Page 53 of Hunt Me

ALEXI

The whiskey burns on the way down. Good. I need it after the clusterfuck of the past forty-eight hours.

“I still can’t believe we pulled it off.” Dmitri leans back in the booth, looking far too pleased with himself. “Frankfurt thought it was an inside job from their own IT department.”

“Because you planted evidence like a fucking artist,” Erik says, raising his glass. “Props, brother.”

Nikolai shoots him a look. “We shouldn’t have needed to plant anything if someone had caught the Phantom before they dumped our entire server architecture.”

All eyes turn to me.

I take another sip of whiskey, refusing to squirm under their scrutiny. “I’ve been working on it.”

“For eight months.”

“Eight months and four days,” Dmitri corrects helpfully.

I flip him off.

“The Phantom’s good,” I say, keeping my voice level. Not defensive. Just factual. “Better than anyone we’ve dealt with before.”

“Better than you?” Nikolai’s tone suggests he finds that hard to believe.

If you only knew.

Images flash through my mind—Iris pinned against that mirror, her eyes glazed with pleasure, my name falling from her lips like a prayer. The way she felt wrapped around me, tight and perfect andmine.

“Different,” I manage. “Different skill set.”

“Bullshit.” Erik grins, gesturing for another round. “You’re obsessed. Admit it.”

“I’m thorough.”

“You’re jerking off to code.” Dmitri smirks. “There’s a difference.”

I should defend myself. Tell them to fuck off. But my mind keeps circling back to last night—to Iris running through that building, to the thrill of hunting her, to the way she surrendered even as she fought.

To the fact that I came inside her. Multiple times. Without protection.

The thought sends heat straight to my groin.

“Alexi?”

I blink, realizing Nikolai’s been talking. “What?”

“I asked if you’ve made any progress identifying them.”

Her. Not them. Her.

Iris Mitchell, cybersecurity consultant with a vendetta and the tightest pussy I’ve ever had the privilege of destroying.

“Some leads,” I lie smoothly. “Nothing concrete yet.”

Nikolai studies me, and I force myself to meet his gaze. My oldest brother has always been able to smell bullshit from a mile away. It’s what makes him dangerous.

But he can’t read my mind. Can’t know that I spent last night fucking our biggest security threat instead of neutralizing her.

That I plan to do it again.