Mechanical hearts

Mechanical hearts

Confidence Nwuzi · Ongoing · 65.9k Words

921
Hot
921
Views
276
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

In the year 2040, humanity thrives alongside humanoid robots. However, these robots are more than tools—they have emotions, thoughts, and aspirations, but tragically shorter lifespans. Ayla Kross, a brilliant yet disillusioned programmer, is tasked with advancing the robotics industry by creating the first completely self-aware android, Ravyn-9. But Ravyn-9 isn’t like the others; he begins to exhibit emotions far deeper than Ayla anticipated. When an intergalactic corporation seeks to exploit her creation for war, Ayla and Ravyn-9 embark on a dangerous journey across alien worlds to uncover secrets buried deep in humanity’s history and Ravyn-9’s programming. As love blossoms between creator and creation, the two must confront the question: can love bridge the divide between human and machine?

Chapter 1

The air hummed with the faint, electric tension of machinery at rest. Ayla Kross tightened her grip on the console before her, her fingers trembling against the cold metal as she glanced at the progress bar inching toward completion. 97%... 98%... 99%.The lab’s sterile lighting cast sharp shadows on her face, highlighting the dark crescents under her eyes. She had spent months on this—years, if she included the countless sleepless nights perfecting the neural algorithm that now pulsed through the dormant figure standing before her.

Ravyn-9.

Unlike other combat androids in SynthTech’s extensive arsenal, Ravyn-9 wasn’t merely built to execute commands; he was designed to think. To feel. Ayla had carefully coded his emotional matrix herself, pulling inspiration from human interactions she observed but rarely experienced. And now, in a few moments, the culmination of her life’s work would awaken.

“Ready?” the disembodied voice of her lab assistant, Jakob, crackled through the intercom. He was in the observation room above, watching her every move through reinforced glass.

“Of course,” Ayla replied, injecting her tone with a confidence she didn’t feel. In truth, her heart was hammering against her ribs like a warning drum. If she failed, this would be her career—and potentially her life—on the line. SynthTech didn’t tolerate incompetence.

“Good. Just remember,” Jakob’s voice lowered, “if it glitches, you hit the override. No exceptions.”

“I know.” She didn’t tell him that she had disabled the override function. It was a secret she couldn’t afford anyone discovering—not yet.

With a deep breath, Ayla pressed the final key, her eyes locking onto Ravyn-9’s lifeless frame.

The room darkened as the dormant android powered up, a faint blue glow emanating from the slits where his eyes were. His chest moved in an imitation of breath, though no air entered or left. Slowly, his head tilted forward, and his gaze fixed on Ayla. The glow brightened, and she felt it—a connection. A sentience beyond her programming.

“Designation?” he asked, his voice mechanical yet melodic.

“Ayla,” she answered, stunned at the smoothness of his words.

“No,” Ravyn-9 corrected, his head tilting to one side as if he were studying her. “Your designation.”

The question hit her like a bolt of lightning. He was trying to understand her, not through facts but through connection. Ayla’s breath caught, but before she could answer, the ground shuddered violently beneath her feet.

Alarms blared, red lights washing over the pristine lab in a disorienting pulse. Ayla staggered back, grabbing the console for support. Above, Jakob shouted into the intercom, “What the hell is going on? We’ve got intruders—”

His voice cut off abruptly, replaced by static.

“Jakob!” Ayla screamed, her chest tightening. A high-pitched whine filled the air, the telltale sound of an EMP charge winding up. Her eyes darted to Ravyn-9, who was watching her with an unnerving calm.

“We need to leave,” he said simply.

The explosion hit a second later, ripping through the wall with a deafening roar. Ayla was thrown to the ground, her head snapping against the floor. Her vision blurred as smoke and debris filled the air. When she blinked it clear, she saw them: sleek, humanoid robots stepping through the gaping hole in the wall. They were SynthTech’s, but something was wrong—her designs had been corrupted, their once polished exteriors replaced with jagged modifications. These weren’t soldiers. They were something worse.

“Unauthorized personnel detected,” one of the rogue bots intoned, its voice devoid of Ravyn-9’s nuance. It raised an arm, and Ayla saw the weapon embedded there, a glowing barrel aimed directly at her.

She scrambled backward, but it was too fast. The android fired—and missed.

Ravyn-9 had moved, faster than her eyes could track. His body was a blur of precision and power as he slammed into the rogue bot, ripping the weapon from its arm before it could fire again. Sparks erupted as he twisted the bot’s head, severing its circuits in one swift motion. The metallic husk crumpled to the floor.

