Page 11 of Ruled By The Alpha

I force my mind to still.What is this? Neverhave I had to remind myself of AX2’s true nature, no matter how much he looks like a man. I’ve hardwired the technology within him myself, grown the cells of his artificial skin in my own lab. Iknowwhat he is, and man it is not. But why… Why is my mind so foggy? Why can’t I look away from the smoldering hatred in those haunting eyes?

My breathing is as fast as his, panic clawing at the edges of the fog swathing my brain. Something’s wrong with me. Something’s terribly, irrevocablywrong,but all I can do is stare at the kneeling alpha while my body shakes like a leaf.

Is it delayed shock? A panic attack? A freaking seizure? I need help. I need to find someone who can help me!

At that last thought, my body finally moves. But instead of running for the exit, I stumble forward. Towardhim.

I only make it three steps before the heat in my body rushes south into my abdomen, andsomethinglow inside me tightens so instantaneously, I nearly lose my footing.

“Oooh!”My cry starts sharp, but turns to a soft croon by the end as the tightness below my navel becomes molten and my sex…softens.

I stop abruptly, naked realization finally making it through the haze as I stare in mounting horror into AX2’s eyes. No. This isn’t possible. He’s a fuckingmachine!

But my body doesn’t care. Heat thrums through my veins, hardening my nipples and erasing everything that elevates me above base biology.

Heat.

With the last vestiges of my willpower, I stagger away from the kneeling alpha and out the door. And I flee.

Chapter 5

AX2

Dr. Green finds him still kneeling on the concrete some long hours later. Morning, AX2 surmises, from the coffee-scented Styrofoam cup in the beta’s hand.

Dr. Green stops in his tracks when he spots the alpha on the floor, his eyebrows high on his forehead. “Don’t tell me Adelaide is playing hooky because of some sex game gone wrong.”

Sex.The word pounds through his brain, shadowy talons raking his marrow. If he could, he’d shudder in response. He has gotten used to his body responding on someone else’s command, but last night… Last night wasdifferent.And nothing like the times his flesh has reacted against his will to the gentle touch of her examinations, or the smell of her shampoo.

He could have killed her.

It would have killed him too, and what sweet relief that would have been. Yet when his fingers constricted around her throat, his body refused to complete the command. His body. Not his brain.

Not the chip.

The betrayal is still hot at the back of his throat. He had a chance to finally be free of this nightmare, free ofher.And he didn’t take it.

“AX2? Did Dr. Thompson get you to sleep with her last night?” Dr. Green asks.

“No, sir.” The words come out monotone, the chip ensuring immediate compliance.

The beta eyes him as he takes a sip of his cup. “Did she try to?”

“No, sir.”

“Hmm.” Dr Green tilts his head, the corner of his mouth quirking up a couple of millimeters. “Did youwantto fuck her?”

“Yes, sir.” And there it is, the truth still making his insides tight with horror. Her throat under his fingers, the taste of her tears on his tongue, and thesmellof her… His body hadyearnedfor her, and not because he was starved for touch and so lonely he couldn’t bear it. No. It’d been something far more primal, far more… intimate.

The beta male huffs a small laugh before he sips another mouthful of coffee. “Guess the general is right about you lot being more men than machines. Lock an alpha up for long enough, and he’ll fuck anything with tits, eh? All right, let’s get you sorted out, AX2. Dr. Thompson called in sick, so you’re with me for the day. Engage autonomy mode.”

AX2’s muscles relax out of his artificially controlled posture the instant the chip releases its hold. Slowly, stretching organic flesh stiff from the many hours forced to hold still, he gets to his feet.

“Grab a shower. Jerk off, if you need to. Then get into some fresh trousers and come back to me,” Dr. Green says, setting the Styrofoam cup down next to a computer as he begins clacking away at the attached keyboard. “No need for a shirt; I’ll just have to remove it again for the electrodes. We’re gonna run some tests, see if your wiring’s still in balance after the socializing yesterday. And if I were you, I’d cross everything that it is. Seems you’re way overdue for what the general’s got planned next.”

*

It’s three days before AX2 learns what those plans are. Three days withouther—the most she’s ever been absent, outside of her five scheduled days every month—and no missions to offer his mind anything else to focus on.

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