Page 43 of The Program

She gestured around us. ‘This place. It’s a convergence of online databases. These lines are specific channels, and the little bumps are the files. If you have a holo-tab on you then I can find it easily enough and hack into it to leave you a message when I’m in range.’

My jaw was hanging so low it was a wonder that it hadn’t fallen off completely. ‘Wow…’

Fuck everything else, I needed to kiss my womannow.

My lips captured hers in a desperate kiss, and I channelled all my passion and longing into it as I could. My hands came to rest on her hips and I pulled her flush against me just as her arms wrapped around my neck, her fingers grazing the edges of my beard on opposite sides.

Her hips rocked against mine, the delicious friction causing both of us to let out twin groans of desire while the coiled tentacles at the base of my cock attempted to tug my pants down to reach her.

I wanted to continue, to tear the clothes off her body and see her in her full glory, but an insistent ringing started in my ears. It grew louder and more persistent, morphing into more of a buzzing that I soon recognised as the academy’s wake-up call.

Reluctantly, I pulled away. Her lips chased mine for one last kiss, but I needed to put some distance between us to say one more thing before consciousness dragged me from her.

‘I have to go, but I need say this again to really drive the message home, okay?’

She nodded, her eyes glassy and half-lidded, her lips even plumper and redder from how hard I’d devoured her.

‘I love you, Artemis. You’re mine, and I’m yours. There is no discussion about it. No matter how far apart we are, that will always remain true. I vow it.’

Her breath hitched with emotion, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. ‘I echo that vow, Bromm. I’m yours for as long as you’ll have me.’

I opened my mouth to respond, but she was no longer with me. Or rather I was no longer with her. Instead of the glowing web floating in a void, I was in my room at the academy. Instead of Artemis’s gorgeous face before me, Foryk’s ugly mug hovered above me.

I must not have been able to keep the disappointment from my expression.

‘Good dream?’ he grunted out the question.

I felt it as my facial muscles rearranged themselves in what I was sure had to be a blinding grin. My beard twitched with excitement and the memory of how Arty felt against me, the motion involuntary.

The lines above Ryk’s eyes rose high on his forehead as he recognised their dance. ‘A very good dream, then.’

‘The best,’ was all I admitted. ‘I’ll tell you all about it tonight.’

‘Tonight?’ he frowned.

I levelled him with a look I hoped conveyed my seriousness. ‘Tonight.’

Understanding dawned, and we said nothing else about it for the rest of the day. Right up until he called me out in front of everyone in that cramped little study room.

CHAPTER 15

t

‘How are they?’ I asked my mother.

She placed her mug down with a world-weary sigh. ‘They’re doing as well as can be expected. Their initial tests results have come back and the doctor is preparing his experiments.’

Though I kept my outward appearance calm and collected, inside I was a ball of anxiety and sadness. I hadn’t met Reece yet, but Adara was a sweetheart that had a soft spot for Artemis. That in itself was enough for her to carve a little soft spot inside me just for her, too.

‘Do you know what he’s planning?’

She pursed her lips and shook her head, the movement tense and jerky. ‘I don’t know the details or the intended outcome. All I know is that they’re preparing the operating equipment. I think they’re planning on implanting the nanites, but that’s just my guess. I could be wrong.’

My father’s hand came to rest on her shoulder in an attempt to reassure her, but there wasn’t any reassuring when we were working for the enemy. There was only so much we could do without putting ourselves in harm’s way, and there were already targets on our backs after Artemis’s first escape. We were treading carefully oververythin ice.

Unfortunately, the cracks were already starting to break that ice apart. The only reason The Program hadn’t come for us yet was their focus was on their newly acquired subjects and the children. The breeding program was going to revolutionise their already revolutionary advancements in both genetic manipulation and technology.

If only their methods were more ethical then our support would have been genuine. They’d lied to us about the validity of their experiments oncebefore, tricking us into signing a contract with little-to-no information about their purpose or their actions. I was ashamed that it took as long as it did for me to finally take note of the numerable red flags and put the pieces together. By then, it was too late. We were just as trapped as their subjects.

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