Pure madness lingered in his eyes, and the shine in them intensified by the minute.
“Oh, my God.” Faye put a hand over her mouth. Her gaze was filled with disbelief. “His eyes are shining the way yours did after the first flash,” she told Silver.
Her cyborg nodded with a grim expression. “So, it’s true. His eyes flashed.”
From the corner of her eye, Jade didn’t miss the dark glare Silver sent her way, but she couldn’t tear her eyes from Nightmare.
She should be there for him. Try to help him.
Her feet moved in his direction.
Jade came to a halt when someone grabbed her arm. She spared Celise a look over her shoulder.
“Don’t go in there. He’ll tear you to pieces.”
“He needs me.”
The doctor nodded. “He does, but not right now. He’s fighting the bond, and it will take some time for him to accept it.”
She clenched her fists. “I know.” Her voice was low. Helplessness washed over her.
This was all her fault.
He’d never forgive her.
Nightmare threw away a wooden leg, and stormed out from the room, pushing his way through every Fighter who stood in his way. He took off down the hallway.
“Shit,” Blaze said. “I’ll take care of this. Don’t follow.” He ran after his leader.
Jade had expected this to be a difficult day, but she’d never expected this. How blind she’d been.
Things were worse than ever, but why had his eyes flashed? Was it even possible for a Fighter’s eyes to flash from just standing near an unbound woman?
Not according to what she’d learned.
Jade dried her eyes for the fiftieth time, with a shaky hand. Her knees were weak, and her body was heavy from all the stress, but there was also a small pinch of joy. It was so not suitable for the situation, but she couldn’t help it.
To become Nightmare’s bound one had been an unspoken dream for a long time. She’d denied it every time it’d crossed her mind. She’d barely dared to think it, but now, it had come true.
Just not in the way she’d imagined.
Jade had hoped he’d come to her of his free will, but that would never happen now.
She swallowed and looked around, locking eyes with every Fighter who stood in the hallway.
The air was filled with anger, bitterness, and hatred.
It was all directed at her.
One Fighter clenched his fists. “You’ll pay for this.” He took a step closer, advancing at her.
Other Fighters followed his lead, approaching her with fisted hands.
Jade gasped, backing away.
Silver and Wind were suddenly in front of her, blocking the Fighters from reaching her.
“If you hurt her, you’ll hurt Nightmare. He’ll never forgive you. Remember that,” Wind said.
“He doesn’t want a bound one, especially not her,” a black-haired Fighter hissed.
“That doesn’t matter anymore, now does it? What’s done is done.”
“Get back to what you were doing,” Silver rose his voice. “We will handle it from now on, and if anyone interferes, he’ll be locked up. Got it?”
She spotted Phoenix among the Fighters. He didn’t seem as angry as the others. Instead, she saw worry and a pinch of fear in his eyes.
Did he worry she’d ruin everything now?
The bond might not be sealed yet, but once the process was initiated, there was no going back.
She was Nightmare’s bound one now, and as his bound one, she had almost complete power over him.
A cyborg would do anything to please his bound one, to make sure she was happy and satisfied.
His whole existence was meaningless without her. The cyborg would die for his bound one. He’d sacrifice his life to protect the woman who loved him.
She saw it now.
Every single Fighter worried she’d tell Nightmare to turn himself in, and that he’d do it without a thought.
Only because she asked him to.
It was written on all their faces.
Jade’s chest tightened.
There was only one thing to do.
She placed her hands on Silver’s and Wind’s shoulders, drawing their attention, but her gaze was set on the group of Fighters in front of them, the Fighters they were protecting her from.
She inhaled with a shaky breath, and walked by Silver and Wind, approaching the Fighters.
Silver grabbed her arm. “What’re you doing? They’re ready to kill you.”
Gently, but firmly, Jade pushed his hand away, her gaze still set on the Fighters. “I know what you’re all thinking. I know you worry about what I’ll do, now that Nightmare’s bound to me.” Her breath stuttered. Saying it was more difficult than she’d ever imagined.
She still couldn’t believe it herself. It was still so fresh.
“But I give you my word. I will not let him down, or you.”
No one seemed impressed.
“And how can we trust that?” Phoenix asked.
“Because my eyes have been opened. I see now why you never turned to me. Why you chose to push my help away. Your actions didn’t make much sense before, but they do now. I still know very little, but even if a few words have been spoken, I’m starting to understand the bigger picture.”
No one moved.
“You expect us to believe you?” a Fighter asked.
Jade shook her head. “No, but I hope you’ll give me a chance.”
They exchanged gazes for a long and silent moment.
Everyone still looked tense, but the anger washed slowly away.
One Fighter finally took a step forward, almost invading her personal space, but she stood her ground.
Showing fear would be a huge mistake.
“We’ll be watching you,” he said baring his teeth, and speaking for the whole group. He turned and left, the others followed him.