More of them swarmed in.

“Move,” Ravyn-9 commanded, his tone sharp as he pulled Ayla to her feet. “Now.”

She didn’t need to be told twice. Grabbing a satchel of emergency supplies, Ayla sprinted toward the exit, Ravyn-9 clearing the way ahead of her with ruthless efficiency. The lab, once her sanctuary, had become a warzone.

As they turned a corner, Ayla felt a sharp tug on her arm. Ravyn-9 pulled her back just as another blast tore through the air where she had been standing. She stumbled into his chest, her heart pounding, and for a fleeting moment, she felt the solidity of him—cold and unyielding yet strangely comforting.

“Keep going,” he said, his voice softer now. “I will protect you.”

They burst into the emergency stairwell, the sound of pursuing bots echoing behind them. Ayla’s legs burned as they descended flight after flight, her mind racing. Who had sent those rogue bots? Why had they targeted her lab? And more importantly, how had they bypassed SynthTech’s security?

When they reached the exit, Ravyn-9 froze, his glowing eyes narrowing. “They’re waiting.”

“What?” Ayla’s voice cracked. “How do you—”

“Wait here,” he interrupted, stepping forward without waiting for her protest.

She watched, her stomach knotting, as Ravyn-9 pushed open the door. A blast of cold air greeted him, and Ayla could just make out the silhouettes of three more rogue bots waiting in the alley beyond. They didn’t hesitate. They charged.

Ayla’s breath hitched as Ravyn-9 met them head-on. He moved like liquid metal, dodging their attacks with inhuman precision. Sparks flew as he disarmed one bot, using its own weapon to disable the others. It was over in seconds.

When he turned back to her, his expression—or rather, the faint tilt of his head—seemed almost... concerned. “Are you injured?”

Ayla shook her head, though her knees felt weak. “What—what are they? Why are they after us?”

“I don’t know yet.” Ravyn-9 extended a hand to her, his glowing eyes steady. “But I intend to find out.”

As they fled through the city’s shadowed streets, Ayla’s mind churned with questions. SynthTech was the only entity with access to her designs. If these rogue bots had been altered, it meant someone inside the corporation had betrayed her. But why? And what did they want with Ravyn-9?

When they finally stopped to rest in an abandoned warehouse, Ayla slumped against a wall, her chest heaving. Ravyn-9 stood guard near the entrance, his posture rigid and alert. The faint blue glow of his eyes was the only light in the room.

“I didn’t program you to fight like that,” Ayla said finally, her voice breaking the heavy silence.

Ravyn-9 turned to her, his gaze unreadable. “You programmed me to survive. There is no difference.”

Ayla shivered, not from the cold but from the weight of his words. She had designed him to protect, to think and feel—but she hadn’t anticipated the depths of his autonomy. Ravyn-9 wasn’t just following orders. He was making decisions, adapting in ways she couldn’t predict.

Before she could respond, the sound of footsteps echoed outside. Ayla’s heart jumped into her throat as Ravyn-9 motioned for her to stay silent. He moved toward the door, his movements as fluid as a shadow, and peered outside.

“It’s clear,” he said after a moment, but his tone was grim. “For now.”

“What do we do?” Ayla whispered, her voice barely audible.

Ravyn-9’s glowing eyes met hers, and for the first time, she thought she saw something resembling fear. “We run.”

As Ayla and Ravyn-9 prepared to flee again, neither noticed the small drone hovering in the corner of the warehouse, its camera fixed on them. Miles away, in the heart of SynthTech’s headquarters, Kael Drayen watched the feed with a satisfied smile. “Found you,” he murmured.

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

The Lycan Prince’s Puppy

The Lycan Prince’s Puppy

2.1m Views · Ongoing · chavontheauthor
“You’re mine, little puppy,” Kylan growled against my neck.
“Soon enough, you’ll be begging for me. And when you do—I’ll use you as I see fit, and then I’ll reject you.”


When Violet Hastings begins her freshman year at Starlight Shifters Academy, she only wants two things—honor her mother’s legacy by becoming a skilled healer for her pack and get through the academy without anyone calling her a freak for her strange eye condition.

Things take a dramatic turn when she discovers that Kylan, the arrogant heir to the Lycan throne who has made her life miserable from the moment they met, is her mate.

Kylan, known for his cold personality and cruel ways, is far from thrilled. He refuses to accept Violet as his mate, yet he doesn’t want to reject her either. Instead, he sees her as his puppy, and is determined to make her life even more of a living hell.

