AllFreeNovel
Share Us
AX1 doesn’t respond.
“Jacob. Let him up.” The command is quiet, but he still snaps his head to Adelaide, incredulity raising his eyebrows.
She sucks in a deep breath, glaze flicking from his to Agent Welsh. “It doesn’t matter if he wants to kill me. You won’t let him. And we need his help to stop my father and his accomplices.”
ELEVEN
ADDIE
“I take it you need my help to control the AX soldiers,” I say as Jacob reluctantly lets go of AX1’s throat and eases off his sternum, letting the man sit up. “Why? AX1 found a way to subvert the chip. Why not just do the same to the others?”
AX1 levels me with a hard look. “Because snapping to the point of digging into your own skull to get at thethingcontrolling your every breath, no matter how much brain matter’s attached to it, isn’t exactly a replicable method.”
I pale, swallowing hard at the horror of his explanation. I never could work out how he freed himself of my control, and it appears there’s a very good reason for that. Never in a million years would I have imagined anyone capable of inflicting that much pain on themselves. Christ, how did he even survive?
The guilt following that thought makes me sway on the spot. What I did to this man made him so desperate to escape, he gouged a hole in his own brain.
Man.Not machine. Not animated body parts. A human being.
“Addie.” Jacob’s by my side before I even register he’s moved, his large hand steadying my shoulder. I feel his concern in our bond like a warm caress. “It’s okay.”
It’s not. Not by a long shot, but he doesn’t care. In the span of the last hour, he’s forgiven me for every horrible, monstrous thing I’ve ever done. I feel it in my heart where our connection hums softly—no longer painful, but warm. Comforting. My prize for allowing him to see how weak, how broken I truly am.
Even if we both know I don’t deserve it.
I look up into his green eyes, at his genuine concern for the guilt he feels radiating through our bond, and force a smile. “You should probably get some pants on. Our guests will be staying for a while.”
He frowns at me, clearly not pleased at the prospect of leaving me alone with these newcomers.
“I’ll be fine,” I promise. “Pants.”
He rumbles a half-growl and gives AX1 a hard stare. “I have your word my mate is safe around you?”
He gives a single nod. “She’s safe.”
Jacob shoots another disapproving look my way before he squeezes my shoulder and leaves for the bedroom.
“One does get used to being naked in Dr. Thompson’s lab,” AX1 says, turning to Officer Welsh. “You good? No ruptured spleens or fractured ribs?”
I ignore the dig and walk over to Welsh to kneel by his side. “Let me have a look.”
“I’m okay,” he grumbles, but when I arch an eyebrow, he lifts his shirt to let me see.
His skin is red where Jacob’s foot impacted, and he winces when I palpate the area. However, Jacob was right—had he wanted him dead, he would be.
“There doesn’t appear to be any internal bleeding, but you’re going to feel it for a week or two. I’d suggest rest to give your organs time to recover what damage they might have sustained, but I’m guessing that’s not in the cards.”
“Not just yet, no.” Welsh glances up when Jacob reenters the living room, this time fully dressed. “We have a narrow window in which to operate before the scumbags hunt down the remaining opposition and murder us all. Will you help us?”
“You’re asking me to betray my own family,” I point out. The clenching in my gut at the thought of that is nauseating.
“I’m asking you to save your country,” Welsh says, not unkindly. “You’ve seen the destruction in the city—the corpses littering the streets. Before they’ve secured full control throughout the states, the death toll will be in the millions. And those of us who survive that? We’ll live under martial law, where only the strong will prosper. Your father chose this. That’s his version of utopia. If it’s not yours too, you need to consider what your role will be in this new world. Because you’re theonlyone who can stop it.”
Tears prick my eyes, and I fight them back with a force of will. He’s right; I love my father, but I know what his values are: Strength. Dominance. Control.
He’ll make sure I’m taken care of, of course. Safely sequestered and out of harm’s way. I won’t even be fully cut off from my work—he’ll need me for the aspects of the AX program Green isn’t capable of handling on his own. Having Jacob will shield me from other aspects of being under alpha rule. As his mate, I’ll be under his direct rule, not my father’s. But regardless of how powerful Jacob is, and as much as I now understand he’ll never willingly harm me, the chip I implanted in his brain ensures my father will still have final say over my life.
For the millions other women and beta males he doesn’t love, it’ll be so much worse.
