Her hands clung to my shoulders. “Acer...” My name fell from her lips the same time her pussy started to contract around my cock.
I captured her flushed cheeks within my hands and watched in awe as she flew apart beneath me. Her pussy clamped down hard as a rush of wetness bathed my cock. Watching her come undone, knowing I brought her such pleasure, shattered the last bit of my control.
I roared my release, hot cum exploding from my tip as I emptied everything I had into her welcoming heat. My processors came to a gridding halt as my visual systems collapsed, plunging me into darkness. My frame trembled, and I used the last bit of my strength to roll the side, making sure to not crush her with my weight.
Warm fingers found my face. “Did I damage you, Sunshine?”
“You wiped my processors and my visual systems went offline.” I couldn’t stop grinning. The sensation I believed to be joy bubbled up and spread through my wires.
A tiny frown appeared on her lips. She gave a little push, trying to extract herself from me. “I should run a diagnostic. Make sure everything is functioning properly.”
I tightened my hold, ensuring she couldn’t escape me. “There is no need for that.” My eyes flashed once, twice, then my visual systems returned to normal. With my sight restored, I gazed at the incredible female I held in my arms. “See? Everything’s restored to functional levels. There is no need to run a diagnostic. I will be fine.” My tongue traced the shell of her ear then dipped lower to lick along her delicate neck. I tasted the salt on her skin and a subtle flavor of metal. Her skin must have picked up some of my metallic scent. The smell of us mixed together did funny things to my processors.
“Being with you...” I stopped. I didn’t have the words to adequately describe the feeling I currently experienced. Both man and machine were consumed by the wonder of the female who had literally blown my processors. “In all my databases, I cannot find a single word to describe it.”
I caught her lips as I slowly withdrew my cock from her body, an instant feeling of loss hit my circuits. I pushed it back and searched my processors, seeking something to say so she understood what trusting me to claim her had truly meant to me—a broken thing who didn’t deserve the gift she bestowed upon me. “Us joining was the single greatest experience of my lifetime.”
I gathered her close, encasing her within the shell of my frame. Her head immediately found a place to rest directly over my heart. A contented sigh slipped from her lips. “You have honored me with your gift, my beautiful female.”
She placed her lips against my chest, peppering both my metal and flesh with tender kisses. “That gift was always meant only for you.” She cuddled closer. “It was like coming...” Her words ended with a yawn.
“Home,” I supplied.
“Home,” she repeated dreamily.
I heard a small snore. My human had fallen asleep. Holding her close, I savored the feeling, knowing eventually I’d have to give her up. My circuits longed to believe in forever, but I knew I’d never last that long. My female had picked a defective cyborg. A better cyborg would have never allowed her to fall for him, knowing he was only destined to break her heart.
Chapter Fifteen
*Acer*
Cold concrete rested against my back. I blinked; my visual systems registered I lay in a locked cell. Panic hit my processors. Had they recaptured me? I searched my memory banks and came up with nothing.
A low moan from the corner had me rising to my feet. I wasn’t alone. My attention shifted from how I got here to wondering who occupied the cell with me. A small form lay curled up within the shadows. Cautiously, I moved closer and terror struck my circuits.
It was my female.
Suddenly, I knew where I was.
Marley’s memory.
This cell was the same as the one I freed her from. The bruises Dax’s formula had erased from her pale skin were back. They covered her in a macabre pattern of purple, yellow and green. Her slight frame trembled on the floor.
I sank to my knees, my manufactured heart squeezing inside my chest.
“I’m here.” My voice cracked, reaching out, I tried pulling into my arms. Nothing happened. I couldn’t capture a figment of her mind, couldn’t hold onto a mere ghost of her.
Something red ran down her thighs, the scent of Marley’s blood invading my senses. She squeezed her legs closed, crying out in pain.
Fluid gathered in my eyes. My female lay hurt and bleeding, a sense of helplessness gripped my frame. Useless. I was utterly useless.
