HASH: Human Alien Species Hybrid by April M. Reign Read Free Book Online

muscle.
    “Wow, you’ve made huge progress in three days,” he smirked.
    I couldn’t help but push his arm and laugh when he almost fell backward. I grabbed my hair and draped it over one shoulder as I stared at him through my eyelashes. “Why do you think they’re so interested in bringing us together after all these years?”
    “We’re of breeding age.”
    “Breeding?”
    “You do know about procreating, right?”
    I felt the burn of embarrassment wash over my cheeks. “My tutor taught me about that stuff, yes.” My eyes opened wide. “Do you think that’s what they want us to do?”
    “Em told me—”
    “When did you talk with Em?”
    “She and I can talk through the security system lines. She didn’t actually come and visit me.”
    Oddly, I felt relieved that he wasn’t spending time with Em alone. It was an odd feeling, one that I definitely had never experienced. Was it jealousy? “What did Em say?”
    “She read some files about the program being shut down. They lost funding and they were told to terminate the subjects that were part of the HAP.”
    “Terminate?” I said, alarmed.
    He nodded and pressed his lips together tightly.
    “What’s HAP?”
    “It means Human Alien Project. Guess they figured after sixteen years, with no progress, it was time to scrap the entire thing.”
    Scrap us.
    “What stopped them?” I asked.
    “Startech.”
    “Professor Ahern?” I asked.
    Aric nodded. “Startech sank billions of dollars into the project, but they changed their direction. Apparently, according to Em, they no longer care about you or me. Startech wants a hybrid. They want you to have my baby, Jade.”
    “Then what?”
    “Then they dissect us, see what makes the metal attach and live and then they have their new program that will continue to receive funding under the project name HASH.”
    “And that means?”
    “Human Alien Species Hybrid.”
    “Our baby?”
    “Yep.”
    “And Em told you all of this?”
    “In bits and pieces. She downloads information to me from time to time.”
    Now I was certain that I was jealous. I was extremely jealous and I wasn’t sure how to handle it. “Why doesn’t she download the information to me?”
    “She’s not sure what you can handle. You’re human and Em is a powerful organism who has grown to care for you.”
    I looked away, hoping that the jealousy didn’t show on my face. Apparently, it did, because Aric reached out and took my hand. “She’s not real, Jade. You and I are real and she’s not.”
    “She’s real to me.”
    “I know…you’ve made her real. You needed her to survive this place all these years, but she’s metal, she’s powerful and logical but she can’t actually feel. Not like we can. We are alive.”
    I glanced from his eyes to our fingers intertwined. His hands were so much larger than mine were, and his touch was soft and caressing.
    “They can’t see us right now,” he said.
    What did he mean? When my eyes snapped back to stare at him, he saw the questioning look.
    “We’re connected. The doctors and scientists can see us sitting here together with our hands intertwined but whatever we do from this point, they won’t see. They’ll only see us in this moment.”
    “How?”
    “The metal has more powers than you’ve experienced. More than you’ve allowed yourself to experience.”
    “Will you teach me how to use the metal?”
    “You don’t use it, you embrace it. You allow it to thrive inside of you.”
    “What if it takes me over? After all, I’m not from Celenia like you are.”
    Aric kept his fingers laced in mine as his mind raced for a way to train me to use the metal without hurting myself. “I want to try something, but I don’t want you to be afraid.”
    “Okay.”
    “Do you trust me?” Aric asked.
    Oddly, I did. “Yes, I do.”
    He moved closer to me and pulled me into his arms, keeping his fingers laced between mine. I could feel the pit of my stomach churn, the butterflies restless,