Wind's words calmed her a bit, but there was no guarantee that it was true. Maybe Nightmare would come after Shade again, but worrying about that right now only made her headache worse. Faye was right. She needed to relax.
The door to the room opened and Jade came in. She was, as usual, dressed in her doctor coat and her hair was put up into a ponytail. She smiled at everyone and approached the bed. Everyone stood up and followed her as she leaned over Shade and looked him over. She then raised her head and watched the monitor to the machine that stood on the other side of the bed. Different numbers and complicated words flashed by on it from time to time. They didn't make much sense to Phoebe, but she knew they made sense to Jade.
“No change,” Jade said.
“Is that a good thing?” Phoebe asked.
“Yes. It means he is stable. He should wake up any minute. When his cybernetics and programming have accepted the changes we have done, he will open his eyes. We have restored your bond to our best ability, but his programming will probably believe he isn't bound, but that is nothing to worry about. He will recognize you.”
Hope awakened within Phoebe.
“What about Nightmare?” Diane asked.
Jade took a deep breath. “I don't know. They managed to escape, as you know, but we have Hunter. We won't make the same mistake with him as we did with Silver. Hunter will remain here until he is bound again. We already have the right woman for him.”
Faye snorted. “He will be pissed.”
“He will, but he will calm down when he sees who it is.”
“Who is it?” Phoebe asked.
Jade smiled. “Someone from his past. She has agreed to help him.” Her gaze locked onto Shade, but she spoke to them all. “I have listened to everything you have told me. You have given me an insight into the Fighters lives like never before. They rarely talk with us when we get our hands on them. The few things we know are not enough for us to understand them.”
“How about what Nightmare said. Is the bond ... a lie?”
Jade gave her a gaze filled with understanding. “No, Phoebe. The bond is as real as your love for Shade. When you take it away, you take away a part of the cyborg, and that is what Nightmare wanted to do to Shade. I will not go into all the technical things Nightmare's signal did, but I can assure you that Shade would have died if Nightmare would have been allowed to finish. How the Fighters survive after losing their bound ones is still a mystery to us, but we suspect that it has something to do with the bond. Unless a Fighter agrees to be examined, we don't touch them. We don't force them to bond themselves either. We suggest it, but if they don't, they won't be set free. However, they will get good lives.”
Phoebe nodded. There was another question on her mind that she needed to ask. “Is there a way for cyborgs to live without the bond?”
Everyone's gaze fell upon Jade.
Jade sighed. “Not that I am aware of, and believe me, I have been working here for many years. I haven't found a single indication as to whether that is even possible.”
Faye tensed and swallowed loudly. “So where does that leave Silver and me?”
Jade looked at Faye. “You kissed him, right?”
Faye nodded.
“What did he do during the kiss?”
"At first, he tried to get away, but after a few seconds, he remained still. He just stood there.”
Jade's expression tensed. “Did his eyes flash?”
“Yes, once.”
“I see.” Jade took a deep breath. “When a Fighter gets bound to a new person, his eyes flash three times as his cybernetics accept the bond. The first flash initiates it. The second flash accepts the woman and the third flash seals the bond. This only happens with the Fighters. The newborn cyborgs awaken with an already active bond. How long the bonding process takes varies from cyborg to cyborg. No bonding is the same.”
“So, Silver and I ...?” Faye's eyes were big and nervousness radiated from her.
“I think you already know. When you kissed him, you initiated the bond.”
“Nightmare said Silver will come for me.” Her words were almost a whisper.
“He will.”
“Is there a way to terminate the bonding process?”
“No, but don't worry. We will do everything we can to help you, but you must be aware of the fact that this will probably end with him completing the bonding process.”
Faye's gaze hardened. “Over my dead body.”
A sound came from the bed and Phoebe instantly turned her gaze there. She watched Shade take a deep breath before he opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. Joy filled her. He was awake! But then, she tensed. This was the moment of truth. Would he remember her? Would he still love her? Or was their bond damaged for good?
It felt like the whole room suddenly held its breath. No one moved. No one spoke. Shade lay still for almost a whole minute before he braced himself on his arms and sat up. His gaze swept over them all before it set upon her. Yet again, he didn't move. He just watched her with emotionless eyes. Her heart pounded like crazy inside of her chest and it felt as if she would come apart any second if he didn't do something soon. She knew that she had to give him time. He had been out for days and his programming had been messed with, but her patience was wearing thin. She swallowed hard and decided to move closer.