The cell door opened, and quiet footsteps made their way into the cell. Marley sucked in a deep breath and turned her head towards the sound.
A red Medical Model approached, towering above her. His gaze drifted down to her thighs.
She tipped her head back, concern flashing in her eyes. “You shouldn’t be here.” Her gaze softened when she looked at him.
“You are bleeding.” He dropped to the ground and placed his hands gently on top of her now, crimson-stained thighs. “Let me see, so I can assess the damage.”
The fucking Medical Model dared to touch her! He wanted to open her thighs and examine the place between her legs. Fury gripped me. Red clouded my visual systems, and I bellowed in rage. “You will not touch her!” Snarling, I leapt to my feet and tried to tackle the Medical Model. I went right through his frame, landing hard on the concrete. I rolled, my fists clenched as I aimed a punch at his red face, my fist striking nothing but air. My head snapped back, and I howled, my processors screaming; it was pointless. None of my blows would ever connect with the Medical Model.
Marley’s voice broke through the haze that had darkened my circuits. “I’m fine,” she declared as she attempted to close her legs even tighter to prevent the Medical Model’s touch.
“I need to stop the bleeding. If I don’t, you could bleed out.” He gently pushed her legs apart, no match for his cyborg strength. The action caused tears to stream down her cheeks.
She reached out, grabbing his red hand, and clasped it tight. “Just let it happen,” she pleaded. “I can’t do this anymore.” Her eyes fixed on the Medical Model’s face, her once bright-green irises dim, clouded by pain. “Please. I’m so tired of hurting.”
Marley’s words slammed through my chest, ripping the very heart from my frame. My knees buckled, and I hit the floor. My fingers shook, wanting so badly to touch her. “You can do this my strong female. I’m with you even if you don’t know it. When it’s all over and you wake, I’ll be waiting for you.” I spoke the words aloud, needing to say them even if she couldn’t hear me.
Horror gripped me when the Medical Model pulled out a syringe. He settled himself between her legs. “I must fix you.” He placed a large red hand on top of her thigh, pushing the tip of the needle into her skin. “This will hurt.” Shame washed over his features. “Forgive me,” he said softly as he injected the contents.
Marley let out a circuit-shattering scream. Her fingers clawed at the concrete as her body violently thrashed on the ground.
“I couldn’t let you die, beautiful female. I am sorry.” The Medical Model’s voice came out raw and filled with guilt. He fled the cell, leaving us alone as Marley continued to scream and writhe against the floor, a violent, never-ending pattern that tore at my circuits and ate up the space inside my programming.
My grip on sanity started to fail, my CPU overloaded as I remained on my knees, forced to watch my female, unable to help; both of us trapped together inside of her nightmare.
*Marley*
Something hard struck my leg, and I gasped. The grip of my nightmare faded as pain blossomed in my calf. I sat up, turning my body. I found Acer twisting in the sheets beside me. His frame gave a full body twitch, his legs beginning to flail. On instinct I rolled, his flailing limb barely missing me.
I reached down and rubbed my aching calf. Acer must have struck me while I slept, but I knew Acer would never hurt me on purpose. Something was seriously wrong. My stomach droppe
d; uncomfortable weight settled inside my chest. Careful of his still-twitching frame, I slid out of bed, moving to his side; my knees went weak at the sight of his eyes.
His golden eyes were completely black; a series of code scrolled through them. The numbers and letters flashed in bright red. My heart picked up speed, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on edge. I couldn’t recognize any of it.
“Fuck!” I had been the best damn MechTech the Global Allegiance ever hired, and now, when it mattered the most, when my cyborg’s processors were on the line, I came up empty. I pushed away the fear and panic threatening to overtake me and did as I had done the last time Acer had acted strangely.
I put my hands on him. Grabbing his cheeks, I ducked as a flying arm swung over my head, missing me by mere inches. The bright-red code flickered tauntingly off his metallic cheeks as if it knew I couldn’t understand it.
