Page 5 of Protector

“Understood.Sir,”I bite out.

The general shakes his head, but doesn’t reprimand me. My father is many things, but he is not a hypocrite.

He nods at AX2 and crosses the floor to the exit. Before he leaves, he turns to say, “Your mother wants you to come by for dinner tonight. Can I tell her you’ll be there?”

“I will.” I dig my nails into my palms as the door swings shut behind him. It’s not his fault. He’s an alpha—he’s never known what it is to have to fight for respect. To know that any glimpse of softness will ruin everything you’ve worked for.

I glance at AX2, who is still standing perfectly still, gaze trained on a spot on the far wall. There is not so much as a flicker in his expression to suggest he’s noted the unprofessional exchange between the general and myself.

But then, there shouldn’t be. He knows better than most that I have no softness to be exploited.

THREE

AX2

There are five AX models in existence.

AX2 stares at the four men-that-aren’t in the training room.

The ever-present stench of bleach doesn’t hide the cocktail of alpha scent in the air, but even without it, he’d know what they are—or at least what the biological part of them is. They are all wide with muscle, and there’s a sharpness in their eyes as they watch one another, reading every movement to determine whether they are surrounded by enemies or allies.Alphas.

He suspects that if any of them had been given a choice, they would have opted to socialize with betas and women. He feels it too—the biological urge to assert his dominance over four powerful rivals—butfuck,it doesn’t matter. They’re here, he’s not alone, and the space in his gut he thought held nothing but despair is now tight with a tinglingawarenessthat reaches all the way around to his tailbone.

Without a word, he crosses the floor to the nearest alpha—a young man with short, white-blond hair and ice-blue eyes first widening in surprise at his approach, then narrowing as he doesn’t stop. AX2 ignores the unspoken threat and reaches out, grabs the man by the shoulder, and pulls him to his chest with enough force to send a shockwave through him at the impact.

A growl escapes the other alpha at the uninvited touch, but quiets to a huff of surprised laughter when AX2 wraps both arms around him and hugs him tight.

Touch.

He’s touching another living, breathing being. Someone like him.

He’s not alone, after all.

Something he didn’t know still existed clicks into place in his brain, but he is too numb to do more than grunt as the sensation of humanity slowly filters through his consciousness.

Too late, he remembers why he can’t letthemsee this—the white-clad doctors no doubt observing them like the lab-rats they are—what will happen ifshelearns of the weakness he has kept hidden for so long. Swallowing a curse, he releases his hold on the other alpha, but before he can step back, the blond man mutters, “Oh, fuck it,” and wraps his own arms around AX2.

A bouquet of sensation slams through him: warmth, comfort, and relief drown out his momentary anger at another alpha constricting him. The fear of whatshewill do to him at this display of weakness lingers, but he can’t find the willpower to break away. For this one moment, he'll take whatever punishment she inflicts to erase his remaining shred of humanity.

Kinship.The word echoes in his mind, trickling through his veins and into his organs still made of flesh. Expanding until it hurts. These strangers are his kin; he is not alone.

Warm, solid muscle presses against his back as the others join them one by one. No one speaks for several long moments. The only sound is the slow, deep breathing of five sets of lungs, artificial and not.

“I’d still trade every single one of you for half an hour with a whore,” someone mutters from behind him, finally breaking the peaceful silence.

The young blond who has his arms around AX2 lets out a laugh. It rings in his ears and pierces his brain, alien in its genuineness.

“Half an hour? It’d take you twenty-eight minutes to find the hole? Shit, how long’s it been that you’d forgetthat?I haven’t been thinking about much else for the past six months.”

A guffaw. “See how muchyouremember after nearly two years, you little twat.”

AX2 remembers this—the jokes, the laughter, the sharing of words for no other reason than… thanbonding.It’s like a lightning strike up his spine, only it isn’t a memory as such, it’s… it’s a whisper through the dark parts of his mind he can no longer access. A warm trickle through his blood. It feels… right in a way nothing elsehas since the cursed day he woke up inherlab.

This? This is what it feels like to be human.

A clank of metal sends a jerk through the group, each alpha pulling away and into straight-spined postures of attention before the door swings open.

AX2’s heart throbs too fast in his chest as General Thompson walks in, followed by Dr. Green, and a few moments later,her.The general’s gaze slides over them all, and with a jolt of surprise, AX2 realizes the fear making his heart pound against his ribs is not for himself—it’s for the strangers he's known for mere minutes.

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