that they need to get bound again as soon as possible. It screams inside of them and if they touch an unbound woman, their programming will think that they want to bind themselves again. When that happens, the bonding process initiates and that is why they never touch an unbound woman.” Jade looked at Hunter who still seemed tense. “As you know it varies from Fighter to Fighter how complicated the new bonding is. Their eyes flash three times during that time. The first flash initiates the bond, the second flash accepts it, and the final flash seals it.” Jade looked at her. “You need to go through all that with Hunter, but I want you to find out if any of the things I've just told you are true.”
Avril's heart pounded in her chest. “How am I supposed to do that?”
“One intimate touch should initiate the bonding process. If that is true, his eyes will flash as you kiss him, hug him, or do anything intimate with him. Just don't force that touch upon him. He will hate you for it and we don't want that.”
“And if he doesn't want my touch?”
“Then it might be another sign that the theory is true.”
Avril nodded. “I understand.”
“You think you can find out more about it?”
“I'll try.”
Avril swallowed. She had never been this nervous in her entire life. As if trying to become Hunter's new
bound one wasn't hard enough. Now, Jade wanted her to find out more about the Fighters. There was no guarantee Hunter would ever open up to her.
“You have all the time in the world, Avril.”
All Avril could do was nod as she took a deep breath. The moment had finally come. The moment where either all her dreams would come true, or the moment where everything broke into thousands of pieces.
Her legs almost moved on their own as she left the room and approached the interrogation room. Her heart pounded hard inside her chest. Her palms were warm and her knees weak. So much time had passed since they had last seen each other, and all she could do was hope that he would recognize her.
She put her hand on the handle and slowly pressed it down. What did he feel at this moment? Was he as tense and nervous as she was? Or was he ready to fight for his life?
Avril looked down at the floor as she entered the interrogation room. The rose was still firmly in her grasp. She didn't dare to look up, to see him in the eyes as she closed the door behind her. A deafening silence lingered in the room. She could almost hear her own heart race inside her chest.
After a few nerve-wracking seconds, she finally dared to look up and look at him. He stared at her. She didn't see anger, but surprise was written all over his face. Did he recognize her? His gaze lingered down her body and to her hands. More surprise crossed his face when he spotted the rose. Hope awakened within her. Maybe he did recognize her. She gave him a gentle smile and took a step closer to the table. His posture instantly hardened and his gaze darkened. Avril froze.
“Who are you?” he asked with a deep and threatening voice.
Avril's heart fell.
She had hoped in vain. He had no idea who she was. He didn't recognize her, but she couldn't blame him. After all, it had been twenty years and she doubted that he had ever thought of her during all that time. She wasn't the child he had once known. Judging by his wrecked appearance, he had had other things on his mind. But at the same time, she couldn't get away from the pain it caused.
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