Page 181 of Villainous Rise

Annie nodded, her gaze drifting away from the screens.

“We’re going to find whoever’s using Mercer’s identity,” I promised. “And when we do, I’m going to tear them apart. Slowly. Painfully. Until they regret ever making you afraid.”

“I’m sorry,” she said suddenly. “For earlier. For panicking. For falling apart.”

I reached out and pulled her to me, stroking her hair, feeling the silky strands slip between my fingers. “No apologies needed. Not for that. Not ever.”

She shook her head. “You exposed yourself to Havoc. You let him see that you’re Wraith. You ruined your cover for me.”

I pressed a finger to her lips to stop the spiral of guilt. “Hush, Sparks.” I waited until her eyes met mine. “I wasn’t going to sit behind a fucking screen and watch you panic. I was coming to you regardless.”

I smoothed my thumb over her puckered brow. “If Cipher miraculously crashed through Havoc’s window two seconds after his Keeper had a breakdown on a secure feed, it would have been highly fucking suspicious. Dropping the Wraith modulation was the fastest way to get to you without Havoc trying to kill me on sight.”

I leaned down and pressed my forehead against hers. “Every identity I’ve built and every piece of technology I own exists to protect you and give you what you need. Besides,” I murmured, sliding my hands down to rest on her hips. “I’ve run the probabilities. Havoc won’t use the Wraith persona against me. You are his daughter in every way that matters. I’ve watched the man enough to know his loyalty belongs to you. The Alliance is a distant second. He won’t risk alienating you just to burn my consulting alias.”

Her body was warm against mine, soft where I was hard, yielding where I was unyielding.

“What do you need?” I asked. “Tell me what you need right now.”

Annie pulled back slightly, looking up at me with those impossibly blue eyes. The panic had receded, leaving behind something I couldn’t quite identify. “I’m not sure.”

“Anything,” I said, my hands sliding to her waist. “I’ll do anything.”

Annie smiled. “I know how you could distract me,” she said.

Fuck yes. I knew that tone. That was the tone that meant she wanted my hands and mouth on her, my cock inside her. That was the tone that preceded her body tangled around mine.

My own body responded immediately, blood rushing south as my mind filled with possibilities. I could bend her over right here, push her skirt up and fuck her until she couldn’t remember her fear. I could carry her to my bedroom and spend hours worshipping every inch of her body. I could drop to my knees and make her come on my tongue until she was boneless and sated.

“Anything, Annie. Tell me what you want,” I said, already reaching for the hem of her shirt.

“I want...” she leaned in, her lips brushing mine, “You to tell me how the hell you keep me from detecting you’re a Trueborn.”

The question blindsided me, leaving me momentarily speechless as my mind raced to catch up.

“What?” I managed, pulling back slightly to search her face.

“You heard me. I can’t sense you, you just feel like a manufactured Super, except that one time in the Crucible. You also felt different again as Wraith, when we met in the warehouse. How do you do it?”

“That’s not at all what I thought you were going to say. I was expecting my face buried between your legs, your hands in my hair, pulling me closer while you try not to scream.” My body was still one hundred percent primed for something different, making the cognitive shift all the more jarring.

Annie’s eyes softened. “I’m sorry,” she said, pressing her lips against mine. The brief contact was a peace offering that did little to quell my arousal but everything to soothe my bruised ego.

When she pulled back, her eyes were bright with curiosity. “Will you tell me? It’s impressive, whatever you’re doing.”

I studied her for a moment, weighing my options.

“Why not?” I sighed dramatically, giving Annie my best wounded look as I moved toward one of my workstations. “You know, when a beautiful woman says she wants a distraction, most men don’t think she means ‘show me your proprietary technology.’”

Annie followed me, a small smile playing at her lips. “You love it when I want to hear more about your work.”

“True,” I conceded, activating the scanner with a few quick keystrokes. The device switched on, a blue light emanating from its surface.

I disengaged the armor plating on my forearm and with a wave of my hand, the nanobots making up my undersuit rolled up my left arm, leaving it bare. I placed it under the scanner and the blue light intensified, creating a three-dimensional projection of my arm’s internal structure. I tapped a spot where a small device was nestled against my radius.

“See that? It’s an implant that generates a specific frequency field. Think of it as white noise for your Super-sensing ability.”

Annie leaned closer, studying the projection. It was barely the size of my thumbnail, with microscopic filaments extending outward like a technological spider web through the surrounding tissue. “It masks your Trueborn signature?”