Diatrix’s smile wavered. “Is that a threat?”
“Yes.”
“What a shame. I was hoping that all this anti-cyborg sentiment was only spewed from idiots. Perhaps they’re right.” She shrugged, tossing her ponytail back. She pressed her finger to Cypher’s chest. “I would think a machine who’d been subjugated by men would have different views, but it seems you’re just like they are. Terrible. I can’t wait to see how you handle the Trentians. Oh, the bloodbath. I couldn’t have asked for a more exciting challenge. Guess this means we won’t have to worry that you’ll cheat.” She grinned.
He slapped her finger away. “Come near Vee again and you’re dead, understand? I don’t give a crap about you or your views, or this charade for all that matters—”
“Cypher!” Vee tried to stop him but he continued.
“Life and death are all that matters. Get the fuck away from us before I do something only you’ll regret.”
Diatrix stepped back. Her eyes sharpened, and she shivered with rage despite her forced smile. Cypher led Vee down the hall.
“We could’ve been allies,” Diatrix called.
He stopped, turned back around, and flashed his gun. “Cyborgs don’t have allies. Take a history class, human. It might do you some good.”
He had Vee stashed away back in the hovercraft within minutes and took to the air. Gritting his teeth, his seething only grew worse. She was tense beside him, but he couldn’t calm his systems down.
By the time they made it back to his ship, he was enraged. The second the hatch closed, he tore his jacket off and stormed to his arsenal. Pulling a gun from his vest, he shot rounds into the wall at the back. Each weapon he emptied, he grabbed another, until holes littered the metal.
It wasn’t enough.
He threw his weapon aside and slammed his fist into the wall, again and again, until the metal panels gave way, and nothing but smoke filled his nostrils. Sparks came from the exposed wires behind.
“Cypher,” Vee whispered behind him.
He twisted around, baring his fangs at her. She stumbled back.
“Leave me!” he roared.
She backed up, turned, and ran away.
He transformed.
22
The next morning, Vee fed Bees, who she’d kept locked in her cabin all night against Bees’s will. Crashes, booms, and guttural roars came from outside her door throughout the night. She didn’t dare intervene, hoping Cypher would calm down eventually and come to her.
He hadn’t.
Even when the noises stopped, he didn’t join her. And when she snuck out to find him, all she found was the panel doors to the ship’s bridge closed, and no way for her to get in.
For the second night in a row, he hadn’t lain with her.
She stared at herself in the mirror and combed her hair, studying her body. She looked tired, a little haggard, and even the gleam of her red hair seemed dull. Sleep? What sleep? She spent most of last night fidgeting in bed.
Vee sagged forward.
Is there something wrong with me?
Is Cypher’s rut over?Had he only lain with her because of it? He had grown distant and increasingly angry, and she was at a loss as to what to do to help him.
Despite the semi-finals starting in a few short hours, it barely mattered at all anymore. Not even with the added stress of Trentian involvement. Vee worried that she’d grown to care far more for Cypher than he ever would for her.
God, I’m fucked.
She pressed her hands to her chest, certain she’d feel cracks beneath her palms. She stood there for a time, wishing her emotions were tangible and that she could trap them away deep within.