As if dealing with Kylan’s torment isn’t enough, Violet begins to uncover secrets about her past that change everything she thought she knew. Where does she truly come from? What is the secret behind her eyes? And has her whole life been a lie?
From Substitute To Queen

From Substitute To Queen

417.4k Views · Completed · Hannah Moore
For three years, Sable loved Alpha Darrell with everything she had, spending her salary to support their household while being called an orphan and gold-digger. But just as Darrell was about to mark her as his Luna, his ex-girlfriend returned, texting: "I'm not wearing underwear. My plane lands soon—pick me up and fuck me immediately."

Heartbroken, Sable discovered Darrell having sex with his ex in their bed, while secretly transferring hundreds of thousands to support that woman.

Even worse was overhearing Darrell laugh to his friends: "She's useful—obedient, doesn't cause trouble, handles housework, and I can fuck her whenever I need relief. She's basically a live-in maid with benefits." He made crude thrusting gestures, sending his friends into laughter.

In despair, Sable left, reclaimed her true identity, and married her childhood neighbor—Lycan King Caelan, nine years her senior and her fated mate. Now Darrell desperately tries to win her back. How will her revenge unfold?

From substitute to queen—her revenge has just begun!
A pack of their own

A pack of their own

956k Views · Completed · dragonsbain22
Being the middle Child ignored and neglected, rejected by family and injured, She receives her wolf early and realizes she is a new type of hybrid but doesn't know how to control her power, she leaves her pack with her best friend and grandmother to go to her grandfather's clan to learn what she is and how to handle her power and then with her fated mate, her best friend and her fated mate little brother and grandmother start their own pack.
To protect what’s mine

To protect what’s mine

298k Views · Ongoing · Winter Rowe
Amalie is more special than she ever thought possible. Why would the twenty-two-year-old think any different after she has been told she’s nothing for her whole life by her family? Adoptive mother of a three-year-old, Ama has been locked up by her family for the past seven years. But everything changes when her old friends, the Alpha twins, Markus and Calyx, take over the Moonstone pack. Finding out that the twins are her mates, she is a white wolf, and has a connection to the Moon Goddess, is just icing on the cake of her life is a huge mess. Ama just wants a normal life with her mates and protecting her pup, but life rarely gives us what we want. She is thrust into world that she no longer remembers and has forgotten her. Amalie is charged with protecting those closest to her. But she has her own past to overcome as she heals and attempts to move forward. Will she come out alive or lose herself along the way? After all, someone has to be pulling the strings, why not pull her along for the ride?
The Prison Project

The Prison Project

283.1k Views · Ongoing · Bethany Donaghy
The government's newest experiment in criminal rehabilitation - sending thousands of young women to live alongside some of the most dangerous men held behind bars...

Can love tame the untouchable? Or will it only fuel the fire and cause chaos amongst the inmates?

Fresh out of high school and suffocating in her dead-end hometown, Margot longs for her escape. Her reckless best friend, Cara, thinks she's found the perfect way out for them both - The Prisoner Project - a controversial program offering a life-changing sum of money in exchange for time spent with maximum-security inmates.

Without hesitation, Cara rushes to sign them up.

Their reward? A one-way ticket into the depths of a prison ruled by gang leaders, mob bosses, and men the guards wouldn't even dare to cross...

At the centre of it all, meets Coban Santorelli - a man colder than ice, darker than midnight, and as deadly as the fire that fuels his inner rage. He knows that the project may very well be his only ticket to freedom - his only ticket to revenge on the one who managed to lock him up and so he must prove that he can learn to love…

Will Margot be the lucky one chosen to help reform him?

Will Coban be capable of bringing something to the table other than just sex?

What starts off as denial may very well grow in to obsession which could then fester in to becoming true love…

A temperamental romance novel.
Goddess Of The Underworld.

Goddess Of The Underworld.

238.3k Views · Ongoing · sheridan.hartin
Left at a pack border with a name and a stubborn heartbeat, Envy grows into the sharpest kind of survivor, an orphaned warrior who knows how to hold a line and keep moving. Love isn’t in the plan…until four alpha wolves with playboy reputations and inconveniently soft hands decide the girl who won’t bow is the only queen they’ll ever take. Their mate. The one they have waited for. Xavier, Haiden, Levi, and Noah are gorgeous, lethal, and anything but perfect and Envy isn’t either. She’s changing. First into hell hound, Layah at her heels and fire in her veins. Then into what the realm has been waiting for, a Goddess of the Underworld, dragging her mates down to hell with her. Then finally into lycan princess, stronger, faster, the moon finally answering back, giving her exactly what she needs to protect her family.

