Free HauntingBlackie by Laurann Dohner Page B

Gene to lift one hand. Her
fingernails began to grow. “Our claws and fangs are triggered by fear or anger
when we feel threatened or protective. Over the years we learned how to force
the change the way I’m doing now. It helped us survive but it takes a lot of
practice.” She retracted the claws. “Our larynges are different from yours,
adapted to speak both normally or in canine mode. It gives us the ability to
growl, snarl, and our voices deepen as you heard. Our canine DNA embedded
certain behaviors as well. They messed up though and Eve found the flaw.”
    “What was that?” Varion decided to speak and get involved in
the conversation.
    Danica hesitated. “As I told them,” she nodded toward
Blackie and Gene, “no male canine units were made because Cameron feared we
wouldn’t take orders from him or his people if there were males in our line. A
bonded mate would become our natural leader and someone we’d blindly follow. He
thought we’d be loyal as, well, puppy dogs to him since he made us. We were
designed to defer to those we love, instinctually doing anything to please
them, needing that sense of…” She paused. “Shit. It’s hard to explain but the
bottom line is that she was hacking into the mainframe computer, searching for
cyborgs to free, and located that one.” She pointed at Blackie. “They forgot to
sever his link to the computer when they brought him to the center. His pain
was transmitted through that connection when he was beaten and Eve picked it
up. She rescued him but something happened when they actually met.”
    “What?” Blackie wanted to shake Danica and make her just
tell him. She was dragging out giving him the information he wanted then she
stopped talking.
    Danica dropped her hand. “She bonded to you. Like
obsessively. You became her total alpha and someone she’d do anything for.”
    Varion gasped. “Why him? He’s an asshole, not an alpha.”
    Blackie wanted to punch the son of a bitch but that would
mean releasing Eve, something he wasn’t willing to do.
    Danica shrugged. “I don’t know. She could feel his pain when
he hurt. It was stupid to rescue him because he’d be missed. We told her to
sever the link so she wouldn’t touch his mind and that it was too dangerous to
go after him. It didn’t matter to her. We felt a kinship to cyborgs and helped
them because all of us were created to be used by Earth Government. We were
smart about it though and protected ourselves in the process. Cameron screwed
up when he designed us to be so loyal.”
    Danica bit her lip and then sighed, staring at Blackie. “She
was willing to die for you. She thinks of you as a mate. At least, that’s what
I believe. She lost you and could never muster any interest in other men. You
were it for her. The one. ”
    “A mate?” Blackie reeled from the implications.
    “For life, I’m guessing.” Danica glared at him. “It’s the
flaw in our design. Eve found it when she bonded to you. It scared the shit out
of me and I’ve never allowed any man to get too close for that reason. You
ruined her life. I hoped she’d get over it but she never did. All these years,
decades, she snubbed all men. They weren’t you.” The other woman raked him with
her gaze. “Now she’s interested. You hurt her and I’ll gut you, cyborg.”
    The threat didn’t bother him. He was still trying to make
sense of the term “mate”. Some animals did that for life when they chose one
partner to breed with and stayed with each other until death. He stared at Eve
as she locked gazes with him.
    Emotions were easy to read in her eyes. Fear. Concern. Hope.
Then her gaze dropped to his chest and her hold loosened. She seemed to crumple
in his arms.
    “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Chapter Four
     
    Eve learned a new kind of pain. It was clear that her cyborg
was stunned but beyond that, his emotions were hard to read. She was pretty
sure he had to be horrified. Danica had just told him her secret,