Only Celise, Silver, Faye, and Wind remained.
The hallway became quiet and empty.
“Tell us what happened,” Celise said, looking Jade straight in the eyes. Her voice was calm, but the determination was unmistakable. She wasn’t asking, she was demanding.
Her lips twitched. “You’ve changed so much over these last few weeks. You seem so much stronger.”
“A lot of things have happened the last few weeks.”
She nodded. “They sure have.” Jade sighed; the ache in her chest was just as present now as it had been when his eyes had flashed. “Nightmare threatened to kill me if I didn’t reveal where the poison was hiding in the bond’s code. When I couldn’t show him, he started counting to five.”
The sound from the gun still echoed in her head.
“We heard the shot,” Wind said.
“I figured.”
“You didn’t reveal it to him?” Celise asked.
She shot her a dark glare. “I don’t know anything about a poison. How many times do I have to tell you that? I was completely unaware, until you all mentioned it, and I believe Nightmare has finally understood that.”
“Why do you think that?” Wind asked.
“He fired the gun, didn’t he? He said he’d count to five, and if I didn’t give him the answer, before he’d reached five, he’d fire it.”
Silver didn’t look convinced. “Then what?”
Jade cleared her throat. “We … argued … and his eyes flashed.”
Faye frowned. “How can his eyes flash without you touching him?”
“I don’t know.” That was a question echoing in her mind. It was unbelievable, not possible, and yet, it’d happened.
A loud roar sounded down the hallway, making everyone jump.
“We don’t have time for this,” Celise’s eyes were wide as she looked in the direction the yell had come from. “He’ll come for you soon.” She looked at Jade. “Are you willing to seal the bond?”
She tensed. Sealing the bond meant sex, a lot of sex.
Jad
e had never been intimate with a cyborg for all the obvious reasons, but she knew very well how intense a bonding was, and a bonding with Nightmare would be no different.
It also meant she’d never be able to leave this place.
Hers and Nightmare’s fates would be locked together forever.
One part of her loved that thought, but another already felt the misery that would increase with each day from being in his presence.
“I wish there were another way,” her colleague said.
Jade gave her an understanding smile. “Me too.”
“You love him.”
She nodded. “Yes, but that will never be enough.”
Their expressions were almost identical.
They pitied her.
Silver and Faye had gone through something similar recently. Things had turned out fine for them, but that didn’t mean it would turn out fine for her and Nightmare.
They were two completely different people compared to Faye and Silver, but there was no other way.
Her heart longed for Nightmare, even if it meant being with him would destroy her.
“I’m ready.”
CHAPTER 18
Nightmare stopped after running what felt like hours—or forever. He leaned against the wall, and his lungs burned. His breathing came fast, and sweat ran down his cheek. His whole body ached, but deep down, this was a good pain, because it helped mask what was going on within him.
The bond.
It’d been initiated.
The first flash had taken place.
How the heck did that happen?
He groaned, trying to push back the desperation that rose in his chest from all the new emotions that had awakened within him.
Love.
Desire.
… Lust.
He tore at his shirt as the image of Jade’s sweet face entered his mind. It triggered his desire even more, making it tight in his pants.
Another drop of sweat ran down his cheek, but this one from the overpowering need that showered him.
Nightmare closed his eyes, rested his head back, and moaned. His mouth hung half open. It’d been a long time since he felt this intense need.
He’d felt it when Carolyn had bound him to her.
His eyes shot open, staring ahead.
Carolyn.
Nightmare cringed on the inside.
The night before he’d escaped, his brothers were already dead, he’d been chained to the floor, naked, in the middle of her office.
She’d been working on something, ignoring him, and doctors had come and gone, leaving papers, stopping by for a chat.
Many of them had stopped for a look, especially the female doctors.
The humiliation had been awful, but that hadn’t been the first time. Carolyn did it to punish him for trying to go against her.
Once she’d been done with her work, she’d taken the humiliation to the next level, allowing another female doctor touch him.
There was no greater pain for a cyborg than being touched by a woman that wasn’t his bound one.
His bond had gone completely haywire, and the woman had taken her time caressing him, touching him places she shouldn’t.
Nightmare had eventually passed out.
He’d awoken alone in her office, still lying on the floor, but untied. The chains had laid next to him with a key close by.
Someone had released him.
To this day, he had no idea who’d done it, but an alarm had gone off shortly after.
He’d managed to escape that night.
Carolyn had died some time later, and here he was now, struggling with this surreal bond coming alive within him. Again. It was still going strong, pleading him to go back to Jade, to seal it.
His body trembled.
It took every last little inch of him to not do it.
“Nightmare?”
He flinched.
Blaze’s worried voice was behind him. Thankfully, no one else was with him.
Concern lingered in the medic’s red shining eyes. “You look like shit.”
“Thanks.”
“I thought about asking how you’re doing, but I see now I don’t need to.” He straightened his back. “Do you want me to do something for you?”
