A Perfect Bond Read Online Free

one of the most advanced species in the known universe. Only the Torc lived longer than we did, and nobody knew how long they lived.
    Inserting the sample collector into the end of the tube, I took a deep breath. I was at the end of the line with the nanites. I was running purely on feeling. I’d had a suspicion for the last few days, and I was about to put that suspicion to the test. Nothing I’d done to the nanites had resulted in them activating, but I hadn’t tried introducing them to a sickness, a wound or a disease. A lot of my time on the project had gone into working with the technicians to build my device and into studying the man that had started the whole process.
     
    After sucking up a small sample of blood into the collector, I withdrew its sharp tip from the tube and hastily moved it towards the small dish of nanites sitting on the stage of my microscope. Looking through the ocular lens, I added one drop of the blood to the dish of nanites and watched with bated breath.
    Nothing happened. The grey orbs of the nanites sat silent around the blood I’d added to the dish. I watched for long seconds, willing something to happen—anything to happen, but the nanites stayed silent and inactive. I blew out a breath in frustration.
    I’d kind of expected something to happen, even though I had suspicions about the nanites that I’d held since I’d studied cyborgs.
    My suspicion was the cranial implants the cyborgs and the man I was studying had somehow controlled the nanites in their bodies. I’d asked again and again when I’d been studying the cyborg what the purpose of the implants was, but the race that had created the cyborgs refused to tell me.
    I’d been left completely in the dark and had started to form my own conclusions. What I’d never understood was why they would want to keep it a secret.
    I checked the microscope again, hoping that the nanites had done something. I knew what they were capable of. I’d seen them heal critically wounded cyborgs, but these were still in the dish, the drop of blood sitting amongst them looking out of place and alien.
    I slumped back in my chair, feeling the disappointment of failure heavily on me. I ran a hand through my short hair just as the door to my lab slid open. My head whipped around to look at the man standing in my doorway.
    My eyes widened as disbelief shot through me. It was him! My mate. He’d returned to me. There he stood, just as I’d fantasised so many times.
    “Hello, Ellie.”
    His deep, smooth voice shimmered through me, lighting me up, sending my heart racing. My eyes widened at his casual tone before anger started to simmer inside me. I’d waited so long for him to come back, so long for him to walk through my door, and there he was.
    I stared back at him, too stunned to say anything, my mind working at the speed of light trying to work out why he was here. Why now, when I didn’t have time for him, when I was on a deadline and could lose my position in a matter of days?
    Getting my device up and working and proving to Cyakt Ralt that there was a chance for his people and his money had been well spent was my goal.
    Anger swarmed inside me at the situation I was now in. I was angry because he’d walked through my door and obviously expected something of me. Rage swelled inside me because he’d made me wait so long that I’d almost given up hope of ever seeing him again. I was also angry because I wanted to be able to spend time with him and get to know him, but I didn’t have that time.
    My tail flicked back and forth, sharp jerky movements that showed my emotional state if he knew how to read it. My emotions swirled around inside me and propelled me out of my seat.
    Walking slowly forward, never letting my gaze move away from his, I stopped directly in front of him and looked up into his grey eyes. They were the colour of storm clouds on many planets I’d been to, darker around the edge and lighter in the middle. He stared down at me.