Page 11 of The Program

T exited first to watch over us as we trickled out. We did so leisurely, no one really wanting to go back to their dorms or suites. Unfortunately, Foryk and I were sharing with our two new teammates, neither of which we were particularly happy about having around. We wanted Reece and Arty back, and though I wished we could rescue everyone here from our imprisonment I wasn’t too cut up about leaving them behind.

They seemed like nice enough guys until they opened their mouths and started spewing shit directly from Tarren’s ass. They were a part of his merry band of mindless followers, which meant we were subject to his baseless vitriol on a daily basis. Especially during lunch since we had to eat in our teams.

We bid Dorian, Cadmus, Henrik and Urman a tense, sombre farewell as we exited the elevator. Our dorms were no longer beside one another, the higher-ups choosing to separate us after learning of our connections. I hated how they did everything in their power to inhibit any form of social bonding.I couldn’t even rub myself out to memories of Arty’s touch without them getting an eyeful. Normally I wouldn’t have cared much who saw me in a sexual act, but with Arty it was different. She meant more than that, even when she wasn’t around. My body was now hers, just as my heart was.

I wondered if she’d even let me call her Arty anymore once we were reunited.

I was still trying to merge the two images of the Arty I knew and the woman on the screen when we entered our dorm. Our other roommates were still unconscious, snoring away in blissful ignorance. It wouldn’t have surprised me if The Program were able to manipulate them onto their side without much effort. They weren’t the types to think for themselves.

I tried not to sneer at them as I walked past to the bunk I shared with Foryk. He’d picked the bottom bunk this time, much to my dismay. Something about being my first line of defence if someone tried to attack us in our sleep. I wanted to argue, especially knowing how he preferred the tighter spaces, but I saw that look in his eyes, the panic and the vicious need to protect, so I let him.

We climbed into bed after stripping down to our underclothes, keeping on just enough layers in case of an emergency. That was a hint we’d received from Xander.

It was still so strange calling him that when he was our superior officer, but the lines blurred under current circumstances. We were no longer merely superior and subordinates, we were a team and, dare I say it,friends.He had supported us through the whole ordeal of losing two of our teammates during the take-over. He was still supporting us today, though he was limited in his abilities at the moment. I knew that as soon as we were out of here things would probably change – no, theywouldchange, without a doubt – but for now I was just thankful for him and how much of a pillar he had become to the group.

Foryk tapped the slats under my bed, his silent goodnight, and soon dropped off himself. His snores mingled with the others and created a backdrop of noise that I struggled to sleep through. That was okay, though. I found other ways to occupy my time at night.

Planning. Daydreaming of reuniting with Arty. More planning. Reliving the way her hot mouth felt encompassing my cock…

I stiffened fully at the thought, my cock aching for her just as fiercely as my heart.

I didn’t dare touch myself, fully aware of the surveillance directed at my bed. At all of our beds. There was no such thing as privacy at Nova Academy under the thumb of The Program, and it made my skin itch. My reproductive tentacles didn’t quite get the memo, easing their way along my shaft before I forced them back down to their curled state at my base.

I took the time instead to try to connect the two versions of Arty and forge them into one being. My Arty and The Program’s Artemis were one in the same. I knew that. I saw as much from the surveillance footage from their facility. What I was truly struggling with was the concept of her being, well, aher.

It helped that I had yet to see her naked, but I had spent our entire time together plus this past solar imagining a flat chest, lean muscles, a V leading to a rigid cock. Now, her curves were branded into my brain from a blue-hued hologram, but her slim, fit, undisputably feminine figure was on full display for us all to see.

I didn’t get to see her face, just snippets from odd angles as she destroyed all the bad guys like a stars-damned badass. My heart skipped a beat with a hitch of my breath before going pitter-patter in my chest. That woman was beyond anything I could have ever imagined for myself.

My mother used to tell me that someone would have to be extraordinary for me to fall in love, and she was right. Artemis was the most stunning creature I had ever met. And I couldn’t wait to fully make her mine, but this time the right way.

CHAPTER 4

ARTEMIS

Icouldn’t breathe. The thick smog of smoke was suffocating me no matter which way I twisted and turned. I didn’t know how much longer I could hold out before I fell unconscious, or how long I would be trapped down here if that were to happen.

I no longer knew which way was up and which way was down. To say I was discombobulated would have been a major understatement.In my blind rage I hadn’t been thinking straight, and I’d stupidly blown up every recognisable landmark in this underground labyrinth that could have shown me the way out. Instead, I’d blasted everything to hell and back and was stuck under countless storeys of rubble. Not to mention the only light I had at my disposal was from my own implants, and I was running out of energy to use them.

My inhalations became shorter, sharper, jagged and painful. Spots of light danced in my vision and my head spun despite the fact that I was lying prone beneath the collapsed cement, metal and cinderblock structure.

I hoarded the air in my lungs for one last attempt to scream for help, but all that came out was a weak whistle followed by wracking coughs.

And then there was no more air, and I let sleep take me.

???

Beady, mud-brown eyes, perpetually reddened from lack of sleep and stress stared down at me from above. I was strapped to that damn metal table again, and my brand-new personal nightmare was in charge of my bodily autonomy.

He liked to use it in ways not even the other scientists dared. Ways that caused more damage to my mind. My body healed easily. My memories did not.

‘Good. You’re awake,’ he said, his smooth voice slightly muffled by his surgical mask.

‘Who are you?’ I asked, despite already knowing he wouldn’t answer, my words slurred.

‘I am your master, and you are my subject,’ was his infuriating answer.

Rubber fingers caressed my skin. Nipples pebbled. Core wept.

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