Nightmare’s lips twitched. In a way, it felt nice to have someone worried about him. He’d never had that, until the Fighters started to enter his life. Now, they were like a family who cared about each other, more or less. “Like what?”
“I can sedate you. That will give us time to figure out what to do.”
“I appreciate the gesture, but there’s nothing you can do to stop this from …” He let out a desperate groan. “I never in a million years thought it would end like this.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“My eyes fucking flashed.” He tried to keep his voice calm, but it was difficult to control the anger from taking over. He felt tricked, fooled. “I didn’t even touch her. I never imagined the bond would go to this extent. I was convinced the bond needed an intimate touch to be initiated.”
“It does need an intimate touch,” Blaze said, sounding certain.
He shot him a look. “Are you sure?”
The medic nodded. “Yes, something else must’ve triggered the bond. What happened before your eyes flashed?”
He frowned and fisted his hands. “She told me she loves me.”
The other cyborg’s eyes widened. “She decided to tell you?”
Nightmare deepened his frown, surprise filling him. “You mean you knew?”
Blaze cleared his throat. “We figured it out when you were unconscious. The way she took care of you …” He shook his head.
His chest tightened, but he needed to hear this. “What did she do?”
The medic inhaled, as if preparing himself. “I doubted it at first, thought she was acting, but with each passing day, it became obvious her feelings were real. She stayed by your side every waking hour, making sure you were taken care of, that nothing was missing, checking you regularly. She even slept on the chair next to your bed.” He licked his lips. “Nightmare, she would’ve died for you.”
He stared at his friend, speechless. His bond, on the other hand, was thrilled.
It poked at him, increased his blood pressure, made his body tremble even more.
Run to her!
Seal the bond!
He took a step in her direction but stopped when he realized what he was doing. Nightmare let out a frustrated growl. He’d been able to control the bond for over forty years.
He wouldn’t let it win now.
He stared down the hallway, in the direction jade was, with shaky knees and fast breaths.
It was a fight he’d soon lose.
Nightmare felt it in his whole body.
Tired.
So damn tired.
After all this time, after everything he’d been through, the exhaustion finally took over. He swayed on his feet when dizziness hit.
Too much.
His body had had enough.
Blaze grabbed his arm, preventing him from falling. “Are you all right?”
“I’m just so damn fed up with everything.” His gaze lingered down the hallway again.
He was tired of fighting. Tired of struggling but protesting wouldn’t make things better. Silver almost died from his bond to Faye, and the same thing would happen to him if he denied it what it wanted.
He tried to tell himself things would be different this time.
Jade wasn’t Carolyn. She’d never hurt him like that. She’d love him, care for him … die for him.
She already loved him.
He took another step in her direction.
“You believe her,” Blaze said.
Nightmare nodded, taking a third step, then a fourth … and kept walking.
The medic cyborg remained by his side.
“I’ve no idea if her confession triggered the bond, but I don’t think so. What I do think is
I must return to her.” He placed his hand on his chest. “I’m starting to feel her here. The bond is demanding her, starting to love her.”
It grew, fast, with determination, and with every step he took, it spiked in his heart. Filling him with desire, raw need, making him see her smiling face in front of him again.
Nightmare let out a silent cry.
Desperation filled him.
The feelings weren’t real.
They weren’t his, and yet, they led him back to her. Soon, he’d be nothing more but a mindless beast, unable to control himself, only after one thing.
Jade.
He groaned but kept walking, stumbling forward, staring ahead down the long hallway.
It grew again, intensified, turning into pain. It was too much, too fast. He wasn’t far from hyperventilating.
How the hell had Silver done it? It took days before Faye gave him his second flash.
Blaze followed him. He didn’t say anything, but Nightmare didn’t miss the medic’s tense expression or the sorrow in his eyes.
The bond screamed within Nightmare. No, it roared.
The pain rose to new levels.
If he didn’t find Jade soon, it’d tear him apart, drive him crazy with a need and desire so strong it’d kill him.
She was his only hope.
He let out another cry. This was almost impossible to handle. The emotions the bond threw at him just continued growing, evolving, getting stronger and stronger, demanding her.
He needed to be in her arms, now. He needed the passion he’d only find in her embrace. If not, the bond would soon break him, it would devour him, it would drive him crazy, it would—
… stop?
Nightmare haltered.
What was this?
Blaze approached him. “What is it?” He looked him over.
“It stopped.”
The medic blinked. “What?”
Nightmare pressed his hand to his chest. He remained still and quiet for a long moment as his breathing calmed. “The pain, it’s gone. The mad desire to bond with Jade is … under control.”
Blaze frowned. “What’re you talking about?”
Nightmare frowned, too. He had no answer but couldn’t be more thankful. He let out a shaky breath and pressed his hand harder against his chest.
There was something there.
Deep down.
A … feeling.
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