“Shade?” Her voice was shaky.
She reached out and placed her hand on his cheek. His body tensed when her hand made contact with his skin. He inhaled deeply and his eyes went big. Then they flashed. It was so bright that it lit up parts of his face for a short second. Another flash came. This time it was even brighter.
“He has accepted you. Now, you just have to complete the bonding ... when you are alone.” Jade smiled.
Phoebe blushed and couldn't stop the memories from coming over her. She had been happy in Shade's arms, and she would make sure that she would be happy there once again.
Shade closed his eyes and he leaned into her touch. Relief was written all over his face.
“Shade?” She asked again, this time with hope in her voice.
“I lost you,” he said with a whisper. “They took me away from you.” He opened his eyes and looked at her. “I know now what the Fighters feel. They think they are strong without the bond, but they are not. They are alive because a small part of the bond survived when their bound ones died and that small part screams inside of them all the time. It screams for love, for a bound one. It is what makes them dangerous and it is what makes them slowly lose their minds. I got to experience that for a short time. It was the worst feeling ever and I don't ever want to feel it again. It was as if a black hole had been dug inside of my chest.” He grabbed Phoebe's hand and pulled her closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned his head against her chest. “I lost you, but my feelings for you never went away. I sense that the bond has been fixed, but I need to bond with you again. I long for you so much.”
He didn't seem to care that others were present. His touch was gentle but firm, whispering of the longing that lingered inside of his body. His eyes had only flashed twice. A third time was needed to seal the bond, and she would give him that. Hearing that his feelings for her had never left him filled her with joy. That proved to her that much more than just the bond made him love her. The bond might have been the beginning, but over the month, he had evolved feelings beyond the bond for her.
“I could feel Nightmare's signal working. It was designed to remove the bond and make me forget Phoebe. It was designed to take the bond's place, but by doing so, it was also killing me. I don't think Nightmare have understood the consequences of removing the bond completely.”
Jade sighed. “So it is as I suspected.”
“I heard everything you said, Jade. Your suspicions are true, they are alive because their bonds aren't completely gone. They just refuse to accept that.”
“Instead, they believe they are free.”
Shade nodded. A shiver went throu
gh him and his grip on Phoebe tightened. A whimper of pleasure left his mouth. It was a whimper that sent shivers down Phoebe's spine. She understood his reaction. The bond needed to be sealed again. His body burned for hers.
Jade's lips twitched. “Everyone, we need to leave. Phoebe and Shade need to be alone for a while.”
Phoebe blushed even more when everyone gave her a wide smile and left the room without a word. When they closed the door behind them, she turned to look at Shade. He looked right back at her with so much fire in his eyes that it made her gulp, filling her body with desire.
CHAPTER 29
Shade looked into Phoebe's beautiful eyes. They had a spellbinding effect on him and he knew he would never grow tired of looking into them. It was as if she had bewitched him in every possible way, making him uninterested in everything around him. It almost felt like the last time, the moment just after he had awakened over a month ago. Unable to pull away from her, he made her sit on his legs with her legs on either side of his.
“I was so worried,” Phoebe said and swallowed hard.
“Worried that I wouldn't awaken?”
“That too, but I worried that you wouldn't love me anymore.”
He smiled, gently pressing his hips up against hers. It frustrated him that their clothes and the blanket were in the way. He needed to get close to her, as close as possible, and the need grew by the minute.
He had been sure that he had lost her, but he knew better now. If he would have lost her completely, he would have been dead. A small part of the bond had managed to survive, but that part had been so tiny that his programming hadn't accepted it as a bond. The programming had barely paid any attention to it at all. That was what happened to all the Fighters. That was how they survived, and thankfully, Jade had managed to fix his bond along with her team of scientists and doctors. They had made him stable again and they had removed Nightmare's invasive signal.
He had felt the bond react twice. It had initiated instantly when Phoebe had touched him and it had accepted her just as fast. That tiny piece that remained of the bond had recognized her and it knew what it wanted, what he wanted. They just needed to seal it now.