“Acer!” I commanded firmly. “Come back.” His frame arched, his head flew backward, the force dislodged my hold on his face. Only holding onto his head wasn’t going to work. “Shit. Think, Marley.” I stared at his contorting frame. I needed more contact. “Here goes nothing.” I threw myself on top of him, swinging my leg over his waist to straddle him.
I recalled once seeing an old entertainment file of a girl riding a mechanical bull. I had become that girl. Only I was riding a cyborg and not in a sexy way.
I clung to Acer’s shoulders as he bucked beneath me. I squeezed my thighs against either side of his hips and held on. Even with the upgrade Dax’s formula had given me, Acer was stronger. “Acer, listen to me. I need you to find your way back to me.”
He gave a violent twitch under me, almost throwing me off. I gripped his frame even tighter, my knuckles turning white against his yellow shoulders. “Reboot. Reset. Wake up,” I ordered, my voice on the verge of breaking. “Please, you’re scaring me.”
He shuddered, then his frame relaxed into the bed, his form finally going still. Was it over?
His eyes flickered. The code vanished, and I cautiously loosened the death grip I had on his shoulders. I placed my ear against his chest and the steady thump of his heart reassured me. Tears welled behind my eyes, the muscles in my legs weak, causing them to tremble against his hips.
“Marley?” His voice came out deeper than usual, it rumbled through him; the sound like music to the ear I still had pressed against his chest.
I lifted my head and found his beautiful, gold eyes staring back at me. “Oh thank God!” I gave him a quick kiss. “You scared the hell out of me!” I smacked my palms against his chest. “What was that? I don’t care what you say! I’m running a full diagnostic. Your eyes went completely black.”
I grabbed the sides of his face, leaning down to examine his eyes, looking for any hint of an explanation. Red code flashed through them. Code I didn’t understand!” I tapped my chest. Me! The girl who was the best MechTech the Global Allegiance ever had! I sank into his frame, my hands shaking against his cheeks.
“I couldn’t fix you.” Tears spilled free. “I didn’t know how.”
He reached up, the smooth metal tip of his thumb carefully brushing away the wetness clinging to my cheeks. “I didn’t want you to know. Not yet, anyway. I thought I’d have more time but your nightmare...” he trailed off.
I frowned. “What about my nightmare?” My mind raced. “What aren’t you telling me?”
His lips pressed into a thin line as if he wanted to make sure the secret he kept from me would remain locked up tight with no chase of escape.
I pushed my shoulders back, lifting my chin, my eyes narrowing. “Spill it, Sunshine.” The worry in his eyes softened my gaze. “If I don’t know what’s wrong, I can’t help you.”
His shoulders sagged. “You can’t help me, beautiful. No one can.” He tapped the side of his skull. “My frame isn’t the only thing that was left unfinished.”
Realization dawned on me. Pressure built in my chest and a wave of dizziness swept through me. “Your core programming wasn’t completed, either.” My mind spun. A core program was essential to a cyborg’s survival—without it, cyborgs were nothing more than walking, talking robots, capable of following commands but without a personality of their own. True machines that lacked emotion. The advanced versions could mimic the emotion they saw, but they would never truly feel it.
It had only been Dr. Shaw’s breakthrough with the programming process that made the cyborgs what they were today. The Global Allegiance jumped at the chance to put into production what Dr. Shaw had created. They got to her first—offering her anything she wanted in exchange for exclusive rights to her programming design. The unique programs she created for the different model types were beyond anything the tech world had known previously. So advanced, it brought the cyborgs to life. No longer simply machines. Her cyborgs had evolved into something new.
The Global Allegiance liked the illusion of sentience, but they really didn’t want their products to truly have it. Their solution to the perceived defect became a decision to mass-terminate the cyborgs.
My years spent with the doctor made me curious about the true reason for her experiments. Towards the end of my captivity, I began to wonder if the Global Allegiance tried to reinstate the cyborg program, only this time, with ones they could control. Meeting Theo had confirmed my suppositions. Thank goodness most of what she tried to carry out failed. The idea of children cyborgs being in the hands of the Global Allegiance sent a shudder up my spine.
