Page 28 of Human Reform
My parents’ disgusted faces flashed through my mind.“You’re nothing but trouble, Alora,” my father had said the day they kicked me out at age eighteen.
Then came the faces of the cyborgs I’d helped enslave with my war code.And now Sage’s rage-twisted features, a direct result of the lingering corruption in their neural framework I’d implemented.
I dropped my head onto my knees.“I destroy everything I touch.”
Tears burned hot tracks down my cheeks as I rocked back and forth.This was why I’d hidden myself away in those mountains.This was why I’d sworn off personal connection.
Because I knew what happened when I let people in.They either left, or worse, they got hurt because of me.
And Daxon.God, Daxon was walking straight into my disaster zone with that determined stride of his and with those protective, possessive eyes locked on me like I was the answer to questions he didn’t even know he had.
A sob tore from my throat.I couldn’t bear it if he got hurt again because of me.
“Get it together,” I whispered fiercely to myself.“Just fix the code before anyone else gets hurt.”
I dragged myself up from the floor and wiped my face with my sleeve.My white T-shirt clung to my skin, damp with sweat and tears.I adjusted my braid, which had started to come loose, and squared my shoulders.
With trembling limbs, I pressed my wrist communicator against the biometric scanner.The system hummed to life, welcoming me with a soft glow that illuminated my tearstained face in the reflection of the darkened monitors.
“Run Code Integrity Diagnostic Alpha Six,” I commanded, my voice steadier than I felt.
The screens filled with scrolling data, neural pathways mapping themselves across the monitors in a complex dance of algorithms.I lost myself in the beautiful, terrible architecture of what I’d created nine years ago.The clean lines of my code marred by the saboteur’s corrupted sections.The evil stared back at me—not just the saboteur’s malicious work, but my own deliberate cruelty woven into the framework.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to the lines of code and to the cyborgs whose minds they inhabited.“I’ll fix what I broke.”
A knock at the door startled me.I quickly wiped my eyes again.
“Alora?It’s me.”Daxon’s deep voice came through the door.
I froze.“I-I need some time.”
“No, you don’t.”The door opened anyway.I hadn’t locked it.Daxon stood there, his nose swollen but cleaned of blood, and his eyes burning with an intensity that made my heart skip.“You need to stop blaming yourself.”
He crossed the room in three long strides, his powerful frame seeming to fill the entire space.Without asking permission, he spun my chair around to face him and knelt before me, his large hands coming to rest on my knees.
“This isn’t your fault,” he said, his voice a low rumble.“My nose will heal.”
“It’s not just about your nose, Daxon!”I snapped, the tears threatening again.“It’s about what happens when people get close to me.They get hurt.They leave.They?—”
“I’m not leaving,” he interrupted with such fierce conviction that I almost believed him.“And I’m not easily hurt.”
My laugh was bitter.“Tell that to your broken nose.”
His thumbs traced small circles on my knees, sending unwelcome tingles through my body.“You think this is the worst I’ve endured?During the war, I sustained injuries that would have killed a human.This?”He gestured to his face.“This is nothing.”
“It’s not nothing to me!”I blurted out.
Something shifted in his eyes then—a flash of violet in the blue.His hand reached up to cup my cheek, his thumb catching a tear I hadn’t realized had fallen.
“Why is that?”he asked softly, his gaze never leaving mine.
“Because I…” I couldn’t finish the sentence.Couldn’t admit what was happening inside me.Couldn’t admit that I cared about him.
He must’ve sensed he was pushing too hard.He stood up abruptly, unfolding his impressive height before me.The shift was instantaneous—vulnerability replaced by purpose, and tenderness replaced by focus.
“Show me what you’ve found so far,” he said, gesturing toward my monitors.“Any progress with the code integrity scan?”
I took a steadying breath, grateful for his pivot.“Not as much as I’d like.”