“That is not possible,” he said. “My love for you is eternal. If the bond is removed, I will die. Nightmare believes a lie if he thinks the bond is fake. It is not. It is who we are. He just refuses to accept that, but I choose happiness. I will always choose you over what the Fighters have. I got a small taste of their pain and I can't imagine living like that. It must be horrible.” He wrinkled his forehead. “Nightmare has lived like that for forty years. He is trying to set himself free from himself, and that is impossible.” His hand gently caressed her cheek. “I love you. Don't ever doubt that.”
Tears of joy filled her eyes. “I love you too. I don't know what I would do without you.”
“I will never let you find out.” He grinned but turned serious a few seconds later. “What did Nightmare do to you before I arrived?”
Phoebe became still. He knew that she knew what he was referring to. They still hadn't talked about it. They hadn't had the chance.
She licked her lips. “He ... held me.”
Shade winced. He hadn't expected that answer. “He held you? He made it sound like he had done a lot more.”
“Don't worry. He just held me.”
“Why?”
“Because he is lonely. Just like you said, he is not willing to accept the bond. He believes it's not real, but that doesn't help him with his loneliness. He can't touch an unbound woman without his programming thinking that he wants to bind himself to her, but he said that he is safe with me.”
Shade wrinkled his forehead. “How was he safe with you?”
“Since you are bound to me, he can touch me. His programming will not accept me as a potential bound one.”
Shade nodded. “That was good to know.”
Phoebe tilted her head a little to the side and looked at him with confusion. “Aren't you ... angry with me?”
“Why would I be angry at you? He didn't give you a choice, did he?”
“No. He just took what he wanted and I wasn't able to get away from him.”
“Of course, you weren't. He is a cyborg.” His gaze darkened. “But if I am ever confronted with him again, he will pay for everything he has done to us.”
She looked him deep in the eyes. “I hope that day will never come. The last thing I want is to see you hurt again. I want this to be over and I pray that Nightmare has lost all interest in you, just like Wind assumed.”
She leaned closer and placed her arms around him. Her warmth and feminine scent filled his senses. It made his body react, filling him with need. He wanted to stay like this forever.
“Bond with me.” His voice was a whisper filled with pleasurable promises.
“You don't have to ask me twice.”
She leaned even closer and kissed him. Shade couldn't stop the moan from escaping his mouth. His hands explored her body, taking off one piece of clothing after another. He would make love to his one and only and they would seal the bond anew. He would show her how much she meant to him. He knew he meant just as much to her. Their love was true and real, no matter what Nightmare said. He felt it in his entire being, and he knew she felt it too.
THANK YOU
Thank you for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to leave a review. I would love to hear your opinion. The second book in the series, Loved Cyborg, Wind's and Celise's story, is coming soon.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nellie C. Lind lives in Sweden with her son, but she was born in Poland. Writing has always been one of her greatest interests. Today, she runs the publishing house Sense of Romance for a living. She writes passionate paranormal romance, fantasy, and science fiction books for adult readers. You'll find all sorts of beings in her stories, such as angels, vampires, gods, and elves. You'll also find everything from short stories to novels among her books. Keep an eye open for upcoming releases!
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For more information about Nellie C. Lind please visit:
Website: www.nellieclind.com
Blog: www.nellie-c-lind.blogspot.se
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OTHER BOOKS BY NELLIE C. LIND
THE ELDERS OF THE SEASONS SERIES:
Winter's Bride - Book 1 (2015)
Autumn's Lady - Book 2 (Coming soon)
THE BLOOD OF ANGELS SERIES:
Angel in Chains - Book 1 (2014)
Angel in Madness - Book 2 (Coming soon)
BOUND BY HER SERIES:
Her Cyborg - Book 1 (2016)
Tempted Cyborg - Novella (2016) (Available through mailing list)
Loved Cyborg - Book 2 (Coming soon)
ENCHANTED EVER AFTER SERIES:
The Sacrifice - Book 1 (2014) (Available for free)
The Monster Under the Bed - Book 2 (2014)
Within a Heartbeat - Book 3 (2015)
STAND-ALONE
Deny Me If You Can - vampire love story (2014)
Her Cyborg (Bound by Her Book 1) Page 17