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ONE
ADDIE
“You… knew me? Before?” AX2 frowns at my father. His usually stony expression shows more than a hint of confusion, and our bond echoes with a rush of eagerness.
“You were one of our best soldiers. You were fatally injured before you could make it past Captain, but I saw the potential in you from day one. You—” My father’s phone chimes. He reaches into his pocket and fishes it out.
“Yes? I see. I will be there momentarily.” He puts the phone back and gets up, turning to AX2. “I need to go. The next phase has begun. Make sure Addie stays on this floor, and don’t let her touch a computer. That’s an order.”
“Yes, sir,” AX2 says as the echo of his chip sparking reaches me through the bond.
“Don’t go,” I beg, my voice shrill with panic. Through all the turmoil, all the horror and denial at what my father’s done, a singular thought strikes through with perfect clarity: If he leaves, I will be alone with AX2. Alone with an alpha I’ve spent three years forcing into compliance. A killing machine who’s wanted me dead from the moment he opened his eyes.
“I have to, darling. And we need you here. The AX soldiers are vital to our operation. No doubt they will need some tending to as we strike down the armed oppositions. I know you well enough that I realize you will need some time to come to terms with all this, and until you do, it’s best if you stay here—safest. Once things settle down, you and your new mate will be able to return to building your life together. I’m sure you will both thrive under the new order.”
My father gives my cheek another pat before he gets to his feet. And then he turns to the door. And leaves.
I stare silently after him, trying to force my brain out of the blind nothingness of terror. AX2’s hand on my shoulder feels heavy, suddenly more of a threat than a comfort.
He can hurt me. He can hurt me, and there’s nothing I can do to stop him.
“He took away your control over me last night,” AX2 rumbles, disgust lacing his voice. He removes his hand from my shoulder and takes a few steps back, turning away from me. “You may have taken my humanity, but I’m not the monster in this room. I’m not going to hurt you just because I can.”
I open my mouth, then close it, words failing me. Slowly I turn around to look at him. He’s staring into the stasis chamber, wide shoulders tensed and every muscle in his body underscoring the anger boiling in our bond. A hulking brute who claims he’s not a monster. I still remember his hand around my throat and the absolute murder in his eyes when he pinned me in my lab. But… this morning he waited for my command before he touched me, even though he didn’t need to.
The realization fills me with more dread than it does relief.
“You’re a traitor,” I croak when the inexplicable need to remind him that I’m not the only one with bad morals becomes too much to contain.
“So I’m told,” he says, still not turning back around to look at me. “I wouldn’t know. You took my memories.”
“The research suggested the best practice to make you accept your new life would be to relieve you of the burdens of your past.” I don’t know why I feel the need to defend a choice I’ve made for my AX project. I never have in the past, least of all to one of them.
He hums—almost an amused sound, but not quite. “And yet you allowed everyone from AX6 onward to retain theirs. Tell me, what ever happened to AX3, 4, and 5 to make you change this ‘best practice’?”
Heat touches my cheek in the wake of an unfamiliar rush of shame. Science would make no progress without some wrong turns along the way, but his tone… It pulls on something deep in my spine and burrows into my marrow.
“Almost everyone gave consent to enter the program. AX 3, 4, and 5 would have died if they weren’t part of Project Fireshield—they were fatally injured. You all were.”
AX2 snorts.“Almosteveryone gave consent?”
“AX1 was… not compliant. It made sense there might be less resistance from a man who’d given permission for his remains to be used in this manner. Even you…” I frown as I recall the paperwork that came with AX2’s broken body.
“Even I what? Gave my permission to be enslaved?”
Enslaved.The word hits like a slap. I clench my fists and force down the intensifying shame. This is ridiculous. I made the choices I did based on sound science. But…
“Your consent form had my father’s signature. Not yours.”
He only chuffs a breath in response, and I continue.
“You would have been dead without my research.”
AX2 taps a finger against the stasis chamber’s window, but stays silent.
I blame the smoldering rage in our bond, as well as my instinctive fear of an angry alpha, for the intensifying discomfort fizzing through my veins as I stare at his silent form.
Ridiculous.