Currently, I had more urgent problems to worry about. Without complete core programming, Acer was on borrowed time. It was a miracle he managed to stay functional this long, not to mention successfully hiding the truth from everyone, including me. I worked on him multiple times, and not once had I detected the missing pieces of his programming. How did I miss it?
I sat back on his legs. “How?” I turned away from him to stare at the door, needing to gather my thoughts. My gaze swung back, and I pinned him with it. “How did you hide this?”
His broad shoulders shrugged. “I don’t know. It was hard at first. As soon as Dr. Shaw and Dax pulled me from the vat, I knew something was wrong, and it wasn’t only that I had an exposed frame. I sensed something deeper, something at my core. I looked at Dax and knew I wasn’t like him.”
He lifted me off his lap, setting me down on the bed beside him. He sat and turned away from me. The action gave me a gorgeous view of his muscular back. My fingers itched to touch him, to trace the lines that separated metal and flesh.
I resisted. My cyborg needed to tell someone the secret he kept since the day he exited the vat. I would touch him later, use it to comfort and reassure him that he wasn’t alone; no matter what, I would find a way to fix this.
Chapter Sixteen
*Acer*
Marley grew quiet. She sat, waiting for me to continue. She waited for me to tell her the one secret I vowed to never tell anyone. As soon as I looked at Dax, I knew. There was something in his eyes—a bright spark while mine felt dimmed. Diminished. Dr. Shaw knew; I saw it in her eyes.
Pity.
Guilt.
She was the reason I was like this—broken, incomplete. She rushed me away from Dax, spending hours running tests, refusing to allow the Science Model to examine me. He banged on the door, demanding she let him in, but Dr. Shaw wouldn’t let him. Dax was a cyborg. He could have broken down the door. He hadn’t. Years later, I realized it was because Dax was not a typical cyborg. He viewed Dr. Shaw like a mother. He wanted her permission, he respected her, and craved her approval. He wouldn’t willingly disobey her.
That day, my very first in the world, I made a promise; I would never reveal what I had come out of the vat without. My face, my frame, my arms and legs? Those, I couldn’t hide. I would have to endure the taunts, the humiliation that came with my unfinished form. But the lack of core programming had to be kept secret. Dr. Shaw said she could fix me; it would just take time.
Time.
The one thing I didn
’t have in abundance.
Some days, I thought about admitting the truth, spilling my circuits to the MechTech’s and hope they would set me free from my miserable existence. The temptation came on days when my core screamed that it was malfunctioning; the voice in my processors becoming unbearable.
Then one day, Marley appeared. Suddenly, I felt better than I ever had. Some of the fog began to lift from my processors. I still struggled, but for the first time, I had a tiny amount of hope. Marley calmed my chaotic programming. With her around, it became easier to hide. When I lost her, my processors refused to believe it. A part of me knew she was out there; finding her became the obsession my programming clung to.
My mouth ran dry. After hiding my flaw for so many years, talking about it felt impossible. I swallowed hard, gathering enough lubricant to speak. “Dr. Shaw made me promise. Promise I wouldn’t reveal the true extent of my defect to anyone. She swore she could fix it.” Lies. It had been nothing but lies. I flexed my fingers, watching the metal curl into my palm. I ground my teeth, a rush of heat exploding within my circuits. “She lied.” I twisted my frame, capturing Marley by the arms. Even burning with anger, my hold was gentle. Marley needed to understand. There would be no happy ending. No spending a lifetime together side by side. My mission completed, my core now deteriorated at a faster rate. The voice louder. Getting lost in Marley’s nightmare was all the proof I needed.
I was out of time.
“There is no fixing this.” I knocked my knuckles against the side of my skull; the sound reverberating through the room like the bang of a gong. I pulled her into my lap. “Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
Her body trembled against my thighs.
She shook her head violently from side to side. “No, you’re wrong.” Her eyes grew bright with unshed tears.
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