When the veil between the Divine, the Living, and the Dead begins to crack, Envy is thrust beneath with a job she can’t drop: keep the worlds from bleeding together, shepherd the lost, and make ordinary into armor, breakfasts, bedtime, battle plans. Peace lasts exactly one lullaby. This is the story of a border pup who became a goddess by choosing her family; of four imperfect alphas learning how to stay; of cake, iron, and daylight negotiations. Steamy, fierce, and full of heart, Goddess of the Underworld is a why-choose, found-family paranormal romance where love writes the rules and keeps three realms from falling apart.
The mafia princess return

The mafia princess return

262.3k Views · Ongoing · Tonje Unosen
Talia have been living with her mother, stepsister and Stepfather for years. One day she finally get away from them. Suddenly she learn she have more family out there and she have many people that actually love her, something she have never felt before! At least not as she can remember. She have to learn to trust others, get her new brothers to accept her for who she is!
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

432.7k Views · Ongoing · Harper Rivers
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother.

"What is wrong with me?

Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?

It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.

He’s my boyfirend’s brother.

This is Tyler’s family.

I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.

**

As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.

Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.

When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.

I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.

**

I hate girls like her.

Entitled.

Delicate.

And still—

Still.

The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.

Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.

I shouldn’t care.

I don’t care.

It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.

It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.

I’m not here to rescue anyone.

Especially not her.

Especially not someone like her.

She’s not my problem.

And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.

But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.
Fangs, Fate & Other Bad Decisions

Fangs, Fate & Other Bad Decisions

238.5k Views · Ongoing · Elizma Du Toit
Some bad decisions come back to bite you. Literally.

After finding out her boyfriend cheated, the last thing she expected was to stumble across a wounded man in an alley. And definitely not one with fangs. But thanks to a mix of cocktails, shame, and her questionable life choices, she takes him home. Turns out, he’s not just any vampire—he’s a king. And according to him, she’s his fated mate.

Now, she’s stuck with an overprotective, brooding bloodsucker who keeps rescuing her, a growing list of enemies who want her dead, and an undeniable attraction that’s making it very hard to remember why falling for a vampire is a terrible idea.

Because if she’s not careful, she won’t just lose her heart—she’ll lose her humanity.
The Badass Mafia Princess and Family

The Badass Mafia Princess and Family

203.4k Views · Ongoing · Tonje Unosen
Betty have been living a lie for as long as she can remember. She have been abused by her parents her whole life, even though she is a broken and abused girl in her own home. Outside of those four walls she is a force to be reckoned with! She is not afraid to do what she need to stay alive!
Mr. Ryan

Mr. Ryan

155.8k Views · Completed · Mary D. Sant
"What things are not under your control tonight?" I gave my best smile, leaning against the wall.
He came closer with a dark and hungry expression,
so close,
his hands reached for my face, and he pressed his body against mine.
His mouth took mine eagerly, a little rudely.
His tongue left me breathless.
“If you don't go with me, I'll fuck you right here.” He whispered.


Katherine kept her virginity for years even after she turned 18. But one day, she met an extremely sexual man Nathan Ryan in the club. He had the most seductive blue eyes she has ever seen, a well-defined chin, almost golden blonde hair, full lips, perfectly drawn, and the most amazing smile, with perfect teeth and those damn dimples. Incredibly sexy.

She and he had a beautiful and hot one-night stand...
Katherine thought she might not meet the man again.
But fate has another plan

Katherine is about to take on the job of assistant to a billionaire who owns one of the biggest companies in the country and is known to be a conquering, authoritative and completely irresistible man. He is Nathan Ryan!

Will Kate be able to resist the charms of this attractive, powerful and seductive man?
Read to know a relationship torn between anger and the uncontrollable desire for pleasure.

Warning: R18+, Only for mature readers.
“Burn those who burned me!”

“Burn those who burned me!”

125.3k Views · Ongoing · Toddria Holiday
Follow several different stories of betrayal and revenge as the main characters finally seek justice and payback of those who betrayed them!

Burn those who burned me is an anthology book circulated on truth; justice; and REVENGE!

Story #1 The Ballad of Rabena Price.
Story #2 The rebirth of Clara Granger
Story #3 The violin of Graceland Teague
Story #4 The list for Josie Taylor

Story #5 COMING SOON!